PreO Palmela Invacare: Poiares and Domingues get historical wins

Inês Domingues and Cláudio Poiares were the big winners of the Preo Palmela Invacare 2016. In the last race before the European Championships, both managed to get tasty wins, reaching their first victory ever in a PreO competition.

One week before the European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2016, Palmela hosted the Portuguese TrailO League Invacare 2016's 7th stage. Organized by ADFA – Associação dos Deficientes das Forças Armadas and the Portuguese Orienteering Federation, the event took place in Vale de Barris, revisiting Serra do Louro and the terrains of the previous European Championships in this discipline, held in Portugal in April 2014.

In the Open Class, the fight for victory was really intense, with Inês Domingues (COC) winning with 18 points out of 20 and an overall time of 19 seconds in the timed controls. World top athlete in the TempO, Inês Domingues comes to win a Portuguese League's stage for the second time in her career, the first ever in a PreO competition. The Spanish Miguel Ángel Garcia (ADOL) managed to meddle in the fight for the victory, ending his race in a surprising second place with the same points as the winner, eventually being penalized by the time spending time in the timed controls. Nuno Pires (Ori-Estarreja) got the third place with 17 points - the same number of points as six other competitors - and an excellent performance in the timed dontrols. Luís Gonçalves and João Pedro Valente, both from CPOC - and part of the Portuguese team that will be heading Jesenik, Czech Republic, in a few days for ETOC 2016 -, finished in the 4th and 6th positions, respectively.

In the Paralympic class, Cláudio Poiares (DAHP) was the big winner with 15 points out of 20. Having his first participation on 5th April 2014, in Lisbon, the talented athlete has been looking for his first win in the Portuguese League for a long time. Here it is now, with full merit, representing a valuable prize to his perseverance and resilience. Júlio Guerra (DAHP) and Alexandre Guedes da Silva (Individual) achieved the immediate places, both with 13 points. Undisputed leader of the Portuguese TrailO League Invacare 2016, Ricardo Pinto (DAHP) was far below the expectations, finishing in the 5th place with the same points of 2nd placed, but ended up being heavily penalized by a disastrous performance in the timed controls.

Results

Open class

1. Inês Domingues (COC) 18/20 points (19 seconds)

2. Miguel Ángel Garcia (ADOL) 18/20 (100 seconds)

3. Nuno Pires (Ori-Estarreja) 17/20 points (20 seconds)

4. Luis Gonçalves (CPOC) 17/20 points (25 seconds)

5. Nuno Rebelo (Ori-Estarreja) 17/20 points (92 seconds)

6. João Pedro Valente (CPOC) 17/20 points (103 seconds)

Paralympic class

1. Cláudio Poiares (DAHP) 15/20 points (159 seconds)

2. Júlio Guerra (DAHP) 13/20 points (27 seconds)

3. Alexandre Guedes da Silva (Individual) 13/20 points (37 seconds)

4. José Laiginha Leal (DAHP) 13/20 points (125 seconds)

5. Ricardo Pinto (DAHP) 13/20 points (146 seconds)

6. Ana Paula Marques (DAHP) 6/20 points (43 seconds)

[Foto: Susana Pereira / facebook.com/susana.pereira]

Joaquim Margarido

MTBO World Cup 2016 Round 1: Victories to Foliforov, Barlet and Benham in the Middle Distance

After yesterday's stormy journey, the High-Rhine vineyards were quite a promenade for a really technically demanding Middle Distance in the second day of MTBO World Cup 2016 Round 1. Without surprise, Anton Foliforov and both Gäelle Barlet and Emily Benham were the winners.

Second placed in the MTBO World Cup 2016 Round 1's opening stage, the Russian Anton Foliforov was stronger than his opponents, getting a one minute victory on the Estonian Lauri Malsroos. The current leader of the IOF MTB Orienteering World Ranking finished his course in 55:56. “It was a good race, without major mistakes and being able to see properly the map”, said the winner after the race. To Foliforov, “despite yesterday's hard Long Distance, I had good feelings for today's race. Vineyards are very special terrains, with some really interesting details, and I enjoyed running through it today.” His final words: “I'm really happy about my gold medal and being the current World Cup leader. I wish to say thank you to my region Orienteering Federation for giving me the opportunity to compete in France!”. Malsroos also talked about his course: “I did a pretty good race. After a couple of mistakes in the beginning that costs me about one minute, my race was much better in the long legs, with good route choices and no mistakes”, he said. Finding the race “really interesting and quite demanding in the map reading”, Malsroos underscored “more technical orienteering and less physical part” which made the course more suitable for him.

