“WHEN WE RETURNED WE WERE AMAZED HOW POPULAR WE WERE”: LEGENDARY TRAVELLER MIROSLAV ZIKMUND TURNS 100
The great traveller Miroslav Zikmund turned 100 on Thursday. For Czechoslovaks unable to travel much under communism, the books and radio reports produced by Zikmund and his friend Jiří Hanzelka served as a window to exotic parts of the world. However, the pair were barred from public life following the Soviet invasion.
Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka, who began visiting all corners of the world in the late 1940s, shared their exotic travels with the nation via the airwaves of Czechoslovak Radio.
Given the limited technology of the time, the progammes featured actors reading scripts mailed to Prague by the pair.
Miroslav Zikmund – a remarkable 100 years old on Thursday – recalled their first major trips in an interview I recorded with him in 2005.
“I was travelling with my friend George Hanzelka, or Jiří Hanzelka, for almost nine years. The first trip was through Africa and Latin America, 1947 to 1950.
“That was three and a half years, continuously, non-stop. And then Asia, which was between 1959 and 64, and lasted five and a half years.”
As well as doing radio shows, the pair – who drove distinctive, Czech-made Tatra vehicles – wrote articles for magazines and took photographs.
They also produced books that together sold over 6.5 million copies and were translated into 11 languages.
“When we returned in 1950 we were amazed how popular we were, because we didn’t know, actually. Because the stories were broadcast, everybody wanted printed versions.
“The popularity was so big that the first edition of Africa Dream and Reality was published in 50,000 copies and disappeared in two, three days.
“And what was very interesting – more than two million were exported to the Soviet Union, so when we travelled from the East, from Vladivostok to Moscow, almost every day we had to sign some of our books in Russian.”
Miroslav Zikmund said there was one chief explanation for their enormous success.
“I would say there was some hunger for adventure at that time. When we returned it was two years after the Communist coup d’etat in 1948, and people couldn’t travel out.
“So I think it was not just about popularity, but the closed nature of Czechoslovakia at that time.”
When the normalisation era began Zikmund and Hanzelka were no longer allowed to travel, or even to play a role in public life.
However, the Communists couldn’t excise them from the national consciousness and they again became well-known faces in the 1990s.
Jiří Hanzelka passed away seven years ago at the age of 82. Miroslav Zikmund continues to live in his long-term home of Zlín in Moravia.
“WHEN WE RETURNED WE WERE AMAZED HOW POPULAR WE WERE”: LEGENDARY TRAVELLER MIROSLAV ZIKMUND TURNS 100
The great traveller Miroslav Zikmund turned 100 on Thursday. For Czechoslovaks unable to travel much under communism, the books and radio reports produced by Zikmund and his friend Jiří Hanzelka served as a window to exotic parts of the world. However, the pair were barred from public life following the Soviet invasion.
Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka, who began visiting all corners of the world in the late 1940s, shared their exotic travels with the nation via the airwaves of Czechoslovak Radio.
Given the limited technology of the time, the progammes featured actors reading scripts mailed to Prague by the pair.
Miroslav Zikmund – a remarkable 100 years old on Thursday – recalled their first major trips in an interview I recorded with him in 2005.
“I was travelling with my friend George Hanzelka, or Jiří Hanzelka, for almost nine years. The first trip was through Africa and Latin America, 1947 to 1950.
“That was three and a half years, continuously, non-stop. And then Asia, which was between 1959 and 64, and lasted five and a half years.”
As well as doing radio shows, the pair – who drove distinctive, Czech-made Tatra vehicles – wrote articles for magazines and took photographs.
They also produced books that together sold over 6.5 million copies and were translated into 11 languages.
“When we returned in 1950 we were amazed how popular we were, because we didn’t know, actually. Because the stories were broadcast, everybody wanted printed versions.
“The popularity was so big that the first edition of Africa Dream and Reality was published in 50,000 copies and disappeared in two, three days.
“And what was very interesting – more than two million were exported to the Soviet Union, so when we travelled from the East, from Vladivostok to Moscow, almost every day we had to sign some of our books in Russian.”
Miroslav Zikmund said there was one chief explanation for their enormous success.
“I would say there was some hunger for adventure at that time. When we returned it was two years after the Communist coup d’etat in 1948, and people couldn’t travel out.
“So I think it was not just about popularity, but the closed nature of Czechoslovakia at that time.”
When the normalisation era began Zikmund and Hanzelka were no longer allowed to travel, or even to play a role in public life.
However, the Communists couldn’t excise them from the national consciousness and they again became well-known faces in the 1990s.
Jiří Hanzelka passed away seven years ago at the age of 82. Miroslav Zikmund continues to live in his long-term home of Zlín in Moravia.
