Nearly 1,500 participants compete in Riga Autumn Rogaining on Lucavsala

Original publication date: 12.11.2018

As usual, the participants of Riga autumn rogaining are offered five distances - 2, 4 and 6 hour rogaining, as well as a rogaining run through checkpoints with an approximate length of 8km and a 2-hour rogaining walk for children. In search of checkpoints, the participants ran across four Daugava bridges - Sala, Dienudi, Akmens and Vanša, stopped at three of Latvia's largest river islands - Zaķusala, Lucavsala, Ķīpsala, while also visiting the heart of the capital, Old Riga.

The fifth season of the popular Riga Rogaining began with Spring rogaining at the end of March, but ended last weekend with Autumn rogaining, which was the ninth competition of this orienteering-related sport in our capital since 2014, when the exciting checkpoint search competition was organized for the first time.Most of the participants of last Saturday's competition had also competed in the spring, thus they received the second part of the medal dedicated to the Latvian holiday. Many families participated in the Riga autumn rogaining, among which there were also several parents with a few months old children in strollers, actively and enthusiastically spending their holiday in the fresh air. In total, 50 checkpoints worth 200 points were posted in the distance.

The start of the competition in Lucavsala was given at 11.00, when Garmin 6-hour and Isostar 4-hour rogaining participants started the distance, but exactly in the middle of the day, the starting shot sounded for the 2-hour rogaining, children's walk and 8km rogaining run. The main winners of the prize-winning places were the orienteers who started in quite a large number, as well as the runners who showed good results in the ultra-trail races.

In the two Rogaining distances, the battle for victory was extremely similar, however, the most intense events took place in the longest Garmin 6-hour distance, where the top three were separated by 2 points, but the first two teams even got the same number of points. “Vichy” with Kasparu Adijānu and Valdi Čunku and “Krūšu inspekcija” with Miķeli Zumbergu and Guntu Šmauksteli collected 170 points in less than 6 hours. Kaspars and Valdi prevailed in this duel for victory, who with a time of 5:56:12 had spent two and a half minutes less than their fiercest competitors in the distance. Meanwhile, the winners of spring rogaining “Laid mums tur laminē diet”, who started for the first time as a three-man team - Kristaps Broks, the world vice-champion in 24-hour rogaining Zigmunds Bībers and Uldis Klepers, had to settle for third place with 168 points. Therefore, the team, whose name is the penultimate line of the national anthem, has won a full set of medals in the last three Riga Rogaining, since last fall they were second.

Also in the 2-hour rogaining distance, the first two teams collected the same number of points, but the winner of the ultra trail race at the World Cup stage, Andris Ronimoiss, with the winner of the race walk Rīga Valmiera, Didzi Glušņevu (Isostar/INOV8), finished one minute above the time limit, for which one of the 65 points earned was deducted. This made it possible for Artūrs and Andrejam Verziem from “Apstāties un stāvēt aizliegts” to win, who would have been first even if they had the same number of points, because they spent one and a half minutes less in the distance. This was the only distance where a mixed team placed in the top three without men's teams. It was achieved by Reinis and Anete Zāberi (Shurpu-Turpu!) with 53 points.

Tikmēr Isostar won the 4-hour distance with 124 points earned by Sigmars and Andris Gaiļi from “Neliels treniņš”, 6 points ahead of the nearest rivals. In the equal fight for second place, one of Latvia's best orienteers and Andris Jubelis with Alvi Reinsonu (Isostar Endurance+), who led Latvia in this year's world championship relay after the first stage, scored two more points than Guntars Mankus and Uģis Inka from “Divkāršs treniņš”. In all three rogaining distances, the best three teams were awarded in four categories - men's, women's, mixed and family, but in the Garmin 6-hour distance, a group of juniors and veterans also came.

Kaspars Stukuls celebrated the victory in the 8km rogaining race, but the fastest female participant Līgai Celiņai had to stay out of the top six due to an error at one of the checkpoints, while Nelda Neilande won the first place. The children had an innovation during the 2-hour rogaining walk, that is, they received a diploma at the beginning, on which they glued the stickers collected at the checkpoints.

The competition is offered by Riga City Council, supported by Isostar, Garmin, Baltais Protein, “TC Motors”, Magnesia, Moller, Hanzas maiznīca, Litozin, Optio, Magvit, Vitamax, SLO, Long Chips.