Gonzalo Melero | Sportscene - A great show was held last Saturday at  the International Marathon of Ardeche, in the French region of Rhône-Alpes. Following cancellation in 2012 due to flood conditions, this year it was held on a medium to low water level, perfect for a great marathon.

1,472 paddlers gathered under a fine sunny day which delighted both competitors and spectators. All sights were set on the current world champion and Olympic medalist in K1 1000m Max Hoff, one of the favourites on the international scene who returned to his first discipline (river descent) with his teammate Tobias Bong. Having already won the Ardèche three times with Stiefenhofer , he tried again this time in a K2 and from the early stages took the lead. Behind them, just a few metres away,  was the new partnership of Czech Tomas Slovak (K1 champion in former races) and Frenchman Cyrille Carré , bronze at the recent Copenhagen Marathon Worlds and one of the most versatile paddlers recently. However, the thrust of the Germans opened a 30 second gap that they maintained for half the race.

But in the second half of the race, Hoff began having leg cramps , which made him start losing pace. A few kilometres later, Slovak and Carré closed the gap and were soon counterattacking. They had a hard time gaining a few metres to face the finish line on their own. Just 20 seconds  later was enough for Carré to get his third title in K2, tying with Hoff in overall victories. Following Hoff and Bong , but more than two minutes later, third position went to the French pair of Benoît Le Roux and Remi Pété (Brest).

In the K1, the Spanish made quite a show with team members of SCD Ribadesella taking 5 out of the top ten positions. Most of them opted for a surfski boat (and even one sea kayak) and Kiko Vega took the victory ahead of another great Sprint specialist, Slovenian Jost Zakrajsek. Both arrived respectively in 12th and 14th positions in the overall standings . A little further back in third place was Luis Amado Pérez and fourth was his teammate Miguel Llorens. Óscar Hernández came in 7th and Pedro Gutiérrez in 9th (after suffering a painful hand injury caused by his paddle which consequently lost him a few positions in the last kilometres ) rounded the perfect race of the Spanish team.

In the women's competition , the K2 title went to the French couple of Malaterre and Hostens in a very good time of 1h55' (30th place overall), while in K1 there was a great fight for victory until the final metres, with Deborah Fogel ( SUI ) and Annika Gierenz ( GER ) neck and neck, with final victory in the sprint going to the Swiss, with the German in a well-deserved second place. Just one minute behind them , the French Lise Vinet completed the podium.

In Mixed K2 category , victory went to the brother and sister team of Achim and Alke Overbeck, who completed along with Hoff , Bong and Gierenz a great weekend for the German National Team paddlers.

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