Race ResultsERC Vrbas, Bosnia
Results and media
EC Results so far
R6: OM; OW. R4: OM; OW.
EC Trnavka
Results: Sprint; Slalom. Photos.
WRC 2019, Tully
Results, Photos, press releases, etc
EC Wildalpen
Results: OM, U23M, OW; Photos
EC Priboj, Serbia
Results; Photos
EC Nottingham
Results, Photos: -1-, -2-, -3-. H2H Video
EC Romania, Dracula Race
Results; Photos
WRC 2018
All results
more archived Race Results
|
By IRF admin, on July 16th, 2019 With our two major events already done and dusted teams are relaxing and enjoying some of the other events on our race calendar, plus there are quite a large number of national selections happening. And there are plenty of guide assessments happening.
 Wu Pai, Class 2 – 4, Ziyuan, Guang Xi Province, China This Sunday sees the start of the Pre-Worlds in Ziyuan, China. An incredible 31 teams from 16 countries are attending! Keep an eye out for updates on this on the IRF’s World Rafting Champs Facebook page.
In August we have National Selections in Salida, Colorado in the USA; Ottawa River in Canada; and Sapucaia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!
There are also the last three Euro Cup events of the year – the Downriver race on Devils Stream, Vltava in Czech Rep., then the British Open at Lee Valley White Water Centre, London, and then back to Labe, Roudnice in the Czech Rep. for the final race in the series.
Also in August is the now well known, White Water of Siberia Forum Continue reading Busy second half of the year for the IRF
By IRF admin, on July 12th, 2019
I remember attending my first ever rescue class in the UK in 1996 as a fresh faced 19 year old kayaker. I attended the course as I wanted to learn more about rescue and river safety.
During this time in the UK and Europe there was this new trend called the “Clean line principle” that was starting to gather momentum. Stories were coming to light that the handles on the end of your throwbag were potentially dangerous and could cause a snag hazard resulting in potential fatal accidents.
“Clean line principle”
 Any throwbag with a loop big enough to get a hand through is an entrapment hazard The clean line principle advises us that a loop in either end of a throwbag is a potential snag hazard. This means that the loop could potentially become snagged in a tree root or around a rock thus creating a potential entrapment hazard. We have always been taught that “Ropes and moving water are a bad mixture”. A swimmer or an object could then become entrapped in the snagged rope escalating a bad situation. By removing any loops from your throwbag you were reducing the probability of creating a snag hazard.
In my eyes over the years the clean line principle has now evolved into the “Clean Principle”. We have taken our leanings from the clean line principle and applied them to our personal Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) set up.
Unfortunately on my travels I am still seeing and hearing lots of stories of entrapment’s and near miss situations that could have been avoided if the “clean principle ” had been applied. Continue reading Keep it clean !!
By Sean, on July 7th, 2019 
The 2019 IRF European Rafting Championship is now over with friends old and new sharing our love of the river and our sport together as one river family. Together we make rafting sport the engaging, exciting and accessible sport that it is.
Regular podium winners were joined from other nations this year and we have welcomed teams from Serbia, Latvia and Croatia back to the IRF European Championships. Our love for rafting grows stronger each year and we welcome teams from all rafting nations from across the globe. Overall medals were hard fought especially in hot and sunny temperatures in the Vrbas canyon. The sportsmanship and camaraderie displayed by all teams has been an example for all other sports to follow. Thank you to everyone for participating so fairly and professionally.
We have welcomed new judges from Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Germany to our family! Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the sport.
The final overall medals in each category were:
Youth (U19) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 1
🥈- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 2
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Junior (U23) Women:
🥇- 🇷🇸 Serbia
🥈- 🇷🇺 Russia
Junior (U23) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
Masters Men:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Open Women:
🥇- 🇷🇺 Russia 1
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
Open Men:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Full Overall Results
Junior, Youth, Masters, Open
Slalom results:
Junior, Youth, Masters, Open
We may now be bidding farewell to Vrbas for this year’s IRF European Rafting Championship but it may not be for long! A bid for the IRF World Rafting Championship 2021 is now being submitted by the Banja Luka organisers! So we might now be saying farewell but we may soon be saying Dobrodošli Banja Luka sooner than you know!
#AreYouReady #RaftersAreAwesome #irferc #erc2019 #RiverFamily #rafting #StrongerTogether #Bosnia #BiH #BanjaLuka #Vrbas #whitewater
By IRF admin, on July 7th, 2019  Vrbas has once again put competitors through their paces in the gruelling 14 kilometre downriver race at this year’s IRF European Rafting Championship. With a sailing start at Kamp Krupa, teams raced their way down the idyllic Bosnian and Herzegovina countryside pitting their tactics, strength and stamina to the test against fellow competitors.
The open men started racing at 09:00 and 53 minutes later the two Czech teams crossed the finish line followed closely by the Croatian men. Next up the youth men followed closely by the junior women crossing the line with the roars from Team Slovenia drowning out all other cheers!
Next up were the masters division – as the sun stepped up its intensity making racing ever more gruelling and exhausting. Czech masters men one and two took prime positions followed closely by Russia and Great Britain 2.
