Oringen 5 days - Eksjö
Dienstag, 28. Juli 2009 um 00:00 Uhr
This years O-ringen competition format with 3 longdistances (one mass-start, a long WRE and the chasing-start) a sprint distance and middle distance competition was very interesting and also quite challenging. There was a good mixture of all disciplines, a nice terrain, good courses and a lot of prize-money to win. Most of the money was taken by Martin Johansson but at least a small amount went on my account.
Our accommodation was quite close to the competition office, most of the time within walking distance to the competitions.
The five days competition was planned as preparation for the WOC, therefore not every competition was planned to be run with full speed. As I will be running the longdistance at WOC my plan was to take the first two competitions seriously.
O-ringen day 1 - Longdistance with mass-start
First there were 3 loops on a 1:10000 scale to split the pack of the 80 Eliteserien starters and afterwards one longer course on a 1:15000 map which was the same for everyone.
I started quite slow, I think I punched the first control as the last, but than I felt pretty well and started overtaking runner by runner. Unfortunately I had a mapreading mistake to the last control of the first loop and lost about half a minute. The next two loops were quite good and changed for the last leg among the 30 best runners.
Just a few seconds ahead of me was Mats Haldin running. As a felt really fit I tried to increase my speed and could catch up with him. Most of the course we were running together (meaning he running in front and orienteering and me following him) and could overtake some runners in front of us. In the last part we managed to catch up with some more runners. Running downhill to the second last control Mats was a bit faster and could make a small gap to me and the other followers. On the way to the last control I managed to get rid of the other contrahents and could get closer to him, but at the finishing spurt he was faster. Our placings at the end were 20 and 21.
I was very satisfied with my competition and the result. Although I had some mistakes the gap to the leaders was quite small.
Results O-ringen day 1
Maps O-ringen day 1 (coming soon)
O-ringen day 2 - World Ranking Event
Encouraged from the good result after day 1 I wanted to perform even better, but except some parts it wasn't my day.
I had a lot of mistakes especially in the green parts of the maps and lost plenty of time. As I planned the course would take about 60 to 65 minutes I thought there is no need for any carbohydrategel, but due to my mistakes it took me much longer and I was missing power at the last part of the race.
It was a quite bad race for me with almost nothing positive except one thing.
To make the race more attractive the organisers made a "race within the race". They announced a hillrace competition as part of the race. At one point of the course there will be a special sign showing the start and some time later the finishsign. The fastest runner at this hill competition will be awarded 5000 SEK.
As I came to the 9th control I recognised that it will be the start point for the hill competition and because the 10th control wasn't really uphill it must be at control 11 to be the finish. I had a short look on the map and planned the routes to both controls in advance, than I punched the control and increased my speed a bit. The 10th control was a quite tricky one and as I worried about before, I made a mistake to this control. In the control area a aimed at the wrong hill and lost valuable seconds for the hill price. The second control than was quite easy, just running on top of the hill.
Because of my mistake I thought I don't have a chance to win the hill price and didn't think about it again. Later at home my collegues told me that the speaker anounced me serveral times in the leading position for the hillprice.
It turned out that I, toghether with Martin Johansson won the challenge - 5000 Kronors my biggest win so far.
Results O-ringen day 2
Map O-ringen day 2 (coming soon)
O-ringen day 3 - Sprint distance
The sprint distance was held in the citycenter of Eksjö. It was a really nice and very fast course. I had a good race with only minor mistakes and finished a bit more than 1 minute slower than Emil Wingstedt.
The athmosphaere during this sprint event was enormous. Thousends of spectators applauded and cheered to the runners. It was a really cool experience to run this sprint in Eksjö.
Results O-ringen day 3
Map O-ringen day 3 (coming soon)
O-ringen day 4 - Middle distance
After one rest day a middle distance was on the schedule. Although I didn't run it full speed, I had some mistakes. One by misinterprating the contour situation at control 4 and another mistake to control 20 by just passing by the control several times a few meters.
Results O-ringen day 4
Map O-ringen day 4 (coming soon)
O-ringen day 5 - Chasingstart
On the last day we had a chasing start. I started from position 42 with only 1 second to place 41 and another one to 40. Our pack had a one minute mistake to the second control but afterwards we were running quite good and could catch the next runners at control 5. For a short moment we were a pack of 7 runners but got split very soon be different routes. I then had a mistake to control 10 and afterwards was running alone until control 15. On the longer leg to control 16 the pack got bigger again. Some runners came from behind and others were running in front of me. At the spectators passage we were a quite big group and only a few controls left.
I had a good position until the thirdlast control when I missed it by 15 meters and searched at the wrong place. I lost some positions but thanks to my track-routechoice to the secondlast control I could gain back a few places. At the end I finished at 40th place.
Overall result Men 21 Elitserien
Map O-ringen day 5 (coming soon)
Overall it was a nice week in Sweden.
The weather was fine most of the time and we had very good competitions with a lot of spectators.
This year I could win 5000 SEK, next time my goal is to double the amount ;-)
As every year there was a 6th stage, again in the town center. They had good live music and also an indoor discoarea. The indoor part was quite crowded and seemed to be more like a sauna instead of a disco. Nevertheless it was a nice party, only the time between party and departure to the airport could have been a bit longer - and I am still confused about those two mysterious girls from the dance floor??
