Today was the middle distance qualification race at Kollerup. About 5km inland from the long distance map we found the forest to be much more open and runnable. This also meant visibility was better and more like what we are used to back home. The courses involved many short complex legs so full concentration was required. Angela, Matt and Scott qualified for the A final back on the other half of the map tomorrow. The rest of the team will race in the B and C finals earlier in the morning. Hopefully the forest is just as open and we will all be able to have a clean race tomorrow.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
JWOC Long distance
It was an early morning for the first runners supposed to be starting at 9am. After arriving, exploring the warm up map everyone was annoyed to hear the start was put back 40mins.
From our preparation we planned to take it carefully for the first few legs before the early spectator control, then let speed come as we took on the longer route choice legs.
The forest was very tough going and thick in most places. Fallen logs and dense spiky pines made the going tough and largely reduced visibility for navigation. Later in the course we entered the open dunes with almost knee high heather requiring determination to get though. Everyone did very well to make it round this mission of a course.
The New Zealand boys had similar times in the tight field and placed: Gene Beveridge 76th, Toby Scott 78th, Matt Ogden 84th, Jourdan Harvey 86th, Scott MacDonald 99th, Duncan Morrison 126th.
The New Zealand girls placed: Angela Simpson 32nd, Laura Robertson 77th, Kate Morrison 92nd, Jula McMillan 96th, Jaime Goodwin 107th, Selena Metherell DSQ punched boys control but otherwise great run.
Now having relaxing rest day.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Jwoc Sprint
We have moved into the accommodation at the barracks now however we have restricted internet access so our postings will be brief.
Today we had the sprint distance in Aalborg University. The maps and results can be found on the JWOC website or can be found through www.maptalk.co.nz. We had some very pleasing results as a team today with Angela placing 17th and Laura 27th. The best of the boys was Toby getting a very solid 33rd. The team coped very well, especially those who were racing in their first ever JWOC.
The results show how close the races were with just a few seconds separating nearly 30 placings. This meant that small mistakes or poor flow through the controls quickly resulted in a drop in placings. I found this especially dropping a few seconds each control just because I was not clinical enough in my leg execution. The majority of the teams loss in seconds came through route choice or 1 or 2 big mistakes. The pre-start area was just before the event arena with the start triangle visible to all spectators. This was a particularly brutal start, not only did we have to cope with the at times overwhelming nerves but also the roar of hundreds of spectators screaming at you straight from the get go. Our biggest hope in the sprint, Jourdan felt the full wrath of this killer set-up losing 2 minutes on the first control. The map was much more technical than the old map suggested and the courses were set very well set forcing us to navigate to the best of our abilities. We could probably ramble on for ages about today but we have to get ready the long tomorrow, a race that will surely be very tough. Thanks for all the support back home!
Results:
2010 Junior World orienteering Championships, Aalborg, Denmark.
Sprint, Women 2.3km.
1 Bobach, Ida Denmark 13:36,
2 Wisniewska, Hanna Poland 14:00,
3 Gajda, Monika Poland 14:03,
17 Simpson, Angela New Zealand 14:53,
17 Sund, Gøril Rønning Norway 14:53,
27 Robertson, Laura New Zealand 15:25,
47 Mcmillan, Jula New Zealand 16:27,
52 Morrison, Kate New Zealand 16:36,
61 Metherell, Selena New Zealand 16:52,
94 Goodwin, Jaime New Zealand 19:12.
Sprint, Men 2.7 km.
1 Hansen, Rasmus Thrane Denmark 13:04,
2 Jones, Kristian Great Britain 13:23,
3 Danielsen, Vegard Norway 13:25,
33 Scott, Toby New Zealand 14:29, 70
70 Ogden, Matt New Zealand 15:15,
75 Mcdonald, Scott New Zealand 15:24,
103 Morrison, Duncan New Zealand 16:14,
107 Beveridge, Gene New Zealand 16:23,
118 Harvey, Jourdan New Zealand 16:56.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Long/Middle Model distance and Emit trial
Today we had the Long and Middle distance model event on a small section of the Svinklov map, the map we will be using for the Long distance on Tuesday. The map had a 1 in 10,000 version and a 1 in 15,000 version for middle and long distance practise respectively.
