Tomáš Dlabaja

One month ago I got an invitation from Bruno Marchegay and Thierry Gueorgiou to take part in the Corrèze International Open. I quickly looked at all informations about this and made a decition to visit France for first real competition in my life. Corrèze International Open included a middle distance race on Friday, two rounds of sprint on Saturday and French championship in mix relay. I believed it could be cool to experience atmosphere of French orienteering and test my shape in the middle of preparation training period for first World Cup rounds in Finland.

Corrèze International Open is organized every year by a club Correze C.O., which is named after a french department Corrèze in south central France. The department is easily accessible by air.

All organization of the Corrèze International Open was on the higest level. I was agreeably surprised and fully satisfied, the same as one thousand another competitors.

The middle distance offered a challenging orienteering with very physically demanding beginning, where we have sunk in deep marshes. You can see my and Thierry´s routechoices on the map. I have lost a lot on the second control and few seconds several times afterwards. So I spotted Thierry, who started 2 minutes behind me, already on 11th control. But I kept him behind (to my big surprise) till 15th control, where I lost another 15 seconds and Thierry disappeared in silence

Next day we fully enjoyed sprint races. In the morning there was a qualification in forest arboretum in small village Chamberet. Unfortunatelly I didnt get my map, but you can see here an old version. This race was open for everybody, so over 400 runners in men class fought for 60 final places. The courses were rather easy and the loss of 2-3 minutes meant "knock out".

Because I dont know french language at all, I needed a small help of Google translator before my journey to France. What interesting informations I have found out about qualification system in France! Do I have any chance at all if I am only "human"?
Method of qualification:
- Dame and D20 +: 2 hens (20 per hen qualified) is 40 finalists
- Men and H20 +: 3 or 4 chickens (20 or 15 qualified chicken) or 60 finalists
- Dame D16-18: 2 hens (12 per hen qualified) is 24 finalists
- Men's H16-18: 2 hens (12 per hen qualified) is 24 finalists.


The final race became the highlight of the weekend. A small village Treignac counts among the most beautiful place in France. That afternoon streets were crowded by orienteers (spectators), who created wonderful atmosphere for the final race. Now I must say I have become a member of small and 2 year old French club called Puymirol. Why is it so important news? Because although I was a foreigner in France, my club cheered me such great way that only French orienteering king Thierry Gueorgiou got applause in the same intensity
A few of my new club-mates
Thierry Gueorgiou took another clear victory in the sprint final. I finished second but far far behind. You can see again our routechoices on the map.
[URLhttp://files.myopera.com/dlabaja/s/sprint-cfc.jpg]
5 best men in middle distance - Frederic Tranchand, Tomas Dlabaja, unknown runner, Philippe Adamski and Jean-Baptiste Bourrin

Sunday´s club championship was the peak for all clubs. French clubs are divided into 4 divisions (for example like in fotball) and everyone wants to come into 1st division - to the highest level. In the first division the team consists of 8 members of different sex and age. Orienteering club from Saint Etienne performed the best in another challenging race with many rocky features and another deep marches and they got gold medals. Unfortunately I cannot publish the map, because I left the competition before the end and without it. A change: here is the map!

I would like to thank all of you, who spent this wonderfull time in France with me and helped me to enjoy absolutely the Corrèze International Open!