Deb Bain and Sally Dickson are following the World Masters Series of MTBO in Europe from late May to early July. This report is on the second two events: the Danish Camp held in Sweden (now renamed to the Nordic Camp) and the Austrian Champs plus the Czech &  Austrian Cup and quick report from Poland.

They had many similarities, in particular, their size was about 300 competitors mostly from two neighbouring nations with a smattering of internationals. The common language was English so we could understand what was happening and have friendly conversations. The event centres both allowed for camper vans tent pitches, providing a restaurant option and socialising (quite a lot of beer for the Czechs!). The forest map areas were not new, so the locals had distinct advantages but even after just two races we felt a lot more confident and faster.

KOSTA SWEDEN

From Lithuania we travelled for 11 days through northern Poland, overnight ferry to lower Sweden exploring the Småland region to Kosta. Apart from a few farms there are forests and lakes everywhere, it is a very flat land with few rivers. Situated three hours north of Copenhagen, Denmark,  one hour west of Baltic Sea and four hours south of Stockholm, Kosta is “The Kingdom of Glass” with many art glass studios dating back 200 years, you may well have heard of Kosta Boda, the famous glassworks. For most of our journey we had experienced unseasonably cold weather and rain showers but from day one in Kosta the warmth arrived! As did a local news reporter, intrigued as to why we had come all the way from NZ. The next day we, and our wee red tent, were mildly famous to the local competitors.

The event centre (EC) was a camping ground, cabins and lodge complex on the map edge, at an altitude of about 250m and latitude 56.8° north, it was an early 4am dawn chorus!

Fun fact – orienteering was invented in Sweden. At least that’s what they tell us! No wonder they are so good at it, especially in the Masters ages !!  Editor’s note: : Yes, orienteering began as military training in Sweden in the late 19th century. Soldiers practised land navigation using map and compass to simulate realistic battlefield scenarios. The first public orienteering competition took place in 1893, organised by the Swedish military. The first civilian competition was over 100 years ago, near Stockholm in 1919.

Going into the weekend Sally was officially leading the World Masters Series W65 based on points from seven races – ha ha! I thought it was an admin error but Keith assured us that the ‘snail’ tactic (get to the finish without miss-punch, never mind the nav oopsies) has paid off!! No doubt this will change with more events coming up for Europeans…and arch rival Deb!!

Kosta has been a FAB experience for us. The competition was over 4 days: Long + memory training map; Sprint + route planning map; Hokeren ultra-long with shorter options + social dinner; final day Middle. The best part was that most people stayed at the Lodge complex EC, which had a friendly fun atmosphere and as an absolute bonus, nearly everyone could speak English!

The terrain was the same for all maps – mostly flat in the forests with some low rises, nothing steep. Although it rained a bit the ground was not muddy or slippery thanks to moss and rocks, except some single track gnarly tree roots.

Overall, with 10 in W65 class, Deb got a creditable 3rd in the long, 4th in Sprint and FIRST in the Middle, against some super fast local Swedes and Danes! Sally’s results were 8th, 5th and; 7th. World Masters Series points counted for the long and the sprint.

It took a while for us to get used to this new forest and feel confident on route choices, which were not as complex as Lithuania (thankfully!). The single track short dashed was hard riding with (what seemed like) new terrain rolling over dry lumpy mossy mounds, old large tree roots and rocks sometimes it felt like being on a rough mini pump track. Even some of the longer dash tracks were initially slow riding but improved over the weekend with all the traffic. Despite taking the same trails, we moved significantly faster on Saturday than on Thursday. Riding in Sweden is contained to tracks with almost no open ground and very rare use of the black dotty forest symbol for the likes of a frisbee golf area.

Swedish event re-cap:

1. First up was the Long event 1:12,500 2.5m contours, 18 km best route, A3 2 pages. Winning time 1:11 Deb was 3rd +4mins. We woke up that morning to find the final catching control right outside our tent!

