2007 Archive

Yesterday the 2007 World Orienteering Championships kicked off with the qualification for the sprint distance.  Today the long distance endurance athletes had their chance to prove themselves worthy of a spot in the final to be raced on Thursday.  Luckily the morning saw some overcast weather to keep temperatures in the mild 20’s, and competitors will appreciate being able to conserve as much energy as possible for the final races starting later in the week.

The Long qualification area “Pidgirtsi” was a perfect test for the competitors, as they will face similar terrain in the final.  Steep gully systems falling off plateaus and a large track network are typical of this physically testing terrain.

It was a disappointing day for the Aussie men, with both David Shepherd and Reuben Smith unable to qualify.  Shepherd was just squeezed out by 4 seconds in a very competitive heat won by the Swiss star Matthias Merz.  Reuben Smith missed out on qualifying in heat C which was won by the young Frenchmen Philippe Adamski, showing the current depth of quality in the French men’s team. Marc Lauenstein, multiple long distance podium runner, showed he is a real threat for the win in 2007 by winning heat A.

The Australian women continued to show their strength with Anna Sheldon and Hanny Allston both qualifying well.  Anna Sheldon was impressive in taking 6th place in heat C, a fantastic run and showing her real potential after missing out yesterday in the sprint qualification.  Hanny Allston did not have her best run but was still able to qualify in 10th place.  Kathryn Ewels was unable to keep up her form from the sprint distance and missed qualification in a heat full of talent, won by Simone Niggli almost 3 minutes ahead of Finland’s Minna Kauppi.

Results

Men’s Heats – 8.9 km

Bracket equals time ahead (+) or behind (-) the last qualifier.

Women’s Heats – 5.8-5.9km

The top 15 in each heat qualify for the final to be held on Thursday 23^rd.

For more personal appraisals of the day be sure to check out the Australian Team Blog

The 2007 World Orienteering Championships got under way today with the qualification heats of the Sprint Distance in Kiev, Ukraine. With forecasted temperatures over 30 degrees, and a trip for the Australian teams involving two metros and a bus ride, the day was going to provide some interesting challenges.

The area “Golosiivo” provided a combination of park and forest including some built-up areas and was hoped to provide the ideal start to a successful championship for the Australian team, not least for our reigning world champion in this discipline, Hanny Allston.

In the men, Julian Dent qualified comfortably in Heat C which was won resoundingly by superstar Thierry Gueorgiou with a massive 23 seconds margin. The other crowd pleasing result of the day was local star Yurii Omelchenko winning his heat despite some ageing legs. Troy de Haas and Rob Walter both narrowly missed qualification. The last qualifier in Heat B (ahead of Rob) was Ross Morrison of New Zealand.

Hanny Allston showed she is not far from the class that brought her success last year, qualifying a very strong 3^rd place in heat B. The stand-out female in the qualifications was Ingunn Hultgreen Weltzien from Norway, winner of heat A with a massive margin of 35 seconds. Simone Niggli, perhaps Hanny’s main competition, won heat C. Grace Elson and Kathryn Ewels both qualified comfortably in their heats providing 3 Australian runners in the final for next Sunday. Anna Sheldon had difficulty at the end of the course and did not qualify.

Results

Men’s Heats – 2.9 km

Bracket equals time ahead (+) or behind (-) the last qualifier.

Women’s Heats – 2.3km

The top 15 in each heat qualify for the final being held over a week away, on Sunday 26^th.

For more personal appraisals of the day be sure to check out the Australian Team Blog.

The 2007 World Championships starts tomorrow with the sprint qualifying race in Kiev. Australia has 4 starters in the women’s race, with Hanny Allston granted an automatic start as she defends the world title she won last year. Anna Sheldon, Grace Elson and Kathryn Ewels will also start, while Rob Walter, Troy de Haas and Julian Dent start the men’s race.

The organisers are promising warm weather for the start of the week, with temperatures in the mid-30’s forecast.

More info on the team blog.

The 2007 Oceania Carnival based in Canberra in October will see the New Zealand Pinestars battle with the Australian Bushrangers for the Key/Aspin Trophy. The Pinestars were victorious in the first series at the Waitangi Weekend in New Zealand in February. The Bushrangers are Australia’s Development Team, with emphasis based on giving athletes valuable experience in quality competition and team environments.

The Bushrangers Team (and the races they will contest) is:
Women:
Vanessa Round (all)
Jasmine Neve (all)
Tracy Bluett (all)
Briohny Davey (sprint, middle, long)

Men:
Kerrin Rattray (all)
Reuben Smith (all)
Simon Uppill (sprint, long, relay)
Chris Naunton (sprint, middle, long)
Ryan Smyth (sprint, middle, long)
Julian Dent (middle)

The New Zealand Pinestars team is:
Women:
Jenni Adams
Penny Kane
Lise Moen
Lara Prince

Men:
James Bradshaw
Greg Flynn
Neil Kerrison
Ross Morrison
Jamie Stewart

The test match will take place at the Oceania Middle, Sprint, Long and Relay Championships.

Australian team members performed well in WOC warm-up races conducted in Kiev over the weekend.

In the sprint, Troy de Haas and Julian Dent were first and second (M21Е), and Julian was second in the middle distance race. Hanny Allston was 4th in both the middle distance and sprint races; Kathryn Ewels was 7th and 8th respectively in the middle and sprint (W21Е).

