Road-trip to Serbia - Memorial Cika Dusko Jovanovic
Dienstag, 05. Mai 2009 um 09:00 Uhr
Last weekend there were some interesting orienteering events around Austria. There were World Ranking Events in Germany (Alpe Adria Cup) in Hungary (Tipo Cup) and a little further away in Serbia (Memorial Cika Dusko Jovanovic). My first plan (early March) was to participate at the races in Hungary because the organizers claimed it as relevant for the World Championships in August. Than I heard about the competitions in Rajac (Serbia).
To attract the attention of foreign runners the organising club in Serbia made a special offer for elite runners, no entry fee, free accommodation in the event center and the chance of winning 200 euro prizemoney for the fastest.
This special offer by the Serbians made the races very attractive, and to one of my favorites for the first weekend in May. After comparing the pros and cons and consultation with friends, I finally decided to participate at the Memorial Cika Dusko Jovanovic.
Together with my colleague from the HLSZ11 in Seebenstein, Wolfgang Siegert (WAT), I went on the trip to Serbia - by car.
Contrary to expectations the streets were in a much better condition than expected and the 750 km to Ljig passed mostly on motorways (Hungary) or major federal roads (Serbia) took us an approximately 8 hours drive. Only a waiting time of about 1 hour at the Hungaro-Serbian border slowed down our journey.
First Day - Evening Score Race Ljig
On the first day was a night Sprint in Ljig. This sprints special feature was that it was not a normal sprint but some kind of score race with mass start.
Before the start some runners said that there will be enough light on the roads and therefore, if we need a lamp than, we will only need a small light. When we than put our normal night lamps on they were kidding on us. Before the start also the Romanian runners put on their normal headlamps and at start at 20:30 it was totally dark. At the first controls that have not been in the lighted urban area but in the forest also the last smile in the faces of the criticers has gone.
The race itself was very interesting. There was not one definite route the catch all controls in best way so there were different possibilities of getting all controls. Unfortunately I decided to take the same route like the majority of the other runners therefore a lot of people where queuing at the first control and loosing time waiting to punch the control. When I planed my route I almost forgot one control so I had to make some extra meters.
Fastest at the night was Zinca Ionut (ROM). Wolfi was 2nd, I was only 6th.
Second Day - World Ranking Event (Middle)
On the second day was the World Ranking Event, in the form of a middle distance. Already at the way to the finish area we saw that the terrain has a relatively dense vegetation. Also the first impression of the map confirmed our thoughts. A large part of the map was cover with all kinds of greens. The runability was good, unfortunately, the speed in the green areas was not always the same.
The course itself was very demanding. On some slopes it was only possible to run on all four or you had to use trees to manage the climb. Due to relatively high ground vegetation in some places tracks often were very hard to see which led to mistakes or unintended changes in the route.
I had some small mistakes and also running through thickets was not my strength. Towards the middle of the race I felt like my legs are slowly loosing their power because of the steep slopes. Especially my right calf suddenly began to feel like burning and hurting. Later in the finish I noticed that the reason was not the climbing but a 3cm long sting in the right calf which I used to run with the second half of the race.
The result of this middledistance was a bit disappointing, 6th Place and about 8 minutes behind the winner Ovidiu Mutiu (ROM). With a 4th place of Wolfi and place my 6th place we won a total of 70 euros prizemoney, so already one part of our journey is paid.
Map Middle Distance WRE
Link: Results Middle Distance
Day Two - Part 2
In the evening the organisers asked us for a meeting. Wolfi and I, as the representatives of Austria, thought that it was a teamleaders meeting for the following race (Serbian Championship Long Distance), and we will be told the last details concerning the race . As a waiter started putting plates and glasses on the table we were a bit confused until we realized that it is not a teamleadersmeeting but an invitation to a dinner. It was a good opportunity to talk with the organizers of the competitions and also to meet other people.
Generally people were very friendly. A couple of orienteers were old friends from WM, military or student World Cup championships. Also, the race director (coursesetter) is one of the runners we knew from CISM.
After dinner the evening was far from ending. According to the slogan "Man muss die Feste feiern wie sie fallen" (Celebrate the parties as they come), there was a party which can be considered as "Warmup" for the next day's championships.
Third Day - Serbian Championships Long (Classic) 
After previous day's warmup party which lasted until 1:00 it was now clear to us why they have scheduled those late start times.
The competition was held in the same area as the middledistance. The course was better as the day before because of more opportunities for routechoices and also the runability was a little bit better.
Once again I had a few small mistakes but I felt relatively good. Especially in the second half I wished the course would have been longer because I had a pretty good feeling.
On this day once again Ionut Zinca took the victory. He won the race about five minutes ahead of the 2nd position. If he is that fast in August he probably will be a top 10 candidate for the World Champs.
Map Long Distance
It was a very nice weekend. The competitions were well organized, also the weather was fine. We had a lot of fun together with our Serbian and Romanian friends and we really enjoyed it.
It was a good experience and I only can recommend going to Serbia for orienteering competitions!
some other thoughts on Serbia:
Although speed limits on Serbian roads a very slow and presence of police is very high the people have a different point of view on abiding the rules.
Driving 60 in a 40 km/h zone means you are an obstacle and you will be overtaken by busses also road signs forbidding overtaking just encourage most of the drivers to do so.
