Final of the ARF Cup! Cunovo!

Last weekend of the trip. Cunovo. Final of the Alpine Rivers Freestyle Cup.

We arrived with Bubaks at thursday to Bratislava and stop at boathouse where we had small grill party with Slovakian crew. Was nice to see all of them again but we didn't stay on that long as i had to pick up my Polish friend - Adam, who came from Warsaw at 6 am! I have no idea how but i managed to get up early enough to pick him and as we were back really fast thanks to kindness of Peter who woke up specialy for me at 7 to repair the Cow !


So after all season my boat was looking really bad with lost tapes, bad scratches and carbon bruises. Thought even it looked that bad it still wasn't leaking ! Amazing how well made is that boat! Even more wonderful thing is that after 2.5h of work on it it looks again nearly as brand new! Now just a bit of autolack and i can say it's new !


Later on we moved to Cunovo to set the camp and as my boat was still drying i took some time chilling around and watching guys paddling. At the evening i went for short session as i still had in mind my arms injuries. It gave me dozens of fun as i didn't paddle for week which felt like ages! Couldn't focus on training any tricks just simple eskimo rolls were fun enough! In the time my Mom & Artek came and i jumped out of the water as i didn't see since Worlds! Was really happy to see them again.

In the evening we had camp-round party where Honza Havelka and me had made small fireshow which unfortunetly costed me a bit of hairs and burned chicken parts again thought as always was so fun!

Next day was starting with fun slalom race but unfortunetly I overslept and woke up after it. So next thing to attend for me was K1M prelims where i finished 3rd after Tomo and Peter and after that there was C1 where  i came 5th granting me finals. In the afternon there was time for semifinals which were really amaing as alot great paddlers qulificated and everybody could get to finals, no random shots. After hard play to final five came Petr Prause, Marcel Bloder, Me, Tomo and Peter.

In the evening there was concert with nice band and tombola. Unfortunetly when the great concert finished there was nothing else planned and the party went down which was such a shame as it was going on really nice.

Sunday morning was starting with kayak cross on second channel where was great slide, unfortunatly well... overslept again! I'm a bit lazy to weak up that early ;).
Straight after cross it was time for the finals, C1 and K1m were 2 last so i had time to prepare, couldn't wait for C1 as it's giving me so many fun now it's a bit different and i see there challenge again for all the tricks! Thought in finals managed only loop and some wheel which gave me 4th place in K1M after final full of emotion we had huge suprise. Tomo won with Peter -  who came second! I was 3rd followed by Marcel and Pepe.

As it was final event of Alpine Rivers Freestyle Cup we got the scores, I won it in K1M and Honza Spindler was second and also i came 2nd in C1 which is big achievment also ! I would like to say thanks for all the organisators of cunovo and whole Alpine Cup for great times and fun also thanks to all the people that participated for all the parties and chilling times.

Photos: Haninka & Adam

Gold at Polish Championships!

      So after Plzen my plan was to go straight to Poland to prepare for Polish Championships in Jelenia Góra. Thought from long time spot was already shown to be ready it was said that it’s impossible to train until Tuesday before competition.  Also I still had my arm damaged so i decided to take few days of paddling stopping in Prague at Stepans place.  At Monday did some sightseeing with Haninka, Nina and Csony thought becouse of bad weather after some time we finished up in Boulder v Siti.

      Next days which were supposed to be rest from paddling were pretty exciting also, went for horse riding which was exciting alot becouse the horse decided to add some extra speed boost in middle of forest and was quite big challenge but at the end it finished without any problems. Later went for acrobatic gymnastic classes  which were really awesome as it was proffesional acrobatic circus members doing really increadible things on scarfs.  Also good thing was going for climbing at boulder but was quite exhausting for my arms.

After 3 days of rest got back to paddling and my cow got close meet with prague course making smashed nose at wave and tlama hole. Thought it didn’t stop me from paddling especially becouse Stepan gave me really good tips with Air Screw at this small wave and it worked so good! Was great feeling throwing big air jumps with cow at such small wave!

        Tlama was getting more and more friendly  for me however it is very trashy hole but that’s what i loved about paddling here in prague, good warm up at flatwater then nice chilling at wave then getting completly trashed and exhausted in hole .

        At Sunday i went with Ondra Krivanek and Lucas Cervinka to Poland as playspot in Jelenia Góra was supposed to be still not functioning we headed to Lwówek Śląski which is located only 50 km from there. There joined to us crew from Warsaw which was also preparing for Polish competition.  The hole was completly different  then all that i paddled at – it was super fast but after setting it and getting used to it was allowing you for to get some sick aerial moves.

     Finaly at Tuesday we went for first official trainings and found the spot prepared quite nice. Thought it was completly opposite to previous one – it was really slow and requiered using lots of strength to throw the tricks. It was awesome place for training and practicing but it didn’t give that much fun from paddling. I was training hard for next days finding it really funny place for combos.