Third placed with 57:03, the Austrian Andreas Waldmann would rate his race as “very good”. He explained why: “It was a pretty fast race and you had to be focused all the time because junctions came too quickly. Also there was lots of route choices, that I could manage quite well, I think.” The course setting through the vineyards seemed to Waldmann “a little bit like a Sprint race, very interesting but also very demanding because of the route choices”, he said, adding that “the course definitely suited me because I like flat terrains and I'm fast, but it was also a good technical race.” The Czech Vojtech Ludvik showed that his bronze in yesterday's Long Distance wasn't a fluke, being fourth with more 1:27 than Foliforov. After his surprising winning in the Long Distance, the Swiss Simon Braendli was today far below the expectations, finishing in the 50th position. The best Portuguese athlete was, once more, Davide Machado, finishing in the 16th position with the time of 1:01:01.

Benham and Barlet on top

The Women Elite class had in the French Gäelle Barlet and the British Emily Benham a winning pair. Both athletes did a really close race, with the final result perfectly showing it. The winners' time was 54:49, against 55:32 from the IOF MTB Orienteering World Ranking first placed, Martina Tichovska, Czech Republic. Regarding yesterday's race, the Swiss Maja Rothweiler upgraded one position in the final standings, being fourth 1:39 after the winners.

To Emily Benham, “it was an unusual race as the course was completely in the vineyards. There were lots of permitted passages between the vines but these were difficult to see. It was easy to make many small mistakes.” Being cautious with her Orienteering and trying to be certain she was going on the correct passages, were keys for success, compensating for the physical part, far from ideal: “After yesterday it was also hard to find any speed in my legs - I felt so slow!”, she confesses. And her final words: “It's great to have two wins at the start of the season but there are still some months left until the World's, so it will be interesting to see how my shape will be then.” Showing natural satisfaction for her victory, Gäelle Barlet left also some words: “I wasn't fast enough in the finish and I don't know if I made the best route choices but I managed to keep focused during my race”. Like Benham, she didn't feel comfortable in the complex mazy of tracks through the vineyards: “I prefer the forest. You can't ride fast here, you lose the fluidity because it's really difficult to distinguish all those tracks in the map”, she said.

Results

Men Elite

1. Anton Foliforov (Russia) 55:56 (+ 00:00)

2. Lauri Malsroos (Estonia) 56:56 (+ 01:00)

3. Andreas Waldmann (Austria) 57:03 (+ 01:07)

4. Vojtech Ludvik (Czech Republic) 57:23 (+ 01:27)

5. Yoann Garde (France) 57:35 (+ 01:39)

6. Jiri Hradil (Czech Republic) 57:53 (+ 01:57)

6. Jonas Maiselis (Lithuania) 57:53 (+ 01:57)

(…)

16. Davide Machado (Portugal) 1:01:01 (+ 05:05)

37. João Ferreira (Portugal) 1:06:13 (+ 10:17)

47. Daniel Marques (Portugal) 1:11:18 (+ 15:22)

Women Elite

1. Gäelle Barlet (France) 54:49 (+ 00:00)

1. Emily Benham (Great Britain) 54:49 (+ 00:00)

3. Martina Tichovska (Czech Republic) 55:32 (+ 00:43)

4. Maja Rothweiler (Switzerland) 56:28 (+ 01:39)

5. Svetlana Poverina (Russia) 57:58 (+ 03:09)

6. Laura Scaravonati (Italy) 58:12 (+ 03:23)

(…)

32. Ana Filipa Silva (Portugal) 1:10:59 (+ 16:10)

[Foto: Hans Jørgen Kvåle / instagram.com/iof_orienteering]

Joaquim Margarido

10MILA 2016: Södertälje-Nykvarn OF got the Men Relay's victory

With the echoes of OK Pan Århus' victory in the Women Relay still sounding everywhere, 341 male teams were vanishing through the forest for the longest night. Ten and a half hours later, with thousands of adventures in between, Jonas Leandersson would be the first to cross the finish line, giving to the Södertälje-Nykvarn OF team its sixth victory in the mythical Relay's history.

