February 2nd me and twelve others flew to Portugal for a great week of orienteering. First 3 days we stayed in small appartements in Quiaios, a bit north of Figueira da Foz (POM 2010). Then we went upcountry to Gouveia for two competitions. First one was one of the most technical ones I have ever run! Second day of Meetin Orientacion de Gouveia was a middle-sprint-combination, which is always fun to run. As the terrain was more similar to home, we achieved better results. Nevertheless, Thierry won all two days, winning each with a clear margin.
After this short intermezzo in the heartland of Portugal we moved back to the cost, more precisely to Mira. It was my first time in Mira and I immediately like the appartements :) comfortable, big enough and internet access!! haha, you don't know how important that is...
On Wednesday 9th most of the others left, only Heli alias Honeybear, Markus and me stayed longer; for one more week. Franky the ghoast train guard joined us for this week. The second week was even more fun than the first one. I have laughed a lot and really enjoyed it. Anyway, on Friday we drove to Lisbon, but for one night only. Lisbon is a nice city next to the sea. And it's steep! Really steep!
Next day we continued our trip direction north to Coruche, where Hugo Borda d'Agua (Ori-Alentejo) organised a contour training extra for us. In the afternoon we ran a middle-distance in Lamarosa. Hugo joined us for both trainings. Next day we took the chance to run a longdistance-massstart-competition near Almeirim; Austrian triple win ;)
Last three days we spent again in Quiaios - yes, in the same appartement.
This two weeks was just great!! All this trainings which included sprint, long, contour, control-picking, night-o, middle, workshop and the competitions were perfectly organised and high quality. I trained in different types of terrain and had a huge technical input early in the season. But in the end I started to getting tired in the brain, so two weeks with non-stop orienteering is maximum for me... In total I "collected" 569 controls, most of them without any problem.
As usual, maps with my routes can be found here. Soon I will get my Garmin Forerunner 305 :) Then I don't have to draw my routes by hand anymore.
And some funny pics from Portugal (only handy-cam quality):
Furthermore we made a funny video: Franky the ghost train guard :D
Have you ever tried natural yoghurt with honey?? ;)
