Anatolijs Tarasovs

Lielas problēmas ar virzienu, kas ļoti raksturīgi man. Bet tas viss, ko es sev iestāstīju, kad garajā etapā nekas neatbilda sagaidāmajam, ir atsevišķa stāsta vērts. Pie prāta nācu tikai tad, ka atzīmējos 45. punktā un sapratu, ka tas nav gluži 48. Tālāk nebija labāk. Šoreiz 2. vieta, 32" aiz Mārtiņa Sirmā, kurš arī kārtīgi uzsēdās uz viena punkta. Nākamnedēļ ar svaigu galvu.

Stulba kļūda uz 40., kad īsi pirms paša punkta apjuku un kritu panikā. Bet kopumā diezgan labi priekš pirmā nakts Magnēta.

Silver in M21E together with Ivars Žagars and Marģers Kietis. Quite good race this time despite one bigger and a few smaller errors. Wrong direction out of the 2nd control and then just followed the long depression without thinking. Then I saw the crossing and that the path on the left was continuing and realized where I was. Somehow I thought that the path I had on my left was the one in parallel with the course line. That was a good call to refocus. Small direction errors to the 10th, the 15th and the 21st. Almost got caught by Timo Sild who had another superb race.

Horrible performance and 26th place in M21E, more than 12 minutes behind the winner Timo Sild. Quite unique and difficult terrain. This is not how one should orienteer.

Ozons uzvar otro gadu pēc kārtas. Startēju 3. vietā aiz Edgara Bričonoka un Kristapa Ozoliņa. Tā pa īstam pietuvojos viņiem tikai pie 8. punkta, kaut arī tālumā manīju arī iepriekš. Edgaru apdzinu ceļā uz 10., bet Kristapu pirms 18., kur es ātrāk attapos no kļūdas.

Best ever performance for me on Tiomila. Finished 9th 19 seconds behind Martin Johansson. Was in the lead a few times during the race and just 5 seconds behind at the second-last control, but didn't have enough power to sprint into the finish. Ärla IF 1 finished in 37th place, which is the best result in at least two decades. Still we could do much better and will do so next year in Stockholm.

Varbūt ir jānomaina kompass, varbūt galva, bet diemžēl arī šī gada nakts čempionātā pieļāvu tik pat rupjas un stulbas kļūdas kā rudenī. Uz 13., 16. un 19. kopā atstāju vairāk kā 6 minūtes. Līdz 9. punkta gāja pavisam labi, ja piever acis uz mazākām virziena neprecizitātēm, biju jau pievilcis 1:10 Mārtiņam Sirmajam, kurš startēja 2 minūtes pirms manis. Ja sekotu kāds garš etaps pa ceļu, tad teorētiski varētu viņu tālumā redzēt. Tomēr, taisnais variants izejā no 9. un minstināšanās grāvjos un pļavu krūmos pirms 11. atmeta mani mazliet atpakaļ. Kļūda uz 13. izsita mani no sliedēm — plānoju iet no deguna virzienā uz salu, taču tā vietā aizgāju precīzi taisni, kur "deguns" rāda. Izlauzos cauri purva džungļiem — kartē var redzēt, ka tur purvs ir pavisam tumši zaļš — taču to es tā īsti nepamanīju, tai brīdī kartē viss izskatījās vienādi zaļš, tiku uz sausākas zemes, taču punktu neredzēju un reljefa formu nespēju savietot ar apvidu. Tā vietā, lai apstātos un visu izdomātu, sāku apļot līdz veiksmīgā kārtā ieraudzīju tālumā atstarotāju. Ja uzreiz būtu gājis taisni purvā, nevis caur degunu, tad visticamāk punkts neradītu problēmas, jo tad to varēja redzēt pa gabalu. Šoreiz veiksme nebija manā pusē, tieši tāpat, kā Rīgas Kausu 2. dienā. Ceļā uz 14., protams, gribējās ātrāk tikt prom no purva, kā rezultātā kārtējo reizi cieta virziens. Kas notika uz sešpadsmito? Nezinu! Tas ir kā nokrist uz līdzenas vietas, aizķeroties pašam aiz savas kājas. Uz 19. atkal nenokontrolēju virzienu zaļajā. Mārtiņam beigās zaudēju 3:45, bronzai 1:01. Pat pirmie laiki divos garākajos etapos un 9 etapos kopumā tā īsti neiepriecina. Skumji, ko lai saka.

