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

Spanish Orienteering Championships 2017: Anna Serralonga and Antonio Martinez were the main figures

The Holy Week ended and, with it, the Spanish Orienteering Championships CEO 2017, which called to Canencia and Miraflores de la Sierra (Madrid) close to 1,900 competitors. Three days, five races and 27 medals distributed in the Elite category, mostly achieved by the Valencian Community and Catalonia, are a few numbers of a great event. Individually, Antonio Martínez and Anna Serralonga were the main figures.

Organized by GOCAN – Grupo de Orientación Complutense y Actividades en la Naturaleza, Spanish Orienteering Federation and International Orienteering Federation, the CEO 2017 kicked off on Friday, 14th April, in Pinares de Canencia with the Middle Distance, a very technical and fast race in which no one was saved from mistakes. In the Women Elite class, Esther Gil (Colivenc), was the fastest, ahead of the favorite, Anna Serrallonga (Go-Xtrem) and Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O). Among the Men, Luis Nogueira (COMA) achieved a surprising gold, ahead of Antonio Martinez (Colivenc), who was also a favorite. The bronze was taken by Eduardo Gil (Tjalve).

Friday afternoon, took place the always exciting Relay races, in which Catalonia and Valencia fought hardly for the victory, both in Men and Women Elite classes. The women's team of Catalonia would take the gold for the second year in a row, ahead of the Valencian Community and Castilla la Mancha. In the men's class, the Valencia team climbed to the top of the podium, ahead of Andalusia and Catalonia, who contested the silver in a tight and intense final.

10 individual medals for Colivenc

The second day of competition was dedicated to the urban races, having Miraflores de la Sierra as the perfect stage for two amazing moments. Scoring for the IOF Sprint Orienteering World Ranking, the Sprint had in the athletes of Center Esportiu Colivenc (Alicante), Violeta Feliciano and Andreu Blanes, the big winners. The podium was completed by Ona Ràfols (COC) and Anna Serrallonga, in the Women's class, and Eduardo Gil and Antonio Martínez, in the Men's class. During the afternoon, time for the Mixed Relay where Catalonia achieved the first and the second positions, ahead of Castile and Leon, third placed.

The third day of competition was reserved for the Long Distance that will surely be the hardest of the season, not only for the demanding courses but also for taking place after two intense days. After 1 hour and 21 minutes of race, Anna Serrallonga got the victory by just eight seconds over Esther Gil. The bronze would be achieved by Violeta Feliciano. In men Antonio Martinez would take the gold ahead of his team mates, Andreu Blances and Roger Casal. Looking on the overall standings, the Center Esportiu Colivenc took 10 out of 18 possible medals in the individual races, being possible to say that the Valencians were stronger in the individual races, while the Catalans got the most out of the Relay races.

Results

Long Distance

Men Elite

1. Antonio Martinez (Colivenc) 1:14:28 (+ 00:00)

2. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 1:17:07 (+ 02:39)

3. Roger Casal (Colivenc) 1:22:01 (+ 07:33)

4. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 1:22:50 (+ 08:22)

5. Pau Llorens (COB) 1:23:35 (+ 09:07)

Women Elite

1. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 1:21:44 (+ 00:00)

2. Esther Gil (Colivenc) 1:21:52 (+ 00:08)

3. Violeta Feliciano (Colivenc) 1:27:23 (+ 05:39)

4. Ona Ràfols (COC) 1:28:39 (+ 06:55)

5. Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O) 1:36:42 (+ 14:58)

Middle Distance

Men Elite

1. Luis Nogueira (COMA) 28:10 (+ 00:00)

2. Antonio Martinez (Colivenc) 29:46 (+ 01:36)

3. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 29:51 (+ 01:41)

4. Marc Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 30:08 (+ 01:58)

5. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 30:24 (+ 02:14)

5. Roger Casal (Colivenc) 30:24 (+ 02:14)

Women Elite

1. Esther Gil (Colivenc) 37:43 (+ 00:00)

2. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 38:47 (+ 01:04)

3. Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O) 42:38 (+ 04:55)

4. Ona Ràfols (COC) 42:57 (+ 05:14)

5. Esmeralda Ruiz (Sant Joan) 45:28 (+ 07:45)

WRE Sprint

Men Elite

1. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 13:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 13:45 (+ 00:08)

