Last weekend of school holiday belonged to rafting in Czech Republic. And it was a busy one! Rafters from four different countries arrived to Troja White Water Center in Prague to find out which team is the best in slalom and sprint race.
Especially Saturday 27th was really full on – the spectators could see athletes competing in Czech Cup in slalom both R6 and R4 categories, where R6 was also a National Championship for all age categories and R4 was the National Championship for U19 categories. And that is not all, the R6 race was part of the European Cup as well! The R4 MIX race (two men and two women in the team) was very spectatular, it is a discipline which became pretty popular in Czech Republic over past two years. On the top of that, Saturday afternoon was devoted to all R2 enthusiasts, who tested their strenght and endurance in the waves of the Prague slalom course. The fastest teams in a difficult slalom race were „TR Hiko“ in R4 men, „Bohouš & Spitfire“ in R4 women and „SpitKap“ in R4MIX. „TR Zubr“ mastered the R6 men race, „Bohouš & Spitfire“ ruled in R6 women and the mixed team of „Pospíšilová-Boček“ won the R2 race in total.
Sunday was a bit more relaxed as there was the sprint race for „only“ R4 and R6 categories. Two runs whose times were added together determined the winners. The fastest men in R4 were Czechs from the team „TR Hiko“, fastest women were girls from „RK Troja Čoromoro“. These girls won the R6 competition too, while the gold in R6 men went to „TR Zubr“.
The organizers have had a tough time with amout of 63 R4 teams, 19 R6 teams and 27 R2 teams, but with a great effort and awesome work of all referees and judges they have prepared a beautiful race that was a perfect end to the 2022 European Cup Series. Troja race was also the final race for the Czech National Selection in R6 category, all the winners can start their preparation for the European Championship next year, which will be held in Czech Republic – South Bohemia. Teams in R4 must wait till next week, their selection will be completed at the final slalom and sprint race in České Budějovice next weekend. Fingers crossed to all athletes!
Results from Troja:
https://live.results.cz/schedule.php?event=202243CPRtroja
Pictures from Troja (by Vašek Kolář):
