Zet Kayaks im SWR Fernsehen

Hier ein Link zu meinem Interview mit DASDING.tv im SWR Fernsehen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkXAjlQloUQ&feature=youtu.be

Ötztal and Sickline race - Veloc twice on the Podium and most successful boat!

Looking back to the 2011 Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championships first thought that comes to my mind is that I had great times in the famous Austrian Ötz valley where I spend plenty of weeks this year teaching kayaking. It was great to see so many paddlers from all over the world coming into town just to compete on the Wellerbrücke.

With a starter field of around 140 kayakers out of 25 nations the Sickline race is one of the biggest extreme races in Europe. More and more slalom paddlers who just had their peak of the season few weeks ago in Slovakia came to compete against the whitewater pros. In the end it was full-time whitewater paddler Sam Sutton (NZL) who took home the win followed by Mike Dawson (NZL) and slalom paddler Paul Böckelmann (VELOC) from Germany in third position.

Although the organizer still didn´t manage to setup a own women category down the whole course eight girls showed up. So at least they let us race down the qualification course and ranked us in a separate result list. Martina Wegman from the Netherlands won the women class her third time in a row and slalom paddler Caroline Loir from France came second. Myself (VELOC) had a very bad first run and even my reasonable second run didn´t bring me further up than in third position.

Luckily it´s not all about racing. In the week before the race I had my first time down the whole Wellerbrücke - including the section above the race course. The Wellerbrücke is one of those famous and well known short and steep sections of the Ötz river about which almost every European kayaker knows a story to tell. Some early snow and warm weather with around 25 degrees kept the flow quite high before the race. Usually the section was run at flows less than 180 cm so I first thought that again I will not get it done this year. But having a good team around was pushing the limit and after the first crew went down with a flow around 2 m more and more paddlers followed. So finally I got started, followed the guys and got to know that even the upper part is all good to go. I didn´t end up in a cave, sieve or on some rocks - all stories just fairy-tales again…

All pics by Arnd Schaeftlein

Devils Extreme Race Lipno CZ - European Open

Last weekend the European championships in extreme kayaking took place in Lipno.

My name is Bernhard Steidl from Kajakschule-Tirol.at and I got the chance to have an interview with current overall winner of the Devils Extreme Race and European Championships in Extreme Kayaking Anne Huebner.

Mr. B: Could you give us a short impression of the event?

Ms. A: During this weekend Lipno turned out to be a huge festival for all kind of wild water sports. I heard a lot about this event but never made my way to this awesome place. It was amazing to see paddlers from all over the world traveling to the small Czech town Lipno to take place in the annual release and to see all kind of various vehicles floating down the river.

Mr. B: How was the race?

Ms. A: Well, after winning the first and most challenging competition on Friday night the first kayak race started on Saturday morning kind of early at 9 am. It was the slalom competition. Every competitor had to touch 5 banners on the way down to the finish banner. One of the eddies to take was really hard to get in so I missed it - luckily I was not the only one and still made my way to the finals later the day. After a short rest I felt well prepared to go hard and managed to have the fastest time down the course in the sprint. Louise Jull from New Zealand came second and Katerina Migdaouva from Czech Republic third. Next day was boater X and team race.

Mr. B: That means you won the European Opens and took home the first place in the European championships in extreme kayaking. Congrats! I heard about some difficult rapids like "bloody hand". Is the river really that hard?

Ms. A: No, it is mostly a class 3 river. I think the main reason for those scary names is that all kind of boaters from class 2 to 5 are trying to go down that river. So there might have been some accidental swims etc.

Mr. B: I would have tons of questions but unfortunately we have to go kayaking now. So only one last question: What are your plans for the next month and the winter time?

Ms. A: Try to get some money to enter the next competition, for example sickline and later make my way to the southern hemisphere - chile again… ;)

Mr.B: Sounds awesome! Thank you for the interview!

All pics by Arnd Schaeftlein

boundless: KANUmagazin Report

boundless: KANUmagazin Report: Article about a special day in Norway. It's in German though! Für alle die es nicht eh schon gelesen haben: Prüfung am Flemming Fossen ...

Zet Kayaks im 4-season.tv

Hier ein Link zu meinem Interview im 4-seasons.tv live bei der OutDoor Messe in Friedrichshafen 2011:

http://4-seasons.tv/de/film/interview-anne-huebner

ZET Kajaks auf der Kanumesse 2011

>

Kanumesse / PaddleExpo und SupExpo
in Nürnberg von 18-20 September 2011

PADDLE-expo
Internationale Fachmesse für Kanusport und Stand-Up-Paddling

Ihr findet ZET - Kajaks auf Stand 306

Die Paddle Expo ist eine Ordermesse,
hier haben nur Händler Zutritt

zur Website:
www.kanumesse.de

TEVA Extreme Outdoor Games Italy 2011

After having a pretty turbulent June attending three big events I just want to give a short update about this years edition of the Teva Extreme Outdoor Games in Ivrea.

It was the third year the Games were hosted during the second weekend of June in the new location.

