Saturday, July 6
    As usual, I leave nothing to chance and by seven in the morning I'm approaching Donovaly via the notorious climb. I overdid it again, as nothing is stirring yet. An hour later, though, things start happening in a series of surprises. It looks like the first day will be and racing day and all predictions point in that direction. A raincoat and galoshes certainly won't be necessary, and that is something, in contrast to last year's race and actually even the previous ones, I am not used to. In addition to this, someone's evidently decided to invest in Donovaly, and it's entirely possible that in and few months there'll be some major changes. In any case, taking pictures during the race, in the midst of the Donovaly will be difficult without having and crane, bulldozer or and pile of rubble in the shot.

    Another surprise - the hub of all activity this year is the Spiežovec Bed & Breakfast, about 200 meters South of the landing ground, toward the forest. And magnificent place! I remember the excellent roast meat in the evenings behind the pension and the unbelievable amount of alcohol to go with it from last year. The thought that my demijohn of Vavrinec red wine will last 'til at least 10 soon turned out to be and mistaken one. And this time I'm not kidding myself because I know it'll end up just the same way.



    "Write that I had to leave because I have and lot of work, otherwise I certainly would have won.", Marcel Konečný eggs me on to untruths, just after 10 in front of the bed & breakfast. The only Czech racer, even though he has and Slovak passport, is getting ready to leave this afternoon. What and Champion, too! He'll have and tough time explaining to all his fans that he didn't really get scared off by his Slovak competitors. There are a good ten "non-competing" Czech pilots in Donovaly, but surprisingly, none of them wants to enter the race.

    In light of the direction and speed of the wind, at the noon briefing at the Nová hola landing ground, a 33km long discipline with two turning points and a goal in Besenova is announced. For those familiar with the local terrain, and for those who happen to be looking at a map, (for ex. Michal Gregor and the ever-unsatisfied Vitamin), the first turning point is the Hotel Encián right in Donovaly, so that it has to be approached over the valley against the wind, while the second turning point is the village of Ludrová, unfortunately hidden behind the crest in the following photo.



    "Hey, look ...!" suddenly someone calls and the heads of everyone turn upward shortly before the opening of the start window. High in the sky, barely a few kilometers beyond the landing ground a white spare chute is visible and the pilot is hopelessly trying to pull in the main one, which is constantly turning him around. Finally the main chute is, just before falling into the forest, literally shot off, (evidently a good knife or automated clips), and the pilot lands in one piece on the slope, about 200 meters beneath the crest.

    Thanks to the reliably functioning thermals, and the relatively swift southwest wind, the starts are more difficult today than catching risers and barely half an hour after the opening of the start window the first gulls are flying over the landing ground again, after flying around the first turning point.



    Even if the ceilings reach a good 2300 meters, the strong seven-meter risers are quickly switched to equally strong downdrafts. The most difficult place on the entire rout turns out to be the second turning point in Ludrov, where all in all eight pilots are gradually forced to land. Only Michal Orolin and Jaroslav Jandúch continue on in the direction of the goal.

    "Six kilometers before the goal I had 1500 meters and I thought it was enough", says Jaroslav Jandúch in front of the bed & breakfast, who didn't make it to the goal line and landed approximately 400 meters in front of it. His GPS record, though, clearly showed that he was several meters within the 400-meter goal circle and so gained points, just like Michal Orolin, in the end for successfully reaching the goal.



    The victor of today's discipline then, is, with the best time of one hour and 24 minutes, Michal Orolin ahead of Jaroslav Jandúch in second place, slower by 38 minutes. In third place today is Štefan Bendík, who lacked not quite six kilometers to the goal.

    At the evening party behind the bed & breakfast tonight, it's barbecue time and everyone is excellently in tune, including Mareček's requisite guitar. Some keep it up until four o'clock in the morning.



    The front crossing predicted for tomorrow looks like it won't happen according to the latest prognosis and it starts looking like at least another five days of very good weather are in store. So, maybe we'll finally have a good year ...?