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Left, Right, or Straight: Leg Analysis #20 part 1


Left, Right, or Straight: Leg Analysis #20

Part 1.

Today we’ll take a closer look at leg 9–10 from the M18 long course at the Baltic Junior Cup, held on October 25, 2025, in Estonia.

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Baltic-Junior-Cup-2025-long-M/M18?classId=1074541&live=false&tab=duel&leg=10

 I believe the right-hand route was the winning one. 

In the M18 category, the course leaders didn’t take it.
The map shows the route of the leg leader and the overall course leader Simon Hector. The second route belongs to an Estonian athlete Villem Piirimäe who was consistently slower throughout the course. By Control 9, he was already near 15 minutes behind.

However, on this leg, he lost only 17 seconds. Up to the trail-contour crossing, the difference was just 7 seconds. Another 6 seconds were lost on the common uphill section.


Now take a look at a duel between two athletes with roughly equal speed on this course. The right-hand route is again taken by Villem Piirimäe (overall 16th), while the straight route was chosen by Wilhelm Westström (overall 10th). The right-hand route turned out to be at least 30 seconds faster.



In the M16 category, the same leg appeared as leg 6–7. And in this class most of the leaders took the right-hand route.

Tijus Jokubauskis (overall 3rd) and Lars Anders Luiks (overall 4th) — the right-hand route was 32 seconds faster than the straight one.


This leg is very interesting for a more detailed analysis. I’ll be posting further route comparisons in parts — stay tuned!

And if you're looking for a deeper dive into orienteering technique — especially if you're interested in how to achieve consistent, high-level performance in navigation — check out my books Confident Orienteering.
Book 1: Fundamentals
Book 2: Palnning Reliable Routes

Aleksandr Alekseyonok, November 14, 2025.

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