Last day of O-Ringen 2022 – venimus, cucurrimus, vicimus

We came, we ran, we conquered.

Today was the last day of O-Ringen and the chasing start and as Christine was in it and as her group started first, we needed to be up early. Which we were. The kids loved it, one could tell by the happy, smiling faces round the breakfast table (not). We also knew it was going to be one of the toughest days yet and as we had already seen the map we knew it would also be challenging.

We did the same setup as yesterday, with Vince and I driving the family to the event, going back to the house and biking to the event. There were no problems meeting up and the High’s were already there, full of beans, raring to go. Christine was the first to leave, in the chasing start at 10:01. She has had consistently good runs this week, however today was the exception and she had a bit of a mare (not as bad as some…. more later) to finish in 92nd position, moving down the GC to finish 75th in the W40-S.

Andrea was next, and she had her very best result of the week to finish 18^th in W60 although she had missed the start by 2 minutes. In the GC she climbed to 42^nd place. Next to start were the boys in the M14 just 75s apart. Marc caught Aidan at the 7^th control, but he ran away from Marc towards the end. Aidan’s last sprint-in attempt was a blistering 50s, a full 11s ahead of Marc. I think Marc might have been trying his backwards sprint time. On the day, Marc was just 47 seconds faster than Aidan to finish 119th, while Aidan was 123^rd. In the GC, Aidan remained ahead finishing in 109th overall, Marc just 3 places behind in 112^th place. There was no clear winner however, and also no blood spilled, so all ended well.

I was next off as the first M50-S2 not in the chasing start. I would be starting in 80^th place, but when I did get to the start (I was almost late), there was just 1 guy ahead of me and a string of them behind me. I had a good run, finishing in 69^th place and overtaking 10 places to finish 70^th in the GC. I had the best improvement during the week, gaining more than 10 places every day. Aline also started at this time, still in the chasing start. She had another super run, finishing in 17^th place and 24th in the W20 GC. Well done Aline. Great things still to come from Aline in the future.

Barbara, who has been improving throughout the week, had a great run in the W50 to finish 104th and overall 119^th in the GC. The smile on her face was good to see, and she obviously had a great time in the forest, which would help to balance out what happened to Klaus later. Käthi continued to improve, her 61st place in W21 today, a confirmation of her excellent race yesterday. She just squeaked in to the top 100 in GC and finished 99^th. Nice running Käthi.

At this time, also one of our disaster runs started. Ali, still in the chasing start in W45, had a good run until control 1 and then it all fell apart. Her description of her run cannot be repeated where young people might read it. Needless to say, she was still cheerful and happy to have finished O-Ringen in 136^th place, unfortunately dropping down the GC to be 79th overall. And (unfortunately) at this time the second of our disaster runs stated. Yes, Ali had laid the foundation and Darrell built the house. Full of confidence, brimming with enthusiasm after his brilliant result yesterday, Darrell decided rather to map the rest of Sweden today in M50-2. His 30 min mistake at control 7, proof of tiring bodies and minds (like the rest of us), is certainly a record this week. Darrell gritted his teeth and made another 20 minute mistake, just for fun. Give him credit though, he did push on to the finish, with enough high spirits to enjoy the run in. Darrell’s position was 125^th, which dropped him into the 96^th place in the GC.

Having said this, the High family star scorched round the course for her very best result of the week, finishing 48th in the W16 and 87th in the GC. Well done Heather. Both Hanna, who had her best run of the week, to finish 64th on the day and move up to 101^st place in the GC and Eáhba, who was not so happy with her 135th place and 126th place in the GC, will need to improve a little to challenge Heather next year. This rivalry happens on a very good level, and the friendship can only help all three girls to better results in the future. Ciro was also out there today in the heat and his 71st place in the M21-1, and 70^th on the GC was a well deserved result. Next time the team wishes more contact with our club trainer, don’t be so sparse dude.

Our last disaster run was also in the M50-2, where Klaus was having his nightmare day, he even considering giving up for the first time in his life, as he crashed on round the course to finish lower than Darrell in second last position and 130^th place. He was still in the time limit however, so not disqualified. His final GC was 121st, so well done anyway Klaus. There is always next year.

