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.
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