The UK’s first aufguss champion has been selected at the inaugural Aufguss UK Competition, which took place at Rudding Park April 24-26.

After much sweat and cheers, aufguss master Pavel Poliacek was named as the UK’s new sauna master and will go on to represent the country in the upcoming Aufguss World Championships, set to take place at Satama Sauna resort, Germany, from September 11-17.

Finalists Renato Neto and Jena Robinson also won the Aufguss Team event and will attend the World Championship playoffs at Farris Bad, Norway.

Hosted by Rudding Park’s head of spa, Sarah Johnson, and director, Matthew Mackaness, this pioneering spa event was sponsored by Design for Leisure and attended by founder Don Genders.

The championships were the brainchild of British aufguss trainer Deborah Carr and judge Lasse Eriksen, vice-president of Aufguss WM, and were supported by the British Sauna Society and Aufguss-WM.com.

Zoe Douglas from wellbeing skincare specialist Natura Bissé also attended to provide restorative massages throughout the event.

The art of sauna

Spring sunshine shone throughout the two-day event, where five finalists presented competition aufguss performances. Each finalist was judged for professionalism, waving techniques, fragrance use and dosage, as well as theme, implementation and creativity.

Bringing their expertise to the UK, the international judging panel was led by Eriksen, Carr, aufguss champion and trainer Lay Pang Ong, and Heonsok Kim, vice-president of the Japan Sauna & Spa Association (JSSA) along with Hideo Yoshida, president of JSSA, who travelled in from Japan for the debut UK event.

Taking guests on a journey

Taking first place, Pavel Poliacek, Galgorm Luxury Resort & Spa’s fitness and wellbeing instructor and sauna master from Northern Ireland, delivered a controlled, graceful and passionate performance entitled The Journey of Pavel. Rudding Park’s senior spa therapist, Jena Robinson, was given second place, for her captivating Castaway.

The award for third place, was presented to Rudding Park’s deputy spa manager and dedicated sauna master Renato Neto, who delivered a soulful and grounding performance using herb infusions sourced from Rudding Park’s own kitchen garden.

Finalists Nicola Walker and Charlotte Daniels from Alpamare, Scarborough, also delivered notable performances to celebrate the magic of the seasons and the aromatic world of coffee, respectively.

A pathway to the world championships

Commenting on the finalists, Carr, said: “Firstly, I would like to extend a huge congratulations to all the participants that took part in the championships. The response and calibre of talent demonstrated was impressive given this is the first year the UK has competed in the championships and aufguss is still relatively new to the UK.

“I look forward to working both Jena and Pavel to help prepare for the play-offs in Farris Bad, Norway in September and the World Championships, which will be in Satama resort, Germany later in September.”

Show time with aufguss champions

For added inspiration, the event also featured sizzling shows from visiting aufguss champions Robert Zidek and Eliska Zidek Blazova, who flew in from the Czech Republic. Zidek, who is reigning Czech aufguss champion and 2022 modern Classic Champion, recently returned from Japan where he has been supporting the work of a new generation of Japanese aufguss masters as the art form gains popularity in there.

His explosive performance at Rudding Park told the story of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite, which led to the scientist’s desire to leave a legacy of peace for the world.

Zidek Blazova turned up the heat with her skilful show which theatrically explored the stages of grief with a celebratory twist of life to end.

Rudding Park Spa celebrates aufguss

Commenting on the success of the event, Rudding Park’s director Matthew Mackaness told European Spa: “I experienced aufguss for the first time seven years ago in a ski resort in Austria and it was transformational. I knew that aufguss had to be part of our new spa offering here at Rudding Park when we opened in 2017. It really was a dream that became an obsession.

“We are so proud to host this inaugural Aufguss Championship, as we want Rudding Park to be part of the movement here in the UK, which we are very much at the beginning of,” he said.

Sarah Johnson, head of spa at Rudding Park added: “As the first UK spa to introduce aufguss we were thrilled to host this prestigious event and it was wonderful to see the creativity and passion of all the competitors.

“We are, of course, particularly proud of Jena Robinson and Renato Neto from our very own spa team who have been training relentlessly and have made it through to the play-offs in Norway.”

Aufguss movement gathers momentum

Mika Meskanen, founder of the British Sauna Society, said: “The British Sauna Society is excited about the success of the first UK Aufguss Championships, which now set the foundation to bring sauna experiences to the forefront of commercial spa investment.

“We look forward to growing this new movement together with businesses, wellness enthusiasts and aspiring Aufguss masters alike.”

A supporter of the aufguss movement worldwide, European Spa’s founder, Sarah Camilleri, said: “I am never happier than when my sauna hat is on! European Spa is proud to support the extraordinary grassroots efforts being made by many talented spa leaders and dedicated spa suppliers across Europe to bring the magic of aufguss to the wider world.

“Aufguss is a trend to watch and requires skill, dedication and commitment to master. Our huge congratulations to the first UK finalists who bravely took the plunge to train hard and compete at Rudding Park to represent their country.

“The European Spa team and I would love to see many more UK spas compete next year. It really is a wonderful way to elevate talent in your team and create some magic in your spa.”

Deborah Carr added: “Aufguss provides a huge opportunity for UK spas to create new and unique immersive communal spa activities that offer genuine health and wellness benefits to clients.

“We’ve seen a huge spike in interest in our training courses in recent months from some of the UK’s most prestigious spas. With sauna culture rising in popularity in the UK, I believe we will only continue to see Aufguss sauna rituals emerging as a popular practise in more of our spas this year.”