WUOC Relay ~ end to a great week!

Today (Friday) was the final day of WUOC, and the relay (they always save the most fun for last!). As we mentioned yesterday, Canada fielded 2 teams ~ Canada 1 comprised of Will, Robbie, and Damian (running in that order), and Canada 2 comprised of Jeff, Eric, and Louise (running in that order).

And they're off!

It was a close race! Will started out strong for Canada 1, handing off to Robbie with a 5 minute lead over Jeff! Robbie had some issues on control #7, while Eric had a great run (coming in 15th of 33 runners!) and handing off to Louise with a 4 minute lead over Canada 1! 

Louise heading to the spectator control

Louise, after a small hesitation to #1, had a clean but tired race, but managed to bring it home ahead of Damian. Canada 2 finished in 2:38:57, and Canada 1 in 2:49:24. Congratulations to both teams for such an exciting race!

Damian heading to the spectator control

You can view the results here (scroll down for the women's results), and the splits are here. Individual splits ~ Canada 1: Will, Robbie, Damian; Canada 2: Jeff, Eric, Louise.

So that's it for WUOC. The team is now taking a couple of rest days (well deserved, I hope you agree!), before heading to Switzerland for WOC preparation. In the meantime, our focus will turn to our Juniors, as JWOC officially begins tomorrow, with the first race on Sunday! Keep tuning in for all the news, gossip, updates, photos, and everything else you need to keep in touch with Team Canada!

WUOC Middle & looking forward to the Relay!

Today (Thursday) saw the middle distance at WUOC. Generally, the feeling was that the terrain was not remarkably difficult but for the area the controls, as they were often tucked behind large tufts of shrub. People would find that they were very, very close, but unable to find the actual control. Then they would bail out to a nearby feature and try again only to discover it was on the other side of where they were looking. Even the Martin Hubmann (the winner) stated in his interview that he felt he got lucky quite a few times, and the Team Sweden coach said their guys found themselves getting to where they thought the control was, couldn't find it, and then bailed out too quickly. They were often very close, but didn't have good attack points to be really certain of where they were.

Hangout area - trying to shelter from the sun!

Robbie, Jeff, Eric, Damian, and Louise ran for Team Canada. Here's what some of them had to say:

Robbie: "First half was riddled with mistakes, but I managed to find some flow in the second half".

Jeff: "Had some great legs and some not-so-great legs. Everyone inevitably had some very poor legs, and I found my best success by playing it safe and choosing strong attack points. This was especially apparent when I was running several legs head to head with Pavel Kubat, and my safe routes were typically the same if not better than his direct routes."

Eric: "The course was easy enough, if you were smart about it."


In terms of placing, Damian finished 37th, Robbie in 65th, Jeff in 77th, and Eric in 85th place. Louise did well again, finishing in 36th place! You can view the full men's results, women's results, men's splits, and women's splits! You can view the men's map here!

Tomorrow is the final day, and the relay. Team Canada will have two relay teams. Canada 1 has Will starting, Robbie second and Damian anchoring. Will is planning on staying in contact with the lead pack to give Robbie some people to run with, and Damian will try to bring it home in a respectable position.

Canada 2 will be a mixed gender team with Jeff running first, Eric second and Louise anchoring. Jeff will be battling to stay up at the front as well and see if he can come out of the woods ahead of Will. Eric is expecting to be running with other guys out there and wants to challenge them. Louise wants to beat whichever Canadian has similar legs to her.

Tune in tomorrow for post-relay commentary, and a look ahead to JWOC. You can read about the JWOC training on Brent's log. Sounds like they've had a full-on week of training!

WUOC Sprint & looking forward to the middle!

Today (Wednesday) was the WUOC sprint race. This was a very cool race in an amazing area ~ the course itself started at the entrance to the castle and then descended into the old town: a maze of tight cobblestone streets and staircases, often three or four stories high! 

Damian's map for the sprint.

Will, Damian, Robbie, Jeff, and Louise ran the sprint today. Here's what they had to say:

Will: "I was very disappointed with the result today. Its tough to feel confident or have success in terrain like this since we never get a chance to train in it. Major mistakes on 1 and 2 crushed my hopes early, and I spent much of the rest trying to make up for it. I was somewhat satisfied with my speed on the longer easier legs, but I couldn't push the pace because it was so technical. My performance needs to be significantly better come WOC."

Robbie (in reference to the extreme technical challenges): "There was really only two spots on the course where you really needed to be fast." 

Damian: "Everything came so fast at 1:4000"

Damian punching the 'go' control

In terms of results, Will Critchley was 59th, just beating 60th place Robbie 7 seconds! Damian came in in 79th place, and Jeff finished in 84th place. Louise had a good race, finishing in 36th place. The Swiss men dominated the podium, with the Czech and Swiss runners leading the women's leader board. You can view the full men's and women's results, along with men's and women's splits. 

