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Ida Bobach ran a superb race to take gold in the Long race in Glen Affric today, with a winning margin of well over two minutes – Denmark’s fourth gold medal of the week. Mari Fasting of Norway took silver, her first individual World Championship medal, while last year’s champion Svetlana Mironova of Russia took bronze. This completed a magnificent performance from the Danish women, who won four out of the five gold medals decided.

In the men’s race France’s Thierry Gueorgiou put in a strong performance to take his third consecutive Long title. Daniel Hubmann of Switzerland took silver and Olav Lundanes of Norway bronze, with each of the three medalists winning the same medal they won last year. The great Frenchman has now won the last three WOC long distance events to add to his seven gold medals from WOC middle distance events.

Hanny Allston was by far the best performed Australian finishing in a very good 10^th place in a time of 81:47 (6:12 minutes down). Hanny lost nearly 5 minutes against the winner on the three longer legs in the race- controls 5, 9 and 12. Laurina Neumann competing in her first WOC was in 47^th place and Vanessa Round was in 50^th place. Both Laurina and Vanessa lost large amount of time on a long leg- Laurina on control 12 and Vanessa on control 9.

In the men’s race Simon Uppill who was not feeling well during the race finished in 50^th place and Bryan Keely was in 52^nd place. Bryan had a steady run, not having any red controls.

This concludes WOC 2015 and in terms of the future there are two things which flow on from this week.

One is that unfortunately the Australian men will only have one spot in 2016 at WOC in Sweden in the middle and the long distance events as they have been demoted to Division 3. The points to determine this are based on the team’s performance in both 2015 and 2014 in the middle, the long and the relay.

The second is that at Extraordinary General Assembly meeting on Thursday the IOF has voted to split WOC into a “Sprint” WOC and a “Bush” WOC. No details of the exact format of the events has been decided nor has there been any decision about having qualification races or some other method of determining how many runners each country can have. I guess we just have to wait for this detail as the decision looks like it will be made this time next year. Much discussion to be had no doubt in many countries about the implications of this decision.

Yesterday at the same arena as the middle distance on Tuesday the WOC relay’s were held with the start for both races being right in front of Darnaway Castle.

The Danish team of Maja Alm, Ida Bobach and Emma Klingenberg dominated from start to finish today to claim Denmark’s first women’s Relay title. There was a thrilling battle for the other medals, with Norway taking silver just ahead of Sweden, who took bronze. Maja Alm set up a comfortable lead right from the first control on the first leg, continuing her superb form this week which has now earnt Maja 3 gold medals.

In the men’s Relay a strong Swiss team of Fabian Hertner, Daniel Hubmann and Matthias Kyburz led throughout to take gold. Again the other medal positions were closely fought, with Magne Dæhli running a superb last lap to take Norway’s second silver medal of the day, while a young French team – running without Thierry Gueorgiou for the first time since 1995 – claimed bronze. The British men ran well to finish fourth in front of a vocal home crowd.

Men’s Relay Analysis-World Of O

The Australian women’s team finished in 18^th place. Laurina Neumann ran the first leg and she was placed 23^rd on this leg. Hanny Allston picked up some places on the second leg and was 7^th fastest on her leg. Anna Sheldon was placed 21^st on her third leg.

Anna- 3rd leg, starting

The Australian men did not have a good day and finished in 25^th place and behind the three countries that we are competing against to avoid relegation back to division three. Simon Uppill ran the first leg and he came in 21^st place (3:51 minutes down). Lachlan Dow was 22^nd on the second leg and Brodie Nankervis running his first WOC relay was 29^th. Unofficial point score (using new rules released yesterday) after the relays has Australia 4 points in front of Belarus and a clear 98 points in front of Ireland. Two countries will be demoted to Division three for WOC 2016.

So the final event at this WOC will be the Long Distance event at Glen Affric. The forest is a mix of pine, birch and oak, with steep slopes, complex contour detail, and few paths.

Glen Affric is classic Scottish orienteering terrain, and hosted the Long race the last time the World Championships were in Scotland in 1999. The Long race will test athletes’ physical endurance. The navigational emphasis is on choosing the right route, often with distances of one or two kilometres between controls. Athletes might have to choose between going over or round a big hill or steep-sided valley, meaning that they need to pick the route that plays to their strengths.

Australian runners start times are:

Women-Hanny Allston 12:46,Laurina Neumann 10:49 and Vanessa Round 11:37.

Men-Bryan Keely 11:15 and Simon Uppill 11:45.

Photos:Paul Prudhoe, Robin Uppill.

WOC Middle at Darnaway.

Today in a beautiful setting the WOC Middle was held. The arena was on a sloping grass area directly in front of the Darnaway Castle owned by the Earl of Moray who was present as a boy in 1976 when the World Orienteering Championships were first held in Scotland. Also the weather was mostly sunny and not to cool with only one small shower of rain. The competition was very exciting especially in the men and Per Forsberg the commentator had to compensate for the lack of any big screen towards the end of the men’s race.

On a day when many of the favourites made mistakes among the tricky moraine of Darnaway, reigning world champion Annika Billstam ran a superb race to retain her Middle title in style. Merja Rantanen of Finland was second and Emma Johansson, also of Sweden, was third.

The men’s race was incredibly close, with just 46 seconds separating the top seven. Daniel Hubmann was triumphant, collecting a Middle gold medal to go with the Sprint, Long and Relay golds he has won in the past. There was a surprise silver medal for Lucas Basset, who ran an excellent race to finish only three seconds down, with Olle Boström of Sweden taking the bronze.

In the women’s race Hanny Allston finished in a respectable 21^st place  loosing close to four minutes on controls 1 and 2. Hanny finished very strongly and from the second TV control (16) to the finish she picked up 8 places. Anna Sheldon finished in 54^th place having been losing time against the winner steadily throughout the race.