Briesmīga diena. Sāku samērā uzmanīgi, taču jau uz otro novirzījos par daudz pa labi. Ceļā uz trešo, cerēju pamanīt daudzās saknes uz dienvidiem no punkta, taču dabā nekas neatbilda manai iztēlei. Uzskrēju virsū šauram grāvītim, ko var knapi saskatīt arī uz dienvidiem no punkta, un turpināju uz priekšu, domājot, ka labajā pusē būs punkts. Neklausīju saviem instinktiem, jo jau pirms mazā grāvja jutu, ka virzos jau stipri pa labi no punkta. Tad jau sekoja nekontrolēta skriešana uz visām saknēm pēc kārtas. Nejauši uzskrēju virsū septītajam, pēc kura arī tā uzreiz nemaz nespēju paņemt trešo. Kāda 2 minūtes tur arī tika atstātas. Uz 4. vienkārši skrēju, nespēju ne kaut ko saprast, ne salasīt. 5. un 6. tīri veiksmīgi, bet uz septīto jau atkal šķībi. Skrienot ārā no septītā, pamanīju, ka 4 minūtes aiz manis startējošais Dmitrijs Tsvetkovs jau ir klāt. 8. vēl paņēmu pirms viņa, bet pa ceļam uz devīto viņš aiznesās garām. 10-12. akla sekošana Dmitrijam, minimāli ieskatoties kartē. Uz 13. viņš sāka skriet pārāk daudz pa kreisi, kas ļāva man pievilkt, un punktā bijām reizē. 14. arī praktiski reizē, bet ceļā uz 15. viņš ieslēdza turbodzinēju. Taču pateicoties viņa mazajām neprecizitātēm, es, būdams 20-30 metrus aiz muguras, vietām varēju izskriet taisnāk, tāpēc vairāk arī neatpaliku. Pie 15. noķērām Valteru un Edgaru Laķi. 17. atzīmējāmies mazliet aiz Dmitrija, taču uz 18. viņš atkal aizskrēja pa daudz pa kreisi, tāpēc punktu paņēmu pirms viņa. Pusceļā uz 19. viņš jau atkal bija vadībā. Savukārt, pusceļā uz 20. es pieļāvu dienas liktenīgo kļūdu — pārķēru etapus. Labāk būtu akli sekojis, nevis skatītjies kartē un kompasā, jo vienā mirklī izdomāju, ka viņš atkal velk pārāk daudz pa kreisi. Šoreiz gan taisnība bija viņa pusē, bet es skatījos ceļu no 20. uz 21. Protams, skrēju pa savam, nespējot saskatīt atbilstību tam, ko man vajadzētu redzēt ceļā uz 21. Laikam bija galīgi ciet aizgājis. Netālu no 21. beidzot atjēdzos un metos atpakaļ uz 20. Nākamajās pāris minūtēs pārdomāju visu savu dzīvi. Tad arī bija grūti nokoncentrēties atlikušajai distancei, tāpēc pieļāvu vēl vairākas kļūdas. Rezultātā 9. vieta kopvērtējumā un kārtējo reizi pamatīga vilšanās sevī.

Quite disappointed with my performance. Feeling powerless and finding it hard to focus. Missed sixth by more than a minute, those small depressions were very deep and looked more like regular depressions, but that still doesn't justify my mistake — I was sure I was right and found it hard to believe when I didn't find the control where I expected it to be. Left route choice would have been safer. Didn't look at the compass out of the 11th, that I am sure of, then I remember seeing the road between 14th and 15th, this was when I realized I was running in the wrong direction — another 20-30 seconds lost. The 14th, passed it twice on both sides, missed about 40 seconds. Checked a few other pits around 26th before getting the right one, 10-15 second loss. In addition some smaller hesitations.

Everything went well today — the speed was good, the technique was more or less good, the weather was perfect and the course was the way I like it. Started as fast as yesterday hoping to maintain the same speed throughout the whole race, and although I felt a bit tired around 18-20th control, it was only for a brief moment. The mistake to the first control was actually quite good, because it reminded me not to be overconfident. On the way to the 20th I was just hoping to see the control and had no clear attack point. Won the day and the overall competition ahead of Andris Jubelis and Edgars Bertuks. The course was 14.3 km long.

