The Devil’s Stream pulled in teams from across Europe to take on it’s challenging rapids this weekend. Hosted by Czech Union of Boaters (Rafting), this very popular annual event saw over 20 teams teams take to the Vlatva River, near Lipno in Czechia.

The Devil’s Stream section is immediately below the Lipno dam and provides for fast action and challenging rapids for all teams. This challenging section was host to the IRF World Rafting Championship in 2012 and is part of the IRF’s 2020 EC Series.

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Raft racing returned in true river family style with the Troja Czech Cup / Euro Cup and more events than you can count on one hand!

Last weekend saw a collection of teams old and new competing in Prague at the Troja white water centre. Saturday 22nd September saw the first R4 Czech Cup race and R2 slalom. There were 21 Open Men’s teams, 4 U23 Men’s teams, 4 U19 Men’s teams, 8 Masters Men’s teams, 7 Open Women’s teams, and 2 U23 Women’s teams – a great start to a very late season!

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Malaysia rafting recognition was boosted recently by accreditation from the Malaysia Commissioner of Sports. The Malaysia Rafting Association (MRA) (or Persatuan Rafting Malaysia in Malay) and the sport of rafting have received a great boost as MRA have received this formal accreditation. This recognition firmly establishes MRA as the organisation governing the sport of rafting in Malaysia. This will give the organisation the official standing it needs as it pursues the improvement of rafting standards in Malaysia and prepares to run the IRF’s World Cup Series event next year (postponed from this year), the Kampar River Festival.

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Many a dragon boater has crossed over and raced in rafts, and vice versa. And so it is with many other sports. Therefore over the coming months we will be presenting the history of other paddle sport organisations as we also look into expanding our friendships with these and other organisations.

Long standing history

Dragon boating has a long and revered history (older some say than rafting!). The dragon has a very symbolic meaning for the Chinese.

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Vladimir Petukhov takes us back to soviet era rafting in this interview by Rafting Magazine.

In order to understand the situation fully, I will say that the beginning of my passion for whitewater rafting started in the Soviet period. This means that there were a lot of whitewater rivers and there was a great desire to paddle, but there was no equipment, no boats for paddling, it was a time of all-out deficit.

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By Lenka Bauerová, SVoČR

It all starts this weekend! The Troja Rafting Cup will open the postponed Czech racing season.

There was already one down river race in June at Trnávka, but Troja will be the first complete weekend race.

Troja is a Czech Cup R4 and at the same time there will be an IRF European Cup (R6) in slalom and sprint and Czech Championship R6.

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The IRF is proud to announce that we have been invited to participate in the United Through Sport (UTS) International Virtual Youth Festival! This historic event is a unique opportunity for IRF youth teams to get involved in a global project.

UTS is an initative launched in 2019 by the Association of Independent Recognised Sports (AIMS) with its focus being on encouraging youth to become more involved in sports. This one of a kind event is under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Special Olympics, SportAccord and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAIFS).

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For many years now, we have committed to sustainability in rafting. From objectives in our Bylaws, to running the world’s first certified carbon neutral sports world championship. Most recently, we have extended our commitment to sustainability.

In 2019 we committed to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention) Sports for Climate Action. Now, we actively encourage all event hosts to commit to sustainable events. Similarly, through our Rafting Operator Accreditation (ROA), we will be asking rafting operators to find sustainable options in their activities.

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