New winners at the second City Legends round in Valmiera
On Saturday, August 7, for the third year in a row, the exciting international team orienteering competition “Valmieras rogainings” took place in the largest city of Vidzeme, which was the second stage of the largest Latvian rogaining series “Pilsētas leģendas”, in which some Estonian teams also competed.
Original publication date: 08.08.2021
The participants competed in the usual Magnesia 2h, Isostar 4h or Garmin 6h distances, in the individual rogaining run (14km), as well as cyclists tested their strength in a three-hour MTB distance. There were new winners in the main three distances.
Rogaining is a team orienteering sport that originated in Australia. Its name comes from combining the names of the three inventors of the sport. Participation in Rogaining distances takes place in teams of two to four members. The most significant difference, compared to classic orienteering, is the possibility for the members of each team to choose the distance length and route by themselves, collecting checkpoints with different values. The rogaining territory of Valmiera was diverse, and for the first time the rogaining competition of this city was held in the beautiful Gauja National Park. There were four different groups or categories - men's, women's, mixed and families - in distances of two, four and six hours.
In the longest “Garmin 6h” distance from the maximum 200 points, only two teams managed to earn more than one and a half hundred. One of them was the first stage vice-leaders “Vijolīšu grava” (Māra Pucena, Klāvs Svilpe), who two weeks ago in Riga lost to the Estonians by only one point, but this time they were the best with 161 points. Ten points behind them were the runners-up and non-starters Madara Apsalone and Jānis Kalniņš (“Ampēriņš”), who collected 154 points, but as they finished a little more than three minutes over the allotted time, three points were deducted from them. The top three from a total of more than fifty teams was completed by “ALUSALA” (Andris Zvanītājs, Austris Lepiksons) who got 147 points, while the best women's team from Valmiera “Vidzemnieces” (Nora Baranovska, Monta Liepiņa) took the 4th place with 143 points, getting the same number of points as for team “PUMPIS”.
In the “ISOSTAR 4h” distance, where 30 teams competed, the top two collected a couple of hundred points, being well ahead of the rest. The convincing winners of the last stage, Jānim Ķemeram and Valdim Čunkam (Riga Adventure team), with 106 points earned, this time had to settle for the second place, recognizing the superiority of the hosts Edgara Kokorēviča, Ineses Kokorēvičas and Roladna Rudīša, who collected 117 points. The two leading teams exceeded the time limit by several minutes, but despite the loss of 9 and 7 points, respectively, they were still ahead of their closest followers by a few dozen points, because Edgaram Zaķim and Natālijai Treulandei, who won third, managed to accumulate as many points as the Estonians - 84 points, but our team spent a little less time in the distance, thus reaching third place.
If in the first stage the fiercest fight for victory took place at the “Garmin 6h” distance, then this time such a battle took place at the shortest “Magnesia 2h” distance, where the first three were within three points. The victory was celebrated by Reinis and Anete Zāberi from “Šurpu-turpu”, who showed the 4th result in the first stage, who were the only ones who exceeded the 40-point limit this time (41 points). Kārlis Evertovskis and Valentīna Romanova, who moved from the 4h distance in the previous stage in Riga to 2h in Valmiera, showed the second result (39 points), one point ahead of “Bez steigas” (Intars and Uldis Metumi) and “Virtuļus” (Sandis and Dāvis Pētersoni). Anete Dārta Rožkalne and Gunita Daldere (City Rats) were again the best results in the women's competition with 36 points. Meanwhile, the Saulkrastians who dominated the first stage ranked 9th this time.
In the Rogaining race, Anita Užele was again the best in the women's competition, but Mārtiņš Treijs did not leave any hope for the male competitors. On the other hand, Mārtiņš Linde and Inese Kauķe, who earned 143 and 94 points respectively, won the 3h MTB orientation. The competition was held in cooperation with the municipality of Valmiera, as well as with the support of “Isostar”, “Magnesia”, “Garmin”, “Brooks”.
The next stage of the “Pilsētu leģendu” rogaining series will take place on the Ķekava side in a month and a half - on September 25.