Next step

What have I been up to? Well, after the championships had ended, my resting period began. It was important to take some time off and take it easy for a while. Interestingly enough, my preparation season began with Baltic Junior Cup - this was the last notable competition in 20 class for me. Farewell children, welcome men! The event itself was very enjoyable and the terrains were terrific. I heard that the terrains get more interesting southwards and we were basically running in the northern tip. I'm definitely going back there! As for the races, the courses were fast and I wasn't. With the speed I had, I could have last for a long time, but I couldn't go any faster. And the forest, well, it favored fast runners. Tried to make a technically clean race, but the rusty skills didn't allow that. I was very glad that I even got a medal - bronze! The relay was even faster and I was even rustier, I did what I could on that day and that was it. This was a very memorable weekend!
Long distance map, results

Relay map, results

"He-he, all this for me!"

The next weekends offered some of the most fun events in the whole year. First, KoKu - a long team competition (duo/trio), using retro maps. The distances have always been quite long, this time it was said to have been the longest - 24 km, which took 3 hours for me, Kristo and Jaagup. As the team name was "The Sild Experience" (without Timo this year), Jaagup totally got the experience. We still won, as a lot of other teams experienced something similar to what Jaagup did. This day fit nicely to my training plan.
Map 1, map 2, map 3, map 4, map 5, results


The other great event was the 22nd Club Match between Turun Metsänkävijät, OK Võru and OK Meridiāns, in Latvia. The terrain was nice, something what I had't had for a while. While I enjoyed the running, I was rather sad that I wasn't very much able to take part in the social side of the event. It's difficult when there's so much going on at the same time in school. That's also the reason I haven't written here. But I was still glad that I found the time to be a part of the meeting once again! As for the results, this was already my 3rd Club Match individual victory, Mikko Knuuti is worried that I've won more than he has. Nevertheless, the finns have been unbeatable in relay, exactly like this year.
Individual map, results
Relay map, results

Team spirit! (individual race finish)

Tyranny in the Estonian junior class

The series of Estonian Championships continued with the long distance and the youth relay. These were held in one of the most extraordinary terrains in Estonia, the same which was used earlier this year at Baltic Championships. I really like this forest and I was mentally and physically 100% ready for it. I handled the race pretty well, except for two longer legs - 8th and 12th. After crossing the marsh, I couldn't locate myself. The area was very distinct and I could imagine how it would look on the map, but I didn't see anything even similar to that. I decided just to carry on until the narrow ride, which was surprisingly difficult to notice in the forest. I got the control, but the uncertain running cost about a minute and quite a lot confidence. Pulled myself together and carried on fast, but safe, even too safe - a bad choice to the 12th. The narrow ride disappeared completely and the vegetation boundary wasn't clear at all. Should have gone a bit from the south, through the narrowest part in the green and would have been 1,5 minutes(!) faster. Everything went well until the first real mistake with a control - the 17th. The contour lines there are pretty vague and it's hard to use just bearing in this dense forest. But I didn't lose very much time comparing to the previous technical misses. I knew I was doing well and everyone would miss at least something on the course, but it was a very big surprise when the final results were out - I won with 10 minutes! Not bad, as some would say... Map, results.
The next day continued on the same ground, but probably to most difficult distance for me to get a gold medal on. Last year our team was somewhat lucky when we won. This year the exact same team was defending the title. Jüri did much better this year and came out third, only 3 minutes down to the lead, which wasn't much. The second leg runners mixed a lot of cards. Jonatan came out first and gave me a 2 minute lead. This was more than enough for a secure run and even increase the gap to 6 minutes... A joyous day! Now there was just one last medal before the end of the junior class - the ultra-long. Map, results.

Photo: Yes, I'm only using my arms

The next weekend was planned as just a training weekend at first, but then me and my brother decided to go run the Latvian Championships in middle distance and relay. I didn't change anything in the trainings though, I was still preparing for the ultra-long, which meant I was probably going to be rather tired and slow in Latvia, but that wasn't the goal anyway. It was a long drive, but the terrain was definitely worth it - the same spot was used for EOC 2008. It's one of candidates for "101 orienteering maps you should run on before you die". The first part of the elite course was the most fun part, pure enjoyment! If only the course was longer and went even more further to the north-east... With an average technical performance, I was rather just cruising between the controls and not exceeding human limits. The last part didn't go so well. Some misunderstanding on the way to the 16th cost a lot of time. I also took an alternate choice to the 18th, but the last marsh crossing ruined the chances. I don't know if it would have been a better choice if I started later and not second; I like to think that it would have. I must say that I was already afraid of the 20th control, these seemingly easy controls can still be very tricky. And guess... Yes, I missed more than a minute. No mistakes after that, but I lost time anyway. It's quite unusual for me to lose time in the last controls, but I just didn't have a good running feeling on that day (no surprise there). This meant a 4th place, 1 second behind Janis Kruminš and 10 seconds behind Kalvis Mihailovs. Oh, and yes, 3:31 behind Martinš Sirmais... Map, results.

