British Raft Team

Teams scoop local award...

2009-07-10T16:39:00.003+01:00

After the success of the World Championships in Bosnia, the teams were nominated for 'Amateur Team of the Year' at the Rushcliffe Borough Council Sports Awards. Held yearly, the awards recognize the sporting achievements from youngsters, coaches and teams from the local community. Alongside the teams in the category were The Nottingham Rugby League Team and the Veteran section of West Bridgford Tennis Club, who have both improved throughout the year and won countless titles along the way. However, the judges couldn't count out the European and World titles won by both teams over the past 12 months and awarded the Amateur Team of the Year to the Rafters.

The teams collecting more silver wear at the sports awards.

A rowing demonstration was given in a relay format with Adam and Jimbo the anchor leg on opposing teams, a 45 second all out effort to be crowned 'random sporting intermission show' champions?! Adam made a valiant come back after receiving the baton behind, but couldn't over come the powerhouse Jimbo.

You can't leave them alone for 5 minutes!?!

Check back next week, as Pas and Zach return from the China invitational rafting event.

Hey everyone, come see how good we look?!

2009-06-15T10:23:00.006+01:00

Here are a couple of videos put together by one of the members of the Kiwi team. They show the best sprint teams in the world dominating proceedings in Bosnia at the World Championships. The videos are of the mens team but the girls have sprung up in the middle schooling the World Overall Champions, Canada, enjoy.

The Head to Head, through the rounds

The head to Head Final

World Championship - The Slalom and the aftermath...a supporters eye view

2009-06-06T16:03:00.009+01:00

A view up the slalom course, floodlights and all. Charles Stapleton

The evening slalom event was the first time we'd seen the team's in action since the head to head, having 'duckied' out of the 14 hours coach journey to Tara, to restore our vocal chords. We were nearly as anxious as the teams as we found our 'spot' in the spectacular grandstand built on the side of a gorge. Flags & banners proudly displayed, we watched the lower ranked teams heading down tricky course as the sun set & the floodlights came on.

A view from one of the grandstands looking up the slalom course

Where the girls called home for the slalom event, although when they had finished, there were no tents!!

We were in an good spot, looking over gates 7,8,9 and 10. The first few teams went down, with some strategically missing out a couple of gates, taking the 50 second penalties instead of spending the equivalent time fighting to get through the difficult up gate 8.
The Slovenians, obviously feeling outdone by our cheering during the Head to Head turned up in their hundreds, cheering their teams through. We gave them our best efforts when the ladies came down, looking smooth & impressive through the gates, putting down a really solid first run.
On the bank we waited in tenterhooks for the men...we'd already done the double on Tuesday - could we do it again on the last night of the competition? Unfortunately, the boys used some unique tactics for their first run, missing their line and subsequently a gate...
We didn't know what to do, could the boys recover their focus for their final run of the World Rafting Champs or would the pressure of needing a clean run get to them...?

The girls checking out the improvements, ready to do battle

Ninks studying the changes in her mind

This time, the second round took a controversial turn for the ladies team, the judge on gate 11 gave our ladies a 50 second penalty, took it away, gave it again shrugging his shoulders..? It was an impressive, slick run and it was a shame for their competition to end on such a note from an undecided judge. Rightly or wrongly, the penalty was given. In our eyes the ladies had given a medal winning performance, and we were very proud to have been part of their cheering team. All we could do now is wait to find out where that put them overall.

Not quite recovered from the ladies we waited (and prayed) for the men...come on boys - we know you can do it, just make it clean...and boy, did they!! It was one of the best runs of the night - quick, slick & with some impossible looking hanging draw strokes, they fully nailed it this time. But where would they finish...?!

Thats the way to do a slalom, the boys showing how to 'up' gate 2

If your waiting for a bus, there's no better way to do it than sing!!

In typical Banja Luka style we were herded, athletes & fans, to wait for the buses to the closing ceremony for the presentations. After 45 minutes and our own renditions of 500 miles, place your hands and you're the best around we clambered on ready for a 5 minute shower & change and off to the party...it was now 12.:30am!!
The GB teams were popular winners of the Head 2 Head and we're cheered by all when they collected their medals. unfortunately there were no anthems & flag raising but both teams made the most of their moments on stage.

The girls preparing to storm the podium

The girls collecting their medals are Sprint Champions of the World

Off to the podium we go, err ... follow me kids!!

