Here’s a short and sweet highlight of the Devils Extreme Race, the Open European Championship in extreme kayaking. The race was held below the Lipno dam on the Vltava River, on a section called the Devil’s Streams in the Czech Republic. Enjoy!
The fifth annual Devils Extreme Race, Open European Championship in extreme kayaking, this past weekend was held under the Lipno dam on the Vltava river, on a section called the Devil’s Streams. The race attended over a hundred competitors and this year we had a lot of foreigners. Last year’s World champion Sam Sutton (New Zealand), Daniel Klotzner (Italy) and Mike Dawson (New Zealand). Devil’s Extreme Race started in Loučovice on a big ramp, There was a few different races on the program. Most of them happened at Loučovice rapid, but the final race and team race was through the toughest rapids on Devil Streams section. In the main race, that took place on Saturday and was declared as an open European championship in extreme kayaking, 1st place Mike Dawson (NZL), 2nd place Viktor Legat, for bronze finished Italian Klotzner Daniel. “The race was sick. I know this river well by now, as I’ve come here for last three years but its harder and harder with all these strong kayakers that raced today.” Impressions after the race described by Dawson. The main race progressed qualifications in the form of extreme slalom (touch the banner), then sprint for 4 minutes and top 10 from that raced through the whole section. The quickest athletes had time around 14 minutes. Women’s category was reigned by Anna Hübner, silver Luis Jull and the third freom Czech Republic, Katerina Migdauová. On Saturday, the events included the extreme slalom and sprint, then the main race. On Sunday the race continued with a kayak-cross and team race. Great parties with bands and Czech beer gave a great atmosphere to the whole race.
Results:
European Championships in extreme kayaking: Men K1: 1 Mike Dawson (New Zealand) 2 Viktor Lagat (CR) 3 Daniel Klotzner (Italy) K1 women: 1 Anne Hübner (Germany) 2 Louise Jull (New Zealand) 3 Catherine Migdauová (CR) K1 Juniors: 1 Jan Havelka (CR) 2 James Vondrasek (CR) 3 Martin Hlavacek (CR) C1: 1 Arthur Beier (CR)
Devils Streams section is located in between Loučovice and Vyssi Brod, It is one of the toughest natural sections in the Czech Republic. When the water is below normal flow of about 2 m³ / s you cant run it. it flows much higher, about 20 to 30 m³ / s but only once a year. It is for this reason, the Devil’s Race Extreme Race so popular.
For more information, visit www.devilsextremerace.com
Join 7 of the worlds best whitewater paddlers as they travel to central China in search of giant river waves and massive rapids. The Salween river located near the boarders of Tibet and Myanmar is one of China’s last free flowing rivers of its size. Experience the culture and follow the river.
CHINA CALLING from Lachie Carracher on Vimeo.
Join Lachie Carracher as he leaves the city and ventures to one of the worlds most remote and untamed rivers alone. The Kimberley is under threat, learn more at wilderness.org.au/kimberley
Solo Kimberley Calling from Lachie Carracher on Vimeo.
Here’s a short blog post and images from Boby Frieser, an Astral representative in Europe who had a recent opportunity to paddle in Georgia, located at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Enjoy!
Beside spending a lot of time at my homespot on the Inn River and the Alps, Kajaking took us to Georgia.
We found a lot of pumping, black Whitewater – but also bright shining Rivers.
Thru the greater to the lower Caucasus the trip fullfilled a dream of what we expected.
Kajaking every day. First decents. Beautiful Land and incredibly friendly people.
Astral is proud to welcome SUP athlete Nikki Gregg to the team. Here’s a short video where she describes some tips for ferrying a stand-up board across moving current and whitewater.
Nikki is also up for two SUP related awards this month. Please visit her website where you can learn how to cast your vote: http://nikkigregg.blogspot.com/2011/08/sup-woman-of-year-and-sup-awards-top.html
Not much to say about this Washington classic. This is one of my favorite runs on the planet. Everyday is a good day on the Little White!
