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ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships

ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships

Returning to Račice after ten years
  

For the third time in history, the Labe Arena in Račice will host Europe’s elite in sprint canoeing and paracanoeing. From June 19 to 22, the best athletes from across Europe will gather in Račice. Preparations for the championship are in full swing – not only among the athletes, but also among the organizers. "We can proudly say we are 90% ready," announced Pavel Šebesta, Competition Manager of the 2025 European Championships Organizing Committee, during a press conference.

The European Championships were first held here in 2006, then again in 2015, and in 2017, the Labe Arena hosted the World Championships. "Hosting such a prestigious event is always a big responsibility for us. We want the championship to be perfect not only for the athletes, but also for the fans and the entire Czech Republic. At the same time, it’s an opportunity to showcase ourselves to the world," added the President of the Czech Canoe Union, Stanislav Ježek.

The championship program will offer four action-packed days. Traditional canoe sprint disciplines will be combined with paracanoeing events. "The championship will kick off with an opening ceremony on Wednesday evening, around 5 PM. The races will begin on Thursday," explained Jan Boháč, Chairman of the Canoe Sprint Section.

Read more: ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships

The European championships in numbers

About 650 competitors from all over Europe arrived to Račice - a village located near the mountain Říp that is a part of Czech historical fairy tales. There were about thousand boats stored in the depot, because some of the paddlers combine various disciplines. There were about 1100 team members, team staff and all the people behind the scenes. The local catering therefore had to prepare 280 kg of meat (about the weight of two pigs) plus 450 kilos of vegetables during the championship!

Eleven bus drivers took care of the transportation for athletes and teams. Each of them traveled around 1,900 kilometers in average among the airport, hotels and Račice channel. That`s like a journey from Prague to Paris and back. That means that the number of traveled kilometers for the entire European Championship is roughly incredible 20,000!

There were 19 cameras spread throughout the length of the course. Czech Television aired almost the entire program of the championship live on it`s Sport channel or on website. The signal also traveled to Germany, Hungary and to Eurosport.

Anne Dickens used to hate watersports, now she’s a three-time European champion

She used to have nausea because of the water, now she became the European champion in paracanoe for the third time in row. Anne Dickens triumphed on a 200 meters track over her competitors with a very comfortable lead. “Now I want more people to understand that there is more life beyond the injury in the sports,” she said after the medals ceremony.

Anne Dickens used to be an endurance mountain biker before her unfortunate injury. “I went down to put my shoes on and the disc in my back came out and put some pressure on the nerve in my leg. And that was that. But you know every cloud has a silver lining,” smiled Dickens who also holds the current world record on the 200 meters track.

Read more: Anne Dickens used to hate watersports, now she’s a three-time European champion