UK 2017 Racing Teams
The UK National Rafting Team selections came to an exciting close at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, England. Participants ran the gauntlet to see who would have the honor of representing the UK on the 2017 International Rafting Circuit. We caught up with Sean Clarke from British Rafting, the governing body for raft racing in the UK, to learn more about the teams and who these talented whitewater athletes are.
Women’s Teams
U19 Women’s – Lee Valley Devils
![LVDevils.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmUxwiQu6BnXGd88u1j6AxSEh2w4wasnr6xP7otZmR4hPg/LVDevils.jpg)
Preferred Discipline: Downriver
The Lee Valley Devils are a powerful team of enthusiastic young ladies looking to make their mark on the Whitewater Racing Circuit. We are looking forward to seeing these ladies in action, though they do have their work cut out for them if they plan to defeat the Russian team after their staggering near perfect win in the world championships last year.
British Rafting has this to say about these awesome ladies:
“The newest team to our gaggle of teams, the LV Devils train weekly at Lee Valley under the watchful eye of their enthusiastic coach Phil - who managed to run alongside the team on each and every race at the selection event - including the Downriver!!” - British Rafting
U23 Women’s
![LVU23Women.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQ7biYuDBnH6qziAeP3L6HeTWrsNiJiBu4T7Lxkw7WWy1/LVU23Women.jpg)
Preferred Discipline: Downriver
en·dur·ance
inˈd(y)o͝orəns,enˈd(y)o͝orəns/
noun
The fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.
The Lee Valley U23 Team
Last year at Al-Ain during the World Championships we saw these ladies absolutely crush the downriver and sprint disciplines. These ladies had perfect scores in both events tying the Brazilian U23 Women’s team for first. We are anxiously awaiting the World Championships to see if they can conquer their old rival and sweep the gold medals out from under the competition.
The ladies had this to say about securing their spot as an official UK rafting team:
“An amazing opportunity to represent our country and bring home some more medals for Team GB! Rafting in Japan would be great!!” - LV U23 Women
Masters Women’s
![LVMastersWomen.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmckj9KS8Nz5xSsz2mJdRu7m3f6pRNSvXzJpiiybJEMsBa/LVMastersWomen.jpg)
Training Ground: Lee Valley
Preferred Discipline: Downriver
The Masters Women’s team trains at least 2 times a week between careers and kids. These ladies are truly dedicated to the art of whitewater racing. When we asked who they are most looking to take on during the 2017 circuit, their response was: “EVERYONE!”. We feel sorry for the master’s ladies that they will be going up against at the championship races because these ladies clearly are not willing to walk away with anything less than gold.
RM: What would a win at Euro and world Champs mean to your team:
MW: It means don't write off the over 40's, the over 50's, the career women and the mums. #thisgirlcan
Open Women’s - Team Palm
![TeamPalm.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZNqVCkcJTtV77BY9zWxtFdfo5JLRcWWAvG5G8Ux2ThdP/TeamPalm.jpg)
Training Ground: Lee Valley
Preferred Discipline: Crushing the Competition
Team Palm is the British Powerhouse that showed no mercy in the desert at the 2016 World Champs and they’re back. With 2 years together under their belt and an all-star roster of racing veterans there will be mercy for anyone who tries to stand in their way. With a 110 point lead at the world championships last year these ladies could have napped through the sprint race and still won gold.
“It would be an honour for us to be able to represent Great Britain internationally and to showcase girl power on the world stage! This motivates us every time we train.” – Team Palm
Men’s Teams
U19 Men’s
![LVU19.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXkFptKECyHzR9bRh5RFnJXZNeM44ppu4yZh4UfaR71Xz/LVU19.jpg)
Home River: Lee Valley
As a fairly new team to the UK rafting scene, these guys have shown their commitment to the sport and coming together as a team to train hard a couple of times a week at Lee Valley. The UK did not put forward a U19 team last year and we are excited to see what these up and coming boaters bring to the competition.
U23 Men’s
![LVU23.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaJptiUDVo1rAwyWxRhcKT9m5Bhi1EpoyzzZU2q1Arxuj/LVU23.jpg)
Home River: Lee Valley
Preferred Discipline: Sprint
At the 2016 World Championships the U23 Men’s Team took 4th place with a Narrow Gap between their Russian counterparts. With the amount of great coaches at lee valley we expect to see these guys begin charging through the competition.
Masters Men’s - Masters of Rubber
![MastersOfRubber.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmYAWzcaKnQ5ctc8B8RLV9cqaBjcAEWF4VWVYig2UMr6fe/MastersOfRubber.jpg)
Preferred Discipline: Slalom
The master’s men’s team goes by the title Masters of Rubber and for good reason, these guys are definitely no strangers to the international world of raft racing. Amongst them they have all of the team from last year’s medal winning R4 at the Al Ain, UAE World Championships. They also have amongst them two former Committee members and pretty decent guys. These guys train wherever they can - they are the team you are most likely to bump into on a river or white water course around the country.
Open Men’s - Team Peak UK
![TeamPeakUK.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTg8WGxQizjNMtQbTZ8XNTZoxD1Yjw5n6hTvX72aAeHML/TeamPeakUK.jpg)
Home River: Lee Valley
Preferred Discipline: Head-to-Head
Taking the Silver last year at the Worlds has given Team PeakUK a taste of victory and they want more. After a successful R4 campaign the team is looking to build on previous R6 European and World Champ results. We will without a doubt see these gentlemen on the podium this year.
“Winning at Notts and securing GBR1 slot would be the first milestone of our 2017 Plan achieved.” – Team PeakUK
We want to extend a huge thank you to British Rafting and Sean Clarke for arranging photos and getting us in touch with the teams. Good luck in 2017!
Very interesting!
If you have never watched a raft race they are super interesting. There are some really great teams out there and the UK Women's Open team has been killing it. They won by a landslide last year at the World Rafting Championships.
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