Raft racing returned in true river family style with the Troja Czech Cup / Euro Cup and more events than you can count on one hand!
Last weekend saw a collection of teams old and new competing in Prague at the Troja white water centre. Saturday 22nd September saw the first R4 Czech Cup race and R2 slalom. There were 21 Open Men’s teams, 4 U23 Men’s teams, 4 U19 Men’s teams, 8 Masters Men’s teams, 7 Open Women’s teams, and 2 U23 Women’s teams – a great start to a very late season!
The winners of the R6 slalom brought a very significant surprise in the men’s category! It was won by the crew of U23 LET-GUN Letohrad. The boys from Raftklub Gymnázia Letohrad, consisting of: Aleš Kylar, Jan Marek, Jakub Moravec, Aleš Müller, Filip Pecháček and Michael Šlesinger, also won by a very convincing difference over the sprint winners, the Mladá Boleslav PRSI Team and the home crew of Bestie Team Troja and the only foreign crew of the race – German Raft Team AKV Germany. Massive congratulations to the team!
We caught up with Raft Team AKV Germany who took to the autobahns of southern Germany to race at the Troja white water centre in Prague. This was their first race as a team there. The team represented Germany at the R4 Worlds in Argentina in 2018 and have their sights firmly set to represent Germany at the IRF R4 2021 World Rafting Championships in China.
The team took part in each of the races and Jochen & Franz were crowned champions in the R2 Gumotex Baraka Cup!
Excited at their R2 performance, the team weren’t so thrilled with their experience in the other races but look forward to racing again soon. Relative newcomer to the team, Max, told us “It was a great race and an awesome weekend in Prague! Hope to see you soon again”.
Results of the weekend’s racing will be included in the IRF Euro Cup results of 2020:
More raft racing:
As if Troja wasn’t enough, there are more raft racing events planned almost every weekend in Czech Republic until the end of September. All the ones that are part of the IRF Euro Cup schedule are included in our race calendar along with a few others. Full details of SVoCR races can be found on their website here.
This weekend we head to Lipno for the next big race which started yesterday and concludes tomorrow. The schedule for racing (times in CET) can be found here.
More raft racing is scheduled across Europe later this season with more events in Czechia, Romania, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Follow us on social media for photos and videos from each of these events: @IRFEuroRaftingChamps
#AreYouReady #RaftersAreAwesome #StrongerTogether #oneloveoneriver #RiverFamily #WeAreIRF
