TrailO Relay: The big party is coming!

You don’t need to be particularly familiar with Orienteering to realise that, despite it being the most fantastic sport in the world, it has a huge Achilles’ heel which is called “visibility”. And yet there is a format that erases, in a certain way, that difficulty: it’s called a Relay and it’s commonly seen as the “Orienteering Big Party”. And for obvious reasons. First, because of the mass start, then the athletes’ contact at each leg change, and finally the emotion of congratulating the winner as the one who comes first. Everything in terrain with good visibility, a vibrant atmosphere in the arena and an enthusiastic audience. As simple as that!

Twelve years after the first World Trail Orienteering Championships in Västerås, Sweden, the new TrailO Relay is being prepared to be part of the official programme of major international TrailO competitions next year. First in the 2016 European Trail Orienteering Championships in Jeseník in the Czech Republic, and then in the World Trail Orienteering Championships in Strömstad, Sweden. There are certainly some differences in relation to Foot Orienteering, MTB Orienteering and Ski Orienteering Relay formats – in spite of having the same ‘philosophy’. TrailO is very different from other disciplines, with the ‘strategy factor’ in TrailO having great relevance. It is a major step forward in a discipline that has something to please everyone.

Along the way, many people have made a contribution to the development of the TrailO Relay, but it is generally accepted that Martin Fredholm from Sweden is the person responsible for putting the ideas together and working out the final format. So we asked him to tell, in brief, what the TrailO Relay is all about. “The TrailO Relay is a combination of the two existing formats in TrailO: PreO and TempO. Each one of the three legs starts with a PreO course with 10–15 controls. After the changeover, each leg also has one or two TempO stations. The final result for each team is the sum of the time spent for each leg at the TempO station(s), plus any penalty time on the TempO part (30 seconds for each incorrect answer), plus the penalty time on the PreO part (60 seconds for each incorrect answer). Each team has a combined maximum time allowance for the PreO part that can be freely distributed between the legs”, he says.

Some history

The TrailO Relay isn’t something that was simply thought up overnight; it has been developed over many years. In Sweden, the first stand-alone team competition with forked courses for each leg was organised in 2004. It was more like a PreO Relay, since the final result was based on points and seconds as in a regular PreO competition. The first time we could follow this kind of race with a combined maximum time for each team and the result converted in seconds was in 2008 in a TrailO Relay during Tiomila. Until then, all competitions had used a forking method where competitors had to solve the same control tasks. But in 2011 a new forking method was tested in Sweden.

Basically it consists of a number of controls divisible by three, where each leg has to solve about one third of the controls, but never the same control. The event is still a PreO Relay, since both points and seconds are combined in the final result, but since 2012 this has been the only forking method used in Sweden. The idea to make it a TrailO Relay (the final result only in seconds) instead of a PreO Relay (points and seconds) actually came from the Trail Orienteering Athletes Commission, where the Finn Lauri Kontkanen is a member. The IOF Trail Orienteering Commission accepted that idea, worked out the draft rules in January 2015 and finalised them a few months later. During WTOC 2015 in Croatia the competitors had the chance to try out this format, and some minor problems were found (easily solvable), but the feedback was very positive. For the story let’s say that the first unofficial TrailO Relay World Champion country was Sweden, followed by Finland and Italy.

Strategy and media-friendly

At a time when the first official competition is approaching, Martin Fredholm has his own ideas: “The TrailO Relay can be interesting if it is organised properly. The old forking method does not require much strategy, only how to use the maximum time. With the new method, team members on the first legs have to choose which controls to solve and which to leave for the other team members. And if the title in the end comes to depend on the outcome of the TempO part in the third leg, you have to decide which team member can best cope with the pressure that creates”, Martin says. Another interesting possibility offered by the TrailO Relay is the opportunity to show ‘live’ results. Martin, again: “Spectators can follow how everything progresses. For example, which teams have already solved the ‘difficult’ controls. And with a properly organised secretariat, each individual result will be posted in less than 5 minutes after the competitor has arrived at the finish.”

Martin’s last words go along with a good laugh: “My expectations for next year’s Championships are that I will be in one of the winning teams”, he concludes.

[Text and photo: Joaquim Margarido. See the original article on Orienteering World's last issue at http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/iof_orienteering_world_w3.pdf, on pages 32 and 33. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]

Two or three things I know about it...

