BOM MTBO 2016: Good wins of Machado and Hara

Good maps, perfect terrains, exciting courses and the beautiful scenery of Portuguese region of Bairrada were the best ingredients for the start of a new MTBO season. In the end, Davide Machado and Marika Hara were the big winners of Bairrada O' Meeting MTBO WRE 2016.

The MTBO had in Portugal, this weekend, the start of the present season. Calling the attention of two hundred athletes from 10 different nations, the Bairrada O' Meeting MTBO WRE 2016 presented itself as a Model Event to the World MTB Orienteering Championships 2016, next July, offering - along with “Mealhada's four wonders” - two courses scoring for the IOF World Ranking.

The Middle Distance on the first day of competition had in the French Baptiste Fuchs (Team Elite MTBO) the fastest with the time of 58:58. A hard fight and a good win over two strong opponents, the Portuguese Davide Machado (.COM) and the Finnish Jussi Laurila (Team Finland), with more 11 seconds and 29 seconds, respectively. Second placed in the IOF MTBO World Ranking, the Italian Luca Dallavalle (Team Italy) presented himself discreetly, finnishing in the 17th position with more 4:32 than the winner. Really motivated to perform even better, the Portuguese Davide Machado was the star of the second day of competition, winning the Long Distance stage in 1:27:22. Luca Dallavalle reached the second position with more 41 seconds, while the French Cédric Beill (Team Elite MTBO) was third with the time of 1:29:07. Overall, Machado, Beill and Dallavalle fulfilled the podium by this order.

In the Women Elite class, the Finnish Marika Hara (Team Finland) took the victory on both stages, winning the competition overall. Her team mate Antonia Haga was second in both stages, performing really well and finishing close to Hara in the Long Distance. The Russian Svetlana Poverina (Orienta Gold Team) was third overall, after a third place in the Middle Distance and a fourth place in the Long Distance. The best Portuguese athlete in this class was Ana Filipa Silva (CPOC), in the 14th position overall.

Results

Men Elite

1. Davide Machado (.COM POR) 199,69 points

2. Cedric Beill (Team Elite MTBO FRA) 192,47 points

3. Luca Dallavalle (Team Italy ITA) 191,81 points

4. Jussi Laurila (Team Finland FIN) 191,46 points

5. Baptiste Fuchs (Team Elite MTBO FRA) 191,41 points

6. Ruslan Gritsan (Shimano Bergamont RUS) 188,75 points

7. Angel Garcia Garcia (Selección Española ESP) 187,51 points

8. Beat Schaffner (Team Switzerland SWI) 185,50 points

9. Grigory Medvedev (Cube Russia Team RUS) 184,22 points

10. Lasse Brun Pedersen (Team Denmark DEN) 183,52 points

Women Elite

1. Marika Hara (Team Finland FIN) 200,00 points

2. Antonia Haga (Finland) 194,58 points

3. Svetlana Poverina (Orienta Gold Team RUS) 188,59 points

4. Gaelle Barlet (Team Elite MTBO FRA) 186,82 points

5. Henna Saarinen (Team Finland FIN) 176,13 points

6. Christine Schaffner (Team Switzerland SWI) 174,23 points

7. Ruska Saarela (Team Finland FIN) 173,24 points

8. Anastasiya Svir (Russian Federation RUS) 173,04 points

9. Cæcilie Christoffersen (Team Denmark DEN) 170,92 points

10. Laura Scaravonati (Team Italy ITA) 170,85 points

To see the complete results and further information, please visit the event's webpage at http://aventurabairrada.wix.com/bommtbo2016.

[Photo: Luca Dallavalle / facebook.com/luca.dallavalle.3]

Joaquim Margarido

ESOC 2016: Last gold for Moholdt, Kechkina and the Swedish Relay teams

Lars Moholdt, Mariya Kechkina and the Swedish Relay teams were the greatest names of ESOC's final stages. Among the younger, Vladislav Kiselev, Anine Ahlsand, Nicola Mueller and Aleksandra Ruksanova took top positions once again.

