JK 2017: Victories of Geir Myhr Øien and Sarah-Jane Barrable in the TrailO stages

To British orienteers, Easter matches with Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering. This year's competitive program included two TrailO stages, the first of the season in the UK, with victories of Geir Myhr Øien in TempO and Sarah-Jane Barrable in PreO.

JK's TrailO competition was attended by 60 competitors in the TempO stage and 42 in the PreO stage, mostly British, but also representatives from Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Norway. And it was precisely a Norwegian who showed up at his best by winning the TempO, a stage planned by Scott Collier, with Charles Bromley Gardner in the role of Controller and played on the campus of Brunel University in London. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK) answered in 204 seconds to the 30 tasks of the course (six timed stations, with five tasks each), getting a 150-second penalty for five wrong answers. The final 354 seconds guaranteed him a comfortable win over one of the best British specialists in TempO, the young Tom Dobra (UBOC), credited with 467 seconds overall. The fight for the bronze medal was titanic, with the German Anne Straube (OD) scoring 482 seconds and beating the Norwegian Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL) for one second and the British Nick Barrable (SYO) for two seconds. Still a word for the British Anna Harris (DEE), the most accurate with only two wrong answers, but with an answer time of 494 seconds, which meant that her final classification was not beyond the 8th place.

Designed by Ian Ditchfield and Peter Huzan and supervised by Dick Kighley, the PreO stage took place in Owibeech and featured an 18-control course, plus a two-tasks timed station. Mark Nixon (FVO) was almost perfect over the course, but he was charged by the time pressure on the last two controls, missing both and finished with 15 points overall and the third place. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) and Kenny Leitch (SO) got 16 points overall and Sarah-Jane was faster than her direct opponent in the timed station, keeping the victory. One final word to the difficulty inherent to the control nº 4 and also to the second timed control, registering abnormally high percentages of incorrect answers (93% in the first case and 86% in the second case).

Results

TempoO

1. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 354 seconds

2. Tom Dobra (UBOC) 467 seconds

3. Anne Straube (OD, GER) 482 seconds

4. Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL, NOR) 483 seconds

5. Nick Barrable (SYO) 484 seconds

6. John Kewley (MDOC) 496 seconds

7. Alan Hickling (SAX) 507 seconds

8. Anna Harris (DEE) 554 seconds

9. Matthew Leitch (EUOC) 557 seconds

10. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) 561 seconds

PreO

1. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) 16 points / 95 seconds

2. Kenny Leitch (SO) 16 points / 110 seconds

3. Mark Nixon (FVO) 15 points / 79,5 seconds

4. Peter Suba (WSX) 15 points / 87 seconds

5. John Crosby (NATO) 15 points / 95 seconds

6. Charles Bromley Gardner (BAOC) 15 points / 99 seconds

7. Nick Barrable (SYO) 14 points / 31 seconds

8. Tom Dobra (UBOC) 14 points / 78 seconds

9. Christine Roberts (EBOR) 14 points / 145 seconds

10. Simon Greenwood (SAX) 13 points / 84 seconds

Complete results and solutions at http://www.thejk.org.uk/.

Joaquim Margarido

Swedish TrailO Championships 2016: Gold for Jens Andersson, Marit Wiksell and William Rex

Three races and three different winners in the Swedish Trail Orienteering Championships 2016. Jens Andersson got the gold in the Night PreO, Marit Wiksell was the winner of the TempO competition and William Rex was the most accurate in the PreO.

The Swedish TrailO season finished this weekend with the National Championships, in Vänersborg. Organized by the clubs Vänersborgs SK and Kungälvs OK, the event called the attention of sixty athletes competing for the Night PreO, TempO and PreO national titles. The first race took place on Friday night and saw Jens Andersson (OK Roslagen) get his first individual gold in a National event. The course ended with 9 competitors with the same number of correct answers (21 out of 22), being the winner the fastest one in the timed controls. There, Jens Andersson got the gold with 26 seconds, 11 seconds faster than Magnus Sterner (Strängnäs Malmby OL), second placed. Ola Jansson (Björklinge SOK) spent 39 seconds to answer correctly the three timed tasks and reached the bronze. The first non-Swedish in this competition was the Norwegian Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL), 9th placed with the same 21 points as the winner but all the three timed tasks missed and a score of 203 seconds.

The TempO competition took place on Saturday and counted a qualification and the Final. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK) did a quite impressive performance during the qualification, answering the 25 tasks (5 timed stations, 5 tasks each) in 161 seconds and missing just one task. The World Champion Lars Jakob Waaler (Porsgrunn OL), from Norway, was faster than Wiksell, but answered wrongly to eight tasks and stayed out of the final. In the decisive race, Wiksell was able to manage the good advantage of more than 60 seconds over her most direct opponents, Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg) and the Norwegian Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK), reaching the gold with the overall time of 304 seconds, against 363 seconds from Øien and 384 seconds from Stålnacke, the silver medalist. Jens Andersson was able to reverse the 11-second disadvantage to Martin Fredholm, reaching the bronze medal.

