City Legends rogaining series concludes in Riga with participants from four countries

Original publication date: 09.11.2023

This season, in the previous five stages, the participants of the rogaining series visited five different Latvian cities - Baldone, Liepāja, Riga, Strenči and Ādaži, returning to the capital in the final stage. The sixth stage of the Rogaining series was held in cooperation with Riga City Council and the support of shopping and entertainment center "AKROPOLE Alfa, Intervals.lv, Isostar, Garmin, Kokmuiža, Magnesia, Red Bull, Merrild, Orthomol, Wellmann.

The competition center was located at the shopping and entertainment center “AKROPOLE Alfa”. In the final stage of the fourth season, more than 800 lovers of orientation and active recreation from Great Britain, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were not afraid of the very strong wind and participated. The participants saw not only the well-known Lakes Ķīšezero and Lake Jugla, but also their smaller brothers - Bābelīti, Gaiļezera, Linezera, Velnezera, Lake Dambjpurva, and also looked for the best options for getting over or past Šmerlupīte, Dreiliņupīte, Jugla and Piķurga. This time it was possible to safely reach the other side of Brīvības Street filled with intense traffic via bridges and tunnels.

In the longest, GARMIN 6h course, world-class rogainers Zigmunds Bībers and Alberts Jasāns (“Laid mums tur laimē diet”), who had already secured another overall title, did not compete. Instead, experienced rogainer and ultrarunner Pēteris Grīviņš teamed up with Klāvs Stankevičs, a top-five finisher in this year's Stirnu buks series, for “Trailinity”. They delivered an excellent performance, collecting all 200 points with 20 minutes to spare. “Riga adventure team”, which had missed one round, finished second with 182 points and also moved up to second overall. In the final round, Jānis Ķemers teamed up with Henrijs Lērme.

A very equal battle for third place in the overall standings unfolded between four teams that were separated by only two points. “Inbank Latvia”, with Ddiju Endolu, who competes in triathlons, swimming, football and elsewhere, and sales manager Gintu Ērmani, scored 174 points and secured 3rd place, one point ahead of the best MIX, or mixed team “Viegla maize”, with cross-country skier Robertu Klauģi and Latvian national orienteer Signi Sirmo and Estonians Reigo Lehtlu and Aleksandru Haļapinu from “Karvalajed”. The best female team “Ampēriņš” (Madara Apsalone, Aleksandra Fjodorova) rounded out the top six with 172 points.

In the overall ranking of the season, for both the MIX teams and the women, the PL teams that had previously missed one stage rose to the leading positions, where in the last stage, instead of Sanda Pētersona, Aigars Šuvcāns started with Zani Gruberti, and for women, Dace Gaigala and Anete Geduševa-Bērziņa from ZVOC.

There were three teams in the foreground in KOKMUIŽA's 4h distance. Left without his usual partner Bībers, Jasāns teamed up with bronze medalist Half Ironmen in the triathlon distance Andi Grandānu and Jāni Šneideru (Riga adventure team/KoBalts) and won the first place in the middle distance with 133 points. Although they arrived at “Akropoles Alfa” five minutes after the end of the time limit, the subtracted five points did not prevent Sandim Zukulim and Elīnai Petrovskai, one of the leading O-Run distance runners in previous seasons, from showing the second best result with 131 points and convincingly winning the MIX competition. Unexpectedly, the juniors of the Latvian national team - brothers Matīss and Emīls Saulītes and Edvards Zvirgzdiņš, who got 129 points. The only ones who collected more than a hundred points (105) in the women's competition were the British orienteers Emma Teilore and Kaija Houka, while the best in the family competition with 85 points were Aigars and Tomass Čeksteri.

Even before the last stage, the MIX team Eduards Pāķis and Sniedze Brakovska (Adaži city) secured the victory in the overall season standings, being the only ones to exceed 600 points in the total of the five best stages. The best men's co-team “Resnie putni” (Madars Bandenovičs, Sondars Bandenovičs) took second place, while the best women's team “B3/Bez kompasa” with the leading orienteers of their age group Ievu Godiņu and Aigu Kalniņu finished the season of three.

In the 2h “AKROPOLEE Alfa” distance, the rich harvest of points (79) went to Lithuanians Vladam Kutiavinam and Modestam Bosam (Sakas Two), who lost four points to "OK Kaapa/SK Record” team, with Pāvels Ņevodņičenko and Ģirts Linde, who is also a skilled DJ known as Ballīšu zvērs. One point behind were the two Tomass of “Sasper jods”: Zemgales Ziņas sports journalist Neuss-Lucs and Tīss. They also collected 75 points but finished half a minute over the time limit. Behind six men's teams, the best mixed team, “A&A” (Andris and Amanta Mikijanski), finished seventh with 66 points. In the women's category, Zane Kapteine and Laura Anševica (“Žubītes”) were the only team to exceed 50 points, ahead of season winners Ilze and Inese Vilciņa (“Piens ir ledusskapī”). Miķelis Zumbergs and his daughter Ance were the top family team with 35 points.

Even though they had to settle for 4th place in the stage, Uldis Pormeisters and Gunārs Ozoliņš “LV Bārdas” triumphed in the overall standings, being the only ones to exceed three hundred points in the sum of the five best stages. The last stage was not the most successful for the next two teams either. Kalvis and Lilija Briči (Behemoth and cat) won the second place in the overall standings and the victory in MIX in a very intense battle, who beat the second best mixed team with Kārli and Dainu Stonkām (Team А) by one point.

In the 3h MTB distance, the victory in the stage and season was celebrated by the participant of the world championship and the 19th place winner of the European bicycle orienteering sprint, Mārtiņš Linde, arriving at “AKROPOLE Alfa” with a baggage of 172 points and ahead of Jāni Lāci by 12 points. The third place was won by Raitis Muižnieks, reaching the second place in the overall standings, while Eduards Rēns, who earned the same amount of points as Muižnieks in the stage, took the third place in the overall standings. It was even more interesting for the women, with Inesei Kauķei managing to defend the overall lead with third place in the stage, ahead of Aigu Strazdiņu in a very similar battle. The winner of the last stage, Annija Krūma (124 points), secured the 3rd place in the overall standings.

Anita Užule won both the round and the season in the ISOSTAR 2h individual rogaining run, three weeks after finishing third in the 84km Taisnais race. Jānis Dūka won the men's season standings; he had also competed at Taisnais on 14 October, placing third in the half marathon. In this round, Atis Krūmiņš, returning to the rogaining series after a long absence, beat runner and triathlete Oskars Cimermanis to first place.

The event is organized by the Association of Adventure Competitions and is co-financed by the municipalities of the city of Riga. Search for more information: http://rogainings.lv/