Sylvester stage 1: Hüni & De Cuyper

The first stage of the Sylvester 5-days took place on the map Bosbergen West. As anticipated, the orienteering presented a complex network of paths, characterized by varied terrain and numerous green areas. Quick decision-making and rapid running were essential for success today. Results

In the women category, the victory went (as expected) to Corina Hüni, in front of Lisa Hubmann and Eva Örnhagen Jorgensen. Hüni was on track for a really clear victory but lost approximately a minute with a suboptimal route choice and a mistake in the circle towards control 17. Hubmann led after control 17 but lost made 2 small misses towards control 19 and 21. Violette Dupuy was in contention for third place but lost some time in the end. The fight for the podium is open, with 7 women over 900 points. Livelox

Official results WE

In ME, the battle for the podium was also thrilling with 5 guys relatively close to each other. Also on the men side, the favorite for today was on top. Warre De Cuyper executed the course good and could avoid bigger mistakes. Joschi Schmid got second place, but De Cuyper won't run all stages, so the 1000 points will be awared to Schmid. Adam Zridkavesely finished in third place. Wouter Hus was close during the race but lost a minute towards control 20 and another 50 seconds at control 30 to finish just behind Liam Thiels on 5th spoth. The contention for the victory in the elite category is totally open but will probably go between these 4 (fast) guys. Livelox

Official results ME

I had a little chat with todays winner De Cuyper. He like the course setting a lot. It was obvious the goal of the course setter to let the runners choose between going around or going straight with sometimes only the option of going straight. So kudos to Simon Krekels. Nevertheless it was a really fast race. De Cuyper said that he didn't felt super great. He is struggling with some small illness the past 1.5 week but it didn't bothered him too much during his race. After the map exchange he got a bit tired and lost some time in sake of concentration. He tried to avoid the smaller paths at some points because they were quite muddy.

Tomorrow will be more technical but also fast terrain. Excecution will be key to win tomorrow. With the perfect race, a pace close to or even under 5'00"/km is possible. Big mistakes will lead to big points loss.