On a radiant Saturday morning we headed out to the Eiskanal for the last Euro Cup Competition of the year.
After a quite bad sprint, where we got stuck in the eddy , we were still able to finish 2nd out of the 6 participating women’s teams.
There were 2 Belgian (Waterproof) teams, 1 Dutch team (Fl’eau) and 3 German teams.
Waterproof Team 2 finished last in the sprint, but we have to say that the competition was fierce.
As we were exempt of the 1st round in the H2H race, we were able to cheer our 2nd team, that won their first battle.
Unfortunately, in the 2nd round we had to race against each other, but it did mean that a Belgian team would definitely make it to the finals.
In the finals we had to compete against a German team. It was a long battle, but after 100 meters we took the lead and we were able to paddle nicely to the finish line.
Our Waterproof 2 team won the race for 3rd place.
After a short lunch break, we had to memorize the entire sequence of slalom gates, containing 6 upstream gates and 8 downstream gates.
At the 1st run we missed one gate and hit 3 times, but we knew we could do better, so we put all our efforts into the 2nd run.
Unfortunately the run did not have a better outcome, but luckily we were able to gain 1st place on the slalom race.
After an exhausting day, we were given a well-deserved break, so we could perform again the next day.
The down river race took place on Sunday. Starting with a run to the raft, our first team immediately took the lead and finished 1st.
With our 2 Waterproof teams we definitely showed our capacities and gained a well-deserved 1st and 4th place in the rankings.
Another good performance!
Belgian ladies win European Championships Rafting 2012 title
The Belgian ladies of the Waterproof rafting team have made a stunning impression on the European Championships in the Czech Republic by winning the title.
A 5th place in the sprint, a 2nd place in the H2H, a 3rd place in the slalom and a 1st place in the downriver race have all contributed to the Waterproof Women Rafting Team winning the well-deserved European title in R4.
On top of the European title in R4, they gained 5th place in R6. These results exceed all expectations and emphasize that hard work and training really pays off.
European Championship Czech Republic 2012
Lipno nad Vltava hosted the2012 European Championships and welcomed 19 ! countries (men and women) who had to compete against each other in the following four disciplines: sprint, H2H, slalom and downriver.
On the first day of the competition, the Belgian ladies already surprised everyone in R4 by beating favorite Czech Republic in the first round of the H2H. After a few furious battles, the Belgian ladies finally gained 2nd and won their first medal. In the slalom run, R4 as well as R6 managed to pass all gates, but a few touches resulted in some penalties. Despite these penalties, R4 managed to win a bronze medal. R6 gained 5th place, finishing in just a few seconds of the teams who did won a medal.
On the final day of the competition the downriver race, a real test of technical skills, was held. The exhausting race (+/- 40 min.)became a huge success as R4 finished 1st and R6 finished 5th in just a few seconds of the 1st three teams.
All ambitions have been surpassed, the achievements and results of the Belgian women have definitely put Belgium on the map in the world of rafting.
Lipno nad Vltava hosted the2012 European Championships and welcomed 19 ! countries (men and women) who had to compete against each other in the following four disciplines: sprint, H2H, slalom and downriver.
On the first day of the competition, the Belgian ladies already surprised everyone in R4 by beating favorite Czech Republic in the first round of the H2H. After a few furious battles, the Belgian ladies finally gained 2nd and won their first medal. In the slalom run, R4 as well as R6 managed to pass all gates, but a few touches resulted in some penalties. Despite these penalties, R4 managed to win a bronze medal. R6 gained 5th place, finishing in just a few seconds of the teams who did won a medal.
On the final day of the competition the downriver race, a real test of technical skills, was held. The exhausting race (+/- 40 min.)became a huge success as R4 finished 1st and R6 finished 5th in just a few seconds of the 1st three teams.
All ambitions have been surpassed, the achievements and results of the Belgian women have definitely put Belgium on the map in the world of rafting.
Eurocup Durence
After a long night drive, we started our day with a full day training session and we tested all our new positions.
