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The Head-2-Head Race of the "Voss Games" was held last Saturday. Simon Hirter reports.

Head-2-Head

Saturday morning in Voss at the river Strandalselva. It's getting close to lunch time and finally some paddlers are crawling from their cars down to the river. The whole week has been really exhausting, and the friday night brought a superb concert of "Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band" (Norwegian music. Simon's tip: check it out!! ) into town, followed by one of those wicked parties at the Pentagon club ;) Beside the rather full-on party-opportunities, Voss is still one of the top spots in Norway for serious creeking and so lots of people used the free day after the Xtreme-race to get on the river.

The Head-2-Head is on the same part of the river as last year, offering paddlers lots of different lines and the spectators a spectacular and interesting event. They showed up in large masses and it was a huge success after the rather poorly visited events this summer in Europe .

The top bit plus some paddlers on the right getting ready.

The start list looked quite impressive again. Beside the finest Norway has to offer are the Whitewater Warriors again, some Irish, English and Kiwis, as well as lots of relatively unknown paddlers. So after the first round nobody really was surprised seeing the usual suspects making the next cut. It soon became clrea that the choice (length) of the weapon was more important than one's general condition to make it into the top 5!

The stretch consisted of different parts again, a "technical" one at the top, which had some good stoppers in the direct lines. The last 200 meters were very flat, demanding the last bit of power in those biceps. We ran in heats of 2 persons showing the direct comparison.

For the semifinals the following paddlers were left: Kay- Arne Randen, Benjamin Hjort, Mickey Abbot, Andy Phillips, 2 fellow norwegians, one in a acrobat300 (!), as well as your reporter.

Kay-Arne had to go first in his Eskimo Diablo against another norwegian and managed to stay in front. Benjamin Hjort did the same with Erik Övereide but due of some "unsporty" treatment, both moved on to the finals. The 3rd and last semifinal run consisted of Mickey Abbot, Andy Phillips and myself, with only one to move on. At the strat I could leave the other 2 behind me. We were fighting really hard with paddles, trying to push the eachother in nasty holes. In the end I managed to keep the lead and 'send the Whitewater Warriors home'.

In the finals, all four of us were lined up, ready to start. I again took the lead, but halfway down paddled into a big hole. I could still keep 2nd position but got pushed into another big stopper by Erik Övereide and was forced into a back ender. The boys were racing down to the finish line and Kay-Arne Randen was the winner of saturday's event.

The winner Kay-Arne Randen in his Eskimo Diablo, racing to victory.

Results

1. Kay- Arne Randen (N/Eskimo Diablo)
2. Erik Övereide (Pyranha Acrobat300)
3. Benjamin Hjort (N/ Liquid Logic GUS)
4. Simon Hirter (SUI/ Dagger Redline)

Conclusion

With the Kayak Head-2-Head, the Xtremeweek came to an end. Saturday night the Dum-Dum Boys gave their best to get the masses on fire and soon everything will be back to normal in mighty Voss. The whole kayak-circus is gonna meet again at the Sjoa-Festival which takes place in 2 weeks time. Some legendary events like the Sjoa air&style, the ULA Extreme Race as well as a new kind of Boater-X down some really big stuff are just some of the things happening there,..... stay tuned!!!

For more information about the whole event, check out: www.ekstremsportveko.com

[Editor’s note] This tour to the biggest events of the European summer is made possible by Simon’s sponsors: Dagger Kayaks, Sweet, Nookie Xtreme Sports Equip., Kober Paddel, Reef, Dainese Protection, PLAYAK and Oakley.