Riverboarders gather for world champs

They have  had their practice runs;  now it is time for 40 of the world’s best riverboarders to show what they are made of.

The third edition of the World Riverboarding Championships begins in the Kawarau River, at the Roaring Meg, today with the slalom, before boardercross tomorrow and endurocross on Thursday, finishing at the Hawea Whitewater Park for a freestyle competition on Friday.

Organiser Huw Miles, of Queenstown, said competitors had travelled from the United States, Canada, France, Chile, Japan, Chinese Taipei  and Australia for the event, which has been more than a year in the planning.

Athletes spent yesterday getting to grips with the river and the course, designed by Gaultier Lebegue, which may have come as a surprise to some.

"I think a lot of people when they first saw the river thought the river itself doesn’t look massively challenging," Mr Miles said.

"The way we’ve set the course, it’s pretty high — the Kawarau is a big volume river, it’s quite pushy and it’s strong, it’s a powerful river.

"A lot of the previous champs have been on small rivers, [so this] is a complete change of pace."

During today’s slalom, athletes will be timed going through gates on a section of the river, some requiring them to head upstream.

In tomorrow’s boardercross,  groups of four or five would head down the river in heats aiming to be the first one finished. 

Thursday’s enduro would be "mass start, full contact", in which  all riverboarders would head down about 8km of the river, battling for glory.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz