Taking Paul to his first Trail-O last year in the Bavarian Forest he was actual that good that he made it into Germany’s junior national team. This changes my priorities in orienteering more to Trail-O. There are not so many Trail-O competitions in central Europe, so gaining experience means a lot of travel.
Our first competition was the Slovak TrailO Sprint weekend. Around 8 h drive for us. The weekend consists of two Trail-O sprints, one Tempo-O and two foot-O training’s. All Trail-O count for the world ranking. One sprint and the Temp-O also counts for the European Cup in Trail-O. The sprints taking place at the map from last years WTOC relay. A super technical semi open quarry area. First sprint went well for me, at the second sprint I didn’t understood anything and had a quite bad result. The Temp-O at Sunday was in some dune area. I still didn’t understood much, but was able to place better than in the second sprint. In the overall ranking I was 31st, earning my first Trail-O world ranking and European Cup points. Paul finished 3rd in he Junior class, which earned him a mention at the IOF homepage.
Next competition was the Aeterna Roma Trail Orienteering Weekend. Two Temp-O and one Sprint, all park based. Like in Slovakia three WRE and two European Cups. The first Temp-O was in a quite park in the outskirts of Rome. I was quite satisfied with my result. The second Temp-O and the sprint were in a more central and busy park. Both competitions were’t that good for me, as I got distracted by the people and the noise.
Already one weekend later I went to Poland for the Bukowa-Cup. This time I was traveling alone, as Paul had some family festivity. The competition was relevant for this years ETOC, so I went there to geek a little. The competition offers three Trail-Os and five foot-Os in three days. I take part in all Trail-Os and four of the five foot-Os. Trail-O was sprint, Temp-O and Pre-O, all WREs. The sprint takes place in a detailed forest, Temp-O in a semi open area and the Pre-O partly in a open a park are and partly in forest with some fine details. The sprint and Temp-O didn’t work very well for me (I don’t think I’ll become a fan of Temp-O). In the Pre-O I had one of my best performances in my Trail-O history and finished in 20th place a second best German.
Finally we made a trip to Finland for the Fin TrailO. For preparation, we also went to a local Trail-O in Turku. And we competed at the Finish Sprit Champs, a 5 k road race ans went to some fixed orienteering courses on the trip. For Paul it was the first time he competed in Pre-O and the first time in Finland. This gives me the chance to beat Paul in Trail-O for the first time. In Turku there was a Pre-O and a Temp-O, both tricky and I made to many mistakes. At the Fin TrailO there were two Pre-Os and one Temp-O. I had some trouble with the small details at the Pre-O but enjoyed the competition. At the Temp-O I tried a new tactic and take time to really understand the map. I still made to many mistakes so this tactic didn’t work for me. At the second Pre-O I had the feeling the I understood the terrain better. but didn’t improve in ranking. Paul was now more in Pre-O and beats me again. Paul’s next Trail-O will be the ETOC in Poland. I will be at the Bavarian Forest 5 days and will not be at ETOC. I´m German national coach for Trail-O now, so for sure I’ll be at WTOC in California next year. If you like to try Trail-O the Temp-O simulator will be a great place to try it at home. If you looking for events the homepage of the Trail Open Project will be a great place to check for events.
