2009 Archive

This afternoon, the tranquil surroundings of the Miskolc Zoo turned into an exhilerating orienteering sprint championships arena. Participants in the Hungaria Cup flocked in great numbers from their own, midday sprint event in down-town Miskolc to the sunny, zoo parklands to gain the best vantage point to watch the excitment of the Men’s and Women’s Sprint Final unfold.

Commencing with the men’s event, the Australian supporters warmed up by cheering on Chris Forne and Ross Morrison from New Zealand who both qualified in top 10 positions in their heats. The Men’s Final was won by the Russian, Andrey Khramov who has been dominant in sprint events in 2009. Swiss men Fabian Hertner and Daniel Hubmann took second and third placings.

But with temperatures still close to 30C at 5.30pm, Australia’s hopes rested solely on the shoulders of Kathryn Ewels, the 20th starter in the women’s final. And what a performance!

Kathryn had Russian competitors starting immediately before and after her. “A Russian sandwich,” was the description given by team coach/manager Rob Lewis of Kathryn’s start position. At the first television checkpoint, the excitement began to build as race commentary announced, “Kathryn Ewels is the new second best time!” Kathryn had caught Galina Vinogradova who had started 1 minute ahead of her. The Russian orienteer had placed 4th in the WOC Sprint in 2008 so Kathryn was indeed running well.

By the first spectator control, Kathryn was holding 3rd place, but as only the 20th starter from a field of 45, many top quality runners were yet to finish. The split timing results show an amazing performance in the second half of  Kathryn’s race, with an incredible burst of speed from the 11th control through to the finish, which secured her 5th placing.

Click “play” above for audio of Kathryn discussing her race.

Competition continues tomorrow with the Australian Women’s team vying for medals in the Relay event.  Australia looks a strong chance, with Ewels, Crane and Allston already achieving outstanding results in the competition. Jump on the blog and send your congratulations and support now!

Sprint Final Results:
Women
1. Helena Jansson (SWE) 15:07
2. Linnea Gustafsson (SWE) 15:49
3. Simone Niggli (SUI) 15:54
4. Signe Soes (DEN) 15:58
5. Kathryn Ewels (AUS) 16:00
6. Anni-Maija Fincke (FIN) 16:01

Men
1. Andrey Khramov (RUS) 15:10
2. Fabian Hertner (SUI) 15:36
3. Daniel Hubmann (SUI) 15:38
20. Chris Forne   (NZL) 16.42
30. Ross Morrison (NZL) 17.15

[Photos: Lance Read, Peter Hobbs, Mat McGuire. Thanks Mat for help with the audio file.]

In the men’s race, the early leading teams of Russia and France were slowly pegged back in the third and final leg by Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Mistakes from the third leg runners and current World Champions Andrey Krahmov (RUS – Sprint) and Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA – Middle) allowed Sweden’s Martin Johansson to take the lead by the 5th control. Watching the radio controls and live GPS tracking, the commentators kept the hushed crowd up to date with the runners’ mistakes and the ever changing lead between Sweden, Norway, France, Czech Republic and Russia.

At the final spectator control, with only a short loop remaining before the finish and completely ‘out of the blue’, Matthias Merz from Switzerland blasted out of the forest almost 2 minutes ahead of the Russian runner followed by Finland and Latvia. Race commentary was astounded! “Where is Norway, Sweden and France? A huge mistake perhaps? I have never ever seen anything like this before.”

But worse than a misktake, the Swedish runner had been badly injured with a large branch embedded in his leg. The French, Czech and Norwegian men abandoned their course (and any hope of a medal) by stopping to assist the Swede who was in great pain and in danger with serious bleeding.  The Norwegian ran back to the event arena to inform officials who dispatched a medical team to the forest where the other men were assisting Martin Johansson.

In an amazing display of sportmanship, Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA), Michal Smola (CZE) and Anders Nordberg (NOR) completed the remainder of their course, jogging up the finish chute together to the tremendous applause of the crowd of spectators, competitors and officials.

Heartbreak and disappointment again for the French (Thierry Gueorgiou was evacuated by helicopter from last year’s WOC relay race after developing breathing difficulties having swallowed a bee), and as well as for Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Yet jubilation for Switzerland becoming the new Men’s World Orienteering Relay Champions!

A special ceremony took place before the medal presentations where the IOF President acknowledged the sacrifice and sportsmanship displayed by the three men who stopped to help the injured runner. The crowd gave a standing ovation, applauding the men for many minutes. Johansson was reported to be recovering well in hospital. (Below L-R Anders Nordberg, Thierry Gueorgiou, Michal Smola).