To finish the 2016 Swedish TrailO Championships, the PreO competition offered a challenging course with 24 tasks and the “bonus” of a timed station with three more tasks. William Rex (OK Landehof) managed to be the one answering correctly to all tasks, thus getting the gold. Eight competitors finished one point behind the winner, with Geir Myhr Øien being the fastest in the timed controls with 87 seconds, followed by Erik Lundkvist (HJS-Vansbro OK) with 103 seconds. Lundkvist got the silver medal, while the bronze went to Desiree Rex (OK Landehof) with 109 seconds in the timed controls.

Results

Night PreO

1. Jens Andersson (OK Roslagen) 21 points / 26 seconds

2. Magnus Sterner (Strängnäs Malmby OL) 21 points / 37 seconds

3. Ola Jansson (Björklinge SOK) 21 points / 39 seconds

4. William Rex (OK Landehof) 21 points / 40 seconds

5. Christian Enberg (Linköpings OK) 21 points / 44 seconds

TempO

1. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK) 304 seconds

nc Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK NOR) 363 seconds

2. Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg) 384 seconds

3. Jens Andersson (OK Roslagen) 443 seconds

4. Martin Fredholm (OK Linné) 447 seconds

5. Robert Jakobsson (Tidaholm SOK Sisu) 512 seconds

PreO

1. William Rex (OK Landehof) 24 points / 177 seconds

nc Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK NOR) 23 points / 87 seconds

2. Erik Lundkvist (HJS-Vansbro OK) 23 points / 103 seconds

3. Desiré Rex (OK Landehof) 23 points / 109 seconds

4. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK) 23 points / 149 seconds

nc Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL) 23 points / 169 seconds

5. Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg) 23 points / 169 seconds

Complete results at https://preoresultat.se/.

[Photo: Marit Wiksell / facebook.com]

Joaquim Margarido

Infante's TempO: Inês Domingues finishes the season the best way

Aveiro was the venue of the last Trail Orienteering event of the season in Portugal. Stronger in both stages, Inês Domingues was the winner of the Infante's TempO.

Aveiro, the “Venice of Portugal”, hosted the last event of the Portuguese Trail Orienteering Cup Invacare 2016. Spread by two stages, the Infante's TempO had the participation of 23 competitors and the organizational signature of the Clube de Orientação de Estarreja, with Nuno Pires as the course setter. The event included a spectator station – the last one - and the information was provided “live” by an app developed by Libor Forst and translated into Portuguese. Also deserves to be highlighted the fact that four out of five elements of the organizing crew were students from a school of Aveiro that, for this purpose, had been training in the Physical Education classes along the last month.

With six stations and a set of five tasks each, the first stage took place on the Campus of the University of Aveiro and soon Inês Domingues (COC) started to reveal herself as a major contender for the overall winning. Even missing a large number of tasks, Domingues could compensate the damages with excellent runtimes around 5.5 seconds per answer, which, at the end of the first stage, worth an advantage of 5.5 seconds over Luís Gonçalves (CPOC) and 68.5 seconds over Edgar Domingues (COC). The afternoon stage promised a hard fight for the victory between the top two competitors, but the truth is that Inês Domingues was practically faultless. Her running time increased slightly, standing now close to 7 seconds per answer, but this corresponded to a decrease in the number of wrong answers, which made of her not only the fastest but the most accurate. Luís Gonçalves spent in this stage more 160 seconds (!) than the winner, eventually falling to the third place in the final standings, 3.5 seconds after Edgar Domingues. Cláudio Tereso (ATV) and the Spanish Santiago Pérez (COMA) closed the podium, in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

Further information and detailed results can be found at http://aveirocityrace2016.ori-estarreja.pt/.

[Photos: Nuno Pires]

Joaquim Margarido

2016 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia TrailO Cup: Bertol wins in Cerkno

With the victory of Ivica Bertol, ended in Cerkno, Slovenia, the 2016 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trail Orienteering Cup. The results in the last stage didn't change with the top of the overall standings, which had Remo Madella as the big winner, achieving his fourth title in the last five editions.

It was with great expectation that the Trail Orienteering fans followed the last stage of the 2016 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trail Orienteering Cup. After 15 stages distributed by the three host countries, we attended Cerkno with the doubt regarding the overall winner. The Italian Remo Madella was in the lead, but his absence in the last stage put maximum pressure on the Slovak Ján Furucz, which task was everything but easy: To get the overall winning, he “just” had to win the last stage or, at least, stand behind the winner by a difference not far from ten seconds. But when we talk about Ján Furucz we are talking about the gold medalist in the TrailO Relay of the recent World Championships, second placed in the TempO final of the 2015 World Championships and winner of the Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trail Orienteering Cup last year. So, he was the favourite!

With the “intrincate” name of TempO, DP, SPOL, CIS, the event took place last Sunday, was organized by the OK Azimut and the course setter was Emil Kacin. The 26 athletes that headed Cerkno faced five timed stations, with six tasks each. A brief analysis of the race allows to realize that Ján Furucz was far from his best days. Despite being the fastest in the first four stations, Furucz missed four tasks and only a miracle could reverse the disadvantage of 81 seconds for the Croatian Ivica Bertol and 71 seconds for the Slovenian Krešo Keresteš, first and second classified, at the start for the last timed station. A similar performance of the three competitors in the final station eventually left everything in the same way, so Remo Madella, in the Canadian Rockies, more than 8,000 km away from Cerkno, could enjoy his fourth win in the last five editions of the trophy. One last note just to highlight Krešo Keresteš, getting here the Slovenian TempO title, and to the Croatian Iva Lovrec (OK Vihor) and the Italian Piergiorgio Zancanaro (ASD Padova Orienteering), winners of the 2016 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trail Orienteering Cup in the Junior and Paralympic classes, respectively.

