National Championships M/W12-18

NC 12-18 and Veterans

From 1 to 3 May, Asenovgrad and the Topolovo area hosted the National Championship for ages 12–18 and the National Veterans Championship.

The competition took place over three days – from Friday to Sunday – with a programme covering a variety of disciplines. On Friday the participants started with a sprint distance, on Saturday the long distance was held, and on Sunday the programme ended with relays for the 12–18 age classes, while the veterans competed over the middle distance.

Sprint Distance

The first day of competition in Asenovgrad began with the sprint distance, which, as always, proved extremely dynamic and tricky. The high pace, frequent changes of direction and quick, accurate route choice were key in deciding the standings, and the oldest classes also had to deal with multi-level structures. Even so, our team got off to a strong start. 

🥇The standout performance was by Vihra Ruseva in W16, who ran a very confident, clean race and fully deserved her gold medal. Aleksandar Atanasov also brought home a veterans' title in the M60 class.

🥈Kristiyan Petkov produced one of his strongest runs to date and battled his way to second place in M12, running extremely fast throughout the course. Kristiyan was even leading up to the second-to-last control, but his strength ran out at the end and he finished just 4 seconds off the win. Yoana Atanasova also won a silver medal in W18; she was the smartest in the tricky sections with two-level structures and was even leading until a few controls before the finish. What stopped her from winning the title was a mistake in the last part of the course, but Yoana finished just 15 seconds short of the title.

🥉Borislav Karaboev rounded off the day with bronze in M14. This is his first individual medal, coming after an exceptionally strong run with very few mistakes. Among the veterans, Kaloyana Genovska (W40) and Desislava Dimitrova (W45) also made the podium. 

Very close to the medals was Yana Markova, who finished 4th in W12. This was Yana's first national championship race, and a big mistake at the 1st control was all that stopped her from making an even more impressive debut. In the same class, Danaila Mitsova took 7th position, and among the under-12 boys, Martin Yordanov placed 8th. In M16, Dimitar Kantardzhiev placed 6th, with a few mistakes in the first part of the course costing him a shot at a higher finish. In the girls' class of the same age, Maria Dikova took 9th position after making several consecutive mistakes in the middle of the course. Georgi Mitsov, Rosen Hristov and Kristiyan Marinov placed 5th, 6th and 10th respectively in M18 after runs with big mistakes on the course.

Overall, the team started the competition in good spirits and with a number of strong results, which gave them confidence for the following days of the programme.

Long Distance

The second day of competition in Asenovgrad brought the long distance, which proved a serious test for everyone. The tough, technical terrain around Topolovo, combined with long legs and complex route choices, led to many mistakes and inconsistent runs.

🥇Only Aleksandar Atanasov (M60) managed a very steady run and deservedly took first place. Also close to the top positions were Mihail Kovachev (M16), who placed 5th, and Marta Ruseva (W21E) in 6th position, despite the mistakes she made. Kristiyan Petkov was also close to the podium with 4th place in M12, after making 1 big mistake in the first part of the course.

Relays and Middle Distance

On the final day of racing in Asenovgrad, the relays, as always, brought plenty of emotion, tension and twists. After a hesitant showing in the long distance, this time the team ran much more strongly and consistently, and the results were better as a result.

🥇In M12, Danaila Mitsova, Martin Yordanov and Kristiyan Petkov took first place. All three ran very strong, even races, managing to take control of the competition and deservedly stepping onto the top of the podium. Danaila Mitsova came in 2nd, 2 min behind, but her run was among the 6 fastest of the day. Martin Yordanov also ran strongly – his time was the 8th fastest of the day, and he handed over in 2nd position, 1 min 20 s down. On the final leg, Kristiyan Petkov took over and produced his 3rd strong run of this national championship: not only was he the fastest on the course, but his flawless run also brought the title home for our team.

🥇Another title came in W18, where Maria Dikova, Yoana Atanasova and Vihra Ruseva once again showed their class and won first place. On the 1st leg, Maria ran strongly and made only a few mistakes. Yoana set off 40 seconds behind, but by the 1st control she was already leading on the course, and by the end of her leg the lead over second place had grown to 2 min 10 seconds. The drama in this class was saved for the final leg, where right at the 1st control Vihra made a big mistake and found herself more than 4 min behind the new leaders. The pressure also told on the 2 teams battling for the title, and they made big mistakes of their own before the middle of the course. Vihra managed to steady her run in the second half and so, for the 3rd year in a row, she brought our relay team home on the top step.

🥉In the boys' under-16 class, Borislav Karaboev, Dimitar Kantardzhiev and Mihail Kovachev fought their way to the bronze medals. On the first leg, Borislav had a hesitant first half of the course, made 1 very big mistake and handed over in 4th position, but more than 10 min adrift of the battle for the medals. Dimitar's leg did not start in the best way either, and he lost another 5 min at the very 1st control. His shaky run continued over the following legs, with a further 10 min lost on the shortest leg of the day. After this nightmare start, Mitko pulled himself together and made no more errors to the end of the course, but the gap looked insurmountable – nearly 20 min behind third place. With no expectations at all, Mihail Kovachev took over on the 3rd leg, just as the battle at the front, the pressure of the race and the technical courses began to claim their victims. Before the 2nd control, our team had already wiped out the gap to the medals. Misho produced one of the strongest runs of the day, making just one mistake, on the shortest leg, and still managed to bring our team into the top 3.

🥉In the boys' under-18 class, Kristiyan Marinov, Georgi Mitsov and Rosen Hristov also made the podium. On the first leg, Kristiyan Marinov made 2 big mistakes – one at the second control and one in the middle of the course. This dropped him away from the leading three, but he still came home in the chasing group, nearly 12 min down. Everything turned around on the second leg, where Georgi Mitsov was flawless up to the middle of the course and moved the team up to second position. Despite a less steady second half, our team was still second at the end of his leg. Rosen Hristov took over on the final leg, but even though he was among the fastest of the day, a few small mistakes wiped out his lead over the 3rd team before the spectator control. The last few controls proved decisive: Rosen was not well enough prepared there and could not hold on to second position. So for the second year running, our relay team in this line-up took 3rd place at the national championship.