The last farewell will take place in a sporting spirit with the goal of Honz's resting place at the Dobrív cemetery on Saturday, February 25, 2023. The meeting is at Bouchalka settlement (address Pavlovsko 53) for walkers at 13:00 p.m., for runners at 13:30 p.m.

Hello, who would like to join us and say goodbye to dad - Mr. pedestrian Dzurňák, the meeting is on Saturday, February 25, 2023 in the village of Bouchalka (address: Pavlovsko 53) for walkers at 13:00 p.m. or at 13:30 p.m. for runners . The route is less than 5 km along a paved forest road. We will go and run to dad's grave at the cemetery in Dobřív, where we will be around 14:00 p.m. and we will place his urn in the grave together. I will be very happy to participate and further share this message to anyone who loved dad🖤.

Thank you, daughter Jana (for more information write/call).

There seems to be no end to the sad news at the beginning of this year.

We just said goodbye to Dr. Brandejský at the indoor M-ČR in Stromovka, the day after 13.2. In 2023, Ján Dzurňák left our pedestrian ranks at the age of less than 70.

This outstanding representative of the former Czechoslovakia was born on 1 June 6 and belonged to a very successful generation of pedestrians of the eighties and nineties, which includes Dana Vavřačová, Kamila Holpuchová, named Ján Dzurňák, Jaromír Vaňous, Vladimír Podroužek, František Bíro - he left in 1953, Ivo Piták, Hubert Sonnek, Miloslav Lapka, Jaroslav Makovec, whom we said goodbye to last year, Tomáš Kratochvíl, Miloš Holuša, Jiří Malysa.

His great track was fifty. He stood on the podium of this royal track three times and in 1980 became the champion of the Czechoslovak Republic with a performance of 4:07:02. He achieved his best performance a year earlier in Eschborn in an excellent time of 4:04:03. This time, if I'm not mistaken, is among the top ten best performances of the Czech Republic for 50 km to this day. The winner of the traditional Prague - Brandýs 20km race from 1975 also achieved his best time for 1980km on the circuit in 20, 1:27:30 in Český Brod.

Ján Dzurňák belonged to my generation. And not only by the year of birth, but directly in terms of training, when we were led at the then RH Prague (now Olymp Prague) by the legendary coach JUDr. Fischer. Together with Láďa Podroužek and Juraj Malík, we spent a lot of time at training sessions in the High Tatras and dreamed of our sporting Olympic dreams. Honza Dzurňák was one of the honest, thoughtful athletes for whom training was not just a given job, but a well-thought-out part of life. He also competed for a long time - and successfully - for Klatovy in the league, where he achieved a time of 5000:27 in the 12,82 m walk in Jihlava in 2010. In Pilsen, he brought several young talents to walk at the academy.

I remember our endless debates about training, about walking technique, about endurance, about Honzo's observation of the effect of weather and performance and altitude. Many of the younger pedestrians met Honza Dzurňák in Prague's Stromovka. And they were surprised by how modest they met him, how willing he was to advise them on training and share his experiences with his inimitable Slovak accent - He was a star with his performance at 50 km and he didn't make it about himself. I have a feeling that he is still there somewhere at the start of the two-kilometer circuit, looking carefully at our walking efforts behind his glasses and keeping his fingers crossed for us.

Honor his memory!

Mila Lapka

The pedestrian representative and youth coach was 69 years old.

Michal Procházka

On Sunday, February 12, 2023, the Prague Olymp Hall welcomed the first competition of the year for the pedestrian championship titles.

RESULTS / ERGEBNISSE

Expectations from the race were high, as the ongoing indoor season brought a whole series of personal records. In the end, 55 competitors took part in the race, two competitors were disqualified and one female pedestrian did not finish the race.

Before the start of the first race, a flower was placed on the track in honor of the late coach Mudr. Peter Brandejský, whose memory was honored by pedestrians with a symbolic minute of silence. 

Among the students, last year's champion clearly reigned from the first meters, walking beautifully and stylishly Victoria Bartoňová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek). She ran her race from the first meters and confidently ran for her next championship medal. However, the time of 16:48 is 41 seconds worse than her performance last year. The very first race thus indicated the trend of the entire championship, when in general (with some exceptions) not even ORs or season highs were achieved, many competitors then significantly fell short of the performances of 2022. The pair Petrušková - Říhová (tr. Nejezchleba, tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek), while Aneta Otradovská (tr. Dušek, SAK Rumburk) pedaled cautiously at her first start this year, up to 10 seconds back completely outside the medal positions. Three laps before the finish line, however, she began to reduce the lead of the Frýdek-Místěk girls and won the silver just ahead of the finishing Petrušková. Personal records were set by Veronika Zvonková in fifth, Viktorie Vaňková in sixth (both tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek) and Aneta Dojčárová (tr. Malysa, AK ŠKODA Plzeň) seventh.

