2006 Czech Championship

Hluboká nad Vltavou - Dressed in a white suit with rainbow stripes, reigning XTERRA world champion Nicolas Lebrun (FRA) cut first through the final finish line of XTERRA Czech Championship in Hluboka nad Vltavou, a qualifying event for the Nissan Xterra World Championship.  

Jan Kubicek, who came in second, came close to Lebrun during an excellent mountain bike race in Schwarzenberg Park, but he lost too much energy to be able to attack during the run. "I exhausted all my strength and ability but I'm happy. One thing was to want and another was to be able to," said Kubicek.  By winning second place, however, he equalled the Czech maximum of his ex-training partner Jan Rehula from 2003 and 2004. "When I saw him a little ways behind me, I got a little scared, but I managed," said Lebrun, who won at Hluboka for the third time already.  

Renata Bucher of Switzerland ruled the women's race just like last year. This year she won all the three European Tour races. "I rode my bike as well as I could. It was very hard," the 30-year old competitor commented about the difficult terrain and tropical heat.

Another medal on the Czech championship, which was given out for the total ranking, was given to seventh Frantisek Zilak, who rode the absolute best time on the bike and eighth Karel Zadak, who used to be a skier.

As was expected, among the women, Eva Skalnikova, a junior cross-country skier, reached the highest with fifth place. "It was probably my most difficult race ever," she breathed heavily at the finish.  At the end of the winter, she suffered an exhaustion fracture, so this was
her first summer triathlon this year.  Furthermore, she fell and lost her extra tire on the bike.  The silver went to Southbohemian teacher Sarka Grabmullerova, and the bronze went to the unstoppable veteran Kaja Polivkova.  

Skier Martin Koukal, who is a traditional XTERRA participant also did well. He pushed through on the bike and came in 16th to the depot.
Because of injuries on his toes, however, he did not start in the run. Favorites Jiranek and German Dietze were also kept out due to injuries.

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