Do you know the difference between A and B level events?
Our 3rd article on Race Rules covers B level event classification. (Read A level classification if you missed it.)
B level events are Continental Champs and World Cup events.
Due to the Euro Champs being so much more developed than the other continental champs the Euro Champs have a higher level of requirements.
Euro Champs:
- are held at least every two years – the next one will be in 2014.
- Euro federations can enter a maximum of two teams in each of the men’s and women’s categories.
- These teams must be fairly selected and nominated by their member federation by winning fair and credible national selections – this means that the event must be open for all possible teams to enter, the event must be announced timeously so that all teams have enough time to plan to attend and the event is to be run fairly for all teams. If a member does not run fair and credible selections and another team complains to the IRF, they will have to rerun the selections or resolve the problem so everyone is happy with the result before they can send teams to the Euro Champs.
- There must be a minimum of 3 countries competing in the women’s and men’s categories for it to be recognized by the IRF.
- All IRF members are allowed to race but only nations of Europe will have their scores included in the sores for the regional award and be awarded medals. (Consequently the teams from different regions must not race against each other in the H2H unless all nations of the region agree, as this interferes with the total result,)
Pan-American, African and Australasian Champs:
- These continental champs are still in the development phase and so the rules are more relaxed to encourage more teams to attend and to make it easier for organisers to run the event.
- Because travel to the location for many of the teams involves flights it is very costly and therefore hard for teams to attend.
- Ideally they are to be held at least every 2 years and are usually done in the same year as the R4 World Champs. That means the next ones should be in 2014.
- Federations can enter as many teams as they want to. This is to encourage teams to attend without having to wait for selections and also to allow the host nation to have as many teams as possible.
- Ideally there should be a minimum of 3 nations competing in each category for it to be recognised by the IRF but this is not compulsory at all.
All IRF members are allowed to race in Continental Champs but only nations of the region should have their scores included in the sores for the regional award and be awarded medals. (Consequently the teams from different regions should not race against each other in the H2H unless all nations of the region agree, as this interferes with the total result)
World Cup:
- This event is ideal for the teams who did not make selections for the World Champs or for Euro Champs or for teams who enjoy racing in different locations, seeing different rivers and making new friends.
- This event is still in the development phase.
- The aim is for it to be a series of 3-5 races in a year held on a minimum of two continents.
- These events are open to ALL teams from all member nations.
Other Race Rules Articles:
