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!