Its 8.30 pm and the night falls on Falun, about 200 km northwest of the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The main focus of the world of Orienteering is here, in what will be the 71st edition of 10MILA, classical Men Relay that joins every year, since 1945, the world's best teams. Once again, the competitors were present at the start for 10 decisive, unpredictable and exciting legs through all night. Although the final result of each team is the combination of strengths and weaknesses of the individual performances - and here, for very good or very bad it can be, every moment counts - the truth is that the last leg was the decisive one. But the story of this edition of 10MILA is made from the sum of the parts, and it's possible to highlight some really interesting moments.

The first intense moment was, of course, the start, with 341 teams fighting for the best possible result since the beginning. The first finisher was the Spanish Antonio Martinez Perez, from the Norwegian team of Halden SK, doing the best time in the initial leg. Fredrik Edén would be first on the second leg, showing that IFK Göteborg was in Falun to hardily defend the amazing victory achieved last year. At the end of the third leg, Lillomarka OL was in the lead, with an advantage of almost two minutes over the second placed, but in the end of the fourth leg everything changed and Södertälje-Nykvarn OF was in the lead, after another great performance from a Spanish athlete, Andreu Blanes Reig. Erik Liljequist enhanced the Södertälje-Nykvarn OF team's advantage, which was higher than 3 minutes after the 5th leg.

Södertälje-Nykvarn OF athletes were able to keep the lead during the next three legs but, in the end of the 9th leg, it was Kalevan Rasti who took the first place, with Thierry Gueorgiou starting for the last leg with an advantage of 3 seconds over Jonas Leandersson (Södertälje-Nykvarn OF) and 1:55 over Eskil Kinneberg (IFK Göteborg). With four and five minutes, respectively, to the lead, IFK Lidingö SOK and Koovee were almost definitely out of the podium. The fight between the three first teams was incredible, with Eskil Kinneberg performing amazingly, managing to reach Leandersson still in the first half of the leg and then catching Gueorgiou and taking the lead. The difference between the three athletes would remain in a few seconds and the corridor to the finish was, once again, the place of all the decisions. The strength of youth was against Gueorgiou and Leandersson was faster than Kinneberg in the final metres. Eleven years later, Södertälje-Nykvarn OF recovers the 10MILA sceptre!

Results

1. Södertälje-Nykvarn OF (B.Pawlak, K. Ohlsson, I. Lundanes, A. Blanes, E. Liljequist, R. Ohlsson, J. Enmark, R. Street, E. Börjeskog, J. Leandersson) 10:28:26 (+ 00:00)

2. IFK Göteborg (M.P. Bejmer, F. Edén, J. Pilblad, F. Gonon, A. Sølberg, T. Noborn, N. Jonasson, J. Högstrand, T. Nörskov, E. Kinneberg) 10:28:28 (+ 00:02)

3. Kalevan Rasti (J. Metsälä, A. Asikainen, S.-P. Fincke, J. Pajunen, S. Silvennoinen, H. Airila, J. Prochazka, B. Rollier, J. Petrzela, T. Gueorgiou) 10:28:35 (+ 00:09)

4. IFK Lidingö SOK (F. Schneider, H. Haines, A. Carlsson, Ø.K. Østerbø, J. Dent, E.I, Sandberg, N. Simonin, F. Dahlgren, M. Boström, F. Bakkman) 10:33:52 (+ 05:26)

5. Koovee (J. Hirvikallio, T. Anjala, J. Parkkinen, O. Kratov, J. Myllärinen, L. Sild, K. Kivikas, T. Sild, J. Lakanen, D. Hubmann) 10:34:38 (+ 06:12)

6. Malungs OK Skogsmårdarna (E. Rost, R. Börjensson, J. Lööf, V. Tregubov, L. Åhlund, T. Carlsson, J. Bäckman, D. Hájek, D. Andersson, W. Lind) 10:37:44 (+ 09:18)

