France - Auvergne 3 day and Aveyron 6 day

After Oringen, I went to France for a 'holiday', by which I mean I went to do 10 orienteering races in 11 days and some other running and kayaking. I flew to Paris to meet up with Pippa and Duncan who are living there at the moment, and then I had a day sightseeing before we drove down to the Auvergne. First up was a 3 day competition in Aydat, very close to where the World Cup Final was. There wasn't a high standard of competition, but the races were good, with a sprint, a long classic and a 'middle' which I won in 80 minutes. The last race especially was amazing, and one of the most enjoyable races of the year.

Results from sprint race, splits

Classic race results, splits

'Middle' race results, splits

After the 3 day, we drove down to Aveyron for the French 6 day. We started off getting very lost on the training map, and going kayaking near Millau. The 6 day itself had quite a lot of elite runners, including Mr Gueorgiou himself. The terrain was incredible, with fantastically detailed maps showing every bush, stone and cave. This was the kind of terrain where relocation is almost impossible, and big mistakes are very possible. The best way to orienteer is to stay in full contact, and try to pick lines in the terrain which make that possible and easy where you can. I managed to have 3 really good days, 2 quite good days, with only one disaster on the second day. My results were 4th (9 minutes down on TG), 15th (11 mins down), 2nd (3.15 down), 6th (12 seconds down in the mass start), 5th (9 minutes down) and 3rd (4 minutes down). All the races were won in 59-66 minutes. I finished 2nd overall, but a massive 40 minutes down on TG. The last day was a chasing start, and although Oli caught me, we both caught Lucasen and I beat them in the finish.
Results / splits
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Overall

Some maps from the 6 day