Category Archives: downhill

Priekuļi cup is here!

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Latvian downhill longboarding racing season is in its peak – 3rd out of 4 rounds will happen on 24-25th of August, in the lovely Cesis Olympic center ‘’Priekuļi’’ skiing and biathlon complex! Fight for higher place in seasons overall standings will be tougher than ever – situation after 2 rounds – standings. This time not only the best and fastest local longboarders will compete but also guests from Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania! We can expect as usual great races in open, masters, ladies and junior groups!

Although the main event in this competition will be downhill race on Sunday, there will also be Speed trap and Slide contests.

Speed trap – riders who would be signed up for speed trap will have 3 runs down the steep side of Saules kalns measured by radar.

Slide contest – riders who would be signed up for slide will have 3 runs down the steep side of Saules kalns, where they would need to make the slides that are obligatory and also a bit freestyle.

Also every participant will have a chance to win a price in a prediction contest – in the morning of race day, based on their knowledge and qualification results everybody will be able to predict the top riders in the race – who gets the closest prediction wins!

Race Schedule:
Saturday, 24th August
10:15-10:30 registration for speed trap
10:30-11:15 speed trap race
11:15-11:30 registration for downhill and riders meeting
11:30-14:00 downhill practice
14:00-16:00 qualification runs
16:00-16:15 ‘’King of the hill’’ run
16:15-17:00 slide contest

Sunday, 25th August
11:00-12:30 downhill practice
12:30-15:30 downhill finals
16:30 award ceremony

There might be some changes in the schedule!

Registration and further info here.

Longboarding LV: “Alpaca speed festival 2013” Rakši/Latvia

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On 29-30th June in Latvia, next to the recreation complex ”Rakši” (www.hotelraksi.lv) an amazing downhill longboarding race was held — ”Alpaca speed festival” aka Latvian downhill championships 2013! Thanks to the event sponsors — RIPO longboard shop, longboarding.lv, Battery energy drink, FULLBAG skateboards, stampa.lv, NRJ reklāmai, ZIMTS, NESVB! In AWEsome battle between fastest Latvian & Lithuanian riders the top guys where:
OPEN final:
1.Jānis Jirgens
2.Gustavs Gailītis
3.Āris Muitinieks
4.Aivars Kārkliņš

Ladies top3:
1.Anna Gailīte
2.Elīza Gailīte
3.Elza Volonte

Masters top3:
1.Ints Barkāns
2.Lukas Kirkilionis
3.Arguts Skudrēns

Junior champion:
1.Ernests Liepiņš

All info about Latvian longboarding scene — longboarding.lv
See you on the hill or in next Latvian race — Priekuļi cup-2 on 24-25th August!

 

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“Alpaca speed festival 2013” has ended

Last weekend in Amatas region next to recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’ an amazing downhill longboarding event ‘’Alpaca speed festival’’ was held (it was also Latvian open championships 2013)!

Saturday in wet conditions the practice and qualification promised a lot of action in speed reaching over 70 km/h. Latvian champion 2012 Gustavs Gailītis won 3rd qualification in a row in Latvian competitions fallowed by Latvian champion 2011 Jānis Jirgens. 3rd was Kaspars Balamovskis, 4th Āris Muitinieks fallowed by 3 superfast Lithuanians – 5th Lukas Kirkilionis, 6th Rytis Stankevicius, 7th Stepas Jonaitis and 8th was Latvian Ints Barkāns.
After the qualification the ‘’King of the hill’’ race was held with top4 guys from the qualification on the starting line – Gustavs Gailītis won in, leaving Jirgens in second!

Sunday was the main day of the whole event – weather was sunny and super hot & riders where ready to push the limits in 4 men heats!

Semi finals where full with surprises – in first semi final on the starting line were Gailītis, Muitinieks, Kirkilionis and Ģirts Vārtiņš. On the start Muitnieks slipped and lost few seconds that theoretically would leave him out of the big final. But thanks to perfect run in rest of the course he managed to catch and overtake Vārtiņš and also Kirkilionis and get into the final.

Second semi final was predicted to be easy for Jirgens and Balamovskis (2nd and 3rd in qualification), but everybody was surprised by Aivars Kārkliņš who managed to draft Balamovskis, finish just after Jirgens and got himself a place in the final for the first time in Latvian races, leaving Balamovskis and Rytis Stanekvicius to race in the small final (consolation round).

Final heat was super intense + it decided who will be Latvian downhill longboarding champion 2013 – after the start Jirgens was in the lead, Gailītis, Muitinieks and Kārkliņš were fallowing closely. In the last straight Jirgens managed to leave everbody behind him and regained his champion title!!!

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In ladies final second year in a row Anna Gailīte managed to win over ther sister Elīza Gailīte, who won the qualification and was in the lead half the course. 3rd was Elza Volonte.

In masters group big surprise was Ints Barkāns who left the win for Latvia, leaving favourite Kirikilionis in second and Arguts Skudrēns in 3rd. Junior winner was Ernests Liepiņš.