The team was pleased with the accuracy of the map, everything was very well mapped including small bits of light green vegetation in patches of dense dark green vegetation which could be used in route choices. The focus of the model was map contact and reading pretty much every bit of detail so that come next week we will be orienteering to the best of our abilities. Before the training Jenni commented on the reduction in map contact we will see on race day through nerves and excitement so by excessively reading the map now we will be reading the map well on race day. Most of the team are getting use to the terrain and maps now so we are all really looking forward to competition week.
After the model event we had an emit test at the Barracks. We grossely underestimated the seriousness of the testing with the majority of the team turning up in casual gear, most the guys were shirtless and in jandals. It was good to see the start procedure in operation and the use of these wierd arm bands we will be using for our finish split. We did manage a victory in the boys course with Toby picking up the fastest time on the 1.4 km trial course. We were quite pleased with our first JWOC win...we will forget the fact that this was a practise course and that vans were used during Tobys run.
NZ JWOC team
The team was pleased with the accuracy of the map, everything was very well mapped including small bits of light green vegetation in patches of dense dark green vegetation which could be used in route choices. The focus of the model was map contact and reading pretty much every bit of detail so that come next week we will be orienteering to the best of our abilities. Before the training Jenni commented on the reduction in map contact we will see on race day through nerves and excitement so by excessively reading the map now we will be reading the map well on race day. Most of the team are getting use to the terrain and maps now so we are all really looking forward to competition week.
After the model event we had an emit test at the Barracks. We grossely underestimated the seriousness of the testing with the majority of the team turning up in casual gear, most the guys were shirtless and in jandals. It was good to see the start procedure in operation and the use of these wierd arm bands we will be using for our finish split. We did manage a victory in the boys course with Toby picking up the fastest time on the 1.4 km trial course. We were quite pleased with our first JWOC win...we will forget the fact that this was a practise course and that vans were used during Tobys run.
NZ JWOC team
Friday, July 2, 2010
T-2days till JWOC
Our pre JWOC trainings are coming to an end and our focus shifts to the races next week.
Today we had what was suppose to be a rest day travelling to Arhus on the east coast of Denmark. We visited the local university to see Maias (Ross' girlfriend) dad who gave a talk on the maps we will be running on next week as well as a tour of the sports science building. Maias dad gave us valuable advice on specific techniques that we will be able to employ next week. The biggest piece of technical advice was the use of tracks when orienteering, basically if there is a track use it as it considerably faster than the forest and requires less navigation, hence fewer mistakes. The use of vegetation boundaries and large countour features were also mentioned. Maias dad also took us through some courses that Ross had set for us as training a few months ago. It was interesting to see how the once Danish coach approached different legs. His orienteering style did not differ too much from our own using big attack points, traffic lighting and linear features such as veg. boundaries and tracks. Checking ones compass was constantly mentioned and will be definitely something we will take into our races next week. Ross and Todd were also tested for their VO2 max and lactic threshold which led to some interesting discussions on runner physiology and the difference between the ordinary and the world class.
Following this we went to Arhus town centre where the girls shopped for their party costumes after their epic fail on wednesday. The boys chilled admiring the scenery and found the occasional bargain. Before we left Arhus we went to the most amazing shop in the world, A shop predominately dedicated to orienteering!!! We spoke to a Danish guy who reminded us what an ellite athlete our manager Carsten is; "The fastest white man on the earth at one stage". His race experience and years of knowledge will definitely be a crucial component to the teams success this year. Also we have Ross and Lizzie, so with this ellite team behind us we are all feeling pretty confident for the upcoming week.
