2011 WRC in Costa Rica

Sorry to everyone for the belated post. The internet access in Costa Rica was sparse to say the least.

Well, we survived...and the races in Costa Rica were quite the adventure! The whole experience felt like a grueling tropical adventure race complete with huge poisonous snakes, being chased by angry bulls, trekking up and down mountains in our raft gear, and some truly terrifying bus rides on rain slick 4WD mountain roads. In the end, both the men and the women placed 7th overall. Not a bad showing considering the stiff competition this year and some of the toughest course designs seen at a World Rafting Championship race.

Here's the brief recap:




Day 1: Time Trial (100 pts)

All of the race courses for the championships were held on a remote section of the Pacuare River--arguably one of the world's premiere wild rivers. The Time Trial course started immediately below a class V+ section of the Pacuare called "The Upper". The course started in a pool and quickly entered a class IV rapid. It was a challenging course, demanding quick sprints through short flatwater sections, then a shift to more technical river running through tight slots and large waves and holes.  The men had a rather disappointing 9th place finish after burning a precious half-second on an exceptionally strong eddy line. The women's team had a strong race and narrowly missed a place on the podium, finishing fourth just behind New Zealand.

Day 2: Head to Head (200 pts)
The time trial scores from Day 1 seeded all of the teams in brackets for the Head-to-Head race, which was held immediately downstream from the Time Trial course. Teams raced two at a time, competing for the lead and a chance to advance to the next heat. The course started with teams held a boat width apart in an eddy behind a large rock in the middle of the river. Teams battled for position as they crashed through a large wave-hole, then sprinted across a flatwater pool, and then jockeyed for position down a technical class III section.

The men raced first. As luck would have it, they found themselves in an exceptionally tough bracket with Japan and Brazil. In the second round, the men raced Brazil from the slow lane. They had an exceptionally strong start, beat Brazil off the line and won the race. It was a huge boost and a great achievement. In the third round, the men came up against Japan, the reigning world champions. Again, the U.S. Men started in the slow lane. Japan had a very strong start and after a battle, they were able to pull ahead to win the heat. The men finished the day in 5th place.

After the men, it was the women's turn to race. Due to their strong finish in the time trial, the women had a by in the first round. The second round pitted the U.S. women against Hungary. Our women proved that they were the team that was hungry--hungry for gold--and won the heat. In the third round the women raced against Russia, a historically strong team. There was a fierce battle off of the start, but the Russians were able to pull ahead. Our women followed close behind, bumping the Russian boat down the rest of the course, but were unable to make a pass. They finished the day in 7th.

Day 3: Slalom (300 pts)
When the teams arrived on course on the third day, they were surprised by two things: the significant increase in the water level in the Pacuare and the exceptionally difficult slalom course design. Each team had two hours to scout the course, then two attempts to run it. The scoring for the event was based on the best of the two runs. The first run through for both the men and the women showed that this was one of the most difficult courses seen at a World Rafting Championship race.  Below is a brief recap of some of the more exciting events during the day:

1st Run-Women:

• Bulgarian women wrap raft near gate 1
• Canada women flip on rock at Gate 10.

1st Run-Men:

• Colombia flip at gate 14
• Czech get caught on rocks at Gate 9--have to climb out and pull the raft up.
• Japan misses Gate 9
• Slovakia misses Gates 5 and 6

2nd Run-Women:

• Japan women flip just below Gate 6
• USA has a swimmer at Gate 14
• Hungary wraps on rock below Gate 6.

2nd Run-Men:

• Bulgaria men nearly wrap on the same rock that their women wrapped on in the first round.
• Canada misses the Gate 9 eddy and paddler falls out as they hit the rocks below.
• Netherlands doesn’t make the eddy at gate 8 and paddler falls out. 

Both the men and women felt good after the race, especially given the extremely demanding character of the course (Good work, Ferdinand!).  However, as the day ended both teams were edged out of medal contention. The men finished in 9th and the women finished in 5th.


Day 4: Down River (400 pts)
The Down River race on the Pacuare was amazing. The course was long, and the rapids were stout. It was a race that demanded teams be both adept at running technical whitewater and incredibly fit endurance athletes. Teams started in pairs at two minute intervals at the bottom of the slalom course. Then they battled for position through class III-IV rapids during the first 20 minutes of racing. Over the final 40 minutes, racers grunted it out through class II-III whitewater, across long pools and around hairpin turns.

