Bratislava Pool Slalom
At the weekend, myself and Fiona Pennie travelled to Bratislava for an international pool slalom "The Winter Danubia Cup 2006". It was a team event, with one men's kayak and one ladies kayak forming each team. I could explain it more, but it would be easier if you simply watched the video clip below and looked at the pictures. It was pretty cool!!
There were 8 teams, 2 from Slovakia, 2 from Czech Republic and one each from France, GB, Slovenia and Italy. A run on each of the 2 parallel courses, combined to give the race total (touches were not counted!). We beat Slovenia in our first round to meet the Czech team of Hilgertova/Raab in the semi final. We pushed hard, but they were just too strong. In the 3rd place play-off, we beat Kubrican/Hoskova, again a Czech team. Hilgetova/Raab went on to beat the Slovak pairing of Cibak/Dukatova in the final.
3rd place was pretty respectable. A special well done to Fiona who had to do a lot more hard paddling than me!
It was a wicked event and all the paddlers loved it. The start of each run, off the platform was awesome. There were flashing lights, pumping euro-pop music, breakdancers and the Slovak equivalent of Etiene on the microphone. This was followed up by free beer and an after-race party at the "Harley Davidson Nightclub"!
Here is a video clip of the action.
And more pics are at www.mates.sk.
Posted on 16th January 2006
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