Koni who decided to tough it out in his course M60 (20% didn’t even start the last day due to the late start in the unbearable heat) finished in 83^rd position while sneaking into the top 80 overall in 78^th place. Well done Koni, you’re an inspiration to me, keep it up. Raphi, who has definitely had a mixed week with his results had an average run in the M21-L in the blinding heat to finish 100th on his course today and 88th on the GC. I’m not sure what made Raphi happiest today, his 48 km orienteering in 8 hours over 5 days or the fact that the lady in his life was clearly having a better week than he was. I only have one piece of advice buddy (after this been happening to me for the last 25 years), I learned it form the swede’s – shower more 😊 Fixes all manner of evils.

Lastly, our two “newbies” must be mentioned with full honours. Vincent who made a disastrous start to the week by missing the cut off on day 1, improved immensely to be remarkably constant over the last 4 days. His 32^nd place today was steady and he finished his week in the 28^th place in GC. Additionally, he has gone full OL techy on us, downloading apps, uploading GPX’s and generally being in the know when it comes Livelox. Super to see. Anne, who has enjoyed the orienteering so much, and improved to the degree that she regrets not taking a harder course, declared that today was at least a bit more challenging than yesterday. She finished in 37^th place, and captured the 36th place in GC. Well done to you both. The OLG N+O has found two new stalwarts for the next few years.

It has been a great week, with a high percentage of our troop improving consistently during the week. There have been some bad runs, some OK runs, and 1 or 2 blinders. Well done to all. There was not a single miss punch, and everybody always finished their course on the day.

Christine and I met 25 years ago, on the 21^st of July in Umea during our first O-Ringen. This was our 5^th and we enjoyed it very much. We will be back.

4 days and 7 seconds

O-Ringen day 4 dawned bright and hot. Perfect weather, and we wanted it to be perfect results as well. As the start arena was quite close and there was no convenient way to get there, Vince and I drove the family to the start arena, drove back to the house and then cycled to the arena. It worked quite well but once we got there the next problem was finding the troop, which we did do in the end.

Things were hotting up in the OLG N+O troop as there were 2 or 3 people up to be in the chasing start, provided their runs were good. The girls had the earliest start and had already left by the time I got to the team area. The rest trundled in over the next 15 minutes or so.

Koni was first back, breaking into the top 70 to be 70th. Great run and well done. Koni has improved every day this week. Next into the finish was myself, a solid run with a small mistake was enough to propel me into the top 50 for the first time this week and 49th place. I was followed closely by Aline, who continued her string of good results, finishing 25th and claiming her spot in the chasing start. Christine was not far behind, not her strongest showing today in 84th place but it was more than good enough however to secure our second spot in the chasing start.

Barbara was next, who had her best run of the week, and smashed into the top 100, finishing 77th. Well done. Anne came into the finish in 18th place and then had the audacity to complain about the "easy" course. Andrea popped up looking fresh. She bagged her second top 50 result of the week with a 46th place. I didn't see Heather finish but her result of 73rd place and her best result this week took her ahead of Hanna, who finished in 109th place. They will start 90s apart tomorrow, so it will be a very interesting race. Eábha didn't want to be left out and had her PB of the week as well in 115th place.

I was at the fence to see Klaus come charging down the finish straight to finish in 124th place. Unfortunately I failed to see Vince directly behind him, who also had a PB in 23rd place. Darrell had a stormer today and finished 13th. It must be said that a certain swiss ex-world champion called Tom came flying past him at control 6, and Darrell dug in to hang on to his coat tails until the end of the race, pipping Tom in the finish sprint. I should mention that Tom went on to win the course. Great result Darrell.

At this stage people were coming down the final sprint one after the other. Aidan ran past me on his way to 125th place and Marc (who came down a lot later, poor guy was one of the last to start today) had a good run to finish 116th. They will start just 75s apart tomorrow and have already promised a blood duel to the death. I am interested to see how that turns out. I only saw the back of Käthi running down the finish shoot as she was spectacularly fast, jumping in the results 74 places to finish 44th. Great run Käthi. Raphi was not far behind, redeeming himself after yesterday (apparently he showered 40 times) to finish 79th. I did not see Ciro finish today but he was in in a steady 69th place. Alison wasn't sprinting down the finish track but frantically waving at Darrell (which didn't help at all) to finish in 45th place and claim a spot in tomorrows chasing start. Great going Ali.

