This white-knuckle competition is coming to the UAE for the first time

Written by:
Jack Rogers
25th October 2016

If you’ve ever found yourself up a creek without a paddle, you probably wouldn’t be much good at white water rafting.

However a group of adrenaline junkies coming to town are most definitely dab hands at the thrillseeking sport.

From October 30 to November 5, the World Rafting Championships are going to be held at Wadi Adventure in Al Ain.

The tournament will see 27 countries from around the world compete within age-appropriate categories.

SO, HOW DO THEY WIN?

For those who don’t know, Wadi Adventure houses its very own artificial white water rafting course.

The competition consists of four rafting disciplines: sprint, head to head, slalom and downriver.

The overall rankings are determined by the total points accumulated in each discipline.

Here’s a top-down map of the course that the teams will be competing on:

To get an idea of what a race looks like, check out the Czech Republic’s Under-23 team at the World Rafting Championships held in Indonesia last year.

THERE ARE SOME RULES, THOUGH…

When crossing the finish line, the raft must be upright, and all team members must be inside it. The penalty for not doing so is 50 seconds added to their time.

Intentional contact between paddle to paddle, paddle to person, paddle to raft, or person to person is illegal.

However, raft-to-raft ramming is completely allowed.

The rafts have to be completely identical, but competitors can bring their own paddles.

Oh, and there are a tonne of other rules too. Rafting is a serious business. However, the above are the main points.

ARE THE UAE COMPETING?

We sure are. The championship will see the participation of the newly-formed UAE National Rafting Team.

Who’s in it? None other than Abu Dhabi’s finest. The UAE’s team consists of active officers from the Abu Dhabi police force, who are set to compete against 85 teams from 27 countries.