MCO 2014: Maps and Results

Jan Kocbach February 23, 2014 Orienteering News Comments Off on MCO 2014: Maps and Results

[Updated with Maps + 2DRerun Long distance] Three World Ranking races in two days: Thierry Gueorgiou and Simone Niggli dominated the high profile WRE race weekend at the Mediterranean Championships (MCO) in Portugal this weekend. The French and Swiss World Ranking leaders* both won the middle and long distance races.

The evening sprint on Saturday was won by Andreu Blanes (Spain) and Galina Vinogradova (Russia) with Gueorgiou and Niggli 11 and 31 seconds behind, respectively.

[* The official World Ranking was frozen for some months at December 31st – on the unofficial 6prog ranking Hubmann passed Gueorgiou ahead of the MCO weekend]

With the World Cup starting in Turkey the coming weekend, the start field is not as strong at the weekend’s MCO and next weekend’s Portugal O-meeting as has been the case the last years. Even with near collision with the World Cup the start field in Portugal this weekend was very strong – especially in the men’s class.

Update: A small Quiz (before you take a look at the GPS-data below).

Saturday: Middle

I wanted to take the risk and I am very happy with the result

In the men’s class saturday’s middle distance was a tight race until the spectator control (control 14) – with Thierry Gueorgiou in the front but several runners challenging the french king of middle distance.

Here the most tricky and detailed part of the course started – and nobody could follow Gueorgiou. Nobody can handle this kind of detailed terrain in high speed as well as Gueorgiou can – and Gueorgiou practically decided the race between control 15 and control 18 (see Gueorgiou versus Lind from 2DRerun below).

– I needed to be fast
– I knew that it was a more technical part but I needed to be fast. I did an agressive orienteering, I wanted to take the risk and I am very happy with the result, Gueorgiou said after the race.

– You have to do an agressive orienteering, always have good images of the controls and the surroundings

In the end Gueorgiou won the race more than 2 minutes ahead of Swedish William Lind – after Olav Lundanes was disqualified from a position around 2/3. Eskil Kinneberg (Norway) finished third. World stars Edgars Bertuks only finished 7th and Valentin Novikov 10th.

Retired – but still on the top

A lot of tricky short controls but also long legs with many route choices

In the women’s class, Simone Niggli did several small mistake in the start, and was behind Helen Palmer at the first radio control. However the recently retired Swiss managed to get close to her old level in the rest of the course – winning the race with 3 minutes ahead of Anna Härhi in the end – with Helen Palmer in third and Yulia Novikova in fourth. Mari Fasting finished in 9th.

– It’s very good to return every year to Portugal. I’m retired now, I don’t train too much orienteering and I was really eager to come here and to do some really nice orienteering and courses, Simone Niggli said after her race.

– Today it was absolutely fantastic, in a really demanding course, with a lot of tricky short controls but also long legs with many route choices. For me it was also quite demanding because of the greens, you couldn’t see so far and I needed to be really concentrated, to read carefully the countour details, to watch the right directions with the compass, well, to do orienteering all the way.

Results men
1. Thierry Gueorgiou (Kalevan Rasti) 34:33
2. William Lind (MOKS) 35:40
3. Eskil Kinneberg (IFK Göteborg) 36:04
4. Martins Sirmais (TuMe) 37:18
5. Anton Östlin (MOKS) 38:01
6. Douglas Tullie (TuMe) 38:12
7. Edgars Bertuks (TuMe) 38:14
8. Hannu Airila (Kalevan Rasti) 38:18
9. Lauri Sild (HIKI) 39:00
10. Valentin Novikov (CSP Novgorod) 39:04

Results women
1. Simone Niggli (OK Tisaren) 38:05
2. Anna Närhi (IFK Göteborg) 41:00
3. Helen Palmer (Lillomarka OL) 41:15
4. Yulia Novikova (CSP Novgorod) 41:16
5. Ida Marie Naess Bjøergul (Halden SK) 41:25
6. Emma Johansson (NTNUI) 41:31
7. Isia Basset (JOG) 41:56
8. Mari Fasting (Halden SK) 42:07
8. Irina Nyberg (Individual) 42:07
10. Galina Vinogradova (Individual) 42:19

Full results
GPS data in 2DRerun for analysis (imported from TracTrac)
Maps: Men – Women
GPS tracking men and GPS tracking women (TracTrac)

Sunday: Long

This terrain, today, can be even better than the others I know, a little bit like the terrains in Australia, extremely demanding

Sunday’s race saw yet another great performance by the reigning World Champion long distance Thierry Gueorgiou. With 82 minutes the French was 3 minutes faster than the Norwegian World Champion long distance from 2012 – Olav Lundanes – and the gap down to Douglas Toullie in third was nearly 10 minutes.

Truly a world class race by Gueorgiou here – like we have seen so many times in Portugal at this time of the year. And Gueorgiou was really happy with the challenges he got in Portugal on this long distance – comparing the terrain with Australia.

– [But] It’s difficult to understand the terrain, much harder than yesterday, but absolutely perfect. I often come to Portugal and I continue to be surprised with the quality of the terrains, Gueorgiou commented. – This terrain, today, can be even better than the others I know, a little bit like the terrains in Australia, extremely demanding, and I’m particularly pleased to have been able to run this race today.

