JWOC 2015-Aussie Teams Preparation
The Australian JWOC Team has spent the last week preparing in Norway for the Junior World Orienteering Championships that will start in Amot, Norway on Sunday. They have been doing some race preparations in the similar terrains whilst enjoying the beautiful warm sunny weather and some spectacular views.
The Australian team is being coached by Hanny Allston and the manger is Karen Blatchford. The team has 6 athletes who will competing at their first JWOC- Hannah Goddard, Winnie Oakhill, Simeon Burrill, Aidan Dawson, Patrick Jaffe and Jarrah Day. The experienced members of the team competing in their third JWOC are Nicola Blatchford, Lanita Steer and Matt Doyle. The other team members Anna Dowling, Olivia Sprod and Henry McNulty will be competing at their second JWOC.
All team members compete in all the events with two relay teams in both the men and the women relay. In the middle distance event the top 20 from each qualifying heat compete in the A final and the rest in the B and C finals.
The program for the events is
Sunday 5th June, Sprint Distance, Amot (First Start 7:00pm EST)
Monday 6th June, Middle Distance Qualification Rauland (First Start 7:30pmEST)
Tuesday 7th July, Middle Distance Final, Rauland (First Start 8:00pmEST)
Thursday 9th July, Long Distance, Rauland (First Start 5:00pm EST)
Friday 10th July, Relay, Rauland (Men 5:00pm and Women 6:10pm EST)
Almost 300 athletes from 37 nations will be competing in these Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Norway throughout the coming week. All competitions apart from the Sprint will be held in forested terrain at altitudes between 700 and 1100 m.
The town of Rauland, south-west of Rjukan, is the Event Centre and all races apart from the Sprint will be held close by. The area is characterised by pine and birch forest with many large and small marshes and varied contour detail. The Relay especially will change from relatively bare land to finely detailed sections, with very varied steepness. Runnability and visibility are generally good, although there are some blocks of land with undergrowth that will slow runners down. A bit of the area has a network of alpine ski tracks.
The Sprint will use urban and park terrain in the nearby town of Åmot.
At the time of posting this article there is no indication that there will be any live results from the events. However, daily reports will be posted on this website which will include results and comments from the team about each race.
From all of us in Australia we wish the team the best for the week and we hope that your experiences in what looks like challenging terrain are positive and that you enjoy them. Stay calm, positive and focused.
Nick Dent
OA Head Coach