Junior men and open women sealed the competition with their endurance powering them over the line with Slovenia just beating Czech Republic in the junior men – a gruelling defeat for Team Czech who are here in force with nine teams and their support teams!
The final downriver tallies in each category were:
Youth (U19) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 1
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🥉- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 2
Junior (U23) Women:
🥇- 🇷🇸 Serbia
🥈- 🇷🇺 Russia
Junior (U23) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
Masters Men:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Open Women:
🥇- 🇷🇺 Russia 1
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
Open Men:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇭🇷 Croatia
Downriver results:
Junior, Youth, Masters, Open
 This now concludes the IRF European Rafting Championship 2019 on the Vrbas River, Bosnia & Herzegovina. A huge thank you to Aleks & Gile for being excellent hosts once again. Thanks to all volunteers assisting in logistics, safety and supporting teams. Big thanks to Dejan, Georgie, Rosie, Zane and Scout for being on water safety! Huge thanks to all our loyal and fair judges. Thanks to all the sponsors including G-Shock!
#AreYouReady #RaftersAreAwesome #irferc #erc2019 #RiverFamily #rafting #StrongerTogether #Bosnia #BiH #BanjaLuka #Vrbas #whitewater
By IRF admin, on July 7th, 2019 
The Vrbas canyon drew crowds in their hundreds for challenging Slalom in yesterday’s IRF European Rafting Championship. Through rigorous national selections, only the best of the best were racing this challenging course. Thus the tradition of raft racing on white water continued with IRF course designers using every feature to ensure the 14 gates did not disappoint for racers and spectators. The most challenging gates proved to be gates 2, 3 and 4 and then 9 through 13 with few teams clearing 11, 12 and 13 without at least one 5 second penalty.
The course proved a worthy opponent to teams from all age categories with Junior and Youth teams having times close to Open categories – these teams will surely be challengers for Open teams in the coming years.
Gate 9 was an upstream right in a narrow eddy that tested teams to spin into the eddy and keep away from the Vrbas gorge wall to ensure they reached the top of the eddy to be able to ferry out over to downstream gate 10 – the wave in the ferry proved a challenge to several teams as it kicked up the back of the raft meaning only teams with a strong ability to track the raft were able to clear gate 10. Downstream gate 11 meant that teams needed to move from river left to river right before the river bent around to the left for gate 12 into the boily eddy behind Mammoth Rock for upstream gate 13. This highly technical move was only completed clean by five teams across all age categories.
The deafening roar from Team Slovenia saw worthy medals for their Junior and Youth teams taking home two gold and one silver. In open categories it was Czech and Russia dominating the medal tables.
The final medal tallies in each category were:
Youth (U19) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 1
🥈- 🇸🇮 Slovenia 2
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Junior (U23) Women:
🥇- 🇷🇺 Russia
🥈- 🇷🇸 Serbia
Junior (U23) Men:
🥇- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
Masters Men:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇷🇺 Russia
Open Women:
🥇- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥈- 🇷🇺 Russia 1
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
Open Men:
🥇- 🇷🇺 Russia
🥈- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 1
🥉- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2
Slalom results:
Junior, Youth, Masters, Open
#AreYouReady #RaftersAreAwesome #irferc #erc2019 #RiverFamily #rafting #StrongerTogether #Bosnia #BiH #BanjaLuka #Vrbas #whitewater
By IRF admin, on July 5th, 2019
Rafting Center “Kanyon” in Karanovac opened the IRF European Rafting Championship “Banjaluka-Vrbas 2019” last night, where about 250 rafters from 11 European countries will participate over the next four days.
 The championship was opened by the Deputy Mayor of Banja Luka, Srđan Amidžić, who said that water sports are gaining importance and that rafting is seen as an exceptional opportunity for the promotion of the tourist potential of the city.
“Athletes from all over the world come to us. Vrbas is our great sporting and tourist potential. As far as I know, for all these years, no rafter from Banja Luka went unhappy. Everyone is thrilled with the river, which is most important, but we are extremely pleased when we hear they are also very satisfied with our hospitality, our food and our people, “said Amidžić. Continue reading Opening Ceremony of the IRF’s European Rafting Championships
By IRF admin, on July 3rd, 2019  Bosnia and Herzegovina has turned up the heat and the welcomes for the IRF’s 13th Euro Rafting Championship which starts in a few short days at the ever popular site on the Vrbas River just outside Banja Luka. Rafting Centar “Kanyon” have previously hosted the World Rafting Championship in 2009, Euro Rafting Championships in 2009 and again in 2015 at this picturesque spot between the steep walls of the Vrbas canyon.
All teams have now registered and are out training on Wednesday and Thursday.
 The racing schedule is as follows:
- Friday 5th = Sprint from 9:00 to 10:00. H2H from 10:00 to 15:00
- Saturday 6th = Slalom from 11:00 to 15:00
- Sunday 7th = Downriver U19, U23 and Masters from 9:00 – 10:00. Open from 11:00 to 12:00
Details of the event can be found here and you can follow the event on the IRF’s social media sites
#AreYouReady #RaftersAreAwesome #irferc #erc2019 #RiverFamily #StrongerTogether #Bosnia #BanjaLuka #Vrbas
By IRF admin, on July 2nd, 2019
The 2019 World Rafting Champs on the Tully River in Australia finished more than a month ago. Looking back at the event there are some lovely stories that have come to light.