Today we had what was suppose to be a rest day travelling to Arhus on the east coast of Denmark. We visited the local university to see Maias (Ross' girlfriend) dad who gave a talk on the maps we will be running on next week as well as a tour of the sports science building. Maias dad gave us valuable advice on specific techniques that we will be able to employ next week. The biggest piece of technical advice was the use of tracks when orienteering, basically if there is a track use it as it considerably faster than the forest and requires less navigation, hence fewer mistakes. The use of vegetation boundaries and large countour features were also mentioned. Maias dad also took us through some courses that Ross had set for us as training a few months ago. It was interesting to see how the once Danish coach approached different legs. His orienteering style did not differ too much from our own using big attack points, traffic lighting and linear features such as veg. boundaries and tracks. Checking ones compass was constantly mentioned and will be definitely something we will take into our races next week. Ross and Todd were also tested for their VO2 max and lactic threshold which led to some interesting discussions on runner physiology and the difference between the ordinary and the world class.
Following this we went to Arhus town centre where the girls shopped for their party costumes after their epic fail on wednesday. The boys chilled admiring the scenery and found the occasional bargain. Before we left Arhus we went to the most amazing shop in the world, A shop predominately dedicated to orienteering!!! We spoke to a Danish guy who reminded us what an ellite athlete our manager Carsten is; "The fastest white man on the earth at one stage". His race experience and years of knowledge will definitely be a crucial component to the teams success this year. Also we have Ross and Lizzie, so with this ellite team behind us we are all feeling pretty confident for the upcoming week.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
More Trainings...
Now based near Aalborg, the team has been going for day trips to the training maps to further hone our orienteering skill in the Danish terrain.
The weekend running in the Vestjysk 2 Days has left everyone with something to work on. One huge difference to this terrain compared to NZ is the route choices which normally involve a track to the left or the right and or straight through the forest. It is almost alway quicker to take track routes to avoid the dense forest but knowing where to cut corners is a skill to be perfected. Despite a fairly cruisy approach to the races the team did extremely well with Duncan posting the fastest time on the 8km course and Angela was the fastest girl in the sprint race on Friday evening.
We were treating the 2nd race (Sundays race) as preperation for JWOC by simulating race starts and running at race pace to the 6th control and then completing the rest (or not) at an easy pace. For the boys this did not quite work out with two of the controls being swapped. However despite this mistake in the courses the boys handled it well and continued with the rest of their courses, except Matt who sprained his ankle.
We have been going out training on the official training maps Blokhus yesterday and Molleparken and Vester Torup Nordos. These maps are very similar to the JWOC maps had will provide us with very valuable terrain knowledge.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Getting ready for JWOC...trainings, rocket man Ross and some tired legs
With JWOC only a week away the team has been training very well in the glorious Danish summer. We have been primarily training in the Tisvilde Hegn Forest which was only a few kilometres from where we were staying. The map itself was very different from the maps back home. Lots of inconsistent vegetation made running difficult at times and very little contour detail meant we were using our compasses a lot more. The map had hardly any hills and was dominated by small blocks of dark green which we tried to avoid in our route choices. This is very similar to the JWOC maps that we will be running on in a weeks time so will provide us with some valuable terrain experience.
Our trainings have focused on adjusting to the terrain, so they have been quite low intensity also giving us time to recover from the long flights. To do well at JWOC we will need to be aggressive in the terrain as this can easily push you off your line or slow you down. Technically we will need to focus on the usual so map contact, control flow and route choice. The team should be very well prepared for JWOC with the coastal parts of the forest very similar to the coastal areas in Woodhill forest.
Yesterday afternoon we got to witness Carsten and Ross race a 3km time trial at the track. We could see that both Carsten and Ross were pushing very hard which was reflected in their times. Ross smashed his PB posting a time of 9 minutes 4 seconds. This was motivating for all the team and hopefully we will be able to take this into our races at JWOC.
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