Sprint Champions of the World

The boys though, didn't come back & a member of another team (i think the Germans) congratulated us on our boys finishing 3rd overall...? It was the first we'd heard, and when I found them next to the stage for confirmation, they were confused & didn't really believe it. In fact they didn't want to believe it until it had been confirmed...and it was about 5 minutes later when they were called onto stage to collect medals for third place overall!! What a result, and what an achievement!! Our boys looked happier than the Brazilians who won for the second time.

The mens overall podium, reigning champions Brazil, the full timers Japan and Raft Club from UK, UK!

By the time the presentations were over, it was 1.30am. With the party finishing at 2 we gathered as much Nektar as possible and took the party back to Camp GB to celebrate in style!

Jimbo showing off the medal haul, trophies and all

Ruth - Team GB Supporter

World Championships - Endurance

2009-06-06T15:50:00.003+01:00

Racers on the Tara Gorge, racing!

After all the fun and games of the day before, the World Sprint Champions awoke early, around 3:30am, to get the bus to the bus to take them to the Tara ... The story continues ...

After 4 hours sleep the bus to Banja Luka was quiet, on arrival we felt like everyone was looking at us, it's a very different feeling when your leading! We mounted our bus and tried to make it look as busy as possible so that it stayed as 'our' bus. This made the 7 hours journey to Foca much more bearable, especially as we passed crammed buses! On our arrival in Foca, we paraded the streets in super hot temperatures as once again the crowds came to see the teams and entertainment put on by the town. We were then herded (as we tended to be on this trip) to the camp, shown to our accommodation, lovely little wooden huts, then herded once again on to the river for another trip down the stunning canyon. This time however, we started in a thunder storm and torrential rain, we revised our lines and made it to the bottom as quickly as possible to keep warm but conserving as much strenght as possible.

Which little house do you want to stay in!?!

This is the view from the restaurant, the Norwegian girls and the river!!

We awoke early for breakfast and a team meeting to arrange the plan for the day, the mini van heaven met us promptly at 8, we then warmed up and stretched to save time at the get in before departing at 9am?! Even though the start of the race was put back half an hour, it is surprising how much there is to do to prepare you boat, this made it seem like the race was upon us before we knew it. After a quick warm up we were summonsed to the start and asked to choose our lane, all looked very similar but we felt that trap 5 was closer to the finish, thus better for us! This shocked all the other nations as they tried to get in the faster water higher up the river. We then once again destroyed everyone off the line and easily took the lead as the others battled for water, we survived a broken paddle and held the lead as the others battled between themselves.

Mini van heaven, ready to take the teams to the water

The BIG BOYS stapes and jimbo try to fly?!

Rosie pretending to be a cat, Bry pretending to skip in the early morning warm up!

The boys much to the shock of the starters chose lane 5, they then stormed out of the blocks showing they were the fastest starters in the world and that that was the lane to go from!

We managed to hold the lead for the first fifteen minutes of the race until in one rapid all four teams came past in a short period of time, very strange how it happen and very demoralising. We managed to hold our race together and paddle the way we wanted to, we held onto the group and took Austria in one of the later rapids to finish fourth in the group. We were happy with the way we had paddled but for me a little disappointed to have finished in 11th, saying that, it was close having 15 teams all within a minute after 48 minutes of racing.

The girls starting at the front of their heat also chose trap 5 after seeing the start we had, they too managed to take the lead going into rapid 1, but faced a lot of pressure as there was little fighting behind them. After fighting to hold the lead, they dropped down the group trying to stay in contact, but didn't feel strong in the boat. After staying in the middle of the pack for much of the race Canada surged past in sight of the line. They finished in 6th place as the Japanese came from one of the slower heats and destroyed them all, winning by over a minute.

The girls showing the rest of the world their clean heels at the start of the endurance

The end of the girls endurance, this is the most favouritist part of the race, it's over!!

Both Teams were a little disappointed with the results from the race but with the racing so close, it was good to see we had caught the teams in terms of times. We find the endurance one of the hardest events to train for, not that we don't try, the lady bay run (from the water sports centre in Nottingham to the city and back) is perfect distance, but we lack good quality constant rapids to get a good rhythm to conserve out strenght. We did learn a lot out there and hope to put this into good use for future competitions.

One last word on the Tara, go there and love it like we did, a true visual gem!

Adam

The Tara Canyon baby!

This is the road ... to hell and the start!

World Championships - Sprint, Women

2009-05-22T11:54:00.002+01:00

Big Brother is watching, all the head to head runs were filmed from all sorts of funny angles!

Memoirs of a lady champion by Georgie P.