3. Ricardo Ferreira (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:47 (+ 01:10)

3. João Mega Figueiredo (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:47 (+ 01:10)

5. Gregory Ahlswede (Escondite-M) 15:06 (+ 01:29)

Women Elite

1. Violeta Feliciano (Colivenc) 13:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Ona Ràfols (COC) 13:34 (+ 00:09)

3. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 13:57 (+ 00:32)

4. Mariana Moreira (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:00 (+ 00:35)

5. Amparo Gil (COB) 14:21 (+ 00:56)

Relay

Men Elite

1. Comunidad Valenciana (Roger Casal, Andreu Blanes, Antonio Martinez) 1:38:49 (+ 00:00)

2. Andalucia A (Jose Manuel Garcia, Javier Ruiz de la Herran, Luis Nogueira) 1:45:44 (+ 06:55)

3. Cataluña A (Marc Serralonga, Biel Ràfols, Pau Llorens) 1:45:59 (+ 07:10)

4. Madrid A (Greg Ahlswede, Alvaro Benavente, Alvaro Prieto Del Campo) 1:52:09 (+ 13:20)

5. Cataluña C (David Tarres, Llei Viles Bonet, Eloi Marti) 1:53:34 (+ 14:45)

Women Elite

1. Cataluña A (Ona Ràfols, Amparo Gil, Anna Serralonga) 1:30:32 (+ 00:00)

2. Comunidad Valenciana A (Violeta Feliciano, Esmeralda Ruiz, Esther Gil) 1:39:15 (+ 08:43)

3. Castilla-La Mancha A (Carmen Patiño, Maria Rodriguez, Guadalupe Moreno) 1:48:03 (+ 17:31)

4. Cataluña B (Marta Sanchez, Laura serra, Annabel Valledor) 1:50:13 (+ 19:41)

5. Castilla Y León A (Marina Garcia, Marta Perez, Amanda Pons) 1:52:45 (+ 22:13)

Mixed Relay

1. Cataluña A (Ona Ràfols, Pau Llorens, Marc Serralonga, Anna Serralonga) 45:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Cataluña B (Laura Serra, Biel Ràfols, Pol Ràfols, Amparo Gil) 51:51 (+ 06:26)

3. Castilla Y León A (Marina Garcia, Diego Lázaro de Juan, Cosme Sánchez, Yara Bores) 53:33 (+ 08:08)

4. Cataluña C (Andrea Guillen, Eloi Martí, Sebastián Ordoñez, Laia Gil) 56:41 (+ 11:16)

5. Aragón A (Jara Gracia, Israel Fuentes, Jesus Chicharro, Esther Arias) 56:51 (+ 11:26)

Complete results and further information at http://ceo2017.es/.

[Photo: Ampa Gil-Brotons]

Joaquim Margarido

Two or three things I know about it...

1. The England team came first in both the overall and Junior Cup competitions at Interland 2017. The event took place on the 2nd April in the Herbeumont Forest, in the Ardennes, southern Belgium. The English Fiona Bunn and Peter Bray, got comfortable victories in the M21 classes, respectively Women and Men. Bunn finished his race with a three-minute advantage over Greet Oeyen, Belgium, while Bray's advantage over the second placed, the French Benjamin Lepoutre, was of five minutes. Overall, England got the first place with 202, Belgium was second with 158 points and France third, with 132 points. The Interland Cup is England’s only international competition outside the British Isles. England competes annually in this five-cornered match against two Belgian teams (Flemish and French speaking), the Netherlands, and the French Ligue des Hauts de France de Course d’Orientation (LHFCO) . The competition is truly a team effort spanning age groups from W and M14 to W and M60+: 42 team members in all. Complete results and further information at http://orienteeringengland.org.uk/2017/04/04/interland-2017-win-for-england-team/.

2. OK Vihor Zagreb organized, on 2nd April, the Vihor TempO Challenge, event that called to the beautiful Bundek Park, in Zagreb, 30 competitors from Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. Third stage of 2017 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trophy, the event consisted in six timed stations with five tasks each and was dominated by the Slovakian Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava), the winner of the Trophy's last edition. Furucz finished with 305 seconds, corresponding to 185 seconds of answering time and 120 seconds of penalty (four incorrect answers). Slower and less accurate than Furucz, the Croatian Ivo Tišljar (OK Orion) got the second position with 350 seconds. The Slovenian Krešo Keresteš (OK Trzin) was third with 357 seconds. Ján Furucz is now the leader of 2017 Croatia-Italy-Slovenia Trophy with 288,5 points, nine points ahead of Ivica Bertol and fifteen points ahead of Tomislav Varnica, both form OK Vihor, Croatia. The results can be seen at http://www.trailo.it/Classifiche%20internazionali/CIS.asp.

