Orienteering Canada Announces Pre-selection of Athletes for World Orienteering Championships

Orienteering Canada is delighted to announce that Emily Kemp and Louise Oram have been pre-selected to represent Canada at the World Orienteering Championships, to be held in Trentino, Italy from July 5th to 12th, 2014. Kemp and Oram will both run in the middle and long distance races.

This year significant changes to the format of the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) have eliminated qualification races for the middle and long distance events.  The number of start slots per nation is determined based on results for the previous two WOC years. Canada’s women have 2 start slots for the middle and long distance races. Kemp and Oram will take both of these slots.

“With the reduced number of starting slots this year, I’m honoured to be pre-selected for both the middle and long races”, said Louise Oram. “It will be interesting to see how the removal of qualification races impacts my races. Less time in the terrain could be negative, but fewer important racing ahead of time to make me nervous and tire out my body and brain could be positive”.

“Both Louise and Emily have trained hard, and this shows in their previous results”, said Alison Price, chairperson of the High Performance Committee. “We’re very excited to have two such outstanding athletes representing Canada on the world stage.”

Selection for the rest of Team Canada will take place at the Alpe Adria Cup, to be held from June 13-19, 2014 in Trentino, Italy.

You can follow the progress of Team Canada on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN.

Please join us in congratulating Louise and Emily!

Confirmation of Intent for World Orienteering Championships (WOC)

These athletes have indicated that they wish to be considered for selection to the 2013 WOC team:

Damian Konotopetz

Eric Kemp

Forest Pearson

Jeff Teutsch

Will Critchley

Jon Torrance

Nick Duca

Robbie Anderson

Serghei Logvin

Louise Oram

Emily Kemp

Kendra Murray

Kerstin Burnett

You can find more information about the selection process in the Athlete Handbook.

Relay Results

Unfortunately it was not Canada's day today in the men's relay. Patrick Goeres lead the team off with a strong start, but a problem with 2 controls left him in 29th place and 10 minutes back from the lead pack, but just under 2 minutes in front of Eric Bone of Team USA. Robbie Anderson had a "nervous and unfocused race", losing time here and there. He held on to the 29th place spot, but Boris Granovskiy of Team USA had a solid run, coming in a couple of seconds ahead of Robbie to trade off in 28th place. Will Critchley, Giacomo Barbone (USA), and Fatih Bodur of Turkey started together. It was a nail biting neck and neck race, but Will managed to pull away at control 11, and keep the lead to bring Team Canada in to a 28th place finish; 4 minutes ahead of Team USA and 5 minutes ahead of Team Turkey. You can watch the relay battle via GPS tracks, check out the splits, view the maps, and the full results!

After the race, Robbie commented that he felt the team was "prepared really well for today, but sometimes things just don't click. I was too nervous and unfocused, which led to numerous mistakes. All I can do is learn from my mistakes today and put this experience to prepare better for races down the road." Well said Robbie!

Overall in the men's race, the Czech Republic ran a fantastic race to clinch the gold medal, just 6 seconds ahead of Norway and 11 seconds ahead of Sweden! In the women's race, Switzerland won handily with a 2.5 minute lead over silver medalists Sweden; with Norway scooping the bronze medal. Shout out to Team USA, who had a great race. First leg runner Ali Crocker had an amazing run, passing off to Sandra Lauenstein in 3rd place; only 5 seconds behind first leg winner Sweden! Sandra ran a solid race, passing off to Samantha Saeger in 21st place. Samantha ran hard and brought the team home to a 15th place finish. Nice work ladies!

That concludes the 3 week European World Champs tour. Congratulations to all the athletes for their performances. Canada is proud to have such a great team of dedicated athletes to act as ambassadors for orienteering and Canada at the world championship level. You guys make us proud!

Announcing the 2012 WOC Men's Relay Team!

After 3 weeks of hard racing, ups, downs, and a bronze medal, we've come to the final race in the 3 week European World Championship tour ~ the WOC relay. Running for Team Canada is Patrick, Will, and Robbie. Magnus announces the running order in the video!

