Official world rafting governing body
By Michael Lindberg, Head of IRF’s Anti-Doping Committee The result of a doping sample carried out on the 17th of May 2015 during the National Rafting Championships in Serbia was an adverse analytical finding showing the presence of a prohibited substance. The doping sample belonged to the 19-year old Serbian athlete, Bogdan Ribaric, who was tested
When racing Sprint, Head to Head, Slalom and Downriver the points distribution is weighted quite heavily to the top three teams, with the winning team getting the giants share. It has been proposed to reduce that distribution so that the overall points will be closer and make the overall title more exciting. This is what
During the summer period each year the Suomi Cup attracts teams, mainly from the Arctic region of Northern Finland, to enjoy a race series throughout the short summer. The series of races are normally dominated by 2 teams, the mens team from the town of Muonio and the ladies Routa rafting team from Rovaniemi. Routa
From 2016 onwards there will only be one Youth age group – and that is U19. At the IRF Extraordinary Congress in Brazil in 2014 the decision was made to drop the U23 division from 2016 onwards. So the question that still needed to be answered was whether an U21 division was needed to replace
This year a few lucky teams from around the world were invited to travel to China to race in two R2 competitions. The competitions were held on the same rivers as last year, but this time they were separated into two events instead of just one. I was fortunate to be invited to Stop 2
Dear Ladies, Let me stress that it’s really difficult to get together a team of ladies over 40 who would be willing and would be able to leave their kids and partners for two weeks, cover all costs and join a World Rafting Champs organized on the other side of the World. Last time we
We have already introduced you to the Firtina River and the first day of competition of the EC Turkey. Now we follow the Slalom and Downriver action. The river dropped overnight, making the course more difficult. The teams scattered around the track, looking at the 14 gates, of which 5 were upstream. As usual, everything
This past weekend in the Czech Rep it was the Euro Cup Trnavka race as well as the Czech Republic Championship, both R4 and both slalom and sprint. Plus it was the Gumotex Baraka Cup R2 in slalom. The Euro Cup saw 29 Men’s teams, 4 Women’s teams and 7 Masters teams. R2 saw 15 teams. The
This past weekend the Japanese National Champs were held and at the conclusion of the event the IRF President, Joe Willie Jones, was proud to announce that Japan’s bid to hold the 2017 World Rafting Champs has been successful. Japan produces some of the top teams in the rafting world arena and so it is
International Rafting Federation
Official world governing body for rafting since 1997