Second part of the middle distance. Should have been more careful with direction into the 19th and out of it. Did my only real mistake to the 23rd, where I lost focus for a moment and stopped in the wrong re-entrant. Third place — just 2 seconds behind Edgars Bertuks and 49 seconds behind Mārtiņš Sirmais.

First part of the middle distance. Bad direction out of the 8th control and down from the 9th. 10th control's flag had dropped down and it was hard to spot it.

Patīkams laiks un smalks apvidus. Sākumā diezgan mierīgi, beigās jau sacensību tempā. Uz 32. mazā taciņa zaļajā "izšāva" mani nepareizajā virzienā. 46. kartē bija iedrukāts ar nobīdi, garajā ieplakā.

6th place due to bad technical performane, the speed was good enough for second place. Artūrs Pauliņš outclassed everyone. Missed 25 seconds to the third, because I thought it was at the end of the bridge, not the tunnel. Should have been more careful when reading the control descriptions. Then lost at least 15-20 seconds to the 13th due to entering the grey passage and not realizing until then that none of the straight options would work. Right around was probably the fastest route-choice. Then I lost a couple of seconds by not going straight up after the 16th.

Yesterday we could enjoy rather nice spring weather and completely snow-free terrain. However, it started to rain towards the night and with temperature dropping down to zero rain turned into snow. Just overnight winter took over with up to 20 cm of snow. And so already tough long distance became even tougher and more challenging. Luckily I was one of the later starters and was hoping to enjoy some of the trails made by the others. In reality it wasn't that good at all, often more confusing than helpful. A few times I even caught myself looking for a snow trail instead of looking at the map for a route-choice. Towards the end, where the majority of the runners had passed, I could finally and properly feel the advantage of starting late.

I had a quick glance over the whole course in the beginning, but then tried not to look too much ahead, focusing on present instead. With all the snow, green areas and constantly tricky orienteering I had just enough action not to disappoint myself with how much of the 14.5 km long course and 36 controls I had left. Just one step at a time. I got too hesitant at the second control and couldn't decide where to go, then aimed for the nearest path, but let myself be led by random snow trail, which obviously went in the wrong direction. When I got out on the other path and it hit me, I no longer wanted to go back and dived further into the green, which was far from ideal. Should have gone straight to the path in the direction of the 7th control and then all the way around.

Then it was more or less fine until the 9th, where I lost right direction because of many fallen trees and bad visibility. Had many stops and hesitations here and there all the time, then finally got to the butterfly, where I kind of forgot to look at the numbers after 18th, went to 20th, then back to 16-19th. There I realized my mistake, which wasn't too bad, because I was still going in the direction and following the right sequence, just lost time on taking the control I didn't need at that time. Could have been worse. The rest wasn't too bad either, just running with the flow and trying not to mess up anything.

WRE with many international runners, including Dmitry Tsvetkov and Jonas Vytautas Gvildys. I had an OK race, but lost 20-40 seconds at the 3rd, 8th and 20th — need to be more careful.

Vēl diezgan daudz sniega, vismaz kādi 10-20 cm, ar plānu sērsnas kārtu, kas pamatīgi apgrūtina skriešanu. Tikai pusceļā uz pirmo kontrolpunktu atcerējos ieslēgt GPS. Reāli noskrēju 7.9 km ar laiku 48:53.

Slapjš sniegs, arī uz zemes. Šodien nemaz tik viegli neskrējās, nācās ik pa brīdim sevi piespiest uzskriet ātrāk. Tehniskā ziņā tīri labi, izņemot 54. punktu, kur apjuku ar ceļiem un nenogriezu stūri. Arī uz 44. vajadzēja skriet taisni, bet uz 36. iespējams nevajadzēja skriet pa zaļo.

Jauks, saulains laiks, interesanta distance — ideāls gada sākums. Uz 41. ne tas labākais variants, uz 48. apskrēju zaļo pa kreiso pusi, uz 54. uz mirkli aizdomājos un apjuku ar taciņām, bet citādi diezgan labi. Laiks 46:28, 8.57 km, 29 KP, GPS distance 9.43 km.