We asked Robbie, Will, and Patrick how they are feeling before tomorrow's big finale. Here's what they had to say:

Robbie: Feeling quite confident in this type of terrain after the long qualifier. Looking forward to a fast and furious race, and "Canucking" as many teams as possible.

Will: I'm expecting somewhat scrappier terrain than the last time I raced. Since the course is relatively short with many controls, I expect more straight routes rather than longer trail runs. My goal is to beat everyone, of course.

Patrick:I'm getting really excited for the relay and the nerves are starting to set in. I am fully rested and recharged and looking forward to fighting for a top spot with Robbie and Will!

We hope that "Canucking" becomes a (positive) well used orienteering term after tomorrow!

There are 36 teams starting the men's relay at 1:30pm local time (that's 4:30am PST or 7:30am EST). According to the bulletin, some teams will have GPS tracking, but probably not Canada or the US :(  You can follow the live results, TV, and so on at the live centre. You can view the full start list of teams here. Special mention to Team USA ~ Eric Bone, Boris Granovskiy, and Giacomo Barbone. We wish you guys the best of luck for the race, but we still hope to beat you!

Canada has no women's team this year, but good luck to Team USA ~ Ali Crocker, Sandra Lauenstein, and Samantha Saeger. The women start at 11:30am (that's 2:30am PST or 5:30am EST). Check out the full women's start list. 

Thierry Gueorgiou is running the second leg for the French team. He has a terrible record with relays ~ in 2008 he got stung by a bee on the tongue and had to pull out, and in 2009 Martin Johansson of Sweden got a stick in his leg, so Thierry, Anders Nordberg, and Michal Smola stopped to help him. Last year he beat the odds and won gold with team mates Phillippe Adamski and Francois Gonon. This team are running together again this year; can they make it gold for a second year? The Swiss team are also looking strong, and you can never count out those Scandinavians!

On the women's side, the Swedish team are looking particularly strong, with Switzerland, Russia, and Denmark fielding one or two strong runners. It'll be a tight race!

We'll bring you the relay round up tomorrow!

Louise comes 33rd in the Long Distance!

Louise finishing up the long distance.

Louise Oram ran a good race today, coming in 33rd, which her best long distance final result at WOC to date! Way to go Louise!

Louise with Samantha Saeger of Team USA. Who would believe they'd just run a long distance race?! Looking sharp, ladies!

More great photos of today's event by Adrian!

Here's Louise talking about her race:



In the women's race, Simone Niggli was determined not to have a repeat of the middle final (where she navigated part way to the wrong control!), and won the race by 1.5 minutes over middle distance champion Minna Kauppi of Finland. Annika Billstam of Sweden finished in 3rd. Also, special mention to Samantha Saeger of Team USA, who finished in 40th place. Way to go Sam! You can view the final results, and also the GPS tracks (see middle final post for some tips!). 

In the men's race, favourite Olav Lundanes of Norway took gold, almost 3 minutes ahead of local favourite Matthias Merz. Edgars Bertuks, middle distance champion from Latvia, took the bronze medal. Edgars has had a fantastic WOC this year; his best WOC result to date was a 9th place in the middle distance back in 2008. You can view his athlete profile to check out his results to date. Way to go Edgars! Take a moment to view the final results and GPS tracks.

Tomorrow is another rest day, with the relay on Saturday. Running in the relay for Team Canada is Will Critchley, Patrick Goeres, and Robbie Anderson. The running order will be decided tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Coach Magnus talks about long final and relay!

Coach Magnus shares his thoughts on the long distance final tomorrow, and the relay on Friday. 


The men's relay team will be Patrick Goeres, Will Critchley, and Robbie Anderson. Running order will be announced later in the week.


In the meantime, be sure to cheer for Louise tomorrow in the long final. Her start time is 11:55am local time (that's 5:55am EST and 2:55am PST), 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! Go Louise 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!

Louise qualifies for middle final!

By only 3 seconds, Louise won herself a place in tomorrow's middle final. Andrea interviewed Louise directly after her race.

After a 'jerky' race, Louise finished in a time of 44:17. Here are the results, and the maps for heat A (Louise ran in this heat), heat B, and heat C.