1. The young Egyptian Orienteering Federation organized its first International competition. Precious by their history, places like the Kings Island, the Kings Valley or the Karnak Temple witnessed the performances of 174 competitors from 17 different countries for three challenging stages. The opening stage, a Middle-Short Distance really demanding by the fast map reading and the temperatures over 30ºC, had in Oscar Anrango (Orienta Ecuador) and Tatiana Kalenderoglu (Istambul Orienteering) the winners in the M21E and W21E classes, respectively. Scoring for the IOF World Ranking, the Middle Distance on second stage brought again an extra-challenge due to the high temperature. Tatiana Kalenderoglu repeated the first position, while the winner in the M21E class was Abdulaziz Mohammd Ali Sal (UAE National Team). Abdulaziz Mohammd Ali Sal won the Sprint stage on the last day, along with Ayako Watanabe (NPO orienteering) in the W21E class. Overall, Abdulaziz Mohammd Ali Sal and Tatiana Kalenderoglu were the first winners of the Egypt International Orienteering Championships. The next edition, in February 2017, will take place in the beautiful scenery of Sharm El Sheikh, by the Red Sea. To know more about the event, please visit the Egyptian Orienteering Federation's webpage, at http://egyorinteering.org/en/Home/.

2. 'Sedated by software': No one knows how to read maps anymore, experts say. This way, Tim Chester alerts, in the global media company “Mashable” [HERE], to the Royal Institute of Navigation's concerns about the nation's cartographical know-how. Quoting Roger McKinlay, the President of the Royal Institute of Navigation, “it is concerning that children are no longer routinely learning at home or school how to do anything more than press ‘search’ buttons on a device to get anywhere", warning for the risks of “becoming sedated by software in the process.” The institute say they want schools to teach basic navigation “as a way to develop character, independence and an appreciation of maths and science.” They point out that phones can lose their signal and sat navs can lead you up the garden path, and the human brain is better at taking in all data such as weather and terrain. However, they insist that something more fundamental is at stake as we forget skills that have guided people for centuries. The article doesn't mention Orienteering as a resource, a fundamental key in the “rehabilitation” process, but the main idea is that reliance on computers presents no conceptual challenges: “The human brain is left largely inert and untaxed while calculations are made electronically, by a software ‘brain’ without the elasticity to make connections and judgements”, they say.

3. For a second time this SkiO World Cup season, the snow has arrived at the last minute. The organisers of the ESOC, JWSOC, EYSOC and SkiO WCup Round 3 confirmed that they finally have enough snow for the events to take place. It was only last 15th February that Event Director Hans Georg Gratzer and his team could confirm that enough snow had arrived to be able to hold fair SkiO competitions. This winter has been characterised by difficult snow conditions, which has been a struggle for all snow sports. The most recent news, from France, talk about the avoidance of French SkiO Championships in the Middle Distance and Relay, due to the lack of snow. So, it is great news that these races will be able to take place, especially considering their role in inspiring the younger generations of ski orienteers. Head over to the SKIO2016 website – http://www.skio2016.at/ -, to follow closely the event. Now we can all set our sights on an exciting week of SkiO in Obertilliach 28 February – 5 March 2016!

4. Still meeting its first year of life, Prismagazine has just seen published its nº. 6, February 2016. Again, a varied and well illustrated issue, developed and edited by Jeremias Queiroga, with a wide set of contributors. In this issue, the focus is on the presence in Portugal of 16 brazilian orienteers, competing at LIOM, POM and NAOM. The courses of Thierry Gueorgiou and Helena Jansson on POM's Long Distance WRE are dissected by themselves in two articles from the Portuguese Orienteering Blog, along with a nice bunch of pictures. There's also a great Interview with the Brazilian Champion 2015 in Women Elite, Tânia Maria Jesus de Carvalho (ADAAN). Finally, we can read the words of Luiz Sérgio Mendes, the President of Brazilian Orienteering Confederation, about the financial situation of the Institution and goals for the future, including the leading project of Orienteering's development in South America. Prismagazine is written in Portuguese but worth a try reading it, even if the automatic translation fails sometimes. Everything to read at https://www.joomag.com/magazine/mag/0215555001456198774/p1.