Men’s Results:
1. Switzerland 2:22:48
1.1 Baptiste Rollier 36:37
1.2 Daniel Hubmann 54:18
1.3 Matthias Merz 51.53

2. Russia 2:25:12
2.1 Dmitry Tsvetkov 34:54
2.2 Valentin Novikov 52:24
2.3 Andrey Khramov 57:54

3. Finland 2:25:14
3.1 Topi Anjala 36:03
3.2 Tero Fohr 54:52
3.3 Mats Haldin 54:19

4.Latvia 2:25:18
5.Hungary 2:29:16
6.Poland 2:30:20

25. France 3:01:35
26. Norway 3:01:36
27. Czech Rep. 3:01:36

Well it’s another warm and sunny morning in Miskolc, and a fantastic sprint event arena has been set up at the local zoo. The men’s sprint qualification is already underway with the women’s qualification commencing in less than half an hour.

The terrain for the sprint consists of gently sloping hills up to 50m height with intricate land forms in places (erosion).The vegetation is 80% forested (mainly beech) and 20% park terrain. The final also includes built-up areas (forest zoo – 30%). Almost no undergrowth, mostly dry underfoot with runnability generally  very good. There is a developed network of paths and tracks, of which 10% (qualification)- 30% (final) is paved.

Here’s a look at the sprint model map.

With fast and furious action, watch out for the 3 Australian girls, Hanny Allston starting at 10.05, Shannon Jones 10.15 and Kathryn Ewels 10.23. The expected winning time for the women is 14 minutes. Average course length is 2.5km, 17 controls and 115 climb. Gauging from the men’s race, it’s pretty much a steep, bush sprint – very fast underfoot with good visibility. Go girls!

A morning of mixed results for the Australian team as only one of three women qualified for the World Orienteering Sprint Distance final. Kathryn Ewels displayed her current strong running form placing 9th in her heat, 2m15secs behind the heat winner, Helena Jansson (SWE).

Competing at her first WOC, Shannon Jones ran very well in the first part of the race, making only a few hesitations. But one error on a control in thick vegetation towards the end of her race has, disappointingly for Shannon, seen her qualify in 16th place, one spot out of the finals.

Hanny began her race confidently, running fast and remaining focused, but some hesitations and loss of confidence in the green caused problems for her on the course. She pushed hard all the way through to the finish, showing her running strength and speed. Clearly disappointed at not qualifying for the Sprint, Hanny remains very composed and positive for the relay and long final later in the week.

Hanny Allston Chosen to Read the Athletes’ Oath at World Orienteering Championships.

A proud moment for both Hanny Allston and the Australian Orienteering team as she was invited to read the Athletes’ Oath during the official opening of the 26th World Orienteering Championships in Miskolc, Hungary.

The competition at WOC now intensifies with the first of the finals being contested today, Wednesday 19 August. In the Middle Distance Final, Australia is represented by Grace Crane (nee Elson) and Hanny Allston who both qualified in 11th place in their heats. Both women start mid field with Hanny at 9.52am and Grace at 9.56am (local time). The women’s race commences at 9.30am followed by the men’s final at 11.15am.

Grace and Hanny’s course will be 5.34km long with an expected winning time of 35 minutes. Course notes describe the terrain as moderately steep to steep hills up to 60m in height with some negative land forms. Many point features (lime burning places, charcoal burning places, pits, knolls), many stones and rocky areas.

Some of the major challenges for competitors will come from route choice legs through vegetation varying the runnability and visibilty from very good to very difficult. There is a developed network of paths and forest roads presenting various route options.

Highlights from today’s Opening Ceremony are best viewed by visiting the Australian Team Blog where there are heaps of new pictures to view.  The girls are looking forward to your words of support and encouragement. There are also many official photographs on the WOC Live site

Australia’s WOC campaign got off to a flying start in Hungary today with the first of the finals: the Middle Distance held in Bankut. Australia had two qualifiers: former World Champion Hanny Allston and the recently married Grace Crane (many Australians will know her as Elson) – and both placed in the top 20.

Crane ran a consistent race, and was sitting in the top 20 for the entire race, finishing in 42:12, just over 5 minutes behind the Czech winner, Dana Brozkova. It’s  the second year in a row that Crane has finished in the top 16 of a Middle Distance final – this year she improved by 1 place to grab 15th.

Allston, on the other hand, went out like a shot and looked a realistic chance for another WOC medal at the half-way point. But mistakes in the second half took their toll, and Allston finished in a solid 18th place.

