Canoe Slalom Czech National Results

The small, picturesque township of Lipno nestled in southern Czech between soaring mountains and fast -flowing ice melt rivers attracts tourists from all over the world to experience the wild water. Lipno was the setting for the 2010 Czech Nationals, an unseasonal cold and wintry winter snap had temperatures plummeting under 10 degrees during competition. Olympian Vavra Hradilek and current Czech title holder pulled a few strings to allow a few top international paddlers to race at this race normally closed to foreign competitors. Mike Dawson was the only Kiwi on the start list. The Lipno slalom course only flows twice a year and training time on the course is limited to 2 hours leaving little preparation and familiarization for internationals on this, a home course for the CZE team.

The Lipno course is no easy slalom river with tough moves and tougher lines quickly narrowing down the field heading into the semis and finals. In slalom every qualification, semi and final is from scratch a new race and competitors need nerves of steel, technical ability and peak fitness to competitively achieve at this top international level

Day One 28th August

After a stunning qualification race , Dawson (NZL) 113.69s in the semi-finals qualified 2nd for the finals behind Lukas Kubrican (CZE) 110.69s. The course was set with gates repositioned allowing for greater difficulty on this demanding course. Vít Prinidis (CZE) 110.88s took out the finals with Dawson moving to 8th position overall. One of Dawson's training partners Heurteau (IRL) feel foul of the course and moved into 22nd position with a 50s penalty.

Day Two 29th August

Fresh from medaling at the 2010 European canoe slalom championship Olympian Vavřinec Hradilek (CZE) 110.59s took out the title with CZE team mates Michal Buchtel 2nd and Lubos Hilgert (CZE)112.16s 3rd allowing an all Czech podium finish. Ciaran Heurteau (IRL) 5th 113.36s put down solid runs during every round day two of competition. Canadian Paul Manning-Hunter experienced a few difficulties on the course pushing him into 10th position. Michael Dawson (NZL) 4th fastest into the final in 115.61s felt the force of the water causing him to lose precious seconds, collecting penalties and leaving him in 12th. overall.

Dawson relished the opportunity and challenge of another race at top level and now with two solid weekends of racing behind him heads back to Ljubljana joining up with the rest of the Kiwi team readying for final training and preparation before the 2010 Canoe Slalom World Championships begin 7-13th September