The middle distance was a selection race between me and my brother for the OK Aluksne's first team and I made it. I was in the first leg, where I had no power whatsoever. I lost time in the same area as the previous day, before the 4th. I never got properly acquainted to that area. And no, I did not plan my route to the 5th like that, it was an occupational accident. This "brilliant" choice included almost swimming in waist-deep water and for those who were following me. These two big misses cost the contact to the leader. Eventually I started seeing the 2nd place runner Raivo Kivlenieks in the 9th control and I started closing in on him. But I was even more powerless than the previous day. I was about 5-30 meters behind him for the rest of the course, but never caught him. I even took some different choices, but they weren't that much better or not better at all. My place - 3rd, with some 2 minutes behind the leader (J. Kruminš). Our 2nd leg - Atis Dandens - did well and finished 2nd, just behind the leader. Edgars Bertuks was in control of the situation and came out as a clear winner. Now I'm a Latvian champion as well! Map, results.

Photo: Right before a false start

The last o-event for now was the ultra-long championship. I was confident and took the lead right away. The preparations had gone well and I was feeling great, so I knew I could start off with a high pace and continue til the end. I wanted to see if Kenny or Raido would meet my speed and come along, but they didn't. So I just gave the whole distance what I had, well, alone. It was a very interesting course, but a boring race. I finished first, with a very big margin - 14 minutes ahead of Kenny. Map, results.

Photo: Some are finishing, some are just going on their last loop...

This was the last of this years golden package - 5 of them, just missing the night medal, when my lamp went out... No more youth and junior championships for me, next year it will be the seniors! Looking forward to it!

Now I'm partly resting and waiting for the last important start: Baltic Junior Cup in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Four starts in 48 hours

When finally getting back to Estonia, it was only a few hours before the first start on home soil. It was time for Estonian championships again, this time sprint and night.
The sprint course can be divided into two halves - the first part in the Tallinn Botanic Garden and second part in bushes next to it. The first part fit into the sprint criteria really well - the main characterizing words were fast running and quick map reading. I was doing quite well, even the speed wasn't anything to complain about. The only thing that could have gone better is the routechoice to the 9th control - it was faster from the left. When I passed the arena, I heard that I was doing well. When I entered the deciduous near-city "forest", I had no idea how the landforms drawn on the map would look like in the terrain. 17th was easy and so was 18th, or at least it should have been. II didn't understand much and the mistake was easy to come. I guess I should have taken the situation a bit more rationally and slow down more, but it's too late being smart now. Quite a few other runners missed this one too. With the next ones I was lucky, though I did not make much of the map and terrain. Then my luck ran out again. I was moving in the wrong direction and as I'm no sprint runner, it was hard to sense the scale and understand how far I had gone. I came out at a small wet clearing (not on the map) and understood instantly where I was, as I had been there. It was a very bumpy second half, even the last controls. I thought all my chances of winning were gone, but guess again! By some miracle I won! Not many runners had a clean race that day...

Map, results

Photo: Which control is this?

The night champs was something I was waiting for. The map and the forest promised to be interesting and suitable for a difficult night-forest-fight event. The warm-up felt especially good, it's been a long time since I felt this good at an important start. I mean, the feet were basically running by themselves and they were as light as feathers. Now I was expecting a really good race. On the way to the first control, I even held myself back, just to get the rhythm going and be more aggressive later. Things were going smoothly, I was very confident and so I ran as straight as I could and avoid long routes around. At least this was my plan until... Until I was about to reach the big track before the second control. All of a sudden, it was dark as night. I thought that I had accidentally hit the switch of my lamp and so turned it on again. I could continue to the track and then the light went out again. At that point it was clear that the game was over. I tried to switch it on again for a few times just to be sure, bit it was hopeless. I couldn't run the whole course by switching the light on for a few seconds all the time. I thought that the battery wasn't charged correctly or charged at all, since it was sent to me from my home, where I hadn't been for two months. But I found out that it had been charged as I had asked it to be done. Turns out there is some technical failure either with the charger or the battery. I hope it's not the lamp itself. Too bad that a decent night competition in Estonia went to waste for me.
Map, results

Already on the next day (after 300 km and a few hours of sleep) I was participating at Malienas Kauss (Maliena Cup) with my brother and a few friends. Great two days in a beautiful pine forest - fast forest. No surprise that I was very tired on the first day's middle distance and so I made small mistakes with almost every control. I came out 2nd, a minute behind my brother. Map, results.

As the second day was a chasing start long distance, the hunt for the Maliena Cup began. The last time the Cup was in our family, was in 2003 when my father won. What's also interesting, is that the Cup has been won by different persons for the past nine years. Who wouldn't want their name to be engraved on it? I caught Timo in the 6th control and stayed with him until the 9th. I took the lead and tried to make a gap, which of course was very difficult. It seemed that I had a good lead before entering the forest again before the 14th, so that we'd lose eye contact. Timo took a faster way to 14th though and got closer again. I pushed as hard as I could and the last time I saw him was before the 17th. The Cup was mine! Map, results, total results.

Photo: Maliena Cup claimer and runner-up

Also worth mentioning that Timo lost the best finish split competition we had with our friends and has to buy me ice cream now.