In the ladies event, our first race was with Latvia and we went in very confident taking the win. Netherlands who had the fastest time trial were up against Japan (the only professional team) so we hoped that Japan would win meaning we wouldn’t have to race the sprint winners. Sadly they didn’t, but as with all our races, we secured the fastest time meaning we had lane choice for every race! We chose our favoured start position safe in the knowledge that we have a very strong start. We also had an old score to settle from last year’s European Championships in Austria where we pushed the Netherlands over the finish line securing their win. After a battle at the top of the rapid we managed to hold our line where others had previously been pushed into an eddy and we raced on to an elated win.

The girls ready to destroy Latvia in the first head to head round

The girls prepare for the next round of head to head carnage

Up next in the semi finals, we were pitted against Canada who had also beaten us in the sprint time trial. This race was for a potential bronze medal position. As it ended up we had silver by the time we won this race! A top result from our disappointing start in the time trial positioning 5th. So we headed up for our last run in the final against Slovakia. The Slovaks are well known for their focus, brute strength, competiveness and their lack of friendly banter. We had beaten them once before in the European Champs so knew we were in with a chance by staying positive. Floating down to the start line we were surprised to find that we had pole position once again, as we were expecting to take second choice and were weighing up our options for a battle. Our main fighting tool were all the supporters who came over from Britain with us. The amount of cheering on the start line was a real confidence booster, followed by Ruth’s ruthless recruitment of a whole stand to chant “UK UK” as we came down the rapid into the nasty boily section all the way to the finish line.

The girls charging hard infront of the chanting crowd

Winning the final was incredible, topped only by then cheering our boys into the same position. As both teams walked back up to our supporters’ camp we were mobbed by reporters, TV crews, other team’s congratulations and a surprise firm handshake from the British ambassador no less. An incredible day for both British teams who refused to be outdone by each other!!

Champions, champions!!

World Championships - Sprint, men

2009-05-22T11:46:00.006+01:00

The World At Our Feet….

After an incredible opening ceremony last night consisting of 45,000 spectators and a parade through Baja Luka, today (Tuesday 19th) was the start of our World Championship Campaign. The championships began with the sprint head to head competition. After an initial time trial teams are seeded then race each other head to head down a fast stretch of challenging white water. After finishing 8th in the time trial we were pitted against the Germans who had a poor time trial and finished 24th. The Germans went off the start line on the less favourable left side very hard to push level with us going into the main rapid. We stuck to our line on the rapid still neck and neck but emerged from the rapid on faster water to take an emphatic win over world class competitors.

The Strong first round opposition of the Germans and the tussle all the way to the bottom of the rapid

For our next round we were drawn against the Cost Ricans, still pumped from our big win against the Germans we shot off the line from taking priority on the right to leave them standing off the start, from which they never recovered. We were now down to the last eight an incredible feat for the team and in a position we had never been in before. Our next pairing was against the Bulgarians, these chaps are quite literally enormous, I glanced across on the start line to my opposite number and immediately wished I hadn’t due to the imposing size of his arms! However the British determination shone through once more as we flew out of the start to put ourselves a slither ahead of the Bulgarians, a position we once again managed to hold until the line. We were in the top four and one race from a medal!!

The beefy Bulgarians getting schooled off the line

Our semi final put us against the Austrian team but due to our battle with the Bulgarians we had lost valuable time and the Austrians were given lane choice off the start. They took the faster right lane from which no team had been beaten from so far in the competition. We had one choice, go hard off the start and push them right as the Germans had done to us, take the hit through the big rapid and hope for the best in the final straight to the line. Our boat shot off the line with a super human effort from all the team to go level with the Austrian team, we executed our plan with military precision to push them right on the rapid so much so that they hit the rock and eddied out. We took on a lot of water through the rapid but powered on through to the finish line to re-write what was possible coming from the less fortunate left side, we had just won our first World Championship medal, but the question now was what colour! We had made it to the final of the Rafting World Championships against the strong and powerful team from the USA. Since our first epic battle with the Germans there had been a mood of excitement and positivity simmering on the raft, there was no way we were going to lose. As we went all guns blazing off the start line in the final in front of a grand stand packed with supporters and 2 million Bosnians watching on television the boat flew through the water to pass the Americans with only the smallest of contact. We went out harder than ever and there was no way we were going to fall behind, as the finish line neared the crowd roared and we paddled our way to a Gold medal in the World Rafting Championships, get in!

Words by The Zach Man.

