TEVATOUR 2008

The TEVATOUR 2008 is over and I'm already back to school. What a difference between today and two weeks ago! But my mind is still filled with countless memories of beautiful rivers and exciting moments.

The start of the Tour was on May 12th after the TEVA Mountaingames at Sesia. The crew consisted of 15 international kayakers, 2 videofilmers, 1 photographer and the organizers. The first days we spent in the valley of Sesia. There we paddlet the Egua. One of the steppest runnable rivers for kayaking in Europe.

On Tuesday evening we drove to Avegno in Switzerland and on Wednesday we paddled the Verzasca at brilliant sunshine and crystal clear water.

On Thursday we drove up to the put-in for the Melezza. Unfortunately we couldn't paddle it because of high water danger caused by a hydraulic plant. So we decided to paddle the Ribo. A classic River with a 15m drop at the beginning.

Friday we left the camp at Avegno and drove towards north. By the Schöllenen gorge we stopped and some of the guys paddlet the first two drops of the "Devils gorge".

In the evening we arrived at Elm where the "Straight Down Striit" race took place. On Saturday the race started with plenty of water. I had some good races but didn't make it into the finals. Sam Sutton, the kiwi boy, was way to fast and dropped me out of the race. By the end Ron Fischer won the "Straight down Striit" again as last year. The whole TEVA team did very well at the race and so we were partying far into the night.

After a great breakfast on Sunday morning we drove further to Versam. Despite the cold temperatures the whole crew went for a short run on the Vorderrhein. Even the camera crew joined us with a raft. The camp at Carrera offered spectacular views through the Vorderrhein valley.

On Monday we paddled the Medelserrhein. A small creek with some nice drops.

Tuesday was quite exciting. It was still raining when we drove up to the Valserrhein. Pat Keller from the United States and Sam Sutton from New Zealand decided to paddle a 25m meter drop. We stood down at the bottom of the big drop for safety. We couldn't see anything of the descent. Everything went so quickly. Pat paddled first followed by Sam. Unfortunately Sam bit through his lips and needed 5 stiches at the hospital. Nevertheless I was quite happy when both of them were down without serious injuries.

After the cold days we went to the indoor swimming pool at Chur to relax before we drove to Bregenz for the last day. Unfortunately I had to leave the groupe by Wednesday evening because I had to go back tu study on Thursday.

The last two weeks were just amazing! It was not just all about paddling. It was the whole trip with the whole groupe which I realy estimated. I would like to thank TEVA, Barry, Kris, Arnd, Casper and especially DLD which made this all possible to me!

All pictures by Thilo Brunner (http://www.thilobrunner.com/). For more pictures check out http://www.tevatour.com/