To create a unique boating sports ground in the center of Prague. Štvanice waves will also offer surfers
Already two years ago, together with friends from the Czech military track, he borrowed wild water in Štvanice for the purposes of the exhibition race. Now, years later, the Ministry of Defense has indicated that it intends to get rid of the training area due to its small use and subsequently destroy the track.
It was the idea of the end of such a rare place that motivated the founders of the Vlna Štvanice association, Martin Leskovjan, to negotiate with the Ministry of Defense on handing over the lease and obstacles and with the Vltava River Basin on new lease conditions.
Prague is unique in the world in that there are two artificial tracks with wild water. The upper one – Štvanice – now has a chance at a new life. After years, the waves on Štvanice will open to the general boating public.
Martin Leskovjan, who in the past participated in the founding of the non-profit organization Parallel Polis, is also a well-known art group Ztohoven. At the same time, he is an active paddler himself and says that he is related to interesting projects. Especially for those who breathe new life into abandoned places.
“The longer I deal with Štvanice, the more options and potentially I see. The strong positive response and support of the project is concentrated from all sides and confirms to me that the project can bring many paddlers and surfers, but also the city and its inhabitants, “says Martin Leskovjan.
The first river surfing wave in Prague is being created on a unique sports ground on the Vltava River in the center of Prague, so it will be possible to go kayaking, but also surfing. The operator of the track has recently become a group composed of paddlers of various disciplines called Vlny Štvanice.
The construction of the wool will cost an estimated 300 to 400 thousand crowns. However, its creation depends on public support. In the coming days, a campaign will be launched on the HitHit platform to finance constructions, which should start the transformation of today’s neglected river into a clean and lively place and restore its good reputation among Praguers.
The river surfing wave is created on the basis of a project by Vojtěch Bareš from the Czech Technical University, which has already been signed under a number of similar realizations in the Czech Republic and abroad. There are also plans to further develop the water slalom track and build facilities (boating equipment rental, shipyard, cafe), better access to the sports field and reconstruction of slalom tracks according to modern trends.
In addition to crowdfunding, the project will then be funded through monthly or annual membership fees. However, Martin Leskovjan also counts on the sponsors he intends to acquire for the project in the future.
The Vlny Štvanice association should then apply for support from the Prague City Hall after the planned relocation of the sports ground to the Karlín shore, from where there will be better access to the surf wave. The condition for the handover of the Švanice railways was to function as a non-profit project.
Vojta Heger – the representative of the Czech Republic in water slalom and this year’s vice-champion of Europe under 23 in singles – expressed his support for the campaign. At the end of September, a supporting spot should be filmed in Štvanice with the Czech snowboarder Eva Samková and the singer and actress Barbora Poláková, who are also expressing their support project.
The aim of the association is to make the track on Štvanice accessible to all paddlers, not only professional riders. According to the association, outdoor sports life in the air brings a positive mood and is an ideal leisure activity in risky pandemic times, when indoor sports are limited.