Well today was a very exciting day all round with some good and not so good results, but a lot was learned and everyone is keenly awaiting the long. So long as it isn't as hot as today was. The day started with Simon and Scott setting off into the bush forst. Both confident they would nail their 2.3km course in the C final, with Jack, Tom and I staring soon after. Unfortunately it wasn't to be for Jack and Scott however Simon managed to "flop it out" and came in with a very impressive 5th place. in the B final Tom also made a few mistakes and ended up around the middle of the field. For the girls, those of us in the B final managed to make it through our course. Georgia, Angela and Tessa all made a few too many mistakes and were disappointed with their results. However I think with such a strong field of girls this year and in unknown terrain they are all doing incredibly well, especially Angela and Georgia for their first JWOCs. I managed to have a relatively clean run after I restarted myself at #4 and managed to come in 2nd place. For Kate and Lizzie in the A final it was not to be their day, despite our premonitions this morning. Both got caught up on the same control and managed to get very impressive double digit splits. However it was Lizzie's superior sprint finish that pushed her in front of Kate as they were tied at the last control.
Unfortunately we had a rather serious casualty today, Jack managed to roll over his ankle in the last downhill of the finish sprint and had a rather large lump 50m later at the finish. I'm really hoping it wasn't me yelling at him from behind on the way to the last control to "go faster" that was the cause of his injury. It was quite a good sight when Angela, Jack and I all ran down the finish chute together. He was taken to hospital with what they suspect might be a broken ankle however he is yet to reappear so we all have our fingers crossed it isn't that serious. Luckily he is in the very capable hands of Norm and Todd so we are sure we will see him sometime soon, preferably sooner rather than later.
Everyone struggled with the heat today as we were told after our run that it was around 30degrees both during and after our runs. It made it rather hard to cool down afterwards but when we were actually racing it didn't seem to affect anyone too seriously. It also wasn't too bad in that all the good looking Scandi's seemed to undress as much as possible in the heat so both the boys and girls enjoyed that. Hopefully it will get a bit cooler for the long on Saturday as we are all running around the middle of the day which should be rather interesting.
Tomorrow is our rest day and I think the main plan is for just that, rest. The boys are planning to head into town and I think there was some mention of finding a beach to swim at but other than that we are all looking forward to catching up on a bit of sleep. As the computer queue gets even larger there is some pressure for me to get off but if you want to look at photos I think there is a link to Norm's picassa album and most of the racing photos are there or there might be some on the official website. The photographers seem to hide up trees or behind rocks and as we aren't really used to that all us Kiwis probably look rather surprised in those ones.
Greta
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Middle Qualification
Hey everyone, middle qualification today and sweden certainly turned on the sunshine for it! somewhat uncomfortable in the start area with limited shade, and the most communal toilets ive ever encountered (try facing someone a meter and half away!). Luckily it wasnt so hot in the forest though. Kate got things kicked off for the team, in the third start group, and she had to wait the longest of the girls to confirm her placing aswell, finishing in 19th place to qualify for the A final for the 2nd year in a row! Tom also had an early start, and a long wait at the finish, but in this case unfortunately he was painfully slowly nudged out of contention for the A final throughout the morning, finishing 27th. Also in the earlier starts Georgia finished 25th, Angela 37th and Scott 47th.
In the later start block, Greta ended up 30th in her heat, Tessa made a few errors to finish up 36th, one place ahead of Angela, whilst Jack with the last start of the day finished 46th. Simon was caught up by the swedish guy behind him. Unfortunately, although he could keep up with the swede, it would seem that swedes can float across marshes, whilst new zealanders, well they dont. Simon ended up 41st, one place out of the B final, although we're hoping he will be moved up to B final after laying a complaint against the Austrians for using a cellphone on the way to the start.
Personally, as last starter of the NZ girls i had a reasonable run, spiking the first control, which always helps. I managed to turn up at 5 before 4, and found the other two splits at 6 before mine, but in a qualification race everyone is under the same pressure so i knew enough other people would be making similar mistakes. I finished eighth overall, which should give a reasonable position to start from tomorrow.
So overall the team has two girls in the A final, and four in the B. At the moment its just Tom in the B final for the boys with the rest in the C, but we're hopeful for Simon.
Thanks to everyone who's watching (or trying to) from home. Tomorrow should be another sweet day of competition. The weather looks good again, so hopefully Todd will have his SPF 6 sunblock with him so we dont get burnt!! Our main aim is to have NZ's first mp-free JWOC in a long time!