WOC starts on 18th August — keep up to date with the Team Blog.

Australia has managed to place 15th in the men’s relay held today in misty conditions at Hotel Ski.

Paul Darvoldelsky, David Simpfendorfer and Alex Randall were 17th across the line but were placed 15th officially in a time of 155 minutes.  France won in a time of 131 minutes with the Czech men only 30 seconds behind and Denmark rounding out the top 3.

The second Australian team crossed the line in 26th place in a time of 176 minutes.  All rode reasonably well and enjoyed the course set.

The women’s relay was won by Finland in a time of 114 minutes, Russia was second nearly four mins behind and Austria took out 3rd place.

Results

Splits (men): leg 1, leg 2, leg 3

Weather conditions this morning turned out to be different to previous days with mist being the order of the day but the rain held off for the competition.

Alex Randall placed an extremely good 18^th overall (96.57) in the 35 Km A final after losing 4 minutes on an early control which saw him placed in the forties at that stage.  Russia’s Ruslan Gritsan won in a time of 86:48 followed by Denmark’s Lasse Brun Pedersen, with local favorite Jaroslav Rygl placing third.  Torbjoern Gasbjerg of Denmark rode the third fastest time but unfortunately left the start 1 minute late and was relegated to 6^th on appeal.

Paul Darvodelsky navigated really well again to place 33^rd with a time of 102 minutes, while David Simpfendorfer had a disappointing ride to finish 53^rd in 115 minutes.  New Zealand’s Michal Glowacki placed 44^th in 107 minutes. The winning times for this long event was short by some 20 minutes.

In the Women’s 29 Km race, Thorlene Egerton in her first WOC rode a strong race to place 33^rdin a time 110 minutes.  The consistent Michaela Gigon (Austria)  took her first gold of the carnival with a time of 92 minutes, 2 minutes ahead of Ksenia Chernkyh (Russia) who obtained her 3^rd individual medal, followed by Christine Schaffner (Switzerland).

The men’s B final, the same as the women’s course was won in a time of 80 minutes.  Tony Clark placed 10^th with a consistent ride in a time of 91 minutes and David Wood was 13^th in 93 minutes.  David assisted an injured competitor on the course thus losing some time.

Tomorrows men’s relay has 32 teams and Australian teams and running order are:

Paul Darvodelsky

David Simpfendorfer

Alex Randall

Tony Clark

David Wood

Thorlene Egerton

Results

Splits

Wednesday’s forecast for the long distance qualifiers suggested rain was a possibility, with local thunderstorms.  Decisions were being made whether to take mud tyres or stay with tyres currently being used for the dry forest.  All of the Australian riders chose to use dry tyres, which proved to be a good call as the afternoon’s event was dry.

The Australian riders thought that the area was certainly harder than previous days, with a lot more route choice, and also hiller.

In the women’s race there were two heats of 30. Thorlene Egerton placed 13^th in heat A with 58 qualifying for the A final.

The men’s field had three heats and the top 20 from each qualified for the A final, which included Alex Randall (6^th), Paul Darvodelsky (13^th) and David Simfendorfer (15^th). David Wood (26^th) was in a very competitive heat and navigated well but made a few doubtful route choices. Tony Clark placed 31^st in his heat, with his excellent ride being spoilt by one large 10min mistake in a large area of indistinct tracks.

Tommorow is a rest day before the long distance final on Friday with the men riding 39Km and the women 28Km

Results  Splits

Tuesday was  a typically hot day for the Czech Republic and the MTBO WOC middle distance race.  In the village of Zubri, not far from Nove Mesto, the forest was a maze of fast forest roads and tracks and very small, indistinct and bumpy forest working tracks.

Great Results for Australia with 2 men in the top 25, Paul Darvodelsky placed 18^th just 5 and a half min behind the winner and David Simpfendorfer to place 25^th in 56.27min.  David Wood riding his first WOC event  had a pretty pleasing ride for 56^th place.  Tony Clarke lost a few minutes on one control but was pretty happy with his 61^st place.  Alex Randall blew 6min on the first control but did some quick splits on the later part of the course to finish 63^rd place of the 110 starters.  Mika Tervala (Finland) had a resounding 2 min win in 50.21min, with Jeremie Gillmann (France) 2^ndin 52.44 and local favorite Lubomir Tomecek (Czech) was 3^rd in 52.46.

Thorlene Egerton had a mistake free ride to place 37^th in 59.09min and is looking forward to a good qualification race tomorrow.  The Russian girl Ksenia Chernykh repeated her win from the sprint with a time of 46.45min.  Second was Hana Bajtosoba from slovakia in 47.39 and a Czech girl placed third, Marketa Jiraskova in 47.41.

Results

Women & Men 

Splits For Women

Splits for Men

Tuesday was an atypically hot day for the Czech Republic and the MTBO WOC middle distance race.  In the village of Zubri, not far from Nove Mesto, the forest was a maze of fast forest roads and tracks and very small, indistinct and bumpy forest working tracks.

Paul Darvodelsky, the last of the Australians to start, rode strongly over the 18 km course and was in 11th place at the first radio point.  Paul rode with very few errors and only lost significant time in the final part of the course when his pedal broke.  He finished the course pedalling with one leg and finally, on the rough small tracks near the finish, running.  Despite losing around one minute, and a tilt at the podium, he managed to hold on to 18th place.

Full report and results to follow.