In the last individual race of the European Ski Orienteering Championships 2016, Lars Moholdt, Norway, could strengthen the status of “ESOC's King”, by winning his third gold in as many races hold in Obertilliach, Austria. The victory's keys was in a great performance in the two initial long legs and nerves of steel in the last two thirds of the race, facing the constant attacks of the Russians Eduard Khrennikov and Andrey Lamov, the Bulgarian Stanimir Belomazhev and the Swedish Erik Rost. Mariya Kechkina, Russia, repeated the gold in the Women class, after a tight fight against her team mate Alena Trapeznikova. Tove Alexandersson, Sweden, was fastest in the first controls, but some small mistakes in the long legs denied her the possibility of closing the Championships in the same way she started, that is, on the podium's highest step. Vladislav Kiselev, Russia, and Anine Ahlsand, Norway, repeated the Junior titles achieved in the first stage, with a particular note to Ahlsand's victory with more than five minutes over the Czech Petra Hancova. In the EYSOC, the Swiss Nicola Mueller and the Russia Aleksandra Ruksanova, got their third gold medal in a row.

Ending a truly exciting week, Sweden reach the first place, both in Men and Women's Relay, against the strong opposition of Russians and Norwegians. In the male race, Norway finished the first leg in the lead, but Russia and Sweden were stronger in the intermediate part of the course, starting together for the decisive leg, with a good advantage over the concurrence. Andrey Lamov was unable to follow Erik Rost's very strong pace, with the Swedish holding precious seconds that turned out to be decisive in the final result. As for the Women class, Sweden operated an impressive recovery, after Evelina Wickborn's bad start, loosing more than four minutes to Finland, in the lead. At the start for the last leg, Tove Alexandersson's disadvantage was just 01:49, and she managed to reverse the situation and achieve a really tasty gold medal. Russia took the gold in JWSOC Men, while Finland was first in JWSOC Women, in both cases with a good advantage of more than two minutes over the Norwegian teams. Russia, Finland and Norway occupied, by this order, the three top positions in the EYSOC, both in Men and Women classes.

Results

Long Distance

ESOC Men

1. Lars Moholdt (Norway) 1:32:42 (+ 00:00)

2. Eduard Khrennikov (Russia) 1:35:12 (+ 02:30)

3. Stanimir Belomazhev (Bulgaria) 1:35:20 (+ 02:38)

4. Andrey Lamov (Russia) 1:36:57 (+ 04:15)

5. Erik Rost (Sweden) 1:38:26 (+ 05:44)

6. Janne Hakkinen (Finland) 1:38:43 (+ 06:01)

ESOC Women

1. Mariya Kechkina (Russia) 1:18:02 (+ 00:00)

2. Alena Trapeznikova (Russia) 1:19:02 (+ 01:00)

3. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 1:19:26 (+ 01:24)

4. Magdalena Olsson (Sweden) 1:22:33 (04:31)

5. Hana Hancikova (Czech Republic) 1:25:11 (+ 07:09)

6. Tatyana Oborina (Russia) 1:26:07 (+ 08:05)

JWSOC Men

1. Vladislav Kiselev (Russia) 1:20:45 (+ 00:00)

2. Anssi Koirikivi (Finland) 1:21:32 (+ 00:47)

3. Sergey Gorlanov (Russia) 1:22:34 (+ 01:49)

JWSOC Women

1. Anine Ahlsand (Norway) 59:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Petra Hancova (Czech Republic) 1:05:01 (+ 05:24)

3. Tuuli Suutari (Finland) 1:05:10 (+ 05:33)

EYSOC Men

1. Nicola Mueller (Switzerland) 55:02 (+ 00:00)

2. Igor Linkevich (Russia) 56:44 (+ 01:42)

3. Sergey Mizonov (Russia) 57:47 (+ 02:45)

EYSOC Women

1. Aleksandra Ruksanova (Russia) 37:20 (+ 00:00)

2. Sanni Oikkonen (Finland) 37:28 (+ 00:08)

3. Synne Strand (Norway) 38:20 (+ 01:00)

Relay

ESOC Men

1. Sweden (Markus Lundholm / Ulrik Nordberg / Erik Rost) 1:54:30 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Andrey Grigoriev / Eduard Khrennikov / Andrey Lamov) 1:55:29 (+ 00:59)

