Dowka u Bc

Nejc Rutar Takes First "Dowka"

The first marathon downhill race in Slovenia brings a tight fight for top places. Nejc Rutar wins in 21 minutes, 3 seconds. A lazy day for rescue teams.

Bovec - 19-year old Nejc Rutar, a national team downhill rider, won the first edition of mass start mountain bike downhill marathon race "Dowka u Bc" from Mt. Kanin to the town of Bovec. The MBK Hidria/Team Scott Lactat rider finished the 14 km, 1750 m elevation drop course just 27 second in front of second place finisher, the national DH champion Jan Cestnik (Cult MTB Trbovlje). Only 6 seconds behind in third was the ex-junior cross country racer Primož Ravnik (KD Sportpoint). It took all three podium finishers less than 22 minutes top to bottom!

Cestnik took the lead from the start line down the steep and fast ski slopes, though the tricky deep gravel. But he crashed twice within the first five minutes, dropping out of top five. Rutar took the lead in front of fastest qualifier Ravnik. Fabian Alejandro Bonanno of Argentina, third fastest in Saturday's qualification run, followed in third but was slowed down by problems with his chain. Rutar took off from Ravnik lower down the course in tight technical sections.

Cestnik kept gaining spots after his crashes and entered the technical middle part of MTB Park Kanin as third. Mid-course he caught up with Ravnik who gave up after a short but intense battle for second. "We were touching elbows and I didn't want us both to go down in those rocks," said Ravnik, congratulating Jan on his pedaling efforts. Another hot battle went on for fourth place. Anže Bizjak (Bam.Bi), a former cross country national team member, first passed the Scotsman Clive Forth (Iron Horse-Extreme) and then Rok Bizjak on the last climb just before the final descent to town.

"I escaped the heavy traffic right off the start with just Cec in front of me. We were really flying, much faster than in practice. We were hitting about 70 kph in that deep gravel. Then he crashed and I had nobody else in front of meall the way to the finish. I didn't risk too much in the technical sections and I tried to save some energy for the last pedaling parts before the finish. Somehow I made it to the end," said Rutar who will be defending his National DH Series lead in the finals next Saturday in Kranjska Gora, the 2009 European DH Championships venue.

The organizers were relieved to see all the riders in the finish and the mountain rescue crews without work. The riders came from Argentina, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy and of course Slovenia. The field was small for this first edition of "Dowka u Bc": only 37 riders. Just as many changed their minds about competing elbow-to-elbow on this demanding course after registering online.

But even 37 riders provided for an exciting race. Spectators were up on the mountain as well as in the forest of the MTB Park Kanin, while on the streets ob Bovec the riders were greeted by a crowd that was able to see parts of the race live on video screen in the finish area.

The cult of "Dowka", a demanding and colorful competition, was born today. The organizers from Outdoor Freaks club in Bovec promised they would do their best to organize "Dowka u Bc udrugo" (Down to Bovec, Second Time).

Dowka u Bc top 10 results
1. Nejc Rutar (Slo, MBK Hidria) 21:03
2. Jan Cestnik (Slo, Cult MTB Trbovlje) +0:27
3. Primož Ravnik (Slo, Sportpoint) +0:33
4. Anže Bizjak (Slo, Bam.Bi) +1:41
5. Rok Bizjak (Slo, Kostanjevica na Krasu) +2:01
6. Clive Forth (GBr, Iron Horse-Extreme) +2:39
7. Miha Jakopič (Slo, ŠKTD Avče) +3:53
8. Simon Godec (Slo) +4:01
9. Jonathan Tubman (GBr) +4:27
10. Matej Koren (Slo, Korte) +4:01
36 finished, 1 DNF

More info at event website http://www.dowka.si