The third stop of the Czech and Slovak Surfing Tour was held in Sri Lanka at SK Town Beach, as well as the last year. Although the number of participants was slightly lower than last year, the competition was still excellent. There were participants not only from the Czech Republic, but also from Slovakia and there were also fans from Australia and France in the audience, making it a truly international event.
The race started on the first possible day of the week-long "waiting period", Monday morning, and by Tuesday afternoon the winners had already been decided.
The race was run in the classic chilled spirit of SK Town beach with local judges giving nothing away to the competitors and again judging very strictly. However, the competitors fought it bravely. Besides the stalwarts of Czech surfing, this time there were also new talents in the field who surprised with their performances and made it to the finals in both the men's and women's categories.
In the women's final, Jana Kašová took the first place with 5.00 points, moving her up to the first place in the overall ranking after a not-so-successful first two races of this year's Tour. Second place went to Simona Semenska, a "local" from SK Town Beach and a member of Surftrip's Sea You House team, with 3.10 points. This was the first racing experience for Sisa, so it is a real success! Third place went to Vivien Safranek, a Hungarian competitor with Slovak roots, with 1.90 points. Another local competitor from SK Town Beach and a member of the Surftrip.cz team, Kateřina Lišková, managed to take fourth place despite a fever during the race and scored a beautiful 1.70 points.
In the men's final Jakub Michna took the first place with 7.50 points and like Jana Kašová he defended his lead in the ranking of this year's Tour after a not very successful finish in Bali. The second place went to the local "shredder" from Surftrip.cz, Otmar Oliva with 4.90 points. A newly discovered talent, Jakub Sikora, who is currently training with Jakub Michna, took third place with 3.0 points, which was a very good placing considering it was his first race in the Czech and Slovak Surfing Tour. Robert Vysloužil, the current number two in the rankings, finished fourth with 2.30 points. Robert arrived in Sri Lanka just a few hours before the start of the contest.
Adam Žáček, proved to be a "superhero" of the competition and the organizing team when he arrived a bit late for his heat due to giving a surf lessons, after celebrating his own birthday, but still managed to advance to the semi-finals.
The overall atmosphere in Sri Lanka was fantastic and it was great to see the local community supporting and looking after the competitors. Even the local restaurant, Moon Bridge, which was closed before the race, reopened for the competitors.
The next stop and the final of the Czech-Slovak Cup will be in France in June and we are looking forward to an amazing competition and even better results. We wish all drivers good luck!