The long distance down river race was hold up in Valchiusella and won by Mike Dawson (NZL) and Martina Wegman (NED). It acted as qualification for the famous "King of the Falls" race. While lots of the full time slalom racers were to scared about running the "King of the Falls" section it was Ron Fischer (CH) who took home the crown winning one of the hardest whitewater races in Europe - well done!

After having the team race down the Chiusella river the crowd moved down the hills into the lovely little north Italian town Ivrea. New this year was the "team night sprint" which caused heaps of fun for all competitors and spectators.

As usual during the next days all athletes were busy competing in individual sprit, individual slalom, boater X, team slalom and having original Italian ice-cream, pizza and pasta in between.

I didn´t found really into racing this year, so I ended up second behind Martina Wegman (NED) who seems to be in good race shape this year. Katerina Migdaouva from the Czech Republic was following in third position.

The mens race was won by Mike Dawson (NZL) followed by Sam Sutton (NZL) and Michele Ramazza (ITA). It was the German team who took home the gold medal in the Kayak Freeride World Championships 2011.

Congrats to Jakobus Stenglein, Paul Böckelmann and Lukas Kalkbrenner! Good to see team ZET Kayaks on the podium in almost every category! - Find all results below…

Kayak Freeride Team World Championships:

1. Germany 1 (Stenglein, Kalkbrenner, Böckelmann - ZET Veloc)

2. New Zealand

3. Czech Republic (Team ZET Kayaks)

King of the Falls:

1. Ron Fischer SUI (ZET Raptor)

2. Maxime Mitaut F

3. Sam Sutton NZ

Downriver Race Women:

1. Martina Wegman NL

2. Anne Huebner GER (ZET Veloc)

3. Katerina Migdauova CZ

Sprint Race Women:

1. Martina Wegman NL

2. Katerina Migdauova CZ

3. Jenny Chrimes UK

Slalom Race Women:

1. Martina Wegman NL

2. Katerina Migdauova CZ

3. Anne Huebner GER (ZET Veloc)

Boater Cross Women:

1. Anne Huebner GER (ZET Veloc)

2. Jenny Chrimes UK

3. Martina Wegman NL

Overall Kayak Freeride World Champion Women:

1. Martina Wegman NL

2. Anne Huebner GER (ZET Veloc)

3. Katerina Migdauova CZ

Downriver Race Men:

1. Mike Dawson NZ

2. Honza Lasko CZ (ZET Raptor)

3. Sam Sutton NZ

Sprint Race Men:

1. Mike Dawson NZ

2. Sam Sutton NZ

3. Egor Voskoynikov RUS (ZET Raptor)

Slalom Race Men:

1. Mike Dawson NZ

2. Lukas Kalkbrenner GER

3. Jakobus Stenglein GER

Boater Cross Men:

1. Michele Ramazza I

2. Sam Sutton NZ

3. Lukas Kalbrenner GER

Overall Kayak Freeride World Champion Men:

1. Mike Dawson NZ

2. Sam Sutton NZ

3. Michele Ramazza I

Teva Mountain Games Vail, Colorado - Step 1: Steep Creek Championships

After arriving Monday night in the amazing little town 2445 m above sea level in the middle of Colorados Eagle County I had two awesome days getting ready for the steep creek competition at Homestake even higher up in the mountains. Having my first practice runs down the tricky steep section I quickly got an idea what it means to race in that altitude. Having nice practice runs I felt best prepared for the Steep Creek Championships on Thursday. My first run was pretty sweet till I entered the last pool, there I got turned around and went backwards over the last drop. Lucky me was able to roll and finish the first run at forth place. So the top five lady were supposed to do a second run - both counted. It was Adriene Levknecht (USA) in the lead with an incredible advance of seven seconds to the next placed Martina Wegman from the Netherlands and Nikki Kelly out of New Zealand. Trying to catch a place on the podium in the finals I didn´t really find into the race again and ended up forth. Adriene took home the 2000 dollars price money followed by Nikki and Martina. Lou Urwin from New Zealand was the only lady who did better in the second run than in the first but finally ended up fifth. Congrats to Adriene for her absolute superior time which would have placed her under the top 15 of the mens.

The first run of the mens class was dominated by Mike Dawson (NZL) beating the time of second placed Honza Lasko by three seconds followed by Jakub Nemec in third position, both from the Czech Republic.The mens kept fighting hard in the finals and the spectators got to see sweet lines as well as good carnage down the last drop "leap of faith". In the end the top three didn´t give any chance to the following crowd and there was a almost unbelievable finish were both Honza and Mike ended up with exactly the same time after two runs. So they shared the first place at the podium and split the price money - Jakub stayed in third position and sent off Michele Ramazza (Italy) and Sam Sutton (NZL) to the places four and five.

So all Team Zet paddlers made the finals. Congrats to Honza becoming first and Nikki becoming second!

Having a fun day out there yesterday, got to see smooth lines, hard crashes and carnage I´m excited about todays Freestyle competition in the heart of Vail.