Sports

Fjord-O 2022, Norway

Finally orienteering again, respectively orienteering abroad. I've had the Fjord-O runs on my "radar" for a long time and now traveling to Norway is possible again. Shortly before the registration deadline, I decided to compete in these four competitions in the fjord landscape. Ålesund was not known to me before. But as many say, once you've been there you won't forget the city. There are photos on the album.
image IMG_8991
I also remember the orienteering runs; difficult and rough terrain, which I had to get used to first.image IMG_8998
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Everything is new in ..

.. May or June.
After the MARIN bike has received its upgrade, a new Garmin Edge has also been added. My list of Garmin devices starts sometime in 2008 (Edge 705) when GPS was becoming more and more popular in sports. The successor Edge 800 has lasted quite a long time; I enjoyed using it with its excellent battery life and modified Topo-CH map. However the handling on the computer has become a bit cumbersome. I now use an Edge 830 on my rides.
image edge830-solo
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upgrade to my MARIN

My training device has undergone an upgrade. The 2x10 rear derailleur from SRAM has now been exchanged for a 1x12 Eagle group, also from SRAM. Wherever possible, Zini from Radwerk has installed GX components. I do without the electric variant AXS. The free space at the front is now occupied by a lowerable seat post. On this occasion, all other parts on the bike, such as brakes and headsets, were checked and replaced where necessary.
Note the chainring with 34T.
IMG_7420s
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Control a QuickRoute replacement

The highlight of the last week: I routinely search the internet for a Mac version of QuickRoute, the GPS analysis tool for orienteering. And this time google tells me about an app that works for iOS. It's called Control and runs on iPads, iPhones and Android devices. The website doesn't give much more. But the whole thing interests me so much that I keep looking and then find what I'm looking for; especially an interview with Petri Tilli the developer and that the app will soon even be available in a macOS version.
Control-O-Analysis-blog
I already have that app on my iPhone and I love it! Control - or Total Control, the paid app - can do everything I used to need QuickRoute for. And even on an iPhone with its small screen and finger control it is a pleasure to work with. So I can now retire my virtual Windows machine (VirtualBox) on the Mac. For all three 'windows-only' applications (QuickRoute, WebsiteX5, Condes) I now have counterparts in the Apple world, some of which are newer and also better
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New Year and a look back

Strava knows everything, or almost everything... Winking there are a few forms of training that remain 'secret'. I don't want to say too many words about the Corona year 2020. We wish and hope that the new year will be better.
The Strava application is actually not my primary training diary. Nevertheless, I find it interesting when it compiles a summary of my sporting activities at the end of each year. Although I only competed in four orienteering competitions, there were still a few training kilometers.
image strava-summary2020
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orienteering in 2020, MOM

everything is different this year; the corona pandemic also has a direct impact on orienteering. From March all competitions have been canceled. After the lock-down, a few runs with drastically limited numbers of participants took place. Nadine and I only contested four competitions in the fall season. My last run was the MOM in Seelisberg. A great, but also difficult terrain.
And now the Garmin software can display the recorded route in color with an additional parameter (e.g. pace or pulse). This is my course with the pace drawn (blue=slow, orange= fast).
image MOM-GC-overlay
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Happy New Year 2020

a few quiet days over the Christmas with family and friends and doing a little sport too. Strava, one of my training apps, summarized my year briefly and presented it in a few key figures (check it on the picture below). I am excited to see how it will continue in the new year.
image newYear2020-en
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Alain gets the 1st Dan

from today we have a black belt in our family. Alain passed the exam on 1st Dan at the Dojo-Winti (Club). Photos are on Flickr and two short videos are on Vimeo. Fantastic, if I can follow and accompany the whole development over the different Kiu stages. He attended his first training session in August 2012.
image IMG_3958w
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Midnattsolgaloppen 2019

