WUOC, O-Ringen and WOC Tour in retrospect

WUOC

I was really looking forward to the long distance. I had been on that terrain twice before - in 2004 I was up there skiing with Erik and Martin Blomgren and in 2006 as a training with OK Võru's friend club Stura Tuna OK. I knew this was something for me and I was more than ready for it. The goal: make the best race of the year. I had a much better feeling than I did at JWOC and it was finally good to achieve the state of good orienteering flow. I made a bad routechoice, but other than that I was doing fine. Somehow I managed to make a 2-minute mistake in the end. The control area just didn't feel right when running, no matter how many times I attacked the control. I went to check it out on the next day and I can just conclude that it was just lack of experience... That one control ruined a very good race, but I'm just happy that I had such a good feeling on the course. I placed 13th, but without the mistake I would have had the chance to reach the podium. Map and results.
The middle distance was a disaster. On the first half of the course it was "connection lost" all along. On the second half I gained some stability, but nevertheless I was too tired to run fast and occasionally even walked uphill. The course can be divided to two halves at the 7th control. I was 53rd when I got there and 28th in the finish. From the 7th control to to the end I lost only an additional 7 seconds to the winner, but he made mistakes and I did only a small one. The only victory that day was my best split in the finish - aah, a poor man's victory. Map and results.
The keywords of the relay? Just one - fast! As having been the best Estonian runner on the previous races, I was anchoring our team with Kristo and Timo. Kristo was probably the only one of us who was able to run fast on that day, but a small mishap on reading the map didn't allow to compete with the leading runners til the end and so he came out 13th, 4 minutes after the leader and 2,5 minutes after the 2nd place. Timo did what he could, but a mistake in the end cost some positions. There was a big group finishing and we were chasing it. I tried to catch the closest rivals, but it was so difficult. I was suffering the whole distance. The long and middle distances had left their marks. I had climbed a few positions and right before the last loop I was with Janne Haikka, Arturs Paulinš and Kiril Nikolov. But since I missed the 17th conrtol, I had no say in the fight anymore. We came out 17th, 14th country. Not our cup of tea. Map and results.

Photo: Skiing at Gyllbergen with Martin and Erik Blomgren (By Håkan Blomgren)

O-Ringen

It was only one day of "resting" (actually travelling and a training on an official trainingmap) before the first day of O-Ringen. I wasn't ready for this event, except for a training with Stora Tuna in 2006 again right next to the 2nd day's map.
I decided not to take any risks this year and take all the time that I need to make technically clean races. In brief: The first day fulfilled its purpose and I was off to a good start. The terrain suited me and I was full of positive emotions. The second day began well, but I forgot my principle in the end and made two mistakes. Nevertheless, I was in for the fight. On the third day all the competing finally got to me and it hit me hard - I was so tired that I was reading wrong control descriptions and making many other bad decisions. I was no longer in touch with the leader, but anything was possible. This year, the resting day fit in my plan well, usually I want a 5 day competition to be a 5 day competition, not a 3+2 day event. I wasn't tired on the 4th day, actually, I felt rather good and fresh. The mind, on the other hand, was still tired and I didn't achieve any good rhythm and had to make a lot of long stops, which were necessary. I had some mistakes, but I'm sure I avoided some big ones. I was very surprised to have lost 5 minutes to the best time. I knew my time wasn't good, but this much? Maybe I was still tired, just didn't feel it. Now I was 4th in overall. While the first four days had been on very demanding terrains, the last day was from a totally different class. I started right behind Matthias Kyburz and caught him quickly. A stupid miss in the 7th and 8th let him go his own way and catch Gustav Bergman. I was caught by Rassums Andersson. My situation was cleared on the way to the 10th as we took different choices (to my advantage). I didn't see him again after that. This was my 12th O-Ringen and I have been 2nd three times and 3rd two times, but I must say that this was one of my best performances at O-Ringen so far (not counting very young classes). Since this year's competition the tightest of the last years, I got the 4th place. Though my last day was a failure, I'm pleased with my overall result!
Maps: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5.
Results: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5.

