Spanish Marathon Cup cancelled

Very windy conditions have made this last weekend the Spanish Marathon Cup to be cancelled. The races, which had to be competed all along Saturday and Sunday at the lake of As Pontes (Galicia), were already in danger when during Friday a very strong North wind started to blow and predictions were not good at all for the weekend. On Saturday morning, weather was rainy and very cold (about 2ºC at 9:00), but wind seemed fair enough to start with the Masters races, scheduled for 9:30. The course was shortened almost half kilometre per lap to avoid some dangerous places if wind started to blow again. An it did, at half race wind was coming strong again and waves started to rise up, making some parts of the circuit actually suitable for surfskis, most of all the side of the finish line and portage.

K1s waiting for the decision of Spanish Federation and organizers on Saturday morning

With the senior races scheduled for 11:30, everybody could see them having a bad time when trying to warm up, with 15 knots wind and some heavy rain which suddenly became hail.

In a quick team meeting, the Spanish Federation decided to cancel the qualification trial for the European Championships, but the race could maybe be postponed to the afternoon so the Cup could be competed. But just half an hour later, the K1 and C1 races were definitely cancelled as predictions were bad enough for the whole day. On Sunday morning K2 and C2 races would make a try at 9 AM. But Sunday morning showed the same face as Saturday and Spanish Cup was definitely cancelled.

Now, a new National Team selection trial must be scheduled, probably next weekend, to be able to make the team going to the European Championships in Portugal in early June.