Microsprint (qualification, semifinal and final)
It is not a secret I wanted to win this competition very much because I really like this original type of orienteering and feel quite good at it.
The qualification race just had to go smoothly as we had only 6 runners in M18 class and 4 of these were to get to the next round. Only 2 of us made a clean race. Comparing to the whole series of Saturday's microsprint races, I had the least mistakes but ran slowest.
In the semifinal I had to face a real challenge as all the men's classes had been combined. As many as 21 runners took part. In this stage only 6 best men were allowed to the final. Somehow I succeeded in placing among them ;-)
In the final I was the last one to start. My legs were the fastest this time but I had an unpleasant meeting with a beater on my way to the 2nd control. Despite that fact I won this exciting race and fulfilled my high expectations. I would also like to add the cheering was magnificent!
There is only one thing I wish had happened: if they had changed the controls between the races, it would have been much funnier, more difficult and challenging.
Just a short break and the relays came. However not the usual ones, they were sprint in mixed pairs including 4 legs (1st and 3rd for a girl, 2nd and 4th for a boy). I ran with Gwoździu.
She made a good job of the first leg and let me start as the second to fight on the second leg. I caught Chrupek already on the way to the very beginning control as he made a huge mistake while crossing the start gate - he took the wrong (left) direction. Although I had the longest possible forking on control no. 5, I managed to come fastest to the finish. Ewa did her best on the next leg to give me a chance to fight for the victory. I was the first one to start for the last leg, nevertheless, only some seconds ahead of Zielu. We had talked about our previous race during the break and I was sure he was now going to have the long forking I had on the 2nd leg. I was safely leading to the 5th control (the forked one) and suddenly saw him punch the same control! I got really confused and made a considerable mistake to the following control. He did not miss the chance and immediately took the lead. On our way to the deciding controls I thought about this year's Tiomila last leg's finish and the exciting struggle between Wingstedt and Hubmann. The latter let Emil lead very long on the tiring finish but eventually took the victory on the last 150 meters. It became a kind of inspiration for me and I just had no other way! I managed and thanks to 4 fast and more or less clean races Ewa and I won the competition in WM18+ class.
In the end it turned out that Gosia and Zielu were disqualified for missing one control...
To sum it all up, it was a fantastic, splendid, excellent, marvellous, wonderful and gorgeous idea to organize such a competition! I hope it was NOT the last opportunity to take part in something like that.
The Saturday's races were over now and Jolka & Jacek took the chance of visiting Manufaktura. Undoubtedly, they enjoyed it very much. But to the point, after quite a good together sleep it came time for the middle distance competition. I must admit the course was very well-prepared. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the map... It really needs to be precisely actualized! If my own race is concerned, I made lots of mistakes - some of them were the map's fault, some mine. In any case it was not my day, though I succeeded in taking the first place in my class.
That weekend 6 races meant 6 successes =)
No comments:
Post a Comment