In the men's race, Damian, Eric, and Jeff all had good races, but not enough to make top 15 in their heats. Here are some comments from each of the guys:

Jeff: "Today’s course relied a lot on compass bearings, which aren’t my biggest strength. The first 3 controls were great, but big mistakes on 4 and 5. I didn’t refocus well after that, and just stumbled along...The race reinforced the things that I really need to work on."

Eric: "I was as ready as I could have been at the start of the race. I did tons of preparation to be ready for this race, but right after starting there were a couple things that happened that I hadn’t prepared for, so I was off my game quite soon into race. I did the best that I could have done today."

Damian: "I made some mistakes in this race. I found it tricky to find the controls in the dark green. You could be very close to a control yet still miss it. I had some good legs; first 3 controls were good, but had problems with my forth control."

Map from men's heat B

Here are the results and map for heat A (Eric ran in this heat), results and map for heat B (Damian ran this heat), and results and map for heat C (Jeff ran this heat). 

Thierry Gueorgiou, current world champion and middle master, won his heat. Only 3 days ago did he decide he was fit enough to race in the middle distance, as he's been fighting an injury. Since he's current world champion he automatically got a spot in the qualifications, so didn't take away the chance from a team mate. When interviewed after the race, he explained that even though he was injured, he wasn't concerned about his fitness, because he's been pool running ~ 78 times in the last 45 days! As a side note, Emily Kemp joined Thierry for some pool running sessions as she battled tendinitis over the past few weeks. Note to all up and coming orienteers ~ no excuses not to train when you're injured... try pool running!


In the women's race, Simone Niggli won her heat, and is favourite to take the middle gold. These will be exciting races to watch!

The middle final takes place tomorrow, Tuesday. Louise is starting at 12:01 Swiss time. (that's 6am EST and 3am PST). You can follow online with GPS tracking, TV coverage (cost ~$4), and results at the official live site, or follow discussions on the World of O and Attackpoint. So set your alarms and prepare to watch some of the best orienteers in the world battle out for gold!

Wednesday is a rest day, then Thursday is the long distance final, where Louise will once again be running for Canada. We'll bring you the details soon.

Go Canada Go!

Long Quali Post-Race & Middle Quali Pre-Race

Today at WOC ~ the long distance qualification, and Louise Oram qualified! Congratulations to Louise! Will Critchley, Robbie Anderson, and Jeff Teutsch all ran strong races, but were not able to break the top 15 in their heats. Special mention to Jeff, as this is his first ever WOC race! Nice work, Jeff!

Robbie taking a moment after his run!

Jeff, Louise, and Robbie shared some thoughts on their races today:

Jeff: "This was my first WOC race, and it was lots of fun! I had developed a good plan based on training runs on the model maps, but after just three controls in the competition terrain I realized the plan would not work. The plan was to hop out to trails and run around the forest because of the danger of getting caught in slow underbrush - but today the forest was faster than training days so trail running was not a good choice and instead it was important to go more directly using compass. Generally I'm happy with my run - I just had two small issues when I deviated from my plan. Feel I need a few more years to work on my endurance and speed to make the Final."

Louise: "My race was pretty clean. I pushed hard on the trails and I always attacked safely. Sometimes I went less "around" to take a shorter route. Probably I made one to two minutes of mistakes over all. Saw Anne-Margarethe Hausken (NOR) a few times. She passed me but I saw her again after. I'm pretty happy. Though I did feel a little ill at the end from pushing so hard."

Louise finishing up her qualification run. Nice work Louise!