Womens Results
1. Dana Brozkova (CZE)     37:09
2. Marianne Andersen (NOR) 37:19
3. Simone Niggli (SUI)    37:58
15. Grace Crane (AUS)     42:12
18. Hanny Allston (AUS)    43:01

Mens Results
1. Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA)  37:14
2. Daniel Hubmann (SUI)   37:43
3. Matthias Merz (SUI)      38:10

Stay tuned for a full report from Foreign Correspondent Wendy Read later tonight.

Strong performances indeed from Grace Crane (15th) and Hanny Allston (18th) today in the World Middle Distance Orienteering Championships final. For some time the Australian girls held first and second place on the results board, causing excitement and anxiousness amongst the team, Aussie supporters and especially the commentator.

but as she said, ‘lost her head’ to lose time in the latter part of the course.

Grace explained during her post race interview that she the had virtually a clean run, pushing hard through the thick and scrappy vegetation to accurately locate the controls.

Bettering her 2008 WOC Middle Distance result of 16th, Grace was extremely pleased with her performance (not to mention her proud parents Bert and Jan).

The team now spends the afternoon preparing for tomorrow’s Sprint Distance qualification and final races, where Shannon Jones will make her debut for the team.

[Photos: Lance Read & Peter Hobbs]

Women’s results
1. Dana Brozkova (CZE)     37:09
2. Marianne Andersen (NOR) 37:19
3. Simone Niggli (SUI)    37:58
15. Grace Crane (AUS)     42:12
18. Hanny Allston (AUS)    43:01

Men’s results
1. Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA)  37:14
2. Daniel Hubmann (SUI)   37:43
3. Matthias Merz (SUI)      38:10

As one of the first starters, Grace had to endure the nailbiting wait until most runners  had completed their course. As she predicted, the 2 minute error made at the second last control made the difference of qualifying or not, eventually placing 17th in her heat.

Hanny described the 6.8km course as steep with many challenges from the course setters. But like a lot of the experienced, elite women who will contest all disciplines during their WOC campaign, she conserved energy where she could. Hanny had a pretty clean run, very content with her heat placing of 5th.

With an identical placing of 5th in her qualifying race, Kathryn Ewels stormed home to ensure a position in the long final. Kathryn said she would have simply been satisfied to make the final, so she was very pleased to have done so with such a high quality run. She took a safe but longer route to the first control, then steadily increased her pace throughout the course.

Split times show both Kathryn and Hanny with a number of 2nd, 3rd an even one fastest split on the course.  Kathryn also showed Simone Niggli some of her running speed, overtaking her in the finish shute and running strongly right to the finish banner!

Today was also the first day of the Hungaria Cup, in which most of the small but enthusiastic group of Australian cheer squad are participating. More about the Hungaria Cup tomorrow.

The girls would love to get some feedback on their blog, so let them know you’re cheering them on by posting a comment or two.

Kathryn Ewels and Hanny Allston have both finished 5th and qualified for the Long Distance Final in Miskolc, Hungary. Hanny has now qualified for both the Middle and Long finals whilst Kathryn was running her first race for the championships.

Grace Crane was 17th and just missed the top 15 after dropping some time in the final section of the course. Grace qualified for the Middle Final yesterday and will now split her focus between the middle and the relay.

WOC 2009 now takes a rest day for the Official Opening Ceremony. The Middle final will see the first medals won on Wednesday followed by both the qualification and final of the sprint on Thursday.

The results can be found at the WOC live site and dont forget to check out the Team Blog

OA’s foreign correspondent extradionaire, Wendy Read, is sure to give a great insight into the finer details of today’s race

Today Kathryn Ewels, Hanny Alston and Grace Crane compete for a place in the long final. Using similar terrain to the middle qualification but with more green areas and a more developed network of paths and forest roads, it is anticipated that the fastest qualifiers will cover their 6.6km course in about 43 minutes. Start times are as follows:

Grace Crane 09:01 (was last starter in the MQ and is first starter in the LQ!)
Hanny Allston 09:17
Kathryn Ewels 09:39

During the training camp, Grace took the opportunity to head north into Slovakia to familiarise herself with the unique limestone terrain which will feature predominantly in the long final (Sun 23 Aug), where large sinkholes form negative contour features sometimes 20-30m deep. This will be quite different to today’s qualifying area, where only some small negative features may be encountered.

Check out the pictures showing Grace at the bottom of one of these sink holes located enroute from the start triangle to #1.