What is Whitewater Raft Racing?
I have been getting a lot of questions from friends and family asking: what is whitewater raft racing? Here is a short breakdown of what whitewater raft racing looks like.
In the U.S the governing body is the United States Rafting Association (USRA). There are events that they sanction along with a bunch of other raft races and whitewater festivals. In USRA sanctioned events there are four disciplines, each described below. These are the formal events that include regional qualifiers, nationals, and worlds. For these events the number of paddlers alternates every year, with four in the boat one year and six the next. The four events are as follows:
1. SLALOM: Slalom is an event held on a short stretch of river where the paddlers have to get each of their heads between two gates strung above the water. This is the most technically challenging event of the four. There are both downstream gates (gates they have to go through from upstream to downstream) and upstream gates (gates they have to go through from downstream to upstream) in the course. This is similar to the olympic kayaker and canoe slalom events, except the gates are a little further apart to accommodate a raft.
HERE is what a slalom raft race looks like.
2. HEAD TO HEAD: This event consists of two rafts competing directly against each other, with an elimination style bracket to advance to the next round. The two rafts start at the same time and compete to be first through a short stretch of river. The catch is that there are four buoys, two on the left side of the river and two on the right, and each team has to pick one on each side to go around. Bumping each others’ rafts and strategic positions is key in this event, although paddlers are not allowed to push each other or the other raft with hands or paddles.
You can watch an example of a head to head race at the rafting world championships HERE
3. SPRINT: Another short event, this one is timed so each raft competes individually for the best time. This is a straightforward, tiring, event where each raft sprints as fast as they can for a short stretch of river, competing for the best time.
Example of a sprint race HERE
4. DOWNRIVER: The most iconic and popular of the four events, downriver, is also the longest. Usually on a stretch of whitewater anywhere between 8-14 miles long, downriver is a mass start race. All the rafts in a category, and at many races all the rafts in all the categories, start together. For USRA events there is usually at least one class IV rapid, and this event is held on a section of whitewater with many rapids. Downriver is the event USRA sanctioned races to many other river festivals.
Not footage of a race, but an example of the biggest whitewater festival in the US, and of the whitewater run in the downriver race, HERE
There are also a whole bunch of other races that occur at whitewater festivals across the country. These events are celebrations of river running and whitewater, and have a really fun and lively atmosphere. Probably the most well known river festival is Gauley Fest, which is held each year near Summersville, West Virginia. Many thousands of paddlers go to the Gauley in late September every year, where they have a downriver raft race called the Animal Race. This race consists of 6 paddlers running the renowned whitewater on the Gauley (plus all the flatwater in between the rapids) for the fastest time. There are also paddle festivals such as Feather Fest in Northern California, the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival in Oregon (where the National Championships are being held this May 17-19 2024), Pagosa Springs Paddle Fest, and many more throughout the U.S.