Robbie: "I took the trails too much; the woods were nicer than the model maps. Both my races (yesterday's Sprint Q and Long Q) were physical and I did not have the legs. I made a few small mistakes but am happy with my race. I stopped too long for water - I didn't need it all ;-)

Men
Heat A (map)
1. Olav Lundanes (NOR) 59:03
27. Eric Bone (USA) 1:17:34 (+18:30)
29. Jeff Teutsch 1:24:01 (+24:58)

Heat B (map) 1. Matthias Merz (SWI) 59:22
25. Will Critchley 1:15:34 (+16:12)
33. Eddie Bergeron (USA) 1:37:44 (+38:22)

Heat C (map)
1. Edgars Bertuks (LAT) 58:13
21. Robbie Anderson (CAN) 1:11:29 (+13:16)
30. Giacomo Barbone (USA) 1:26:58 (+28:45)

Women
Heat B (map) 1. Simone Niggli-Luder (SWI) 47:39
14. Louise Oram (CAN) 57:00 (+9:20)
22. Alex Jospe (USA) 1:07:14 (+19:34)

Special mention to Samantha Saeger of Team USA who qualified in heat A. Here are the maps for women's heat A and heat C. Full results and splits are available on the live site. You can view more photos from Adrian here. 

One bizarre error today from the organizers; at each start interval there were three runners starting (Heats A/B/C) simultaneously. However, there was an non-divisible-by-three number of runners so at the last women's start time there was only one runner starting, Tatyana Riabkina (RUS). She should have run in Heat B but was sent out instead on Heat A - which she won. So those of you who were paying close attention would notice that 16 runners from Heat A made the final instead of the usual 15. So, 46 finalists for the Women's Long distance race on Thursday. Simone Niggli is the favourite to win on home terrain, but watch for Tatyana Riabkina, Minna Kaupi, Helena Jansson, and last year's JWOC champion Ida Bobach. In the men's race, it looks the Swiss will have a hard time doing the sweep again, given the broad, close field.  It'll be an exciting one to watch!

Tomorrow is the middle qualification race. Running for Canada is Damian Konotopetz, Eric Kemp, Jeff Teutsch, and Louise Oram. Start times are listed below, along with some thoughts on the race tomorrow. You can view Coach Magnus' views on tomorrow's race on the Orienteering Canada YouTube site.

Louise: 13:45
Jeff: 14:25
Eric: 14:45
Damian: 15:09

Jeff: "My plan for the Middle qualification is to be careful, especially approaching controls which can be in thick forest, and sometimes "tucked away". I plan to be conservative, use my compass, have safe attack points, and be prepared to stop and look around for the control when I reach the centre of the circle."

Louise: "I will try to have again the same "smooth feeling" I had today (in the long qualification). I will be more cautious and navigate my best."

Damian: "It will be a fast net downhill course with important route choices."

Eric: "The woods are going to be a lot tougher then I was expecting but I know I can handle whatever the course setters throw at us. Despite this being my first WOC race, I feel ok. Attending both WUOC and JWOC the last two weeks has helped me keep things in perspective. When you get down to it, it's a middle distance just like any other."

As always, you can follow along on the live site or on Twitter for live updates, or visit the blog for full commentary after the race! Go Canada Go!

A few interesting WOC observations.. from Charlotte and Adrian!

For those of you who don't know, Lausanne is the home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The WOC organizers this year are really going all out to make sure the IOC notices WOC, in the hope that orienteering can one day make an olympic debut! Charlotte noted that she has never seen so many downtown banners and advertisements for WOC before!

The sprint final started in the park that houses the IOC headquarters, ran through a bit of the town, came through the arena and then around the Olympic Museum grounds. And fittingly the arena area is called “place de la navigation”. Unless the IOC are all in London already, they couldn't have missed the action!

Camera drones recorded the crowds at today's event.

For those of you who watched the live TV coverage, you may have noticed the sweeping shots of the arena. The video feed came from these camera drones. Check out the video below to see one in action. How cool are they?! Very high tech, and give a really great perspective for viewers at home.

Adrian Zissos is at WOC to support Team Canada, and run the spectator races. He is also attending some of the IOF meetings. Here are some of his insights so far: "Yesterday I attended the IOF Map Commission's conference and learned, among other things, that including all the WOC competition maps, the WOC training maps, and the maps for the public races, the organizers:

* spent 340,000 CHF (10% of the total event budget)

* made 30 maps, covering 91 sq km

* designed 364 courses

* printed 55,000 maps

Interesting side note, at least for some, is that the sprint maps were MORE expensive than the forest maps, averaging 5,000CHF/sq km compared to 3,000CHR/sq km for forest maps (FYI - 1CHF = $1.03 CDN).

