After a couple years of disorganization the EAD, Eporedia Active Days, has been this year one of the best race in Europe in terms of quality of whitewater, prizes, and organization. The new location on the river Ayasse has been a great success and all the athletes were stoked to race in such a nice and hard creek!
The event had 3 different kind of competitions: the overall, the special race of the 'King of the Falls' and the World Championship by Nations. Every competition had very nice money prizes, up to 800€ for the overall man.
The overall
The result of the overall has been defined by the sum of the points of 3 different races: the 2 minutes sprint in a very hard course on the Ayasse, the slalom and the BoaterX in Ivrea.
The Ayasse is generally quite high in this season and the granitic drops are sometimes very sticky and pushy. The sprint course was one of the hardest race ever done. It wasn't particularly dangerous but avoiding mistakes in the lines was a great challenge...few good kayakers has been stopped by holes for a long time!
Jamie Sutton made the best line of the race winning the first stage. Egor, the Russian Adidas guy, took the second place and Michele Ramazza ended up in 3rd position.
The second race took place in the slalom channel in Ivrea. With such a high water this channel is not suitable for slalom anymore and only creekers attempt to race here. The water was very boily and fast and making gates was not easy at all. A very good power and technique was required for this competition. The Slovakian Pavel Andrassy won the slalom with a great and clean first run!
The third race was the BoaterX starting from the ramp, again in the Ivrea channel. This race decided the podium since after the first two competitions all the top guys were really close each other. Michele Ramazza managed to win the BoaterX after a very spectacular final heat!
Result Men
- Jamie Sutton (NZL)
- Michele Ramazza (ITA)
- Egor Voskobonikov (RUS) - Sam Sutton (NZL)
Result Women
- Anne Hubner (GER)
- Elena Vostrikova (RUS)
- Anya Ermoshina (RUS)
King of the Falls
This special race supported by the AWP was one of the highlights of the event. A lot of people arrived in Pont Boset to see this spectacular race. Only the best 20 guys were allowed to take part at this competition. The course was pretty hard with a difficult entry rapid, few more drops and the 70m long and 20m high final slide, which was really fast with several changes of direction. This time Sam Sutton styled the run winning this special race!
Team Race
The World Championship by Nations took place on the same course of the individual sprint, on the Ayasse. The best 3 kayakers of the same nation to complete the course have been the great team New-Zealand. Second place for the Russians and third for the local Italian Team.
The Event
The event was not only about kayaking. A very important boulder contest was taking place at the “Stadio della Canoa”, while the Parkour guys performed nice tricks all day long. In town the street boulder competition saw the athletes busy on Saturday night to climb the historical buildings. Also there were the running and biking races for young guys and for adults. After every race the organization provided a nice dinner in Italian style for all competitors, included in the subscription at the event. The weather has been awesome and super warm, which was good also to take very nice and spectacular photos and videos. This event is probably going to become a very important kayaking event and for sure one of the most spectacular and difficult race in Europe. More info and all the results on the official website and on Facebook.