Results

 

TempO, DP, SPOL, CIS

 

1. Ivica Bertol (OK Vihor CRO) 208 seconds

2. Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin SLO) 216 seconds

3. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 294 seconds

4. Ivo Tišljar (OK Orion CRO) 298 seconds

4. Susy De Pieri (Eridano Adventure A.S.D. ITA) 298 seconds

6. Zdenko Horjan (OK Vihor CRO) 320 seconds

CRO-ITA-SLO TrailO Cup 2016

Final Standings

 

1. Remo Madella (A.S.D. Vivaio ITA) 591.98 points

2. Ivica Bertol (OK Vihor CRO) 590.93 points

3. Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin SLO) 590.47 points

4. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 588.83 points

5. Tomislav Varnica (OK Vihor CRO) 580.90 points

6. Dušan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 579.67 points

7. Emil Kacin (OK Azimut SLO) 573.53 points

8. Zdenko Horjan (OK Vihor CRO) 568.42 points

9. Ivo Tišljar (OK Orion CRO) 555.07 points

10. Susy De Pieri (Eridano Adventure A.S.D. ITA) 549.52 points

[Photo courtesy of Krešo Keresteš]

Joaquim Margarido

 

Iva Lovrec: "It's much more complicated to succeed in TrailO than in FootO"

After a calm qualifying heat, Iva Lovrec was brilliant in the TempO final of the World Trail Orienteering Championships, improving her performance enormously, both in the average of correct answers and answering time. A risky strategy that had as a result an exceptional 4th place and that is a pretext for a nice talk with the talented young Croatian.

I would start by asking you about yourself. Who is Iva Lovrec?

Iva Lovrec (I. L.) - I am 19 years old and I live in Zagreb. I just finished the High School and got into the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. In my free time I enjoy reading books, browsing the internet or playing games and going out with my friends. Besides TrailO I'm also in foot orienteering.

It's great to see a young girl doing TrailO at this level. How did you meet Orienteering?

I. L. - I come from a family which was involved in orienteering even before I was born, so orienteering was our family tradition and still is. I worked my way up from children races to competing in junior classes. Orienteering was always interesting to me and different from other sports because it didn't involves physical activity only but was also combined with thinking and using your brain. Also it often brings you to beautiful places and wonders of nature which you probably wouldn't see otherwise.

TrailO was just a kind of “upgrade”?

I. L. - My parents always encouraged me to try TrailO when it was introduced in Croatia. At first, it was not appealing since it took too long and wasn't as interesting as Foot-O races. But luckily there were some people (like Ivana and Damir Gobec, Ivica Bertol, Zdenko Horjan, to name only a few ) who tried to make TrailO popular and were also kind enough to explain the sport which helped me to improve my skills. On the Pre-WTOC I could realized for the first time that I was good at TempO when I got the silver medal on the Croatian Championships and it motivated me to try harder.

What do you see in TrailO that makes it so special?

I. L. - TrailO doesn't depend on your gender, age, physical fitness and ability but only on your judgement and capacity to connect the map and the terrain in front of you. Also as the competitions are mostly in the nature it is relaxing to get away from the city a bit.

By the way, has a friend of yours ever asked you about TrailO? How difficult is to explain the “game”?

I. L. - It is quite difficult to explain TrailO. People often don't understand that it doesn't matter how much time you take to finish the competition. FootO can be compared to treasure hunts but there isn't any sport which can be compared to TrailO and that's why it takes much more time to explain. Also there are a lot of rules and two very different formats.

And how difficult is to be a trail orienteer? What trail orienteers have that foot orienteers don't?

I. L. - It's much more complicated to succeed in TrailO than in FootO. You can train alone if you are competing in FootO and it doesn't need to take much time, but to practice Trail-O you must have a map made for TrailO, you cannot make tasks for yourself so it is nearly impossible to train alone. The only trainings you have are the competitions, so it's much harder to improve.

What skills do you have that makes you an excellent trail orienteer? And what is missing to be the “special one”?

I. L. - I am mostly good at reading the terrain, I can think and make decisions fast which is important for TempO, I am able to think of good ways to decide which is the correct flag, but there are some terrains which I'm not familiar with and I use the wrong thing to help me decide. Sometimes I just don't concentrate enough or don't see the details which I should use.

Two great races and a fantastic 4th place in TempO last August, in Sweden. Did you expect it?

I. L. - On WTOC, in Sweden, I was hoping to qualify to the final. Last year I made it barely to the finals due to canceling of the last station so I didn't have high hopes for this WTOC, Also I have never been to Sweden before and I have never competed on a such terrain. A few days of training in Sweden obviously helped me a lot to understand how the details were mapped and what to expect. But even after qualifying I still didn't think I would be that good, I was hoping for a place higher than 17th because it was the best result ever for a Croatian athlete in TempO.