As expected, she clearly reigned among the teenagers Adela Pittner (tr. Piták/Maternová, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE). She took the lead in the first meters and flew the first 200m under 50s. The first kilometer in 4:36 looked promising, but the burned-out first third of the race began to show in the more tired performance of the competitor. In the end, she crossed the finish line in 15:31, significantly falling short of expectations. There was no doubt about the other two medals, Eliška Kokořová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek) and Ludmila Kozlová (tr. Pilát, Atletika Prachatice) clearly went for them, with a large distance to the winner.

The joint race of schoolgirls and teenagers was really nice to see. Most of the female competitors showed a well-mastered walking technique and an active competitive expression.

In the category of juniors, a big fight was expected between Alžběta Franklová and Emma Klimentová, a participant of last year's EC in Jerusalem. Ema Klimentovová led the first 7 laps, but literally carried her opponent on her back. She attacked in the eighth round and immediately gained a significant lead over the more tired-looking Ema Klimentová.

Elizabeth Frankl (tr. Čermáková/Korbel, SK Jeseniova) confidently achieved a time well under 15 minutes - 14:43 and was only 2022 seconds behind the OR from Silvestrovská hall 12. The silver medal was hung around the neck by Ema Klimentová (tr. Čermáková, AK Šternberk). There was probably no one in the hall who, after last year's difficult and understandable case, did not wish the bronze medal to Lucia Krinwaldová (tr. Šolc, AC Mladá Boleslav). osobák and she was only 2021 seconds behind the indoor one from 11. Hats off to her love for our discipline, probably no one would be surprised if she stopped walking last year. Bravo. She showed the indoor maximum and the attack of the absolute OR from 2020 fourth at the finish line Tereza Pittnerová (tr. Piták/Maternová, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE).

In the end, the main favorite Tereza Ďurdiaková did not start in the women's race due to ill health. So the fight for gold remained open and things were happening! Last year's junior champion Klára Hlaváčová stormed into the race, for whom Johana Petříková fought for another personal record this season. However, after 4 laps, the race was gradually taken over by a veteran woman Štěpánka Pohlová - Kučerová (tr. Hlavenka, TJ Sokol Hradec Králové). This working mother distanced herself from her rivals with every step and went for her first championship title, when she came close to her pre-parental OR from 15 with a performance of 12,70:11 in 2020s. Amazing. Klára Hlaváčová (tr. Čermáková, AC TEPO Kladno) took second place with a performance far beyond last year's time, who defended the silver medal against the chasing Johana Petříková (Spartak Prague 4). She got close to her 3-week-old baby for a single second. She symbolically dedicated her medal to the deceased coach Brandejska. AK Škoda Plzeň racers Bugárová - Bakliková (tr. Malysa) fell short of this season's OR, but still confirmed their performance progress.

In the pupils' race, we witnessed a beautiful fight Dana Mochal (tr. Párys, AC Slovan Liberec) with Ondřej Plecháček (tr. Krištof, AC Turnov). Competitors continuously fought for the lead in the race, but at the finish line of 2000m, Mochal already started to gain the upper hand, and to the joy of the race commentator František Párys, he won the championship title, a great personal record, and for the first time in his short walking career, he broke the 15-minute mark - 14:45.59 . Ondra Plecháček resisted the barrier of 15 minutes by 2,5 seconds, but he can still enjoy the personal record and above all the hard-fought silver medal. The bronze is well-deservedly won after a great performance, when Marek Rösler (tr.Prückner, AC Mladá Boleslav), who finished eighth last year at the MČR in 16:20, was able to reach 40 minutes for the first time!

The teenagers already competed at a distance of 5000m, and in addition to the performance of the winner, one could not help but feel that the competitors were a little afraid of the length of the course. Vojtěch Novák (tr. Nejezchleba), another pupil from the Frýdek-Místeck hatchery, was absolutely fearless with his performance, but he was almost 1 minute behind his performance in January. Another medal was fought for just under the 30-minute mark. Matěj Bělohlav (tr. Strnad/Král, AC Pardubice) came close to his absolute OR, when he beat the sharply finishing prize winner Vojtěch Peroutka (tr. Javůrek, Svoboda, TJ Dukla) by 3 tenths.

Compared to previous years, the teenagers presented themselves with a very solidly mastered technique, but they mainly lacked swing and energy.

