A report from Stephen Richards in Riga, Latvia

Day 1 – I get worse as I grow older

It didn’t start well. I got off the bus from the airport to go to the event centre. Realised that I had lost the map I had picked up at the airport and to make matters worse my phone wouldn’t bring up Google maps. Anyway a Russian couple also got off the bus and waved for me to go with them. So there I am, big rucksack on my back, pulling a small case, left knee brace on and right Achilles taped up dragging along behind them as they head north. Which was funny because I thought we should be heading N E. 

After a good few minutes they stop and speak to some locals to find out they were going in the wrong direction. So this had echoes of last year’s transport fiasco but at a much more gentle pace. Must take that word MUG off my forehead. So I let them lead off towards where I would have gone but I deliberately got further behind them. In the end I made it to the event centre just before them so they had obviously gone wrong again.

So on to today’s disaster. Had worked out which bus to catch to the event but missed it by a few minutes only to find that the next one was an extraordinary amount of time later and of no use to me. Panic set in and although I did catch a bus a few minutes later it only took me a short distance down to the central station. I decided to leg it, which was just plain stupid. Then a no.3 bus came past me which would have helped but I couldn’t get to the next stop in time to catch it. Further along a no.5 comes to a stop I was passing with Orienteers scanning maps and timetables. Two Americans were convinced it should get us over the massive river bridge but the driver said no. Time was racing on so I continued on foot.

A long time later a very sweaty Stephen, birthday boy 66 now, arrives at the event with just enough time to drop off my rucksack where I met John Nuttall (the only other SELOC member competing at WMOC) and arrive at the start with four minutes to spare. Phew!!!

I met John yesterday when I was in a tourist information centre.

After all that you can imagine that I didn’t perform very well and made a few silly mistakes and had covered a good few Kms before I even started so I am well tired now. Achilles feels sore so have come back to my apartment and may abandon any further plans for the day and it’s only 3pm Riga time!!!!.

It’s a lovely day here but I have already done too much on this leg. What an idiot.

Anyway let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Day 2 – A Much Better Day at the Office

The Achilles did not react well to yesterday’s exertions getting to the event, so I am struggling. The left knee is fine as long as I wear the knee brace. I get many people staring at me as it does look a bit bionic, buy hey I can move around and don’t need any codeine painkillers and all the other medication that goes with them.

Anyhow given that I arrived at yesterday’s Sprint qualifier very tired and flustered, then went on to make several silly mistakes on a very easy course I was stunned to discover that I had qualified (just) for the C final. I had assumed I would be in the D final.

So an 11.58 start saw me at the side of the beautiful landscaped canal which is a remnant of the old medieval moat that protected the city. Later in the day I went on a boat cruise along the canal and the huge Daugava river which was stunning.

Picked up my map and limped off around a good course which took us through the middle of the Vecriga, or “old town” which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Which brings me on to those “b—-y” tourists!!!! Had already dodged and weaved around a few groups but on the way to control no. 7 one group completely blocked my way to a set of steps so I skirted round them to the right and immediately shot down the wrong alley. Oh! Deep joy! when I realised my mistake a few seconds later and more frustration when I eventually realised that I couldn’t get to my correct alley from the one I was in. So back out and the down the correct alley. All that must have lost me a good 40 or 50 seconds which is a huge amount of time in Sprints.

The painful Achilles really slowed me down as I approached the Finish but other than the blip on the way to 7, I was reasonably happy with how I had done.

I went straight off to start sightseeing but the weather started to deteriorate with thunder preceding a huge hailstorm. Rainwater started pouring in to the Ceramic Museum I was in which was in a vaulted brick basement.

I moved on to the massive Central Market which the Germans built in the First World war to house Zeppelins but by 1930 had been converted to the market space it is now. Well worth a visit. However the weather was still grim so I nipped back to the apartment I was staying in for a late lunch, put an extra layer on before heading back for my river boat trip.

Funnily enough after the boat trip I met John Nuttall and had a chat about our runs. Big discussion point seems to be that some of the courses had been voided due to competitors going through a gate that was shown as uncrossable. John had been affected by this, and I’ve now found that my course and many others were too.

Day off tomorrow (Monday) and I’m off on an excursion to a Russian Bunker, a Castle and a Town tour. My Orienteering starts again Tuesday morning at 11.40 when we move to the forested sand dunes on the coast at Bumbukalns for the Long distance Qualifier.