7. Järla Orientering (I. Kuchmenko, M. Härberg, D. Bejborn, A. Denzler, P. Hemmyr, E. Andersson, K. Hägler, H.J. Westergård, E.H. Weltzien, O. Boström)10:37:49 (+ 09:23)

8. Stora Tuna OK (I. Sirakov, J. Svensk, W. Pommer, J. Svensk, R. Claesson, M. Lang, V. Svensk, A. Sjökvist, H. Sjökvist, E. Svensk) 10:45:13 (+ 16:47)

9. Ärla IF (O. Vångell, R. Kantarp, E. Andersson, P. Eriksson, A. Tynong, S. Hedlund, H.E. Nielsen, R. Zernis, V. Silvemark, K. Walheim) 10:45:25 (+ 16:59)

10. Ikaalisten Nouseva-Volma (M. Knuuttila, E. Savolainen, V. Parkkinen, A. Karppinen, V. Taanila, J. Luoma, J. Ylinen, M. Mamleev, T. Linnainmaa, D. Tsvetkov) 10:48:30 (+ 20:04)

For further information, please visit the event's webpage at http://www.10mila.se/index.php/en/.

[Photo: Svensk Orientering / facebook.com/svenskorientering]

Joaquim Margarido

10MILA 2016: OK Pan Åhrus wins Women Relay

It was a really intense battle. Halden SK's girls took the helm and led the barge almost to the end. But it was OK Pan Århus and Nydalens SK who sprinted for the victory. In the last leg, Maja Alm got to the Danish team its second victory in the last three editions of 10MILA.

The clock showed 2:15 pm when in Falun - Borlänge started the Damkavlen, the 10MILA 2016's Women Relay. On the start line, 323 teams of five members each handed out to another great adventure with the ultimate goal of achieving the best possible result, which means, for the best world teams, to think exclusively in the possibility of crossing the finish line in the first place. As usual, all really well balanced in the first leg, with the strong Norwegian team of Halden SK getting the leadership by the Swiss Elena Roos, with less than one minute on eleven other teams, including the defending 10MILA Damkavlen winners, the Swedish from Domnarvets GoIF. Recovering of a less good start on the second leg, Ida Marie Næss Bjørgul did a really consistent race, expanding in the end the Halden's advantage to 1:35 over Koovee, 1:37 over Fossum IF and 1:38 over Domnarvets GoIF.

With a really strong start on the third leg, Hollie Orr came to give to Halden a three minutes advantage over the second placed, but some mistakes next the finnish allowed Judith Wyder (Göteborg-Majorna OK) to draw nearer Orr, shortening the difference to narrow 35 seconds at the start for the 4th leg. In this moment, the teams of IFK Lidingö SOK, Nydalens SK and Koovee ran approximately 1:30 after the lead and Domnarvets GoIF was sixth placed, with 2:02 more than the leader. The shortest leg is here and the duel is now between Anni-Maija Fincke (Halden SK) and Viktoria Ernstsson (Göteborg-Majorna OK). A small mistake of Fincke is enough to Ernstsson to take the lead, but the last part of the race is quite dramatic to the Swedish team, with Ernstsson loosing time after time and finishing 1:49 away from Anni-Maija Fincke. Will it be enough to Halden SK to get back to 2012 and recover the 10MILA scepter?

Inappropriate for cardiacs

The start field for the last leg is amazingly strong and the Swiss Sabine Hauswirth will have everything but easiness to keep the first place. Lina Strand (Göteborg-Majorna OK), Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg (Nydalens SK), Maja Alm (OK Pan Århus), Anna Bachman (IFK Lidingö SOK), Svetlana Mironova (Koovee) or Emma Johansson (Domnarvets GoIF) are just some of the major names expecting for a mistake in the lead. And Sabine Hauswirth breaks. With half of the last leg completed, she falls to the 7th position, while Lina Strand gets the lead now. But Lina seems also breaking in the decisive part of the race and, with few controls to the finish, there's four teams separated by 9 seconds: Strand, Bachman, Nordberg or Alm? Göteborg-Majorna OK, IFK Lidingö SOK, Nydalens SK or OK Pan Århus? Who will be the winner?

