Ridiculous competition...

Last weekend we had an enormous pleasure to take part in the first round of Polish Club Championships in Pilica and Zawiercie. I was really looking forward to this competition since it's a wonderful thing to meet all the people after such a long winter break. Therefore, the atmosphere was magnificent. Unfortunately, the very organisation of the races did not meet my expectations... What's more, it made me laugh once I had finished my long distance course!

However, I would like to describe it chronologically, so first comes the relay.

It was an unknown quantity as our team was extremely experimental. Cilu ran the first leg for the very first time in his life! And managed to come first just some 22 seconds ahead of Pietrzyk. One third of the whole task was done! Now the time came for Klusek and Grochu to compete. We waited nervously at the spectator control for them to appear. Suddenly, Grochu came into view and made a funny show;-D Klusek was more than 3 minutes behind him at this control, but at the finish the time difference was only about 2:43. Then it was me to start... I began the exhausting chase after Olej and took risks almost all the time. I made lots of smaller or bigger mistakes which were unavoidable in this situation. After the race I got to know that I passed Olej somewhere near the 6th control because the next three ones he ran some meters behind me. Surprisingly, I did not even notice it! The 10th control was a real nightmare as the map was terrible there! I lost over 2 minutes but Olej was still behind me (he had a longer forking at the previous control). I made another mistake to the 11th control because I still thought Olej was very close, but ahead of me and I wanted to catch up with him... It turned out I wasn't right and he only passed me at this unfortunate 11th control! While running to the next one, I saw Olej jumping among the rocks and already knew I had to catch him to the spectator control. It was not a problem since there was a long track towards it and I succeeded in reducing his advantage. Then I had a little crash with the spectator control;-) At the next control the unexpected forking came (mine was some 100m longer) and I lost some time and self-confidence. Nevertheless, I did not give up and ran incredibly fast after Olej and was only some meters behind him at the next control again. The control no. 17 could have meant a clear victory for me, if it hadn't been for my lack of self-trust... After an unbelievably fast and tiring finish I punched just 2 seconds after Olej and... fell down....... In the evening we heard gladsome news that we eventually won the relay competition because of Azymut's disqualification (one of the showman's controls was missing). 35 points for our club were gained!:)

On Saturday the first individual competition took place - looooong distance race.

The race analysis (which was incredibly hard to carry out!) is on the other side of my map, so I simply lack willingness to repeat it. I would only like to mention some of the aspects which disabled me to ticket this particular competition as a good one.
Fortunately, I am able to make a wonderful comparison between two long distance races in one week's time. Ratisbona Open 2009 (check my previous note) and Polish Club Championships. 7,5km and 7,3km. 350m climb and 275m climb. Time of 48:01 and time of 74:51. Only one question comes to my mind: Where did my shape disappear?!
Actually, we had over 500m to climb (2 times more than announced in the course parameters!). Moreover, my class did NOT even get the control descriptions before the start; I asked politely if there were no descriptions for M18 and I got an unpleasant answer 'No...'. As far as the control descriptions are concerned, I did not actually need them because they were absolutely useless! Fortunately, the code numbers were right at least...
Two controls were situated in the wrong places. What's more, I came across a map from M21 class and their 3rd control is placed on a rocky wall whereas my 11th control is placed on a rock (about 1mm to the left). The funniest thing is that... they have the same code numbers!
Is it enough or should I go on naming all the other drawbacks?;-/

Finally we competed in the easiest sprint ever.

It was very, very hard to make a mistake during this sprint course. However, some competitors 'managed':P Personally, I am just happy I won this race significantly, even though my legs were so heavy and tired before the start...

I think it's all I wanted to say right now:)