Cilu, do you remember this map?;-)

The arena of the 3rd stage was well-known for me. I hope some of my friends from M16 class 2 years ago know why:)

What about my race... it was quite good comparing to the previous ones. I made only one mistake bigger mistake of about 1 minute to the 4th control. Although I didn't feel strong physically that day, I am quite satisfied with my performance and believe in myself a bit more again!

My technique sucks!

The first 2 stages of Hungaria Cup 2009 were ones of my worst races during this season.

On the 1st day I started incredibly fast. Unfortunately, the 2nd control was one of the two controls on the whole course (2nd and 5th) where you just had to slow down a bit. Of course, I did NOT do it and lost almost 6 minutes!!! Then, my only goal was to finish the race...
(map: HK 2009 1st stage and WOC 2009 middle qual)

The next stage was carried out on WOC 2009 long qual map and it was a long distance race for us as well. I wanted to calm down and run a bit slower in order to read the map precisely and got to know that my mistakes are not caused by my running speed. So by what?! I don't really know it yet... Just look at the controls: 1st (nearly 2mins lost), 8th (more than 3') and 13th (more than 2'). What's more, I took the wrong route choice to the 7th control, but ran pretty fast and lost only 50secs. I don't count all the smaller mistakes...

Pride means more than the result for me...

Last weekend I took part in Grand Prix Polonia organised by Azymut Dębów near Przemyśl. The whole event consisted of 3 stages and one additional race – sprint.

On Saturday there was a long distance race prepared for us – 7km and 300m of climb. I started 4 minutes behind Grochu and caught him already at the first control! The next 3 controls we ran together and I had a great beginning of my race. However, then a real disaster came… The map wasn’t precise enough for me on my way to the 5th control and I lost over 10mins(!) to the best split. Unfortunately, I was terribly disappointed and lost my whole motivation to push hard. I began to jog and continue the course just to avoid being disqualified because it was a 3-day competition… Nevertheless, I didn’t manage to run without any stupid mistakes and got the 8th place, but it didn’t really matter for me...


The second day I was incredibly motivated to win the middle distance and wanted to reduce my time waste to the 3rd place (Cilu). I had a very good race catching Wojtek P. at the 4th control. I made only 2 mistakes (wrong route choice to the 4th control and too much to the right just before this control; being too low near the 6th control and running too far). I managed to win with the advantage of 16 seconds over Gleb Tikhonov from Russia. However, I gained only 2:28 comparing to Cilu and he was to start 5:43 before me in the handicap the following day.


In the evening there was a short sprint race waiting for us. It was a pity that there were only 7 controls on the course of 1,8km. I took wrong way at the 1st long leg and met Rysiu, who started 30secs behind me, at the control. Then, I thought the 3rd control is the second one and ran towards it. I lost some 25 seconds and couldn’t find any reason to run fast afterwards... I just finished my race and ended in the very middle of the men’s category.


The last stage was a handicap of 6,1km and 250m of climb. My place after 2 first stages was 6th. I started some 1:30 behind Patela, some 3mins behind Wojtek P. and 5:43 behind Cilu. The leader started over 15mins ahead of me;) I speeded up at the beginning and had problems reaching the 1st control, but Patela’s problems were much bigger and I caught him already at this control. Then, I ran quickly to the green and tried to get through it. It wasn’t the best decision since I lost almost one minute and got my nose cut, bled and hurt. Controls no. 3, 4 and 5 went pretty good. At the 6th control the next huge mistake came, because I mixed the re-entrants and lost about 40secs. The 7th control was easy and at the next one I decided to push harder in order not to run with Patela the rest of the course. What’s more, at the same leg I saw Wojtek P. who was running back to the 7th control as he forgot to punch it. It boosted my motivation because I knew that at least the 4th place was waiting for me and I tried to catch Cilu as soon as possible. I felt really exhausted at the next controls, but saw him on the fields near the 11th control. However, he still had some 2mins advantage over me. I ran with no significant mistakes till the 15th control, where I lost nearly two minutes and my hope for the podium place completely disappeared. I came to the finish knowing I was fourth and I was not wrong...


In fact, I did not deserve the 3rd place, so the results were very fair. The only thing that consoled me was 200PLN which I won for the 3rd place in Galicja Orienteering Tour general classification.
The very same day I jumped to Wielkopolska’s bus and made my way to Miskolc in order to be the part of WOC 2009 and compete in Hungaria Cup.......

95 controls punched and 1 mispunched...

Yesterday we came back from Novy Bor, where we took part in a 5-day competition - Bohemia Orienteering 2009. The whole stay in Czech Republic was really wonderful; we all gathered lots of experience, had the opportunity to run in very well-mapped and interesting terrains and compare with the best Czech runners.

We got 2 training maps to run at.

Below I present maps from the 5 stages with a deep analysis on each of them.

Before the last day (handicap) my places were: 5th, 3rd (5 seconds to the winner!), 3rd and 4th. That's why I was 3rd in the overall standings, nearly 6mins behind the 2nd and 3:25 ahead of the 4th. I made a solid and fast (especially at the beginning) performance and came 3rd into the finish. However, I realised I had punched the wrong control! For the very first time in my life... That's a shame, but I am really satisfied with my races in Czech Republic as I got to know I am quite self-confident in the forest and my O-technique is at a high level:) I only need to work more strength in my legs for the second part of the season.

On Sunday, after all the competitions, we organized a club beer relay race in our gym. We had lots of fun and were ready to go back home the following day...

First camp before JWOC 2010

Yesterday I came back from Denmark. We spent there 6 lovely days. We trained on maps similar (to some extent) to the ones we are to run at during JWOC 2010 in Aalborg.
I have not much time since today I am going to Czech Republic to take part in Bohemia 2009!

I don't really know why some of these maps below are turned around...