3. Would you like to know who are the top 10 most popular orienteering races in the world, open to everyone? The answer is at ALL4orienteering blog [HERE] https://www.all4o.com/orienteering-blog/top-10-orienteering-races-in-the-world. The number of participants it's, surely, an important issue, but it's not the most important. That's why Jukola / Venla Relay (Finland) cames first and O-ringen (Sweden), world's biggest orienteering festival, stands on the second place. Events like Scottish Six Days (Scotland), FIN5 orienteering week (Finland) and Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering (United Kingdom) are also on the list. Probably other events, like Portugal O' Meeting (Portugal) or MTBO 5 Days Plzeň (Czech Republic), would deserve a place on the list, but the presented events can be a good starting point for knowing and living wonderful and exciting orienteering moments.

4. IOF Newsletter of April is now published and there's lots of interesting reading on it. The eyes of the orienteering world turn to Oceania for the next few weeks, to follow the action at the Oceania Orienteering Championships and the World Masters Orienteering Championships, both taking place in New Zealand. An interview with IOF FootO Athletes’ Commission member Lizzie Ingham will get you excited to follow the Oceania Champs this weekend. Excellent terrains, a great atmosphere and fierce rivalry await the Oceania orienteers who will fight for regional titles and bonus WOC spots. Of course, the newsletter also includes important news from the IOF. The IOF Council had a meeting recently, and a summary of the most notable decisions makes it easy to follow the development of orienteering. Most notable from this council meeting is perhaps the approval of the long awaited International Specification for Orienteering Maps. The IOF is also very active on the international sports scene. Make sure to read about what we got up to at this year’s SportAccord Convention. For TrailO enthusiasts, the newsletter offers interesting reading on the European Cup in TrailO. Not heard of it? Dive in and find out all about the exciting competition. Are you missing out? Find out more and subscribe here. Happy reading!

Joaquim Margarido

Damir Gobec: "WTOC must be our show room"

Damir Gobec is, surely, one of the most committed persons with Orienteering worldwide. His work at the helm of the World Trail Orienteering Championships WTOC 2015, in Croatia, remains a benchmark in terms of the highest standards of technical and logistical requirements. Already in February, this year, he was at the epicenter of another great event, this time in Egypt. The Portuguese Orienteering Blog is proud to have him on its tribune, recalling intense moments and talking passionately about the future of our sport.

Time goes by quickly and the WTOC 2015, which saw you as Event Director, in our minds, seems to have been so recently. What memories do you keep from those days in Zagreb and Karlovac?

Damir Gobec (D. G.) - WTOC 2015 is something that I’ll never forget. It was a life experience from which I learned a lot about myself, my friends, politics, marketing, transport, catering and a lot of other things, not necessarily related to sport. I also learned how we (WTOC team) work under pressure. We learned that it’s impossible to predict everything that can happen in a big organization like that. Many of us spent a few years working on this project and it still remains quite alive in our hearts. One of the big things (except for the technical part of Event) we did was a huge picture gallery with few thousands of photos and I often go there, remembering some particular moments. It's interesting, the way you see the whole organization afterwards and you’re able to enjoy every moment of it, saying that this is something we are proud of and we did it right. Even the well-known "mud day", from this perspective, looks like a special moment which made our work even more interesting and challenging.

I remember a lot of nice little moments behind the scenes, which kept us going from day to day and night to night. The whole organization team is still full of memories which will probably never fade away and we will talk about them for many years to come. I think that most of the competitors don’t even think about the amount of work which has been done. For example, we spent more than 30 days just preparing paths for the first PreO day and then we had a "millennium rain" which ruined all that work. You cannot predict something like this.

Looking back on it with almost two years of distance, how do you assess the event in a global way and how satisfied are you with the final result?

D. G. - I think the whole team can be proud of the work which has been done. We know that we made a good job, the best possible at that time, as we had to have on our minds that we stepped in much later than other countries which were organizing WTOC. We learned our weak points and we know that some things could be done better. We are also extremely proud of our report which came out more like a book or Guideline for future organizers and I hope that it helps future organizers to learn even more from our experiences and mistakes (http://www.vihor.hr/assets/iof_report_part_one.pdf).

