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.