The youngest “orienteers” met at the most important competition of the year in Kwidzyn (Pomeranian Voivodeship). UKS Orientpark.pl Iwiny (Warta Bolesławiecka commune) was represented by seven competitors in the competitive categories and two youngest participants in the introductory category (KM10N). The competition began on Friday, May 31, with a sprint held in the center of the old town.
The first start and the first medal for Jędrzej Pachnik (M13). He was beaten only by his rival from Wataha Warszawa, Bartosz Stopczyński. Also finishing in the top ten were Julka Halewicz, in eighth place, and Sonia Szelig – ninth place (in the K12 category).
Running somewhat below his capabilities, Gracjan Dwojak (M13) finished 12th, as did Antoni Pachnik (M10). Wiktoria Kulka (K14) took 15th place, while Oliwia Roman (K12), who was beginning her adventure with orienteering, finished 26th.
Coach Dariusz Pachnik:
After the first day, we were 14th in the team classification.
The second day of competition featured a classic-distance race, which the hosts held partly in woodland and partly in the open terrain of a motocross track. D. Pachnik: “The terrain proved very demanding for the young orienteers. Under such conditions, there could be no room for coincidence. The best competitors covered their courses relatively efficiently and quickly, but those with less experience had considerable difficulties, and the times recorded at the finish were quite high. The differences at the finish between individual competitors were substantial.”
Jędrzej again did not disappoint, securing a place on the podium, this time on the lowest step. The coach:
Highly motivated to make up for his failure in the sprint, Gracjan set off perhaps too quickly, and major initial navigation errors meant that the medal race moved significantly out of his reach. However, he coped very well in the second half of the course, which was more difficult, and gradually moved up the standings to ultimately finish just off the podium, in fourth place.
Julia Halewicz performed very well, recording the fifth-fastest time in a very strongly contested event! Like Gracjan, Sonia set off determined to fight, but mistakes cost her the chance of a high finish. Antek achieved a result similar to his sprint performance and finished 13th. Wiktoria and Oliwia occupied lower positions. As a team, we retained 14th place (33 clubs were classified).
Sunday brought the relay race. The competition returned to Kwidzyn, but this time to its outskirts. Some races were held in an urbanized area, while others took place in heavily overgrown and waterlogged woodland. (As on Saturday, the wooded section was very demanding and selective).
Dariusz Pachnik:
The rules allow relay teams to be combined within a single voivodeship. Since we have only two competitors in the youth category, after consulting the coaches of MKS Paulinum Jelenia Góra, we added Kuba Tomalak from that club to Jędrzej and Gracjan.
Kuba ran the first leg and, with a considerable deficit to the leader, came through in 12th place (23 teams started).
Gracjan set off on the second leg. He had his problems on the course, but some rivals had even greater ones. The first two teams had already pulled far ahead, and the deficit to third place was also considerable—six minutes. Gracek arrived in the changeover zone in eighth place.
Jędrzej began making up the deficit fairly quickly. At the first controls, he caught the second team from Azymut Pabianice and Wawel Kraków’s second team, and later on the course he overtook MOS Wrocław, Pabianice’s first team and Wawel’s first team.
He reached the finish… in third place, winning his third medal at these championships and the eighth of his career, confirming his place among the very best in his age category. In the M13 category, only Jędrzej won more than one medal!!!
The K12 girls also competed in the provincial relay, alongside Wiktoria Dutkiewicz from Jelenia Góra, with Sonia and Julka representing our club. Our girls set the pace in the relay. Thanks to an excellent run, Julka Halewicz moved the team from ninth to a scoring sixth place. The second relay team, with Oliwia Roman, finished 12th (21 teams started).
The coach adds:
The modest seven-member squad finished 14th in the team classification; we brought home three medals and six individual top-ten finishes, as well as two relay teams in the top six. That is a really good result!!!