We are approaching to the Prewarn and the Finish line and Lina Strand and Anna Bachmann lost in the meanwhile precious seconds. In the lead, Alm and Hausken Nordberg fight shoulder by shoulder for the victory. It's a duel inappropriate for cardiacs. The winner will be found in the final sprint and, here, Alm's greater youth will be decisive. The Danish girls of OK Pan Århus are jumping again to the top place of the podium, like they did two years ago. Cecilie Friberg Klysner, Josefine Lind, Signe Søes, Ida Bobach and Maja Alm reached the first place with the overall time of 3:57:36, 5 seconds before Nydalens SK and Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg. With more 42 seconds than the winners, Göteborg-Majorna OK was third.

Results

1. OK Pan Århus (C.F. Klysner, J. Lind, S. Søes, I. Bobach, M. Alm) 3:57:36 (+ 00:00)

2. Nydalens SK (M. Sørensen, T. Lye, S. Ulvestad, A. Ulvestad, A.M.H. Nordberg) 3:57:41 (+ 00:05)

3. Göteborg-Majorna OK (K. Berglia, A. Forsberg, J. Wyder, V. Ernstsson, L. Strand) 3:58:18 (+ 00:42)

4. IFK Lidingö SOK (J. Sanderi, A. Hugosson, H. Karlsson, A. Gustafsson, A. Bachman) 3:58:22 (+ 00:46)

5. Domnarvets GoIF (J. Tullie, K. Højsgaard, D.S. Brozkova, J. Lindberg, E. Johansson) 4:00:13 (+ 2:37)

6. Alfta-Ösa OK (G. Vinogradova, J. Engström, S. Eskilsson, Y. Kindlundh, N. Vinogradova) 4:01:00 (+ 03:24)

7. Koovee (J. Huikkonen, M. Niittynen, M. Niittynen, U. Uotila, S. Mironova) 4:01:01 (+ 03:25)

8. Halden SK (E. Roos, I.M.N. Bjørgul, H. Orr, A.-M. Fincke, S. Hauswirth) 4:01:36 (+ 04:00)

9. Järla Orientering (I. Myhre, E. Jansson, E. Klingenberg, S. Klinting, K. Ohlsson) 4:05:22 (+ 07:46)

10. Fredrikstad SK (M.R. Kahrs, M. Kahrs, E. Johansson, L.M. Solberg, H.Ø. Bagstevold) 4:06:07 (+ 08:31)

For further information, please visit the event's webpage at http://www.10mila.se/index.php/en/.

[Photo: Svensk Orientering / facebook.com/svenskorientering]

Joaquim Margarido

MTBO World Cup 2016 Round 1: Braendli and Benham, the long Long Distance winners

Simon Braendli and Emily Benham started the MTB Orienteering World Cup 2016 with the right foot. In a really tough Long Distance under terrible weather conditions, they've shown at the highest level, achieving victories both muddy as tasty.

The MTBO Orienteering World Cup 2016 started today at Guebwiller, in Alsace (France). Searching for the best possible result, 62 men and 38 women headed the Throo Stadium earlier in the morning, for a tough and challenging Long Distance through the High-Rhine's superb terrains. In the Men Elite class, the Swiss Simon Braendli was a surprising winner, finishing with the time of 2:22:34 and achieving his first World Cup victory ever. 25th placed in the IOF MTB Orienteering World Ranking, the 25 y.o. athlete was faster than any one else, leaving the second place to the IOF World Ranking leader, the Russian Anton Foliforov, with more 2:44.

Although a bit upset when crossing the finish line because some small mistakes in the vineyards that almost ruined his result, Simon Braendli was very happy with his race and mostly with his tyre choice in muddy terrains. The Czech Vojtech Ludvik was another wonderful surprise, finishing third with more 3:21 than the winner. Fourth placed Clément Souvray, France, and sixth placed Riccardo Rossetto, Italy, also reached unexpected results. The Portuguese Davide Machado did a good race, finishing 9th with more 8:08 than Braendli.