Opening Ceremony

2009-05-22T11:34:00.002+01:00

After the final few days of training, returning from Montenegro and the Tara Canyon, to the Vrbas river to make the last few tweaks to the lines on the sprint and slalom courses, the teams prepared for the opening ceremony to be held in the host city of Banja Luka. All 55 teams lined the main road through the town to be greeted by thousands of locals watching local Bosnian sports demonstrated by local school children. We then marched through the street to the opening party followed by a tradional Bosnian welcoming.

Bosnia 2009 Worlds - Training Days

2009-05-15T17:20:00.003+01:00

Both the Mens and Ladies teams have made it safe and sound to Bosnia in preparation for the World Championships 2009. The base for the event is Banja Luka in the North of Bosnia at the Kanjon Rafting Centre. The teams have already paddled the sprint and slalom sections held in the local valley trying to key into the right lines and quickest routes down the rapids. On Wednesday the teams headed down to Montenegro on a 7 hour bus ride to paddle the endurance river, the Tara which runs through a beautiful gorge headed with tree lined limestone outcrops, some reaching 1000 meters. After two runs down the 17km section, both teams boarded the bus for the 7 hour journey back. The remaining days will be spent around the rafting centre training hard and resting up ready for the event to start on Tuesday the 19th. Stay tuned for more pictures and updates.

All the following pictures are taken from the sprint rapid, a lovely run in to a big wave train

British Championships Video

2008-11-23T13:23:00.002Z

Here is a cheeky little video from the weekend posted on Youtube by Mike Mayberry. It is a cool video showing just how fun the weekend was.

Enjoy

British White Water Rafting Championship picture fest

2008-11-18T15:26:00.008Z

On a cold weekend in November 20 teams did battle to be crowned champions of the Monkey Island. The Welsh weather did it's best to dampen the spirits but the water was high and the weekend, well, legendary. Enjoy some of the snaps from the weekend, check back later on for a detailed report.

As the teams prepare to do battle ... "can we just do one more shots like this?!"

2008 British White Water Champions - Raft Club

2008 British White Water Champions - Girls with Guns!

Time trial fun

Big splashes on the time trial

The Buxton Birds with the face of determination

'Yak attack' with his North Wales chums

Not one of them are looking at the cameraman?!

Team Deif splashing all the way to the line

Ash and the crew speed to the line

The Buxton Birds looking slick

The local boys show the line on the time trial

The Raft Chicks showing the more experienced Buxton Birds the racing line?!

More head to head antics at the top of the course

The Beast and the Firestarters gurning all the way to the line!!

Poppa leighton getting stuck in on the head to head

Dodge, duck, dip, dive and avoid the poles, the five rules of slalom!

Richie P, the man pape, zulu and the rest of their internet chums?!

That's the way to do the slalom

Flash, aahhhh! slo-wer than the rest of us! Well he moved pretty quick to dodge this one!

Girls with Guns styling the slalom course

Raft Club Accepting there prize at the party night

Buxton X-treme (or is that busom X-rated?!)

None of the Young Guns Came in Fancy Dress!!

Old man Blue shows us all how it's done at the early morning endurance demonstration

The Beast and the Firestarters race through the last drop

Splish, Splash, Splosh

There is 15 feet of raft under there somewhere?!

All photos courtesy of Jason Pacey Photography

Ladies and Gentlemen... introducing...

2008-10-17T17:27:00.007+01:00

Welcome to one of our new features, here you will find out what makes each team member tick, what they have done and where they have done what they have done?!

The first in the series is...

This is Adam Norfolk, 28, the front left monster on the mens team.

Occupation?
Firefighter

Where do you live?
Nottingham

Time on the water?
Kayaking for over ten years now and rafting for four of them.

So then, what do you bench?
Probably only around 85kg's! I'm built for endurance (I hope..?!)

Why you love rafting?
Coming from a kayaking background, I love the team aspect of being in the raft from route discussions (or arguments?!) to mass celebrations! I feel it helps with motivation, on a grey winters morning there's no worst feeling than your team mate dragging you out to beast you for a session, but there is no better feeling than when it is done!

Places you've travelled?
All over Europe, Kayaked in Canada, New Zealand, Zambia and Uganda. Rafted in Korea and Ecuador so far. Bosnia is on the cards for next year, all going well with selection in November mind!!

One thing you hate about travelling?
Although I love to see new places and paddle new rivers the down side to travelling is the living out of a suit case and being cramped in to the same hotel room to save money. We had three hotel rooms between 14 of us for the first five days in Korea...squeeeeze!

One place you'd love to go back to?
I would love to go back and paddle the Zambezi in Zambia, it was my first big water experience and one I would never forget. It would be legendary to race a raft on there!