[Photo: José Ángel Nieto Poblete / facebook.com/ja.np.56]

Joaquim Margarido

Fontainebleau's “Pôle Espoir” (Elite Academy): A “Blue wave” of progress

France has always been one of the world’s greatest driving forces in MTB Orienteering. It was in Fontainebleau, just over fifty kilometres south-east of Paris, that the first World MTB Orienteering Championships took place in 2002, and it was there that athletes like Laure Coupat, Caroline Finance, Jérémie Gillmann and Matthieu Barthélémy became famous names in this discipline’s history. But the years then passed and, though always feared by their opponents, France constantly failed to come back to take the world lead. Some sporadic successes – Jérémie Gillmann and the Men’s Relay in 2007, Gaëlle Barlet in 2011 and Baptiste Fuchs in 2014 – just confirmed a period with few high spots. However when we come to the end of 2015, we find four Frenchmen in the IOF MTB Orienteering World Ranking’s top 20 and two French women in the top 10! When we look at their results in the European and World Championships, we can begin to understand that something has changed in a big way.

The change is significant and likely to be long-lasting. Since 2006 French MTB Orienteering has undergone a major reorganisation, becoming much better structured, with the fruits beginning to emerge consistently a few years afterwards. Success was first fully appreciated (and celebrated) by the youngsters in Hungary in 2012 when Lou Denaix won the Junior World Sprint title. In 2013 Cédric Beill enjoyed one of the greatest achievements in MTB Orienteering’s history, being crowned Junior World Champion in all four distances: Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay. The French men’s relay team won the silver medal at the 2014 Junior World Championships. But it’s in 2015 that one can truly appreciate the results of this long-term work, the magnitude of which brings France back to the forefront of World MTB Orienteering.

“Training is not an exact science”

Sports teacher, promoter, adviser, cartographer, organiser and public relations person, André Hermet is also a member of IOF’s MTBO Commission, coordinator and coach of the French MTBO team. And he is Coordinator, at regional level, of the most important MTBO development institution in France and a true example to the world: Fontainebleau’s “Pôle Espoir”, its Elite Academy.

A cyclist when young, Hermet encountered Orienteering at the age of 24. This was too late to see his dream, to get into the French Foot Orienteering Elite Team, come true. But he still wanted to improve his knowledge, learn the secrets of physical preparation and know more about how to achieve technical improvement; his interest in putting these things into practice led him in due course to a period of study, and he was awarded his Sports Teacher Diploma at the age of 42. From that moment he began to devote himself fully to coaching at high level. To him, “coaching is to identify, bring forward, prepare, and lead an individual or a group in ways which realise their highest potential. But it’s by not doing the same as others that you take a step forward.”

What steps enable a musician to become a virtuoso? How do pilots of fighter jets manage stress during the flight? “High levels exist not only in sport”, André Hermet comments. “I’ve always tried to innovate, applying new training methods based on knowledge and scientific research on the complexity of achieving excellence”, he says. Bringing in theoretical concepts about perception, memory, logical thinking and planning, among other things, André Hermet just wants to improve the athletes’ effectiveness whilst competing: “Training is not an exact science. There are no secrets or miracles. As a coach, it isn’t enough just to know and understand the principles of training. I need to know how to combine and use these principles to create “my” method. The percentage of MTB orienteers with large potential is not greater in France than in Spain, Finland or Portugal”, he affirms.

Life in the Academy

In 1993 André Hermet found himself excited by and committed to MTB Orienteering, which was almost a novelty in France at the time. It was at that time that he began to promote the discipline regionally, but was faced with an insoluble problem: the lack of young people involved in the sport. It wasn’t until 2000 – at a time when he had already been nominated as Technical Director of the first World MTB Orienteering Championships – that his efforts intensified. He became the coach of the Fontainebleau Pôle Espoir, an Elite Academy created by the French Orienteering Federation and recognised by the French Ministry of Sports. It is here that he’s been recruiting orienteers from all over France who demonstrate potential, both in Foot Orienteering and MTB Orienteering. These young athletes are a group of 10 to 15 boys and girls who stay at the Pôle for three to five years, doing their studies and having daily Orienteering training.

The Pôle can be seen today as an intermediate stage between the clubs that develop Orienteering activities and the French team. The team is composed of twenty to twenty six athletes from all over France, the best athletes of the Elite, Junior and Youth categories. It’s in the Pôle that athletes follow a programme with a training load of 12 to 15 hours a week, adjusted according to their age and technical and physical level. Trips away from the Pôle for further preparation range from Cross-country Skiing (one week in February) to specific preparation for major international competitions, with Training Camps in relevant terrain within or outside France. The results are now there, and just confirm that French MTB Orienteering is going the right way: this season the athletes from Fontainebleau’s Pôle Espoir won seven gold medals, eight silver and three bronze in European and World Championships. To the names mentioned early in this article we now have to add those of Florian Pinsard, Constance Devillers, Antoine Vercauteren, Mathilde Sipos and Lou Garcin, among many others. A real “blue wave” is developing, and promises to grow into a “tsunami”.

