Masters World Championship, Switzerland, 9.9.2018

10.09.2018

St. Moritz welcomed us on Saturday with sunlit mountain peaks, which gave us the hope that the weather will be on our side in tomorrow's race. In the evening of the race, an opening ceremony took place, where I was honored to represent the Czech Republic and carry our national flag accompanied by the Czech anthem. While the race itself was still waiting for us, all the representatives were impressed by the arrival of the representatives and the presentation of all the participating states, not just me, standing on the stage with a flag in my hand.

In the morning, the weather really did not disappoint and at 9:00 the start shot for the first group was heard. There was a lot of Czech racers at the start: except of me (category U40), you were able to see Václav Pulda (category U50), Petr Choc (category U60, both KSB Liberec) and Kamil Hastík (category U50, Inline Veselí) in the championship. At the start of the marathon Swiss skate tour was my team mate and training partner Zdeněk Sauer (TEMPISH inline team) and competitors from the team of Kvartet + Mirek and Hanka Hrabovští and Vláďa Vinduška.

First men, then women started the race. Although they are being announced, as it's common in all Championships, individual ages, women have started together. Which was not ideal for me. The speed right after the start was given by skaters like Claudia Pechstein, a multiple Olympic winner in speed skating. In addition, I managed to colide with a Danish rider through a skate in the start and start and stumble a little bit and thus I lost the advantageous position of the front starting line. Still, I managed to catch the tail of the first group. Strong rivals across all categories, however, needed to devide this group. Of course, this strategy of the brake and gas has succeeded and from the back position, me and a rival from another age category managed to lose the group after a few kilometers.

We had more than 30km ahead of us. Soon it was clear that we would not be tearing any personal records. Additionally, smaller or larger groups of men from different categories were racing around us. In one of them was Zdenda. He was quite good at the beginning. Although they are saying about the Engadine race that it's downhill, it's not entirely true even though the finish is about 150 feet lower than the start. And so, Zdenda, unfortunately, lost a bit of a strenght on the his way uphill. In addition, a kilometer stretch of decent climbing and a kilometer stretch back down through construction work on the road where the asphalt was cut. You felt like a cheese on a grater, and in the whole time it was a delay again. Finally, I came sixth in my category, which unfortunately was also the last place in the U40 category.

The personal feelings of the result are therefore embarrassing. On the one hand, I have left behind several skaters, but unfortunately my rivals in the category were too much for me. I was struggling to the last minute and the race was at an average speed of over 30km / h, although in two, along with the French rival, it was sometimes a moment of purgatory.

The race was so demanding due to the steep climb. However, this is a great pleasure for the person, although the result is not enough for the winning positions. Additionally: Zdeněk managed a personal marathon record and I will have an unforgettable experience and pride of being able to represent the Czech Republic.

Hana Duspivová
TEMPISH Inline Team