Porto City Race 2015: Triumphs of Jack Kosky and Sophie Kirk

Held today, on Pasteleira map, the third stage of Port City Race 2015 put an ending in the event. Hardly contested, the queen stage had in the British Jack Kosky and Sophie Kirk the big winners.

Point of departure and arrival of the third and final stage of the Porto City Race 2015, the Pasteleira Park was the epicentre of the queen stage, held this morning and scoring for the City Race Euro Tour 2015. Organized by the Grupo Desportivo dos Quatro Caminhos, the event offered great challenges to about three hundred participants, more than half of which competing in the Open classes.

A week after the London City Race 2015, where he was 23rd placed, the British Jack Kosky took a big win today in the Men Senior class, covering the 8.400 meters of his course in 52:10. Repeating the outstanding performance that earned him, yesterday, the triumph in the Final of the Portuguese Urban Circuit 2015, Nélson Baroca (CA Madeira) was the second placed, with 59 seconds more than the winner. Winner of the Sprint stage that took place yesterday at S. Roque Park and Monte Aventino Sports Centre, the British Mark Burley (Bristol OK) finished in the third place with a time of 53:26.

Remaining winners

The winner of the Women Senior class was the British Sophie Kirk (Octavian Doobsters), finnishing the 5.600 meters of her course in 41:26. To this result she adds the triumph in the night Sprint stage that opened the Porto City Race 2015 and follows to the excellent 8th place achieved last week at London City Race 2015. The French Heloise Cavalier (RO Paris) and Marie Desrumaux (Valmo), took again excellent results, occupying respectively the second and third positions, with 1:39 and 2:07 more than the winner. Tania Costa Covas (.COM) was the best Portuguese athlete in the race today, finishing in sixth place with 5:45 more than the winner.

In the other classes, the rule remained and while the Portuguese dominated in the lower age groups, the foreigners, mostly British, were the great rulers in the Veterans classes. The highlights go to the youngster Helena Lima (COC), for the veteran Mary Ross (interlopers), for the Super-Veteran Annamari Vierikko (HS) and for the Ultra-Veteran Christopher Branford (WIN), which made a full of victories in the three stages disputed.

Results

Men Senior

1. Jack Kosky (UDOC) 52:10 (+ 00:00)

2. Nelson Baroca (CA Madeira) 53:09 (+ 00:59)

3. Mark Burley (Bristol OK) 53:26 (+ 01:16)

4. Robert Kelly (AIRE) 56:55 (+ 04:45)

5. Maikel Rodriguez (AROMON) 58:37 (+ 06:27)

Women Senior

1. Sophie Kirk (Octavian Droobers) 41:26 (+ 00:00)

2. Heloise Cavalier (RO Paris) 43:05 (+ 01:39)

3. Marie Desrumaux (Valmo) 43:33 (+ 02:07)

4. Merill Mägi (OK Kape) 43:47 (+ 02:21)

5. Sally Calland (WIM) 47:04 (+ 05:38)

Winners other classes

Youth M/F - Tomás Lima (COC) and Helena Lima (COC)

Junior M/F - Ricardo Ferreira (ADFA) and Joana Marques (Ori-Estarreja)

Veteran M/F - Eduard Garcia (Farra-O) and Mary Ross (INTerlopers)

Super-Veteran M / F - Gavin Clegg (Quantock Orienteers) and Annamari Vierikko (HS)

Ultra-Veteran M / F - Christopher Branford (WIM) and Liz Drew (Happy Hearts)

Initiation - Afonso Guimarães (CCachapuz OK)

Open Short - Daniel Pereira (EB Apulia)

Open Middle - Eduardo Camilo (Individual)

Open Long - Gonçalo Gomes (Seri)

Further information and complete results at http://www.gd4caminhos.com/portocityrace.

Joaquim Margarido

City Race Euro Tour 2014: Lithuanian brothers won Portuguese stage

Confirming their favouritism, Jonas Vytautas Gvildys and Tekle Emilija Gvildyte were the winners of the Euro City Race, the final stage of Porto City Race's third edition. Counting for the City Race Euro Tour's ranking, the event had the participation of 750 athletes from 12 countries.