Again in Norway, and again at a multi-day orienteering event north the Arctic Circle. For the third time I take part in the Midnattsolgaloppen 2019. This year Nadine also participates in that event. We travel to Alta, which is located in the province of "Finnmark". In Maze, 70 km south of Alta, we take part in a regional OL, before the races of the MG2019 started in Rafsbotn and Kaiskuru.
image nadine-d3-102
Since the OLs tooke place only in the evening, we had enough time throughout the day to visit various attractions in the region. Following the competitions we made a day trip by car to the North Cape. We are lucky, the weather was right. As usual all the photos of our trip are stored in two albums on flickr (Alta Nr1, Alta Nr2).
image N+U_Nordkap
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orienteering with the monks

I took the last chance to take part in a (forest) orienteering event, before traveling to Norway at the end of June. The Friherrenberg just behind Einsiedeln Abbey is clearly not one of my favorite forests because it is too steep!
To make matters worse, it was wet on Saturday. It was raining not just on the competition day, but through the whole week. As a result the already very steep slopes have become a real slide. Here is the northern part of the orienteering map Friherrenberg is shown, on which the Galgener OL has been held, with the monastery complex at the very top.image friherrenberg-bahn
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SOM 2017, San Gottardo

orienteering on the Gotthard pass; the relay Swiss championships (SOM) 2017 has been held in the alpine terrain of the Gotthard.
som-gotthard
I've been "kindly invited" to run in a thurgorienta team this year. Together with Peter Schoch and Heiri Greminger, we formed a team in the men's 180 class. Here on the Gotthard pass we found an impressive scenery and best possible weather to do orienteering. Anyway, my knees have not properly recovered in the following week; therefore I stopped my orienteering season this year after this event.
h180-sangottardo
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Midnattsolgaloppen 2017, orienteering in Tromsø

for the second time after rienteering at midnight ...">2013, I started at the Midnattsolgaloppen (MG), a four days orienteering competition in the far north of Norway. MG is held every two years always around Midsummer night when the sun never sets for a few weeks. In 2017 MG celebrated the 50th anniversary. This time BUL Tromsø has organized the MG around the city of Tromsø.
tromso-oldbuildings
Because the competitions begin often in the late evening time remains during the day to travel around or to visit one of the museums at Tromsø. The photos from my trip can be seen again on Flickr. They are split into two albums.
arena-d2-blog
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Stöff Memorial OL, Wildberg

The Swiss orienteering event calendar looks rather unusual this year. No national events until mid of June, mhh. Therefore it was easy one for Nadine to convince me of a start at this regional competition in Jonschwil. It was a pleasant surprise to be back on this map again.
Wildberg-Apr-blog
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orienteering in the Jura (Pentecost)

after a long absence, I started once again at this years PfiSta. This is an orienteering relay that takes place in the Jura during the Pentecost days. Two night legs and five legs on the day are making a PfiSta.
pfista-20s
Here the first leg of the night runners gets ready to start. Two teams of thurgorienta have been at the start. I did the second night leg while Nadine started early in the morning on the third leg.
nadine-3rd-lge
Orienteering in the Jura is still fun. Want to see all the photos from that event or even read a review (in German)? There is also a short video of the start to the first leg on my facebook page
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NOM 2016

as you might know I am doing orienteering and in particularly night-o because during the night more o-skills are required than during a day competition. The Swiss championship in night orienteering (NOM) in 2016 was held in Meggen near Luzern. And there was no mass start than in previous years, just a simple event.
NOM2016-ambiance
Photo by Samuel Hebeisen (Festbilder.ch)
This together with the fact that my health has been better than in last months was my motivation to prepare for that event. Sam my brother asked me to travel with me. He wanted to make a few photos from this event. I've enjoyed the competiton and the result was also pleasing (see my course on the map in the class M60).
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3rd Kyu to Alain