3. Norway (Jorgen Madslien / Öyvind Watterdal / Lars Moholdt) 1:56:34 (+ 02:04)

4. Finland (Tero Linnainmaa / Tuomas Kotro / Janne Hakkinen) 1:58:45 (+ 04:15)

5. Switzerland (Andrin Kappenberger / Gion Schnyder / Christian Spoerry) 2:01:37 (+ 07:07)

6. Czech Republic (Radek Laciga / Petr Horvat / Jakub Skoda) 2:11:12 (+ 16:42)

ESOC Women

1. Sweden (Evelina Wickborn / Magdalena Olsson / Tove Alexandersson) 1:28:04 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Kseniya Tretyakova / Polina Frolova / Iuliia Tarasenko) 1:29:22 (+ 01:18)

3. Norway (Marta Ulvensoen / Anna Ulvensoen / Andrine Benjaminsen) 1:30:53 (+ 02:49)

4. Finland (Marjut Turunen / Mira Kaskinen / Sonja Moersky) 1:31:13 (+ 03:09)

5. Czech Republic (Helena Randakova / Krystina Kolinova / Hana Hancikova) 1:33:47 (+ 05:43)

6. Estonia (Evely Kaasiku / Daisy Kudre / Piret Parnik) 1:38:58 (+ 10:54)

JWSOC Men

1. Russia (Aleksandr Pavlenko / Sergey Gorlanov / Vladislav Kiselev) 1:18:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Norway (Vegard Gulbrandsen / Jorgen Baklid / Audun Heimdal) 1:21:12 (+ 02:47)

3. Sweden (Robin Salen / Filip Jacobsson / Henning Sjokvist) 1:21:44 (+ 03:19)

JWSOC Women

1. Finland ( Maiju Kovanen / Liisa Nenonen / Tuuli Suutari) 1:33:26 (+ 00:00)

2. Norway (Tilla Hennum Farnes / Ragnhild Hjermstad / Anine Ahlsand) 1:35:34 (+ 02:08)

3. Sweden (Klara Yngvesson / Ida Nordlund / Isabel Salen) 1:36:23 (+ 02:57)

EYSOC Men

1. Russia (Igor Linkevich / Nicolai Vlasov / Sergey Mizonov) 1:11:16 (+ 00:00)

2. Finland (Vaino Kotro / Niilo Ojanaho / Pyry Hyppola) 1:13:57 (+ 02:41)

3. Switzerland (Severin Mueller / Corsin Boos / Nicola Mueller) 1:14:33 (+ 03:17)

EYSOC Women

1. Russia (Marina Vyatkina / Veronika Kalinina / Aleksandra Ruksanova) 1:13:40 (+ 00:00)

2. Finland (Siiri Saalo / Henna Pylvanainen / Sanni Oikkonen) 1:15:22 (+ 01:42)

3. Switzerland (Natalja Niggli / Eliane Deininger / Lea Widmer) 1:18:06 (+ 04:26)

[Photo: Orienteering.lt / facebook.com/orienteering.lt/photos]

Joaquim Margarido

Two or three things I know about it...

1. Brian Porteous is about to leave the IOF's Presidency. In accordance with the IOF Statutes, member federations having members on the current Council need to declare whether they will seek re-election 6 months prior to the General Assembly. Ahead of the IOF Congress and XXVIII Ordinary General Assembly on 26 August, 2016, in Strömstad, Sweden, the current IOF Council members have now formally announced who will be seeking re-election. Are in this case the current Senior Vice President Leho Haldna (Estonia), the two current Vice Presidents Michael Dowling (Australia) and Astrid Waaler Kaas (Norway), and Ting-wang ‘Dominic’ Yue (Hong-Kong), Laszlo Zentai (Hungary), Maria Silvia Viti (Italy), Owe Fredholm (Sweden), Niklaus Suter (Switzerland), Tatiana Kalenderoglu (Turkey) and Mikko Salonen (Finland). The most remarkable announcement is that IOF President Brian Porteous will not be seeking re-election, so the IOF General Assembly will elect a new President in August. Member federations have now the opportunity to nominate additional candidates for the IOF Council. Nominations need to reach the IOF Secretary General at least 4 months prior to the General Assembly, i.e. by April 26th at the latest. Everything to check at http://orienteering.org/iof-president-brian-porteous-to-step-down-after-the-general-assembly-in-august/.