Was your preparation as good as it could be or did you feel some difficulties to train properly along the months before the World Championships?

I. L. - As I said before, training TempO can be difficult and takes time, so I tried to go to competitions instead. Of course, with more trainings I think I would be able to place even better but I'm satisfied with the result especially because I had a very busy year since I was finishing the High School and was concentrated on studying to get into a good College.

Can you point some strong ideas from your week in Strömstad?

I. L. - Strömstad really impressed me. Even though the city isn't large, the nature is stunning. I have never seen anything similar and having tasks on the beach was a wonderful experience. I will definitely remember this WTOC, not only for the great result but also because of the beautiful scenery.

What was the best and the worst of the Championships from a personal point of view?

I. L. - The best is undoubtedly the 4th place which wasn't expected at all and caught me off guard. I can't think of anything that bad that I would call it the worst of the whole WTOC. I was an amazing experience and the races for which I was in the national team I did my best and got great results. The worst are some pretty things like rain and colder weather the last few days but it is almost not worth mentioning when compared with the whole week.

If I asked you for a moment - the great achievement of the Championships - what would be your choice?

I. L. - It was nice to finally see the TrailO Relay introduced to the Championships. Even though I wasn't competing, the concept seemed be working well.

We have now a time lapse of ten months until the next WTOC, in Lithuania. What do you have in mind for keeping your shape during such a long break?

I. L. - Till the next WTOC I'm planning on going to as much competitions in Croatia and Slovenia as I can, but other than that I don't have anything special in mind. I will try my best to free some time for TrailO and I'll try to do well both at College and in sports.

What are your plans for the future. Are we going to see you doing TrailO at the highest level for the next fifty years?

I. L. - I don't plan that much ahead. For now I like TrailO and I'm planning on continuing but who knows what the future holds. I hope I'll be able to compete for that long.

Joaquim Margarido

  

WTOC 2016: Moments (2)

© Joaquim Margarido

WTOC 2016: Moments (1)

© Joaquim Margarido

Lars Jakob Waaler: "After thirteen World Championships, I feel great!"

When Lars Jakob Waaler left Trondheim towards Strömstad, his goal was clear. After thirteen presences in many WTOC editions, he wanted a medal. But he didn't expect a gold one. “No I didn't”, he said with a smile, adding: “Not even when I finished my course today, because I made three mistakes. I said to myself that they would have been too many.” As it turns out, Lars was wrong.

He was one of the first to start. Like in the last WTOC, in Croatia, the qualification wasn't what he had expected and the story turned out to be the same. Well, not the same: Last year he finished fourth; this year, he was the first. Could it be an advantage for him to be one of the first to start?, we asked. Lars' answer seems to point that way: “I don't know... It's good to be one of the first to leave because you don't find queues. And maybe the pressure isn't the same. I believe it's worse if you're the 30th to start (laughs). Last year I was also one of the first to start and I had a good race. So, I guess it could be an advantage but I think the most important thing is to reach the final.”

Talking about his course, Lars was expecting “constant changes in the type of tasks and different terrains from station to station”, as it happened. The reason is because “last year, in the Pre-WTOC, it was the same, and I've been in some of Bosse Sandström's events and I know he likes different tasks and different stations. I can say that I was prepared for what happened.”

Now, with the gold on his chest, the feeling is great. “Finally, after thirteen World Championships, I feel great!” And it seems that he's also ready for the next challenge and for the gold in the PreO competition: “I'll certainly fight for the gold again. It will be a different race, lots of competitors will want the same, but I'm one of them and I can do well too.”

The last words are dedicated to his family, who supported him throughout his career, “especially for my father who introduced me to Orienteering and still helps me with the trips, he travels with me... of course, he's part of the medal.”

Joaquim Margarido

WTOC 2016: Lars Jakob Waaler is the new TempO World Champion

Lars Jakob Waaler is the new TempO World Champion. After a tight fight, he showed at his best in the thin line that joins time and accuracy, reaching the most expecting medal, the one he was pursuing for thirteen years.

With the overall time of 243,5 seconds, Lars Jakob Waaler, Norway, reached the World title in the TempO competition, hold today in the beautiful surroundings of Strömstad. “Veteran” of the World Trail Orienteering Championships, Waaler did a great race, having behind him two of the most brilliant trail orienteers ever, the Swede Marit Wiksell and the Finn Pinja Makinen, the first TempO World Champion (Vuokatti, 2013). The big surprise came in the fourth place, by the talent of the 19 years old Croatian Iva Lovrec. Remo Madella, Italy, and Kreso Kerestes, Slovenia, closed the podium with the same time. Apart Lars Jakob Waaler, fourth in the last WTOC, this a totally different podium from what we saw in Croatia and even from the recent European Championships, in Jesenik, Czech Republic.

This time, the Finn Antti Rusanen wasn't accurate enough to secure his World title, finishing eighth. The two winners of the qualifications heats, both from Norway, couldn't do better, Sondre Ruud Braten being the thirteenth and Martin Jullum finishing in the 24th position. Also the Czech Pavel Kurfürst, European Champion currently, was behind the expectations, finishing in the 26th place.