     At Friday everybody was there and i was really happy to see my Czech friends again. They came in quite big crew for Polish competitions consisting of Ondra,Bubac, Milos, Slunda and Lucas along with Simona and Haninka. Even thought the party wasn’t planned for Friday, we had our own mind about this and spend really great evening at camping place listening to stories about crazy deers from Slunda.

Saturday was first day of competition and the plan in the schedule was to make only mens prelims.  I was starting in first heat but it didn’t put any effect at me, i made really soft ride getting 770 points but it was satisfactioning enough giving me sure place in the finals which was the reason i decided to go for combos in second one. Started with Tricky Moo to MoocNasty and then tried phoenix to lunar orbit which almost worked! Was so proud of it! Surprisingly those two rides gave me first place after prelims. Tomasz Czaplicki and Michal Wrzal took next ones followed by Ondra and Slunda.

       There were also one ride runs for everybody from other categories to set the order for finals. When starts had finished we took a walk around the city discovering that it has really beatiful center! We were really amazed of it but didn’t spend too much time there as we wanted to get back to camping for Jet Big Air contest! There was a Jet with a rope giving sweet acceleration and allowing to do huge aerial moves but also face slams if you didn’t count your jump well. That was really sick fun which after with Bubac and Haninka we borrowed a normal small paddleboat and went for lake paddling getting to dam and getting some chill there with Jet riding near us from time to time and Bubac yodeling. When we get back the party was already going on so we just joined our friends and partied hard!

        At Sunday were the finals. Tomasz had best first ride getting 680 points. I needed some time to get my one, throwing 173 points in first, 548 in second and getting highest one to 700 points and getting tittle of Polish Freestyle Champion. Second came Tomasz and 3rd was Michal. Slunda came 4th and Ondra 5th.

Whole competitions  were organised quite precisly without delays and nice thing was free food and drinks for competitors althought it’s still shame that there were so few people from Poland and the atmosphere wasn’t that loose. Thought all in al lit was quite nice weekend with lot of fun as always with kayaking : )

Now got back to Prague again for last time in this season taking some rest and then going with bubaks at Thursday to Cunovo for last competitions of Alpine Rivers Freestyle Cup!  See You There!

~Bartosz

Here are great photos from Haninka and Pepe!

ARF Cup Plzen!

I arrived to Plzen straight after Lipno at Sunday with Fidus, Iv and Richi. Waiting for Honzas arrival, thanks to their kindness i stayed at their place. In Monday I had two really long and hard sessions becouse most of time i was alone and paddling without brake but i've found the playspot really nice. I've been working on Tricky Moos to MoocNastys on both sides which was big challenge for me but it seemed to work from time to time!

At Tuesday Honza has arrived and as Lucie has passed her exam for Magister degree (Congratz again !) we were celebrating it. Around midnight we decided to look for party in city as Plzen is quite big, we expected to find something. Locals led us to "natural club" but unfortunetly there weren't any people so we just enjoyed spending time with ourselves.

Wednesday was really awesome day long session! Stepan and Vilda came from Prague to train, also already alot of Plzen people came for training. We were paddling whole day and spend like half of this time in the air! Was really awesome staying and cheering for friends throwing some sick and fun stuff! Honza and Stepan were flying in their ZET boats really high while i enjoyed making TrickyMoo to MoocNasty to both sides! Cow got pilot license for phoenix monkeys also! Unfortunetly at evening they had to leave but we didn't miss people for long time as most of them arrived at friday noon and just few hours later party has started! First day was great concert from Visaci zamek revival. Unfortunetly dancing in pogo i got really hard elbow knockout at my trapez muscle which brought me really bad arm injury..  At saturday paddling straight and making eskimo rolls were really painfull and all right moves were just impossible. Thought i've found making left ones pretty unharming which allowed me to finish at 3rd place after qualifications with Honza on second place, Stepan 7th - which was biggest suprise of qualifications as he was riding sick rides before, Bubak 8th and Ondra 9th and as most of time Peter Csonka was on the lead. We were happy as all pirates has proceed to semi.

Semi were same day in the afternoon. And there looked exactly as they should have had. Everybody were throwing loads of highscored, huge and perfect tricks making way to final really tight and hard. On the end from the 5th place came Honza, 4th was Tomo, i've defended my 3rd place, Stepan jumped to second as expected and Peter stayed still on the lead.

After awesome semifinals it was time for the party, which before we decided to jump to see the city for fast sightseeing, Plzen is really nice but quite small and we had party hunger so we were back really fast. We been partying to 4 in the morning dancing all the time and having hips of fun. But the party winners were definetly  Ondra and Milos which made great dancing shows for all night!

Great idea from organisators was the Kayak Cross in the morning which came before finals at 11, which let everybody to take some sleep and rest. That was pretty fun event proving that you can make it even in place without any extra boulders. 
After this it was time of finals - and as Honza, Stepan and Me were judging all day before, we had to do our job at sunday also. We just got switched at C1 category so we had time for preparing for K1M.