 Photo: some of my Norwegian fans came to ask for my autograph

WOC Tour

Now it was finally time to meet the fantastic Norwegian terrains. I was a spectator on this year's WOC and running the WOC Tour 21E at the mean time. The goal: enjoy orienteering! On the first day I was having the time of my life! I was so amazed by the nature and ran like a tourist lost in the forest. The second day was as fun as the first and I it already felt like home. So far, I was running on other fantastic maps also in the evenings, taking what I could of the Norwegian trip. I didn't expect much from the sprint, but miraculously I felt really good and had a very good result. It's a shame that the course was too simple and had no routechoices or very detailed reading. The best thing about the race - I beat the WOC sprint bronze in sprint! Since I was doing good also in the result-department, I decided to have a real competition race on the fourth day. Though (to my mind) this terrain was no match the the first two days, it was still a great experience. In the evening I went to conquer a nearby hilltop - Vassfjellet - with Peeter and Timo to enjoy the views. The training was good for me in the long run, but considering the next day's pursuit start, it was a mistake. I was so tired of the long climb that I managed to lose about 4 minutes to my closest rival Frederic Tranchand and he basically caught me in the end of the course. I speeded up as much as I could and lost sight of him. I finished 1:21 before him. Sad that the last two days were in the same area and even parts of the courses matched. Otherwise, I had a really great training camp in Trondheim! This gave me a lot of confidence towards the future!
Maps: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5 and results.

 Photo: first attempt to reach the summit of Vassfjellet (by Andreas Kraas)

I feel more at home in Nordic terrains than I do in Estonian terrains. Strange, isn't it?

JWOC 2010, Denmark

The preparations had gone well and I was ready for battle. Right before the JWOC-week, I somehow must have caught cold (!), as I had a running nose and my voice was lossy sometimes. But since there were no other symptoms, I tried to ignore the situation as much as I could and just think that this must mean I'm in good shape. The sprint, as always, worked as a good startup for the next starts. Only with a few small misses, the loss to the winner was too much. I was expecting about a 10th to 13th place, but as it turned out, I was slower than I should have been. I wasn't worried though, since I'm accustomed to a difficult day before my main event.

Results, map.

I felt great during the warmup for the Long distance. Everything was according to plan. The very beginning of the course suited me well: technical controls in sand dunes, lots of changes in direction and speed, and lastly - running in forest, instead of paths or roads. On the long leg I could feel that this was not my day. The feet were heavy and it wasn't possible to run as fast as needed. I tried to push hard, but it was no use. On the butterfly, I met Johan Runesson and then I saw how I should be moving. Nevertheless, I ran as fast as I could and give my best on that day. To the 15th control I should have gone from above and because of that I lost some time. In the control itself, I saw Pavel Kubat, whom I ran side-to-side until the 20-21 control. We chose different routes and I just died on the ascent. It felt as if I hadn't done any trainings for steep hills. Just so hopeless. After the 21st control I occasionally saw Pavel again, until the 25th, where I got hit in the eye with a spruce branch and had difficulties seeing. On the last loop I made one bad choice - I went totally around the green area. When I left the previous control, I saw how bad the open are could be and decided to run around, which was a mistake. In rough conclusion - I lost about 2-3 minutes because of mistakes and bad routes, the rest by slow running. Clearly not my day. In the end, I felt that the course lacked some technical challanges. There were many different routechoices, but not enough detailed mapreading, which also meant that there was a lot of running on paths. But that's how the terrain was and the best won. My race was worth an 8th place.

Results, map.

The middle distance qualification went just swell. I ran cautiously and a place in the final was secured. Since the running shape was not of the best, I started with the thought of "all or nothing". The first 5 controls went OK, but then I made a fatal mistake with the 6th. It was very hard to connect the map with the terrain, but I thought I had it under control. I ran past two depressions, which seemed right. When I arrived in the presumed control, there was no flag. I had ran too much to the left, but I didn't understand that then. I went further to determine my location and attack the control again. Didn't quite work out again. Finally got it at the same time with Jan Petrzela. After the open area, the course was rather simple and the main attention was on fast legs. I managed to lose some more time with the 9th control. I still don't understand why. The rest of the distance went ok, no technical difficulties. I got the 20th place, which is worse than on the last two years - both 17th. Although those races went worse, I had a better position. I guess this shows that this year's course was simpler and therefore, the results tighter.

Results, map.

