Season premiere in Andalucia

I have spent some days in the warmth of southern Spain, which was really nice as a change to the snowy Stockholm (even though pretty much all the snow has melted now). I traveled down with my club OK Ravinen, and we were almost 30 people over the competition weekend, and then 8 people who was staying for another few days to get some real training done.

The competitions, Andalucia O-Meeting, started with a prologue on friday afternoon; a masstart on 1:5 000, which I won quite comfortably depsite a big mistake. I really enjoyed it; technical orienteering on big scale maps is my thing! Map. Results.

On the saturday there were the more important competitions of the week; 2 WREs, one middle and one sprint. I was especially excited for the middle, as I know that suits me well. The course turned out to be quite tricky, and tough physically thanks to the sandy ground, and I guess that suited me really well. I had a good run, some small 5-10 second mistakes, but overall well excecuted navigation, and I ended up winning with 1½ minutes. Map. Results. Splits.

In the afternoon, the WRE sprint also went really well. My physical shape felt great; better than perhaps ever on a flat asphalt sprint, Usually I build up lactate after 6-7 minutes, and I really have to fight for the last part of the course, but this time it felt different. I was able to run my usual sprint speed, but now comfortably and below my treshold level. I ended up as 2nd, behind my club mate Yannick, and I was really satisfied, despite a quite big mistake on one control (7-8 seconds). Map. Results. Splits.

And then there was the long distance on the sunday. My legs felt alright, but I didm’t have my best day orienteeringwise. I ended up 2nd, beaten by Albin Ridefelt with only 10 seconds. And that was more than enough to win the AOM overall in the M-SE class. But I’m still not satisfied with my run… Map. Results.

My and a couple of others then stayed i nPunta Umbria for a few days, and ended up having a great time and doing a lot of training, which can all be found in my DOMA.

Next up is World Cups in Turkey – I’m really looking forward to that!