The junior race, where only three walkers entered, was a battle Roman Hanyk (tr. Šnajdr, AC Turnov) with Albert Kukla (tr. Korbel, SK Jeseniova), who together set the pace of the race. 8 laps before the finish line, Hanyk, a year older, started to pull away from Kukla and not only achieved the championship title, but also a personal record under 24 minutes - 23:54.71. Albert Kukla went for silver in another indoor time under 25 minutes, and Matěj Nejedlý (tr. Novák/Rybák, SK Čtyři Dvory České Budějovice) will take the bronze medal to the south of Bohemia.

The highly anticipated race was the men's 5000m competition. Last year's junior duo Zajíček - Morávek challenged Olympians Hlaváč - Gdula to a duel and that it was a royal duel. Immediately after the start, the main favorite of the race took the lead Vit Hlaváč (tr. Větrovcvá, AC TEPO Kladno), followed by Lukáš Gdula (tr. Čermáková, Hvězda Pardubice) and a post-junior pair. Morávek (new tr. Ketner, AK ŠKODA Plzeň) gradually began to drop out of it. Adam Zajíček (tr. Ketner, Atletika Poruba) held third place. He gradually lost up to 10 seconds to the leading pair. At the 1800m finish line, he started losing to Hlaváč Gdul, who was overtaken by the struggling Zajíček 3 laps before the finish line. At that moment, Gdula was only fourth, as the sharply attacking Moravek returned to the race, gradually overtaking both his rivals. The chasing race turned out to be fatal for him and he was disqualified less than a kilometer before the finish line. Vít Hlaváč had been waiting for a long time to see if he could break the 20-minute mark again. However, on the fourth kilometer, when he was losing almost 10 seconds, it was already clear that he would not break the four-minute pace this time. Hlaváč ran out for a clear victory in a time of 20:17.63. The second place was also taken by the new OR Adam Zajíček - 20:34.03 and Lukáš Gdula finished for the bronze medal in 20:41.46. The season's maximum was achieved by the fourth Rostislav Kolář (SK Hranice), who this time significantly beat the returning Nedvídek (AC Rumburk) from a ski vacation. He was 3s behind the season high. Sixth Alexandr Malysa (VSK University Brno) also improved the season's maximum.

This year's championship race certainly showed that walking belongs in the hall. For competitors, it is a quick diversion in the long winter preparation. The technical certainty of most competitors was pleasing. The race traditionally clashed with the dates of the spring holidays, and many male and female competitors came to the hall directly from their skis, in the case of the national team, many young competitors and our elite men returned just before the race from training stays in Cyprus and Spain. This too can be seen as the cause of the sometimes more tired speech and performances beyond the limits of personal records.

All that remains is to wish the competitors and coaches many fast kilometers in the coming weeks, the summer season is just around the corner.

HMČR IN WALKING 2023, PRAGUE - STROMOVKA, Otakar Jandery Hall, February 12, 2023

The championship competitions in indoor walking will take place in Prague this coming weekend. Competitors will, as already traditionally, share the hall with all-rounders.

At 10:30 a.m., the schoolgirl and teenage girl will be the first to start in the joint race, which will be 3000m.

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS / TEILNEHMERLISTE

18 female students applied for the female students' competition, 11 of them passed the selection process. She is the clear favorite of the race Victoria Bartoňová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek), which this year achieved a performance of 16:23 in the Ostrava hall. Last year she won in 16:01 and we'll see if she manages to break the 16-minute mark in the championship race. Otradovská Aneta (tr. Dušek, SAK Rumburk) will want to complicate her title defense, but she has not yet started this year. Last year, she already managed to go 2 times below the 16:50 mark, but at MU in Znojmo, she did much less well (19:04). Two more competitors from coach Nejezchleb's pedestrian hatchery - Říhová Eliška (this year 17:13) and Petrušková Hana (this year 17:25) will most likely fight for third place. 5 competitors at the start are from Frýdek-Místek. Coach Pepa Nejezchleba tirelessly devotes himself to youth and walking, and he deserves a lot of thanks for the constant supply of young walking adepts.

 Out of 12 registered teenage girls, 8 girls won the right to start. She is a clear favorite Pittner's Adela (tr. Piták/Maternová, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE). She showed 15:11 at the championship of the Liberec region, we will see in what form she will come from her training stay in Spain, where she was gaining training kilometers together with other youth walkers. According to last year's results, the silver medal should go to Eliška Kokořová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek), who performed under 16 minutes last year, but this year's indoor season, however, she did not do so well - 17:50. This is also why a great chance opens up for Ema Kyselicová (Spartak Prague 4, tr. Kubicová), who improved to 17:29 this year. Winning a medal from the Czech Republic would certainly have pleased her late coach Brandejský. For other registered competitors, overcoming the 18-minute mark will be a success.

