The Dutch Championships a.k.a. ‘kajak festival’ unfolded last weekend on the artificial white water course Dutch Water Dreams in Zoetermeer. Around 100 competitors competed over the weekend in five different disciplines; Freestyle, BoaterX, Slalom, Down River and Canoe Polo. Most members of the Europagaai Freestyle Team competed in the first four disciplines.
Freestyle
The Freestyle competition kicked off on Saturday morning with the qualifications. It was a tide race on a fast wave/hole feature. At the end of the day was it Quérine Wegman who took the win followed by Martina in Second. Casper van Kalmthout dominated in the men’s and took home his 5th title. Tim Uneken ended in second place closely followed by Joery Radix. Remi had a unlucky final and ended in a 4th place. The Junior men’s got dominated by Lane with a point difference of 200 point to second place winner Bobby Groenewoud.
BoaterX
The Dutch BoaterX Championships was by far the most attractive for competitors. With a large field of competitors at the start it was a hard and excited race. The men’s final was represented by Remi Wegman, Rene Boom, Casper van Kalmthout, Raoul Collenteur, Bas Horstink and Emiel Beukenkamp. Rene Boom leaded the race till the finish, closely followed by Bas Horstink. In the end it was Raoul who made a sharp move and finished in second place followed by Bas in 3rd. Martina won the woman title.
Slalom
Olympic finalist 2008 Robert Bouten owned it in the slalom and won back the Dutch Title by beating Bas Wesselink. Claudia Leenders won the women’s with a couple seconds ahead of Martina Wegman, who raced her first Dutch slalom race! The artificial white water course is a copy of the Olympic course in Beijing and is a difficult course but great for slalom!
Down River
A trilling final in the Dutch Championships Down River. Heaps of foreigner paddler came all the way down for this event. In the end it was Sebastian Verhoef who won the Dutch title in the senior men’s. Jim Rovekamp won his second gold over the weekend in the Down River Race, same for Martina Wegman who ended just a couple seconds ahead of German paddler Brigit.
Canoe Polo
On a lake beside the white water course took a canoe polo event place. DKV Euros ended after their last game in first place. In the junior class was Odysseus to strong for Keistad Jeugd and Golden Goal.
Beside the races there was enough to happen for the spectators who came around.
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