Mruzek and Odvarko in K2 and Tomas Slovak in K1, winners of the Cesky Krumlov River Marathon

This last weekend, with a double session on Friday and Saturday, the Cesky Krumlov River Marathon was held in the Czech Republic, race included into the ICF Marathon Classic Series 2013. While the marathon was held on Saturday over a distance of 36 kilometers , on Friday there was a Sprint competition as an appetizer on the stretch of river that runs through the center of the city, just 250 meters long but with a weir shot included. The winners in this discipline were Richard Hala and Jonatan Sramek in K2 and Tomas Slovak in K1, all of them just arrived from paddling the Fish at South Africa.

Mruzek and Odvarko leading the marathon race. Pic: Jan Homolka

On Saturday, almost three hundred boats gathered on the water of Cesky Krumlov river to face the descent all the way down to the town of the same name. Many contestants, as usual, made it on RR kayaks, but every year there are more who are encouraged to do so on the increasingly popular tables SUP (Stand Up Paddle) as well as in large canoes and all kind of plastics, including canoes with a crew of nine members. Noteworthy is the participation and festive atmosphere at these Central European competitions , as with the French Ardèche or the Irish Liffey, without going any further. One aspect, leisure and tourism, that in Spain is trying to be exploited by the Miño and Cinca Descents, among others, although it is true that the basis of target audience is not comparable.

At the Marathon race, Tomas Slovak gave a recital on how to descent rivers, being able not only to win the K1, but also to make it becoming 6^th overall, four minutes over the German Robert Ernst, in second place. One important thing to have in mind is that in this race is allowed the use of surfskis for river descent, so Slovak , who had won the Sprint on a RR, won the Marathon on a Vajda surfski. Every year more paddlers choose this option, which allows getting a higher speed on big water due to the buoyancy of the boat. The third K1 in the finish line was the Belgian Jan Laenen, still in his fight to break into the global podium of the ICF Series.

Tomas Slovak and his two boatsPics: Ladislav Pouzar y Jan Homolka

In K2, absolute victory of the Czechs Michael Odvarko and Kamil Mruzek who got a 1'40" difference over the pair Petr Mojzisek/Marian Lachkovic, while the third position which completed the podium,  at more than four minutes, went to the winners of the previous day's Sprint, Hala and Sramek.

In this link you can check the results of Sprint and in this other one, the Marathon.