Alain is still training with the club Karate-Do Winterthur. And on that Friday evening he successfully mastered the 3. Kyu (brown).
karate-3kyu-blog
I have visited his exam and took a few photos and also a short video.
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Winti-Marathon, SiroSport again

it is the third time in a row that a team of SiroSport wins the marathon relay of the Winterthurer Marathon.
wintiM_644_ziel
This year SiroSport takes also the second place. Nadine could finish the last leg for the team „Tödi“.
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orienteering in Dornbirn (at)

this weekend I accompanied Nadine to the Swiss Championship in sprint orienteering (SPM). This event has been organised together with the Austrian O-team in the small city of Dornbirn not far from the Swiss border.Nadine-SPM-blogen
Since I don’t do sprints in urban surroundings I used the opportunity to visit the competition area and take some photos as a spectactor.
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knee surgey (again)

but this time it was my left knee. I had to do an arthroscopy two times on my right knee and so this wasn’t really new to me.
physio-zwei
Only a few days after the operation took place (10. Sept.) I could start my physiotherapy. Continuing the exercises at home helped a lot. And only two and a half week later I was able to do already a training on the bicycle.
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3-days o-event in Smiltene (Latvia)

Following the trip to Rabland we just changed clothes at home and then traveled to Latvia. This time Nadine was with us. We took part at the Azimut 3-days orienteering event in Smiltene. Smiltene is a nice little village about 130 kilometers east of Riga.
It always impresses me to see how well these competitions are organized and this one makes no exception.
smiltene-d2-blog
The terrain in Latvia is comparable to the scandinavian terrain that we know but as always if you are the first time in a country you have to learn a lot, even in orienteering! I had to get familiar with the map and the symbols they are using in Latvia first and then in Latvia all the maps have 2.5 meter contours because the country is rather flat (highest point is about 360 meters about sea level).
After the o-event we traveled back to Riga and stayed there for two more days. Sure I took a few photos but Azimut itself has put an album on the Internet.
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orienteering in Tirol (Wipptal)

Back in Austria but this time in Wipptal. We have been often in Austria for orienteering over Whitsun mostly in Seefeld. This year Marianne and me were following thurgorienta to Steinach. From there we did a few very demanding trainings in the near surroundings.
day2-igls-blog
Planning the next training on the map Igls Nord on Sunday.
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NOM 2014, (night-o)

Finally a night orienteering championship without trouble. All my problems with muscles, light and so on could be solved just in time. Together with Sam we drove to Schönbühl near Berne. Sam took a couple of photos and me I did the competition.
nom14_loop1
Personally I don’t like this years form of a mass-start with loops. Here you see different groups of runners on their first loop. Since the classes started with short delays soon there were a lot of orienteers in this area and it was difficult to keep track of your race. But for Sam this was fine, he didn’t need a flashlight - there was always some light around
Happy
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Alain gets his greenbelt

Alain is doing Karate since autumn last year with the local club Karate-Do Winterthur. Last Saturday was his exam to next level which he passed successfully.
greenbelt-2013
Yusof, Alain and Marco wearing their new belts
It is impressiv to see what these young men have learned in just one year. Congratulations and keep going!
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Trailrunning Amden-Speer

A nice sporting sunday with friends, that’s what Marianne suggests to me. It turned out to be a test run for a possible upcoming trail running event by Siro Sport.
amden-blog
Starting from Amden and running uphill up to the top of Speer from where one had an impressive view to the canton Glarus, to the end of the lake Zurich and to the Toggenburg valley with the Säntis as its top peak. Of course we also take a break at the restaurant nearby before we continued our running trip. Overall that was a very nice Sunday.
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orienteering at midnight ...

with sunglasses on, well almost!
This year I travelled far north to Bodø and from there to Finnsnes where the Midnattsolgaloppen (MG) toke place. Every second year the MG will be organised by a club in northern Norway where the sun never sets during the days from mid June to end of July.
mg2013d1-blog
With starting times from 6 pm to 9 pm this is an unforgettable event for every orienteer. And what impresses me every time when starting in Norway is the friendly atmosphere on such events.
mg2013-wayback
From the competition arena in Sørreisa I had to drive to Finnsnes where I stayed in a hotel. This photo is taken on my way back around half past nine.
Photo albums from stage 1&2 and from 3&4 are now ready on flickr.
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Winti Marathon

