Last weekend in Cēsis Olympic center skiing and biathlon complex ‘’Priekuļi’’ the legendary ‘’Priekuļi cup’’ race was held – this race also was the 1st of Latvian downhill longboarding series 2014.

‘’Priekuļi cup’’ was already a legendary skateboarding event in the late 80’s when riders from all around Latvia gathered for 2-3 day event year for freestyle, slalom, high jump, street competitions, tons of beer and hell of a parties! Back in 2009 the ‘’Priekuļi cup’’ tradition was reborn with new disciplines and this year it consisted from slide & slalom competitions as well as the main show – 4-man heat downhill race.

On Saturday the qualification runs were held with 42 riders from Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus fighting for the top spots.

The downhill track was 1,3km long and quite easy as it was the first big race of the season with a lot of new faces on the grid.

The fastest man in qualification 6th race in a row was 2012 & 2013 series champion Gustavs Gailītis (1:29:28), second was last years second place in series Āris Muitinieks (1:29:98) but third last years junior champion Kārlis Karlsons (1:30:50).

In the qualification 28 riders managed to finish less than 8 seconds from the leader which promised a lot of super exciting race heats on Sunday.

After the qualification a slide contest was held – this time Karlsons was unbeatable leaving Belarus rider Oleg Ramanovich and Kārlis Gross in a joint 2nd/3rd.

On Sunday the downhill final heats were held in all the groups.

In masters group Lithuanian rider Lukas Kirkilionis was unbeatable, leaving locals Ģirts Vārtiņš and Edžus Konošonoks behind and Arguts Skudrēns in 4th.

In juniors Toms Dreiblats managed to win after fall at the start and finishing just a few meters in front of Jānis Geisters, Ernests Liepiņš and Gustavs Zēgners.

In ladies final once again the current series champion Elīza Marija Gailīte was unstoppable. 2nd place went to Liene Bērziņa, 3rd Līga Žvingule and 4th Elza Volonte.

After all the groups finished their final heats it was time for the B group riders (31st and lower position in qualification) to fight for last 2 remaining spots in 32 racer bracket (top30 in qualifications already guaranteed a place in the big race. From B group Lithuanian Arnas Repečka and last years series vice champion in ladies group Elza Volonte managed to grab both top spots and move in with the big guys for top32 A group race bracket.

When it was time for the top32 riders to start their race heats the rain hit the race course which made some interesting results and few of the favorites were out already in the first round.

In the Open group finals despite the rain, Gustavs Gailītis managed to win by just few inches over Lukas Kirkilionis. 3rd was series debutant Dominikas Pečkys (27th in quali) but 4th just like last year – Kaspars Balamovskis. Unfortunately, while reaching for the finish line Gustavs lost his balance and fell just few meters after the finish line and broke his foot – we wish a quick recovery because the race season is just taking off!

The organizers say big thanks to all the participants, staff members and Cēsis Olympic center for hosting this event as well as event sponsors ‘’NRJ reklāmai’’, ‘’Riposhop.lv’’, ‘’Fullbag skateboards’’ and ‘’Stampa.lv’’.

The second race of Latvian downhill longboarding series 2014 will be held in 5-6th July next to recreation complex with exotic zoo ‘’Rakši’’ – the race will happen already for the second time and is called ‘’Alpaca speed festival’’ , it will be a 2 day race in a short but fast course where tactics play huge role – here is a race recap from last year

Stay tuned for more info , registration coming up in few days – longboarding.lv !

Priekulu cup queli results 2014

Race results