In April 2023 a new Masters (40 years and over) women’s rafting team was formed and paddled on the River Dee together for the first time. At this time, the team was Anita Evans (Shropshire Paddlesport Club), Nicola Childs (Lee Valley Paddlesports Club), Jenny Laud and Mandy Greenaway (Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club/Notts Raft Racing).
In October 2023, Anne-Marie Grovestock-Thompson (Shropshire Paddlesport Club) was invited to be the fifth member of the team after the other members were impressed with her paddling skills and commitment to the sport at the Holme Pierrepont British Open R4 Euro Cup Race. This was the beginning of team ‘Nott Ladylike’.
Our first race together was on the Lee Valley Olympic Course in December 2023, where we braved the cold and the powerful white water to compete in the British Rafting GB Selections Races. We came second to a very strong and experienced Masters Women’s team but we had performed to a standard good enough to be selected to represent GB on a global stage. However, 2024 was due to be a Euro Cup year where the top two GB teams in each age category go through but we were then informed it would be a World Rafting Championships (WRC) where only the top teams compete. We were disappointed but knew it gave us time to consolidate as a team.
Being from different parts of the country, getting together regularly as a complete team to train proved tricky, we managed to get together to train on the river Tryweryn, river Dee and Holme Pierrepont white water course and also did our own individual fitness training.
Then unexpectedly at the end of April 2024 we received an email saying that the IRF had just announced that, at the request of the organisers, each country may enter a second team in each category. British Rafting offered Nott Ladylike the chance to represent Great Britain at the IRF World Rafting Championships in Bosnia-Herzegovina as R4 GB2 Masters Women. Our Captain Jenny pulled out of a family holiday and Anita delayed family plans for their conservatory. Fortunately, we were all able to go as a team and accepted this honour. With only a month to the competition there was a lot to organise and no time to squeeze in extra training.
And so, to May half-term 2024, super thrilled to have the chance to represent GB, on Monday we flew out to Banja Luka. Staying in the city we drove each day to the River Vrbas – a wide large volume river of a beautiful turquoise colour. Parts of this river were located in stunning gorges.
Prior to racing we were welcomed to the village of Krupna na Vrbasu (once voted to be in the top 20 most beautiful villages in the world) for the Opening Ceremony. We met teams from around the world including Japan, Mongolia, USA, Brazil, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. There were 40 teams competing in total. There was music and dancing and I discovered that rafters are pretty good at break dancing!
Training days were held on the Tuesday and Wednesday. The Downriver race was held over 9 miles of fast flowing water with sections of big and bouncy white water. The Slalom course was held in a deep gorge of large volume powerful grade 3 water. The Sprint and Head to Head race was held upstream of where the Downriver started, on a short section of grade 3/4 water. For safety reasons the road along these gorges was shut to all traffic but WRC personnel, competitors and volunteers.
It was tricky to see a perfect line through the grade 3/4 rapid and some teams, including us on our first run were thrown around by the water, some teams flipping their raft or landing on a large rock. By the end of the Sprint and Head to Head training day we were happy we knew which line we wanted to take and were focussed and ready for the next day’s racing to begin.
Interestingly, we were advised if we were to flip our raft and swim to try our best to exit the river on the left as exiting river right ran the risk of encountering bears!
Day 1 Racing Thursday: Sprint and Head to Head
Sprint – Silver – our line down the rapid wasn’t perfect but it was not too bad. Beaten only by GB1.
Head to Head – First up against the Mongolians, we nudged ahead off the start line but were then caught on the very fast big and bouncy section and got bumped right at the bottom of the rapid, the Mongolians were bumped left into an eddy. We quickly spun off the rock and managed to edge ahead to the first buoy and then maintained our lead to win this round. It was a close fight! Next round we were up against GB1. We fought hard but were beaten by this strong team. Again, a Silver for Nott Ladylike and a Gold for GB1.
Friday was our day off, we watched some of the other teams competing in Head to Head and then did a little sight-seeing in Krupna na Vrbasu. This is when I first discovered Anne’s love of ice cream, I think on this day it was 3 of the double chocolate variety.
Day 2 Racing Saturday: Slalom
As per raft racing rules we were not allowed to practice the course but able to watch a team demonstrate the course. The top of the course looked deceptively straightforward but it was hard to gauge the distances between the gates and how far into the flow we would need to drive the raft as we were only able to look at the gates from high above the river from the roadside.
Downstream gate 1 to an upstream gate 2 river left, then paddle up the eddy to surf across the river to an upstream gate 3. Many teams like us didn’t get the surf right and dropped back making it a long hard paddle up the eddy, we then went on to misjudge slightly the power of the flow into gate 4 and had a 50 second penalty for just missing this gate. After first runs we were in Bronze medal position. We regrouped, thought about the good parts of our run and knew that from the errors we’d made on the first run that we had the ability to correct them. We watched some video of our first run and chatted to Matt Evans from Notts Raft Racing who gave us some coaching tips. Going into the second run we focussed on making the cross from gate 2 to 3 and we did it! The rest of the run went really smoothly and to plan, when we got to the finish line we knew we’d had a good run and were pleased with our performance. Some teams chose to miss gate 3 altogether on their second runs making better time with a 50 second penalty than fighting up for gate 3 and then still having trouble with gate 4. After a nervous wait for the final results, we could not quite believe that we had won the Gold medal. GB1 came a close second for the Silver having incurred a 50 second penalty and USA won the Bronze. As our runs were in the morning we could then relax and enjoy watching all the other teams with some very nail-biting racing.
Day 4 Racing Sunday: Downriver endurance
Going into Day 4 Nott Ladylike were guaranteed an overall Silver medal even if we were last place in the Downriver. We fought though as hard as we could for another Gold but this time were overpowered by GB1. After being close to them off the start line, they gradually pulled away from us and despite giving it everything we could not match their power and endurance. We were pleased to manage to keep ahead of USA and Mongolia to take the Silver in this race and the overall Silver for all 4 events combined.
It was a busy week and one we will never forget. We have been grateful for the support of our families, friends and club members on this journey. The camaraderie with other teams, volunteers and supporters was absolutely awesome. There have been amazing feats of strength, skill and determination – one in particular that stands out is the Brazilian Open Men’s Team almost winning their Head to Head race with a punctured and deflated raft. We have learnt new techniques and strategies for raft racing during this week and we hope to be able to pass on this newfound knowledge to other club members. We also aspire to inspire people of all ages to try the awesome sport of whitewater raft racing.
Nott Ladylike are now going to train hard ready for the October 2024 GB Selections at Holme Pierrepont aiming to be selected as GB1.
Anita Evans
All photos of IRF World Rafting Championships 2024 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina credited to IRF WRC 2024