Friday was filled with sprints, battles and the downriver race of raft four
Results:
Sprint Raft 4: clear win
H2H Raft 4: lost by 16-hundredths of a second: good start, but we went up too high, made a nice come back but we were not able to win
Downriver Raft4: easy win. We were able to keep up with the men and finished after the whitewater rafting school
Sprint Raft 6: third place. By 1 second of Fl’eau and by half a second of Liquid Ladies: very tight!
H2H Raft 6: We beat the Liquid Ladies. We tightly lost to Fl’eau: we started faster, but unfortunately we could not keep up with them
Saturday: all slaloms!
Results
Raft 4: we passed all gates and touched only one: result: 1st place
Raft 6: poor 1st salom, at the 2nd run we passed 9 gates, missed one and touched a few! Tough slalom course, but we can say we displayed good rafting skills considering the entire new raft setup!
Sunday:
Results
Downriver Raft 6: The impossible takes place again: after a good start, we are heading the race, straight to the 1st place!
There you go:
Overall result Raft 4: 1st place
Overall result Raf 6: 2nd place
We are selected for the 2013 IRF Rafting World Championships in New Zealand!
WK Costa Rica
Most of the women and some of the men team arrived Sunday in Zaventem.
They arrived 24 hours later in Belgium than expected.
First seven hours delay caused by weather conditions, afterwards 17 hours problems with flights of Delta (Delta sucks).
The team stayed 24 hours in the airport of San José before they could fly to Atlanta, because Delta didn’t want to pay for a hotel.
In the primitive base camp from the World Championship in Costa Rica, we had no mobile phone coverage and no internet access.
That was the reason we couldn't update the site in Costa Rica.
The base camp was a tent camp. There were made some primitive eco toilets and cold showers. Every day we took a bus to the top of a mountain.
Then we walked 45 minutes down the hill before we could start our training or competition. At the end of the day we walked back up the hill for a big hour. All this in the heat of Costa Rica.
To reach the river was already a physical endurance.
Here you have a short summary of the results we obtained:
WOMAN TEAM: (in total 19 teams)
- Sprint: 9th place
They had a very good line and gave everything of their selves. They were only a few hundreds of seconds behind the 8th and the 7th place.
- Head 2 head: 9th place
They had some bad luck in the classification of teams. The women came out against the first team of the sprint, who were the women of the Netherlands. Despite that, their run was very good. They had a fast start, but they couldn't start on the preferred position. They didn't lose the Netherland team and on the technical part of the H2H they even got closer to the Netherland team, because they took a better lane. The Belgian girls arrived very close behind the Netherlands. Because of that, they had the best losing time and became 9th.
- Slalom: 6th place
The most technical discipline. The first run was not so good, the girls wanted to take all the 14 gates, but it was a very difficult slalom and some gates were impossible to get for the women teams. So the Belgian women missed a lot of gates in their first run. In the second run they tried to get 10 gates of the 14th that would be possible for them. They got all the ten gates and became 6th on the slalom, before the Netherland and the Japan team which is a professional team. The girls were very proud of their performance.
- Downriver: 12th place
On the downriver the women didn't had always the best lane. They bounced to some rocks and also got stuck on some rocks. Despite this, they kept on paddling as hard as they could. 1 hour and five minutes without stopping!
--> Overall result: 10th place
MEN TEAM: (in total 29 teams)
- Sprint: 19th
- Head 2 Head: 29th
They took a good lane just behind the Slovenian team. At the end of the run the Belgium men wanted to pass the Slovenians by taking a shorter lane. But there was a rock just under the water which they didn't see and got stuck on that rock. So they lost a lot of time on their run.
- Slalom: 21th
They took nearly all the gates and had quite a good run. Other men teams where faster, but the Belgium men team obtained a good result.
- Downriver: 18th
--> Overall result: 22th
More extensive results you can find here:
Photo's you will find later on the site
They arrived 24 hours later in Belgium than expected.
First seven hours delay caused by weather conditions, afterwards 17 hours problems with flights of Delta (Delta sucks).
The team stayed 24 hours in the airport of San José before they could fly to Atlanta, because Delta didn’t want to pay for a hotel.
