The New Zealand Women's R4 Rafting team from Rangitikei has made it to Malaysia to compete in the International Rafting Federation World Championships. Photo: Supplied
Five rafting wahine have paddled their way to the top after shovelling poo to get there.
The New Zealand Women's R4 Rafting team from Rangitikei has made it to Malaysia to compete in the International Rafting Federation World Championships.
The team took out the Pacific Cup rafting championship in March after only practising four times together. From there, they were selected to go world-wide.
The team is made up of five people, including the captain Janey Megaw. Four are on the water, while a reserve waits in the wings with their coach.
Megaw said it's a pretty surreal feeling to be out of Rangitikei and on the other side of the world, competing internationally for the first time.
They compete across four disciplines, first up was the sprint.
They started with the sprint.
"That is just a timed event, one boat on the river at a time and based on the fastest time," said Megaw.
They took out gold in that division and are hoping to keep it that way.
Next comes head to head. They are seeded off the sprint times and race to the bottom against another team navigating buoys in the river.
"We're up against the Czech's first. So they're tough... they're tough buggers."
Then it's the slalom, much like a kayak slalom, but the gates a further apart so the raft can fit.
"That is a wicked technical event, and it is also timed... You get two chances to to record your time. So first one, generally you take nice and slow and just try not to make any mistakes by hitting the gates, because you get penalised time wise every time you hit one."
Lastly, the down hill river race.
"That's about 10 kilometres, you start in a bunch, and it's the first one over the finish line at the end."
The New Zealand Women's R4 Rafting team from Rangitikei has made it to Malaysia to compete in the International Rafting Federation World Championships. Photo: Supplied
Competing at an international event is not really where they expected to find themselves, said Megaw.
They combined two teams to compete in the Pacific Cup, a race with six women per boat.
With limited practice, the team wasn't expecting good results but after the first event, they changed their tune.
"The first event, we won, and we were like, 'far out, this is awesome... we should actually give this a nudge'," Megaw said.
"Then we got told, 'Oh, by the way, if you win, it's a selection, so you'll be the team that represents New Zealand and the next international rafting championships'.
"We were like, 'what?'''
But despite their huge success, the team wasn't sure it would make the next stage.
"t was a huge commitment, not only for us, but our friends, our family, the companies we work for, the fund-raising that was involved for us to get here"
The five women spent three days "grovelling around in shit" in the woolsheds to raise money.
Megaw is hoping that hard mahi pays off.
"We're pretty keen to, you know, give it a nudge, take it on. We're strong... and we've got a bit of mongrel... So we'll just have to get in there."
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