Discussion: Masters final: Bronze for Sharon, 5th for Peter
in: Orienteering; General
Jul 9, 2004 6:09 PM
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PG:
Also in A finals: 13th for Sergey in M40, 37th for Gail in F55. Randy got screwed by the rules and ended up in the B final, finished 10th there. Among the Canadians, Ted de St. Croix was 4th in M45, and his mom (Pat) was 4th in F75, Alex Kerr (M65) and Brian Ellis (M60) both made the A finals but did not have good days and finished well down.
A few details: Sharon was about 40 seconds out, said she had one small bobble (probabaly about that much), but was pretty happy with third. Serguey ran 64-65 minutes, said he could have done 60 with no errors, winner was about 55 (Urs Fluhmann, former member of Swiss team). Gail just made the A final and was pretty pleased to make it into the top half of it. Didn't see Ted, but he was less than a minute out (winner was Jorgan Martenson).
My feelings are a mix of pride and disappointment. I was 42:02 on a 5.7km course, best was 39:32 by a very fast Norwegian, third was 41:02 so I was just a minute off a medal, all on a day that seemed quite a bit off my best. Had something in the range of 2-3 minutes of mistakes, and didn't have good legs (one of those days, still haven't got my appetite back after Monday....), but I ran as hard and as smart as I could. Some days everything doesn't work out. But 5th is still pretty good. And I take a good deal of satisfaction in arriving at the starting line having done the training and the mental preparation. A year ago I would have been lucky to make the top 25. The only thing missing in the preparation, perhaps(!), was enough really tough competition. I was as nervous beforehand as I have been for a long time, and while I kept it pretty well under control, there is no better way to prepare for competitive stress than repeated practice at dealing with it. And that has been a bit lacking the past few years.
Overall though, a really good day for the USA Masters "Team". Maybe the young ones will follow along....
A few details: Sharon was about 40 seconds out, said she had one small bobble (probabaly about that much), but was pretty happy with third. Serguey ran 64-65 minutes, said he could have done 60 with no errors, winner was about 55 (Urs Fluhmann, former member of Swiss team). Gail just made the A final and was pretty pleased to make it into the top half of it. Didn't see Ted, but he was less than a minute out (winner was Jorgan Martenson).
My feelings are a mix of pride and disappointment. I was 42:02 on a 5.7km course, best was 39:32 by a very fast Norwegian, third was 41:02 so I was just a minute off a medal, all on a day that seemed quite a bit off my best. Had something in the range of 2-3 minutes of mistakes, and didn't have good legs (one of those days, still haven't got my appetite back after Monday....), but I ran as hard and as smart as I could. Some days everything doesn't work out. But 5th is still pretty good. And I take a good deal of satisfaction in arriving at the starting line having done the training and the mental preparation. A year ago I would have been lucky to make the top 25. The only thing missing in the preparation, perhaps(!), was enough really tough competition. I was as nervous beforehand as I have been for a long time, and while I kept it pretty well under control, there is no better way to prepare for competitive stress than repeated practice at dealing with it. And that has been a bit lacking the past few years.
Overall though, a really good day for the USA Masters "Team". Maybe the young ones will follow along....
Jul 9, 2004 7:04 PM
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Across the board those are really great results against great competition.
Congratulations to all the North Americans who represented the continent in fine fashion.
Congratulations to all the North Americans who represented the continent in fine fashion.
Jul 9, 2004 7:20 PM
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I guess this all goes to point out the validity of that mythic saying that "you can feed him some bad food, but you just can't keep a good man down."
Maybe the old dogs could teach the young dogs a few of their tricks?
Congrats Peter and Sharon!
Maybe the old dogs could teach the young dogs a few of their tricks?
Congrats Peter and Sharon!
Jul 10, 2004 12:55 AM
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walk:
Congratulations Peter and Sharon, plus the rest all had good results.
Time to get the Boomer Team going to give Peter some local competition so he's ready for the next one and perhaps take some of the rest of us along as well.
Time to get the Boomer Team going to give Peter some local competition so he's ready for the next one and perhaps take some of the rest of us along as well.
Jul 10, 2004 3:46 AM
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Randy, Sandra, Karen - good luck at the WC in Denmark this week. Not sure if I'll be able to follow the races for the next few days (on travel to COCs), so give 'em hell and I'll check your progress whenever I can. Post reports on Attackpoint!
Jul 12, 2004 6:58 PM
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It is worth to mention that PG and myself had same 3 last controls while crossing pastures toward the finish and made almost same mistakes and time! I was only couple-three seconds ahead on each leg looking at the splits. Loss of concentration while transitioning from wooded area to open pastures can be attributed to the time loss of ~1:00 to 1:30 on one of the controls. Very good effort by PG! This man can run really fast! I will post my report and routes later for you to enjoy.
Jul 15, 2004 8:18 PM
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Great job everyone from North American, and thank you for posting information and thoughts on Attackpoint. I think indeed we "young ones" (I am not so "young" anymore) can learn a great deal from the experiences of the "mature" and wise orienteering masters. Perhaps for all of us that are going to Team Trials in Wyoming, we could have a "post competition" discussion and think about some ideas that will help us prepare for future events.
Cheers! Karen
Cheers! Karen
This discussion thread is closed.