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 it or if this fourth division should be dropped totally.

The final decision was made by the Sport & Competition Committee after member federations and event organisers said they felt four divisions was just too many to finance. The S&C Com then ran a survey with all its members and from this the conclusion came that there should only be three divisions and that the U19 division should stay.

The development of the U19 division is key for the long term future of the sport in any country and so we encourage federations to develop competitions and training skills workshops aimed at the school going age groups so as to whet their appetites for the sport of rafting.