JWOC ~ Middle Final

Today at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC), Team Canada participated in the middle final. The middle distance is the only race at JWOC that has a qualification race. All the runners are split into 3 groups for the qualifications. Within each group, those who place between 1st and 20th go on to the A Final, those who place 20th - 40th go into the B Final, and the rest go into the C Final. Alex, Jen, and Kendra raced in the B Final, with Adam, Robbie, Trevor, and Pia racing in the C Final.

Today was a mixed bag for the Canadians, some had their best race of the week and others had problems and mistakes in the rocky and very difficult slope. Alex did a great job, finishing 49th in the B final for the men. In the C Final, Robbie finished 24th, Adam finished 37th, and Trevor finished 41st.

Adam finishing strongly!

"The race went great after I got across the boulder fields, but boulders were big and they tripped me up." --Adam

Alex in the finish chute

Robbie bringing it home in 24th!

 "I was a lot more focused today and it really paid off."  --Robbie

Trevor killing that finish chute!

On the women's side, Kendra ran a fantastic race to finish 19th in the B Final. Jen finished 52nd, and Pia finished 13th in the C Final.

Pia looking fast!

Kendra ran a great race today!

Go Jen Go!

"Rocks are mean! " --Jen
 
Please join us in congratulating our athletes on their races today!

Spectator arena!

It was a beautiful day where a large crowd followed the Women's and Men's finals on the big screen in the arena, complete with GPS tracking and TV controls in the terrain. The race will be broadcast on Czech TV tomorrow Thursday.

You can view the full results, maps, GPS tracking (for A Final only), and check out the photos on the JWOC website. 

Tomorrow, Thursday, is a rest day. There will be a prize giving ceremony for the middle and long distance races, as well as a chance for the athletes to practice on the sprint and relay model maps. The next race is the sprint on Friday. All the women will wear GPS trackers, so you can follow along online, or re-watch the action if you don't want to get up early!

Stay tuned to the Team Canada blog for all the behind-the-scenes action! You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can catch all the JWOC action on their website, and also on Facebook.

JWOC ~ More Long & Middle Training!

I'm told this is a well known technique for helping with all that hill climbing....

This morning (Friday), Team Canada went back to the Long training area and did the second half of the course in a hilly, hilly terrain. The leg 9-10 route alternatives were discussed at length over lunch (see map below - which way would you go? Leave your answer in the comment section!)

Robbie looking strong!

In the afternoon, the Team headed on over to the second middle training map, Chvalecsky Les, and run a short course. The end of the course went through a very rocky area with giant boulders and cliffs. Very tricky!

The tunnel under a railway led to the middle terrain!

Lots of rocky detail!

Everyone had a good day of training. The long training was an opportunity to practice good route choice analysis and learning, while the middle terrain was a reminder of how careful you have to be among all the details on the map!

Trevor Bray!

Back at the hotel in Hradec Kralove, the JWOC event centre is now open, with flags and posters all over the hotel lobby! The Team picked up their accreditation badges and bags of information. 

The next two days will be mostly rest before the first race on Monday. Tomorrow will start with a short sprint practice in the morning, and then some sightseeing.

Stay tuned to the Team Canada blog for all the behind-the-scenes action, as our Canadian athletes count down to the first race on Monday - the long distance! You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can catch all the JWOC action on their website, and also on Facebook.

JWOC ~ Long & Middle Training

Today, the JWOC team concentrated on Long and Middle distance model training. 

First up was the long distance map, at a 1:15,000 scale. The group started at a restaurant and viewing tower on a hill top, Jiraskova Chata.

Start of the long training.

Coach Brian reports that everyone looks good in the forest, and seem to learn the tricks of the terrain quickly. Below is a map snippet with a couple of long route choice legs that made everyone think hard. Which way would you have chosen between 8 and 9 (leave your answers in the comments below!)

Tough route choice legs. Which way would you have chosen from 8 to 9?

 

The ladies discuss route choice after the training session

Afterwards the team had a packed lunch and time for some relaxation before moving on to the afternoon session on middle distance map.

 

Nice view for lunch!

Relaxation time!

Jennifer tackling a steep hill!

