Some orienteer likes to keep their best times on track; I prefer to chase my record in the forest… When my watch showed 00:00, on the 1st January, I started my favorite orienteering course: The famous Night from Per Sterner, in Guardamar, Spain.

I had been waiting my whole first week to have a rainy night to get a harder sand surface, but so far the weather has been excellent and therefore I had to use my 15 mm spikes to get a good grip on sand dunes.

17’05’’ later (3,8km), I was back from the forest and really satisfied with this good start for 2010.

// full story //

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday.


As said Napoleon once, "a goal is a dream with a deadline". Mine is to win the long distance at WOC and my deadline is the 17th August 2011 at latest…


Map
Result

// full story //

Everything has been already said about the WOC relay thriller, but as the organizers asked me to give my testimony, here it comes.

After a great job of Philippe and François, I started the last leg in the confortable leading position. After the third control, I realized that Khramov wasn't anymore behind me. My plan wasn’t to push too hard physically in the first part of the race even if I was leading. So, when I approached the 5th control of the race (nr 112), I was in full control. But it would have been nicer if I would have seen the same thing than the mapmaker here. I was standing for more than 2 minutes with no idea where to look for the control - first time I got such feeling in a WOC race.

// full story //

Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.

My last international victory in middle distance happened more than one year ago in Czech forests and I struggled all the spring to find the good balance.

But finally, in my last 6 weeks of preparation, I managed to put all together the pieces of the winning puzzle. And I can say that it feels good now…

My race went pretty well technically despite some slight mistakes near controls (9” at 3rd, 9” at 12th, 18” at 16th). I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy much during the race as the previous years, but at least the feelings at the finish were really intense.

// full story //

WOC long distance qualification

Not much mistakes in today's qualification either.

The course was quite interesting and map surprising - I never see so many green circles per cm2 on a map... definitively a new World Record, but not as impressive as the new one of Lightning Bolt.

Let's, now, see what the finals have to offer.

// full story //

Good day at work: solid technical performance, while saving energy for finals.

Map
Result

// full story //

Last week, I fulfilled my duty while taking part to military French championships. Usually, the courses and terrains selected for those races are quite basics and not that difficult. But this edition will remain a long time in competitor’s mind. The competition took place in the famous Clermont-Ferrand terrains, partly on the World Cup 2006 long distance map and were extremely challenging.

One week before the first important individual races of the season, the Nordic championships and World cup races, it was a perfect timing to make my final adjustments.

// full story //

Cette année, la Croix-Rouge française donne rendez-vous les 23 et 24 mai pour sa 75ème quête nationale.

Comme chaque année, la Croix-Rouge française organise ses deux jours de quête sur l’ensemble du territoire. A cette occasion, le plus grand nombre de bénévoles des 900 délégations locales de l’association se mobiliseront les samedi 23 et dimanche 24 mai pour collecter le maximum d’argent leur permettant d’aider les personnes défavorisées de leur commune.

Cette année, la Croix-Rouge de Saint Etienne m’a fait l’honneur d’être le parrain de cette quête qui, je l’espère, sera une réussite.

Alors rendez-vous le samedi 23 mai, à partir de 14h, place Jean Jaurés (Saint Etienne) pour un beau moment de partage.

// full story //

On last Sunday, the most appreciated competition by the French orienteers took place in Corrèze. This relay consists of 8 legs with a mix of classes (with at least 3 women, 1 W18-, 1 M18- , 1 H35+, 1 D35+) and is definitively the highlight of club season here in France.

I ran the last leg for my French club, Nature Orientation Saint Etienne and we had a clear win. The seven previous runners did such good job that I started my leg with a comfortable 15 minutes lead.

// full story //

After yesterday’s middle distance, French orienteers competed on even shorter distance with two sprints.

On morning, the qualification took place in a nice arboretum with a quite easy course. The 15 best of the 4 heats went to the final.

// full story //