Get your Bosnia cowbells out. The International Rafting Federation has announced that its 2024 R4 World Rating Championships will be held on the raging rapids of Banja Luka and the Vrbas River in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“We are pleased to announce that Bosnia-Herzegovina will be hosting the 2024 WRC,” says IRF spokesperson Sean Clarke. “The IRF was in communications with China as a potential host for 2024, but the China organizers decided to postpone hosting to a future year because of financial limitations due to a national economic downturn.
“After searching for a replacement host, the IRF settled on BiH, one of the IRF’s most reliable members, who offered to step forward and fill the void on short notice,” he adds. ”So, to the delight of rafting athletes around the globe, the World Championship will once again be returning to Banja Luka and the Vrbas River.”
Event Beta
Event Type: R4 World Rafting Championship
Location: Vrbas river near the town of Banja Luka (all events)
Disciplines: All age categories in Sprint, Head to Head, Slalom and Downriver
When: May 28-June 2, 2024
Race Organizer: raftingclubkanjon@gmail.com
Entry Fee Cost: $200 Euros/person
Athlete support: Transportation between Banja Luka and race venues will be provided. Accommodations and Hotels are not provided.
Event locations: As at the 2022 Worlds, the Sprint, Head to Head, and Slalom events will be held at the same locations on the Vrbas river. The Downriver race will be held on a 14-km section of the Vrbas River as well. No events will be held on the Tara river.
First IRF Rafting European/Balkan Cup on Bulgaria’s Struma River
In other IRF news, it also announced that the first IRF Rafting European Cup (and Balkan Cup) race on the calendar for 2024 will be held within the Kresna Gorge on the Struma River in Bulgaria on April 19-21, 2024. This event will feature both R4 rafting events in Sprint/H2H/Slalom/Downriver and also extreme kayaking events. The Class II through IV Struma River within the Kresna Gorge flows through the Tisata nature reserve, and is home to many important Mediterranean habitats hosting diverse plant and wildlife species. Until a few years ago the sport of whitewater rafting was virtually unknown in Bulgaria. Now, the gorge is the location of an emerging recreational whitewater rafting industry. As with many of the worlds rivers there is tension between preserving the environmental values of the watershed, as well as the push for development. The Struma Motorway, part of The European Transport Corridor project funded through the EU, is planned to cut through the Kresna Gorge. There has been a long battle between the government/government funded construction companies, and residents/environmental groups, surrounding this project.
Info: CLICK HERE