last Sunday the 15. Winterthurer Marathon was held in our city. But don’t panic, I didn’t start at the marathon. Instead I run in a relay. As last year Siro-Sport, a local sport shop, together with Mega-Joule has five teams in the relay class. Five runners will do the 42.195km in legs of 7km up to 14km.
wintiM13_mar
Marianne, Nadine and me were running in different teams. It was fresh air and rainy the days before but for competitions this are almost ideal conditions. It was an interesting mix of sportsmen running for the Siro-Teams I enjoyed it very much even if I get slightly hurt (adductor strain). At the end on of the Siro-Teams wins the Relay, and the others perform also well.
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black beauty, MARIN CXR 29er

I almost forget to mention my (our) new mountain bikes. Radwerk a local bicycle dealer with excellent know-how and great enthusiasm convinced me to buy a MARIN 29er hardtail.29er_MARIN-blog
When it comes to xmas time Radwerk offers a special deal: you get the daynumber as a percentage of the actual price. Too bad that December only has 31 days and Radwerk is closed from 24th until the beginning of January
Winking
Now I am driving this MARIN CXR 29er hardtail. No more Cannondale since the support from Radwerk is important for me.
cxr4me
Marianne also bought a similar mountain bike to have equal opportunities again. She got the I.F.T. 29er. Now we have to wait for better weather to go for our rides.

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orienteering in the Engadin

as I can not do orienteering as often as in the last years, this one was a must; running the swiss relay championship and the 10. national event both in the Engadin valley.
som_h160-blog
The Engadin valley in the alps offers a similar terrain like the nordic countries. Orienteering requires o-skills and can be very tricky.
Marianne, Nadine an me knew this area since we have been here a couple of times not only for vacations but also for orienteering. On this picture you see one of the difficult parts of my course. Since I wear a GPS receiver during most of races I can easily analyse my performance afterwards.
godsurlej_2-6
btw: unfortunately my tracks don’t look that good all the time, but I only show you the better ones.
Winking
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3 days-O, Laesø (DK)

together with Esther, Franziska and Mario Alain and me toke part at a 3-day orienteering event in Laesø . Laesø is a small island far north in Denmark.
laeso-d3-blog
I have chosen this event because the area there is rather flat which is good for my knee. But as it turned out doing orienteering can be really tricky in such a terrain. Of course we enjoyed the time on the island and visited all three villages (see photos).
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orienteering in Alicante

from 10. to 14. February we travelled to Spain. As a christmas gift Marianne invited Nadine and me to a two day orienteering event near Alicante.
wkz-d1
We toke place at the COMOF Cup. On Saturday there was middle distance competition and on Sunday one over the classic distance (real orienteering).
Winking
Since Nadine and Marianne were starting in de Elite class that means they will have running times of around 90 minutes.
marianne-d2
After this o-event we travelled back to Valencia where we spent two more days shopping and sightseeing.
Photos of this weekend are on my Flickr account and the results are posted by the organizer.
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Whitsun in Seefeld

Whitsun means staying in Seefeld. At least for the last couple of years thurgorienta held their training weekends there. This year was no exception. Although the weather wasn’t that good we could do most of our trainings without standing in the rain.
seefeld11_teamol
On monday we started for a team orienteering near the Mösernsee. As always I had my GPS on (Garmin FR 210) and could watch my recorded route afterwards.
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bike-O Frauenfeld

Occasionally I do bike-orienteering too, this is particularly true since me knee doesn’t allow for more than two trainings a week. In Frauenfeld a sprint-bike-orienteering event was held that weekend.
bike-o-ffeld
And as an exception to the Swiss rules in bike-o it was partly allowed to leave the tracks and roads and drive cross country. Bike-O is fun and a sprint even more, everything is twice as fast as in foot orienteering at least. I still can improve my skills as the results are showing.
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broken arrow, NOM 2011

broken arrow5 to be exactly ..
Arrow5 is the name of the compass model I am using for my orienteering runs.
This years NOM (swiss championship in night orienteering) turned out really bad. Not only because I broke my compass. This happened at the 10th control. Trouble began earlier somewhere in middle of the competition when I missed two controls and did a wrong route choice. Within four controls I lost almost 10 minutes to my usual time which actually isn’t fast.