Only 1755 are registered for the public races. This is a little bit of a shock for the event organizers who were expecting no fewer than 2,000 and probably closer to 3,000 so I was told. There are many theories about why so few people are coming to race, including:

* Switzerland is very, very expensive

* Many people have raced already in Switzerland and are interested in making trips to other places instead

* The terrain is not very exciting for holiday orienteers - it will be more fun in 2014 when the Swiss 5 Days returns to Zermatt."

We look forward to more insights from Adrian and Charlotte throughout the week!

WOC Sprint Final & Long Qualification

This evening saw the sprint final close to Lake Genova; consisting of city and park terrain. Patrick Goeres was the only Canadian to qualify for the final, and started 8th. He had a solid run to finish tied in 36th place, which is his best WOC result to date. Congratulations to Patrick!

Results:
1. Matthias Kyburz: 15:32
36. Patrick Goeres: 17:54 (+ 2:22)

Check out the new Orienteering Canada YouTube channel, where you can view Patrick talking about his race!

Patrick starting the final

Overall, it was a Swiss sweep in the men's race. Matthias Kyburz finished 17 seconds ahead of Matthias Merz, with Matthias Mueller in third place (how confusing must those team meetings be?!). In the women's race, Simone Niggli came back from a 2 year WOC absence to clinch the women's gold, with Maja Alm of Denmark in second, and Annika Billstam on Sweden in third. Special mention to Ali Crocker of Team USA, who finished 20th in the women's final ~ great job Ali!

Crowds watching the final

WOC is much more online-spectator friendly than JWOC and WUOC. Head on over to the live page, where you can check out results, splits, and the GPS tracks (all runners in the sprint final wore a GPS unit, so you can watch them race ~ very cool!) There is also live TV coverage and GPS tracking during the finals, which we recommend you check out. It's just over $4 per race for the live TV, or around $16 for the package of all the races!

Tomorrow is the qualification race for the long distance. There will be 3 heats for men, and 3 heats for women, with the top 15 from each heat going through to the final on Thursday. The courses tomorrow are 12.2km with 280m of climb for the men, and 8.2 or 8.3km with 160m of climb for the women. The terrain is described as "typical Swiss Mittleland (translated directly as 'middleland')", Wondering what "typical Swiss Mittleland terrain" is? We asked Coach Magnus to explain: "Swiss Mittleland terrain is bland contour detail, with some ravines, and a LOT of roads and trails. The big areas of white are very nice open forest, but the green and yellow is really bad in the summertime."

Running for Canada is Louise Oram, Jeff Teutsch, Robbie Anderson, and Will Critchley. We asked Louise and Jeff to share some thoughts before the race tomorrow:

Louise - "There will be quite a bit of running on trails and trying to keep a high speed there, so the problem will be to stay focused and exit at the right point to transition into navigating smoothly in the forest. Additionally, if the controls are on vegetation features, or there are many blobs of vegetation around, it can be quite vague and the vegetation can obscure the visibility."

Jeff – "I'm definitely nervous to be running my first WOC race, but also very excited.  I've done all the prep I can at this point so it's all about controlling the nerves.  We've been out training on neighbouring maps and similar terrain a few times this week.  The terrain is a mix of quite open and runnable forest with very thick woods and uncrossable raspberry infestations wherever the sun gets in. All of this is crossed huge network of small slow trails and super fast large trails.  The trick is going to be finding those routes where you can run really fast and attack the controls from a safe direction.  I think compass bearings off of trails and not being afraid to attack controls from behind will play key roles."

You can also view Coach Magnus give his views on the race tomorrow on the Orienteering Canada YouTube Channel!

Let's hear your cheers; GO CANADA GO!

WOC Sprint Qualifier

Final results from the WOC qualifier
Robbie Anderson -15:38 (1:47 back from winner) 25 heat a
Patrick Goeres - 14:18 (56 sec back from winner13 heat b (qualifies for final)
Will Critchley - 14:28 (1:07 back from winner) 20 heat c


Congratulations to Patrick for qualifying! We're excited to see how he will do in the final this afternoon!