Results

1. Lars Jakob Waaler NOR 243,5 seconds

2. Marit Wiksell SWE 256,5

3. Pinja Makinen FIN 262

4. Iva Lovrec CRO 280,5

5. Kreso Kerestes SLO 288

5. Remo Madella ITA 288

7. Lauri Makinen FIN 316,5

8. Antti Rusanen FIN 317,5

9. Michele Cera ITA 319

10. Martin Fredholm SWE 321

Complete results and further information at http://live.woc2016.se/blog/category/wtoc/.

Joaquim Margarido

WTOC 2016: Five Finns in the TempO Final

The WTOC 2016 started this morning with the TempO qualification heats. Divided between reds and blues, 72 competitors fought in order to be amongst the 18 best in their heats. In the end, Finland was the most efficient, with all of its 5 competitors getting the ticket to the decisive stage. 15 countries will be represented in the final.

Martin Jullum, Norway, was the fastest and the most accurate, showing that he's here to recover the World title, lost last year to the Finn Antti Rusanen. Rusanen also had a strong race, finishing third in a heat won by another Norwegian competitor, Sondre Ruud Braten.

Finland qualified all its five competitors to the final, with Lauri Makinen, Pinja Makinen, Sami Hyvönen and Anna Jacobson joining Rusanen. Sweden and Norway will also have both their squads of four athletes into the decisive race, which will start at 2 p.m. Croatia, Italy and Slovakia, with three athletes each, the Czech Republic – with the current European Champion, Pavel Kurfürst –, Japan, Great Britain, Portugal and Hong Kong, with two athletes each, will be there to challenge the strongest nations. Finally, Denmark, Slovenia, Lithuania and Latvia will be present with one athlete each.

With four athletes qualified to the TempO final in the last World Championships, Ukraine couldn't reach the final this time and it's, undeniably, the biggest disappointment of the qualifications.

Results

Qualifying Red

1. Martin Jullum NOR 118,5 seconds

2. Pinja Mäkinen FIN 164

3. Martin Fredholm SWE 169

4. Lennart Wahlgren SWE 210

5. Dusan Furucz SVK 219

6. Kreso Kerestes SLO 256

7. Nick Barrable GBR 260,5

8. Anna Jacobson FIN 261

9. Edgar Domingues POR 264

10. Robertas Stankevic LTU 269

11. Tatsuyoshi Koizumi JPN 291

12. Tomislav Varnica CRO 291,5

13. Janis Ruksans LAT 293

14. Michele Cera ITA 294

15. Man Fai Timothy Kwong HKG 294,5

16. Ivo Tisljar CRO 297

17. Lars Jakob Waaler NOR 299

18. Remo Madella ITA 310,5

Qualifying Blue

1. Sondre Ruud Braten NOR 172,5 seconds

2. Alessio Tenani ITA 176

3. Antti Rusanen FIN 186

4. Lauri Makinen FIN 199

5. Marit Wiksell SWE 209

6. Sami Hyvönen FIN 224

7. Sigurd Dæhli NOR 260

8. Pavel Kurfürst CZE 261

9. Jan Furucz SVK 262

10. Johanne Biering DEN 266

11. Kentaro Iwata JPN 267,5

12. Iva Lovrec CRO 284,5

13. Tom Dobra GBR 296

14. Jiri Kalousek CZE 305

15. Erik Stalnacke SWE 308,5

16. João Pedro Valente 316,5

17. Kwok-Wai Cheung HKG 319

18. Marián Miklus SVK 324

Joaquim Margarido

Falco Cup 2016: Jullum and Vovk were the winners

Two wins and a third place gave to Martin Jullum the victory in the Falco Cup 2016 overall. Remo Madella won one stage, finishing second. Vladislav Vovk got the win in the Paralympic class.

During the weekend, took place in Druskininkai, Lithuania, the Falco Cup 2016. Preceding the World Trail Orienteering Championships WTOC 2016, the event brought together 86 competitors from 15 countries, offering a rich and varied program that included one TrailO Relay, one TempO stage and two PreO stages, the latter scoring for the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016.

With six timed stations of four tasks each, the TempO stage had in the Italian Remo Madella (Vivaio Ori) the big winner with a total of 205 seconds. Madella did no mistakes throughout the race, compensating a relative lack of speed with a remarkable accuracy. With an average of nearly two seconds faster than Madella in the course's 24 tasks, the Swedish Lennart Wahlgren (Rehns BK) turned out to get a 60 second penalty, equivalent to two incorrect answers, finishing 13 seconds after Madella. In the third position, with 21 more seconds than the winner, stayed the Norwegian Martin Jullum (Halden SK), penalized in 30 seconds due to a wrong answer.

Jullum wins also the TrailO Relay

In the PreO competition, Jullum didn't give any chances to his opponents, being the most accurate and also faster in the two-stage race. With 21 points out of 23 and the incredible time of 10 seconds in the three-task timed station, Jullum ended the first day in the lead, having behind him the Slovak Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava), the British Charles Bromley Gardner (BAOC) and the Czech Libor Forst (VŠSK MFF UK Praha), with the same points but weaker performances on the timed station. On the second day Jullum was, once again, the most accurate, being the only competitor to reach 22 points, again with two wrong answers. The Norwegian Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL), the Ukrainian Mykola Opanasenko (OSK Prolisok), Ján Furucz and Remo Madella finished by this order in the following positions, with less one point. The conversion in seconds of the results achieved in the two PreO stages and the resulting sum of the times of the three stages, showed Martin Jullum as the big winner in the Open Class of Falco Cup 2016 with 486 seconds, less 194 seconds than Madella and less 254 than Dæhli, second and third placed, respectively.