Huge THANK YOU to lovely recreation resort ‘’Rakši’’, also thanks to sponsors ‘’Battery energy drink’’, ‘’Ripo longboard shop’’, ‘’stampa.lv’’, ‘’FULLBAG skateboards’’, ‘’NRJ reklāmai’’, ‘’ZIMTS”!

Now there will be a pause in Latvian downhill longboarding series because 3 fastest Latvians will participate in World cup event in Czech Republic, also many Latvians will go to World famous KnK longboard camp in Slovenia and of course those who ride slalom will participate in international competitions, that includes also European championships in London! So the next downhill race in Latvia will be 24-25th August in Priekuļi and after that 14-15th September in Madona. See you on the hill !

Results:

PlaceName, SurnamePoints
1Jānis Jirgens60
2Gustavs Gailītis54
3Āris Muitinieks48
4Aivars Kārkliņš43
5Kaspars Balamovskis40
6Lukas Kirkilionis (LT)38
7Rytis Stankevicius (LT)36
8Ģirts Vārtiņš34
9Klāvs Balamovskis32
10Artjoms Smirnovs31
11Erikas Jaksiboga (LT)30
12Alvils Bijons29
13Ints Barkāns28
14Stepas Jonaitis (LT)27
15Arguts Skudrēns26
16Ernests Liepiņš25
17Anna Gailīte24
18Elīza Gailīte23
19Elza Volonte22

“Alpaca speed festival 2013” is here. Information and participant registration

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On 29th & 30th June, in Amatas region, next to the recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’ (which is famous for exotic zoo – camels, lamas, alpacas etc. and also for variety of active leisure time acitivities) the ‘’Alpaca speed festival 2013’’ will be held (it will also be Latvian open championships 2013 & second race of Latvian downhill longboarding series 2013)! Results after first race here.

First day will start with practice, two qualification runs and ‘’King of the hill’’ run, in which fastest guys from qualification will participate – this run won’t influence the race day results – it will just be a show element to end the first day! Second day will again start with few hours of practice and then the race heats (we will have a cut of 32), which means that everybody will have 5 runs to fight for good final position. Also there will be finals (if many participants also semi-finals) for women, juniors and masters groups!

Detailed schedule (there might be changes depending on the weather and number of riders):
Saturday, 29th June
10:00-10:45 registration on place
10:50-10:55 riders meeting
11:00-14:00 practice runs
14:15-16:30 qualification runs
16:40 ‘’King of the hill’’ run

Sunday, 30th June
10:50-10:55 riders meeting
11:00-14:00 practice runs
14:15-16:15 race heats

There will be shuttle bus to take riders up to the start!

Race course – the race course is less than 1km long, it takes less than minute to reach the finish line, but the speed exceeds 70km/h. There is a great oportunity to fight untill the last streight that is long and during the run you have a great chance of drafting till the end. Raw run from the race course – here.

Entry fee if registered untill 26th June 23:59 Latvian time:
Men – 10ls (15 euros)
Ladies, juniors – 5ls (8euros)
If you register later or on race place, there will be 10ls (15 euros) added to your entry fee.
Rider can compete in just one day but in that case entry fee won’t be lower!
We will use international downhill longboarding competition rules, with some small exceptions. We remind that downhill longboarding event can be held on wet surface if organizer and riders agree!
This race will also be Latvian championships 2013, so there will be medals awarded for best Latvians in each group.
Also this will be the second race of Latvian downhill longboarding series 2013, so everybody will have a chance to improve their position in the rankings!
Registration form here.

Staying overnight – tent place in recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’ costs 4lats per person (approx. 7euros). Of course you are free to find alternatives on booking.com Majority of riders will stay in ‘’Raksi’’ . More info about the place – http://hotelraksi.lv/en/index_en.php?cat=raksi!

Race is organized by – Latvian skateboarding federation

Sponsors – recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’, ‘’Battery energy drink’’, ‘’Ripo shop’’, ‘’FULLBAG skateboards’’, ‘’Stampa.lv’’ and ZIMTS.

If you need some more information you can also write us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LatvianDownhillLongboardingSeries2013?fref=ts

Or contact me: Gustavs Gailitis +371 28201459, gustavsgailitis@inbox.lv or write me on Facebook!

Riders list:

Vārds/NameUzvārds/Surname
KasparsBalamovskis
GustavsGailītis
IntsBarkāns
ĀrisMuitinieks
AivarsKārkliņš
ElzaVolonte
AnnaGailīte
ElīzaGailīte
JānisJirgens
ArgutsSkudrēns
ĢirtsVārtiņš
ArtjomsSmirnovs
LukasKirkilionis (LT)
Stepas Jonaitis (LT)
RytisStankevicius (LT)
Rico(LT)
AlvilsBijons
KārlisKarlsons
ErnestsLiepiņš
KlāvsBalamovskis