WOC - Long Distance Qualifier

The 30th World Orienteering Championships kicked off today in Vuokatti, Finland. Canada was represented in the Long Distance final by Serghei Logvin, Kerstin Burnett, Louise Oram, Eric Kemp, Emily Kemp and Robbie Anderson.

The courses were long and physically difficult and almost all the athletes said that they felt more tired than expected for the speed they were travelling.

The long leg between controls 4 and 5 on the men's course and the same leg on the women's course was critical in most people's races. All of the Canadians lost time on the route choice with some ending up slogging through an exhausting marsh. The optimal route is still being debated.

The Long Leg

Serghei was the first Canadian finisher with Kerstin finishing soon after. It was the first time at WOC for both Serghei (22nd place Men's Q3) and Kerstin (21st place Women's Q3).

Serghei Running Fast

Louise had a solid race but was unsure of her choice on the long leg. She was surprised that her route took her through a series chicken coops. She was generally pleased with her race and waited anxiously to see if her result would be good enough to qualify for the long final.

Emily said that she was surprised how exhausted she felt in the forest and how uncomfortable it was to push herself physically. She is looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.

Both Emily (12th place Women's Q2)  and Louise (14th place Women's Q1) qualified for the Long Final on Tuesday.

Eric found the race very demanding and ended up in 27th place in Men's Q1.

Robbie (24th Men's Q2) started in the late start block. He knew that the qualifying would be tight. After losing time to 5 he knew that his chances were probably gone and found it difficult to push to the end.

Robbie near the end

Serghei, Kerstin and Robbie (as well as a fresh Will) will have to recover mentally and physically from the long distance before the sprint qualifier first thing tomorrow morning.

Let's get ready to race!

Thanks to Ken Walker Jr for the photos

JWOC ~ Relay

The JWOC 2013 is over, finishing with an exciting relay where top teams mis-punched left, right, and centre and in the end the Czech Teams were on the top of the podium in both women's and men's events.

The relay was run in a mostly flat area with lots of vegetation features and diffuse and difficult orienteering.

Kendra had a fantastic race ending up in 11th place on the first leg, only 1:10 behind the leader. This was definitely the best Canadian performance all week.

Adam had a very good start and was in the lead pack at the first couple of radio controls and still around 16 place at the spectator control, but then lost time on a couple of controls in the last loop, ending up in 35 place around 8 min behind.

Pia and Jen both had problems and lost time and the team ended up in 38th place.

Trevor and Alex also had some problems with the vegetation features and lost time compared to Adam and the team ended up in 41st place.

Congratulations to everyone on the Canadian Team for a their hard effort against tough competition and in unfamiliar terrain. Now it is time to start training for next year's JWOC in Bulgaria.

The week has been very well organized, with interesting and challenging terrain, good maps and courses, and a fantastic arena production with big screen video and results, and GPS and TV broadcast.

A big Thank You to the organizers in Hradec Kralove.

A big Orienteering Canada shout out and thank you to Stefan Bergstrom for his tireless work over the past 9 months preparing the logistics for our athletes at JWOC. His role cannot be understated, and his efforts are much appreciated.

Thanks to Brian Graham for stepping in at the last minute as Coach. Having an experienced voice to guide and prepare the athletes for races is so important. Also a shout out to Junior HPP coach Brent Langbakk. Brent has done a fantastic job this year arranging individual coaches for each junior athlete in the HPP, giving coaching advice, and lending his expertise to build a great junior program Canada can be proud of. Get well soon, Brent!

The excitement continues tomorrow with the World Orienteering Championships in Finland. We'll keep you posted here, so tune in and support our athletes!