2. The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) are in the planning process of developing the IOF LiveCenter from only offering GPS tracking and livestream into a fan page where new and current fans of orienteering can follow the sport 365 days a year. “This is a first concept test of this new Channel, a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) with the minimal first features that will give you as a user a feel for the new product”, can be read in the new fan page for orienteering, at http://andmark.no/projects/2016/IOF/#/. The initiative's promoters are now testing this very early version to learn how the users experience the features presented and what should be prioritize in the further development. So, an invitation: “Help us develop this page. For us to learn, we hope, you will take the time to fill in the questionnaire. This will help us in the development of the channel so it will give you and hopefully many others a larger interest in following orienteering more closely in the future.”

3. The Swedish Annika Björk (OK Linné) and William Lind (Malungs OK Skogsmardarna) won the Antalya O’ Days 2016, last weekend in Antalya region, Turkey. Four days and three events scoring for the World Ranking were the organizers' offer, in beautiful terrains near the sea. The winners of Middle Distance WRE, on second day, were William Lind and Kirsi Nurmi (IFK Göteborg). Miika Suominen (Rajamaen Rykmentti) and Emma Silvennoinen (Paimion Rasti) took the first place on the Long Distance WRE stage, on third day. In the last day of competition, Riccardo Scalet (5 Days of Italy 2016) and Liga Valdmane (Rehns BK) reached the top positions. Overall, Daniel Hajek (Malungs OK Skogsmardarna) and Kristin Olovsson (Rehns BK) took the second position, while Jesper Lysell (Rehns BK) and Emine Sezgünsay (Istambul Orienteering SK-IOG) were third. The event registered the participation of 1335 athletes, 140 of whom in the Men/Women Elite classes. For further information and complete results, please consult the event's webpage at http://www.orienteering.org.tr/.

4. With the approach of Spring, come to an end the most important orienteering events in the Iberian Peninsula or, at least, those who attract more athletes from around the world. Caños de Meca, Barbate, hosted one of the greatest events on the list, spreading the attention for three stages, the last one in... Morocco. That's true, the AOM's 7th edition got “back to basics”, which means, “going back to our roots, offering original & quality events on the technical side, without too much fanciness around”, in the organizers' words. A festive Night Relay Mass Start opened the program, with Gaute Friestad and Jan Sedivy (Kristiansand OK) winning the Men Long difficult class and Venla Harju and Lotta Karhola (Team Finland) being the fastest in the Women Long difficult class. Elli Virta and Topi Penttinen (Trian) won the Mixed Long difficult class, with Nadiya Volynska and Oleksandr Kratov (Koovee – Orion) on the second place. More than 300 athletes participated in the Middle Distance race on second day, with Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) and Emma Johansson (Domnarvets GoIF) taking the first place in the Elite classes. Finally, the Middle Distance – King of MoroccO, called to the other side of the strait of Gibraltar almost 150 athletes. The winners in the Elite classes were Veli Kangas (Team Finland) and Nina Temyakova (Paimion Rasti). Everything to know at http://andaluciaomeeting.com/.

[Photo: Erik Borg]

Joaquim Margarido

Tamer Mehanna: "Orienteering in Egypt has a short time but a long story"

Orienteering in Egypt is unanimously considered a story of success. The sport seems to be well implemented, clinics and events are being held in a successful way and Orienteering is calling the attention of new participants, social media and official entities. Behind all this work, the name of Tamer Mehanna appears naturally. Specialist in sport field, master degree in sport training and PhD in sport psychology, he's the true engine of Orienteering in Egypt and the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's invited today.

