Ještěd Skyrace

As always, my hardest, most dreaded and yet most loved race of the year. Racing on Ještěd is a matter of the heart, a challenge of all challenges, an incredible party. These are not races where I have winning ambitions, for me victory is the completion of the race itself. I enjoy every minute under the time limit, every little improvement from year to year. These are the races I come to enjoy (and also survive). But as the years go by, every year I hesitate if I can still do it. But yes, I did it again and managed to finish this year’s race, too. Finally after a week our sore muscles are gone so here is the summary and some photos of this years fantastic experience.

But it was extremely challenging this year. We had puppies nine days before the race, so after 9 night shifts in the whelping box, I didn’t feel, let’s say, full of strength at the start. I feared if I could manage 22 km with an extreme elevation gain of almost 1500 m. But as soon as the race started, all the fatigue was suddenly gone and we concentrated only on the race. Amiga helped me as much as she could, we cut kilometers one after the other, climbed the peaks, sometimes climbed on all fours and immediately jumped over the boulders down into the valley. We cooled in every stream, replenished our energy at every refreshment station and enjoyed the lovely views as we went. Despite the high temperatures (19°C) and sunny weather, the race went quite well for us and after two hours on the track we started to calculate that if things continue like this, we can finish the race in less than 4 hours. That would mean an improvement over last year’s time by three quarters of an hour. It drove us forward and we tried not to slack off. After all, we succeeded and crossed the finish line in the time 3:55.

Natálka and Vendetta and Jura and Vendetta’s daughter, Fayla, lined up for the start on the shorter course (13 km, elevation gain of almost 1,000 m). Unfortunately, the other members of our racing team could not start this year due to injuries or other plans. Erik looked after the puppies at home so that at least we could run (thank you!).

Fayla had a great race, with Jura they ran it in an incredible time of 1:51 and secured a well-deserved 1st place on this route. Congratulations!

The race didn’t suit Vendetta this year, the heat obviously didn’t do her any good, so the Natalie and Vendetta stopped more, cooled down and rested in order to handle everything in good health. Several competitors draw from the race early this year, but the girls overcame everything and ran to the finish line in 3:01. Good job!

Thanks to all organisers, helpers, cheerleaders and photographers, without you we couldn’t have so many great experiences and memories. So see you all next time under Ještěd again.