WOC - How to Follow the Action

WOC 2013 Starts in Vuokatti Finland on Sunday, June 7

Schedule

Sunday, July 7 - 9:30 am (11:30pm PST, 2:30 am EST) - Long Distance Qualifier (Emily Kemp, Kerstin Burnett, Louise Oram, Eric Kemp, Robbie Anderson, Serghei Logvin)

Monday, July 8 - 9:00 am (11:00pm PST, 2:00 am EST) - Sprint Distance Qualifier (Robbie Anderson, Serghei Logvin, Will Critchley, Women TBD)

Monday, July 8 - 5:54 pm (7:54am PST,10:54am EST) - Sprint Final

Tuesday, July 9 - 11:55 am (1:55am PST, 4:55am EST) - Long Distance Final

Thursday, July 11 - 9:00 am (11:00pm PST, 2:00 am EST) - Middle Distance Qualifier (Emily Kemp, Kerstin Burnett, Louise Oram, Eric Kemp, Will Critchley, Serghei Logvin)
Friday, July 12 - 1:10 pm (3:10am PST, 6:10am EST) - Middle Distance Final
Saturday, July 13 - 1:30pm (3:30am PST, 6:30am EST) - Relay (Emily Kemp, Kerstin Burnett, Louise Oram, Eric Kemp, Robbie Anderson, Will Critchley)

Free online services

The startlists, results and live results service with splittimes are included in the competition monitoring services free of charge. All links will be on the woc2013.fi -site on the competition monitoring pages.

GPS tracking and other chargeable tracking services

All competitions except for women’s Long Distance qualifications will have GPS tracking. GPS tracking is available on woc2013.fi -site through the competition monitoring pages. For the Relay, the GPS tracking will happen live only during a part of the TV broadcasts. Afterwards, the GPS tracking of the Relay will be available completely.

The GPS tracking is a paid service. The charge for the entire week is 10 Euros, and with it you can follow the GPS tracking, the video production of the organisers as well as the commentaries online. You can get the service by paying the fee online with your credit card.

The organisers’ own video production

The actual TV production will be supplemented by the organisers’ own video production. The video production contains the field interviews and competition shooting during the qualifications in a smaller scale. The media events and award ceremonies will also be filmed. Between the competitions, edited bits of the general ambience will be shown. Organisers’ own video production will be seen on the 2^ndscreen as well as on the woc2013.fi -webpage in the competition monitoring service.

Social Media and WOC chat

WOC will be followed actively in social media. Twitter (woc2013vuokatti) and Facebook (woc2013vuokatti) are transmitting results, athletes’ comments and pictures of the WOC week’s events. During the competitions, a traditional WOC chat can be found on the woc2013.fi -page supplementing the social media, where the orienteering folk can talk about the WOC’s turns of events.

Team Canada Blog, Facebook and Twitter
We will be updating the blog and tweeting regularly throughout the week so check back every day!

JWOC ~ Sprinting!

If there's one event that's a whole pile of fun in old European cities, it's the sprint. Trying to navigate little passageways, stairs, crazy dead-ends, and multiple levels at top speed will keep even the best orienteers on their toes! Today's sprint did not disappoint!

Adam after the finish!

The courses started in a park area, then climbed up in the old town with legs up and down lots of stairs and terraces on the steep slope of the old fortifications.

This is the men's course ~ check out 11 to 12. You need to know your sprint symbols to help with this one!

On the men's side, Adam Woods had the best result of the day, 3mins 37secs back from the winner in 130th place. Training on all those sprint maps in Vancouver has obviously been paying off (Sprint Camp in February, everyone!!) Alex did a great job in 139th; Trevor was 147th, and Robbie finished in 160th.

Alex in the finish chute.

On the women's side, Kendra ran a solid race to finish 3mins 10 secs back from the winner in 88th place. Pia was in 113th, and Jen finished in 135th.

Kendra looking very strong in the finish chute.

Here's what the athletes, coach, and team leader had to say about the race:

"Stairs are friend, not your enemy! --Jen

Jen at the finish, happy with her race!

"I was glad to have started early and avoided running in the rain shower. The cobble stones seemed quite treacherous when wet. I was trying for a war of 18:12 re-enactment but the Americans weren't accommodating." --Adam (Ethan Childs and Will Hubsch both beat Adam....)

Robbie sprinting to the finish.

"Too many map details, I need glasses" --Robbie

"Our team raced hard without too many mistakes, but we need more training in urban European type sprint-Orienteering, and the results shows how fast the best orienteers really are." -- Coach Brian

"We need more medieval cities in Canada to hone our sprint skills" -- Team Leader Stefan

Trevor running so fast, the camera couldn't catch him in focus!