Overall people found it an easy nav with most long legs having route choices that were 50/50 and quite a lot of riding on forest gravel roads. Sally’s first ride nerves caused a ghastly mistake to #1 but she did a good pace on the rest. Deb made just one oopsie and was delighted to get 3rd against the local competitors, putting it down mostly to her stronger ability on the fresh rough single tracks. Friendly rival Tove Andersen (Denmark) had elected to ride W60.

2. Training1:10,000 with good sprint type riding. In the afternoon we headed to Maleras town for a training map for a memory event. The idea is to study the segment, commit it to memory, then ride without looking at your map. We enjoyed this and found it useful to build confidence plus focus on knowing the exit direction better than usual! Another part of this was learning to use the UsynligO app – a GPS-based control scoring tool that registers you as you pass each ‘invisible control.’ It’s great fun hearing the pings as you move through the course.

3. Sprint 1:7,500 5km superfast courses of all ages were set for 20min win times – ours was 21min with Deb 4th +3min and Sally 5th +4min. The day started very cold after rain so we huddled in our tent to keep warm, but ended in sunshine and smiling faces! Good fun zooming around Kosta town but a bit too easy with very little route choice.

4. Training. The next training map was at Orrefors town for technical/route choice. We were taking alternate routes to race to each control, then compare the pros/cons. Also using UsynligO App.

5. Day 3 Hokeren course is a traditional ‘‘marathon style” with 200 or so starting in various lengths direct vs best route distances: 42/64km, 34/54km, 24/39km, 12/17km. We opted for the 39km course (and did 41km), 3 A3 maps nearly all on  roads so rather monotonous but enjoyable scenery of forests and lakes along the way, plus riding on an old military landing strip. One section had superb single track along a lakeshore and one swampy/boarded moss ride short-cut that wasn’t the best route perhaps. Sally was delighted to keep running into Deb after we took different routes, but Deb got ahead in the last section to #10 when Sally had a cramp issue for a few mins. Our times of 2:35 and 2:41 were 45th and 48th place of 69 riders – well off the pace of these cycling-mad Nordic folk!

6. Middle 1:10,000. By day 4 Deb was ready to ‘ride like crazy’ and be confident in her nav at speed on the Middle, which was mostly fast single track in nearby town Lessebo. It was a short 5.8 direct/8.2km optimal ride with lots of people in the forest to not be distracted by on some complex track junctions and through the frisbee golf area.

Deb had a blinder and was first with 41min, nearly 2min lead on 2nd place. She just wished this race counted for World Masters series…but Sally had an OK ride 52min with 2 poorer route choices but mostly just can’t ride as fast on single tracks as Deb, coming in 7th (of 10).

Finish photo Deb with Marlin Agrin (W60) who lived in Hamilton and competed in a lot of Foot-O and MTBO with her family during her stay in NZ.

Fun story was on day one we saw (and got excited by…) the organisers unpacking beautiful glass pieces for prize-giving – alas the tradition is to only reward the youth up to 21 ages, there were no podiums or medals for anyone else!

SCHIDORF KIRCHBACH, AUSTRIA

This event centre (EC) was a small old skifield base in northern Austria, close to the Czech border, 1.5 hr drive west of Vienna. It was the 40th Austrian Champs event (with about 100 locals) so they featured a neat display of maps and pics since 1983. These days they combine with Czech on many competitions so we also had the Czech and Austria Cup going with about 300 people total plus 15-20 internationals with World Masters Series points for both races.

There were only 2 entered for WMS W65 (us!) and 2 for W70 (our Aussie mates Heather Leslie and Carolyn Cusworth) so we confess to not riding as hard as if we had competitors and did our own WMS podium shots!! At prize-giving they combined both races W60-69 (14 people) in the Czech Austria Cup where Deb got 3rd so she was pleased! This is up against regulars who race in this forest every 2-3 years with a good advantage.

The EC was about 700m altitude. Bizarre to be parked up next to the snow groomer and to camp on the beginner slope. The weather was hot, high 20’s all weekend, great for family camping with 40-50 campervans parked up and 20 or so tents on the lawn by a bubbling cool stream, with a small pond that the kids loved swimming (us too, after they all left!). Cool inside the forests.