One place you would love to go?
Hmmm, that's a tricky one. I would love to explore some big rivers in northern Canada multi day stylee! I'd also love to get to Chile before they dam all the rivers!

What are your top three experiences whilst paddling/travelling
and three of your worst?

I lived in Leeds when I first started paddling, we were out every weekend playing in our kayaks. One weekend we found one of the best waves in the country, we paddled it after masses of rain on two consecutive sundays in glorious sunshine.

I will never forget the view you get after about 20 minutes on the walk-in to the Zambezi river, you get to see the first three rapids in all there glory and the sounds are unforgetable.

The joy and elation of crossing the finish line in Austria having just beaten Russia to the head to head crown, thats why the team aspect of rafting is good!!

On one paddling trip in the lakes I managed to get myself stuck in a weir, probably my own fault, I followed the wash of my friends boat and ended up five feet off course. I managed to get myself out after a couple of scary uncontrollable minutes.

It was 8am, snowing and very cold as we rocked up at Hurley weir during our Devizes to Westminster raftathon. This is the worst I have felt in a boat, ever. After some words of encouragement and a bit of food I started to come round a couple of hours later!

After an awesome two week trip exploring the source of the River Nile, we boarded our plane back to blighty. Unfortunately, though, after a 17 hour unscheduled stop in Kenya we returned home nearly 60 hours later and a little tired.

See ya!

Europa Meisterschaft 08

2008-07-07T14:21:00.005+01:00

Here is an article from the teams very successful trip to the European Championships in Austria, taken from Canoe Focus magazine.

Pas close up, laying the hammer down

The british rafting teams have been together for over three years competing in the last two World Championships in Ecuador (2005) and Korea (2007). This was to be their first European Championships and hopes were high as the teams travelled to Austria to compete against the best in Europe. The competition was held Wildalpen which is situated in Central Austria 2 hours from Vienna, it is a small mountain village with a population of 500 people, Raft Racing has been in the village since the 1970's, with commercial trips being run on this section of river. It is a snow melt river with crystal clear drinkable waters.

Raft racing competitions are split into four categories, a time trial, a head to head sprint, a slalom and an endurance with medals being awarded for each discipline and points going forward to crown the overall champion. This week saw two types of competition the 4-person (R4) and 6-person (R6) events being held at the same venue for the first time, this meant it was going to be a long week for the teams with five days of competition ahead of them.

On the first day of competition, both teams made a good start in the R4 event placing highly in the time trials, the ladies medaling in 3rd, the boys however missed out by .09 of a second coming in 4th! The ladies were off first in the evening head to head finals on one of the fairest sprint courses seen at recent championships. They showed there potential by cruising through the early rounds against the Hungarian and Danish teams. They then faced the Czech Republic girls, the home of Raft Racing, in the semi finals. After trailing into the first drop, the girls regained the head of the race by taking a sneaky line in the rapid and over powering the Czech Ladies as the boats clashed above the drop. This left them cruising for the line and into the finals to met the Slovakians. The girls started on the slower of the lanes but with all the hype of the previous rounds they managed to fight there way to the head of the race and lead into the rapid and to the line for Britains first ever European title.

The girls as a six flying down the sprint course

The floodlights came on for the mens finals as they faced the flat water racing Hungarian team in the first round, after a fierce coming together from the start the men managed to power ahead and hold on, pulling away to the finish line. After styling their way past the Italians the boys managed to hold off the same sneak line move, the girls had used, from the Czech men, proving too powerful they took the side hit but came out on top into the drop and down the rest of the rapid. On the walk back up to the top the mens fanbase had increased in size as the crowd were willing them on to 'kapow' the Russians. The gun went and they were off, surging ahead after a brief coming together and away for Britains second ever European title, all be it two hours after the first! The time was about 10:30 now and the beer tent was beginning to fill as the teams changed into something a little warmer ready for tea and medals! They entered the tent to a standing ovation as the rafting heavyweights acknowledged what had been achieved. A moment that all of them will remember for a very long time. Then it was time for a sing-a-long to the National Anthem as both teams took to the top of the podium.

The boys with their medals, Sprint Champions of Europe

With the added pressure of leading the R4 competition as they headed into the next two events, the teams had the advantage, choosing the fast lanes for the endurance race and leading the field down the sprint section and onto 15km of pain! The ladies looked strong, keeping the lead for the early part of the race, surrendering it when the Slovakian ladies, cruised past and off into the distance, the ladies held off a determined effort from the Czech team to take the silver medal. The boys were involved in an epic race with all 13 teams never more than a couple of metres apart, after dropping down the field they managed to claw there way back up, parking in front of the Germans on a tight corner then opening up to pass the Austrians and back up into 5th.