But hey, I finished this competition. My battery worked well, I had a bright light until the end of the run. And I didn’t hurt which is not a matter of course nowadays. Photos from Sam.
Next year there will be another try. Winking
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get ready for night-o

it’s wintertime and the days get shorter. Or the other way round, the nights are getting longer. Today this seasons NOSOL training starts once again and soon the first night-o training is scheduled.

Last week I have prepared my night-o equipment. This year I will start with a Lupine Tesla with a special Li-Io battery pack. I am already using it during my trainings at night.
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LOM, God Grond

the so called long distance Swiss championship on orienteering was held in Saluf near Savognin in the Grisons. Personally I don’t like this name. I would prefer standard or classic because when I started orienteering many years ago there was just one distance and it was like that.

The map „God Grond“ has its history too. In 1987 the Swiss championship had to be cancelled due to several objections. Still not totally recovered from my knee operation I absolutely had to start at this event.
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SOM 2010 in Lamoura (F)

This years Swiss Relay Championship in orienteering was held in the Jura. We have been there the last time in 1994 for a five day o-event. Doing orienteering in this region is demanding in both aspects: map-reading and running. But this is exactly what I am enjoying.

The competition center was at the Village de Vacances de Lamoura shown on the far left side in this photo. I have taken a few more photos.
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training in Seefeld (at)

We have spend Whitsun holidays in Seefeld Tirol. Again we could enjoy a very comfortable stay at the Schönruh hotel.
And as for trainings (photos), well the region there looks similar to the Scandinavian terrain, so it is always a pleasure to do orienteering in these forests.

Together with Martina and Corsin we set the first training on Saturday.
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night-o, NOM 2010

swiss championship in night-orienteering, this year with a different modus: mass start!

and again with my brother Sam taking a few photos. I was glad to finally start at this competition too. There was a big traffic jam caused by an accident that more than doubles my driving time to the competition center. And since I didn’t know where the accident happened I was in doubt to arrive in time.
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night-o special

in the march issue of the swiss-orienteering magazine the cover story is about night orienteering.

Nothing special you might think at first but ..
.. the photos of the front cover and most of the ones in the story have been taken by my brother Sam who is specialized on this kind of photography. And there is also an interview of him and me regarding our passion photography and orienteering.
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Frauenfelder Halbmarathon 09

While Alain and me enjoyed our trip around the Weinland Marianne was running the halfmarathon from Wil to Frauenfeld. She did this with a new personal best time in less than 1h 30min. In fact she gets faster from year to year Foot in Mouth

And by the way, this years color was blue. The members of the NWK-NOS always color their hair for that race.
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brocken ribs

on Sunday 25. October I was going for a bike-o competition in Wil (SG). The OL-Regio Wil was offering two orienteering events at one day (bike and foot).
I had a good start until control 8. Then I wasn’t concentrated for one short moment resulting in a fall.

On my route to control 9 I did one last check and get a fright on driving to control 6. Therefore I read the map in detail to find out that everything is ok; I had to pass control 6 again. But this double checking took two or three seconds more than expected. Too much!
I was driving straight away from the road into a small channel and ending at a big tree 10 meters away (more details).
Since nothing happened to my bike and I didn’t feel bad I continued my competition as good as possible. But I couldn’t sleep during the next two nights and when I went to the doctor he diagnoses two broken ribs at my back.
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biking to the upper Tösstal

Spring time is a wonderful time to go out for a bike ride. Last week Marianne and me were biking to the Hörnli and yesterday it was the turn of the Schnebelhorn (highest point of the canton Zurich, 1292 müM).
Schnebelhorn (view from Neurüti)
Together with four colleagues we started in Winterthur. Winterthur - Turbenthal - Steg was a good road and from Steg the real biking begins. I've recorded this part (Steg - Wolfsgrueb - Hand - Schindelberg - Tierhag - Grossegg - Steg) with my GPS and uploaded it to my Garmin Connect account.
Robi, Walter, Karl and Peter near
There are a few more photos on an album on my Flickr account.
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night-o, NOM 2009

after more than one year of absence I get back in orienteering this weekend. In Erlinsbach, near Aarau the Swiss championship in night orienteering toke place.