The map was the same area both days. Forest roads of varying rideability and never straight were a fun challenge with major risk of mistakes – every person we spoke with made some error. The terrain was interesting and mostly great riding an old European-style forest with no squares! It’s interesting they only clear very small areas at a time or pick off the big trees. Single tracks were hard to locate on day 1 due to overgrown grass, blueberries etc, made easier on day 2 worn in by riders. Wide short dashed tracks mostly bumpy with roots & pot holes making it hard to do nav on the fly, recent digger tracks and many dead ends. Wide long dash roads of varying speeds, solid line roads mostly fast riding, but never straight for long. Everyone seemed pleased with the map quality, most made some error but very few miss-punches.

The Middle race 1:7,500 A4 5m contours Saturday afternoon only 6.5km 150m climb for W65 and W60 classes BUT we had a hot sweaty 2.5km 125m road climb to the start and silent finish with 2.5km 125m descent at the end! Our course was like a big C while the lower age groups criss-crossed it. We thought this was pretty short with winning time 32mins for W60, 36mins for Deb W65 1st and Sally 2nd 40mins. Deb would’ve been 3rd overall W60-69. All the courses were short times.

2. Sunday was another ‘short’ event – the Long 1:10,000 only 8.5km 250m climb winning time W60 58mins. Our course was criss-cross this time and seemed more familiar but we both made errors that cost 10mins or so (and under no pressure Sally stopped for a few photos). Deb 1hr 10, Sally 1hr 21. But Deb came 3rd overall combined W60-69.

Again we rode 2.5km to the start up 125m climb to Riebeis village then finished with a fun zig-zag down the length of the [short!] ski field. At the end there was a ‘raffle’ for some local sponsored beers … 10 packs… that we assumed would be a draw… but no, the keen few lined up (incl Deb ever-hopeful) and had to dash 50m UPHILL to grab them!!! Needless to say all the kids won, Deb in jandals didn’t stand a chance – family fun Austrian style!

At the end of hot but thoroughly enjoyable weekend we chilled out with a peaceful dip in the pond, followed by a planning session over a wine chatting with guys from France and Portugal…which culminated in us all booked to attend the 4-day Polish MTBO competition 4 days later and 700kms away in Warsaw! Off we go on our next, slightly bigger, loop!

Below is the Austrian Elite long distance map:

MAZOVIA, POLAND 

Mazovia MTB-O Event Highlights

• 5 races, all in forests 25–30 min east of Warsaw, centered around a well-equipped hub: 4 old maps + 1 new, 2.5 m contour interval.

• Terrain: mostly flat with occasional sandy ridges (8–12 m) that were challenging to ride—reminiscent of Burwood Forest (Chch), with grid roads, winding tracks, creeks, and perimeter urban streets.

• Trails: single-track, packed sand—fast and fun. The sand, located ~260 km from the sea, originates from the naturally silted Vistula River floodplain.

Sally Rode W60, but only a single entrant –  local rider Yola (W45) noted older women here typically don’t compete. The M70 category also had just two locals plus Norman and Bill. Due to low entries, the organisers slotted us into M12, which was less than ideal; control symbols were tiny –  Ricky joked it felt like an “eye test!” Despite this, we embraced the challenge, often outperforming the M70 field on shared legs. Deb won overall W60, earning bike-care goodies (CX80 kit, verymuch needed for sandy bikes) after a few internal rivalries. This was not a World Masters event –  only Polish riders received medals; internationals got diplomas and applause. Highlights include us on the podium with Swiss competitors and photos with Norman and Aussie friends.  

Polish re-cap:

Race	Scale	Distance	Win time	Verdict
Middle	1:10k	6.2 km	20:41 (Deb)	Too short
Long	1:12.5k	10 km	38:33 (Sal)	Still short
Sprint	1:5k	6 km	21:03 (Sal)	Longer than Middle
Relay	1:12.5k	8.5 km	Sal 39 min, Deb 36 min (4th W50+)	Hard to read maps
Mass start	1:10k	10 km	Deb 40 min*	Miss-punched!

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