So there were almost all personal best results today in the OLG N+O course. Aline and Christine are in the chasing start, so well done for that and good luck tomorrow. The 3 girls and 2 boys all start very closely together and will provide us with an interesting result.

And the 7 seconds. Ja well no fine, I managed to miss the chasing start by just 7 seconds. This means I will start at the allotted time as the first of the rest. It will not be fun.

Half way there...

Yes, O-Ringen is going quite well, and today was the halfway stage. After the rest day yesterday, we all had a little more energy for the event today. Actually we visited Sigtuna yesterday, which has the oldest shopping (main) street in Sweden. It really is a picturesque little town, and certainly worth a visit. After that we met up with some old friends for dinner and then went to bed quite early.

The third race day dawned bright and sunny, and as the event was close to our accommodation there was no stress. We had an lazy breakfast and started the preparations for the run. We had heard that the map would be much harder than the first two days, so everyone was a little apprehensive about their course. It was also a  slightly longer day than the first two, so running times were expected to be a bit longer.

Unfortunately, we were not all able to meet up in the finish arena, so we missed out on seeing Barbara (145th) and Klaus (125th), but judging from their results they had about the same as in previous days. It was a mixed day, but generally the runs were good. Aline had a fantastic run to finish 7th in her class (our first top ten this week) and she made a big jump up the general classification as well moving into the top 30, keeping her chances of being in the chasing start alive.

Aidan had a great run to finish 98th (his first top 100) but Marc was less happy with his 142nd place, however they both enjoyed an excellent perch to help cheer in Raphi (115th), who's run is best left unmentioned. Raphi had a bad bang on his knee on the second day and this certainly impacted his run today. He will be back, strong like mother Russia soon, I am sure of it. The girls all had good runs, Eábha having a nice steady run to finish 128th, continuing her constant daily improvement and Heather (in 97th) just slightly faster than Hanna in 103rd place. In the combined results they are just 1 place apart, so the last day will be exciting for them I think.

Käthi's 118th place is again another big jump forward and she continues to improve in her class and in the forest in leaps and bounds. Ciro also had a solid run today and finished in 67th place on his course. Christine continued her string of good runs to finish 67th, and is with Aline the only one who has a chance on the chasing start from our club. We are holding thumbs for them both. Alison continued her 4 place improvement to finish 76th while Darrell's 77th was also a slight improvement over the last two days.

My own run was ok, but 2 large mistakes cost me a chance at the chasing start. Still I was happy with the 84th place. Anne and Vincent both had steady runs even though they kept getting stopped by people asking them for directions. They (like most of us towards the end) were plagued by a massive amount of orienteers in a small forest with many paths. Only my last 3 controls were in that area, but it was most unbearable. Anne finished 41st while Vincent was 33rd.

Andrea continued her steady runs with a 51st position while Koni continues to improve, breaking into the top 90 today - top 80 tomorrow Koni? And that was our day. The dreaded area turned out to be OK and I think a lot of the team really enjoyed their runs. The mood is good, we are still all qualified in the overall competition, and we are looking forward to the last 2 days.

A day of improvement and a nice braai

As Tuesday dawned, while the rain was pouring down, there were some serious long faces around the breakfast table. At least it wasn't 5h45 but a more reasonable 7h15. We tried our best to muster the GatherKenna clan and surprisingly we did get out the door more or less on time. Getting to the event center was old hat by now and with the usual 10000 steps completed before we even started our races, the day had begun in earnest.

The weather gods were smiling on us this time round and I spotted a few little (not big) blue sky holes in the clouds so our hopes soared like an eagle. Be careful what you wish for, because the emerging blue sky pushed the humidity up making it really sapping during the event, and wet, and sweaty, and hot.

