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