[Text and photo: Joaquim Margarido. See the original article on Orienteering World's last issue at http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/iof_orienteering_world_w3.pdf, on pages 14 and 15. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]

Anna Jacobson: "Being part of The World Games is and always has been very important for orienteering"

The year of 2012 was close to the end when I received an invitation from the IOF to sign the MTBO year's article in the Orienteering World magazine. This message, signed by Anna Jacobson, was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But, if it's true that I continue to write for the IOF, it is no less true that Anna left that body in July, because of the deep structural and logistical changes that the IOF has been submitted. Today, we find her with new responsabilities, but still and always passionate about Orienteering.

How was your time in the IOF Office at Radiokatu, in Finland?

Anna Jacobson (A. J.) - It was the best time of my life (until then)! We had a really good team and I loved to go to work every day. I was in charge of Communications and Anti-Doping, amongst other tasks, both of them really interesting and ever-growing fields. Of course, as we were only 3.7 people working for the IOF, we all did “everything”. Communications meant both publications, website, social media (I created and managed the IOF Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts), leaflets, internal communications, preparations for SportAccord Convention and more. I had great help here from Clive, Hugh, Erik and of course – you! Also the Finnish Federation was cooperating with us closely on the publications, website and videos.

I had several nice projects during the years, for example the IOF 50 years project with an anniversary logo, several historical articles on website and in Inside Orienteering, the Compass Project (compasses to developing countries), the 50 years’ show in WOC in France, the 50 years’ video and of course the special edition of Orienteering World, “The first 50 years” [http://orienteering.org/iof-50-years/]. Other projects were to create the current website with new functions and series such as Athlete of the Month, new IOF visual image, and the magazine Inside Orienteering, which replaced the older O-Zine. The anti-doping matters included everything from educating the federations and athletes to revising the rules, attending conferences and also speaking there about IOF A-D work. I really enjoyed working with other anti-doping professionals on this field that never stands still for a moment. And of course with the wonderful IOF Medical Commission, with whom it was always a pleasure to work. They were always ready to help us in protecting the athletes’ fundamental right to participate in doping-free sport.

“Orienteering World”, “Inside Orienteering” and “Athlete of the Month”, as you've mentioned before, were issues with you signature for many years. How proud are you of your work?

A. J. - I am very proud of the new ideas I was able to bring to both the website and the publications, and of the overall quality. I am less proud of the fact that I never seemed to have quite enough time to concentrate on any of these in the way I would have wanted to. Luckily I had such excellent co-workers (volunteer for the most part) that we made it work every time. I really like what we could do with so little time and so little money. I think we renewed the IOF Communications and brought the IOF closer to the people – both via a new kind of online newsletter (Inside Orienteering), by new kinds of articles on the website and via social media. And I am extremely happy we did the 50 years’ edition. It is the IOF history until now written in 74 pages.

As long as you remember, what were the most important moments of your presence “behind the scenes”?

A. J. - It’s hard to list the most important moments of the eight years, but let’s see... I’ll list some moments that were important for me.

- My first Council meeting (and several after that) and my first Joint Meeting of Council & Commissions. Those meetings always gave more motivation and made the goal of our work sort of more “real”.

- Many moments in anti-doping work. Finding and correcting a mistake in WADA’s own rules, helping athletes, federations and organisers in anti-doping matters, the one positive doping case we had… and when in WADA Conference in South Africa I managed to secure a yearly 40 000 EUR grant to the IOF from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

- 2011 Orienteering World - this is one of my biggest achievements and I am so glad we did it. The whole 50 years project was important in many ways – I find it extremely important for an organisation and its staff and officials to know the history of the organisation. You can learn a lot from it.

- Creating Inside Orienteering and joining in social media. I feel both of them brought us closer to the “people”. Also closer to organisations like IWGA and WADA!

- Creating TrailO Athletes’ Commission and re-creating FootO Athletes’ Commission in 2013.

- Bringing together all (living) IOF Presidents in 2011. So much IOF history there!

- … and soooo many other moments. There were so many “close” situations saved in the last minute, so many important meetings with important people, so many General Assemblies to handle, so many medical matters to deal with, so many communication strategies needed, … And personally, for me (besides meeting Åke which was, of course, the best thing of it all), the morning coffee breaks that we had with Barbro and later Riikka, the monthly cakes to celebrate our IOF journey together, the many, many laughters we shared - those were the greatest things.

