Discussion: Long Final Starts Soon!!

Is it going to be a sweep for Sime? Will Swisscheese help witht he cleaning? Is this Jani's year?

I'll throw out a few picks (not that I've put any thought into it, but while we're waiting for split times to come up, we may as well start posting). Women: Simone, Jukkola and Engstand. Men: Wingstedt, Gueorgiou and Hott Johansen.

I wonder why they keep putting the radio controls so late in the races.

Wow, Olga has 5 minutes on #2. I guess the radio control isn't that late into the race after all.

With those hills, the slowest women are going to be a significant amount behind the winners (in the 90s instead of the 70s very probably) ... important to keep in mind when guessing how far into the course the first split is ...

Troy seems to be doing well!

I think this link shows the old map of the race terrain:


http://www.matstroeng.nu/vm2005/maps/long_final.jp...

I wonder about the weather conditions.

I was just poking around the Wingstedt, Dalin, Jonasson blog and found an interesting note about today's race. The Swedish team leader asked the organizers if they thought the winners would run the expected winning times. Shin Murakoshi (the legendary Japanese orienteer and one of the organizers) said that if someone does, he'll treat them to two beers.

I'll pick: Simone, MInna, and Vroni, with Annabel in a close 4th

For the men: Jani, Jamie, and Swisscheese. Holger will be in the top 8.

Monkey-boy is certainly off to a good start.

It's not easy; Karolina A-Höjsgaard is already 10 min behind.

Go Sarah Rollins!! Then again, it is hard to know what is happening as her split changed while we watched ...

Okay, the first women have been out for nearly 100 minutes now, and they still aren't at the second intermediate. Perhaps they are the ones that the course setter should be buying beer for!!!!!

Troy De Haas = DISQ. I wonder what happened.

Kristin was right - these courses are really splitting up the field!

Second int is probably very close to the end like in the other races.

AAAgghhh! Monkey attack!! They shouldn't have used banana-colored EMIT bricks.

Troy, quit the monkey business alright! :(

They are clearly missing some folks at the radio controls (assuming that Ondrej hasn't done a Rosie Ruiz).

Current weather in Toyota City - 84 and fog (humidity is 71%). That sounds uncomfortable, but not killer.

Hm... I wonder how dense the fog is. I think I will have to buy O-Boka again - should be some interesting articles.

Annabel's first split is holding up pretty well. 5s ahead of Jenny!

Too bad for Troy. Looked like it had a pretty good run going.

Paula Haapakoski?

Current weather in Baltimore one hour after sunset - 82, with 84% humidity. No fog, but I just got back from a run and its definately killer. Ugh

You don't make the Finnish team unless you are good.

Look at Simone fly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, we have a finisher! 12 mins is the time from 2nd int to finish for the women.

And Jukkola is hanging on...

Niggli and Jukkola look like they might be running together.

Geez. She's already 7% ahead of the field at the first split!

I picked Jukkola to take the silver in large part because of her start time (of course, she's a very, very good orienteer).

I just think its cool that she's named after a big relay.

Looks like Novikova is also part of the Simone train.

I wonder if the course has any butterflies to try to break up trains.

Is anyone getting men's reults after the first int? Ondrej isn't even in the 1st int list.

It's Heli Jukkola vs. Jukola (the big relay). Close, but not the same.

Ahh, there he is. 17 mins from 2nd int to finish

So, it's Switzerland, Finland, Finland, Switzerland at the 1st split.

Troy must have surrendered partway through. Injury maybe?

There seem to be a lot of monkeys out today.

Anna Mårsell must have made a mistake at the very end.

Annabel was 15 mins on the last split. 10th now, but I'm sure she'll move up to 4th as more finishers come in :)

LETS go JA-mie!!
LETS go JA-mie!!

Mmmmmm, SWISSCHEESE!!!!

Geez. 3 DQs for the men now? Ondrej had a time posted for a while. Will everyone be DQ'ed?

Not Tero.

Lakanen 12th but only a minute behind the 4th place Haldin.

The top two women are still together ... nice to have a train out there ...

I would enjoy seeing the men's medals go to Russia, Britain, and France. That would be a nice change!

Jukkola and Niggli have pulled an extra 5 minutes up on 3rd (or maybe she made a mistake). Wonder what is happening out there ....

Heli will have to do something soon. Can 2 mins in back of Sime possibly be in the medals?

Minna!!!!! ROCK!

Minna Kauppi is in the lead at the Finish, but I don't see her time at Int.2?

Minna DISQ!!!

Nooooooo!

I was gettting ready to ask why Minna Kauppi didn't have a 2nd Intermediate split, and then her name moved to DISQ.
Did she go directly to the finish, or did she miss the punch at Int 2?

At least Sime was in sight of the winning time...

Doesn't kauppi mean "store" or "purchase" or something like that?

Awww... Simone is 1:23 behind the estimated winning time.

Has Australia been in the top 6 before? Way to go Hanny!

Will be 6th place (or better) for Australia.

Minna Kauppi vs. kauppa ("store"). Close, but not the same ;-)

Doh! :) My Finnish is *really* rusty.

Vroni has 4 mins. to take the Bronze.

Nicely done on the last portion by Holger.

Looks like Jukkola gets a silver in the individual and a gold in the pairs....

