Tess for JWOC

Congratulations to Tess Hill who has been selected for the GB JWOC team. I have been working closely with Tess over the winter, helping her with physical and technical training, and helping her to plan her season. She will be going out to Lithuania on a pre-JWOC camp shortly, and then JWOC is in July. Well done also to Iain Embrey, who I also work with at Warwick university. Iain has been selected as a reserve for the JWOC team.

Loooooooooooooooooong Final

16.2km, 111 minutes, 35th place - a long race. A new PB in classic distance easily beating my 55th in Italy last year. We don't have the maps back yet so can't put it up, and am really tired after the race so not really got much to say. A few points though-
Ran a steady pace, not too many mistakes, and pushed a bit harder at the end.
Never really ran at my maximum as was slightly afraid to hit the wall, so maybe should have pushed a little harder (although I'm not sure I could have really).
Was caught by an Estonian guy and couldnt get away from him - every time we took different routes or I pulled ahead he caught me again.
Caught David Schneider, got away from him, let him catch me again and finished with him.

The course was long and tough, the forest was very green and quite vague in places. Supposedly quicker than winning times due to dry marshes turned into a bit of an epic with only a few people breaking the 100 mins mark in the mens.

British team -
Oli, blew 4 mins at first 2 controls, then turned it around and had a really good race.
JD - running in a good group, hit the wall and blew up. Also forgot to punch the drinks control
Jamie - 'lacked inspiration and never really got into the race'
Craney - lost most of his trousers on the way to the 4th control and struggled to keep his motivation up (although he got a lot of lady attention after the finish)

Sarah - 23rd, relatively satisfied, maybe could have been a few places higher

Relay tomorrow, I'm running team 2 leg 1.

Classic Qualification

A strange day - another green Estonian forest, loads of people making plenty of mistakes, most of the British guys through and most of the girls out.

Before the race, we had a fair idea it was going to be tricky, green and slow at times, but we had no idea that it would be almost impossible to be clean and to run quickly.
Started well, spiked the first two. Number 3 got really confused - the marsh was really dry and got nervous so went out to path, hit control cleanly from there (lost 1 min 45 secs ish). Hit 4 fine. 5 was a tricky route choice - which path the take? Go right and nice route out to the path but more difficult to hit control, or left - a bit further but nice line in. I chose the nice line in and got a really good split. 6 was ok, but found another gaffles control in a little re-entrant just west of my control. Slight hesitation but relocated quickly (lost 30secs). 7 was fine. 8 was scary looking - no easy way in or attack point or features to relocate - and so it proved. Easy to the edge of the field, then plunging into the unknown. Headed slightly too far left, relocated on the big reentrant and lost roughly 2 mins - and I was nowhere near the worst. Some people lost 10 - 20 minutes on that or a similar leg alone. By this stage Carsten Jorgenson had caught me 4 mins and was running a slightly different line to number 9. Punch 9 about the same time and lead him and Novikov (who had caught me up 6 mins) into 10. We run together to 11 but I am in the lead, I make a small parallel error into 12 and lose 20 secs by diving off the spur the wrong way. With Carsten and Novikov disappearing into the distance I put my foot down for number 13 and proceed to banana the control proper style. Slightly off on my direction and end up hitting the path. Not a disaster and lose about 15 seconds, but they are away. 14 I put my head down, and follow my compass north ignoring all the contour detail. The plan is to leg it to the field and relocate there. As I come out into the field I see C and N again in the distance. Spike the control with a nice line in, and as I leave 14 (I havent really finalised a route choice for 15) I see them not too far ahead running towards the lake. That swings it for me and I leg it to catch up with them. Have picked up Rob Baker by this point too and we catch C and N and a Finn on a different gaffle. Control is easy. 16 is slightly messy with paths all over the place and people running everywhere. Am slightly wobbly but no real time loss. Run hard into the finish in a line of people. 4 of the last 5 legs I have top 5 splits for my gaffle.

Have to admit that after I was caught 6 mins I thought my chances of qualifying were slim, but I ran a good race after that and when I finished I was 3rd or 4th on my heat. I ended up in 11th. Not a great race, lost maybe 5 minutes which in retrospect was just about ok. Was running at good pace and orienteering well for most of it - better than in the races so far this week maybe. I certainly wasn't rushing so much and my mistakes were genuine misunderstandings of the map or running slightly off my line rather than rushing things.

Results here

Splits here

Middle final

I think this photo sums up the day

Some general disappointment in the British camp. Jamie, after his medal on Sunday, came into the race with a lot of confidence and expectation, but lost 2 minutes at the first control. Oli, Mr Middle Distance, ran a reasonably clean race but lost time after the spectator control by crossing the wrong track and doing a quick loop in the wrong block of forest.

The girls were all scrappy, and with Rachel still suffering from hayfever, the results reflected that - not awful, but not as good as we would have liked.

I was pleased with my run - only 3 and a half mins down on Thierry, but down in only 35th place. I ran strongly, made a couple of mistakes, and would have expected to be slightly higher which is indicative of how strong the competition in these European Champs really is.

Still, some World Cup points in the bag which is more than can be said for the sprint (top 40 get points).

Results here
Splits here

Race Analysis

Started quickly and just lost direction crossing the marsh just before the control. Hit the left side of the marsh and just followed it round. Nothing disastrous, maybe lost 10-15 secs. Hit two nicely, get slightly confused on 3 crossing the spur and small hills - the green doesnt quite seem to fit but I look round and see the control so OK. Spike 4 and 5, get slightly confused by the green / semi-open area on the way to 6 and get pushed slightly left but recover and hit the control nicely. Come out of six slightly too far left and find myself in the marsh but no big problem, correct myself and cross the small hill into the control. Hit 8 perfectly and leave the control towards 9. Never really get my direction right on this leg, end up straying down the hill and being able to see the lake. Don't panic, but keep running trying to get direction. Probably still running off line but pick up path and then relocate at junction. Control is easy from there. Lost maybe 1min 20secs. 10 is fine, although it seems further than is shown. This might be because I have slowed down to look at the next leg. Pick the obvious straightish route as no path routes jump out. Try to run the leg hard but lose concentration slightly and end up running to the right of the hill instead of to the left. Thats fine, and go into the control well but get distracted by a multitude of photographers in front of and around the control. I know I am right because they are there, but I can't see it at first and panic slightly, but regain control and find the control behind them. Easy legs in and out of the spectator control. 14 is fine, 15 I am really happy with, read everything on the leg and ran quickly. 16 was really good too. 17 I hesitate about the route choice, but settle for the easy option. Fearing I might miss the open area I head to the right, but I needent have bothered as it is really obvious. Spike this control and sprint into the finish arena.

A reasonably good race, small wobbles at 1,3 and 11 and a mistake at9. Time loss between 1 1/2 and 2 mins.

Rest day tomorrow with the long and relay model.

Middle Qualifier

Qualifying race for the middle distance today. Ran a reasonably good race, a small mistake at number 3 (30 secs) and a small mistake at number 8 (15 secs). Lost a little time on number 13, but ran the rest fairly cleanly and quickly. Happy with my race and especially with how i dealt with the little wobbles.

Oli, Jamie, Jenny, Claire and Rachael also qualified. Helen didnt run as she has a cold. Pippa and JD just missed out and Rob and Craney were a little further down. Craney didn't feel too good and made a couple of big mistakes.

Results here
Splits here