On the burning hot relay day, our teams' hopes were up and my teammates were ready to fight for medals. Unfortunately Raido had a really bad day and lost an enormous amount of time already in the first part of the course. The medal hopes were gone. I still tried to give my best. The feeling wasn't all that bad. When it wasn't running straight up steep hills, I was moving quite well. The course was simple, but yet very difficult. It seemed as if there was "physical forking" applied. A rather good race for me. With a 5th time on my leg, I climbed from 26th to 17th place. Kenny on the last leg, kept the position.

Results (pdf), map.

I can say that this JWOC turned out as a disappointment to me. I had good races on venues, I don't really prepare for and bad races on my main distances. Now looking forward to the WUOC in Borlänge.

First foreign experiences of the season

May ended with anoher successful event for me - Baltic Championships, where I defended both of my titles from last year. To my mind this was one of the best terrains in Estonia. The variety was incredible, which made this event an orienteering-, not a running competition. Though the feeling on the long distance was not the best I could hope for, it was enough to be among the fastest on that day. I could handle the map well and no additional stops were necessary, except for the 3rd control. In fact, the map was drawn by two persons and the border of the two areas went on the narrow ride between 2nd and 3rd control. The map style difference was very well noticeable, hence the mistake. Anyway, besides that mistake, I can be satisfied with the race. Results, map.

Photo: Winners finishing

On the next day's relay, there was a totally different person running though - amateur mistakes and no running feeling. Raido opened quite well for us, but a mistake in the end gave Belarus and Latvia a two minute lead. With a rough beginning, I finally caught the leader by 8th control. His mistake gave me the chance to give Kenny a safe 4 minute gap in the start. Kenny even doubled the lead and another gold was in the pocket. Results, map.

Photo: Timo found a coin!

The trainings continued with one easy week and one camp week. It was finally time to meet the terrains awaiting at JWOC in Denmark. Even though I hadn't made any presumptions about the forests, I was rather surprised by the vegetation. It was so damn thick that I almost bounced back when I tried to enter the forest. I was unsatisfied with the quality of the maps - it seemed like they were made in a hurry or something. This was even worsened by ordinary printed maps, which were really hard to read even when sitting behind a table. But we got the taste of an offset map in one training and let me tell you, it was a whole different thing! The map finally made some sense. Considering JWOC itself, it will be really tough as it seems like the terrains aren't really favouring me. 

Some maps of the camp: long and middle trainings from Vester Torup, Bulbjerg, Blokhus; sprint from Mølleparken; relay from Rold Skov.

This years Jukola promised to be a lot of fun, and it was. After resting from the last trainings, It felt hard to get the speed up when I was exploiting the Jukola model terrain. But on the warmup, the old familiar good-shape feeling arrived. As I was getting ready for my 2nd leg, I saw that my teammate, Jaagup, was keeping his head cool in the forest and was not far from the leaders. He made just the race I was expecting from him and came out 62nd. I immediately made friends with the map and everything was crystal clear. A good feeling in the legs allowed to make fast movements too. By the first radio, I had decreased the loss to the leader from 5:09 to 3:03, not that I knew that at the time. To the 6th control, I took it carefully and didn't want to lose contact. But at one point, I couldn't connect the map and the terrain. I knew exactly where I had gone, but then just nothing made sense anymore. I kept moving and not after long, I determined my location. As I continued, it turned out, I hadn't been in the location that I had thought. After countless tries to relocate myself, I took a bearing to the west and wanted to end up on either the big road, one of the lakes or the big clearing. Not after long, I arrived at a harvester's track and found out where I was. Even then I didn't get to the control without a mistake and lost about a minute or two more. The total mistake cost about 7:30! I haven't made a mistake that big for a very long time. Trying to forget about the lost time and continue well, worked for some time, but after the long leg, I had forgotten the basic orienteering skills and hesitated with every choice I took. I arrived at 34th place, 9:26 after the leader, which meant that after my big damn mistake I was moving at about the same pace as the leaders. Could I have caught the leader without my huge mistake? I guess we'll never know. I can't really complain about my physical shape though. My brother had a real long night - his lamp was not obeying him and worked for a few seconds after turning it on. Switching it on and on and on and on and.... all the time didn't let him orienteer and he had to follow the packs he saw and use the light of others. Considering that, it was an impressive run, since he only gave away 11 places! By the last leg, we had fallen to the 102nd place, which is 2 places worse than last year. We were clearly capable of making a better result. This was a good pit-stop on the way to JWOC. Team results, map.