On September 30–October 1, the Interprovincial Championships for Young Juniors in Orienteering were held near Krosno Odrzańskie. Our macroregion consists of four voivodeships: Lower Silesian, Lubusz, Opole and Greater Poland. The competition was therefore quite strong. Competitors up to the age of 14 take part in the event, in both the girls’ and boys’ categories. – Our club was represented by 10 people – says coach Dariusz Pachnik. – For comparison, there were three times as many competitors from MKS MOS Wrocław and HKS Azymut Mochy. Once again, however, it turned out that quality, not quantity, matters.
Two individual races were held on Saturday. A classic-distance race in the morning and a sprint in the afternoon.
D. Pachnik:
We scored a double victory in the classic race. Our competitors triumphed in both the girls’ and boys’ categories: Stanisław Pachnik and Wiktoria Kowalczyk. While Staś was among the favorites, Wiktoria’s victory was quite a surprise, especially since her advantage over the second-place competitor was three and a half minutes. Emilia Piecek also finished in the top ten (9th place), while Karolina Zawada placed 15th, as did Jędrzej Pachnik among the boys.
The remaining competitors finished lower or, because of their age and less experience, competed in the accompanying race.
The sprint was held in the village of Dychów. Because of the nature of the race—an urban area—the coaches entered competitors under the age of 10 as well. The coach of the runners from Iwiny:
The second race and Stanisław Pachnik’s second victory!!! Wiktoria Kowalczyk confirmed her excellent form, but this time finished third. A huge sensation was Jędrzej Pachnik’s entry into the top six. He will only turn 11 in December, yet competed against athletes three years older! Emilia Piecek again finished in the top ten (8th place). The others finished lower.
Sunday brought the relay race. – We entered four relays – says Dariusz Pachnik. – Two of them were men’s teams representing Lower Silesia (the competition rules allow relays made up of athletes from different clubs within one voivodeship).
The first relay team consisted of the Pachnik brothers and Jakub Jończy from MKS Paulinum Jelenia Góra, while the second featured Gracjan Dwojak and two competitors from Jelenia Góra: Tomasz Staszak and Miłosz Jurcza. The girls from Iwiny had club relays: Orientpark I, in which Emilia Piecek, Karolina Zawada and Wiktoria Kowalczyk ran in succession; and Orientpark II—Wiktoria Kulka, Julia Halewicz and Marcelina Zawada.
D. Pachnik:
One boys’ relay and one girls’ relay had realistic medal chances. After the first leg, the second boys’ relay team was third, while the “better” team was fifth. Nevertheless, the outlook was very good, because Jędrzej Pachnik, an 11-year-old, ran our first leg, theoretically the weakest leg. Moreover, he finished level with one of the strongest rivals, HKS Azymut Mochy; their relay included Polish under-14 Championship medalist Mikołaj Paterek, but their second leg was their proverbial Achilles’ heel.
Another favorable circumstance was that the other favored relay team, MKS MOS Wrocław, had already finished with a considerable deficit. Jakub Jończy ran the second leg—he had finished third individually in the classic race—and moved the relay into first place, with a lead of more than four minutes over second-place MKS MOS Wrocław. Our third leg was Stanisław Pachnik, theoretically the strongest competitor in the field. However, relays have their own rules: a major navigation error can occur in any race, and a lead can quickly disappear. Nothing like that happened this time. Staś ran calmly, controlling the race. He recorded the best time of the day, adding more minutes to the lead. In the end, we won the gold medal, defeating the other teams by almost 11 minutes at the finish!
For Staś, it was already his third gold medal—in football terms, he scored a hat-trick. Three races, three victories. For Jędrek, it was his first medal at the Interprovincial Championships for Young Juniors, where he will compete three more times!!!
The girls also rose to the occasion. The younger girls—two ten-year-olds and one twelve-year-old—finished ninth among the 13 relays competing in this category. Our first relay team fought for the medals. Emilia Piecek finished third, Karolina Zawada moved up to second, and Wiktoria Kowalczyk held second place, winning her third medal at the competition, this time silver. Wiktoria deserves special praise because she competed against truly strong rivals from Greater Poland and girls from MOS (Hanna Sudoł—Polish under-14 champion, Joanna Banasiak—Polish Championship silver medalist). This shows Wiktoria’s potential; we hope it will develop even further. The competitor is only 13 and has another year remaining in the young-junior category.
Next year, Staś Pachnik will move up to the older junior category and compete for selection to the Polish national team for the European Championships, which will be held in Bulgaria in June. Staś owes his success not only to his work at his club, but also to the coach from MKS Bolesłavia, with whom he began practicing athletics. We are referring to Mr. Dariusz Łomański—many thanks and congratulations at the same time; this is your success too!!!
Those who would like to try orienteering are invited by Dariusz Pachnik to competitions taking place on October 14–15 in Bolesławiec. More information is available by phone: 505 600 638.