As Jullum, the Ukrainian Vladislav Vovk (Ukraina) won also two of the three stages and was the winner of Falco Cup 2016 in the Paralympic class. Current PreO World Champion, Vovk opened the competition in the best way with the fastest time among the 25 competitors in the TempO stage. The Lithuanian Laima Lažinskiene (Kaunas RSK) won the first stage of PreO with two points more than Vovk, but the Ukrainian rectified in the final stage of the program, winning with a point ahead of the Latvian Guntis Jakubovskis and three points on Lažinskiene. Overall, Vovk was the big winner with a total of 1456 seconds, against 1639 seconds from Jakubovskis, second, and 1841 seconds from Laima Lažinskiene, who finished third.

Final note for the TrailO Relay, held last Friday and attended by 23 teams. Three teams finished with a total of 29 points, with the Norwegians Sigurd Dæhli, Geir Myhr Øien and Martin Jullum to be faster in the timed controls and taking the victory. The second place went to a mixed team composed by the Japanese Noritoshi Matsuhashi and the Swedish Ola Wiksell and Martin Fredholm, while the third position went to Ukraine with Mykola Opanasenko, Anton Puhovkin and Vitaliy Kyrychenko.

Results

Open class

1. Martin Jullum (Halden SK, NOR) 486 seconds

2. Remo Madella (Vivaio Ori, ITA) 680 seconds

3. Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL, NOR) 740 seconds

4. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava, SVK) 748 seconds

5. Martin Fredholm (OK Linné, SWE) 792 seconds

6. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 832 seconds

Paralympic class

1. Vladislav Vovk (Ukraina, UKR) 1456 seconds

2. Guntis Jakubovskis (IADC Ausma, LAT) 1639 seconds

3. Laima Lažinskiene (Kaunas RSK, LTU) 1841 seconds

4. Nataliia Salakhova (Ekaterinburg, RUS) 1905 seconds

5. Andrejs Šulcs (OSKB Leonardo, LAT) 2061 seconds

6. Vladimir Troian (Rostov-on-Don, RUS) 2162 seconds

Junior class

1. Romas Bazelis (RASKK Vilniaus SM, LTU) 1989 seconds

2. Kristaps Mierlauks (TSK Spriditis, LAT) 2377 seconds

3. Rimantas Stanaitis (RASKK Vilniaus SM, LTU) 2601 seconds

Complete results and further information at http://wtoc2017.lt/2015/07/31/pre-wtoc2017/.

[Archive photo]

Joaquim Margarido

  

5 Days of Italy 2016: Golden weekend for Keresteš and Kacin

The Slovenians Krešo Keresteš and Emil Kacin were the winners of the TrailO 5 Days of Italy 2016's two first stages, last weekend, in Conca del Tesino, Trentino. Susy De Pieri and Remo Madella were the best Italians, getting the national titles of PreO and TempO, respectively

PreO course with a set of 23 controls and two timed stations with four tasks overall, the first stage of the TrailO 5 Days of Italy 2016 took place last Saturday in Pieve Tesino, at Tesino Golf Club “La Farfalla”. Scoring for the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016 and, simultaneously, for the Italian PreO Championships 2016, the course was setted by Daniele Danielli, having the participation of 45 competitors from twelve different nations. The Slovenian Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin) was the only one to finish the race without errors, both in the course and in the timed stations. World Champion in 2007 (Kiev, Ukraine), Keresteš got a one point win on the Slovakian Jan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava), second placed. Libor Forst (MatFyz Praha), Czech Republic, was third with 21 points and 99 seconds, six seconds ahead of the Croatian Ivica Bertol (OK Vihor). Zoltán Miháczi (Tipo Orienteering Club), Hungary, has the fastest and the most accurate in the timed stations but missed three controls and got the fifth position. Susy De Pieri (Eridano Adventure ASD) finished sixth with 20 points and was the best Italian competitor, reaching the national title in PreO.

Scoring for the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016 and, also, for the Italian TempO Championships 2016, the competition on the second day was planned by Renato Bettin and offered six timed stations with five tasks each to the 46 competitors gathered in Cinte Tesino, Monte Mezza. The winner was another athlete from Slovenia, Emil Kacin (OK Azimut), with three wrong answers and 399 seconds overall. Kacin got a 19 seconds win on the Italian Remo Madella (Vivaio), thus reaching the Italian TempO gold. Jan Furucz was on the podium for the second day in a row, being third with 423 seconds, despite six wrong answers. His brother Dušan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava) got the fourth place with 461 seconds, less three seconds than Libor Forst, fifth placed. Alessio Tenani got an amazing clean race in the first half, but wasn't able to get better than the sixth place, thanks to six wrong answers in the last fifteen tasks. With this results, Remo Madella took the lead of the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016 with 142 points in six stages. The Swedish Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg) and Lennart Wahlgren (Rehns BK) are second and third, respectively, with less 8 and 12 points than Madella.

