The Euro Rafting Champs is upon us. Here is a quick interview with SRK Bosna Zenica, from BiH, who are representing their country as the BiH OM 2 team in the upcoming R4 ERC in Slovenia.
They formed in May 2008, with a goal of promoting extreme sports like white-water rafting, kayaking, mountain biking and mountaineering. We wrote about this team being engagement in rescue actions during the 2014 floods in BiH. (What would you do if severe floods hit your region). They visited Tacen this year during the EC R4 competition to prepare, and we followed them during the EC in Wildalpen, so we decided to meet them and asked Sanjin Smirko some questions.
Who will be in your team at the Euro Rafting Championship?
“We are honoured to represent our country (Bosnia and Herzegovina) at this important competition. Our team is composed of 5 members: Dajan Vinovcic (C) – back right, Sanjin Smriko – back left, Jasmin Dizdarevic – front left, Armin Kasapovic – front right, Haris Pehadzic – Reserve.”
How did you prepare for this competition?
“Our training preparations are conducted on our calm river, Bosna, where we started paddling.
The difference with previous ERCs is that we have had attended a lot of strong competitions like EC on the Tacen River, EC Slunj in Croatia and EC/WC in Wildalpen, Austria.
This is our third time on Tacen and we are getting better each time we are here and the training we’ve had there will be of huge importance for us.”
Which discipline are you expecting the most from?
“Our strongest disciplines are sprint and H2H. Those are disciplines that don’t require a lot of finesse and you need to have a lot of strength and explosiveness in those disciplines.
Of course, we can surprise ourselves in slalom as well. At the competition in March on the Tacen River, we were so close to a medal in that discipline.”
What are your expectations, if you have them at all?
“We believe that we can always get a good result, which is a medal in one of the disciplines. We had a lot of misfortunes in the last ERCs, but our spirits are never down and we will fight to represent our country in the best light until the last stroke!
All of us are training for 8 years now and a lot of things are coming together for us. With a little bit of luck, everything’s possible.”
Sponsors that you want to thank?
“The economy in our country is really low, especially affecting our sport. When all the money is divided for football, basketball and handball there isn’t much left for rafting. We are our biggest sponsors with our work as the Rescue Service and tourism.”
We use this opportunity to call upon those who can help, as the effort they put in and the results that they have achieved, are more than enough reward and a great opportunity for a company to connect their logo with this work.
Thank you Sanjin, for the time you set aside for us. We wish you a good stroke and see you in Slovenia!
