Discussion: Oz WOC Trials: Splits, common legs available

The action hots up this weekend with the Australian Team Trials on at Newcastle. First up is the sprint at Newcastle University. By all accounts a complex area "intricate buildings and connecting pathways in a unique bush land setting interspersed with open space areas and gardens" this is as close as we get to an old European village or town centre.

The women's race has a hot centre starting at 9:26 with Jasmine Neve closely followed by fellow Australian team members Rachel Effeny and Vannessa Round (007), then Kathryn Ewels with then Kiwi star of WOC11 Lizzie Ingham rounding out the 4 minute "flame rouge". Will they all be together at the spectator control at 9:36? Its beside the finish if you want to come and watch!! Susanne Casanova (SusC) will probably have set the fastest time by then, finishing just in front of this pack at about 9:33 (assuming 15 minutes race time). Then it will be up to just the 4 later starters who include top-ranked runner and Easter winner Grace Crane (GraceE) - expect her at the finish around 9:48.

The men's is similarly bunched with all the favourites in the last 10 starters from 9:39 with old fox Grant Bluett leading the charge. Action at the spectator control from 9:49 with last starter, Easter prologue winner, Matt Crane ( Craney) probably the favourite and he will finish at about 10:03.

Be there and cheer them on! Startlists

In college, I studied abroad at Newcastle University!

Men's race will already be won by around the time that Blair starts.

Should have specified M21E, in Oz events are by class, not course

Great read O-ing. Thanks.

Some important info for the Sprint from Bulletin 3:

NO metal studs or spikes permitted
Mapping has been based on the features at ground level or the lowest accessible level (of many).
Competitors travelling by car must enter the campus from the EASTERN entrance of Ring Road, opposite Stannett Street
The start for all courses is a maximum of 500m from the Assembly Area, directly west along Ring Road
Control descriptions are not printed on the sprint map
Toilets are available near the prestart.

Note also the out of bounds types and special treatment of ramps in the bulletin.

And entry on the day is available on a range of courses:
Sprint - May 12 at Newcastle University
Very Easy (1.2 km) Easy (1.4 km) Moderate (2 km) Hard (2.5 km)
Start times 10:30 till 11am

Middle - May 12 at Pelaw Main
1.6 km - 2.3 km - 3.2 km- 3.7 km
Start times 2 to 2:30pm

Long - May 13 at Kitchener
1.9 km - 2.6 km - 3.9 km - 5.4 km
Start times 10:30 till 11am

Video of the fastest run on the men's course will probably be on youtube by the time Craney starts.

Yes, probably, but the results won't show that. The Junior men may run quicker as they have done recently but they won't show up in the results either on AP (NOL1 2012) or in the OA results database.

At least AP has that really neat trick of flagging all the common legs at the bottom of the list.

Is Simmo predicting that Oscar is going to go under 13 minutes?

A wise man once offered me this advice about tipping a winner in the Melbourne Cup - never back a three-year old, or a horse ridden by an apprentice.

Well Oscar did win NOL1 and NOL3: that is he had the fastest time on the same course that M21E ran; and in the case of NOL3 that was a mass start of M21E and M17-20E combined even if the OA results still show that as a seperate class and in a few years no-one will be any the wiser.

However those wins weren't by much and this sprint looks to be a tricky one - I think it would be hard to rule any of the last 10 M21 starters out as a chance and throw in Oscar, Brodie Nankervis and Ollie Poland from the Juniors, as well as NSW Juniors Alex Massey and Kasimir Gregory. However all of those have made the JWOC team, so aren't in contention for the WOC team and that might take the edge off their races.

Blair & Hawkeye - I'm just stirring O-ing for not even mentioning Oscar and Olle in his original post.

> I think it would be hard to rule any of the last 10 M21 starters out as a chance
Has Bruce recovered from that muscle tear already?

Simmo I think you missed what i think was the point of the original post - I don't think it was intended to predict winners.

Bruce is running; how fast is an open question.

Bruce is really good at Sprints; won't have lost much fitness and might not last the whole weekend. So I'd say he is going to start pretty fast at least.

Women's
1 Rachel Effeny 16:13
2 Grace Crane 17:26
3 Lizzie Ingham 18:02
4 Greta Knarston 18:16
5 Bridget Anderson 18:25

"Men's"
1 Matt Crane 16:54
2 Simon Uppill 17:04
3 Toby Scott 17:29
4 Bryan Keely 17:51
5 Olle Poland 17:58

Routegadget for NOL and State League

(half an hour after last finisher on public race)


AP splits also available

Great event, great area, great planning. Thanks Newcastle OC!

Routegadget for Middle Distance at Old Pelaw Main Colliery

AP splits available now

Thanks for a great weekend Newcastle OC!
O-ing was right. I started fast with a good route choice and won the first split in the sprint, but I was restricted by my calf injury at top speed as the race went on.
I ended up only jogging the middle and long, which turned out to be my longest NOL race time in over 200 starts.