Vroni!!!!!! Too bad about MInna - I could have had a straight flush.

Switzerland, Finland, Switzerland. Hyvä Suomi!

Poor Australian men...

Where is Swisscheese at the int2?

Ahh, nevermind. Its too early still.

Maybe there was a rule that they didn't know about, like you can't skip a control at WOC.

Thats really strange about AUS. Just like the French in the Middle.

My fingers are crossed for Vagnis (Mattias Karlsson)!

Did David Schneider run last year in Sweden? I don't remember his name. he seems to be doing just fine here.

This is looking pretty good for Holger so far. Heia Norge!

What happened to Jamie? Oh dear.

Jamie Stevenson: from 3rd to 20th.

Yep. Ouch.

SWISSCHEESE!!! GO GO GO!!!

Anyone think the men will do within 5 minutes of predicted WT?

Switzerland and Russia running together still - and fast!

LETS go SWISS cheese!! (clap clap, clap-clap-clap)

LETS go SWISS cheese!! (clap clap, clap-clap-clap)

WOOOHOOOOO!!

Aha! The Khramov train!

I'm telling you - JAPAN = Switzerland of the East

Looks like first gold for Russia. Go Andrei!

Wow, Hanny Allston placed 6th. She is 20, and just came off a Bronze Medal at this years JWOC. Not bad for a Junior at WOC.

If Marc takes out the Russian he can win. Aim for the knees!

Would anyone have believed this guy could win the Long?
(click for larger image)

I took something like 500 pics at WOC last year. James had the camera for 2 whole hours and got this snapshot, which is one of my favorite of the whole bunch. Figures.

What is it about 3 minutes until Khramov and Marc L. reach the finish?

It's Russian Gold. Where is Marc?

He's in 2!!!!!

No, guess it is less than that.

Jani Lakanen 19th; no Gold for Finland today :-(
Emil Wingstedt 33rd; no Gold for Sweden either.

There he is. Silver Medal for Lauenstein. The first medal for an Attackpoint member at a World Championship event! We are in a prestigious crowd now guys :D I say we all buy him a beer. Not Japanese though.

UNREAL! Marc AND Holger in the medals!!!

I wonder who Andrey Khramov even is.....wait! He must be the damn monkey!!!

Congratulations Marc! Great race, great day!

Obviously there is a real benefit to being married (or almost married) to a North American woman!

Wicked awesome!

If I was a smoker, I'd smoke one right now. Whew!

Spike wins the call, with 3 correct picks all in the right places.

The results will be very different in Denmark next year. I'm pretty sure there are no monkees there, and there might not be any boy bands of any type there at all, for that matter.

Second in the world! Maybe we should think about an Attackpoint sponsorship. We could all pitch in to make it happen. Talk about serious exposure!



We should write something into the contract about never making that face while wearing our logo though.

Wow, look at Michele Tavernaro - very strong last half, only a minute slower than Andrey and Marc.

We should all go over and fill up his training log with comments and sneid remarks!

I'm in.

Ahh... How do you add a comment if he hasn't posted anything in his log?

I dunno.

Fall back to email I guess. I told him about this discussion. Maybe he will honor us with some details of his run.

Can you click on Jul 31, and then one of the C's?

Man, he gave me one of his old O-tops. I'll never wash it again :)

Hey, Boris, you happened to know personally all 3 top man, what a coincidence, and, congratulations to Marc!

Map of women's course.

Khramov, Marc, Taverano and at the end Mazulis what a train - that is the best way to win tough course

And the men's.

That was quickly scanned, but they could have taken the time to remove the map case first.

What an awesome race to watch, especially on the men's side!! It also seems like you guys have been following everything rather closely. How many of you have lost your jobs over the last couple of days? :)
It was phenomenal to see Khramov run in, a giant Russian flag already in hand, followed by Marc in the finish chute. And since I've slept on Holger's floor, have had Marc sleep on mine, and have drunk vodka with Andrey in Hungary and Switzerland, i feel very special today. :)
And now, time to get ready for the relay... I think the Spanish are running a girl as the anchor of their men's team. Let's see if we can take them. :)

If anyone wonders who Andrey Khramov is, I made an interview with him half a year ago. You can find it here:
http://www.alternativet.nu/eng/
Look under news on the left side of the page "i steget: Khramov is aiming for more medals"
He promised then to become world champion, and not only once!

Congrats to Marc and Holger! Way to go! Very exciting.

This also makes Cheesydude the only person ever to get both a WOC medal and a Billygoat T-shirt, right?

Katarina Smith?

JJ: Yet another column to add to your spreadsheet of statistics.

Yep, at least two people already in that column. We definately need photos of both wearing the T-shirt with the medals on top! I asked Kata to bring her medal to a big meet sometime...I'd really like to see it. Same goes for Marc.

Oh and Boris, to answer your question I am dangerously close :) But fortunately the races are "after hours" over here, whatever that means (ugh). Next to actually being there in person this has been the next best thing - lots of fun! Watch out for Annabel...she's awful fast.

There a nice pix of Marc, Simone and Vroni in the Swiss newspaper here.

http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dyn/news/diverse/52859...

Don't let Sandra see that one :)

who can resist a piece of the swiss cheese? ;-)

also, they've posted slightly more legible versions of many of the maps on the woc page

Holy crap! Those are 2.5m contours right?