I would start by asking you about the main steps before the establishment of the Egyptian Orienteering Federation.

Tamer Mehanna (T. M.) - In 2010 I was in Germany studying sport training, and one of the sports was orienteering. I liked it very much, founding it really interesting and healthy for our people in Egypt. After my return back home, I started searching everything about orienteering. I found the IOF’s webpage and sent an email, asking for help in order to start making orienteering popular in Egypt and establishing a National Orienteering Federation. They wanted to know the details of my plan and I sent them a document with eight goals. I can see now that we were able to reach them all, with our international event in Luxor was the goal number 8. Now we have new dreams and some goals more to achieve.

Did you feel, since the beginning, that Orienteering in Egypt would be a reality in such a short term? Where was the secret of your success?

T. M. - Yes I felt that. WOW! I didn’t really imagine all love for this new sport. They love it so much from the first map, people of all ages - begin with 8 years, adults and to 70 years old -, it is a family sport. Now they're asking me to organize more events in short time and we'll have a new one, next July. To achieve your goals, you should believe in yourself. The secret of our success is in our belief that we can do all the necessary to achieve our goals. Nothing can stop you, just go and go further. Be a real fighter.

What were the main challenges you've faced and how did you overcome?

T. M. - Of course, everything was new and we started by explaining to everyone what kind of sport Orienteering was and how to do it. We tried not depending on government's support, finding our own sponsors, attracting media and making everything by ourselves to spare our ideas all over the country.

From the first clinic in Ismaelia, the 11th and 12th June 2014, up to now, there's a lot of actions including 15 seminars in many cities in Egypt, four orienteering clinics for coaches and advisers, twelve orienteering clubs, almost two thousand competitors so far, programs on the National TV...

T. M. - Orienteering in Egypt has a short time but a long story. One year and a half ago, orienteering was just an idea in my mind. No one knew what it was, how to do it. But I set up a plan to make it known by most of people in our country and I succeeded.

May I have your opinion on the recent Egypt International Orienteering Championships, in Luxor, a few days ago. How important was it for Orienteering in Egypt?

T. M. - It was the greatest dream in our list and the first step to build our orienteering system in Egypt as a real orienteering country. The way it was carried proves that we can do it, we can organize big events and we have a good system here to make orienteering more popular, attracting not only athletes from abroad but also more Egyptian to do orienteering in next events.

What's next?

T. M. - In fact, we have a lot of dreams on a local, regional and international level. On a local level, I hope to have a big national event in every city in Egypt and we'll join Universities, Schools, Clubs and Youth Centers to celebrate the World Orienteering Day. On higher levels, we plan to host the first Arabic Orienteering Championships and we hope we'll able to organize also the first African Orienteering Championships, bringing many countries to our events.

Is the creation of a National Team to compete in major IOF events in your plans right now?

T. M. - We plan to build our national teams and participate in WOC, JWOC, WMOC and MCO. And we'll try to have a Training Camp in Sweden before the WOC 2016.

How do you expect to see Orienteering in Egypt in 2020?

T. M. - I expect a strong orienteering system in Egypt by 2020, strong national teams and real African orienteering system too. I also plan to apply to organize a big event like WOC or JWOC.

In personal terms, how are you living this experience? Does it completely fulfills your interests and ambitions?

T. M. - Orienteering is my life, now. It is my way and my process to support targeted action steps. The limit is not the sky; I'll try to go as far as I can.

[Photo: Tamer Mehanna's courtesy]

Joaquim Margarido

ESOC 2016: Moholdt and Kechkina win Middle Distance Mass Start

After the Sprint title achieved last Monday, Lars Moholdt took his second gold in the European Ski Orienteering Championships, in an exciting Middle Distance Mass Start hold this morning. Also Mariya Kechkina performed astonishingly, being first in the Women class.

