The traditional Czech Cup and European Cup in downriver race took place in the Czech Republic last
weekend. Under the Lipno dam, rafters from 4 different countries (CZE, ITA, GER, JAP) have met,
including several medalists from this year’s World Rafting Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The course under Lipno dam is one of the most difficult and at the same time the most beautiful
courses in general. The youth and junior categories R4 and R6 as well as R4 women masters battled in its upper part, while the other categories tackled rapids up to class V through a „Devil’s Streams“ section, which is challenging even for experienced athletes.
Although the weather did not favor the competitors this time, the races had solid participation in
both the R4 and R6 categories. A total of 31 crews took part in Saturday’s R4 race, 13 crews
competed in the busiest OM category, the youth and junior men had 3 teams each and MM had 4.
The women U19 and U23 always had one courageous representative, just like MW. In the OW
category, 5 teams took part. On Sunday, there was competition in the R6 category, out of a total of 19 teams there were 8 OM, 3 MM, two teams each in U19M, U23M and OW, and one team each in U19W and U23W.
The fastest time on the upper course was achieved by the crew of U19M „TR Hrom“ (with a time of
15:51.64), the fastest among young women was U19W „RK Troja Juniorky“ (16:48.56). The fastest R4 crew on the lower track were the men of „PRSI Team Mladá Boleslav“ (21:54.91). In Sunday’s R6 race of the open category, which connects the upper and lower course, the fastest men were again „PRSI Team Mladá Boleslav“ (37:31.10) and the fastest women were „TR Omega Tygříci“ (40:21.94).
The track on the Vltava River below the Lipno Dam will host the upcoming EC 2023 in the R4 and R6 categories, and the past race was thus an opportunity to explore the intricacies of the downriver course.
Another possibility of training for the EC will be within the framework of the EP 2023, which
will take place just before the Championship. The organizers of the race are already looking forward to welcoming all the competitors next year!
Complete results can be found here:
results
Pictures from the race:
photos
