LIBEREC CZECH REPUBLIC - End of August we travelled to the north of Czech to Liberec for the closing IKSA eurocup weekend of the season 2011. We thank Kolobežky Kidokai and the Inline skate organisation Liberec for organising the IKSA eurocup weekend. The race locations were beautifull. About 70 footbikers took part in the races.
On arrival it was 35C on Friday a bit too hot for our standards, but on the race day on Saturday temperatures dropped to 18C. More like temps at home in Netherlands, so no real drama there. On arrival in the evening we sat under the stars watching the mountain top of Ješted in the sun.
We want to special thank the inline skate people for welcoming us on Friday. Short before the race on Saturday first Czech footbikers showed up.
[ During chip mounting there was some unclearity among riders. In IKSA eurocup one should mount the chip on the front fork als low as possible. It is not allowed during an IKSA eurocup race to put it some were else. If one wants to have a spare chip on a spare frame in case of broken frame that is allowed in IKSA eurocup. So 2 chipnumbers can be registrated to one person.]
On Saturday the IKSA eurocup 35 km race. The Vesec track was pretty heavy, sharp turns and steep downhill and climbs. Start was this time mixed, not ideal but oke. There was a 400m loop in the beginning to spread the large group before everyone started with the 3,2 km loop x 10.
The Czech Ladislav Provod (team PSP-KK plzen), Richard Jisl (team Kidokai Jablonec) took the lead and after 22 km Ladislav speeded up and Richard had to let him go. On the finish Ladislav won in a time of 1:09.24. Jisle finished in 1:10:21. The suprising man of the weekend was for sure Václav Barák from team Ultima Klap who finished 3d.
In the women field eurocup leading lady Dutch Rosanne Reijne (High Level vd Laan) took the lead right after start and then she took it easy for a while there, so Michaela Balatková (PSP - KK Plzen) and Katka Beroušková (Slavia pojišt'ovna team) both Czech followed and closed almost the gap in round 3, 4 and 5. That forced Rosanne to conclude that she needed to speed up in order to win the race and she did af 14 km and took of and won in a time of 1.13.30 after 9 laps. Michaela followed as second in 1:15:00 and Katka was 3d in 1:15:37.
Right during finish it started raining and it kept raining till late in the evening. So the relay team race was delayed and because and it was unclear when (and if) it would take part many teams decided to skip it and travel to their hotel in stead of waiting in the rain. Which is unfortunate. Because in the end the teams carry the eurocup competition, so a team race is an essential part. In future clear communication by organisers is needed towards riders in this case.
There was pasta after the race but no real place to sit in side, so some of us took off in early evening to the centre of Liberec, to dine and warm up. We haven't seen any sprint races because it kept on raining. The sprints were no part of eurocup so that was not really an issue. When we came back from town it stopped raining and the clouds broke so we sat under a night sky above te lights of Liberec next to our tents. There was and even short fireworks and we toosted towards next day and on the end of the IKSA season.
On sunny Sunday morning I gathered the IKSA flags. The inline organisers offered us drinks. Great people. Before we left for the Jested, the climb to the top. Arriving on the parking at the foot of the mountain it was very nice weather, lot's of footbikers in good mood for the 6 km climb to Ješted top. I took our car up so the IKSA flags and end prices were at the top, but it was kind of a challenge to get there I can tell you. Roads were in the first kilometers wide, but as I came to top it was pretty small in the last km and cars could not pass eachother. On arrival the top was totaly in the clouds and 13C. A real change from the situation 7 km downhill were it was nice and sunny. So it looked like a climb to hell.
First inline skaters came over finish line (not so many took part), and they did a shorter track I believe just a few km. And then suddenly between al the skaters the first footbiker appared: Ladislav came as winner first at the top of the mountain and he was totaly exhausted. Everyone who finished was exhausted. Suprisingly second was new comer Václav Barák just 15 seconds!!! behind Ladislav. And about a minute later 2010 overall eurocup winner Ricard Jisl arrived. It is good to see new names in our sport in top ....like Barák.
The first woman on the top was Michaela Balatková, second Rosanne Reijne, and third Pavlína Soukupová. It was a tuff challenge for all. And a nice change to see some else win in the women's field. That is motivating for all.
Inside in the tower (which looks a bit like sience fiction decor from the seventies) were food and drinks present and some warmer temperatures. And once the clouds flew by us we could see far over the Czech lands and even see in to Germany. The price ceremony was held on top of the mountain with view over the surrounding lands. ...a very beautifull scenery. Once the race price ceremony was done we had the overall IKSA eurocup competition ceremony and also the Czechs held their national competition ceremony, so lots of prices there to give.
Finally it was time for us to pack the car and leave for home, with 8 people in 1 car allways a puzzle. We did drive back on Sunday evening via Dresden to Magdenburg and stayed on a camping next to a lake. Next day we visited the Magdenburger dom (to sniff some culture) and had a drink in the Green citadel before driving back to the lowlands.
Great weekend, thanks to all for competing.