Below you see the leg from 4-5 from the GPS-tracking loaded in 2DRerun – one of the few legs where the fastest route was not very close to the line (the other was the long leg from 7 – 8). Here Lundanes found a fast left route with some path running and an easy entrance to the control, whereas most of the others chose various variants to the right.

On the start in Portugal during the European Champs
The women’s class was again won by Simone Niggli – this time with Mari Fasting (Norway) in second. Fasting finished around 1:40 behind Niggli – with Irina Nyberg in third another four minutes down on Niggli.

– On the long leg I took some wrong route choices and I was running slowly a lot, but I’m really amazed about the terrain. It’s a mixture of Finland, Swiss Alps and Portugal, it was really fantastic, very difficult but really fun for orienteering, Simone Niggli commented after yet another win in a WRE race.

About this year’s big orienteering happening in Portugal – the Portugal O-Meeting – Niggli has the following comment.

– I will not run the European Championships, that’s for sure. I have made this decision, and until now,I don’t regret my choice. [But] I will follow the European Championships, I’ll be there as a spectator, running the spectators races and cheering for Swiss.

Results Men Super Elite
1. Thierry Gueorgiou (Kalevan Rasti) 1:22:06
2. Olav Lundanes (Halden SK) 1:25:03 (+2:57)
3. Douglas Tullie (TuMe) 1:31:58 (+9:52)
4. Jan Prochazka (Kalevan Rasti) 1:32:20 (+10:14)
5. Eskil Kinneberg (IFK Göteborg) 1:33:06 (+11:00)
6. Olli-Markus Taivanen (PelPo) 1:34:04 (+11:58)
7. William Lind (MOKS) 1:34:51 (+12:45)
8. Bjørn Ekeberg (IL Tyrving) 1:35:31 (+13:25)
9. Matthew Speake (Lillomarka OL) 1:35:53 (+13:47)
10. Ionut Alin Zinca (Farra-O) 1:36:38 (+14:32)

Results Women Elite
1. Simone Niggli (OK Tisaren) 1:10:42
2. Mari Fasting (Halden SK) 1:12:24 (+1:42)
3. Irina Nyberg (Individual) 1:16:11 (+5:29)
4. Galina Vinogradova (Individual) 1:17:36 (+6:54)
5. Outi Ojanen (Kangasala SK) 1:18:34 (+7:52)
6. Kine Hallan Steiwer (Halden SK) 1:21:18 (+10:36)
7. Gabija Razaityte (IGTISA) 1:21:50 (+11:08)
8. Maren Janssen Haverstad (NTNUI) 1:22:15 (+11:33)
9. Svetlana Mironova (Individual) 1:22:57 (+12:15)
10. Hanna Raitanen (Rajamäen Rykmentti) 1:23:54 (+13:12)

Saturday: Evening Sprint

The major difficulties were in the part of the castle

Practically every big name present in the morning stage was again at the start on the Sprint stage. In the sprint both Gueorgiou and Niggli were beaten, though. The men’s class was won by Spanish Andreu Blanes.

– The major difficulties were in the part of the castle, with some walls and where it was necessary to maintain very high levels of concentration all the time to make the best choices, Blanes said after the race. – I ran pretty well, very fluid, despite some doubts as to the route choices in a couple of controls. But I believe that I did the right choices and I won.

Preparations for EOC in Portugal

Technically, the sprint was very easy

Russian Galina Vinogradova won the women’s sprint race – as part of her preparations for the sprint at EOC in Portugal later this year.

– Technically, the sprint was very easy, specially in the part corresponding to the second map. The hilly part was more demanding and I run really slowly, because it was necessary to understand the small details of the map, Vinogradova commented.

– I got the victory in the second part of the course. Passing through the spectators control, I heard that I was nine seconds away from the first position and I run very fast.

Results Men Super Elite
1. Andreu Blanes (Team Espanha) 16:44
2. Antonio Martinez (Individual) 16:51 (+0:07)
3. Thierry Gueorgiou (Kalevan Rasti) 16:55 (+0:11)
4. Jonas Vytautas Gvildys (IGTISA) 17:08 (+0:24)
5. Jan Prochazka (Kalevan Rasti) 17:17 (+0:33)
6. William Lind (MOKS) 17:18 (+0:34)
7. Douglas Tullie (TuMe) 17:41 (+0:57)
8. Bjørn Ekeberg (IL Tyrving) 17:42 (+0:58)
9. Gaute Hallan Steiwer (Lillomarka OL) 17:46 (+1:02)
10. Helmut Gremmel (Lillomarka OL) 17:47 (+1:03)

Results Women Elite
1. Galina Vinogradova (Individual) 16:27
2. Svetlana Mironova (Individual) 16:52 (+0:25)
3. Elena Roos (Halden SK) 16:55 (+0:28)
4. Simone Niggli (OK Tisaren) 16:58 (+0:31)
5. Hanna Raitanen (Rajamäen Rykment) 16:59 (+0:32)
6. Yulia Novikova (CSP Novgorod) 17:11 (+0:44)
7. Isia Basset (JOG) 17:25 (+0:58)
8. Kine Hallan Steiwer (Halden SK) 17:30 (+1:03)
9. Anna Nähri (IFK Göteborg) 17:34 (+1:07)
10. Lea Vercellotti (Halden SK) 17:41 (+1:14)