Your privileged position allowed you to realize how Orienteering has evolved in different countries around the World. Could you mention two or three good examples of how work and perseverance can give the best results?

A. J. - I think it depends very much on the local people in the country. We can try to bring orienteering in new countries and support them the best we can, but only if the locals are or get really behind the idea it can work. A good example is Egypt, where one enthusiast has created a whole new federation with national championships just in a couple of years. Other good examples are of course the many, many countries in South America where Jose Angel Nieto Poblete has been doing great - and patient - work for years.

Are the "rich" countries helping the "poor" countries in the best way? What should we do in order to shorten the differences?

A. J. - I think all countries have economic problems at the moment, or so it seems. There are still many ways to help: to donate equipment, to help with teaching about orienteering, to invite people from the less developed orienteering federations to seminars and competitions.

You've just started working as Social Media Manager at IWGA The World Games. How challenging is your new job?

A. J. - Very challenging, and very enjoyable! The IWGA Team is just wonderful, and I am so happy to get to work for IWGA. I have only started at IWGA, but I see a lot of things we can do to promote both The World Games AND all our sports through social media. My idea is to get more sports to everyone’s Facebook and Twitter feeds! I have also always been a fan of The World Games, since the 2009 Games in Kaohsiung (I lived in Finland for a week in the time zone of Chinese Taipei in order to be able to report everything on time :D), and even more after the Games in Cali, Colombia in 2013, where I was present as communications responsible for the IOF. The World Games is a magnificent event for the athletes - and for the officials as well. It’s an honour to work for IWGA. In general, I enjoy working as a freelancer now, as it gives me more freedom and more time at home.

Orienteering is part of The World Games since 2001. How important can it be for the development of our sport?

A. J. - Being part of The World Games is and always has been very important for orienteering. The World Games is the step to the Olympic Games – but even if you do not want to have orienteering in the Olympic Games, The World Games is the place to showcase orienteering at the world’s sporting stage. In addition, many national federations get support and bonus from their National Olympic Committee if they are selected to The World Games and if they succeed there. I am sure that all athletes that have been in 2009 in Kaohsiung or 2013 in Cali agree with me on that The World Games is a truly amazing experience – as Andrey Khramov said “It’s like the Olympics for sports that are not there yet, and as close as I ever get to taking part in the Olympics”. Actually, it was also Andrey who told me at The World Games 2013 that earlier that year he had lost the spirit and the motivation to train hard, but when he heard he had been selected to the team to The Games, it was the motivation he needed to start training again (he won silver in the sprint!).

For those who follow closely the Trail orienteering phenomena, your name sometimes appears in a very distinguished position. It was so during the last season, in some European Cup in Trail Orienteering (ECTO) stages and, recently, with your victory at Helsinky, in the Aurora Borealis PreO Event. Where (and when) did you find your skills for such particular discipline?

A. J. - In Hungary in 2009. We (the IOF Office & Council) got the opportunity to start to the course after the World Champs PreO competition there (Day 2 in the Zoo). I really liked it, got interested, and found out there was one more competition left in Finland that year: the Finnish Champs. So I read through the technical guidelines, checked how Jari Turto had planned his earlier courses (he was the course planner) and drove 200 km to Kokemäki! I finished 28th, I think, of about 50-60 competitors, but what I remember best was how happy I was to beat Jukka Liikari :) It was also his first competition, but unlike me, he had not read the guidelines yet... (later on we became good TrailO friends and often shared our thoughts about course setting and more)

Could you tell me some of your most pleasant experiences in this discipline?

A. J. - There are so many! One of the recent ones was the Aurora Borealis PreO in -24ºC and strong wind – not because of the weather but in spite of it: the course and map were really good. Another recent competition that I liked was the ECTO final in Czech Republic, even though the PreO part did not go that well for me. And of course winning at the Lithuanian ECTO was great – in particular as I won over Martin (Fredholm) on the timed control! Competing is mostly always pleasant, and I’m looking forward to get new countries to my list as well (until now I’ve competed in 7 countries – but tried TrailO in 10). I also enjoyed very much organising the first competitions of ECTO 2015, the FinTrailO 2015. I was the Event Director and, together with Åke, controller for TempO and PreO Day 2. I would like to add that my husband Åke is a former PreO Finnish Champion (2014) - the first and so far last Swede with this title! So TrailO really is a family sport for us.

