The Czech Marathon Walking Championship ended in a fiasco. The Czech national walking team continues to fall into the abyss! The responsible coach remains calm! 

The honor of Czech walking in Dudince was saved by two ladies: on the racing field Ema Klimentová and on the diplomatic field Lucie Nekulová - finally Czech walking at least has a capable technical delegate at the highest international level!!

RESULTS

Author of the article and photo: Lucie Nekulová

Author of the article title: Josef Smola

On Saturday, March 7.3, the Slovak spa town welcomed the 45th annual Dudince 50. The unusually early date, adjusted to the date of the World Team Walking Championships in Brazil, affected the number of starters and a significantly smaller number of South American athletes, for whom Dudince is a favorite. Dudince welcomed the competitors with sunshine and warm weather (15°C).

For the first time, the new marathon and half marathon distances were started. Let's focus primarily on the Czech track, because everyone could read about how the race was conducted on the SAZ website. Or they could have made coffee, breakfast and enjoyed walking by the stream on Saturday morning.

The race also included numerous national marathon championships, including ours. 5 men entered, only 1 woman dared to run. Nelly Bugarova. She did not finish the race, she did not feel like it that day and quickly left the track. There was no point in finishing for the Czech Championship medal, Nelly was the only one and so she would not have received the title anyway (the rules require at least 3 competitors at the start). It is a question of whether any woman will finish the marathon this year. Maybe Nelly or Štěpánka Pohlová Kučerová will try in the autumn in Zittau. In addition to the personal challenge, the Czech record is also at stake this year. Whoever has the fastest time at the end of 2026 takes the record. And since this track will be a pretty tough nut to crack, it is quite possible that the performance will last for quite a long time.

In the end, not even 5 Czech men were at the start. Lukáš Gdula unfortunately, he was injured the week before at the Czech Indoor Championships. The Ostrava race, from which he was disqualified, is a doubly bitter pill for Lukáš. Among the registered participants, he was also Jarda Moravek, who performed in excellent form last year in Zittau, met the EA limit for the European Championships in Birmingham and the World Team Walking Championships in Brazil. But Jard has not had luck in the long term. After suffering from an Achilles tendon problem, he flew to South Africa to join the training group and unfortunately hit a bump in the road (a euphemism for a hole in the asphalt) while running, resulting in a broken ankle. We wish Jard the best of luck, and first of all, he will return to his normal life in good health and only then think about his sports career.

From the beginning, our group of title contenders stuck together - Head, Pupa, Bunny. It wasn't going well for Zajíček, he was already fed up with the race at the 8th kilometer and it wasn't just there that you could see how different a marathon is from 35 km or 20 km. The marathon came close to the traditional fifty and it hurts incredibly. 3 hours of hard work. For the best. If it doesn't taste good, it's hellishly long.

Hlaváč and Kukla were getting further away from Zajíček, Malysa retired. Kukla drank too much and first turned green, then gray, and even though Zajíček was already losing a lap to him, he quickly gave it back to him. Albert finally retired from the race on the verge of absolute exhaustion at 37 km. The 5 km to the finish line were an endless 5 km away. He went for the title without any fear Vitek Hlaváč from AC Tepo Kladno. He is not in the best shape with his newfound fatherly worries, but he made perfect use of his experience from the 50-meter race, which none of his younger pursuers have. He finished 14th overall, but his unremarkable time of 3:19:49 is unfortunately far from the TIME confirmation limit for the European Championships. But the title counts. He came back 6 minutes for the silver Adam Zajíček from Atletik Poruba - 3:25:55. He can't be satisfied with the time either, it's a long way from the Zittau performance and the qualification for Brazil or Birmingham. The question is what's next for both athletes. They can try a marathon somewhere. There aren't many options. But a marathon is like a fifty-something. Regeneration will take longer. We'll see how much more quality marathon they can do.

What happened to the Czech optics in Dudince next? Usually a large group from Frýdek and other youths start in Slovakia. Due to the dates of this year's hall, only the Kadaň youths arrived. Noemi MajakShe came to fix her appetite after a severe disqualification from the previous week.

In Ostrava she failed to pass the judges in the third place, in Dudince she collected only one yellow from the strictest judge of the race on the 5 km course before the gold and silver ones. She was 3 yellows and 4 reds away from DQ. She simply went clean. In Dudince she improved her personal best to 26:47 and finished in 6th place among the juniors.

In the MASTERS category, her mother surprised with her start. Bertha Ramos De Majak crossed the finish line in her first race in fourth place in 30:02. Well done! Ms. Bertha will be a refreshing addition to our masters scene. She ran beautifully.

Outside the competition, Pilsen competed in the top five Michaela Říhová (formerly Baklíková). She originally signed up for the half marathon, but after an illness when she started in Ostrava at the Czech Championships with a fever (don't be silly, we all have only one heart, it's better to postpone the starts and enjoy it later), she finally wisely decided to take the shorter route. And she did well. Míša showed a quality performance, she will brave Dudince with a new personal best of 25:41, her first time for 5 km under 26 minutes. Given the circumstances, it is clear that Říhová will enter the season ready to be number one.

She was supposed to be in the top ten U23 Elizabeth FranklBut Alžběta is also struggling with her health and a stress fracture prevented her from starting.

The honor of Czech walking saved Ema Klimentová on the half marathon course. Ema ran great, left everything on the course and won not only a plane ticket to Brazil, but also a confirmation performance for Birmingham. 35 European walkers will advance there and Ema is currently ranked 20th. The chances are huge. Ema deserves a discharge for her performance. In the second half of the race, she collected 2 red cards and another yellow, but because she was on the edge of the nomination limit, she did not finish the race safely, she took risks, worked until the end and took the well-deserved nomination jackpot. Unfortunately, she will be the only one who will represent our small country in Brazil. Ema's new personal best is 1:37:11.

The Turnov half marathon was completed among men. Roman Hanyk for 1: 53.01.

A veteran from Rumburk also represented Czech walking at the races Martin Nedvidek. However, this time he did not wear a starting number, but took the referee's targets in his hand. The invitation to Dudince as a referee (for the second time!) is a great personal success for Martin. The Czech flag was also next to the name of the technical delegate of the race. The World Athletics delegation received this time Lucie Nekulová. The day before the International Women's Day, many women on site loudly appreciated seeing a woman in this position at the golden meeting.

The state of the Czech national walking team, as seen in the Dudince race, is not optimal before the upcoming season. Morávek injured, Franklová injured, Gdula injured, Martínková is getting back together after a second operation (after the hip operation, knee surgery came in the fall) and hopes to start in Poděbrady. The young generation hit the famous marathon wall hard and Vítek Hlaváč is not completely in shape again. Except for Klimentová and Morávka, they all theoretically have a chance to do something with it in Poděbrady. Morávka will have to undergo longer treatment. Klimentová can look forward to the season's peaks. I firmly believe that all our representatives will do better in Poděbrady, also on the new half-marathon course. Both in terms of health and performance.

See you in Olomouc for the first league round. And Emo, good luck in Brazil!