Lizzie (and Tessa)
In the later start block, Greta ended up 30th in her heat, Tessa made a few errors to finish up 36th, one place ahead of Angela, whilst Jack with the last start of the day finished 46th. Simon was caught up by the swedish guy behind him. Unfortunately, although he could keep up with the swede, it would seem that swedes can float across marshes, whilst new zealanders, well they dont. Simon ended up 41st, one place out of the B final, although we're hoping he will be moved up to B final after laying a complaint against the Austrians for using a cellphone on the way to the start.
Personally, as last starter of the NZ girls i had a reasonable run, spiking the first control, which always helps. I managed to turn up at 5 before 4, and found the other two splits at 6 before mine, but in a qualification race everyone is under the same pressure so i knew enough other people would be making similar mistakes. I finished eighth overall, which should give a reasonable position to start from tomorrow.
So overall the team has two girls in the A final, and four in the B. At the moment its just Tom in the B final for the boys with the rest in the C, but we're hopeful for Simon.
Thanks to everyone who's watching (or trying to) from home. Tomorrow should be another sweet day of competition. The weather looks good again, so hopefully Todd will have his SPF 6 sunblock with him so we dont get burnt!! Our main aim is to have NZ's first mp-free JWOC in a long time!
Lizzie (and Tessa)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The sprint
First event down. Mixed day for a team. Sounds like the results over the internet weren't so good. It was a bit like that at the event centre, more Danes than Swedes!
Course was in an area of the Ruddalen Påvelund map that had been heavily remapped. It had heaps of changes between buildings and little portions of forest. Looking at routes and times in many cases it was much faster to go off line to avoid the forest and stay on grass and roads.
Lizzie had the best result for the team with a 15th place beating some pretty good runners and one of the best of the non Scandinavian runners. Greta did well with a 36th. Next were kate 70th and georgia 74th both of whom made a few mistakes. Tessa finished 97th with a few dodge route choices and angela was 106th.
Simon was the best of the boys with a consistent run to 37th. A few small mistakes but very few made it through the course error free. Scott and Tom were both very disappointed with their 100th and 101st placings. Scott felt like he never got going and smashed his compass about 1/3 of the way around which upset his rhythm. Tom had a shocker in the middle part of the course through 6,7,8 and then lost about 45 seconds on the second to last control. Jack was 129th and suffered with a few route choices and running speed.
It was interesting to see how spread the sprint was, many runners clustered around a time with gaps between groups of 10 to 15 runners. The unforgiving nature of the terrain punished small mistakes and bad route choices.
The opening ceremony was in the evening afterwards. Held in liseberg theme park in Göteborg it was one of the better organised aspects so far. Spent an hour on the rollercoasters before the ceremony. Lizzie carried the flag for us, best result for the day and 4th JWOC in a row.
Model day today and were just relaxing for the afternoon after having already been out this morning. Everyone is alright physically and looking forward to middle qual tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who was watching on the internet, hopefully it works a bit better tonight.
Course was in an area of the Ruddalen Påvelund map that had been heavily remapped. It had heaps of changes between buildings and little portions of forest. Looking at routes and times in many cases it was much faster to go off line to avoid the forest and stay on grass and roads.
Lizzie had the best result for the team with a 15th place beating some pretty good runners and one of the best of the non Scandinavian runners. Greta did well with a 36th. Next were kate 70th and georgia 74th both of whom made a few mistakes. Tessa finished 97th with a few dodge route choices and angela was 106th.
Simon was the best of the boys with a consistent run to 37th. A few small mistakes but very few made it through the course error free. Scott and Tom were both very disappointed with their 100th and 101st placings. Scott felt like he never got going and smashed his compass about 1/3 of the way around which upset his rhythm. Tom had a shocker in the middle part of the course through 6,7,8 and then lost about 45 seconds on the second to last control. Jack was 129th and suffered with a few route choices and running speed.
It was interesting to see how spread the sprint was, many runners clustered around a time with gaps between groups of 10 to 15 runners. The unforgiving nature of the terrain punished small mistakes and bad route choices.
The opening ceremony was in the evening afterwards. Held in liseberg theme park in Göteborg it was one of the better organised aspects so far. Spent an hour on the rollercoasters before the ceremony. Lizzie carried the flag for us, best result for the day and 4th JWOC in a row.
Model day today and were just relaxing for the afternoon after having already been out this morning. Everyone is alright physically and looking forward to middle qual tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who was watching on the internet, hopefully it works a bit better tonight.
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