WE STILL LOVE CHINA! Raft race day on Dajue Mountain, Eastern China

So…here it is and what an experience – race day on Dajue Mountain in China!

It seemed the entire population of Zixi had turned out to watch the excitement of us foreigners and many local teams enduring the whitewater knuckle ride, dropping over 200m in 3.6km.

Two giant blow up gold dragons, many red Chinese lanterns and decorative banners floating in the breeze flanked the ceremony area which was full of very (and I really mean VERY!) exited locals with cameras. Athletes making the mistake of venturing from the safety of the foreigners enclosure were instantly swallowed up by the crowd amongst cries of ‘Photo! Photo! Photo!

A weird giant mechanical wasp buzzed overhead, filming the proceedings as speeches were made by Zixi government officials, the head of the Chinese Watersports Administration and the head judge. Before long the race was declared open to huge green and purple smoking fireworks and a shower of pink confetti; totally surreal but pretty cool!!

Although no one really knew exactly what was going on we were lined in our rafting gear up on a wooden platform at the very top of the river, overlooked by an enormous dam. With no time for a warm up teams were ushered into their rafts, with 30 seconds time between each boat.

Before we knew it the head judge bellowed down a megaphone….‘Three, Two, One, Attention, GO!’

China China here we come!

Suze and I set off at a good pace, somehow managing to keep the twitchy two-man raft straight on the flat approach to the first slide.

And then to be honest I’m not really sure what happened; a blur of massive slides, spinning, water, boat filling up, almost flipping, high side left, phew, right, up into our seats again, ready for the next drop just around the corner.

 

Within a couple of minutes we spotted the first raft ahead of us – passing was really difficult as the river was so narrow. So as soon as the opportunity arises it’s power down UP UP UP, ping-ponging from rock to rock until the other raft is safely out of sight.

More than a couple of times rafts were bunched up unable to pass at the top of the drops, resulting in quite a few disgruntled teams pinned for valuable seconds, and with four teams finishing just 30 seconds apart this definitely affected final race positions.

27 minutes, 43 seconds and 74 milliseconds of chaos and it’s all over – the mixed New Zealand team won the race with the Men’s Czech Republic team following closely behind. Overall we placed 7^th out of 18 teams and came first in the Women’s Category.

After a quick shower and change we headed down to the awards ceremony flying our Union Jack with pride. Again the whole of Zixi turned up to the ceremony, which is was an surreal concoction of drumming, fireworks and traditional Chinese music.

With aching cheeks from many many many more photos (‘Photo, Photo!’) we headed over for the closing ceremony lunch. Unaccustomed to Chinese traditions we were unaware that a celebratory lunch would involve continuous toasts (everyone must empty their glass each time) with government officials, and the compulsory downing of 60% rice wine from incredibly beautiful decorative bottles. There was no get out clause here as top officials splashed more of the searing liquid into our cups – down the hatch it goes!

A trip in a cable car over the majestic Dajue Mountain followed before the next party that evening, this time held in our luxurious hotel.

Much hilarity followed as the top bread of the local government took to the Karaoke machine, break-dancing, waltzing to Auld Lang Syne and making each country in turn sing or dance in front of the audience. Thank goodness for our new made friends from the other international teams as Suze and I were made to sing ‘Hey Jude’ to the world – only a minute in (it was clear we needed help!) and the other teams rushed in to support us – thanks guys!

A massive thank you to the organising committee namely the China Watersports administration and the Zixi County government for being so welcoming and inviting us to such a fantastic rafting competition. A huge thanks to Palm Equipment for keeping Suze and I kitted out and safe in top notch gear. A truly unforgettable experience.

Gaobie! (Goodbye!)

Rosie n Suze