News

On Tuesday, ECA Canoe Marathon Masters Cup ended in Moscow with nine sets of medals drawn on the final day of the competition. All in all winners in 23 disciplines - singles, doubles and mixed crews in various age categories were crowned at the Olympic Regatta Course "Moscow".

One of the main stars of the ECA Canoe Marathon Masters Cup has became Vladimir Grushikhin, representing Moscow, participant of two Olympic Games and medallist of European and World Championships. On the first day of the competition Grushikhin won the MK1 19 km race in 50-54 age group in a stunning competition with Alexei Terekhov from Lipetsk. On Tuesday Grushikhin together with Sergei Rybakov from St. Petersburg won bronze medal in MK2 race in 50-54 age group.

"In singles there was a real battle with Alexei Terekhov for the first place! " says Grushikhin. "At each portage, he ran away from me, and I kept catching up with him on the water. On the last lap, he decided to break away from me on the water, but I tried my best and snatched the victory with a final push. These 19 kilometres were really hard, and I really thank Alexei for such a race. We raced in the 50-54 category and covered the distance even faster than the three younger categories of athletes. In the double race I was together with Sergei Rybakov, he is an amateur. Sergei is 68 years old, and our task was to make it to the finish line. We made it and came third."

"I have been in canoeing for more than 30 years, I participated in two Olympic Games, but I have never seen such an organisation as at the Canoe Marathon Masters Cup in Moscow," continues Grushikhin. "It is just an Olympic level! It is a pity that due to restrictive measures, not all the athletes were able to come to us. They would have been excited too. I am grateful for such competitions to the All-Russian Federation of Kayaking and Canoeing, to Nikolai Mordvin, Dmitry Mironov, Elena Iskhakova, Alexandra Fedorova for all kinds of help to veterans at this competition. Transfer to the canal, meals, free accommodation and free rental of new marathon boats - everything is at the highest level. Many thanks to the organisers!"

On Tuesday, Lipetsk kayakers Alexei Terekhov and Yuri Pokidov won the doubles race in 45-49 age category. Igor Fedorov and Andrey Semenov from Pskov were second, the third place was taken by Spiridon Demin from Pushkino and Vyacheslav Karavchuk from the Moscow region.

 

Alexander Mzhachikh and Igor Usanov from Tver were the best in kayak double race in 50-64 age group. Athletes from Astrakhan showed very good results in double canoe race in 35-49 age category: Maxim Kharunzhin and Sergei Orlov came second, and Sergei Pomogaev, together with Sergei Malkov from Moscow won gold. A day earlier, an Astrakhan canoeist Pomogaev won the single race in the 55+ category.

 

Rakhip Gimadeev from Kazan and Vyacheslav Khalabudenko from St. Petersburg in excellent style won double canoe race in the category 60-64. Sergei Didenko from Moscow and Igor Nesterov from the Moscow Region won gold medals in the double kayak race in the category 40-44.

 

It is also worth mentioning a winning double of kayakers Andrei Semenov and Larisa Antonova. On Tuesday, they were the first in the double mixed race in the 35-49 category, and the day before they confidently won the singles. Semenov left no chances to rivals in the 45-49 category, and Antonova was the best in the 40-54 category.