Results

ECTO #5 – Italian PreO Championships

PreO

1. Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin SLO) 23/23 points (56 seconds)

2. Jan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 22/23 points (42 seconds)

3. Libor Forst (MatFyz Praha CZE) 21/23 points (99 seconds)

4. Ivica Bertol (OK Vihor CRO) 21/23 points (105 seconds)

5. Zoltán Miháczi (Tipo orienteering Club HUN) 20/23 points (18 seconds)

6. Susy De Pieri (Eridano Adventure ASD ITA) 20/23 points (25,5 seconds)

7. Michele Cera (ASD Erebus Or. Vicenza ITA) 20/23 points (35 seconds)

8. Esko Juntilla (Muuramen Rasti FIN) 20/23 points (43,5 seconds)

9. Alessio Tenani (Gruppo Sportivo Forestale ITA) 20/23 points (52 seconds)

10. Emil Kacin (OK Azimut SLO) 20/23 points (58 seconds)

ECTO #6 – Italian TempO Championships

TempO

1. Emil Kacin (OK Azimut SLO) 399 seconds

2. Remo Madella (Vivaio ITA) 418 seconds

3. Jan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 423 seconds

4. Dušan Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava SVK) 461 seconds

5. Libor Forst (MatFyz Praha CZE) 464 seconds

6. Alessio Tenani (Gruppo Sportivo Forestale ITA) 473 seconds

7. Petteri Suominen (Helsingin Poliisi-Voimailijat FIN) 475 seconds

8. Lars Jakob Waaler (Porgrunn Orienteringslag NOR) 482 seconds

9. Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin SLO) 483 seconds

10. Sigurd Dæhli (Løten Orienteringslag) 486 seconds

Further information about the TrailO 5 Days of Italy 2016 at http://www.trailo2016.it/.

[Photo archive]

Joaquim Margarido

Portuguese Trail orienteering Championships 2016: Pinto, Valente and Domingues reach the gold

Ricardo Pinto, João Pedro Valente and Edgar Domingues were the great names of the Portuguese Trail orienteering Championships 2016, which took place in Lisbon. The first two athletes reached the national PreO titles, respectively in the Paralympic and Open classes, while Edgar Domingues is the new National Champion in TempO.

Highest point of Trail orienteering season, the Portuguese Trail orienteering Championships 2016 in PreO and TempO took place in the amazing "green lung" of Lisbon, which is Monsanto. Part of the Lisbon Trail Orienteering Meeting - event organized by the Clube Português de Orientação e Corrida and scoring for the European Cup in Trail orienteering ECTO 2016 – the Portuguese Championships attracted 16 national competitors, that joined 24 other athletes from abroas. The event was spared through three stages, all of them scoring for the Portuguese Trail orienteering League Invacare 2016.

Repeating the excellent result of the previous TempO stage, hold in Abrantes, Edgar Domingues (COC) was unbeatable once again, winning with the excellent result of 279 seconds. Edgar wasn't the fastest athlete responding to the thirty tasks (six timed stations with five tasks each), but he was the most accurate (two wrong answers only), eventually leading to won the national title and succeed, thus, to his sister Inês Domingues (COC), 3rd placed with 398 seconds. Occupying the intermediate position of the podium place, Nuno Pires (Ori-Estarreja) concluded his course with 357 seconds.

João Pedro Valente and Ricardo Pinto win in PreO

The PreO Portuguese Trail orienteering Championships 2016 saw João Pedro Valente (CPOC) being big winner in the Open Class. The athlete's victory - that comes from being crowned Spanish Champion,15 days ago, in Pontevedra - started to be drawn on the first day of competition, taking the lead with Nuno Rebelo (Ori-Estarreja) and a very small advantage over six other competitiors. In the last stage everything would be different and João Pedro Valente saw his advantage significantly expanded, relegating to the second place, five points away, the previous National Champion, Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia). The third place fell to Edgar Domingues (COC), with the same points as Nuno Rebelo (Ori-Estarreja) but with the advantage of having answered faster in all of the six timed tasks.

As for the Paralympic class, the scenario was quite similar, with Ricardo Pinto and Julio Guerra, both from DAHP, reaching the end of the first stage with the same number of points, but with the advantage to lean to Guerra, by the small margin of 0.5 second. The second stage, however, would clarify the positions. Ricardo Pinto performed really well, finishing his course with four points ahead from Julio Guerra and thus reaching his fourth national title in as many editions. José Laiginha Leal, also from DAHP, would occupy the lowest step of the podium, with less 10 points than the winner.

What did they say?

With two consecutive victories in TempO stages, the last of which to assert the national title, Edgar Domingues was, in the end, a happy man: “I'm surprised with these results and I'll try now to keep the level and achieve some good performances in the European Championships"”. Even without a clear explanation for the excellent start of the season, Edgar said that “being the technical responsible for two competitions recently could have been important, not only because it shows the event by an entirely different perspective but also because it's an excellent way to train and improve the accuracy techniques”. To “steal” the title to his sister, even more so on anniversary day, deserves from Edgar Domingues one last comment:”I really stay a little sad about the situation, but she is a great athlete, very promising, very young and from who we all can expect great results, both in European and World Championships.”

