10th Anniversary of the Devils Extreme Race (Video, Full Reports, Results)

The 10^th Devils Extreme was simply amazing! It was thanks to the very strong participation of kayak´s world elite, great music bands and of course due to the fact it was the very last Devils Extreme Race. However thanks to a very positive feedback and unexpected interest it was decided that there will be a race at Lipno again next year. Devils Race was also the final and peak of newly founded EKEC series, the European Championship in extreme racing.

Dam 2 Dam race start ©kayaksession.com

The weekend started already at Thursday´s party where you could have enjoyed beer for free and an acoustic concert. Those who participated at this party were mostly those of you who didn’t have to prepare for the upcoming race and of course organizers who had to work hard during the rest of the weekend. Friday was however in the name of practice, search for the fastest track, preparation for the race but for some of course also a time of concerts and warm up party.

Eric Deguil and Michele Ramazza fighting for the win in both the Devils Race and the overall EKEC ranking ©kayaksession.com

The qualification race which ran through Loučovice and the Window decided who will participate in the Head2Head race which took place at the Stairs. Results and qualification was decided by very tight time differences however thanks to this year´s professional chronometer and chips the race was free of error. Unexpected range of different competitors brought many twists and turns into the race and those who managed to stand the test most successfully were Eric Deguil and Bety Brabcová.

Pavlína Zástěrová ©kayaksession.com

Saturday´s race Dam2Dam was sponsored by ZET Kayaks with 1 000 Euro cash prize. Despite the strong foreign competition coming from all around the world, including professional extreme kayakers and German A team, the race was won by Czech athlete Michal Buchtel. The Czech Republic could celebrate another triumph thanks to Pavlína Zástěrová who won in the ladies category.

Dam 2 Dam race podium (From left To Right): Pavel Andrassy, Michal Buchtel, Eric Deguil ©kayaksession.com

Devils Extreme Race was the very last race which could change the overall standing in the EKEC series. The first two races Outdoormix Festival in France and King of the Alps in Italy were already held in spring. A prize money of 3000 euro provided by HIKO was divided amongst Eric Deguil and Michele Ramazza who had the same total amount of points. Michal Buchtel gained a third place. Ladies category was won by Pavlína Zástěrová. Second place was taken by Lowri Davies from the United Kingdom and third place went to Zofia Tula from Poland.