The start of the endurance race, le mans style

A glorious view of the mens endurance, the opening stages down the sprint site

The girls holding off the challenge of the Slovakian girls

The slalom course involved a nasty cross over a big hole, a tricky gate 10 made sure you had to cross the hole! The ladies were up first and after a strong smooth run were disappointed to find themselves down the rankings as unsportingly teams opted missing a gate to stay out of the hole. The ladies grouped together and changed the plan and another strong run took them into 3rd. The boys had two solid rides with big crosses over the hole, their second run was the quicker but with one touch they finished in 8th place.

The girls in deep discussion trying to amend the errors of the first slalom run

The girls body popping on the trickiest gate of the slalom course

The overall results for the R4 competition, the ladies after medaling in nearly every round ending in 2nd place and the boys held on for 3rd. An awesome result for both teams as once again they took to the podium along with the big names of raft racing in there first R4 competitions.

The R6 competition then begun, the teams were on a mental high after the R4 competition, but drained from three days hard work, most of the bigger nations had different teams competing in the different classes showing the scale of raft racing in Eastern Europe. The highlights included the ladies almighty battle with the Netherlands in the head to head quarter finals, the girls fought from top to bottom even having the dutchies sideways at one point but just couldn't pass before the line. The boys had one of there best slalom runs ever being super tight and fast across the hole finishing in 5th. The girls showed good strenght on their endurance race starting from near the back of the pod, they managed to fly past Europe's elite to medal in 3rd! The overall results left the girls in 4th place and the boys in 9th, two very strong results as these teams progress up the rankings.

The mens 6 in between gates on the slalom course

The girls lining up a down on the flatter part of the slalom course

The teams are unfunded in their quest for world domination so unfortunately struggle to compete internationally more than once a year. They raise money to help cover costs by holding raft racing days yearly and are supported for team kit and clothing by some great local companies. The teams would like to thank Peak UK, Reed, Run and Jump Clothing, Major Sporty, Current Trends UK Ltd. and the National Watersports Centre. If you would like to know more about the teams or raft racing visit www.britishraftteam.co.uk

Devizes to Westminster 2008...in a raft!?!

2008-07-07T13:59:00.003+01:00

Moments before the start, only 31 hours 53 minutes and 10 seconds to go!

During the Easter of 2008, the men's team took part in one of the worlds toughest canoe races, they however took part in a raft, fools!

The British Raft Team thought it would be a good idea to spend the Easter Weekend cruising towards London in the sunshine. The end product was anything but ! This was the Devizes to Westminster, at 125 miles it is the worlds longest non-stop canoe race, the coldest Easter for forty years and we had a time limit to stick to!

After the organisers accepted our entry and after we had gathered all our available friends for the weekend to help support us we were ready for the off. We did have a motive to complete the race, as we were raising money for the Sport Relief charity.

The early stages were flat and hard work, but with stunning scenery

One of our lovely snow storms on day one, this was mixed with sunny spells and hail!

We were able to set off before the official start time as the raft is not designed to go at any speeds considered fast! We cruised the first 30 miles or so having the odd hail storm and swan attack which left Pas screeching and the rest of the boat in hysterics. Newbury, 34.5 miles was our first big food stop. Our support crew greeted us with bowls of pasta and warm drinks as the evening drew in. After a lengthy stop of around 9 minutes we were off and heading towards Reading where we would hit the Thames and hopefully some flow.Luckily the winds died down overnight meaning we had good reception for our radio which helped keep the spirits high as the temperatures plummeted. We plodded on to reach Reading at 4:30am.

The start after our hold at Reading, it was 5:30am and the boat was covered in ice, what better way to start a day. One hour later it dropped to 4 below!

After the weeks rain the Thames had some flow which was aiding our paddling speed, we were now nearing 4mph as we headed down to the big Thames weirs and morning light. The winds stayed away but as we pulled into to Hurley, 66.5 miles, we were in the middle of a snow storm. By now we had been paddling for over 20 hours and were all feeling very good, apart from a few minor aches, we were just bored! Knowing we had to carry on for maybe another 15 hours! Our spirits were raised as we past under the M25 and reached the 100 mile mark, knowing we were insight (somehow) of the finish. Teddington, 107.5 miles, was going to be our final food stop before we paddled on the tide towards Westminster Bridge. Here we had an extended rest of just over 11 minutes before the food and drinks were snatched out of our hands and we were thrown back in the boat by our support crew.