 Teams often say the best thing about rafting is the camaraderie between the teams despite competing against each other. The U23 Women’s Downriver race was a very close race, right to the finish line. New Zealand were out front a mere boat length ahead of Australia, who were half a boat length ahead of Indonesia! As they crossed the line, exhausted but elated, the New Zealand team celebrated. Then turning back they saw things were not right with the Australian so they quickly paddled over and discovered that one of their paddlers was suffering an asthma attack. Suzy, recently qualified as a nurse, quickly jumped into their raft and started helping her, while a men’s team on the shore assisted by pulling the raft into the shore. Continue reading Short stories from WRC 2019
By Sean, on June 11th, 2019 by Shannon Farley
 When you hang out with river runners, there are always stories to be told and heard. Talk invariably comes around to the favourite rivers rafted and the rivers still left to be challenged.
That’s how it was for Rafael Gallo, Honorary President of the International Rafting Federation and International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHOF) honouree, when he spent 10 days in May at the IRF World Rafting Championship on the Tully River in North Queensland, Australia.
Inspired by connecting with rafting athletes and fellow river runners from all corners of the globe and reuniting with international river guides who have at times worked for Gallo’s rafting company Rios Tropicales in Costa Rica, Gallo reminisced on his list of the most exceptional rivers he’s rafted. He wistfully remembered rivers he’d run that have been lost to dams and deforestation; and he eagerly dreamed of the rivers on his wish list still yet to be explored.
From Costa Rica to Siberia, Africa to America, Gallo shares his personal Top 10 List of the Best Rafting Rivers in the World. He remembers the lost rivers he misses and previews the river adventures yet to come.
Continue reading Top 10 best rafting rivers in the world
By IRF admin, on June 10th, 2019 Congratulations to Ales Danek who has been voted in as the new Chair of the IRF’s Athletes’ Committee.
 Alex is 39 years old, works as a sales manager for Würth. He’s been rafting since he was sixteen and for the last 10 years has been a member of team HIKO, a top Czech raft team, in fact, were the World Champions at WRC 2018 in Argentina and have medaled many times.
He sees this committee as a good opportunity for the opinions and comments of the athletes to be collected and to be voiced within the IRF. He feels it will be positive if the other committees on the IRF will be able to hear from the Athletes what they think and to discuss their opinions and proposals. He believes it will be helpful for the IRF and for rafting in general.
|
Photo Albums
 WRC 2014, Downriver  WRC 2014, Sprint  WRC 2013, H2H  WRC 2013, Slalom  WRC 2013, Slalom  ERC 2014  ERC 2014  World Cup Canada 2012 |
Vrbas has once again put competitors through their paces in the gruelling 14 kilometre downriver race at this year’s IRF European Rafting Championship. With a sailing start at Kamp Krupa, teams raced their way down the idyllic Bosnian and Herzegovina countryside pitting their tactics, strength and stamina to the test against fellow competitors.
This now concludes the IRF European Rafting Championship 2019 on the Vrbas River, Bosnia & Herzegovina. A huge thank you to Aleks & Gile for being excellent hosts once again. Thanks to all volunteers assisting in logistics, safety and supporting teams. Big thanks to Dejan, Georgie, Rosie, Zane and Scout for being on water safety! Huge thanks to all our loyal and fair judges. Thanks to all the sponsors including G-Shock!
The championship was opened by the Deputy Mayor of Banja Luka, Srđan Amidžić, who said that water sports are gaining importance and that rafting is seen as an exceptional opportunity for the promotion of the tourist potential of the city.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has turned up the heat and the welcomes for the IRF’s 13th Euro Rafting Championship which starts in a few short days at the ever popular site on the Vrbas River just outside Banja Luka. Rafting Centar “Kanyon” have previously hosted the World Rafting Championship in 2009, Euro Rafting Championships in 2009 and again in 2015 at this picturesque spot between the steep walls of the Vrbas canyon.
The racing schedule is as follows:
Teams often say the best thing about rafting is the camaraderie between the teams despite competing against each other. The U23 Women’s Downriver race was a very close race, right to the finish line. New Zealand were out front a mere boat length ahead of Australia, who were half a boat length ahead of Indonesia! As they crossed the line, exhausted but elated, the New Zealand team celebrated. Then turning back they saw things were not right with the Australian so they quickly paddled over and discovered that one of their paddlers was suffering an asthma attack. Suzy, recently qualified as a nurse, quickly jumped into their raft and started helping her, while a men’s team on the shore assisted by pulling the raft into the shore. 
When you hang out with river runners, there are always stories to be told and heard. Talk invariably comes around to the favourite rivers rafted and the rivers still left to be challenged.
Alex is 39 years old, works as a sales manager for Würth. He’s been rafting since he was sixteen and for the last 10 years has been a member of team HIKO, a top Czech raft team, in fact, were the World Champions at WRC 2018 in Argentina and have medaled many times.
