25.10.2019

The story of Zdeněk Kerner: Never again, yet again!

“No more:” a sentence that now 84-year-old racer Zdeněk Kerner has repeated since the year 1975. So far, this has not worked out for him very well as appeared at the Jizerská start 37 times! He ran his best time in his 11th race, with a finish time of 3:41:20.

“At first, I did the Jizera on a dare, then I raced and competed with my friends, and later competed against myself. We signed up for the first time after the tragedy of mountain climbers in Peru. When we found out about that, we said to ourselves, we had to go. ”

And how were the starts under Jizerka? “At that time, we used these logs with an artificial running surface. I remember how badly it used to stick, ” he begins to open up about his starts in the 50-km. “But I always finished it, it wasn’t so much about the skiing,” it’s clear to the seasoned cross-country skier, who does not look so much at his time anymore. “It's bad now. Yeah, when I was young, it was different. It was standard to get a time below four hours. Now I'm happy, if it's around five. Mainly that the organizers haven’t had to pick me up me from the track yet,” he exaggerated with a smile.

The first snow comes to Bohemia at the turn of October and November. At that time, Mr. Zdeněk is clear about his plans. "I pick myself up and hit the trails."

In addition to great friends, Jizerská gives Zdeněk a feeling of victory every year. “Jizerská 50 for me means power, victory over myself, over my body and nature. That's its charm, even though at the end you say you will never do it again.” And then again, a year later, he shows up at the starting line.