They came from the Lithuanian city of Kaunas and were the big winners of the Euro City Race, the queen race of the Port City Race 2014. At Foz Velha, an amazing tangle of streets that converge to the beautiful “meeting point” where the Douro River embraces the sea, the brothers Jonas Vytautas Gvildys and Tekle Emilija Gvildyte were the fastest, winning with huge merit the right to rise to the highest place of the respective podiums. “It was quite nice that I could run faster, but I felt that the things aren't still okay due too much days of rest; I missed a lot of trainings and I can feel it right now”, Jonas Vytautas Gvildys (OK Medeina) said. Credited with a time of 45:45 for the 8.0 km of his race, the Lithuanian added: “I was fighting all the course, trying to do my best, but it was tough”. Winner in the Women class, Tekle Emilija Gvildyte (OK Medeina) spent 43:02 to 5.7 km and she also showed satisfaction in the end: “I decided to come to Portugal because I like Sprints, I've never been in Porto and it's nice to be with my brother”, were her first words. And she wasn't disappointed: “I really enjoyed the city, this fantastic weather and the quality of the races”, she said. Soon, the return to Portugal? The answer of the two brothers is fast and clear: “Yes, for sure!”

This edition of the Porto City Race started with the Porto City Race by Night, a night Sprint full of excitement and energy that took place in the Historical Centre of Porto, World Heritage classified by the UNESCO. In a very demanding map, from a physical standpoint, the Portuguese João Mega Figueiredo (CN Alvito) and Tekle Gvildyte were the winners. The vast and beautiful green spaces of Porto City Park hosted the second stage of the Porto City Race 2014, having in the Relay its main attraction. Formed by Sergio Duarte, Rodrigo Magalhães and João Novo, the Portuguese team of .COM was the winner of the Men's Relay, over the Amigos da Montanha team by nearly two minutes apart. Greater was the advantage of the British team of SLOW - Helen Gardner, Esther Bonmati and Tekle Gvildyte – wining by almost twenty-two minutes over the Portuguese team of Ori-Estarreja. The offer of this wonderful morning included also a Score race, whose challenge of 1000 points to a timeout of 90 minutes was accomplished by 26 of the 150 participants. Bruno André (Individual) and the Italian Mara Pegoretti (AD Trento Orienteering) were the big winners. Counting for the City Race Euo Tour's ranking – joining the city races of London, Edinburgh and Barcelona -, the Porto City Race 2014 was organized by the Grupo Desportivo dos Quatro Caminhos, Municipality of Porto and Portuguese Orienteering Federation, calling this year to the “Invicta” city an amount of 750 participants from 12 countries.

Complete results and further information at http://www.gd4caminhos.com/portocityrace.

Joaquim Margarido

City Race Euro Tour 2014: Orienteering and Tourism Holding Hands

Between September 20th and November 2nd 2014, Orienteering will be in focus in four major European cities. The City Race Euro Tour is an initiative that brings together the efforts and interests of London, Porto, Edinburgh and Barcelona, hand in hand with sports tourism and with the aim of attracting new practitioners as well as the elite.

The popular London City Race is the venue chosen for the inaugural presentation of the City Race Euro Tour. Starting in the capital of the United Kingdom, on September 20th and 21st 2014, the event will go through Portugal (Porto, 3rd to 5th October) and Scotland (Edinburgh, October 11th and 12th), ending in Spain in Barcelona on 1st and 2nd November. “Think hard, run fast, feel good” stands as the motto for these four major orienteering events in four major European cities.

To learn more, I met with Fernando Costa, the Portuguese orienteer responsible for the organization of the Porto City Race. He said that “there are still details to be decided, small refinements to be worked out in what will be the final regulations for the City Race Euro Tour”, but he stated that this series of races will involve “the completion of long routes in the city; they will not be traditional sprint events.” According to Costa, “this type of race will attract more participants who love orienteering and also enjoy some of the most beautiful cities in Europe in terms of tourism”, adding that “tour packages will be available to all participants with affordable prices, and with quality programmes at each event”. More information will be published on the tour website: http://cityracetour.org/.

Initial partnership – London and Porto

Stepping back about a year, Fernando Costa recalls that “the idea of creating the Euro City Race Tour was the result of a partnership established in 2012 between the organizations of the London City Race and Porto City Race”. The results of combining the social and sporting interests indeed proved promising, and then to start to extend the invitation to other organizations took only a brief moment: “We contacted through e mail those responsible for various events, and both the ‘Race The Castles’ and the ‘International Trophy of the City of Barcelona’ responded positively straight away. Others have shown interest in joining the Euro City Race Tour, but due to various reasons ended up postponing the decision to 2015”, Costa says.

Respecting the different existing organizational structures of each race, the event provides for the creation of a “ranking with various competition classes”, although there is still some uncertainty on this matter. The overriding common factor is the desire of the organisers to go ahead with the project, looking to “promote sports tourism, create trails tailored to ordinary citizens who enjoy walking and attract new participants to orienteering through better media coverage”, Fernando Costa concludes.

Visit also the City Race Euro Tour's page on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/cityraceeurotour?fref=ts.

Joaquim Margarido

[See the original article at http://www.orienteering.org/edocker/inside-orienteering/2013-5/InsideOrient%205_13.pdf. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]