What attracts you the most in Trail orienteering?

A. J. - That it requires so good map-reading skills (PreO) and that it requires you read the map and the terrain really fast (TempO). I like map-reading and I love orienteering and competing, so TrailO is perfect for me.

Have you been following the discipline's improvement in the recent years? What's your opinion on it?

A. J. - I have been following the development very closely. I don’t think all orienteers should try TrailO, as I don’t think they should try MTBO or SkiO, but I hope they all can see it’s a real discipline that requires training and hard work. Having said that, I personally think TempO is more suitable for competitions than PreO. But I must say I like PreO a lot, and also the Relay. I was on the first leg in the relay in Sweden last year, and it was great fun to think about the tactics and to run to save time. Regarding other development, I think TrailO has changed a lot during the recent years, and for the better. And I am not in favour of having the zero tolerance in the rules. I think the key to fair competitions is training the course setters and event advisers.

To represent Finland in the European or World Championships is something in your mind already this year?

A. J. - Not this year: the teams have been chosen. And I was not up for it yet! But in two years – why not… At least I have a lot of experience from Latvia, and hopefully soon from Portugal too.

It means that we are going to see you next April, in Lisbon, for the ECTO's first round.

A. J. - I really hope so! It seems that it’s not so easy to get to Lisbon from Helsinki, but we are trying to find a way to be there!

In the beginning of a new season, I would ask you to make a wish to those, everywhere, who love and are committed to Orienteering.

A. J. - I wish for all of you many happy courses throughout the year!

Joaquim Margarido

28th International Orienteering Trophy Murcia Costa Cálida: Ridefelt and Mironova won at Caravaca

Albin Ridefelt and Svetlana Mironova were the winners of 28th International Orienteering Trophy Murcia Costa Cálida, held this weekend at Caravaca, Spain. Both athletes started with the right foot, winning the Long Distance stage on the first day and managed keeping the leadership until the last moment.

One week after the Lorca O' Meeting, Spain attracted again the attentions of Orienteering world, calling to Caravaca de la Cruz close to 1200 athletes from 21 different countries. The event started with a very challenging Long Distance course, in which the Swedish Albin Ridefelt (OK Linné) took a four minutes winning over the Spanish Antonio Martinez Pérez. In the Women class, the things would be quite different, with the Russian Svetlana Mironova (Koovee) taking a tight victory over the Finnish Saila Kinni (Tampereen Pyrintö) by the margin of 12 seconds.

Fulfilling the first day's program, the attentions moved to Caravaca's urban centre where eight hundred athletes faced a really fun Sprint WRE, scoring for the IOF World Ranking, with victories from the Swedish Karolin Ohlsson and Rassmus Andersson (OK Linné). The last stage took the orienteering tribe to the forest again, for a decisive Middle Distance WRE. The winner in Men Elite class was the Norwegian Vetle Ruud Braten, but Ridefelt managed to keep the difference over his most direct opponents, taking a comfortable triumph overall. Antonio Martinez Pérez and Ionut Zinca (Universitatea Craiova) followed Ridefelt on the podium. Again, things were a little different in the Women Elite but Svetlana Mironova could keep the difference to a strong concurrence, even if the Finnish Saila Kinni took the victory, shortening to 17 seconds the distance to the leadership overall. Catherine Taylor (OK Linné) was third after the three stages.

Results

Men Elite

1. Albin Ridefelt (OK Linné) 2:09:49 (+ 00:00)

2. Antonio Martínez Pérez (Colivenc) 2:15:45 (+ 05:56)

3. Ionut Zinca (Universitatea Craiova) 2:15:54 (+ 06:05)

4. Jon Aukrust Osmoen (NTNUI) 2:19:42 (+ 09:53)

5. Ivan Kuchmenko (Järla Orientering) 2:19:57 (+ 10:08)

Women Elite

1. Svetlana Mironova (Koovee) 1:57:36 (+ 00:00)

2. Saila Kinni (Tampereen Pyrintö) 1:57:53 (+ 00:17)

3. Catherine Taylor (OK Linné) 1:58:50 (+ 01:14)

4. Nadiya Volynska (OK Orion) 1:59:44 (+ 02:08)

5. Karolin Ohlsson (Järla Orientering) 2:01:50 (+ 04:14)

Complete results and further information at http://www.costacalidaorientacion.net/.

[Photo: Øystein K. Østerbø / twitter.com/Kvaal_Osterbo]

Joaquim Margarido