Patrick looking pretty happy that he qualified!

The overall feeling of the qualification race was that the navigation was very easy. Adrian commented that there's more route choice in the parkade of his hotel! As you can see from the times listed above, the slightest mistake was enough to miss qualification, as the running standard was very high. You can view the full results for the men here, and also the split times.


Here are some comments from the Canadian team:

Patrick:  I had a clean run, the navigation was easier than I thought it was going to be. During the race I thought to myself, “really? is this all there is?” I was expecting much trickier navigational challenges.  I didn't feel all that fast during the race

Robbie: I went out really fast on the first 4 controls, perhaps a bit too fast as I was red-lining it throughout the rest of the course. My running didn't feel great today. The course was easier than I thought it was going to be.

Will: I had a good, clean run, and the course was much easier than people thought it would be.

No Canadian women ran the sprint, but Alison Crocker of the USA qualified 3rd in her heat and Samantha Saeger missed out qualifying by just 5 seconds.


Women's Heat A Map
Women's Heat B Map
Women's Heat C Map
Men's Heat A Map
Men's Heat B Map
Men's Heat C Map


The unusual looking area in the centre-south of the map is apparently the Rolex Learning Center. You can find some photos from Adrian on his Flickr account. 


The finals start at 4pm Lausanne time. The women's first starter will leave at 4:01 pm and the men's first starter at 5:11 pm.


To watch the live tv streaming there will be a fee of 3 euros for the sprint or 10 euros for all of the finals payable by credit card.

Intro to WOC

With WUOC only a few days away now, the excitement is building! Nearly all of the athletes are now over in Europe, or on their way this weekend. The HPC (High Performance Committee) Communications Team are gearing up for 3 solid weeks of reporting, to bring you more than you ever thought you could know about the World Championship events this year!

This blog post introduces the final championship on the schedule ~ the World Orienteering Championships, or WOC (pronounced 'walk'). WOC is being hosted by Lausanne, Switerland this year, and will run from July 14-21. This competition is open to athletes of any age, but countries can only send 6 men and 6 women, so you have to be able to qualify! This year, 44 countries from all inhabited continents are attending WOC. 


WOC includes a sprint, middle, and long event, as well as a relay. The sprint, middle, and long events all have a qualifier and a final. Each country can enter up to 3 runners in each qualifier. The only exception is that the current world champion is guaranteed a qualification spot in their discipline, so that country has 4 entries. There is an 'A', 'B', and 'C' qualification race, with a runner from each country in each qualifier. The top 15 runners from each qualifier go on to the final! There is only one relay, and all team mates must be of the same nationality!

Along with our Team Canada athletes, here is a quick rundown of the runners to watch! Only 1 non-European has ever medalled at WOC (Hanny Allston of Australia), so not surprisingly it's all Europeans on the list! On the women's side, Simone Niggli has dominated the season so far and will likely add to her 17 WOC gold medals (and a handful of silver and bronze ones too) this year. The runners who have a chance to get in her way are Tatyana Riabkina of Russia, Minna Kauppi of Finland, and Helena Jansson of Sweden. As well as cheering for Louise Oram, also look out for Samantha Saeger and Alison Crocker of Team USA, who have both done well in the past.

For the men, things are up in the air as favourites Danial Hubmann of Switzerland and Thierry Gueorgiou of France are both injured. Olav Lundanes of Norway has had a great season so far, so may have a chance, and the Swiss team have also been looking very strong this year. Jerker Lysell of Sweden, known as fast, fast sprinter, will likely be back to prove himself, after he skipped a control at last years WOC! Kiril Nikolov of Bulgaria achieved a silver medal in the long distance at the European Championships this year, so may throw a spanner in the works too! It's going to be fun to watch!

The first WUOC race is on Tuesday, so tune in Monday for information on who's running for Canada, terrain information, who to watch, where to watch, and more!

The Countdown To Europe ~ Intro to WUOC!