The tent was still where we left it (thank goodness) and Heather had already started the day being our earliest starter, so we didn't even get to see her before the start. Ciro popped in for a quick hello and was then off as we slowly started heading towards our starts. At O-Ringen this can sometimes be quite long and for the oldies in the club this meant 3.3 km or more. Today was the long distance as well, so we were expecting longer running times than yesterday.

Richard, Marc and Aidan had a little side bet to see who would have the shortest time today as their courses were all the same length. Aidan was our first finisher to clinch the 122nd place in M14, while Marc finished in 134th place. They had running times of 64:12 and 70:38 while Richard finished in 58th position in the M50-S2 in a bet winning 52:35. So the unfit, grey, old, fat man took it :)

Among the W16 finishes, Heather (112th) pipped Hanna (119th) and Eábha (130th). Moving up the age ladder, Aline was in fine form again achieving a 36th place in the W20. When I asked her how her run was, she told me full of enthusiasm that it went well, up until control 1. Wasn't sure how to react to that. Well done anyway. Raphi had the distinct pleasure of getting the most bang for his buck by finishing the M21 course (which was a staggering 13 km long) in 105 minutes for 49th place, with a banged up knee. After he finished he went to the medics who were clearly not impressed and told him that a good shower would fix it. Ciro, who had a lengthy 9.1 km to master, also finished in 105 minutes for the 83rd place. Käthi, who in the W21 had the longest course in the ladies section, improved to finish 138th in 96 minutes.

In the veterans section, Christine pulled out all the stops in the W40-S to improve a staggering 46 places to finish 59th and achieved her personal aim of not being double the winning time. Now that her confidence is back, expect good things. Alison had a steady run again to finish in 80th place in the W45. Darrell and Klaus continued their battle with both recording good improvements. Darrell crashed his way into the top 100 to finish 86th, while Klaus finished 114th in their class.

Anne had a slightly less successful run than yesterday, but is showing all the signs of becoming a true orienteering fanatic by being annoyed by.... well .... everything about her run. She did, however, make a most beautiful infinity sigh (or 8 if you prefer) on her course. We are not sure exactly what it means, but I think it means great things to come and that she was 53rd. Vincent was back very quickly, catching us all by surprise, making a huge jump to his Monday´s result. He was also the best placed result today as 27th. Barbara´s run in the W50 was also a big jump forwards, finishing in 109th place.

Our oldies but goldies, Andrea and Koni both made large jumps forward with Andrea finishing 38th in the W60 and Koni getting those double digits for the first time (but not last time) this week to finish 93rd.

Generally it was a very successful day for the OLG Nidwalden+Obwalden as almost the entire team made steps (some even leaped) forward in the results. Long may this continue. If we continue like this we will have multiple winners by the end of the week (but that might be wishful thinking).

But the fun didn't end there. The GatherKenna clan had invited the entire troop round for a evening grill party. In preparation we went out and bought beers, wine and snacks for the team, plus got everything ready for a rip roaring evening. The folks arrived and a fun time was had by all. Raphi ended up beating the boys (Aidan and Marc) at soccer and then Kathi killed them both on Mario Kart, so they were fairly down. The girls spent the evening nattering away in the corner. Richard and Vincent did the grilling and got everything ready (albeit a little burnt) on time while Christine and Anne did some major preparation for everything else. We had a great time, eat some food, drank some water (remember all that wine and beer we bought...) and had coffee and dessert after.

As it was a rest day the next day, the kids stayed up a bit later, and we tucked into that wine / beer store we had bought for the evening. We made a huge dent in the stock, finishing a full half of one wine bottle before falling asleep on the couch... ouch.

So until next time. (Where photo's will follow I promise).

Finally, we went back to Sweden to see if we could conquer O-Ringen.

Yes, finally after 12 years we decided to give O-Ringen another try. Both Hanna and Marc are old enough and Hanna was very keen, so we decided, ok - why not. Some friends were also keen, so plans were made, houses were booked, and the trip was on.It has been a long road trip, ending with us arriving in Uppsala on Friday 22 of July to take over our house. We then headed into the event center to get our number bibs and some training maps for Saturday. The training was quite a lot of fun, back on Swedish maps and a little damp, but both Hanna and Marc managed quite well. Hanna and Heather (her friend from SW Switzerland) did spend at least 30 odd minutes looking for control 3 however. And then Darrel "not enough training" High took my map and went off and did that too. We didn´t wait - we headed home for lunch..... mad dogs and English men.....

