Swedish Champs Long
This weekend I headed way out west to Gothenburg. A city where one drinks coffee with friends and drives through the endless industrial areas that city has to offer. But I was there for neither of these. I was going to be competing at the Swedish Champs Long distance. My training has gone pretty well lately even if the quantity has not been that high during August. So I was hoping that my best shape for this autumn had come at the right time.
Really I was just hoping to qualify to the final and see what happened after that. Saturday’s qualification went very well managing to navigate with nearly no mistakes and take good routes(not always best) on most of the route-choice legs. The terrain was pretty soft underfoot which means you had to work hard all the time, rarely getting anything free. I felt that in the second half of the course I could find an extra gear to finish strong, and I did this, just over 2 minutes behind heat winner and clubmate Filip Dahlgren. My 5th place meant I qualified comfortably for the final. It was nice to get the feedback that the shape was there and I felt comfortable technically in the terrain. Result heat C and Map heat C
After good rest and recovery I was looking forward to the final. It’s always a privilege especially in Long distance to run a championship course where you know the course planner has spent so much time planning a course that tests your skills and really shows who is the best man/women on that given day. I felt ok warming up and the plan was to open hard as I knew the hand-brakes would have to be applied at certain stages in the technical areas during the course. meaning I would get some rest. I wanted to finish with nothing in the tank. I started off well making nearly no mistakes and it was a good boost to hear that I was 3rd at the spectator control with already more then half of the field passing at that stage. Shortly after that came the big long leg. I stood still for a while and tried to look at the possibilities which on a 1:10000 scale is kind of strange when the leg covers an entire A3 map. I eventually choose to go right passing the arena again mainly due to the fact that it felt like an easier approach into the control. However a couple of minutes into the long leg I fell hard on my right thigh giving myself a nice dead leg. First thoughts were that my race was over but after walking for about 30 seconds I was able to start jogging again. This however meant that the long leg didn’t go that well and I lost nearly 5 minutes due partly to bad route choice but also losing my way at one stage and of course my leg. The last 30 minutes were tough physically and not helped by my leg but I did managed to hold it together pretty well and finish my first Swedish Champs Long final in 20th place. GPS and Results
I am really happy that I could orienteer technically so well in this terrain for nearly 3 hours and had the shape to get a result that I am proud of. I’m looking forward to this weekend’s Middle and Relay and then 25 Manna and hopefully ending the season on a real high.
Finally a huge congratulations to my clubmate and good friend Filip Dahlgren who took the Gold medal in what has to be said was a really impressive performance in such challenging terrain. With a margin of nearly 3 mins he was a worthy champion. Congratulations Fille!!
NICK SIMONIN 