On the weekend of 18 – 19 June the well known EC Trnavka 2022 was held in the Czech Republic on the artificial slalom course in Želiv. This course is not intended for beginners as it is Class 4, so a good challenging course for the top teams.
The event had a few titles – it was a separate Championship for the Czech Republic in slalom and sprint for Open, Masters and U23 categories; as well as being an event on the Euro Cup Series, as well as a part of the Czech Rafting Cup series.
There were 15 Open Men’s teams, 5 Open Women’s, 2 U23 Men’s, 2 U23 Women’s, 7 Master Men’s, 1 Master’s Women’s teams and 5 patrol crews taking part in the rafting races – a special race of the Czech Championship was 3 x R4 with the obligation of 4 girls in the team.
A very popular highlight of Czech races is the R2 crews racing in slalom and there were 15 teams in that race.
Due to there not being enough water in the water tank on the River Trnávka for the training session the training was moved to the Saturday morning. This was then followed by Slalom for all categories. On Sunday there was an hour on the course for the Sprint and Sprint races which were 2 timed descents and using the sum of times.
The weather was beautiful and sunny throughout the weekend, so participants had to take care to protect the rafts and their bodies from the suns rays and heat. The race was traditionally well staffed by judges and organizers, and everyone went home well satisfied.
