Victory here was determined by much more than seconds on the track. Teams were judged by track completion time, tandem design, creativity, and team presentation. So the intrigue of who would win the title remained until the last minute.
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Champions believed in victory from the very beginning
The first champions of the Baltic countries were the “Motocross Mania” team, who collected the most judges’ points and won the main prize – a trip to Austria, where they will try out a real “Formula 4” car.
After the triumph, team members Lukas and Nojus stated that they had believed in their strength from the very beginning. According to them, the biggest challenge was not speed, but one of the most difficult track elements – the lever. Having successfully overcome it, they realized that the finish was already within reach. Although there was no shortage of excitement before the start, the anticipation of whether other teams would improve their result caused even more adrenaline. “Fortune was on our side,” the guys smiled.
The winners say they plan to return to “Red Bull Tandemynės” next year, but are not yet revealing their future tandem ideas – they don’t want to show their cards to competitors. And to those who are considering participating in the future, they wish them not to hesitate: only by being on the track in front of thousands of spectators’ eyes can you truly understand what this experience is like.
Second place was won by the unique girls’ duo “Babcių duo”. They transformed their bicycle into a feast table, aged their image by several decades, and received an award for their creativity.
The girls will travel to Poland to watch one of Europe’s biggest drifting events – the “Drift Masters Grand Finale”. Third place was awarded to the “Apdulkintojai” duo, dressed in bee and flower pot costumes, who will embark on an extreme buggy ride with Dakar rally driver Rokas Baciuška.
From a sketch on paper to a tandem over the Neris
The road to the start began much earlier than the event day – already in spring, the organizers received more than three hundred applications, and each team first had to prove that their idea was worthy of seeing the light of day. Only the best concepts turned into real tandems, which participants constructed for several months in their workshops, garages, and yards.
On Saturday afternoon, 48 teams lined up at the starting line, whose creativity surprised both the audience and the judges. Spectators saw 101 Dalmatians, characters from the cult series “Stranger Things”, combative plumbers from Ukmergė, and many other characters.
Perhaps the most attention from the audience was drawn by the tandem of content creators Paulius Samoška and Omantas Jokubaitis.
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The team, which recreated a 1991 red “Volkswagen Passat”, stripped off their clothes at the starting line, remaining only in their briefs. And not without reason, because just a few seconds later they were already floating in the Neris.
Paulius Samoška, who recently returned from his honeymoon, joked that exotic beaches cannot compare to swimming in the capital’s river. “Oh, you know, abroad, in those warm countries… it’s not that interesting. It’s better here. Lithuania is closer to my heart, so I gladly swam in the Neris,” smiled one of the country’s most famous travelers.
His teammate Omantas Jokubaitis admitted that he had been wondering all day why he embarked on this adventure. “Honestly, for four hours I was thinking – why the hell did I get myself into this. Our bicycle weighed about 80 kilograms, so it splashed into the water like a kamaz,” Omantas laughed.
Falls into the Neris accompanied by cheers and applause
As soon as the first starting signal sounded, it became clear that this event was much more than a bicycle race. Some tandems confidently crossed the finish line, while others had to float in the Neris, but every team was accompanied by abundant applause and support from spectators from the very first meters.
The event’s atmosphere was maintained throughout the day by hosts Mantas Stonkus, Laura Dragūnaitė, and Nerijus Trilikauskas-xKhen.
The teams’ performances were judged by global star, moto acrobat Aras Gibieža, traveler Orijus Gasanovas, content creators Akvilė “Akva” Bielo-Petravičiūtė, Brahamas, and Karolis Jankauskas (“LTU Republic”).
According to A. Gibieža, even with many years of experience in extreme sports, on such a track, everything would be determined not only by skills but also by the tandem itself and preparation. He stated that some bicycles were clearly difficult to control, so finishing dry was no small task.
He was most impressed not only by the teams’ ingenuity but also by how much time and effort the participants dedicated to realizing their ideas. “I prepare my own motorcycle, I understand technology, so I can immediately see if a bicycle was bought or if it was born from an idea, many hours of work and creativity. Such teams earned most of my points today.”
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