It has been an awesome summer and its only July. I have just gotten back to Salida, Colorado where the water is still raging and shows no sign of coming down. Just a week ago I was in Plattling, Germany competing in the Worlds for freestyle kayaking. I trained for this event since this time last year and rearranged my life so I could paddle as much as possible before the event. I spent about two weeks in Germany at the worlds feature training and working on my routine before the actual competition began. My routine was to get my huge clean air loop, both huge godzillas, mcnasty, felix and cartwheels. I spent the first week dialing in my loop tricks and spending a ton of time working on my mcnasty. My training revolved around getting on the water before the lines got to long, so getting up and being on the water before 6am was a must.
During all my sessions I had my personal coach and boyfriend Mike Tavares watching my rides and giving me feedback on what was working and what was not. We also used video to help me see how my training was progressing over the weeks. As the competition grew closer I came to the realization that my mcnasties were not enough to count in the competition. As the competition grew closer, I had to change my routine to make sure that all my tricks were going to count.
With just four days out, we started team training. The training sessions were split so each athlete would receive about three minutes per day. The US was one of the largest countries, so we received 75 minutes to train each day. We split into two groups to maximize our time in the eddy and we all focused on our 45 second rides during team practice. I was nervous about team practice, but it turned out to be the most crucital part of my training. It was nice to have other team members helping out and watching each others rides. It was helpful to see how my routine was progressing and I was able to make changes based on what happened in team practice.
The competition was my longest and most stressful one to date. With 45 women competitors, the prelims was a tough and stressful cut down to 20 women. After battling it out in the prelims, I was sitting in 13th place. It was a perfect place for me to be because it allowed me to move on, but motivated me to improve my scores. With fear of rising water at the venue, the semi finals were moved to the following day and the stress of the next round began. After much deliberation, I decided to take some rest time instead of practicing for the next round. I knew the tricks i needed to do and I knew that I needed to be fresh and rested. The next day, the semi finals went off, and I improved my score landing me in a solid 10th place. I was happy to be improving my scores and excited to keep moving on.
Next up was the quarter finals. I knew that i needed to have a bigger score in order to land me in the finals. After throwing some of my best rides in the competition yet, all I could do was wait and see how the rest of the women did. Watching the rest of the heats from shore, tons of thoughts and emotions were running through my mind. The rest of the women were paddling very well and I knew that the scores would be close. Before the scores were posted, I thought that I was sitting in 6th place, but as I saw Kristine Jackson post the scores she gave me the look that I was hoping for. I made it into the finals in 5th place and I could not have been more excited.
Making it into the finals at the Worlds felt like such an honor. I finally felt a payback for all the hard work and training that I have been enduring over the past years. Getting to this point was not an easy task, but I felt like all that weight had been lifted coming into finals. The final round was a tough one. There was a little more pressure and all eyes were watching as we battled it out to try and take a spot on the podium. Over the course of my three rides, I had one ride that I was happy with. I didn’t get all the tricks I was hoping for, but it landed me in a solid 5th place at the Worlds.
After the whole experience I have learned an overwhelming amount about myself and competition. Here is just a few things that I learned of the course of worlds:
• Listen to your body. Rest can be just as important as practice
• Have fun. After all, thats why we started to paddle
• Booty Shaking music makes life better
• Listening to your coach and taking feedback is a good thing
• You can’t always paddle your best during competition
• Be Happy with how you finish
Coming out of Worlds, I feel more prepared for the next competition and I am looking forward for the chance to make it on the US team the next time around. This year has been very successful and I am happy with where it has taken me. I could not have done this without the help of many people including my great list of sponsors.
We are proud to witness the latest trailer from Shasta Boyz upcoming film ‘Slippery When Wet’ featuring Astral athlete Cody Howard.
This installment boast footage from all over the world including recent first d’s in California, footage from Japan, Hawaii and even a little BC in there. Cody has been a driving force in the kayaking industry and continues to push the boundaries of production and expedition. He is a good friend and talented athlete that we are stoked to have on board for this project. Check out his sweet moves.
