The season has opened!

The competitions of Iecava last weekend marked the opening of this year’s canoe slalom season. In the team competition, the “Brīvo ūdeņu” traveling cup was won by the Peiker family from the Estonian club SK “Pirita,” while the junior brave cup was won by the Ozolnieki Sports School.

On April 13 and 14, 14 teams and 83 participants took part in the competitions in the Iecava River. For the second year in a row, the “Brīvo ūdeņu” cup opened the competition season in canoe slalom in Latvia. This year, it was organized by the association “Brīvie ūdeņi” together with the Latvian Canoe Association and the Iecava municipality. Participants from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia took part in the competitions. The Iecava championship was also held on Sunday.

On the first day, teams competed for the traveling cup in the adult competition and for the brave cup in the junior competition. The winners of the adult competition were representatives of SK “Pirita” from Estonia (Marija Peikere, Martins Peikers, Tarmo Peikers), the second place went to “Brīvie ūdeņi” (Atis Bērziņš, Mārtiņš Onskulis, Aivars Eiduks), while the third place was won by SK “Atvars” (Martins Macjiausks, Klāvs Auznieks, Pēteris Pīlīte). In the junior competition, the best were the Ozolnieki Sports School (Justs Līcītis, Marko Cers, Leonards Pāvilsons), the second place went to AK “Baldone” (Jurita Ķeire, Mārtiņš Brencis, Staņislavs Mosunovs), and the third place to Rīgas airēšanas klubs (Ingars Adamovičs, Dāvis Jozeps, Olivers Šefers).

In the individual competitions, in the prestigious men’s K1 class, with nearly 50 participants, the winner was Martins Macjiausks from Liepāja, who left behind the Estonians Tarmo and Martin Peiker. In the women’s K1 class, the winner’s cup also went to Liepāja – first place to Elizabete Kurvina, who beat Marija Peikere by 1.08 seconds, and the third place to Dini Ozola from Valmiera.

In the MC1 class, the laurels were picked by Krišs Ozols, the second place this time went to Visvaldis Pumputis from Lithuania, and the third place to Aivars Eiduks, while in the WC1 class, the best was Marija Peikere, leaving behind the Lithuanian Veronika Šalaševičūtė-Turbanova and Marija Žižmāre from Baldone.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Iecava championship took place in the same river. In the men’s K1 class, the winner was Tarmo Peikers, in the women’s class, the best was Kurvina, in MC1 the fastest was Ozols, and in WC1, Peikere outpaced everyone.

The next canoe slalom competitions in Latvia are scheduled for May fourth and fifth, when the Latvian cup will take place in Bauska.

The results are available here