Río Negro starts on Saturday 7th

Next Saturday starts in Argentina the 2012 regatta of Río Negro, one of the most mythical races in the international calendar. With seven days of competition btetween Senillosa (Neuquén) y Viedma, its lenght and toughness have made it a place to stay among the big challenges for every long distance paddler.

The race will start next Satruday January 7th with a first stage of 48 km. from Senillosa to Neuquén. From that point, another six days (only Tuesday 10th as a rest) will make the whole way down to Viedma, with a total distance of 307 km.

This year, the organization has planned also compulsory portages, which will make the competition much more attractive and closed to the spectators, but even tougher for the paddlers.

The main favourites are the 10 times winners Néstor Pinta and Martín Mozzicafredo, Argentinian National Team members who have been dominating the long distance in South América all along the XXI century. All their rivals will come from Argentina, Chile and Brazil, and only one European K2, the British Michael Wright and Samuel Jones, will make a try to stop the argentinians impressive wins in a row.

In the K1 competition, some paddlers appear to be favourite, like the very young but strong argentinian Franco Balboa and the Spanish Kiko Vega, winner of the 2011 ICF World Marathon Series, who wantas to start early earning points to revalidate his title in 2012.

P.S.: Today we got informations that Kiko Vega is not coming to Argentina, as soon as we get a confirmation, we will post it.