At 11:00 a.m., 7 students will line up for the start (2 competitors were eliminated). The defending champion will compete for first place Ondřej Plecháček (AC Turnov, tr. Kryštof) with Liberec Dan Mochal (tr. Paris). Although Mochal emerged victorious from the joint fight at the Liberec region championships, Plecháček, however, surpassed his performance in the indoor middle. Both are thus on 11 or 15 seconds brought them closer to the 15 minute mark.

The fight for the bronze medal will also be interesting, Šimon Václavík from Frýdek-Místek is in a better position so far - this year 16:07. However, Marek R. from Mladá Boleslav will not want to give him anything for freeösler (tr. Prückner), which is only 15 seconds behind. Vojtěch Vejvančický (tr. Rein/Reinová) from Rumbur, who has improved significantly this year, will be waiting for their technical or performance hesitation, who has improved by more than 80 seconds since last year to 16:52. 

In the junior women's race, we will see 9 competitors at the start (10 girls registered). the biggest favorite is last year's junior champion, participant of the European Championship U18 in Jerusalem  Ema Klimentová (AK Šternberk), which is newly preparing alongside Eliška Martínková under the guidance of coach Čermáková. Her biggest rival should be Alžběta Franklová (SK Jeseniova, tr. Čermáková/Korbel), so far this year 15:05. Four competitors are fighting for the bronze medal. Lucie Krinwaldová (AC Mladá Boleslav, tr. Šolc) has the best time so far - 4:16, who was the only one of the bronze medalists to get under 58 minutes. Plešáková Michaela (tr. Lapka, TJ Sokol Česk) will certainly want to prevent her from winning a medalé Budějovice), however, the defending champion Katka Nedvídková and her training partner Anna Horáková (both AC Rumburk, tr. Nedvídek) will not want to be left behind either.

Together with the juniors, 6 women will stand on the starting line (1 competitor eliminated). Czech number one Eliška Martínková will be missing, preparing for the new season in Colombia. However, after the training camp in Spain, the no less Czech star should test his form Tereza Ďurdiaková (USK Prague, tr. Piták). If she fulfills the requirements on paper, then Klára Hlaváčová (tr. Čermáková, AC TEPO Kladno) should go for the silver medal, but she has not yet started this year. The battle for the bronze medal will be for Śtěpánek Pohlová-Kučerová (tr. Hlavenka, TJ Sokol Hradec Králové) to complicate this year's significantly improving Johana Petříková (Spartak Prague 4), who, like Ema Kyselicová, is a confidante of the recently deceased Mudr. Petr Brandejského. Nelly Bugárová and Michaela Bakliková (both AK Škoda, tr. Malysa) will strive for further improvement of this year's ORs.

After the women's 3000m race, the teenagers will start together with the juniors, but they will fight on the 5000m track. Among the six teenagers (2 competitors deleted), another one of coach Nejezchleb's wards has the best performance this year - Vojtech Novak - 24:49. His biggest rival should be Matěj Piták (tr. Maternová/Piták, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE), who adjusts the form and perhaps also the technique in Spain. The fight for bronze is an open matter. This year Vojtěch Peroutka (tr. javůrek/Svoboda, Dukla Prague), we will see how he will do at the premiere at 5000m.

The starting list of juniors is traditionally a sad sight. Only 3 competitors registered for the race.

Last year's fourth place will have the opportunity to improve Roman Hanyk (tr. Šnajdr, AC Turnov), however, he will not want to leave the championship title to the more technically confident Albert Kukla (tr. Korbel, SK Jeseniova), silver last year in the junior race. Third place should go to Matěj Nejedlé (tr. Novák/Rybák, SK Notyři Dvory České Budejovice). 

The highlight of the walking competitions will undoubtedly be the men's 5000m race. 9 competitors are registered, led by the defending champion I welcome Hlaváč (tr. Větrovcová, AC TEPO Kladno), who last year showed an excellent performance under the 20-minute mark. Together with him, another representative, who won silver last year in a very good time of just over 20 minutes, Lukáš Gdula (tr. Čermáková, Hvriding Pardubice). Both competitors have been gathering training kilometers together in Cyprus and we will see in what form they show. However, last year's juniors Zajíček - Morávek will fight for their place in the sun. At the New Year's Hall, Zajíček (team Ketner, Atletika Poruba) went OR and clearly beat Morávka (team Ketner/Čermáková), but he is still a few seconds short of our Olympians. Jaromír Morávek has undergone a coaching change and the spring season will show how the new management will suit him. If any of the aforementioned competitors falter in terms of performance or technique, then our elite veterans will certainly be waiting for their chance. Last year's bronze winner Rostislav Kolář (SK Hranice) was also a ward of the late doctor, and we can certainly look forward to a nice fight with Martin Nedvídek (tr. Nedvídek, AC Rumburk).