Lars Moholdt did it again. On the second individual race of the European Ski Orienteering Championships ESOC 2016, the Norwegian showed himself at the highest level, winning his second gold medal in the competition. A quick look to the final results reveal immediately how tight was the fight for the best places, with all six athletes on the podium separated by less than one minute. Moholdt's gold was everything but easy. Erik Rost, Sweden, managed to keep the leadership in the first half but, in the decisive part of the race, Moholdt and the Russian Andrey Lamov - defending here the European Middle Distance title - joined to the Swedish, fighting hardly for the first place. It would be Moholdt to reach the gold with the time of 45:50, with Lamov taking the silver, one second before Rost, third placed. In the Women class, the Russian Mariya Kechkina was the fastest in the first control, keeping the leadership until the very last one. All athletes did some small mistakes and the unpredictability as the winner remained for a long time, with the Swedish Tove Alexandersson waiting for a slip in the lead. In the end, the Russian was first with the time of 37:51, achieving the first European title of her career so far. Tove Alexandersson, repeated the silver from last European Championships and Tatyana Oborina, Russia, took the third position.

Russia fulfilled the JWSOC Men's podium, with Sergey Gorlanov beating clearly Vladislav Kiselev this time and changing positions relatively to the Sprint race. Unable to defend the Middle gold achieved last year, in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Aleksandr Pavlenko finished third. In the JWSOC Women, Tuuli Suutari (Finland) performed amazingly and took an impressive gold over Liubov Balandina, Russia, and Klara Yngvesson, Sweden, the six first athletes separated by 50 seconds. At EYSOC, another competition day but the same winners. Nicola Mueller, Switzerland, took the gold in a really tight fight, with the six leading athletes separated by 45 seconds in the final standings. The Russian Igor Linkevich was second, repeating the same position as last Monday. In a more comfortable mood, the Russian Aleksandra Rusakova won the Women class over the Finnish Sanni Oikkonen by 37 seconds.

Tomorrow is rest day and the competition will return Friday with the Long Distance finals. Everything to follow at http://www.skio2016.at/.

Results

ESOC Men

1. Lars Moholdt (Norway) 45:50 (+ 00:00)

2. Andrey Lamov (Russia) 46:12 (+ 00:22)

3. Erik Rost (Sweden) 46:13 (+ 00:23)

4. Eduard Khrennikov (Russia) 46:23 (+ 00:33)

5. Andrey Grigoriev (Russia) 46:32 (+ 00:42)

6. Stanimir Belomazhev (Bulgaria) 46:49 (+ 00:59)

ESOC Women

1. Mariya Kechkina (Russia) 37:51 (+ 00:00)

2. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 38:36 (+ 00:45)

3. Tatyana Oborina (Russia) 39:38 (+ 01:47)

4. Hana Hancikova (Czech Republic) 39:50 (+ 01:59)

5. Alena Trapeznikova (Russia) 39:55 (+ 02:04)

6. Iuliia Tarasenko (Russia) 40:29 (+ 02:38)

JWSOC Men

1. Sergey Gorlanov (Russia) 30:15 (+ 00:00)

2. Vladislav Kiselev (Russia) 31:50 (+ 01:35)

3. Aleksandr Pavlenko (Russia) 32:46 (+ 02:31)

JWSOC Women

1. Tuuli Suutari (Finland) 29:01 (+ 00:00)

2. Liubov Balandina (Russia) 29:36 (+ 00:35)

3. Klara Yngvensson (Sweden) 29:42 (+ 00:41)

EYSOC Men

1. Nicola Mueller (Switzerland) 24:34 (+ 00:00)

2. Igor Linkevich (Russia) 24:50 (+ 00:16)

3. Pyry Hyppola (Finland) 24:53 (+ 00:19)

EYSOC Women

1. Aleksandra Rusakova (Russia) 24:21 (+ 00:00)

2. Sanni Oikkonen (Finland) 24:58 (+ 00:37)

3. Siiri Saalo (Finland) 25:01 (+ 00:40)

[Photo: Orienteering.lt / facebook.com/orienteering.lt/photos]

Joaquim Margarido