May 6, 2016

Yesterday I went out in a double with Radek. Just a few km, and a lot of start practices. Then we put our boats on the trailer and we’re now ready to race in Slovakia.

We’ll be racing the XXXIV. International Rowing Regatta SNP Cup in Piestany, Slovakia. I prefer to call it the “Slovak Open” because the regatta attracts clubs from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary, and it’s the only big race in Slovakia. It’s a very friendly regatta with good competition and a lot of nice races to watch.

The racing is over a 1km or 500m buoyed lane course on Slovakia’s longest river Vah. I will be competing in the following categories

Saturday

1. Masters 4x-. We’ll be up against a quad with Kral and Milodanovic from Austria. Strong competitors, we are the defending winners of last year.
2. Masters 8+. The Piestany rowers will give us their crappiest boat and then we’ll row against them. Last year we won, which angered their cox very much.
3. Family 2x. I will row this with my daughter Lenka in the “Father & Offspring” category. There are “Father & Offspring”, “Mother & Offspring”, “Siblings”, and “Couple” categories. This will be a fun race over 500m.

Sunday

1. Masters 1x. If I read the draw correctly there will be two races and they put me in the “older” category, “C+D+G”. The other race is “B+C”. Still I will have strong competitors. Mr Kral from Vienna. Kazimir Nedoba from Hodonin. I won a year ago.
2. Masters 2x. Another strong field. We will be happy with a third place. Last year, I didn’t participate.
3. And finally the smashing race of the weekend, the grand finale: Mixed Masters 2x with Romana.

The kids will race singles and doubles in their age categories, and Romana and one of the trainers Petra will defend their last year’s title in the Womens 2x.