The first edition of the EKEC Extreme Kayaking European Cup has now finished successfully after the three scheduled events in the cup:

- Outdoormix Festival (FRA – May 13th/16th)
- King of the Alps (ITA – June 3rd/5th)
- Devils Race (CZ – August 26th/28th)

All events has seen many participants involved and great atmospheres. All events had different format, Outdoormix was the sum of a long, boaterX and an extreme slalom race, King of the Alps has been the sum of a mass start 25min marathon plus a very hard sprint while Devils Race was the sum of head to head plus a super long mass start marathon.

I really enjoyed all the events because the competition level has been very high all time with very competitive kayakers fighting hard. At the same time the spirit of the participants has been always positive and friendly like in the best days in the river.

One of my favorite races has been the long race on the Byasse (FR), a 9 min solo run down a steep continuous creek.

The competitions have been dominated by my self and the French paddler Eric Deguile. We have been fighting hard from the first race till the last one. I ended up in 2nd place in France, won the King of the Alps and finished 2nd at Devils Race. Eric won the first and third event and finished 4th in the Italian race. These results, according with the point system, put us in the same first step of the podium of the Extreme Kayaking European Cup. I personally was happy to share the first place and price with the French paddler after all hard fight during the season!
In third place Michal Buchtel who did several good results and won one the marathons.

I really enjoyed competing hard and with renovated energy this year thanks to this European Cup. Now it’s time to get ready for the next races.