Patrick Hofmeister

Doing something for the first time is mostly pretty difficult. Yesterday I had a double debut: first Half Marathon and first time running a competition in the mountains together with my clubmates from COC (Club d’Orientació Catalunya). I used the opportunity on the one hand to check my current shape at the beginning of the winter training in Spain, on the other hand to gain experience in such races.

The weather conditions were almost perfect that day: sunny, calm and some 18 degrees in the valley. Before the race I had studied the distance profile (with 700 metres of climbing) very intensively, so I expected six steep climbs respectively downhills. Therefore I started rather cautiously, the first kilometer was flat anyway. But already on the first climb the group dispersed and I was alone, one Moroccan in front of me, and a small group behind. So I tried to find my own rhythm. Between 4k and 5k there was likely the most impressive part of the course. There we ran through a semi-dry riverbed over rocks and stones, meanwhile I was passed by one guy of the following group, but I always kept him in sight for the next 5k.
Right before the toughest climb at 12k I caught him up again and we pushed each other up the small stony path. At this point I realised for the first time that I might be the stronger one of us that day. Reaching the top I really enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the magnificent view over Sant LLorenc Savall and the valley. Then, directly after the last refreshment point at 16k, I started my attack and went apart from him. Immediately there was a gap of 200-300m so that I could keep on running the original rhythm. There were some more up and downs on the last kilometers but mostly it went downwards into the historical city centre of Sant Llorenc Savall. Finally I ended up in 2nd spot (100:01), 2min behind the winner that I unfortunately never saw again after 2k. Now, I am trying to compensate although this week has been supposed to be tough.

Please forgive my colloquial but finding an adequate title is sometimes very hard. And perhaps I could allure you with the headline…

So what is it all about? Whereas in most parts of Europe the orienteering season draws to a close, I’ve just started my winter training participating in the Copa Catalunya, the regional series of weekly orienteering events where are still some competitions left. On Sunday we competed in the northern part of Barcelona’s outskirt in Vilassar de Dalt, a village quite next to the coast. A first short look at the terrain pictures, made my really loooking forward to it: some nice stone labyrinths in mostly pine forest.
The stunning panoramic view over the Mediterranean Sea on the way to the start alone was worth the journey. After the start, the first controls were quite easy with some climbing at the beginning. The first tecnically demanding control was the 4th which was no problem for me. It went on with some shorter legs mostly stony features but I managed this also quite well except of a wrong routechoice to the 10th. On my way to the 14th control I passed my teammate who started 16min before me. I knew that my race was good which was a fatal error. The rest of the course was almost downhill with some very technical controls. We pushed one another but I failed, having lost map contact at the 18th and 21st so that I lost almost 4 minutes there. The last part was urban orienteering with the finish area in a nice park situated directly in the small town. Finally I came in 2nd almost 5:30 behind Tommi and got a typical Catalan Butifarra (Span. Bratwurst). Yesterday after a long run, I really enjoyed eating it up.

Some facts/impressions about Catalan orienteering:
- between 200-300 orienteers participating in Copa Catalunya
- mostly steep terrain, with either open land, pine forest or greener areas.
- some nice stony areas where orienteering is very demanding
- entry fee around 8€ including drinks, fruits and a few snacks after the race
- beautiful nature in the foothills of the Pyrenees