In my opinion future organizers should make the effort to be better than WTOC 2015, so we can all enjoy good events and we should look forward to the Championships which make you proud to be part of it. We should treat our Championships with honour because, if we don’t do it, nobody else will. Something below the standards which were set would not be good. We have to show the World that we are part of sport community with developed competitions. WTOC must be our show room.

How was the break or resting period after the event? Did you think about giving up Orienteering?

D. G. - I can’t say that I had a proper rest, as we continued our work in orienteering. We are still working a lot with kids within the club, we are working on new maps, new events. World Orienteering Day is also one of the projects we accepted and we are developing it in Zagreb.

Forgetting about orienteering was something that was done in some days after WTOC, as you can feel really tired after spending few years preparing something really intense and, as Ivana and I were together in that work, it is normal that we had tough times when we also had to deal with our ordinary and professional obligations, not connected with orienteering. Our escape was spending two weeks cruising around the Greek islands and spending some time in Turkey on the coast, far away from everybody and then we restarted all over again, thinking about new projects.

One of the projects you took up this year was the Supervision of the Egypt International Orienteering Championships and the organization of a TrailO stage as part of the event. Would you like to tell me about your experience in Sharm El Sheikh?

D. G. - The supervision of Egyptian International Orienteering Championships was more like organizing the event. First, I was just supposed to help out with the project, but, finally, seven of my club members, from OC "Vihor", ended up contributing to a big, successful orienteering event. We spent ten days in Egypt and made a three-day TrailO seminar for all interested competitors, one PreO competition and three Foot-O competitions (one WRE Event) and we also spent a lot of time adjusting the maps for FootO and specially for PreO.

Sharm El Sheikh turned out to be a big crossroad for Egyptian orienteering and, especially, for the TrailO team. Working in different environments and with people of different cultures is always challenging and we learned how time can be completely irrelevant. We found out that the Egyptian TrailO team can be very good. They are strong-willed, have some basic map reading experience and now they have some knowledge. After gaining some international experience, I believe they will be competitive even on international level. You know that Croatia came out of nowhere at WTOC in Czech Republic and there we picked up our first IOF medal so I hope that this Croatian-Egyptian work will give us some new very good results.

What does it mean to talk about Orienteering in Egypt?

D. G. - Orienteering in Egypt is taking big steps. Maybe even, steps that are too big, as they cannot follow the needs of organizing International Events and they want to make big events every year. At this moment, Egyptian orienteering is developing within universities, Military and foreign schools. There are lots of people keen on developing orienteering, but they don’t have experience and knowledge on how to do that, and nobody from the Federation can also help them as they are all new to our sport. The only solution is to get help from more developed countries. Tamer Mehana, President of the Egyptian Orienteering Federation, is trying his best and we can see progress and we can see that Egypt is already an orienteering country with national teams and International events but still lacking knowledge and experience.

IOF support, implementation and development of Orienteering in new countries should be better and more efficient . IOF should not focus just on World Championships and "big countries" which are taking medals on those events. There would be no World Championships if "smaller nations" didn't participate in such events and if they didn't get support to develop. Of course money is always a big issue and sending one or more instructors from IOF to the developing countries, with paid flights and everything, could be a good solution to it. Developing countries need everything, from basic equipment to well educated people. Sending some old orienteering flags, compasses, old organizing equipment, etc. would help out a lot.

What other projects do you have to deal with this year and in the upcoming ones?

D. G. - This year we already did one big project which was challenging, as it was in another Continent. At the moment we (I’m always saying “we”, as my wife Ivana is also working on all of these projects and, of course, without the support of club members most of those projects wouldn’t succeed) are preparing several Foot orienteering and PreO events. The main focus at the end of the month will be on our orienteering school, which we do annually and where we try to get as many people as we can to our sport.

Afterwards we will have WOD in few school locations in Zagreb. Last year we did it in three locations with over 600 participants and this year we hope to add a few more. Of course, in the meantime, we will participate on many orienteering competitions. During summer we hope to be able to send a small team to Lithuania, to help the WTOC organizing team. Developing our sport in the region is also one of the things which are on our list of priorities, so my work in the South East European Association is part of that. This year, the SEEOC and the South East European Masters Championships will be held in Montenegro and I hope that it also is a major success for their federation and for the development of orienteering within their country.