A beautiful walking Sunday awaits us, which will hopefully be filled with a whole series of personal records.

Canberra also hosted the second test race of the Supernova project, and once again fans of walking could enjoy a 10m walk performed by a number of top male and female walkers.

RESULTS / ERGEBNISSE

After a demanding concentration in the Australian mountain resort of Perisher Valley (1720 masl) lasting 3 weeks, 25 female walkers from all over the world stood at the start of another race with a silver mark.

The conditions were much more demanding than in the 6.1 race. The racers mainly fought against a very strong wind and so they took the high pre-race expectations for granted. Australian coach Brent Vallance estimated the winner's final time at the level of 42:30, but in the strong wind the leading group went more cautiously from the first meters. Leading group Monday, Ntrismpioti, González she crossed the finish line halfway through the race in 22:39, but the Spanish competitor was already slowly losing ground. In the 32nd minute of the race, Montag performed a famous start and jumped the European champion Ntrismpioti. The Greek woman tried repeatedly to attack and catch up Montag, however, did not let another victory on home soil take away from her. She flew through the second half of the race in just over 21 minutes!

The Slovak female competitors performed excellently in the strong wind. The trio Burzalová, Žárská, Hačundová managed to improve their OR and Hana Burzalová with a performance of 47:11 already moved to fourth place in the historical Slovak tables. In addition to the trio of high-quality male competitors (Úradník, Morvay, Černý), together with the experienced K. Czaková, Slovakia has a strong group of mostly young female competitors, and the Slovaks can legitimately expect a successful performance at the EC in Poděbrady. It's a shame that we can't imitate their journey here.

If the women's race was a captivating spectacle, then the men's race surpassed them in terms of performance.

16 men lined up for the start and it was something to watch. The Australian took it right from the start Tingay and went fearlessly not only for victory, but also for a new Australian record - 38:03,7. He was fighting for second place behind him Perseus Karlstrom. At the first race in Australia he stayed on the stand due to illness, but the second race in Canberra showed what a great competitor he is. He won the third place for himself Evan Dunfee, who this time got for 40 min. This was certainly helped by his efforts not to get a round from Tingay, when he tried not to give it to the future winner for free in the end. This tiny mini fight was the icing on the cake of a beautiful race. Another Australian record is worth mentioning, this time U 18, when only sixteen-year-old Wakim Marcus went 42:21,92.

Canberra saw some top class walking and the race showed what a beautiful discipline the track ten can be.

The performances of the competitors are all the more admirable because they were able to demonstrate them at the end of a demanding concentration and research project, which was attended by over 70 people, including trainers, masseurs, physiotherapists, a cook. This time, the traditional Supernova Project focused specifically on female athletes and their metabolic responses to height and different diets. At the beginning of the stay, the female competitors completed tests - VO2max, lactate, measurement of body parameters..., completed the introductory race and went to a high altitude for 3 weeks, where the nearest shop was 60 km away. The contestants were under strict dietary supervision, they had a high-energy diet for the first part of their stay, then some of them were switched to a low-energy diet, and some days they literally cried themselves to tears. Their blood glucose was measured the whole time. At the end of the stay, they completed the test wheel and the mentioned race again. It was the first ever research project focused only on women and their metabolism.

The next months will show us how beneficial the international training camp was, not only for the women who played the role of lab rabbits this time, but also for the men who came to Australia to train together.

Dear supporters of Czech walking from among the competitors, this time especially veterans, officials, organizers, judges, coaches and everyone who is not indifferent to our discipline.

Allow me to invite you to a short farewell to "our" Dr. Petr Brandejský at the nearest opportunity, and that is during the Czech Championship in the hall on 12.2 Praha-Stromovka, hall Otakar Jandery.

According to the agreement with the Czech Athletics Association, there will be a remembrance and a short farewell to Dr. Brandejský about 15 minutes before 10:00 a.m., before the start of the walking races, with a symbolic placing of a flower on the track by all of us and a minute of silence.

After the race, for those who can stay, we will remember Dr. Brandejsky and try to agree on what to do with his legacy.

An outdoor farewell to "our" doctor could then take place during the league in Olomouc.

Thank you for attending this farewell if you can.

Mila Lapka