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World Championship 2010

World Championship 2010 – Oberwiesenthal 26. - 28.2. 2010

A summit of this racing season took place at the World Championship held in Oberwiesenthal in Germany. Here, I was expecting, what results will bring my exacting yearly work with dogs.

Racing diary:

Wednesday – 24.2.2010
On Wednesday morning I arrived to the races and a first problem came with a free place for parking and for stake out (ropes, where dogs are tied up and which are anchored to the ground). Organizers prepared for us parking on an asphalt-parking place, where the pins for stake out couldn’t be fixed. The rope had to be stretched between a car and a trailer and tied to the wheels. I was lucky to come so early, otherwise I’d parked on the main road as competitors from Russia or 2 km away from the start, as some other mushers did, which was a big problem.

There was a veterinary control from 10.00 am to the evening. They were examining very carefully the paws, if they are not wounded and strained, further the mobility of knee and hip joints, eyes and hearts. The entire examination of my dogs went excellently.

Thursday – 25.2.2010
On Thursday I went on ski to check the racing track. It was 12 km long, very rugged and after the rain soft and difficult.

Friday – 26.2.2010
On Friday, 250 mushers from 17 countries entered the competition. I (Štěpán Krkoška) represented the Czech Republic in the category B1, Jiljí Krkoška - SKJ, Zdeněk Kůrka - B1 and Ondřej Brož - C1.

40 mushers started in my category B1 with 6 dogs. There has never been such a heavy participation at the World Championship, yet. I went first on the 12 km track. My resulting time at finish was 25 minutes and 55 seconds. I was ahead of Paul Weyandt (Germany) by 32 seconds, he ended up on second place. Zdeněk Kůrka ended up on excellent sixth place.

The official opening of the World Championship was held in the evening after the race. All mushers and their helpers got to the stadium (about 600 people).

Saturday – 27.2.2010
The racing track was frozen and fast on Saturday. Again, I started as first, but this time I lost by 1 second to Paul Weyandt. Zdeněk Kůrka took the 8th place.

A „musher party“ was held on Saturday evening with a plentiful banquet and music.

Sunday – 28.2.2010
On Sunday morning the temperature was above zero and the track was soft. Last day of the race was critical and I was nervous. After finish I was satisfied with my time. I was then waiting for my biggest competitor Paul Weyandt to finish. He was by 2 seconds faster per lap, but in total I was faster by 29 seconds. And so, I could enjoy the victory.

My team consisted of 2 female dogs in charge - Hack Berry and Honey and 4 dogs Inuk, Black, Hubbart Glacier and Harry.

Final results (final list also on www.schlittenhundeweltmeisterschaft.de):

1st place - Krkoška Štěpán – 1:15:23

2nd place - Weyandt Paul - 1:15:52
3rd place - Patsch Georg – 1:17:57
9th place - Kůrka Zdeněk – 1:24:19

In the category – Skijoring (cross-country skiing with 1 dog) won easily my uncle Jiljí Krkoška with a dog Ben, which is already 9 years old.

In the category C1 with 4 dogs wan a perfect 3rd place a Czech representative Ondřej Brož among 41 competitors.

Our team of the Czech Republic wan excellent 2nd place among teams from 17 countries.

1. place Poland
2. place Czech Republic
3. place Germany

In 2011 the European Championship WSA takes place in Italy.

Gallery

Click on the link or overview to open a larger pictures

1st place - Unterjoch - Germany

At the weekend (16 – 17th January 2010) a qualifying race of German mushers for the World Championship was held in Unterjoch – Germany.

In total 100 mushers started including some mushers from Netherlands, Austria and Polish friends Surovka, Wlodarczyk, Stawowczyk.

I was the only one representing the Czech Republic.

I started for the fourth time in Unterjoch. I like to come back to these races even though the way here is 950 km far away. The racing tracks are my favourite because of technical performance and speed.

There was a beautiful weather on Saturday, the temperature –12C and sunny. The track was very fast.

On Sunday morning, unfortunately the rain started, snow in track was melted and such snow conditions were difficult especially for dogs and times got worst on average 3 to 5 minutes.

In my category with 6 dogs there was a competition of 11 mushers.

I wan 1st place by 17 seconds. Second place went to Weyand (Germany) and third place to Patsch (Germany).

See the complete race results on the German site: www.bwsc-info.de (Table of Results).

Come to see a Sled dog racing one day, its real adrenaline…