Starting like a canon ball with two stage victories to commence his defence of the title on the Dakar, in the end Eduard Nikoalev had somewhat of a fright. Although it was thought that the Kamaz driver would again be untouchable, the Russian was put under serious pressure by his rivals, in particular his team-mates Andrey Karginov and Dmitry Sotnikov, to such an extent that he lost the lead of the rally to Sotnikov two days from the finish. However, the three-time winner of the event finally reacted flawlessly with a splendid victory on stage 9 to regain the lead and drive his truck onto the highest step of the podium in Lima, for the fourth time. Sotnikov will therefore have to wait another year to hope to obtain his holy grail, a success which Gerard de Rooy, on the third step of the podium, has tasted twice. The Iveco driver was expected to be the main rival of the Kamaz team, but finally he was never a genuine threat.
The Tatra Jamal piloted by Aleš Loprais, Ferran Marco Alcayna and Petr Pokora reached the finish of the Dakar Rally 2019 with fifth overall rank in the truck category. Thus the small family team not only overcame all obstacles of the extremely demanding 41st edition of the famous race but also managed to successfully compete with the strong and large factory teams taking part.
The organizers had to confine this edition of Dakar to Peru only. That is why the Rally was shorter in terms of mileages and racing days. And yet most participants speak about a “long” Dakar. That is because the organizers managed to build a route testing the physical and psychic conditions of the participants and their technologies down to the very bottom. Everybody had problems in the course of the ten stages. Only one third of the 41 trucks starting from Lima on 6 January returned to the Peruvian capital eleven days later.
“For me this was perhaps the most difficult Dakar, leaving aside those where we had an accident and withdrew prematurely. As for the demand and performance this was one of the toughest editions. It was kind of return to the past marathon rallying. I think this is what might be beneficial for us in future,” guesses Aleš Loprais.
Before the final stage Aleš, Ferran and Petr promised to try to attack the interim fourth rank held by Federico Villagra. Although they achieved the second time of the last special stage, which was 112 kilometres long, it was not enough to wipe off the whole deficit. In the finish the Queen, as Aleš Loprais nicknames his Tatra, was mere 11 minutes late after the Argentine pilot´s Iveco.
“We wanted that a lot, but we needed this Dakar to be a little longer to achieve it. Our destiny is given and we must be glad for where we rank in the end. We are a small family team without factory support and yet we have succeeded among the big factory teams,” reminds the Czech trucker of the fact that the remaining nine ranks in the Top Ten ranking of the final classification were only occupied by factory-supported crews.
“So joy and joy overall and I would mainly like to express my sincere thanks to the boys, the whole team, our families, fans and sponsors, for without them we would never have managed this. Even though we only enjoyed two problem-free stages, they counted for all and filled us with hopes for the future. To try to defeat factory teams is a big challenge and I believe we will successfully continue in that,” concludes Loprais.
Muchas gracias, Perú! Adiós!
Final results of Dakar Rally 2019 – trucks:
1. Nikolaev / Iakovlev / Rybakov (Kamaz) 41:01:35 hrs
2. Sotnikov / Nikitin / Mustafin (Kamaz) +25:36 min
3. De Rooy / Rodewald / Terrallardona (Iveco) +1:34:44 hrs
4. Villagra / Yacopini / Torlaschi (Iveco) +5:49:08 hrs
5. Loprais / Marco Alcayna / Pokora (Tatra) +5:59:51 hrs
6. Viazovich / Haranin / Zhihulin (Maz) + 6:39:29 hrs
A Czech team Instaforex Loprais Team has managed to win the Morocco Desert Challenge. Aleš Loprais with his crew, consisting of Ferran Marco Alcayna and Petr Pokora, did not finish first just in the truck category, but also in the overall standings. All that after very difficult eight days at the biggest truck race in the world.
Eight stages, thirty-three trucks and almost 2,500 kilometres stood between Aleš Loprais and the finish line. But Loprais managed to win three stages and took an overall victory with a 23-minute lead over Martin van den Brink who finished second.
“I think this is a great satisfaction for us. We’ve come here mainly for testing and we just wanted to be fast and reliable. And we’ve managed to do all that, plus we’ve also won. I’d like to say thank you to the guys in the cabin, to our mechanics and also all our partners for their support and allowing us to start here,” said Aleš Loprais after the finish line.
“I was expecting much bigger technical problems. But in the end, we just had some problems with sensors and that was it. Punctures are just part of this difficult competition. I can’t wait for the next challenge,” said a cabin mechanic Petr Pokora.
“It was a very beautiful but also very hard competition. We kept getting better every day and got into the lead. Aleš and all the mechanics did a great job and I’m very happy with our result. It was a great win,” said Spanish navigator Ferran Marco Alcayna.
Aleš Loprais with his crew didn’t win just in the truck category, but they also finished first in the overall standings with a time 31:02:08.
“This race is a part of our Dakar 2019 mission and it’s really nice to win like this. It was a very difficult African adventure, but a successful one, a golden one,” added Loprais.
Overall ranking with Thomas Vrantny on another Tatra 4th! : https://moroccodesertchallenge.com/en/the-rally/ranking?stage=general&category=racetruck
