President’s Year in Review 2021 – Joseph Willis Jones, IRF President

Dear Friends,

Wherever you are in the world and whatever your relationship with our beautiful sport of rafting, I would like to wish you and your loved ones a very happy New Year, and that all your hopes and dreams are realised in 2022.

2021 was a year of unanticipated challenge. The global pandemic forced the cancellation and postponement of hundreds of sporting events around the globe among responsible International Sports Federations (IFs) and the IRF was no exception.

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National selections coming up and not sure which WRC 2022 Age Division you are? Use the handy checklist below to work out your eligible age divisions.

Age Divisions are how the IRF separates competitors into groups of similar capabilities by age. The IRF uses four divisions: Junior (U19), Youth (U23), Open, and Masters (40+).

WRC 2022 Age Divisions:

YOUTH – you are eligible to compete in the U19 division in 2022 if you:

• are less than 19 years old or turn 19 years old in 2022
• were born in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007

JUNIOR – you are eligible to compete in the U23 division in 2022 if you:

• are less than 23 years old or turn 23 years old in 2022
• were born in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007

OPEN – you are eligible to compete in the Open division in 2022 if you:

• are more than 15 years old or turn 15 years old in 2022
• were born in 2007 or earlier

MASTERS – you are eligible to compete in the Masters (40+) division in 2022 if you:

• are more than 40 years old or turn 40 years old in 2022
• were born in 1982 or earlier

Further details on WRC 2022 Age Divisions including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be found on our dedicated Raft Racing Age Division page.

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Our ARK Inflatables auction 2021 drew to a close last month with one lucky winner – Rich Domleo.

Rich can be seen in the photo shouting out his excitement for winning the auction. Rich is now the proud owners of 1x ARK Inflatables 2021 Croc (R2) and 1x ARK Inflatables 2021 Solo Adventurer Prawn (R1).

African River Kraft’s (ARK Inflatables) rafts are well known to the IRF and many people will recognise some of their famous designs and use in World Rafting Championships over the past decades.

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As the year draws to a close, we welcome our latest IRF Guide Training & Education (GTE) Assessor, Fabián Alejandro Bonanno. Fabián joins our existing team of Assessors to bring the total to thirteen (13) across the globe. Fabián’s command of four languages makes him an asset to our team and is regularly delivering workshops and assessments in eastern Europe and Latin America.

Fabián started guiding on the Juramento river in Argentina in 1996.

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Today marks International Mountain Day and with it, the IRF has commited to the International Olympic Committee’s  Mountain Sports Sustainability Pledge. The IRF is one of twelve organisations to be part of the IOC Mountain Summit Group. Over the past two years, the group has agreed a set of ten principles for all users of sports activities in mountain settings to abide by.

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The UTS World Virtual Youth Festival 2021 came to an end with a breath-taking Closing Ceremony from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was the centre for youth of all abilities coming together under the patronage of the IOC, IPC, SOI, SportAccord, GAISF and AIMS.

Over 100 organisations joined forces with one mission, to promote inclusion, non-discrimination, equality, and the youth of the world standing together towards a better tomorrow.

Thousands of youths participated in the five diverse competitions, the Max Fit, Aero Fit, IPC inclusive Challenge and the SOI Unified Fitness Challenge and the Talent competition.

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