In the primitive base camp from the World Championship in Costa Rica, we had no mobile phone coverage and no internet access.
That was the reason we couldn't update the site in Costa Rica.
The base camp was a tent camp. There were made some primitive eco toilets and cold showers. Every day we took a bus to the top of a mountain.
Then we walked 45 minutes down the hill before we could start our training or competition. At the end of the day we walked back up the hill for a big hour. All this in the heat of Costa Rica.
To reach the river was already a physical endurance.
Here you have a short summary of the results we obtained:
WOMAN TEAM: (in total 19 teams)
- Sprint: 9th place
They had a very good line and gave everything of their selves. They were only a few hundreds of seconds behind the 8th and the 7th place.
- Head 2 head: 9th place
They had some bad luck in the classification of teams. The women came out against the first team of the sprint, who were the women of the Netherlands. Despite that, their run was very good. They had a fast start, but they couldn't start on the preferred position. They didn't lose the Netherland team and on the technical part of the H2H they even got closer to the Netherland team, because they took a better lane. The Belgian girls arrived very close behind the Netherlands. Because of that, they had the best losing time and became 9th.
- Slalom: 6th place
The most technical discipline. The first run was not so good, the girls wanted to take all the 14 gates, but it was a very difficult slalom and some gates were impossible to get for the women teams. So the Belgian women missed a lot of gates in their first run. In the second run they tried to get 10 gates of the 14th that would be possible for them. They got all the ten gates and became 6th on the slalom, before the Netherland and the Japan team which is a professional team. The girls were very proud of their performance.
- Downriver: 12th place
On the downriver the women didn't had always the best lane. They bounced to some rocks and also got stuck on some rocks. Despite this, they kept on paddling as hard as they could. 1 hour and five minutes without stopping!
--> Overall result: 10th place
MEN TEAM: (in total 29 teams)
- Sprint: 19th
- Head 2 Head: 29th
They took a good lane just behind the Slovenian team. At the end of the run the Belgium men wanted to pass the Slovenians by taking a shorter lane. But there was a rock just under the water which they didn't see and got stuck on that rock. So they lost a lot of time on their run.
- Slalom: 21th
They took nearly all the gates and had quite a good run. Other men teams where faster, but the Belgium men team obtained a good result.
- Downriver: 18th
--> Overall result: 22th
More extensive results you can find here:
Photo's you will find later on the site
We are coming
The first team members are already in Costa Rica.
But most team members are leaving Sunday morning (2nd oct) from Zaventem. Come to wish them good luck (don't forget your Belgian flag)
But most team members are leaving Sunday morning (2nd oct) from Zaventem. Come to wish them good luck (don't forget your Belgian flag)
Lipno, Tsjechië
De laatste wedstrijd in aanloop naar het WK!
En we kunnen spreken van een zeer geslaagd weekend! We hebben drie runs (afvaarten) per dag getraind, waarvan de laatste op zondag de wedstrijd was.
De dames werden echter wel gestalkt door Murphy, die eerst een thwart liet leeglopen en daarna Marleen haar footstrap ook nog eens afbrak, met een zwempartij tot gevolg. Matig resultaat van de wedstrijd dus, maar we mogen bij de dames zeker spreken van een geslaagd trainingsweekend!
Bij onze heren verliep de wedstrijd ook niet volledig volgens plan. Twee vastzittende rafts verhinderden de ideale lijn te varen, waardoor kostbare tijd werd verloren. Ook was het niet altijd eenvoudig om de vele blokken in de rivier feilloos te ontwijken. Maar al bij al was het ook voor hen een zeer geslaagde tweedaagse.
De voorbereidingen mogen nu hun vruchten gaan afwerpen! Costa Rica here we come!
(only in Dutch)
Waterproof kreeg een uitgebreid artikel in de far out
Waterproof in Costa Rica: ‘Wat competitie in België zou leuk zijn’
Waterproof kreeg een uitgebreid artikel in de far out
Waterproof in Costa Rica: ‘Wat competitie in België zou leuk zijn’