The U.S. men started the race with the Italians. Our men sprinted off the line for an early lead, but the Italian's remained close behind them through the rapids. In the final large rapid, the Italian boat collided with the U.S. boat and popped on one of our paddle blades. It was a terrible way to be knocked out of the race, and we felt awful (and had to buy a few rounds later that night). The rest of the run was a race against the clock. The team felt good about the finish, ending up in 7th place.

Our women were next. They were paired up with the always-though British women. Our ladies won the start and got out in front. The Brits seized on an opportunity in the rapids, though, and made a pass. The U.S. ladies fought hard for the rest of the race, but were unable to regain the lead. In the end, they finished in 6th place.

WRC Party (Endless Points)
And then, the women won the party. Nice job, Ladies.

The Time Has Come!

After 10 months of training, the moment of truth has finally arrived.  In the next week both the Men's and Women's Teams will be traveling to the World Rafting Championships in Costa Rica on the Pacuare River.  The World Rafting Championships (WRC) is the single largest international rafting event in the world with over 50 teams and 25 countries competing, so winning teams earn large bragging rights.  


(Video: Footage captured from a practice session of the Men's team running through Gore Canyon at 1600cfs).
The Men's and Women's team's had started training for the Costa Rica WRC since the winter of 2010 with extensive gym regiments in Vail CO. And since the Spring runoff, both teams have dedicated as much time as possible to make sure they are well prepared for the WRC.

The Men's team leaves tomorrow, Sept. 28, and the Women leave Saturday, Oct. 1, to start early training sessions.  This early training will give the teams an advantage over others as they'll be able to get to know the river more extensively than other teams.

The Official days of the event, with official practice sessions start Tues Oct. 4, but race days and Opening Ceremony start on Thursday Oct. 6.  Each of the teams will try and keep every one updated on the journey and day to day events and results.  The Official Calender lists each of the day to day events as well as the linked website is the official site for the event and should be updated with results daily (hopefully).

Also check out our webiste to get to our Facebook and Twitter accounts:  USARaft.org

Royal Gorge Race

Check out this video of the Men's team crushing it in the Royal Gorge. They were one man down, but managed to beat a field of six man teams. It was a great race and an awesome festival hosted by Canon City.

Women in Dowd Chute

A nice follow up to the last video we posted. The Chute has our number this year..

The water is still huge in Colorado!

Dowd Chute at High Water!

The Men's Team ran Dowd Chute at 8 feet last night. Pretty exciting run. We definitely need to glue the footcups back into the front of the boat. Watch the video to find out why.

Creek at the Peak Race on Clear Creek

The men and women took 1st and 5th place respectively at the Creek at the Peak Race this weekend on Clear Creek. Great finish for both teams considering there was no women's division. The ladies crushed it, ending up on top of most of the men's teams that entered the race. Go USA! 

Thanks Brett for a great race, we hope you raised a pile of money for GOALS! It's a great cause and everyone should check out the site: www.goals4youth.org.

Official race results are posted here on MountainBuzz.

2011 Teva Mountain Games

The 2011Teva Mountain Games wrapped up Sunday night. What a weekend! Warm weather, tons of people, great competitions. Definitely one of the highlights of every racing season for the team. We posted out in a tent most of the weekend, handing out business cards and talking with folks about the team. We had a beautiful spot right next to Gore Creek. Not a bad place to spend a couple of warm summer days. 

The meet-and-greet hosted by Vendetta's on Friday night was a success. We were able to meet and share beers with lots of great folks. Thanks to Vendetta's for hosting and to all of you who came out a purchased t-shirts and raffle tickets. You help make all of this possible!

Sunday was the only day of competition for the teams. We entered six two-man teams into the Raft Cross event. This event is a real crowd pleaser every year. Teams of two race head-to-head down course that is a cross between a sprint and a giant slalom. This year, each team raced in a Hyside Mini-Me, a very unstable and arguably silly boat--but a hell of a lot of fun. There was plenty of carnage in the hole at the finish line which drove the crowd wild. In the end, two of our teams advanced through the qualifiers to the finals. The last race came down to the last upstream slalom gate, perched perilously close to a good-sized hole. A New Zealand team was in the lead, but was bumped out of the gate by one US Raft Team boat, and then slammed backwards by the other. One of our teams made it through the gate and to the finish first. The kiwis came in a close second, and the second Raft Team flipped in the hole and swam across the finish. We finished up the day with a first and a third place medal and $1000 in prize money. Not a bad day!