A large Easter turnout opens the fifth City Legends season in Spilve

Original publication date: 02.04.2024

Around 700 participants enjoyed their second Easter in sunny and warm weather in a sporty and positive atmosphere at various distances, competing for the first time not on a weekend, but on a Monday. The competition center was located near Imanta's largest shopping center “Damme” on Kurzeme prospect, but considering the area where the large number of participants were oriented, the name of the first stage was “Spilves pļavu rogainings”.

At the beginning of the season, in addition to Imanta, Kleistie and Spilve and its meadows, the participants also visited Dižbarži, Liepezera, Babīte, Priedaine, Mežāre. The worst scorers in the long distances ended up on the shores of Lielupe next to the cars and also the Lielupe railway bridges. There were also innovations, besides rogaining for beginners, for the first time, instead of the usual six points, the highest value of checkpoints was seven (there were three checkpoints), and instead of two, the lowest value was three checkpoints with a value of one. However, the maximum amount did not change - 200 points, which could be collected by representatives of the longest distance by reaching all 50 checkpoints within the specified time limit

“Garmin” in the 6h distance very close to the maximum or 200 points, missing only one checkpoint worth 4 points, were last year's vice-leaders “Riga Adventure team” with Jāni Ķemeru and Valdi Čunku, who also won the opening stage of last season, beating the leaders of this distance Zigmundu Bīberu and Albertu Jasānu. Last year, even four teams collected the maximum 200 points in the first stage, but Jānis and Valdi did it in a shorter time. This year, “Laid mums tur laimē diet” did not participate in the first stage, so “Riga Adventure team” won convincingly.

Kārlis Lauders with Tomu Bergmani (When you want to live) collected 181 points and took a solid second place, but in the overall standings of 88 teams, the top three was completed by the best Mix or mixed team “Dzegužkalna alpīnisti” – ultra distance runner Jānis Actiņš with his daughter Elīzu Actiņu, who has 171 point and which were one point ahead of Gati Čirku and Arni Grasi (Others). The eighth result with 157 points was shown by the best women's team “Ampēriņš” with Madara Apsaloni and Aleksandru Fjodorovu, while in the family competition the first place was won by “Dzintarlapsas” (Ilze and Ričards Krēmeri and Ieva Simsone).

“Kokmuižas” In a very intense fight among more than 90 teams in the 4h distance, last year's overall winners Eduards Pāķis and Sniedze Brakovska (Adaži city) won with 125 points. The same amount for the best men's team “Riga adventure team dublieriem” (Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, Jānis Šneiders, Andis Grandāns) who had accumulated 128 points, but because they finished just over two minutes after the time limit, three points were deducted from them. Just two points behind the two leading teams were the third-place finishers Mārtiņš Treijs and Uldis Cīrulis (Dust Eaters). The sixth result in the overall ranking was shown by the favorites of the women's competition and last year's leaders Ieva Godiņa and Aiga Kalniņa (BR3), who were the only ladies with a score above one hundred points (112 points). Armandam Valdmanim with Baibu and Mārtiņu Krustiņiem (Baltie Zalkši) achieved the best performance in the family competition with 76 points.

“Dammes” In the 2h distance, where the men's teams dominated, it was also a very intense battle for the best result, as the first two teams were separated by one point. “Gold miners” with Jāni Dūku and Kristapu Gādmani won the laurels with 68 points, who took the first two places in the rogaining race last year. Spending over five and a half minutes and thus parting with six points, in the end with 67 points both Thomas took the second place - Teess and Neuss-Lucs from “Mirāžas”. In the competition of 56 teams, the winners of last year's overall ranking Gunārs Ozoliņš and Uldis Pormeistars (LV Bārdas) finished the trio with 64 points, ahead of the Lithuanians by one point.

In this distance, the best Mix team “Logo” completed the top six, in which Lāsma Ozola and Gatis Osvalds, who were successful in triathlon and cycling, started and earned 57 points. Ruslan and Etjēns Samuševi (Not yet, but there will be) won the family competition with 49 points, while Annija Zaļaiskalna and Beāte Briška (Masinas krasni) were decisively first among women with 45 points.

Andris Sarksņa, the winner of the 14th place in the world championship and the top 20 in the European championship in bicycle orientation, won the victory in the 3h MTB distance with a relatively impressive amount of points (189). There was a very intense duel for the second place among more than 70 participants, as the next two got 173 points, but with such an equal result, the second place went to last season's vice-leader Raitim Muižniekam, who was only three seconds faster than Aivi Zetmani, and the strong Estonian who competed in the big championships remained fourth. For women, with the same number of points and time, the first place was shared by the Lithuanians, but the best result among the four representatives of Latvia was shown by the winner of the previous season's overall ranking, Inese Kauķe, who thus earned the right to climb to the third step of the podium.

“Isostar” Jānis and Anita, offspring of the Užuļi family, won in the 2h race. Ja Jānim had a very tough battle with Miķeli Zumbergu, who was one point ahead, then Anita was seven points ahead of second place winner Dinai Alsknei. Third places Aigars Šuvcāns and Anžela Šapavalova, both of whom were two points ahead of fourth place winners Gustavu Venteru and Aneti Dārtu Rožkalni.

The second stage is scheduled for three weeks later, on April 20, in Liepāja.