Map sample from the middle distance training

Here are some athlete quotes after the training today:

Today's training for the long is physically really challenging. I think it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone that the running in the white forest was faster than running in yellow, due to long grass. Also, the woods were more tick free!
--Pia

The mental approach to the middle and long terrain is quite different. In the long, one must struggle to read through closely packed contours to plan ahead. In contrast, the middle involved intense concentration on the terrain underfoot. It was easy to ignore the "rocky ground" on the map but unwise to forget the mossy mess attempting to trip you up. Crossing the Polish border on both maps was really fun.
--Adam

Man I am going to have a great bum after all this hill climbing!
--Jen

The long will involve climb. I plan to RISE to the challenge.
--Adam

I have never seen such clean forest under my feet.
--Jen

The Polish border looked a lot more open than the Czech side. Of course, that may have been because it wasn't mapped.
--Trevor

The difference between a distinct tree and a non-distinct tree here is that one is a bit bigger than the other but that doesn't make a world of difference in dark green vegetation.
--Jen

It's like learning to orienteer all over again in these areas and the way they're mapped.
--Robbie

Where is this vegetation boundary they speak of?
--Robbie

The long terrain is very hilly making route choice very important, trying to get a balance of as little climb and distance as possible.
--Alex

Les terrains de la longue distance resemblent un peut aux terrains de Saint-Etienne ou Emily s'entraine. Les terrains de la moyenne sont vraiment sympas, c'est tres agreable de courir sur des terrains difficile techniquement avec de nombreux rochers. Le temps etait ensoleile, en esperant que cela continue.
--Remi

Looking forward to the long and all that climb, well not the climb exactly, but I seem to be dealing with the route choice and long terrain better than the rocks, rocks, rocks and individual trees (which one are they!?) of the middle.
--Kendra

Today I got a lesson on how to descend quickly from a herd of wild goats.
--Alex

Sounds like they're having a good time, at least!

Stay tuned to the Team Canada blog for all the behind-the-scenes action, as our Canadian athletes prepare for competition next week! You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can catch all the JWOC action on their website, and also on Facebook.


Go Canada Go!

Louise 41st in Middle Distance Final!

Louise Oram raced to 41st place today in the middle distance final at the World Orienteering Championships. Louise felt she navigated well today and her route choices were good. However, she executed her routes over cautiously, and had too many hesitations. Overall Louise had only 1 or 2 minutes of errors, but was not aggressive enough to place higher. Louise felt her race was overall better than yesterday, so she's happy and confident going in to Thursday's long distance final.      

Louise catching her breath after the race. Photo credit: Adrian Zissos

At the top end of the results, it was a day of surprises. Women's favourite Simone Niggli made one large mistake, as she navigated to the wrong control (oops!), which left her in 5th place. Minna Kauppi of Finland added a 10th WOC gold medal to her collection today, with 2012 JWOC winner Tove Alexandersson (SWE) proving she can run with the best of them by claiming the silver medal. Tatyaya Riabkina (RUS) scooped up bronze.

In the men's race, favourite Thierry Gueorgiou could only manage 4th place; a mere 30 seconds behind winner Edgars Bertuks (LAT). Edgars goal for this race was to beat his best placing last year, which was 9th... looks like he managed that very well! Valentin Novikov of Russia, and Fabian Hertner of Switzerland rounded off the podium.

If you were able to watch the race live, you can still watch back the men's and women's GPS tracks. Select "from start" from the top of the left panel, then select the athletes you want to view. Press play, and watch the various micro route choices, speeds, and how much a minor hesitation can set up back against the best in the world! It's fun! You can also view the women's and men's results. You can also view Adrian's photos.

Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day, then Thursday is the long distance final. Louise is running for Canada in the long final. Her start time is 11:55am local time, right after Samantha Saeger of Team USA, who starts at 11:52. Prepare to witness the North American battle! Should be an exciting race! You can view the full women's and men's start lists. As ever, live TV and GPS coverage will be available on Thursday, for those who wish to forgo sleep in order to support Louise! We'll have some thoughts from Louise and Coach Magnus on the long distance race tomorrow, along with the relay team selection. Stay tuned!