As you are hopefully aware, our Canadian athletes are now gearing up to go to Europe for the world championships! This year the 3 big championships are back to back ~ the World University Championships (WUOC) run from July 2-7, the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) run from July 7-13, and the World Orienteering Championships run from July 14-21. Canada is sending a strong team of athletes to each of these events.

To ensure that you're as excited as we are about these championships, and to keep you informed of all the inside gossip, the High Performance Committee's (HPC's) communications team will be bringing you more information than you ever wanted to know! Tune in to this blog where you'll find pre-race coverage, terrain analysis, goals and thoughts of the runners, along with all the links you'll need to watch the race live online! There will also be post-race coverage with analysis, athletes thoughts, maps, results and splits, photos, and so much more! So make sure you stay tuned and read up on all the events. And, of course, your comments are always welcome, as we support and cheer on our Canadian athletes!

Today's post is an introduction to the WUOC! This is the 18th time WUOC has been held, and unlike WOC and JWOC, WUOC is only held every 2 years. Athletes must be between 17 and 28 years old, and must be either working towards a degree or diploma, or have graduated in 2011. This year, athletes will travel to Alicante, Spain for 4 days of exciting races!


View Larger Map - Alicante is on the south east corner of Spain!

Each country may send a team of 12 competitors (6 men and 6 women). For the sprint, middle, and long distance races, 4 runners from each country are able to participate. For the relay, countries can enter 2 teams of 3 runners, although the team with the best result is the one that will count in the official results.

This year, Canada is sending 5 men and 1 woman to WUOC. We're also very lucky to have ex-Canadian team member Pam James escorting as team leader. Below is the list of competitors, along with who is running which race:

Sprint (July 4): Damian Konotopetz, Jeff Teutsch, Robbie Anderson, Will Critchley, Louise Oram

Middle (July 5): Damian Konotopetz, Eric Kemp, Jeff Teutsch, Robbie Anderson, Louise Oram

Long (July 3): Damian Konotopetz, Eric Kemp, Robbie Anderson, Will Critchley, Louise Oram

The relay (July 6) teams will be decided at the event, although we have insider information that Louise Oram has been approved to run on a men's team, which means all the guys will get to run! Maybe some healthy competition between the Canadian teams?!

From July 2nd, when you log in to the Team Canada blog you'll find pre-race coverage, terrain analysis, goals and thoughts of the runners, along with all the links you'll need to watch the race live online! There will also be post-race coverage with analysis, athletes thoughts, maps, results and splits, photos, and so much more!

Let's hear your cheers; Go Canada Go!

2012 Team to World Championships Announced!

The Canadian Orienteering Federation (COF) and the High Performance Committee (HPC) are delighted to announce the selection of talent to represent Canada at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC). This year Patrick Goeres (Winnipeg), Robbie Anderson (Ottawa), Will Critchley (Edmonton), Eric Kemp (Ottawa), Damian Konotopetz (Winnipeg), Jeff Teutsch (Ottawa), and Louise Oram (Vancouver), accompanied by coach and team leader Magnus Johansson (Vancouver), are heading over to Lausanne, Switzerland from July 14-21. Each country can send up to 6 athletes to WOC, but can only enter 3 athletes per race. Below is the list of who is scheduled to run each of the races:

Men:
Sprint: Patrick Goeres, Robbie Anderson, Will Critchley - Alternate: Damian Konotopetz
Middle: Eric Kemp, Damian Konotopetz, Jeff Teutsch - Alternate: Robbie Anderson
Long: Jeff Teutsch, Robbie Anderson, Will Critchley - Alternate: Damian Konotopetz

Relay: Team to be decided at WOC

Women:
Middle: Louise Oram
Long: Louise Oram

COF would also like to acknowledge and thank the selection committee for their hard work. Selection is never an easy process, and this year Magnus Johansson, Brian May, and Magali Robert stepped up to the challenge. Selection is not only based on the results of identified priority races, but also training consistency, recent performance at WOC and other events, and opportunity for younger athletes with potential for success. You can find all the details in the 2012 Athlete Handbook.

COF will be bringing you the inside scoop on the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC), the World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC), and WOC, so make sure you log on and tune in on the Team Canada Blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter. 

Go Canada Go!