Let's send the U23 NZ Rafting Team to World Rafting Champs in Japan 2017

Hi, we are Tom, Ben and Max Dobbe, James and Ryan Wilkins, Shaun Cox and Henry Carr. We make up the team who won the NZ U23 National Rafting Champs in March and have qualified to represent New Zealand at the Rafting World Champs in Japan in October this year. There are over 80 countries and 700 athletes competing.

Thanks you so much for taking the time to show a interest in our rafting team. We would really appreciate any help and support in getting to the world champs we are so proud to be representing our country.

We will compete in 4 different races - a time trial; head to head against our closest competitor; Slalom, which involves going through upriver and down river gates in white water rapids; and finally

a downriver race – basically a sprint for nearly an hour.

We are super lucky to have Kim Price (“Pricey’) to coach us. Kim has 30 years experience in rafting and kayaking and has been recognised in coaching, training and assessing people in the white water industry he also has involvement in the rafting community as a mentor. He has been coaching our team since October 2016 in the build up to the NZ National champs competition in Murchison in March and now we are NZ champs we will continue to have him as a coach and mentor in readiness to compete in the worlds. We are so fortunate to have Kim alongside us.

We are aiming to make the top 3 at the World Rafting Championships this year.

The 7 of us are either brothers or mates from our community in Rotorua and BOP, aged between 17 years and 21.The bond formed when we all discovered white water kayaking. We all live close to the Kaituna river and this is where we spend our spare time – playing, laughing and having a blast (building our skills)

We are so excited to win the NZ nationals and have this opportunity to compete on the world stage.

Thank you once again for your support, you can follow our success in Japan on Facebook

We need your help to be the best we can be in the sport we love.

Cheers;

Tom,Max, Ben, James, Ryan, Shaun and Henry.