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.

new ZET Composite Freestyle Kayak - SAGO

Thomas Hinkel mit dem neuen Carbon Spielboot von ZET Kayaks in Plattling. Achtung, Lautstärke hochdrehen und zurück lehnen!