Ekstremesportveko 2010

After two days spent in my car, I turned up to Voss, my summer location this year. Voss is sick, so many rivers to run on such a small area so there is always stuff to paddle, even after a full day of raft guiding. The summer almost never sets here, so it's not a problem to put in for the local runs around 9pm. I had been enjoying Myrdalselvi and Raundalselvi runs with the local crew and experiencing unusually warm Norwegian spring in Voss.

Voss is also hosting the annual Ekstremesportveko event, one of the biggest extrem sport festivals anywhere, attracting hundreds of athletes and thousands of fans and spectators. This is my favourite week in the year. The festival tent has always great atmosphere and is you can meet almost anyone from you friends all over the world. 

There are competitions and events held in BASE, Skydiving, Paragliding, Hanggliding, Multisport, Rafting, Big Air, Freeride, Kiting, MTB\ BMX, Climbing, Longboarding and also Kayaking. All the athletes and fans meet every evening the big festival tent to watch the today's video from the day's event, share stories and party big style indeed. 

This years Veko has been little different for me as I had also been working most of the week for Voss Rafting. This has turned the Ekstremeveko also in an endurance week, but I also managed to compete in few events. On Monday I entered the Hogri Ned multisport event. This race usually consist of skier, downhill biker and kayaker. This year, there has been not much snow in Voss, so the skiing part had to be abandoned and it looked like I will not have a team as my team buddies from last year could not turn up. One day before the event I got a call from John Indrebo, one of the local bikers and on Monday I was awaiting his arrival at the start. After slower hand over of the relay bib we became 3^rd overall. Cool, my first veko podium this year. 

The main kayaking event was held at the Mjolfjell race course. This had been a big chanche from the traditional Branseth course, which was out due to low water levels. 

Mjolfjell has been rising on the contrary so most of the competitors had been welcomed by a very sticky hole at the bottom of the section, which made almost one third of the field to drink a bootie beer by the end of the day. I had couple great training rides and felt pretty strong for the race. The first part felt very fast and on the track, but I got pushed behind the rock by the bottom hole and so lost any chances for the finals like many of the others who went through the “back door”. Anyway, it got all better for the team race as I teamed up with my ZET kayaks mates from Czech Viktor Legat and Jiri Kopecny and we managed to get second behind the Italian team.

 The rest of the Veko followed with amazing parties, great everyday events and loads of stories to be shared. Already looking for the next year. Thanks for the amazing competition photos by M. Kroupa