Marathon Euros Recap with Ivan Lawler: Who will end this age of the on-and-on'ers?

In temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Farenheit), the best marathon canoe paddlers in Europe battled for the titles of European Champion. Ivan Lawler spent the weekend watching every race and commentating for the Paddle Europe live stream. Betsy joined in commentary for three of those days. But there was still more to talk about off-air.

The two most exciting races of the weekend, the K1 Senior Men's marathon and K2 Senior Men's marathon, showed that Mads Pedersen is not unbeatable. While he successfully reclaimed his title as K1 European Champion after missing last year's event, Mads faced a very serious challenge from Jon Amund Vold in a race that came down to the final portage and last few hundred metres. In K2, perhaps the effort from the prior day racing in such high temperatures played a role in Pedersen's race with Philip Knudsen, and the pair finished in 6th after looking a bit worse for wear on the water and making questionable decisions on their final portage. It was Adrian Boros / Tamas Erdelyi who won that K2 race in a sprint finish where they exceeded speeds of 20 km/h. All three podium crews (Hungary, Spain, Portugal) ran tactically superb races.

The absence of Melina Andersson from the Senior Women's races opened things up for dominant performances by Anna Sletsjoe in both the short and long course. She kept fans guessing until the last moments of the short course, but ultimately proved that careful tactics combined with top end speed is her perfect recipe for gold medals.

Looking ahead to the Marathon World Championships in Argentina in October, an immense question hangs over both the Senior Men's and Senior Women's races: how long will this age of "The On and On'ers", The Grinders, Mads and Melina -- last? And who will be the first to successfully defeat them?

October will bring more nations (South Africa) and more top competitors (Melina Andersson, Fernando Pimenta). Even if the Age of On and On'ers continues with the expected victories for Mads and Melina, this year's European Championships proved that the sprinters are coming for them sooner or later.

Re-watch all the live streaming from Pitesti on the Paddle Europe YouTube Channel  ⁨@PaddleEurope⁩  and watch interviews and race highlights via Paddle Daily on Instagram or Facebook.#ipaddleforeurope #marathoncanoe #sprintkayak #sprintcanoe #pitesti