The second year of the fat bike race in Dolní Morava was dominated by Jaroslav Kulhavý, a double Olympic gold medallist. In the bright and chilly afternoon, 41 biking men and 2 women got ready for the race. While there was not enough snow last year, on January 28, 2017, the situation was completely different. For biking, the amount and quality of snow is crucial. It is either possible to do the race, or not. No one really enjoys walking beside their bike. The powdery and over-frozen snow, however, did not accommodate organizers’ efforts to improve the surface. This made the contestants walk along a certain section of the trail. The fastest bikers did not make it under 1.5 hours in 20 km, anyway, getting their results close to the last year’s ones.
Jaroslav had even ridden a few dozens of kilometres along a road. Then he needed 1 hour and 22 minutes to finish the race, before climbing Slamník (1233 m a.s.l.) on ski mountaineering skis right after the decoration. In the race, Jakub Šilar was the one who attempted and managed to keep up, coming second. Milan Fajt came third, with a bit longer time needed to finish the race.
Click to view the results in MEN's category.
Among the contestants, there were also a lot of senior athletes in category MASTERS (men over 40). The winner of this category is Jan Vaňous, before Martin Ondráček taking silver, and a fresh quadragenarian Radim Neuman.
The youngest bikers competed on a single circuit. In the JUNIOR category, the following contestants reached the winner’s rostrum: Filip Stehno, Josef Macháč, and Max Adami.
With their number, both WOMEN might have been sure they would take medals. None of them made it easy for her opponent, though. The gold was taken by Zuzana Burianová on test bike Specialized, only 4 minutes before Dagmar Přibylová.
For next year, the organizers plan to change the starting section of the trail and we may also look forward to a surprise, such as a downhill race or an attractive prologue.
Thanks to resort Dolní Morava for the background and all the service provided, to Specialized and Rock Machine, who provided the contest with a third of the fat bikes, and to Garmin for their help with the video.
You can enjoy the atmosphere of the race by viewing Vratislav Krobot’s photos.
