
Blast from the past
How did the beginnings of Pannonian Challenge look like?
The jubilee 20th edition of Pannonian Challenge will come sooner than you expect and therefore we bring you an interesting gallery of photos to get you warmed up in time for adrenaline filled competitions and energetic concerts. The best way to do it is to take a look at the beginnings of Pannonian Challenge and realize how far it has come to be recognized in the world.

This was how works were done in 2002 on the first Osijek Skate Park, which began to flourish for the needs of the 3rd Pannonian Challenge as part of the high school playground. Then, along with the first larger ramps and more demanding elements, the stands, which were truly necessary, were built, because more and more visitors began to recognize the beauty of extreme sports.
Back then you couldn’t use playlists to keep the party going. On the contrary, with huge amounts of records and CDs, DJs from the time had to have quick hands and ingenuity to meet the needs of the audience as well as the needs of the athletes themselves as they were looking to be inspired by the music to perform their tricks.


Just like in the recent releases of the Pannonian Challenge, some people in the audience have made it clear from the very beginning what we can expect in the evening, on urban concerts in their favorite nightclub Vega. Here we see well-known faces, who were chillin’ even back in 2005.
However, it was not always so urban on the high school playground where the park was located, because several performers who cherished other music genres used to stop by.


Various concerts in the heart of old town, more precisely in the popular Vega, were always followed with enthusiasm by Osijek audience and their guests, who were here, for a “millionth time” jumping and singing with Debeli precjednik.
Certainly only the most faithful visitors of the Pannonian Challenge remember the additional content on the left bank of the Drava, in the famous “forest”, where athletes on mountain bikes did their thing. Of course, we’re talking about the famous dirt track, which is where the last day of the festival used to be held where all the spectators could see something different, impressive tricks in the air accompanied by nervous mosquitoes.


In addition to the tricks, forest visitors also enjoyed the tense races that, due to the driver’s “light speeds”, often ended up with falls, which soft dirt surface could always alleviate.

This pano photo may perhaps best reflect how it looked at the initial releases of the Pannonian Challenge, in overcrowded high school playground. The skate park then gained its distinctive look, more than 10 years ago, and while visitors in the summer always looked for a good place to look at the best BMX, skate and inline tricks, shade was often a luxury. But even though some were able to hide from the sun’s rays, nobody could then escape the red dirt from the high school race track, which all the visitors after the festival unsuccessfully tried to wash.
In the BMX freestyle discipline, ten years ago Jurica Barać, the current head of the Pannonian Challenge project, also performed. During that time Jurica fell in love with this extreme sports festival. Here we can see him trying to impress judges to the delight of Osijek audience.


Finally, we have to remember the founders of Pannonian Challenge- Samir Kurtagić (whose photos you are currently enjoying) and Zdenko Liška, president of the Pannonian Association, who used to present awards and occasional gifts in the form of chocolate to Igor Vukadinovic-Poki, the festival ambassador and the best Osijek BMX rider.