As for the Women Elite class, the British Emily Benham started the best way as defending World Cup winner overall in the two last years. She reached the finish line after 2:03:45 riding hills and valleys, winning by 1:57 over the French Gäelle Barlet, second, and 4:38 over the Czech Renata Paulickova, third. The fight for the bronze was really intense, with the Finnish Ingrid Stengard and the Swiss Maja Rothweiler spending more 8 seconds and 18 seconds, respectively, than Paulickova. The Czech Martina Tichovska, IOF MTB Orienteering World Ranking leader currently, finished 8th with more 8:14 than the winner.

A pair of comments

To the second placed in the Men Elite class, “it was the muddiest MTBO event of my life”, says Foliforov with a big smile. But he liked the course and “its several long legs with really interesting and complicated route choices”. Although his good pace from the start, Anton admits that “who started earlier had a good advantage, because the bad weather conditions affected mostly the red group. Some troubles with “seeing the map normally, because of map holder fogged up from inside”, small mistakes in some route choices and some mechanical problems didn't troubled Anton's mood and he's clear when he concludes: "I am satisfied with the result.” Vojtěch Ludvík also left his opinion, showing himself really happy with the result, mainly because “it means a presence in Portugal and Lithuania”. After a first half of the race quite clear and at a comfortable pace, “on the second half was mistake after mistake”, Ludvík says. But it's definitely his best result on the international ground and he couldn't be more happy. The Portuguese Davide Machado underscored the “mountainous, harsh but spectacular” region, however regretting the weather conditions, with “heavy rain, hail and thunder, possibly the worst conditions I've ever met on a MTBO race”, he says. Physically, the Portuguese felt really well and, without mistakes, it would be a dream-race, but... “a mistake to the fourth control made me lose more than 7 minutes and I've been the rest of the race trying to recover, reaching the 9th position at the end”, he concludes.

Using 2016 to focus on other aspects of her cycling - skills, mud riding, speed and endurance – Emily Benham only have been back racing MTBO for just 2 weeks but her Orienteering skills have been good so far. Today she had no expectation, only knowing that actively racing over the winter in really muddy XCO events would be good for her, given the recent heavy rain in France. She found the first few controls well, taking strong route choices. But... “The storm started while I was on the big climb to control 2, and I couldn't see anything! Fog on my Sunglasses, mud on my Orifix board, mud on the map and so much rain!! I often stopped to be sure I going the correct way in junctions; it was just impossible to see anything of the map on the bike”, she remembers. But still she had some problems to find the 4th control and, with a 5 minutes time loss, she seriously considered going home. “My desire to get a result regardless won and so I fought on through the endless mud. Luckily my Cannondale and Rocket Ron tyres were great, so I had full confidence. I understood that I couldn't make any more mistakes so I was stopping regularly to check my route choice and my location. It's great to win today in such tough conditions - maybe I should start liking mud races (?!)”, she concludes.

Results

Men Elite

1. Simon Braendli (Switzerland) 2:22:34 (+ 00:00)

2. Anton Foliforov (Russia) 2:25:18 (+ 02:44)

3. Vojtech Ludvik (Czech Republic) 2:25:55 (+ 03:21)

4. Clément Souvray (France) 2:26:18 (+ 03:44)

5. Luca Dallavalle (Italy) 2:26:23 (+ 03:49)

6. Riccardo Rossetto (Italy) 2:28:31 (+ 05:57)

(…)

9. Davide Machado (Portugal) 2:30:42 (+ 08:08)

41. João Ferreira (Portugal) 2:49:45 (+ 27:11)

43. Daniel Marques (Portugal) 2:54:36 (+ 32:02)

Women Elite

1. Emily Benham (Great Britain) 2:03:45 (+ 00:00)

2. Gäelle Barlet (France) 2:05:42 (+ 01:57)

3. Renata Paulickova (Czech Republic) 2:08:23 (+ 04:38)

4. Ingrid Stengard (Finland) 2:08:31 (+ 04:46)

5. Maja Rothweiler (Switzerland) 2:08:41 (+ 04:56)

6. Ursina Jaeggi (Switzerland) 2:09:41 (+ 05:56)

(…)

35. Ana Filipa Silva (Portugal) 3:09:26 (+ 1:05:41)

For further information, please visit the event's webpage at http://www.mtbo2016.fr/en/world-cup/.

Joaquim Margarido