Again Sämi, my brother, was taking photos of this event. It is amazing to see how he captured the special scene of a night orienteering event (more photos on his website).
After a few trainings I knew that I could run for about one hour without having problems with my knee. Therefore I decided to start in the class men short "HAK".
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back in the night

remember this song from Dr. Feelgood? Sometimes I listen to it when preparing for a competiton. But this time it's kind of a comeback or let's say I am trying to find out how good the recovery from my injuiry is. Doing night-orienteering I like most, so it's no surprise that I'll start with this kind of orienteering first.

(photo by Sam Hebeisen)
Well on this Friday night it was quite busy in the Ochsenfurt near Weiningen because the NWK-NOS started their training weekend with a night-o training too. My brother Sam took a couple of photos from the night-o training on 20. February 2009.
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thurgorienta MV, club-OL

The general meeting (Mitgliederversammlung) of thurgorienta was held in Hüttwilen. The same place as last years Seebachtal weekend with two big orienteering competitions. As usual the club-OL preceds the general meeting. This year we have a strong winter time and that Saturday makes no exception. It was heavy snowing during the whole afternoon.
But hey, that's winter as we know it!
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TG-Cross championship

Marianne and Nadine did start at the cross championship of the canton Thurgau on Saturday in Aadorf. That's not far from Hagenbuch the little village where Marianne grew up. Nadine had a good race and became 2nd. Laugh
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GPS on my bike

It's here! I was thinking of a GPS for my sport activities long time ago (around 2006 I bought a book about GPS) but now Garmin sells the Edge 705.
The Garmin Edge 605 and 705 are GPS with sensors dedicated to bikes (street- and mountain-bikes) and this latest generation can display maps too.

Using GPS to record training data and having a map that shows your course is somewhat different to a GPS in your car. I still have to learn a lot.
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knee operation

after about 6 week of medical checks it turns out that I have to undergo a surgical operation on my right knee (meniscus and more).
damaged meniscusThis is a photo I got from the doctor after the operation. It show the two bones and between the red lines the damaged meniscus. Unfortunately the cartilage (Knorpel) on the upper bone is also affected.
Now I am doing exercises to recover as soon as possible. When writing this entry (it is now two weeks since the operation) I can do cycling on a trainer. At the moment there is no statement possible about my future sporting activites but I hope for the best (as always)
Happy
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here we are

after more than one year of prepartion the long awaited event in Hüttwilen and its neighborhood toke place this weekend. Together with Marianne I was working in the team that was responsible for the courses and controls on both days. We started our work already on friday afternoon and it ends late on sunday.

Adi and me relaxing in the forrest watching the runners short after the start
Only during the competition time we had the chance to slow down a little bit being ready to replace a control in case of failure. This photo was taken by Sämi as an offical photographer of this event.
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NOSOL training

today we went for another NOSOL training to Staubhausen near Uzwil. I haven't been there since ever and now and then I am being surprised what parts in our neighborhood are still undiscovered
Winking


NOSOL training on the map Hohrain, first runners arriving

NOSOL trainings are dedicated trainings to improve your orienteering skills. I don't know exactly what NOSOL stands for but that doesn't matter. This years trainings are coordinated by Beat Hubmann aka "Bidi" (his nickname in the NWK NOS squad) and todays training was planned by his brother Dani a well known orienteer worldwide.
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Tössstaffette

the sporting activities are going on. Now it is Alain's turn. Every year the Tössstaffette a relay for school classes around Winterthur takes place in June.


Alain short after his leg (2.9 kilometers)


Even though this event is for school kids only it comes up with a professional organisation. There is even an online result list on the Internet. The team from the 5th class at Schachen (Mittelstufe) became 34th.
 
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