Coach Dariusz Pachnik:
The competition took place from June 1 to 3, with the venues located in towns in Wieruszów County (Łódź Voivodeship).
On Children’s Day, June 1, a sprint race was held in Sokolniki. Three members of our eight-person team finished in the top six. Jędrzej Pachnik took third place and won a bronze medal in the M12 category, missing the silver by just one second. Julia Halewicz achieved a very high fifth place in the K11 category. One place behind her was Gracjan Dwojak in M12. The remaining competitors—including three debutants—finished in lower positions.
The second day, Saturday, featured a classic-distance race in the forest near Zdżary. We also had medal chances there, but the race simply did not go well for our top competitors. Jędrzej finished eighth, Gracjan 14th, and Julka 15th. The youngest member of our team, absolute debutant Antek Pachnik, provided a surprise. His race the previous day had not gone well, but he pulled himself together for the classic race and, despite making a mistake at the first control point, completed the next sections with ease. And... he won his category (M10N). The joy over the gold medal was enormous. Our eight-year-old “little one,” Kornelia Kulka, also performed very well, making the top ten in K10N and taking eighth place.
Sunday, June 3, brought a highly emotional relay race in Stary Ochędzyn. An orienteering relay consists of three male or female competitors, and the rest follows rules similar to athletics relays, except that no baton is passed: after completing their own course, a competitor touches a teammate, who then sets off on their leg.
We entered two so-called voivodeship relays. The competition regulations allow clubs from the same voivodeship to combine teams and also allow a girl to be added to a men’s relay team.
The first relay, in the “Lower Silesian M12” category, consisted of Miłosz Jurczak (MKS Paulinum Jelenia Góra), Gracjan Dwojak, and Jędrzej Pachnik. The second relay, in the M10 category, consisted of Antoni Pachnik, Wiktoria Dutkiewicz, and Kacper Dominiak. The latter relay competed outside the official standings because Kacper is older than the regulations permit for this category—he is 11—but as it was impossible to field a regulation-compliant relay, we decided to enter this team for training purposes.
In our assessment, the M12 boys’ relay had a chance to fight for a medal among 23 relays from across Poland.
Miłosz ran the first leg and faced very difficult opponents, including medalists from the previous races. He performed very well, coming in sixth, 2:39 minutes behind—an advantage we believed could be made up on the subsequent legs. Gracjan ran the second leg and quickly erased the deficit, crossing the finish line in first place with a lead of more than 4.5 minutes over the WKS “Wawel” Kraków relay. Jędrek, disappointed with his result in the classic race, had something to prove—and he did so. He ran calmly and, without any major errors, added another 5.5 minutes to the lead, giving the team a crushing overall advantage of 10 minutes!!! The remaining teams battled behind “our” relay; the “Azymut” Pabianice team ultimately took second place, with “Wawel” Kraków third. Our “tens” also competed bravely among 21 teams and achieved the sixth-best result. Kacper Dominiak’s run deserves special mention: he began his orienteering adventure this year and recorded the third-fastest time among everyone who ran that course.
Results of our competitors:
- Sprint race:
- Wiktoria Kulka – 24th place
- Kornelia Kulka – 16th place
- Julia Halewicz – 5th place
- Antoni Pachnik – 13th place
- Kacper Dominiak – 33rd place
- Gracjan Dwojak – 6th place
- Jędrzej Pachnik – 3rd place
- Classic-distance race
- Wiktoria Kulka – 25th place
- Kornelia Kulka – 8th place
- Julia Halewicz – 15th place
- Antoni Pachnik – 1st place
- Kacper Dominiak – did not finish
- Gracjan Dwojak – 14th place
- Jędrzej Pachnik – 8th place
- Relays:
- M12 – 1st place: Miłosz Jurczak, Gracjan Dwojak, Jędrzej Pachnik
- M10 – 6th place: Antoni Pachnik, Wiktoria Dutkiewicz, Kacper Dominiak.