News

Are you carrying the correct emergency equipment?

by Mark Hirst: As we now find ourselves at the beginning of a Northern hemisphere season, a quick glance at various social media outlets are awash with various stories of epic high water runs and carnage. Most of us will have been surrounded by snow all winter and are counting down the days until it begins

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Into the Unknown (again) – 1st IRF workshop in the Ukraine

As the demand for International Rafting Federation courses is growing year on year, I am noticing that I am able to travel to new and exciting destinations to run IRF courses. This year alone my travels have taken me to Morocco, Nepal, France, UK and now to the Ukraine for their first ever IRF workshop.

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Report from the first ever IRF GTE Conference

The first ever IRF Guide Training & Education (GTE) Conference for Instructors and Assessors was held from the 19 – 21 April, in the AOS Hostel, in Wildalpen, Austria. The conference participants had the honour of being his first guests. It’s a beautiful place, with very friendly staff and a special, good energy that flows through

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Whitewater Rescue Challenge 2016: Day 2

If we thought that the first day of the White Water Rescue Challenge (WWRC) was cold, we were quickly corrected as Day 2 dawned with the icy, snowy conditions. With so many competitors knowing what a good challenge the first day was, it was expected that no one would give up despite the crazy weather conditions,

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Whitewater Rescue Challenge 2016: Day 1

This is the first time we have had someone attending the Whitewater Rescue Challenge (WWRC) so as to report back to us from this fantastic competition. The location of the challenge is the same as the course for the EC R4 Wildalpen, and the organizers are Gaspar Goncz of Whitewater Training Center – WWTC, Neil Newton Taylor

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Personal responsibility with river safety

Rafting season 2016 has already started with some national competitions. We have already witnessed flips and paddlers falling out of rafts, which is an integral part of this sport, but more nationals, EC, ERC and WRC are still ahead of us with some new rivers and some new challenges. So, the question is – how

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IRF guide certification scheme gets recognition in top tourism report

The U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) have released their first Global Report on Adventure Tourism.  “The ATTA worked with the UNWTO on this report to help educate the global leisure tourism industry on the core values of responsible tourism. The report allows all stakeholders in the industry to

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Austria now using the IRF GT&E Scheme

The IRF Guide Training & Education (GT&E) Scheme has recently been adopted into Austrian law which will make it compulsory from next season for all river guides in Austria to be IRF certified if they wish to guide there. The change came about as Austria looked at updating their 20 year old guide certification system

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