Monday Jul 31 |
 | orienteering 1:02:03 [3] 5.1 km (12:10 / km) | |
| |
| Today is WOC rest day, and I did the open course 2 (i.e. short advanced). |
Sunday Jul 30 |
| orienteering 1:06:00 [3] | |
| |
| This was a pretty exciting day of the long qualification races, which turned to be rather disappointing in the end for the North American teams. There were two vehicles ferrying our starters to the start area quite early, with the rest of us (non-running team members and officials) that left in the van straight to the finish arena a little bit later. Sandra was one of the first runners to start the race (incidently, it was probably highly non-random that the 3 USA women recieved exactly the same start times for the middle and long qualifier? the start times were different for the men). Sandra appeared about 20 min behind the first starters (probably about 10 min longer in the running time), with about 63 min time, having unfortunately missed a close-by control before a long leg without realizing it. About 20 min after Samantha finished, out of qualifying range, but with a solid result. It sounded like she was happier with this year's performance at WOC vs last year. The next in were Eric, Pavlina, and Eddie--all having reasonable races, Eric having lost a few minutes due to a mistake from an overzealous official. Finally, about half an hour later due to his late start time, Clem appeared in the finish shute, unhappy with his performance in a few later controls.
After the races were over, runners left, and a few of us ran the WOC Tour courses. Athletes who did not qualify for the Finals and officials were allowed to run the open courses for free. I did reasonably well in the open Course 2 (4.2?km). |
Saturday Jul 29 |
| orienteering 58:47 [3] 4.6 mi (12:46 / mi) | |
| |
| Got up early to start preparing for the middle qualification races (for Clem and others). Tom's car with Clem, Hillary, Suzanne, Ross and Tom left early, and the rest of us filled the van at about 8:30am for later start times and spectating. I got a pass to the press arena (to represent attackpoint.org), however, there apparently is no internet access at the arena for the qualifying races. Thanks to bubo for posting the results for everyone! Because Clem and Hillary started early (10:07 and 10:06, respectively), they were expected to be the first Americans back, approximately 30 min after their starting times. It became apparent after the first intermediate point that the running times were to be a little bit longer than expectedprobably, because the map was rather hilly, with some areas of very soft ground (aged layers of pine needles), and fields with very high vegetation (some of these, as I discovered at the open event, would be close to my height). Non-running members of other teams and spectators crowded around the arena, several flags in display. The loudspeakers were announcing the top-running competitors passing through the intermediate points and at the run-in warning. Soon the first finishers starting darting through the finish, and, soon after (but what seemed to me like an eternity), Clem ran through to the finish. I was at the press only area close to the Go control, taking pictures (unfortunately, with a camera unsuitable for fast action photography), and I got a few out-of-focus pictures of him and, just after, of Hillary, running through to the finish. There was quite a bit of a gap until the next American runnerSuzanne, and then James, Pavlina, and Boris returned. Everyone was in somewhat reserved and depressed spirits. General comments were that the race was very physically tough: hot and hilly, on soft ground with, at times, junky vegetation, and detailed reentrant areas. It sounds like everyone had one to a few of small/moderate mistakes, but there were no disasters. Boris twisted his ankle on the way to 3rd control, luckily not terribly badly, and was particularly unhappy with his race.
After the races were over a few of the "officials" (Tom, Cristina, Ross, Kat and myself) ran the open course, that was almost the same as the WOC qualifier (I ran Women's A). I felt distinctly slow, but, having no particular pressure or rush, found my way around the course quite well at my typical pace (one small, parallel reentrant error only, partially due to having veered to the left into the tall fern area). All of the comments about hilliness were very much on target.
Later in the evening, I went into town with a few folks to try to register for the WOC Tour events. Fortunately, they did not allow me to register for the official WOC Tour, which may actually end up being the best option--I could run the "open" events, which will allow me to choose my own start time, and, possibly run the events for free as a team official. :) |
| |
| C • WOC Media Coverage 3 |
Friday Jul 28 |
| orienteering 50:00 [3] | |
| |
| Ran the model event for the middle course. This was a lot of fun--4.4km, 17 controls, very runnable, mixed forest--pine (natural and planted), and decidious, with lots of little hills and valleys, and trails. I am really hoping to run at every opportunity I get, as I am not yet sure how much I will get to orienteer next week. Tomorrow is Clem's middle qualifier. |
| |
| C • Have fun! 3 |
Thursday Jul 27 |
| orienteering 1:00:00 [3] | |
| |
| Tom set a course on a new map nearby--2 courses, actually--"the short" 5.1km course, and "the long" 5.5km. I did the short. This was yet another superb map--very runnable, very fun contour detail, trails, mixed forest, giant anthills, also very steep. Clem and Eddie both did long. |
Wednesday Jul 26 |
| orienteering 1:00:00 [3] | |
| |
| Today ran a course that Sandra brought from the Swiss woman's training course. Did pretty well--no mistakes, but was extra careful to make sure that I was in the right place, as there were no controls (aside from random controls that someone else was using on another course). Went to the beach afterwards. |
| |
| C • cool 5 |
Tuesday Jul 25 |
| orienteering 1:00:00 [3] | |
| |
| Yesterday went to do a Line-O at a nearby park on a map deemed to be particularly relevant to WOC middle distance. All middle-distance runners were there, while others (Sam) were planning to run the afternoon sprint instead. |
Monday Jul 24 |
| orienteering 2:20:00 [3] | |
| |
| Arrived in Silkeborg late last night. Serendipitously met with Boris, Kat and Ross on the airport bus, and continued the late night trip to Silkeborg together. Eddie and Cristina should be arriving tonight, and Eric later on Wednesday. I am not sure yet about everyone else. Today we went out on a training map, basically repeating what Zan and the Saegers did yesterday--some control picking in the nearby forest. Beautiful woods, with strange-smelling moss, huge anthills and blueberry patches. |
| |
| C • Nice too hear you are at place... 4 |
Sunday Jul 16 |
| |
|
Green - Splits |