Sort hosts the 27th Wildwater Canoeing World Championships
Thursday, 3rd June 2010.- The Catalan town of Sort, in the Pyrenees, will host the 27th ICF Wildwater Canoeing World Championships, which will take place from 7 to 13 June.
With more than 300 athletes from 31 different nationalities taking part, this is the most important wildwater canoeing event in the world.
The Wildwater Canoeing World Championships have taken place every two years since 1959, but this is the first time the event has taken place in Spain. Last time around, in 2008, the host town was Ivrea (Italy).
Situated in the Pyrenees in northwest Catalonia, 80 km from the French border, Sort is a well-known sports tourism resort which specialises particularly in wildwater canoeing.
In 2006, the Catalan Government awarded Sort the seal of approval certifying the town as a Sports Tourism Destination with this specialisation. However, there are also facilities for more than 24 different adventure sports and nature activities in the area.
In wildwater canoeing, participants race each other in time trials through stretches of river that feature such obstacles as rapids and waterfalls.
The events at the 2010 championships will take place on the River Noguera Pallaresa, which runs through the host city of Sort. The Noguera Pallaresa is a strongly-flowing river, 146 km in length, of which 40 km are navigable and contain stretches of varying difficulty. Experts from all over the world consider this one of the best rivers in Europe for whitewater sports (kayak, rafting, hydrospeed, etc.).
Thanks to these features, international competitions have been held regularly on the Noguera Pallaresa over the years, including the final of the European Downhill Cup (1980), the Junior Wildwater World Championship (1988), the Freestyle World Championship (2001) and the Freestyle European Championship (2004).
Besides excellent sports facilities, Sort also boasts excellent restaurants and superb cultural heritage with Romanesque churches, museums, picturesque villages and towns, castles and more. Visitors can also enjoy some of the most spectacular landscapes of the Iberian Peninsula, as Sort is situated in one of the areas with the most nature reserves in Catalonia, including the National Park of Aigüestortes and Lake Sant Maurici, and the Alt Pirineu Natural Park.
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