News

This year’s Race around Austria was 2.164 km long with 28.000 m of elevation. Time limit for all solo men was 144 hours. We crossed the finish line in 15^th place on Thursday at 10:04 am after 141 hours and 59 minutes of cycling. Our goal was accomplished – we managed to finish in less than 144 hours. It was great! For the first three days, all the way to Lienz, we managed to keep up with our plan or to be ahead of it. The forth day was filled with the toughest mountain passes – Iselsberg, Hochtor, Gerlospass and Kühtai. It was also the only cold and rainy day, and combined with the big portion of meters of elevation we started to fall behind our plan. I also injured my right knee that day. The fifth day wasn’t much easier, ascents to Silvretta, Faschinajoch and Hochtannbergpass with the messed up knee were very hard.  After passing Innsbruck and the last pass in the Alps – Dienter Sattel – we knew we were going to make it across the finish line. We arrived to Schärding with a two hour reserve. The welcome from the organizing team at the town square was very warm and pleasant. My support team was great during RAA! Everybody did their best. In this case the statement that good teamwork makes at least half of the success was absolutely true. I would like to thank Jakub, Zdenek, Vojta, Honza and Vláďa, who got my back for the whole race, and to Mechoš and Jindřiška who were always waiting for us on the route, and created outstanding conditions for me during the breaks and pit stops. My special thanks goes to Zdenek for full health service. Really, I needed it very much, because I hade a problem with my right knee.I am also grateful for all the text messages, calls and support from our fans and friends we got during the race. After seeing the mountain passes in the Alps there is no doubt why the best ultra riders come from Austria, Switzerland, Germany or Slovenia. Mountains around my home are not even close to these, and it makes me even gladder we managed to finish Race around Austria. It is also necessary to point out great achievements of other Czech and Slovakian riders – Sváťa Božák, Martin Kerekeš and Patrik Bártík. Pictures can be found in the Gallery, video is coming soon.

We managed to finish this year’s Race around Slovenia. The route was 1.138,6 km long with more than 14.500 meters of elevation, and we came to the finish line after 65 hours 47 minutes and 30 seconds of riding. Except the last hours, the weather conditions were perfect this year. My plan was to finish in less than 60 hours. I was doing very well during the first part of the race; I was the 34th fastest on the top of Vršič pass. However I was facing some respiration complications. Also the wind in the northeastern flat parts of Slovenia wasn’t very helpful. It started looking good again in the 10th leg. I was closing to Zvonko Hasemali but during the ascent to Vahta pass I started having some stomach problems. From that moment on the only objective was to finish the race in the time limit. I would like to congratulate Pascal Bride and Alexandr Vonbank to their excellent performance during this years RAS. Concerning Czech and Slovak riders I had two tips before the race: Richard Meleg and Sváťa Božák. Both of them proved me right and finished in less than two days. Their performance was surely on the European level. I would also like to stress out very good rides of Milan Černek, Tomáš Vitvar and Andreja Jagodič.

 

You can find Jakub Cejpek’s excellent photos from the race in our gallery. A video will be available soon.

The terrible news about Jure reached me today. It was much unexpected. This is a great loss for DOS-RAS, for Slovenia, and for ultracycling. It’s horrible news for me, really! RAAM champion Jure Robic died in traffic accident in his native town Jesenice. Jure Robic, the Slovenian ultra cyclist has died in a traffic collision at the age of 45. He was on a training ride in preparation for the Australia's Crocodile Trophy mountain bike race. Jure Robic was a five times winner of the Race Across America RAAM men's solo, with his first victory in 2004. Robic's five wins is a record in men's solo races. He won the Race around Slovenia DOS RAS EXTREME three times. During his career he had over 100 victories and 150 podium finishes.