Patrick Hofmeister

The forests around Jönköping and Huskvarna are still full of snow, which is why we decided to drive down to Denmark to run competitions in snow-free terrain. Except for the one week training camp in Spain and some trainings with the national team in Germany, I haven’t had too many chances so far to practice my orienteering technique. Therefore, I didn’t know what to expect from the competitions.
Straight after having finished my last exam for this term on Friday, we headed south to Hilleröd. We stopped by for a moment at the night relay and saw our clubmates doing good jobs. On Saturday, it was time for Spring Cup Classic and almost as usual the weather was awful. The heavy rain made the marshes and streams even more wet which is why the 13,1k course became quite tough. I wanted to start slowly trying to get into the map. However, already on the way to the 2nd control I lost map contact and ran too far finding myself at the wall behind the control. To the 3rd and 4th, I didn’t follow the planned route consequently. At the 7th control I did my biggest mistake of the day when I got confused with the network of minor streams in the greener area. I had some smaller hesitations every now or then later on. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the speed during the whole course. Even after one hour running time, I was still able to push a little bit harder. I finished in 49th spot but almost 14min down on Daniel Hubmann who did an incredible run.
On Sunday I was running the first leg for IKHP’s first team. It was very nice to see that our coaches relied on me in my international club debut. And I think I did not disappoint them. Apart from two times where I stood at the wrong gaffling (5th and 15th), I had a good run and felt physically strong. At the end I came in 19th position, 2:25 after the leading teams. Unfortunately, my teammates lost some places finally finishing in 31st spot.
After the Spring Cup, I travelled with my German club to Bad Harzburg where I have been staying for some days working on the map for the national university championships in May. The venue of the competition is situated up in the Harz mountains, in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, on 500 meter above sealevel. I am the mapmaker for the sprint relay which is going to be held on the campus area. Changing the point of view from being a runner to being a mapmaker is a valuable experience. And if you make a mistake by drawing something in a wrong way, you get as angry as you do during a competition when not finding a control immediately. Of course I have the time for some good workouts here. Yesterday for instance, I was running back from Oker via the Ahrendsberg Forsthaus down to Bad Harzburg. 15k up and down through the lovely nature of the Harz national park. Amazing!

On Friday I am travelling back to Lübeck spending the Easter weekend at my parents place. I am looking forward to some relaxing days at home.