As the evening drew in for a second time the heavens opened up as we passed through a thunder storm and torrential rain. The final few bridges seemed to be getting further apart as we approached the end, finally finishing at 8:20pm, completing the 125 mile epic in a time of 31 hours 53 minutes and 10 seconds. Half of the field had to abandon in one of the hardest DW events since the beginning 60 years ago.

The team would thank to thank all of our support team members. Ruth, Alli, Kat, Dunny, Kiwi Matt, Nezza, Besty and all of family Cox for their hard work leading up to the event. Our sponsors who helped us during the event Budget Car Rentals, Peak UK and Run and Jump Clothing.

The team and support crew, thanks to everyone who helped to make this adventure an achievement.

This mission did have a purpose, we were raising money for Sport Relief, we have so far managed to raise over £1000 and are still collecting. See the donation page at www.mysportrelief.com/britishraftteam

World Championships - Korea 2007

2008-07-07T12:46:00.005+01:00

Here is the blog from last years World Championships held in Korea, written daily as the teams enjoyed wireless internet in their army style camp.

Captain pas with our flag

The Girls and Boys teams have arrived in Inje, after a mammoth 16 hour flight via Dubai. The teams are settling in to great hotel accommodation with a very local breakfast/buffet consisting of rice and spam with a side of water melon. Plans for the day are to investigate the river, which at the moment is in need of a lot of rain. Fingers crossed for the flood like conditions we had been enduring in the UK for the past week.

Today was spent by the river, recovering from the journey and acclimatising ourselves to the water and the weather. Both teams paddled the upper section of the river in which the sprint and slalom events will take place whilst the others ate, swam and relaxed in the heat of the day. The rumors about the water levels were true, some sections were a walk and the rest were a scrape.

Well it has finally rained here and things have changed a lot, yesterday the river was very clear and very low where as today the river is a very dirty brown colour and very ... well unfortunately low still but hey my rain dance is progressing well. We have spent the day working on the balance of the raft because of an injury to stapes the night before we flew, we have had some big changes to make. He broke his foot in two places and was unable to travel so he has been badly missed. Fortunately we have the best reserve ever in "senour Bob" so things have not taken too long to get flowing. So with the aid of some video work we are looking forward to the up coming challenge.

The boys trying to be men!

Today saw the registration of the teams and the first team captains meeting. The boys team with the loss of Stapes found a late reserve in the form of Bryony's dad Martin, having never rafted before he is hoping he won't get called upon, but is enjoying the freebies that come with being a competitor! Pas attended the first captains meeting which almost turned into a brawl (not really) there was heated discussions however with the organisers thinking of moving some of the events six hours away, driving by night as the venue has no accommodation, then driving back to finish the event!! The problem is that the sponsors want it in Inje but due to the severe lack of water some of the events cannot take place here!! It's all up in the air at the moment, all we know is that the sprint will be here and it will start on Saturday, so it's all training until then.

The night before the big event, the teams were escorted to the local stadium and led around the track by groups of school children before being treated to local displays and fire works.

The girls at the opening ceremony

We were treated to a very local display at the opening ceremony

Mens teams with our own team of local supporters!

First day of the competition and us Brits proved to be on top form. Today saw the time trial sprints followed by head-to-head races down the sprint course. The last couple of days has been a bit sketchy with not much rain to feed the river, so a longer sprint course was set with a start on the flat. Much contention arose, as the start wasn’t staggered to suit the flow so teams in the left hand lane always won. Unfortunately, both the GB men’s and ladies teams were started in the right hand lane based on our time trial times. First up, the girls had an awesome time trial resulting in 5th place. This meant for some reason that we were up against the Canadian girls who had come first. Maybe this pushed us harder than ever, and led us to gain the fastest recorded time of all teams unfortunate enough to land the right hand lane! We came in with 5th place overall out of 13 teams – a much improved performance from our 9th place in Ecuador. Our time was only 2 seconds behind Canada! The men’s team looked really strong battling over the rocky river and gained 15th place in the time trial, just getting them into the head-to-head races. First up they were against Slovenia who placed 7th. As the count down began, unlucky Slovenia put in an early paddle stroke. The boys had not seen this and raced their best, however, the judges did see the false start, which led to automatic disqualification of Slovenia! The boys were just about ready to get off the river when they were told to get back for their second race – against the bongo banging Brazilians. On the start line they sang hip hip hooray to rival the Brazilian’s ritual chanting and praying. The boys were placed 8th overall with Brazilians eventually taking the win after a further two races. In the ladies event, Canada came first, New Zealand second, Czech third, Slovakia fourth and us in fifth!! Out of 13 teams. In the men’s Brazil were first, Japan second, Slovakia third and Italy fourth. We are all really pleased with the results and look forward to tomorrow’s slalom competition further down the river. - Bring on Slalom.

