R6 World Cup and Euro Cup Branka Stulic Memorial event in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held from the 10 – 11 June on the river Vrbas which is a well known and beloved place for all of us. The organiser was Rafting Center Kanjon. Six countries, 11 teams, one of whom was female, gathered to gauge their strength and to honour our dear Branka. Again we got to see the Japanese Open men’s team on this river and enjoyed their paddling and company. Also we were lucky that we were supported by the sun throughout the whole competition.

The first day of the competition was reserved for Slalom, Sprint and H2H. The slalom course in the Tjesno Canyon was not a big problem for the men’s teams, all of whom were from the OM category and representatives of their state. The best time in this discipline was the team “Teikei” from Japan, the second place was taken by the boys from “Dayak” club BiH, and third place “Gimpex 1” from Slovenia.

After a good warm-up from Slalom, the Sprint followed. In addition to “Teikei” team which had shown the best physical readiness, the home teams took advantage of their local knowledge of the river so second place went to” Dayak “club, while the third was SRK “Bosna”.

Since the first two places in the H2H were reserved for “Teikei” and “Dayak”, third place this time went to “Delta Sport” kkrk from Croatian, which is were presented to us in a new, rejuvenated edition and gave good resistance to SRK “Bosna” in the semifinals.

In the Downriver, to ensure all the positions on the list are not boring and monotonous “Gimpex” (SLO) did a great effort to push “Dayak” from second to third place in the Downriver race. The first is, of course, “Teikei” JPN.

Thus after the second day of competition and finish of all disciplines we have the final team standings: 1st place “Teikei” from Japan, 2nd place ‘Dayak’ club, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 3rd place “Gimpex 1” from Slovenia. Congratulations to them and also to the only women’s team “Adventure Net” from Bulgaria.

Our dear friends from Japan are travelling in Europe, practising and gauging their strength with teams that will soon be coming to their part of the world for the R6 World Rafting Championship 2017. The next place where we can watch Japan is Trnavka, Czech.

As far as the organisation itself, everything went so well that this is a routine job for Aleksandar Pastir and his team. I would like to thank this time RK “VIR” from Pancevo  for transport and “AdventureNet” from Bulgaria who assisted us at the border and spared us many hours of waiting in line… Friends everywhere!