But we were set, the maps had been tried, we had analysed our runs and we were prepared, or so we thought.

Eabha "first starter" McKenna had the dubious pleasure of being "THE VERY FIRST STARTER" at O-Ringen 2022 - which was decidedly early (8:30 in fact) - and therefore causing the entire GatherKenna clan to stumble out of bed at 5:45. As is the norm for O-Ringen, there were many steps and different stages to master before actually getting to the start, but there is nothing other to do but push through it all.

We found Andrea "getting up even earlier" Wyss waiting for us at the start and we quickly found a really cool spot to watch the run in. As Eabha ran off into the distance (first starter remember), the rest of the OLG troop started to arrive. There was Klaus and Barbara Joller-Graf, followed closely by Raphi, Käthi and Aline with Koni following last - all were there. We were joined by Darrell, Alison and Heather of CA Rosé fame and our troop was looking more like a battalion.

Aidan "I have loads of time" McKenna and Marc "super easy" Gathercole were quite relaxed until Aidan noticed he might just be in a spot of time stress, and suddenly he became Aidan "I need to run to the start" McKenna. At this stage, I (Richard "worried look" Gathercole) left the arena to help Aidan through the first few steps. He made it to his start and Richard "needing a drink" was overtaken by Christine "taking it easy" Gathercole. So they ran to the start together.

The race was then on, and you can read more about individual races elsewhere.

Anne "first finisher" McKenna was bravely standing at the finish run-in, supporting the rest as they trooped in one after the other. For her first time on any map in Sweden, Anne´s run was very controlled, finishing a very respectable 48th out of 60 starters. Andrea "I hope Koni is OK" Wyss followed closely in the W60, finishing 58th out of 70. Richi "I started twice" had a solid run in the M50S to place 116th out of 149 with Christine "I almost gave up" Gathercole following closely behind to place 105th out of 136 in the W40S. Aline "a good run" Mathis kept up her string of good results finishing in 65th position out of 102 starters in the W20. Watch this name for more exciting results later. Alison "ms. steady" High had a great run to place 84th out of 145 in W45. Koni "I started 3 times Richi" Graber, missed out on double digits by 1, to place 100th out of 103 starters in the M60S. Barbara "I sneaked in" Joller-Graf enjoyed herself to finish 143rd out of 146 in the W50  (the long one mind you).

At this stage our battalion was increased by Ciro "I´m an Alt-Dorfer in disguise" Martin, who had a very steady run to finish 97th out of 137 finishers in the M21-1. Käthi "Amazon" Burkart finished 147th in her class W21, where there are over 200 starters. Klaus "looking fresh" Joller-Graf and Darrell "pushing the limit" High were dueling it out in the M50-2, with Darrell finishing 113th and Klaus 130th out of 142. This is not the only duel in our small group of Swiss athletes, with Marc "ran with a lady" Gathercole and Aidan "followed Richard and blew" McKenna fighting for boasting honours in the M14. Marc pipped out Aidan today to finish 133rd with Aidan at 141st out of 159 starters. More to come in this epic battle of grass blade swords later. We also have a hotly contested battle of the fairer sexes in the W16, with Hanna "I searched every control" Gathercole in 106th position and Eabha "First starter but not last finisher" McKenna in 141st place sandwiching Heather "I changed my route" High in 122nd place out of 142 starters. As this week gets longer this match can only get harder.

Lastly but not least, our two final finishers, Raphi "club coach" Schalbetter and Vincent "I re-mapped Sweden" McKenna rounded out our first day at O-Ringen 2022. Raphi had a respectful but cautious run in the M21L (so the 2nd highest men´s course) to finish 91st out of 138 runners. He is confident of more to come. Vincent enjoyed himself but explained to me on pain of death, that if I said anything about his result, I might have difficulty starting tomorrow (so you can look it up if you want....).

The Swedish forest did not conquer us, we all finished and are ready for day two. Bring it on.

Results: https://resultat.oringen.se/2022/