Girls on the sprint course, charging

The boys powering down the sprint course

Slalom
Well what a day for British rafting! Today brought the slalom, using a tight technical piece of the river the course was set and the teams were out bright and early discussing lines and tactics. The ladies were up first, the decision was made to go steady and clean, the buzzer sounded and a good solid run of the course resulted in one touch and a good line on the killer drop of the day the Devils Slot, landing them with a respectable seventh for the first round. The boys were up next and up against some serious competition. Powerful, controlled paddling saw them clinch an excellent eleventh place for their first run. The girls had been watching intently and decided to make a risky move and change their tactics for their second run. The pace was upped and a faster riskier move was pulled off on two crucial gates. The boys put in another very strong performance and the teams settled to wait for their results to come throughI was the first to hear the girls result. Unbelieving I checked and rechecked, then screaming down the steps, jumping from boulder to boulder I yelled THIRD!!!!!! We were so happy our first medal as a team, tears and laughter, hugs and screaming, general pandemonium broke loose. The scene was repeated when the boys turned up twenty minutes later. So a very proud team was up on the podium watching our flag being raised along side the Kiwis and the Czechs – best in the world. The guys held onto their eleventh, which puts them at eighth overall, the girls with that awesome result are now sitting fourth. All to play for, the endurance tomorrow BRING IT ON!!!!!

Here a look at a sequence of the girls on the squeeze during their slalom run

The girls fashioning their new silverware

Endurance
Final Stage of the competition today. The Endurance a head to head timed run down 13km of challenging white water, this stage accounted for 40% of our overall score. After of lack of water in Inje the event officials had all fingers and toes crossed for a delivery of water for this final part of the event. The gods must have been on our side, as the night before the event the heavens opened and gave us a heavy dose of water. So much so we could move to the upper section of river to a much steeper part of the river. On arrival to the river our hearts sank as the upper section was still missing water, we got on for a practice run, only to find the river level rising under us. A pool drop type of river meant heavy rapid sections very capable of flipping or pining a raft, on the practice run, 2 rafts had a pin situation, as luck had it they came off with out too many problems. A few classic drops provided vertical falls, perfect to attempt the raft boof!. We arrived at the top of the course, GB Mens team in a heat against Czech Republic and Australia, GB women against Germany and Slovakia. The mens team set away first winning the sprint start, GB had started well, unfortunately this was closely followed by a unlucky route choice allowing Czech and Australia, to move a head. Czech team now had clean water and moved away, GB mens team knew they needed to over take the Australian team to keep a top 10 result. Sure enough with greater power and route choice GB moved past Australia with a small clash of paddles, to come 2nd in their heat with a good time, very hopeful of a good placement. GB Women's Set off next with Slovakia moving away in to first place only make a poor route choice and be taken by GB. After moving in to the next rapid GB took on a lot of water slowing their raft massively, slovakia saw the opportunity and sneaked back into pole position, this set the format for the rest of the race with Slovakia coming in first followed by GB then closely followed by Germany, a very close tight finish showing the similar strengths of all these teams. After this testing race both teams were greeted by loyal supporters (mum and dad Great Britain and Mr Goo the driver) with cold beers ready to celebrate a successful race. Teams now only had to hope for a good overall placement.

The men ready to pounce on the Australians during the endurance

The ladies pushing on during the endurance

On arrival back Head quarters, both teams where elated to discover we had achieved more than they had expected. GB Women's coming in 6th place on the endurance giving them 5th place over all, GB men coming in 10th place on the endurance achieving a final placement of 8th overall. With the Women having 13 teams in total and the mens having 29 Teams in total, Great Britain certainly made a big impression on International Rafting, for such a small country our Mens team managed to finish above such counties as USA, Canada, Slovenia, Australia and Mexico.

A successful day was followed my much celebration that evening as you would expect...

A little bit of 'blue steel' at the closing party

Bring on 2009.

Bryony with flag

Welcome one and all...

2008-07-07T12:06:00.004+01:00

Welcome to the blog for the British Whitewater Rafting Teams. On these pages we will tell you about our adventures travelling and competing around the world. We will share pictures from our travels, give you team member interviews and keep you up to date with the news from the teams...

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