TRAILO.IT - http://portugueseorienteeringblog.blogspot.it: GUNTAR MANKUS
His name is Guntars Mankus, he is 41 years old,
lives in Saldus, near Riga and he represented Latvia
at the World Trail Orienteering Championships 2012,
in Scotland. The Portuguese Orienteering Blog has
talked to him and here is the result of a pleasant
interview.
Is this your first time in a World Trail
Orienteering Championships?
Guntars Mankus (G. M.) - This is my second
World Trail Orienteering Championships. Last year I
was in France and I also have experience on few
European Championships before, so I’m not an
absolute beginner. But still it's my third year in
Trail Orienteering and from that perspective I think
I still have a lot to learn.
How did you start in Trail Orienteering?
G. M. – I started in Foot Orienteering –
basically speaking, I’m still in Foot Orienteering –
and definitely Trail Orienteering is not my best
discipline. I’m doing all kind of disciplines in
Orienteering. I do Foot Orienteering and I was
second in Latvian ranking in M40. I also do Mountain
Bike Orienteering and Adventure Racing.
Unfortunately, I am injured since April and so I
concentrated more in Trail Orienteering this year.
And what about your performances here. Are you happy
with your results?
G. M. - I’m not happy, definitely. I expected
to get better results because I did a lot of
competitions this year, once in Norway and twice in
Sweden. The results there were better than here, so
I can’t be very happy. But, of course, we have the
terrains that we can say that are here completely
different from Scandinavia.
The worse and the best of the WTOC 2012?
G. M. – This is just my personal opinion, of
course, but this was one of the worse competitions
I’ve done. About TempO, I’ve nothing bad to say.
TempO was the best part, for me. It was very
challenging, the problems were very well chosen, we
had a good visibility and it was quite equal for
wheelchair users. I made a good result but I was
very slow. I made only one mistake but I had the
slowest time between the top competitors. But then,
specially on first day, there were many places with
a bunch of flags located on the same feature and it
requires more the measuring than the map reading.
Even if the Guidelines of the IOF say that the most
important part should be the map reading. I think
that the course setter nearly forgot it on the first
day. On the second day, there were really more
problems that required map reading and, from that
point of view, the course was much more interesting.
There were still very strange check points that I
didn’t understand – I can remember, in the
beginning, a depression with three check points and
two thickets, that was something which I cannot
understand - , but it was much better on second day,
indeed.
How is it, doing Trail Orienteering in Latvia?
G. M. – We are a small group of competitors
and we have about twenty regular participants in our
races. Let’s say that almost 50% in Paralympic
Class, a little bit more in the Open Class. We have
ten to fifteen events per year and we have some
local ranking, so there are regular activities. Not
always but sometimes, of course, the maps and the
check points are not perfect. In Latvia, not going
anyone else outside, it’s hard to be prepared for
high level events like the World or the European
Championships. And that’s why I try to practice
abroad, at least in one or two events, like I did
this year.
Are you going to stay in Trail Orienteering or,
after the injury, you’ll return to Foot-O and to
Adventure Racing?
G. M. – We never know. It will depend on the
other things I do in my life. It depends on my job,
it depends on my family and it depends on the
season. I’m still not satisfied with my performances
in these last two World Championships. Last year, in
France, I was in 4th position after the
first day and I lost a lot on the second day. Also
after these World Championships I’m not really
satisfied. I’m still thinking that I’ll be in Trail
Orienteering maybe one more year, searching to have
some better results. But it’s like a never-ending
process and then you come again (laughs).
Joaquim Margarido
