Budding Slovak distance runners between the age of nine and twelve came from across the country and converged on Samorin a day before the 2017 SPAR Cross Country Championships, to contest the final of a nationwide Kids Athletics project.
18 teams, qualifiers from eight regional heats held in October and November, were on the start line of a mixed cross country relay race, involving two boys and two girls and held on the same course – including the water jump and sand traps – that was to stage the 24th edition of the continental championships the following day.
Alternating genders, the four runners on each team ran legs of 1500m, showing their mettle as the event was held in bitterly cold conditions that didn’t get about 0C despite the gun going early in the afternoon.
Making a strong start, Alex Hulka gave Atletika Å K Skalica held a slight lead at the first changeover but Samuel Balent of UMB Banska Bystrica was only a few strides behind and Balent’s teammate Eva Cuga quickly darted into a big lead early in the second leg.
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For the first kilometre, it looked like Cuga was going to come into the changeover zone well ahead but she had been too audacious in the early stages of the race and started to tire in the final few hundred metres while, behind her, 1 atletický klub Humenné’s Michaela Ivančová showed maturity beyond her years with her well-paced stint and came through from fourth to first over the final 200 metres.
However, there was little choose between the leading four teams at the penultimate change and within a hundred metres AK ZZO ÄŒadca’s Jan Kubala had shown a clean pair of heels to his rivals and opened a big gap.
After a circuit of the x-bionic resort course, Kubala came home 15 seconds clear of Skalica’s Lukas Placko but the latter team, hailing from a town in western Slovakia nestling on the border with Czech Republic, had a secret weapon on the last leg in the shape of the tall, rangy Adriana Vaskova.
It didn’t take long for Vaskova to claw back the 100 metres deficit and then disappear into the distance, negotiating the various artificial obstacles with ease.
Vaskova eventually crossed the line 24 seconds in front of her nearest rival, Skalica clocking 26:19 with ÄŒadca second in 26:43. The quartet representing Humenné were third in 27:24.
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Undoubtedly there were some outstanding nascent talents on display – Ivančová, Kubala and, particularly, Vaskova spring to mind – but the emphasis of the day was on fun combined with competition, and smiles were etched across the majority of the 72 runners as they departed for some welcome warm soup and the heated changing rooms under the main stand alongside the course.
The project was part of the legacy initiatives related to the Samorin 2017 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, designed to introduce young people to athletics and an a healthy lifestyle.
Judging from the reaction of the runners, family and friends, coaches and teachers present in Samorin, few would consider it anything but a success.