Working as an associate lecturer at the University of Kinesiology in Zagreb, where I have the chance to teach orienteering to future PE teachers, is also one of the important steps towards better understanding orienteering and involvement with orienteering within school curriculum in Croatia.

Have you already started working with the Portuguese Orienteering Federation on the WTOC 2019' Supervision?

D. G. - Just a few days ago, I had a first contact with organizers of WTOC 2019. There were some issues with venues and dates and they are still working on it, but I hope this will be settled very soon, so we can start working properly. Two years and few months until the Event seems like a lot of time to prepare the WTOC but it is actually a very short time and we can say that we are a little behind schedule. I hope the first visit of SEA will be soon and we will then approve all the proposed terrains and accommodation facilities, so we can publish Bulletin 1 two years before the event and just before WTOC 2017.

The next visit, the Assistant Event Adviser (hopefully Ivana) will join me and we will check all the courses and maps and this should be exactly one year before the Event. So, in 2018, the organizers should be done with most of the technical stuff. Some final technical adjustments, additional advertising, promotion of Event and all other issues will be taken care of in the last year of preparations. I know how much help my team had from our Advisers Vibeke Vogelius and Lauri Kontkanen so I hope I can be useful to the organizing team, even on the days when we will push them to work better, harder, more accurately, more precisely and more in advance.

How do you assess the TrailO in Croatia currently?

D. G. - Unfortunately, TrailO in Croatia didn’t develop much after WTOC 2015 as I hoped for. The Croatian team is still very competitive and good but we are missing a major step towards the development of this discipline within the clubs. In my opinion there are too many discussions about how to participate in ETOC, WTOC or some major Event, rather than how to develop the sport and how to attract more people and foot orienteers to try this discipline. Only a few are willing to spend some extra time teaching others or organizing training and events in the country. We are still the only club working hard to get more people to try our sport and specially to TrailO. It’s somehow easier for others to sit in the car and to go to the Event which is organized by somebody else in the country nearby.

Would you like to add something else?

D. G. - Orienteering is a great sport and we all are like one big family. Wherever you go, if you find a local orienteering club, you’ll get a warm welcome and the help you need. This is really great. Most of those people are local enthusiasts which are spending most of their free time setting courses, putting controls in the forest, printing, drawing maps, giving lectures and doing a lot of different things for orienteering and for others.

In my opinion, we are still missing support to all those people within the local community and within national Federations and worldwide. If just every national elite runner after his carreer gives back some small part of the experience and knowledge he gained on the work of those enthusiasts, we would all have more help and energy to move on developing our sport.

Joaquim Margarido

CamBOr 2017: Gelson Andrey and Elaine Lenz were the best in the first round of Brazilian Championships

The 2017 Brazilian Orienteering Championships started last weekend, with the first round taking place in Tiradentes and Prados. Good orienteering, lots of excitement and, in the end, two big names coming out ahead for the next round: Gelson Andrey and Elaine Lenz.

CamBOR 2017, the Brazilian Orienteering Championships, have already started. Traditionally spared by three rounds, the event kicked off in the municipalities of Tiradentes and Prados, in the state of Minas Gerais, for its 19th edition. Organized by the Brazilian Orienteering Confederation, Mineira Orienteering Federation and Serra do Lenheiro Orienteering Club and counting on the presence of six hundred competitors from the four corners of Brazil, this CamBOr 2017's first round broke with the tradition, leaving aside the Relay “party” and opening with a Sprint race, a true novelty in the program of the largest Orienteering Championships in the Americas. João Pedro Jaber (ADAAN) and Raquel Sales Arendt (IDESP Dourados), two of the greatest representatives of the new wave of Brazilian athletes, were the winners in the Elite category, in both cases with differences of less than one minute for the runners-up, Sidnaldo Sousa (ADAAN) and Edinéia Roniak (COGA).