K1M was huge entertainment. I guess the biggest surprise was Tomo with his sick rides! He made dozens of tricks and some people event thought he could get Peter! I was not in shape with my arm yet which annoyed me a bit but still allowed me to throw some good score and i was really glad for making my combo. Great air rides had also Honza and Stepan throwing air paradise for viewers. Great thing for me was also all public making MOOO before my ride, was really fun to see everybody into it!That's good way to cheer the Cow ;).

Finally Peter won,Tomo came second and me 3rd. Honza took 4th place and Stepan 5th, but it was really great to paddle with all of you guys, thanks!

As Plzen was also last event of CNAWR cup we got the final scores. Deserved winner in K1M was Honza, with me on second place and Marcel at 3rd. 
After Plzen I'm proud to still be leader of Alpine Cup. Now few days in Prague and going to Poland for preparing for Polish championships and after that straight to Cunovo for last event of Alpine Cup!

Stay in Tune!~




Some Photos ;)

Lipno Devils Extreme Race! - My first Creeking descent!

On last weekend of August - 27-28 as every year, the Dam at Veltava river has realeased the water. I went there with Stepan Vohradsky and his parents, we have left Prauge at thursday evening so at Friday we were ready for paddling.

 I've borrowed Dagger Mamba from Vodak sport and after some morning swimming in lake over the river we went for paddling. Honestly i was a bit scared as i didn't know what to expect and felt uncomfortable in creek.

First run was at not maximum water level yet, so it was a bit different. The upper part of river was really easy consisting just of some small waves. The thing about the river was that it smelled really badly so i really didn't want to make rolls. After upper part there were two small lakes leading to first harder place named "papiernia", looked pretty scary for me but went really smooth, there was nice small wave for playboating thought. It led us straight to "Wrota" (Gate) which i seen at some clips before, We went to scout it as water level wasn't normal - for me it looked really scary but Stepan claimed that it's easy so following his advice i just ran it. Was really great experience thought the water sucked my boat down and only my head was over the water but finally i made it without getting wet head and gate become my favorite part which brings alot of fun. After that there was "Szkwira" place called also Bloody Fingers Section. It was just nasty rapid which we decided to carry thought from down i was comitted to run it next time until i seen Jakub Valenta and Jakub Nemec running it and both getting smashed on rocks with blood fingers result, that has changed my attitude and i didn't want to try it anymore. After this there were few fun places leading to "schody" - stairs.  Which was said to be technique place and which sounded a bit scary for me after hearing the description and line to make there were few jumps but not every one was safe. But as i was  following Stepan  i made it without any problems.All in all i made runs without getting wet even with some great kickflips we throw with stephan on the way - Mamba works great for it! Friday evening was time of huge party with loads of people i was really amazed about amount of them but it was still nothing comparing to what i was going to see next day!

Saturday was day of main race which i attendent for fun also. It was slalom run taking place on papiernia part where you were supposed to touch banners on your way. As i had far starting number i was close to the end but i was too lazy to go and check places of banners and as i wasn't really sure were papiernia starts and ends so it was a bit blind run. Only thing i knew was that i should keep on left to catch small eddy there. When time of my ran came i did -the only one in race- entry kickflip. Then good timing at first 3 banners and straight to papiernia. I seen columns on the way so i know it should be somewhere here. And then on the far end i seen the tent so i was sure the banners are there unfortunetly there was finish! While taking fast run i entered the hole noticing too late that it is THIS hole and missing banner on the left. Tried to catch eddy again and lift myself up for them but it just didn't work so forgetting about right banner which was actually under range of my hand i just went to finish. Came second from end but anyway that was good fun !

The most amazing thing for me was amount of kayakers. I can easly say there were hundreds if not more of them! You could see them everywhere even on the race part! The best thing was that i met my cousins and alot of friends from Poland which made me really happy and actually i figured out that i miss home alot. It has been 4 months now since i left.. But only one more and I will be back!

After four runs of the river we were really tired and went to the camp already preparing for party. Unfortunetly the weather didn't cooperate brining big rain (which luckly finished in the evening but left big mud) and really cold temperature. But it didn't stop people for brining great party!

On sunday I jumped into Stephans boat - one size bigger mamba which felt alot easier and as i felt self-confident i decided to run szkwira part. It went really smooth, i got clean line and almost didn't need to paddle. But i knew that i was lucky - the good line there dependent on pulse of the water and i just got it - alot better kayakers were less lucky.
Good time for me was when we switched with Stepan and i jumped into his all star! That was nice free running with alot of wavewheels, McWaves and kickflips. But still best time i had when we ran the parts with our friends Jan Bubnik, Milos and Tomas Pospisil, picking all different lines and making fun on every places.


All in all it was really great weekend for me with loads of fun and great kayaking. I'm really glad that i went for it and did this runs with friends - kayaking is just awesome in any form! Special thanks for Stepan for babysiting me at water and taking me there!


Now straight to Plzno for Alpine Rivers Cup!