Jan Homolka | Sportscene - The ICF Classic Series Canoe Marathons are finished for 2013. The last race in Italy was completed on Sunday 20th October with more than 400 competitors. This series took place all over the world with ten races and paddlers having to complete at least two races to participate in the series. ICF again opened the series for the three categories: K1 men, K1 women and C1 men.

Marathons picked for the 2013 series:

• Drak Challenge Canoe Marathon - South Africa
• Waterland Marathon - Netherlands
• Crestuma - Portugal
• Avon Descent - Austria
• Descent of River Sella - Spain
• Dalsland Canoe Marathon - Sweden
• Tour de Gudena - Denmark
• Liffey Descent - Ireland
• Cesky Krumlov River Marathon - Czech Republic
• Adige Marathon - Italy

21 competitors had signed up for the 2013 series and finished in 7 races. The biggest participation was in Cesky Krumlov and Adige with 16 paddlers trying to get as many points as possible. The prize money isn’t small and chances were even. The winner gets 1000 Euros, second place took 500 Euros and third place 300 Euros.

K1 Men

K1 men category contained ten kayakers from six countries. Tomas Slovak from Czech Republic, who won in Cesky Krumlov and Adige attacked for the first place, but his colleague Tomas Jezek participated in three races and won the K1 category. Third place was taken by Jan Laenen from Belgium who completed five races. Laenen completed the most races of all competitors.

K1 Women

The second largest category with seven kayakers doing battle with paddlers coming from four countries. Even when Czech Republic had three competitors in this category, they didn’t win a medal. The category was won by Pia Ruhm from Germany, who completed three races with 210 points. Sabine Eichenberger took second place and her gold medals coming from Cesky Krumlov and Adige really helped her. The third place was won by Manuela Stoeberl from Germany. Stoeberl finished second in Cesky Krumlov and Adige as well.

C1 Men

This famous category of canoe paddlers promised a great duel between the Czech Republic and Croatia. Antonin Hales won in Cesky Krumlov and defeated Tomislav Lepan. Lepan wanted to payback Hales’s win in Krumlov and he managed to do so. The big experiences and good technique secured Lepan’s first place in Italy. Hales went to Ireland for the Liffey Descent and points from the green island secured him the overall win in the series. The third place was taken by Martin Novak from Czech Republic.

ICF is now waiting for the entry forms from the marathon organisers and it’s up to the ICF committee as to which races will become the 2014 series.