FISTC European Championship Mid and Long Distance 2016

SACHTICHY - Slovakia - 18 - 21 February 2016

Here we are again. On Thursday evening, after a quite rainy day we had a beautiful opening ceremony like our Slovak friends know to organise it.

Unfortunately it has been raining all night so the first day of race on Friday was cancelled.

But in life you need a minimum of luck and sometimes miracles. As from Friday lunch time rain turned into snow and this morning we had almost perfect trails and we could start the race. While some small parts of the trail, at the start and finish area were not good enough for skiers, some mushers said they have had on of their best distance race...

In Pulka Class, the first is the French Michel Decouteix. IN SJ 2 dogs the Czech Jacob Urban is the leader, while SJ 1 dog men is leaded by Jan Neger (SK).

In MD O class, Jean Combazard (F) has been unbelievely fast, racing the 39 km in less than 2 hoursand has now a confortable advantage on Roman Habasko (CZ) second. In A1 class the first is Doris Prohaska, while A2 is leaded bz Thierry Narcy (F).

B classes like SJ classes race on 30 km and B1 is lead by Maros Litvaj (SK) and B2 Class by Zbigniew Heczko (CZ).

C and D classes race on 22,5 km. C1 is led by Filippo Piccinini (I) and Didier Fleury (F) is second. C2 is led by Alain Diffort (F) with four Greenland dogs. D1 is in the hands of Blanka Csizmadia (HU), while in Dľ Theo Kentzinger (F) Junior is first.

A really beautiful race that would be one of the most beautiful in Europe with a little bit more snow.

Tomorrow will be another beautifull race as we expect some more snow during the night.

But right now we all will enjoy the musher dinner and dancing party offered by our Slovak friends to all participants, mushers, handlers and friends.

Once again what a good race in such a nice atmosphere like you only find on Distance Championshps.