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For the past 10 days, 300 athletes from 19 countries have battled each other, and the mighty Tully River in far north Queensland, for glory at the 2019 World Rafting Championships.
While Brazil claimed the overall Open Men's and New Zealand the Open Women's crowns, it was a South American minnow who emerged from the event as champions of peace.
The five-man crew from Colombia made up of former guerrilla soldiers who have traded their guns for paddles.
Rebels traded guns for paddles
Colombia is a nation still recovering from 50 years of civil war between its government and various militant guerrillas including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC.
An historic ceasefire agreement was signed in 2016 but the conflict killed an estimated 220,000 people, most of them civilians, millions were displaced, and the economy was in ruins.
With the peace process in stream, thousands of FARC soldiers re-integrate into society from their jungle camps.
"Our ultimate goal was political transformation in the country; we had a political goal," Colombian team captain Duberney Moreno said.
"When the peace process began in 2012, [it] permitted the opportunity for us to take up our struggle without arms — we laid down our weapons and took up rafting paddles."
The former rebels have become heroes at home with their story gaining a huge mainstream and national media attention.
"We're happy we've been able to inspire such a positive message when Colombia and the world really needs positive messages of peace," Mr Moreno said.
"We have to row very hard and paddle very hard because in the 'river for peace', everyone in the boat must be rowing together."
Colombia was a nation poor in infrastructure, particularly in its rural outposts but its megadiversity and natural wonders presented new opportunities in eco tourism.
Rafting leads to rivers of prosperity in developing nations
Rafael Gallo was founding president of the International Rafting Federation which formalised the world standard for competition and certification in 1997.
Through his Project Raft endeavour, he has used the sport as a vehicle for social and economic change in developing countries including the former Soviet Union and Bosnia.
Via an introduction by the United Nations, he began working with the former FARC soldiers.
"They were really eager to transform their lives from growing up in a war-torn nation so we taught them to raft," Mr Gallo said.
"They learnt in a month-and-a-half what regular guides learn in about six months so I went ahead and certified them as IRF guides."
Impressed by their prowess with the paddles and their power to tell a story of transformation, the Costa Rican and former world champion entered the former FARC rebels as Team Colombia at the then-upcoming world championships and offered his expertise as national coach.
"Their eyes lit up. The world to them had just became so big because their world before had only been the jungle where they fought."
"They're not going to be world champs but they're confident, they're telling their story, they're committed to peace — they've changed their guns for paddles."
Mutual benefits flow between rafters and community
The Tame the Tully event represented a huge economic boost to the small far north Queensland town and despite the typically wet, grey skies; the international contingent were warmly welcomed –— shopfronts adorned with flags and every small business adopted their own national team.
Rafael Gallo said the people of Tully, and the spirit in which all the athletes represented their nations, embodied what the sport is about.
"Everybody's united by this current of water; you get together at different rivers in different places of the world and share stories about where you come from, what your town is like," Mr Gallo said.
"The great thing about rafting and river running is that it doesn't happen in a typical place, it's always a remote country town somewhere up in the mountains … there's a two-way benefit."
The 2020 World Rafting Championships will be held in Ziyuan, China.
Topics: sport, international-aid-and-trade, international-competitions, tully-4854