Unlike the Sprint stage, the next two stages - Long Distance and Middle Distance - scored for the first round of CamBOr, in which Gelson Andrey Togni (COGA) and Elaine Lenz (ADAAN) were the major figures overall. Gelson Andrey won the Middle Distance stage, with Sidnaldo Sousa being second placed, while in the Long Distance, the victory in the Men Elite class was hardly contested, with Claudinei Nitsch (CASUSA) beating Carlos Henrique Souza (COGA) by the difference of two seconds and with Andrey occupying the third position. In the Women Elite class, Elaine Lenz won comfortably the Long Distance stage, with the winner of CamBOr 2016, Franciely Chiles (COSM), achieving the second place. In the Long Distance race, there was a heated duel that ended in favour of Camila Cortinhas (COSM) with a difference of 12 seconds over Letícia Saltori (ADAAN), second placed. Here, Elaine couldn't get better than the fifth place.

In his Facebook page [HERE] Gelson Andrey reveals himself surprised with his performance and speaks of “a tough event that has left me satisfied with my physical, technical and psychological shape”. The young athlete reveals that “I have not been racing for a long time without mistakes and with a strong rhythm as I was able to do in the Middle Distance” and believes that he's back to “that 'good' orienteering” he was able to do when he was in the Junior category. Last words goes to those who more closely follow his career: “I can see now the importance of having good people by my side, who didn't bother to waste their time to give me good advice, and especially a constructive sermon”, he says. Also Elaine Lenz shares some impressions on her Facebook page [HERE], speaking of “sweat, mud and many contour lines” to characterize the first round of CamBOr 2017. Driving her career under the motto “insist, persist and never give up”, the athlete confesses to be “super happy with the result”, overcoming “two really demanding courses from the physical, technical and psychological point of view”. And concludes: “I only have to thank especially to my coach, Albano João, and those who are always by my side, supporting me, cherishing me, giving me strength and encouragement.”

Results

Men Elite

Sprint

1. João Pedro Jaber (ADAAN) 15:51 (+ 00:00)

2. Sidnaldo Farias Sousa (ADAAN) 16:29 (+ 00:38)

3. Everton Daniel Markus (COSM) 16:38 (+ 00:47)

4. Carlos Henrique Souza (COGA) 17:18 (+ 01:27)

5. Claudinei Nitsch (CASUSA) 18:50 (+ 02:59)

Long Distance

1. Claudinei Nitsch (CASUSA) 1:22:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Carlos Henrique Souza (COGA) 1:22:39 (+ 00:02)

3. Gelson Andrey Togni (COGA) 1:25:52 (+ 03:15)

4. Cleber Baratto Vidal (COSM) 1:30:59 (+ 08:22)

5. Marciano Claudir Kaminski (CASUSA) 1:31:31 (+ 08:54)

Middle Distance

1. Gelson Andrey Togni (COGA) 54:31 (+ 00:00)

2. Sidnaldo Farias Sousa (ADAAN) 55:05 (+ 00:34)

3. Carlos Henrique Souza (COGA) 56:45 (+ 02:14)

4. Cleber Baratto Vidal (COSM) 58:03 (+ 03:32)

5. Claudinei Nitsch (CASUSA) 58:40 (+ 04:09)

Women Elite

Sprint

1. Raquel Sales Arendt (IDESP Dourados) 18:52 (+ 00:00)

2. Edinéia Roniak (COGA) 19:10 (+ 00:18)

3. Maisa Franco Szczypior (COC) 20:06 (+ 01:14)

4. Franciely de Siqueira Chiles (COSM) 20:10 (+ 01:18)

5. Leticia da Silva Saltori (ADAAN) 20:42 (+ 01:50)

Long Distance

1. Camila Luisa Cortinhas (COSM) 1:13:06 (+ 00:00)

2. Leticia da Silva Saltori (ADAAN) 1:13:18 (+ 00:12)

3. Edinéia Roniak (COGA) 1:16:13 (+ 03:07)

4. Franciely de Siqueira Chiles (COSM) 1:20:49 (+ 07:43)

5. Elaine Dalmares Lenz (ADAAN) 1:25:20 (+ 12:14)

Middle Distance

1. Elaine Dalmares Lenz (ADAAN) 1:10:03 (+ 00:00)

2. Franciely de Siqueira Chiles (COSM) 1:13:37 (+ 03:34)

3. Maisa Franco Szczypio (COC) 1:16:03 (+ 06:00)

4. Sara Fabrina Weis (COGA) 1:17:31 (+ 07:28)

5. Leticia da Silva Saltori (ADAAN) 1:17:58 (+ 07:55)

Complete results and further information at https://www.cbo.org.br/evento/105.

[Photos: Mineira Orienteering Federation / facebook.com/pg/fmorienta/photos]

Joaquim Margarido