Rafting - Championships

International Rafting Federation (ISF) is the governing body of this race competition. Every participating country has its own governing body to organize the sport successfully throughout the calendar.

Project Raft

The World Rafting Championship has originated in the international events of Project Raft in which more or less 50 teams compete in various disciplines including Slalom and Down River. Project Raft was introduced by California river guides Jib Ellison and Mike Grant and the first event, the Chuya Rally, was a collaborative effort between them and the Siberian river explorer, Misha Kolchevnikov.

Camel White Water Challenge (CWWC)

Tony Hansen tried to get Project Raft 1994 in the Zambezi River. Unfortunately Project Raft stopped after the Turkey event and after that Tony found his own sponsor for the event in the form of Camel. He also designed the event along slightly more competitive lines. This was the birth of the Camel White Water Challenge (CWWC) which was then organized on the river Zambezi, Zimbabwe/Zambia (1995–1997 and 2001), Reventazon and Pacuare Rivers, Costa Rica (1998), Orange River, South Africa (1999) and Futalefu River, Chile (2000).

Status of World Championships

The last three CWWC events were organized before the World Championships in rafting and for this reason the teams need to qualify through the selection events at the national and continental levels in coordination with the International Rafting Federation (IRF). In the year 2000, the IRF decided to hold the World Rafting Championships every two years and eliminated the selection events at the continental level to enhance the development of the sport at the international level.