To recover a national title, even three years later, is a source of satisfaction for any athlete and João Pedro Valente is no exception. But ... “I still have this grief mismanagement of my time limit and that resulted, in the end, in a perfectly needless penalty point. To this must be added two wrong answers in the final part of the course, probably by the pressure of the watch, and it turned out to punish me”, said the athlete. João Pedro Valente add, however, that “this victory shows my good shape which is motivating; there are still many people who think that Trail orienteering is a matter of luck but the truth is that I already take a series of courses with good results, the latter one some very demanding tasks, and this consistency makes me think of a good result in the upcoming European Championships.”

In the aftermath of his fourth national title in a row, Ricardo Pinto left his impressions: “The goal was to win and be the National Champion, so I'm very satisfied. Despite a first day less achieved, things went very well on the second day and I'm very happy. This course was very difficult, very demanding at the map reading level and have been there that I have focused my training lately. I'm pleased by the results achieved and very motivated to go further.” To the World Championships?, we asked. “Let's hope so”, Ricardo concluded.

Results

PreO

Open Class

1. João Pedro Valente (CPOC) 38/46 points (45 seconds)

2. Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia) 33/46 points (103 seconds)

3. Edgar Domingues (COC) 32/46 points (115 seconds)

4. Nuno Rebelo (Ori-Estarreja) 32/46 points (167 seconds)

5. Cláudio Tereso (ATV) 31/46 points (104 seconds)

6. Inês Domingues (COC) 31/46 points (157 seconds)

Paralympic Class

1. Ricardo Pinto (DAHP) 32/46 points (231 seconds)

2. Julio Guerra (DAHP) 28/46 points (304.5 seconds)

3. José Laiginha Leal (DAHP) 22/46 points (270 seconds)

4. Cláudio Poiares (DAHP) 19/46 points (322 seconds)

5. Alexandre Guedes da Silva (Individual) 18/46 points (139.5 seconds)

6. Ana Paula Marques (DAHP) 18/46 points (329.5 seconds)

TempO

1. Edgar Domingues (COC) 279 seconds

2. Nuno Pires (Ori-Estarreja) 357 seconds

3. Inês Domingues (COC) 398 seconds

4. Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia) 415.5 seconds

5. Cláudio Tereso (ATV) 424.5 seconds

6. Nuno Rebelo (Ori-Estarreja) 435.5 seconds

Full results, maps, solutions and other information at http://ltom2016.cpoc.pt/.

Joaquim Margarido

LTOM 2016: Maps, solutions and results

Further information at http://ltom2016.cpoc.pt/.

Joaquim Margarido

LTOM 2016: Moments (2)

© Joaquim Margarido

LTOM 2016: Moments (1)

© Joaquim Margarido

ECTO 2016: Stalnacke and Giovannini won in Lisbon

For the first time ever, Portugal hosted a round of the European Cup in Trail Orienteering. The two ECTO's stages have in Erik Stålnacke (TempO) and Marco Giovannini (PreO) the big winners. Overall, Remo Madella won the Lisbon Trail Orienteering Meeting.

The European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016 started this weekend with the two first stages taking place in the beautiful green area of the Monsanto Park, in Lisbon, Portugal. Organized by the CPOC – Clube Português de Orientação e Corrida, Municipality of Lisbon and Portuguese Orienteering Federation, the event attracted the presence of 41 competitors from six countries. Winner of ECTO's last edition, the Swedish Erik Stålnacke (Individual) couldn't start better, winning the TempO stage, saturday afternoon. Stålnacke performed really consistently, achieving a final result of 239 seconds and just two mistakes in the six stations (with five tasks each) overall. Despite an almost clean race - one single mistake! -, the Italian Remo Madella (VIVAIO) wasn't fast enough to reach the first position, staying close 25,5 seconds to the winner. The third place went to the portuguese Edgar Domingues (COC) with 279 seconds overall and as much mistakes as Stålnacke.

The ECTO's second stage, today, closed the portuguese Trail orienteering journey, with a PreO course with 24 controls and the “bonus” of a timed station adding three more tasks. This time Stalnacke wasn't accurate enough to repeat the victory and the podium's places were occupied for three competitors with the same number of correct answers – 21! -, separated by the time spent in the timed controls. Here, the Italian Marco Giovannini (OK Trzin) was righter and faster than the Finnish Esko Junttila (Muuramen Rasti) and the Swedish Martin Fredholm (OK Linné), respectivaley second and third in the standings.

The two ECTO stages were part of the Lisbon Trail Orienteering Meeting, a three stages event, the two still referred and also a PreO stage, yesterday morning. This one had in the Swedish Lennart Wahlgren (Rehns BK) and Ola Jansson (Björklinge SOK), the big winners in the Open class and Paralympic class, respectively. Overall, Remo Madella won the Lisbon Trail Orienteering Meeting in the Open class, followed by Martin Fredholm in the second position and Erik Stålnacke in the third place. Ola Jansson was the winner in the Paralympic class, with the portuguese Ricardo Pinto and Júlio Guerra, both from DAHP, being second and third ranked, respectively.

Further information at http://ltom2016.cpoc.pt/.

Joaquim Margarido