Team Canada's results:
Place   Name      Time    Time behind winner
 88       Kendra    17:43      3:10   
113      Pia           18:44      4:11
135     Jen            21:01     6:28

130      Adam      18:12      3:37
139      Alex         18:48      4:13
147      Trevor     19:15      4:40
160      Robbie    21:26      6:51

Pia punching the spectator control

You can view the full results, splits, maps, and GPS tracks for the women at http://www.jwoc2013.cz/  The GPS tracks are always fun to play with - you can select which runners you want to see, do a mass start to see which routes were faster, and so on. 

Team meeting for the relay tomorrow.

Tomorrow  (Saturday) is the last race of JWOC, the relay. At JWOC, participation is the focus for the races. This means that, unlike the World Orienteering Championships (WOC), countries can enter multiple teams, and mixed gender or mixed country teams are allowed (but are not eligible for medals). Our Team Canada athletes will run as follows:

Women
Leg 1: Kendra
Leg 2: Pia
Leg 3: Jen

Men
Leg 1: Adam
Leg 2: Trevor
Leg 3: Alex

Robbie is running leg 3 with Rafael Miguel (Portugal) and Niall McCarthey (Ireland). All teams should have GPS tracking, so make sure you tuned in for the women's race at 4am EDT (that's 1am PDT), and the men start at 6am EDT (or 3am PDT).

WOC - A Quick Update from Finland

Choosing which maps to buy

 The World Orienteering Champs start this Sunday in Vuokatti, Finland. Team Canada has been on the ground training and preparing for their races for the past several days.

The team is off to training in the Green Devil

 When we aren't training in awesome (but slightly buggy) forest, studying maps or playing catching features, we have been swimming, playing volleyball and learning how to use the Finnish sauna.

The swimming lake at Vuokatti Sports Institute

The event centre and accommodation are at Vuokatti Sports Institute, a high performance training centre and sports holiday getaway. We never have to go far to find a good map.

Will and Robbie modelling their GPS vests

Playing volleyball in the parking lot

(Most of) the team eating dinner

Studying the maps

Tomorrow, the official model events start. We will keep you posted as we get ready for Sunday's long distance qualifier!

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 ~ Middle Qualifier

Guard chicken on the way to the start...

Today, Tuesday, was the middle qualifier at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC). For the middle distance race at JWOC, all 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.

Waiting in the quarantine area to start!

In the men's race, Alex Bergstrom ran a strong race to finish only 6.47 behind the winner, earning himself a place in the B final on Wednesday. Adam, Robbie, and Trevor all ran good races, and will fight it out in the C final.

Robbie

Trevor

Adam in the finish chute

Alex said, "Being exact with the compass was important today as most of the controls were along a very rocky slope with many similar looking features."

On the women's side, both Kendra and Jen ran very well to secure them both a place in the B final. Pia will compete in the C final.

Pia

Kendra

Kendra said, " I knew finding those boulders within boulder fields would be tricky."

Jen said " This is the kind of terrain that I enjoy. Not a lot of trails, just compass and the details on the map. Today was more like Canadian terrain."

Pia, Robbie, Trevor, and Adam all had problem controls where they lost too much time even if they also had competitive splits on other legs.

Here are the full results for the Team:
Heat     Place  Name                 Time     Time behind the winner
M20A   52       Adam Woods    36.49    14.55
M20B   45       Trevor Bray        32.48    11.20
M20C   38      Alex Bergstrom  27.59     6.47
M20C   54      Robbie Graham 44.21    23.09
W20A   33      Kendra Murray   32.19    10.31
W20B   47      Pia Blake           42.34     20.02
W20C   39     Jen MacKeigan  36.17    14.37

There are lots of ticks in the grassy areas. The tick is the little black dot, hard to see!

Our adopted team member, Remi Boudot from France, stopped and helped an injured Israeli girl on the course and lost approximately 9 minutes due to this. However, the organizers awarded him a spot in the A-final based on his split times as he was well on his way to a qualifying time when he stopped to help the girl. We tip our hat to Remi for helping a fellow competitor and to the organizers for recognizing this. Fair Play!

The automated bike parking outside the teams hotel. For 5 czech krona (~ $1)  you can park your bike in a secure location all day!

You can view the full results, maps, videos, photos, and so on at the JWOC website.

Check back in tomorrow for behind-the-scenes coverage of the middle final on the blog. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter @OrienteeringCAN.