Saturday, July 13
    Last night, the emptying of the first sponsor-provided beer barrel went on long into the night and took its toll on some pilots to the extent that this morning they are on their way up to the Nova hola starting ground without their parachutes. Alcohol is the scourge of mankind ...



    "It's Palermo here already, soon it'll be like a laundromat, and it might even rain", some accurately evaluate the current meteorological situation. In any case, thanks to the damp air, a mist is present and it is relatively warm for an altitude of 1371m above sea level. The quickly growing high clouds forebode the coming of storms. The weak easterly wind blowing turns into a southern one after being sunlit and everyone begins feverishly unpacking at the southern starting ground. Evidently everyone wants to mix up the order of the leading positions, but for most pilots the point lead that Bendik, Jandúch and Mensak have is so big that there's no chance, do what they might.





    Na briefingu vyhlášená 31km dlouhá disciplína směrem k jihu na Banskou Bystricu je těsně před otevřením startovního okna změněna a poletí se na sever. Nová trať měří celkem 33km, vede přes otočné body vesnice Vlkolínec, statek v obci Partizánska Lupča a cíl je v Bešeňové. Startovní okno je otevřeno ve 12:45 a bez váhání startuje Štefan Štefák a Jaroslav Jandúch. Bez problému se zvedají a brzy je následují i ostatní. Už ve 13:30 odlétá početná skupina ve velké výšce směrem na sever.



    Shortly after 2p.m., the first thunder is heard and to keep things exciting, two storms begin to form at once. The discipline is cancelled and half an hour later it's raining cats and dogs in Donovaly and its surroundings. Anyone who didn't manage to land in time, somewhere near civilization is getting drenched.

    This means, however, that this year's Victoria Cup 2002 is definitely over and nothing will change in the current overall placing. The victor of today's discipline is Josef Kutlak, who made it to the 22nd kilometer of the route. Just 400m behind him the threesome of Jan Kolesar, Jaroslav Jandúch and Peter Borgula, in that respective order, landed as well.

    So the overall victor is Stefan Bendik, followed in second place by Jaroslav Jandúch and Peter Borgula in third.



    Winner of the Hobby category is Jan Kolesar, followed by Peter Borgula in second place and Jan Stehlik, alias "Hormon", in third.





    "I could go for something cold!", sings the whole inn and the party begins, accompanied by the sound of thunder outside. Fresh brynza cheese, Smirkas (brynza cheese flavored with spices), excellent roast chicken, fried liver, baked lamb, beer, wine, champagne and of course song. What more can be said? It just has to be experienced.






    My closing thanks go firstly to the head organizer of the race, Miro Janciar, who arranged pleasant accommodations for me at the Spiezovec Bed & Breakfast with internet access, and then of course to tandem-pilot Jan Pavlovic, who can take off from dog altitudes and land so softly that I don't have to collect my photo equipment up from all over the landing ground. But also thanks certainly to all competing and non-competing participants in the race who know how to sing and drink so divinely ...!