It’s a good time to be a member of a world rafting team – at least if part of the reason you’re competing is to travel the world. After venturing to Costa Rica’s Pacuare River in 2011 and in hitting New Zealand’s North Island this coming fall, the World Rafting Championships are continuing their grand world tour by heading to Brazil in 2014 – home to the next Summer Olympics — and Indonesia the year after.
In keeping with its reputation of bringing the world’s best rafters to the best rafting rivers in the world, the International Rafting Federation recently announced that the 2014 World Rafting Champs will be held in Foz do Iguassú, Brasil, using the Itaipu Canal for Sprint, Head to Head and Slalom events, and the nearby Iguaçu River for the coveted Downriver race. Dates for the event are September 4-7, 2014.
It also announced that the 2015 World Rafting Champs will be held on the Citarik River near the town of Sukabumi in West Java, Indonesia. Dates for the event will be late November/early Dec 2015.
“We had received two excellent bids from these two countries for the 2014 WRC and we were very hard pressed to make a choice,” says the IRF’s Sue Leill-Cock. “In fact, we were disappointed to be not using both these high standard bids. In the end we chose Brazil.”
As the closing date for bids for 2015 came, however, no other offers surfaced. The IRF then consulted with the Indonesian and Brazilian organizers and Indonesia agreed to host the 2015 championships as their river is able to run with R6 rafts, whereas Brazil’s course is only really suitable for R4. “We’re in great debt to Indonesia for making this compromise for us and to Brazil for stepping up once again for 2014.
“This has become a win/win situation for all,” she adds. “The IRF, organizers and teams will now all benefit from these two great locations.”
