Once again it was time for the annual international match between Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The original match only included Sweden and Latvia and started already in the 30:s, i.e. the primary assign is to beat Latvia. Ato and I (Anders) formed the Swedish senior men’s team. For the first time Estonia arranged the match and they had decided to host the competition as far away as possible from Sweden, which led to an unusually inconvenient trip with an average speed of 63 km/h.
After coming home from P.R. China I personally felt really good and had high expectations on the competition. The distance was, unlike previous years, 10 000 m and I aimed for a substantial PB. However, it only took a couple of days before I got a sore throat and since then I’ve been struggling to recover. The day before the competition I didn’t feel good at all and I were considering not starting at all. Nevertheless, the next morning arrived and with it came prospects of success and good performance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case but you got to keep the spirit up!
Inevitably it was time for the race and my expectations were low. Even though feeling pretty bad I found myself keeping a decent pace considering my condition and I soon placed myself on an 7:th place and felt pretty comfortable. The race went on and by keeping steady k:s around 4:30 I realized that I gained on the Estonian ahead of me. Approximately 2 kilometres before finish I passed the Estonian and I increased the speed. When I lapped for the last time and heard the bell I had a Lithuanian just a few meter ahead of me. Despite the late phase of the race I felt pretty good and easily passed the Lithuanian with a fierce acceleration. Finishing fourth was above my expectations, despite the modest time of 45:05.
After coming home from P.R. China I personally felt really good and had high expectations on the competition. The distance was, unlike previous years, 10 000 m and I aimed for a substantial PB. However, it only took a couple of days before I got a sore throat and since then I’ve been struggling to recover. The day before the competition I didn’t feel good at all and I were considering not starting at all. Nevertheless, the next morning arrived and with it came prospects of success and good performance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case but you got to keep the spirit up!
Inevitably it was time for the race and my expectations were low. Even though feeling pretty bad I found myself keeping a decent pace considering my condition and I soon placed myself on an 7:th place and felt pretty comfortable. The race went on and by keeping steady k:s around 4:30 I realized that I gained on the Estonian ahead of me. Approximately 2 kilometres before finish I passed the Estonian and I increased the speed. When I lapped for the last time and heard the bell I had a Lithuanian just a few meter ahead of me. Despite the late phase of the race I felt pretty good and easily passed the Lithuanian with a fierce acceleration. Finishing fourth was above my expectations, despite the modest time of 45:05.
Ato’s goal was to simply win the competition, not more not less. Thus, his plan was to just ride along with the leading pack up to around 8k before striking his crucial “knockout”. Ato followed his intricate plan with impressive precision and left his competitors behind around 8 kilometres without any significant effort. Thus he could easily defile in on the finishing stretch unthreatened and fulfill his own created prophecy. Furthermore, the closest man behind (Tadas Suskevicius) got disqualified which meant that I advanced another position in the results (from 5:th to 4:th).
Since Ato won the challenge prize he has to come back to Valga next year, something he is really looking forward to considering the comfortable trip. I on the other hand am more doubtful.
Live long and prosper!
Anders
Since Ato won the challenge prize he has to come back to Valga next year, something he is really looking forward to considering the comfortable trip. I on the other hand am more doubtful.
Live long and prosper!
Anders