Womens Team History

Norway has been represented in the world championships in rafting since 1991. The first time was on the Pacuare and  Reventazon rivers in Costa Rica, next on the Coruh river in Turkey in 1993 and then on the Zambezi in  Zimbabwe in 1995.   

In 1998 the competitions gained official World Championship status and were organized by the IRF (International Rafting Federation). Norway competed again on the Vlatava river in Czech Republic in 2003, on the Quijos river  in Equador in  2005, the Naerinchon river in South Korea in 2007 and the Tara river in Bosnia and Monetenegro in2009.

Competitions are made up of sprint, head to head, slalom and down river.  Norway achieved it’s best  place in the World Rafting Championship in Equador in 2005, with 3rd place in the sprint.

In the first competition Norway was represented  with a team made up mainly  of guides from Sjoa. The last 10 years the team from Voss has been the best team chosen to represent Norway in the World Championship. In the past few  years there have been several Norwegian club teams which have competed both in Euro Championship competitions, at the Extreme sport week in Voss and Sjoafestivalen, the Sjoa River Festival in Norway.

The team that is representing Norway in Costa Rica in October, 2011 is made up of 3 paddlers from Kongsberg Paddling Club, 2 from Sjoa and 1 from Dagali. Kongsberg Paddling Club has had an active rafting team since 2007 and has previously competed in the European Championships in Austria in 2008, twice in competitions on the Sjoa river and twice in the Eurocup at the Extremesports week in Voss.

The members of the 2011 team train actively together and in general spend lots of time on the river. They are using the autumn to train hard together in preparation for the World Rafting Championship.