2015 ICF World Championships Slalom
 
1
2
3
K1M
CZ J. PRSKAVEC
PL M. POLACZYK
US M. SMOLEN
K1W
CZ K. KUDEJOVA
DE R. FUNK
DE M. PFEIFER
C1M
GB D. FLORENCE
SI B. SAVSEK
GB R. WESTLEY
C1W
AU J. FOX
CZ K. HOSKOVA
ES N. VILARRUBLA
C2
DE ANTON/BENZIEN
FR PICCO/BISO
FR KLAUSS/PECHE

Marathon

José Ramalho beats Spanish Armada at the Amsterdam Waterland Marathon

The 42nd edition of the Amsterdam Waterland Marathon has been won by José Ramalho. In a time of 1.42.15 José was the first paddler to sprint across the finish line in a very compact race.

Right after the mass-start of 100 athletes it looked as if a small group of paddlers was going to escape from the rest of the field. But with this ‘classic style of marathon racing’ comes a very demanding course with different water conditions. The narrow channels after the second portage gave the pursuing group a chance to catch up with the leading group of the race. This made the race a very exciting and close race all the way to the end as the winner had to be decided in the last kilometers of the race. It was the last 500 meters of the 23 km course that fourteen paddlers sprinted for the final victory. Portugese José Ramalho that won the sprint of four Spanish rivals Emilio Merchan, David Rodriquez, Ivan Alonso and Alexandro Sanchez. Portugal and Spain that now take home the top 5 points for the ICF Classic Canoe Marathon ranking. Belgian athlete Dries Corrijn finished in 6th place, an excellent performance of Dries in this though world class race! 

The first Dutch athlete to finish was Viking member Bram Brandjes, just in front of last years winner Joep van Bakel. With this victory over last years winner Bram Brandjes has claimed the Dutch marathon championship title.

A look at the results shows that it has been a very close race with fourteen athletes finishing within a minute from winner José Ramalho, these statistics show the excellence of the competitors that fought for this year’s honor of winning the Amsterdam Waterland Marathon.

canoe kayak marathon paddlesports amsterdam waterland 2014 netherlands holland sportscene results competitionMaster Race from the inside - by Filipe Pereira

After a massive start with 90 athletes, two Master athletes were able to follow the senior bunch closely until the right turn into the narrow canal. Those were Thomas Kittner (Germany) and last years' winner Filipe Pereira (Portugal). Nevertheless Filipe was not able to follow the pace with the big names, and was quickly caught by Alexander Soloid (KCCG, Belgium), Klaus Gieres (Germany) and later by Erik Verduyckt (KKK Belgium).
In the first portage all the contenders were already close to each other and the decision was going to be made in the narrow canals after the 2nd portage. And so it was. In the end Erik was able to beat all the competition, while Alexander and Thomas followed him in the podium, being second and third respectively.

Waterland Marathon is becoming one of the strongest marathons in the world, both in Seniors category as well as in Masters category. 

In the junior races for men and women the victories went to our international guests as well. Norwegian Anna Sletsjoe was the first junior women to come across the finish line. At the Junior men it was Belgian Daan Cox that won the race. He proved to be the fastest in a highly competitive field of 24 paddlers coming from Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark and the British Canoe Union. The British Lizzie Broughton took home the best result in the senior women competition.

The organization of the Amsterdam Waterland Marathon looks back at the 42nd edition with great pride. The ‘old style’ of racing attracts paddlers from all over Europe. This 42nd edition of our classic marathon race yet again attracted a larger number of paddlers than previous editions. The enthusiasm of all competitors joining our race gives us great confidence in the future of the Waterland Marathon and classic marathon racing in general.

More pictures, results and videos can be found on www.amsterdamcanoemarathon.com

Videographer: Gijs Takken | Sportscene