BAJARI ROGAINING
On August 6, 2023, the first-ever starting shot was fired for the “Bajāri Rogaining” competition, organized by Elīna and Krišjānis Krēmeri. The event featured brutal heat, which required every opportunity for cooling down, massive horseflies, and seemingly incredible underbrush in the area near Riga.
☀️THE WEATHER FORECAST approaching August 6th changed very rapidly; it seemed every approaching day – it was unclear whether the rogainers would have to run soaked in the rain or if a ray of sunshine would appear. A few days before the competition, it was decided that athletes would have to sweat in direct sunlight, but luckily there were enough ditches and muddy puddles along the route to cool down in. 🌊
The Bajāru Rogainings also stood out with two unusual overall standings. To attract more beginners to the sport of orienteering/rogaining, the Riga District and Ropaži Cup were created. 🏆 The competition for the cups took place among teams in the 3-hour distance. The condition for the Ropaži Cup was that at least one team member must be registered in the Ropaži municipality, while in the Riga District Cup, registration required specifying participation and indicating the represented Riga district in the team name. The winners of these overall standings were the teams “LEGS MISERABLES MO” and “Zasulauka apkaimes Divplākšņi.” 💪🏻
You can view all participants 👉🏻 here
3-hour distance participants, as planned by the organizers, mostly utilized the eastern part of the map, where there were more fields, deep ditches, and a vast network of roads and trails. An undisputed victory in the overall ranking, with 73 points, was achieved by the team “Lat Met.” In the V3 group, they "left behind" the team “Ādaži City” in second place with 60 points, while the team “Rs apšu kundziņi” came in third, just 2 points behind the second-place winners. Additionally, special recognition should be given to both junior teams, “Imantas Baronēni” and “Slidenās,” who were not deterred by the heat and participated for the first time!
Interesting twists were also seen in the family group, where the absolute leaders, team “Zaķeri,” managed to score 52 (!) points; however, due to a penalty for time delay of -15 points, the final result was 37 points. The second place was taken by the team “Trīs no Dārziņiem,” and in third place stood the team “Haizivis Ēģiptē,” who participated in a rogaining competition for the first time.
In the youth categories, 2 teams demonstrated their skills - in the XJ6 category, the team “Rs mušmires” with 44 points, and in the MJ6 category, “Latvju dēlu noriets” with 85 points. The ultra veterans’ teams were not far behind the young ones. In the MUV6 category, the 1st place went to the team “UZMANĪGI, AP MUMS IR DABA” with 97 points, 2nd place went to “Asie pipari” with 78 points, and 3rd place went to “KALNIEŠI” with 40 points. The ultra veterans' women's group was represented by “Bebrenes Bajāros,” while the mixed group included “Lielie Putni” and “KĀPA VR.”
The super-veteran groups also managed to surpass the 80-point mark and showed very respectable results, especially in 33-degree heat! The team “Mežmalas” in the MSV6 group scored 73 points. In the women’s group, the team “Kā lai šonakt…” with 86 points achieved 1st place, leaving “KĀ2” in 2nd place. In the mixed group, however, the competition was a bit tougher - 1st place went to “MONA - X” with 66 points, 2nd place to “Durbes bizoņi” with 55 points, and the honorable 3rd position was taken by “Āpši,” whose collected points would have been enough for 2nd place on the podium, but a 6-minute delay and -7 points caused them to fall slightly lower.
The mixed gender open group did not require such high results to make it to the podium. 1st place went to the team “DIVI PLUS DIVI” with 87 points, 2nd place to “Divas lakstīgalas” with the same number of points, but arriving 8 seconds later (!), and 3rd place with 73 points went to the Estonians, the only foreign team - Maksim Ovtsinnikov and Aire Vaher.
In the men’s veterans group, the team “Laid mums tur laimē diet” had already strongly presented themselves earlier and did so again this time, obtaining 160 points! In the MV6 group, 2nd place went to “Pitagora slapjās bikses” with 103 points, and 3rd place to “Tad jau redzēs!” with 99 points.
In the women’s veterans group, the competition and fierce battles were equally intense - 1st and 2nd places, as well as 3rd and 4th places, had identical points, with the difference measured in minutes! 1st place went to the team “B3 un Purva Karma” and 2nd place to “Vidzemnieces”, both with 105 points, decided by just 7 minutes. 3rd place went to “Kaķu tantes meklē Ziemeļus” and 4th place to “5. elements”, both with 78 points and a 15-minute difference.
In the 6-hour distance, the strength of families should also be highlighted! This time, with 88 points, the team “Klinšu ērgļi” took the top podium position, 2nd place went to “Rs kukainīši” with 64 points, and the honorable 3rd place went to “Purva bridēji” with 55 points.