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the middle distance. It's expected to be another hot day; between 21 and 30 degrees! Here is the list of Team Canada runners and their start times (in Spanish time) in brackets: Damian (8:44am), Eric (9:26am), Jeff (10:20am), Robbie (11:26am), and Louise (10:29am). 

Model map for the middle distance.

Louise's comment on the model map is "the green blobs that are generally not used as features since they are not distinct enough.", and she also commented how hot it is climbing out of the ravines. It'll be another challenging race! You can view live results list here, or tune in to the blog tomorrow for more race updates!

WUOC ~ Long Race Report & looking forward to the sprint.

The long distance race was held in Alicante, Spain today (Tuesday). Damian, Will, Robbie, Eric, and Louise were running for Team Canada.

Will's map - check out all those contours!

Will was fairly happy with his race, saying "It looks like there was some fitness there today because I gained places near the end but it would be nice to be faster on the shorter navigation legs." Robbie said "The first two thirds were good but the race fell apart in the end. Was surprised to find myself running through a gas station at an international race" (leg 20 - 21 with route choice by the highway). Louise reported that the terrain was tricky, saying that "all the shrubs were so close together that you trip on small tufts of grass - even the open was lumpy.  Some of the forest was actually better running than the open / semi-open areas." Damian said "The 27C heat combined with 9.8km and 690m climb made today's long distance the toughest race I have ever competed in." You can read more of Damian's race report on his blog. 


Watch to see what Eric Kemp had to say on his race:

So with those reports, what of the results? Of the 86 men who completed the course, Will placed 33rd, Robbie placed 54th, Eric placed 72nd, and Damian placed 78th. You can view a full list of results and the split times. Louise placed 48th out of 65 runners; here are the full results and splits for the women. 

Here's Eric finishing up his race ~ he looks kinda tired!

Tomorrow is the sprint race. Again, there is no qualification, so there's only 1 race. Starts are from 4-6:30pm local time, so hopefully it'll be a little cooler! The map is on the hillside of a mountain with steep slopes, with a mixture of urban areas and parks. The roads and paths are a network of city roads and pedestrian areas. Sounds like it'll be fun! Running for Canada are Damian, Jeff, Robbie, Will, and Louise. Here's what they have to say about tomorrow:

Louise: "Excited for the cool castle, and the underpasses and such in the terrain surrounding it."

Jeff: "I've spent a number of hours on google maps looking at the area. It looks like a unique area with the possibility for some tricky legs. Looking forward to seeing what they throw at us!"

Damian: "Will be my first time taking an elevator to the start of a race, as well as finishing by a beach on the Mediterranean."

Will: "I think it's going to be both rocket fast downhill and leg burning uphill. The guys that do well are the ones who can stay in control on the downhills and have the legs to hammer back up."

Tune in tomorrow for athlete feedback on the race and more race analysis!

The day before it all kicks off ~ WUOC long model and race plans!

The athletes are in Europe, they've (hopefully) recovered somewhat from jet lag, and they're raring to go! WUOC (the World University Orienteering Championships) are scheduled to start tomorrow, so excitement and nerves are running high!

So by all accounts so far, it's hot... very hot! Check out the weather forecast for the next few days... I think some of us Canadians would be pleased with some of this weather (well at least here in Vancouver where it's about 15 degrees and raining!). This will effect race strategy though, as athletes have to conserve energy to make sure they finish the race, as well as place as best they can!

Is this what they call summer? Canada, take note!

Today (Monday), Team Canada went to test out the model map for the long distance race tomorrow. WUOC has no qualification races, so it'll be an all-out fight for medals! The terrain for the long race is described as hilly, with about 20% farming land, and 40% semi-open. There are a number of ravines crossing the map; some impassable. The vegetation is passable, but is fairly impassable in the ravines. Visibility is generally good, depending on the area you're in! There are a few paths and tracks, and one road with little traffic. 

Here's the map sample for the long distance race ~ looks kinda hilly! Level curves = contour interval!

By all accounts the training went well. Here are some thoughts, tactics, and goals for the race tomorrow:


Will Critchley: "Dealing with heat will be a big factor tomorrow."
Damian Konotopetz: "Have a clean race and hope to crack the top 50." You can read more analysis from Damian on his blog. 
Eric Kemp: "The landscape here is shaped by the sun. The ground is mostly open but hard on the feet. All the plants seem to be spiky."
Robbie Anderson: "Goal is to have a strong technical race, in this new, challenging, and interesting terrain."
Louise Oram: "Start carefully, and progress to being more aggressive if things are going well. Drink at every water station!"

Photos of the long distance terrain. 

It looks like there won't be much live coverage tomorrow, but you can always check out Attackpoint for discussions. Results will be posted on the event website. Of course, you can tune in to the blog tomorrow for an update on how the races went.


We'll be sending good vibes to Spain for tomorrow's race, and cheering from Canada! We hope you'll join us!


GO CANADA GO!