Sometimes you´re going for a certain goal and getting the opposite

This was quite what happened to me in the EOC long final race at Saturday in Pismenovo, Bulgaria. The longdistance was the one I´ve been aiming for at most towards this EOC 2010. After at okay performance in the middledistance I belived in my skills and my abilities to perform well in the long race.

When I got the map I took a quick check at the whole course. I saw the long leg to the 7^th and thought immediately that the route must be chosen with patience there. Beginning went nice and running felt pretty good. Towards the 6^th I looked closer at the long leg. After punching I stopped and double-checked it again. My only thoughts were either to the left or right around, never straight on. My choice to run left was made because it had the easiest approach to the flag in the end and big paths almost all the way. After half way the path turned bumpy and it was not very good to run. I started to realize this wasn´t the fastest, and it was also very far away from the line. After punching the 7^th and down in the surprisingly runnable “canyon” it came clear to me I made the wrong route-choice at the long leg. I tried to put these thoughts aside, but it wasn´t easy. Somehow you just try to push harder to gain seconds, but what happens is that the speed don´t really increase. Instead you´re burning more energy and orienteering becomes fragile.

In the butterflies I focused on taking the controls without mistakes and managed ok. After the butterflies I made a clear mistake on the 17^th when I run pass it on the right side in the slope. Definitely this mistake came out of a rush, should have run more slowly here. Towards the spectator control my legs didn´t feel so fresh anymore, I had burned the most of my energy already. The last loop, which was quite long, went okay and I didn´t make mistakes on the flags. Some route-choices weren´t the best thou, and the grass was high due to my early starting position. After finishing with the clock ticking at 2.02, I knew this was not what I was going for. Not at all.    

After analyzing the race I could have made a time at 1.50 but Daniels 1.44 I find more or less unbeatable for me. Maybe in another world…

Middle Finals in Pismenovo

I started with great confidence in todays race. Good, calm orienteering from the beginning. Route choice already to the 2nd flag, but I was well prepared for anything, so it went okay. Until the 5th I was running as planned, but then to the 6th came some seconds of gap in concentration and I went off to the right along the first contours. After a while I started to realize I was going wrong and turned left. Still a little unsecure up towards the flag when there was nothing to read and I knew I wasn´t “on the line”. On to the 13th it was quite “straight on” orienteering, thou I had to stop before the 11th when I was a little left. The leg to the 14th looked interested at first sight, but obviously it had to be run along the ditch. Tricky flags at 14th and 15th. After that, from my opinion, orienteering ended. The loop after spectators control was almost the same as in women´s class, so there was paths in the grass.
Even if my position in this competition was 21. I´m quite happy with my race. I managed to have a steady control over my doings during the race. I think a perfect race today would have given me a place 4 – 6.
MEN A-FINALS Middle-distance
1. Valentin Novikov RUS 34´09
2. Matthias Merz SUI 35´30
3. Daniel Hubmann SUI 35´36
...
6. Tero Föhr FIN 36´21
21. Jörgen Wickholm FIN 37´32

Controlled performance in MiddleQ at EOC

Middle Q (5,2km, 160m climb, 16 controls)

I´m satisfied with my performance in today´s middle qualification race. I started well focused on what to do. Nailed the first 4 controls and running felt good from the beginning. To the 5^th, the first long one, I struggled a little in the half-way and had some difficulties to read the vegetation in the end. This resulted in some stops and I lost for example some 50 seconds compared to my team-mate Mats Haldin. Rest of the course went pretty well and I had time to take it easy on the difficult controls in the end. It resulted in a 9^th place some 1´24 behind the Swiss Bapitste Rollier in MEN-A. My time was 28´25 and the last guy to the A-final in my heat had 29´57. In these qualifications it´s not much room for mistakes, at least in men´s class. I really liked the route, it was a little of everything and the best parts of the terrain were used. I have no complains about the map either, thou green areas are a little confusing at some places.