In the men’s race Simon Uppill who had a very steady race finished in 35^th place but he was only 4:44 minutes down on the winner in what was a very close race. He was always around 35^th place and he finished strongly to maintain this position. Lachlan Dow who started very early was the leader on the big screen for some time and eventually finished in 54th place 12:17 minutes down on the winner.

Photos: Paul Prudhoe, Hilary Wood

WOC Sprint Presentation 

This evening the presentations were held for the WOC Sprints and also the WOC Sprint Relay. The highlight for the small number of Australians present along with the rest of the Australian WOC team was to see Hanny Allston on the podium for the Women’s Sprint. A beautiful sunny afternoon at the WOC Event Centre saw Hanny receive her certificate and flowers for her excellent 5^th place. It was great to see Hanny again on the podium at WOC.

Middle Distance

Tomorrow we have the Middle Distance event at the Darnaway Forest next to Darnaway Castle. The arena will be across the road from the castle and will also be the arena for the relay on Wednesday.

Darnaway is an area of former glacial moraine, with numerous small hills and depressions making for tricky navigation.

The forest has a mixture of woodland types: open pine wood with ground cover of heather and dwarf shrub, denser pine and areas of broadleaves, especially beech. Both runnability and visibility will vary throughout the courses.

It is anticipated that the middle will be in the southern section of the map and the relay in the north western section.

The distance for the women’s event is 5.3km and for the men is 6.2km. The expected winning time for both events is 33 minutes.

The Australian start times are

Anna Sheldon 12:48

Hanny Allston 13:30

Lachlan Dow 14:33

Simon Uppill 15:18

Photo courtesy of Hilary Wood

Oi Oi- Hanny 5^th in Sprint Final at WOC 2015

“Every picture tells a story”

In an even more exciting Sprint Final today than yesterday’s Sprint Relay Hanny Allston ran herself into a brilliant 5^th place in the women’s sprint final. Hanny who was the WOC Sprint Champion in 2006 at the age of 20 again returned to the podium at the World Championships. A fantastic result from Hanny who has backed up from the sprint relay yesterday to demonstrate her strength in today’s fairly open and fast sprint final. Hanny was in 11^th place at control 6 and by control 14 for which she had the fastest split she was in 5^th place. The remainder of the course was in the open area and her strength meant that she finished much faster than other runners. At the finish Hanny was only .2 second from 4^th and she was .4 second in front of Minna Kauppi who was in front of Hanny all through the course except at the finish. The timing at the start and finish meant that the official results are to the nearest 10^th of a second.

Rachel Effeney, the other Australian in the sprint final, started very fast being fastest on control 2 and 4, eventually finishing in 31^st place .8 second in front of Lizzie Ingham from New Zealand.

The winner of the women’s race was Maja Alm from Denmark who continued her excellent form from yesterday to be a clear winner by almost 40 seconds. In the men’s race the gap between 1st and 10^th was only 14.7 seconds. Sweden had a better day today with Jonas Leandersson winning by 1.9 seconds and Jerker Lysell in 3^rd place. With SI Air being used today and in all events at WOC the punching technique that the orienteers are using was crucial today particularly in the men’s event.

MENs Top Ten

Tomorrow is a well earned rest day with the middle distance to be held on Tuesday. Austrlia will be represented in the women by Hanny Allston and Anna Sheldon and in the men by Simon Uppill and Lachlan Dow. The rest of the Aussie’s will compete in Day 2 of the Scottish 6 Day.

Results,maps, GPS tracking etc

Winsplits

Photo’s courtesy of Adrian and Robin Uppill.

Exciting Win to Denmark in Sprint Relay

Today in the small town of Nairn beside the Moray Firth, on a sunny but cold afternoon the WOC Sprint Relay was a very exciting event. The arena was beside the sea in an open grass area with good viewing of the start, the spectator control and the finish.

Denmark led from the start with Emma Klingenberg establishing a lead within the first 400m. She finished the first leg a clear leader and Tue Lassen maintained a 32 second lead on the second leg. Soren Bobach was being chased by Mathias Kyburz (Switzerland) and they came to the finish together after the third leg. Sweden were in third place with Norway and Russia next along with France. Judith Wyder from Switzerland had a small problem with the map change and Maja Alm running the fourth leg for Denmark established a clear break from the rest of the field. She maintained this lead to win the relay for Denmark by a large margin of 1:21. The race for second was very exciting with both Switzerland and then Sweden being passed by Norway and Russia in the last loop of the race. All of this was visible in the arena on the big screen and was accompanied by Per Forsberg’s exciting commentary.

This was a very spectacular event and certainly would have been exciting viewing on live TV. Some purists would probably mention the relative easy navigation, however, there was enough route choice challenges set by the course setter meaning that technical aspects were not totally sidelined in this event.

The Australian team of Rachel Effeney, Simon Uppill, Lachlan Dow and Hanny Allston lacked the speed required to stay in touch with the leaders and finished in 16^th place. Hanny Allston running a strong last leg to be the seventh fastest on the leg and passing four runners to get the team into 16^th place.

Results, map and tracking

Another highlight of the day was the public sprint race held after the WOC Sprint Relay. A couple of thousand orienteers got to run around on the same map as the WOC runners. The only thing missing was the cheering crowd as we ran down the finish but imagination is a wonderful thing.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to the Sprint Final with both Hanny and Rachel in the women’s final. All the older Australians also get to compete in day 1 of the Scottish 6 days.

WOC 2015 Inverness, Scotland.

Preamble

The 2015 World Orienteering Championships get underway on Friday evening (31^st July) and conclude the following Friday (7^th August).

Australia will be represented by it’s largest team for many years as we have qualified to have two runners in the middle distance and the long distance, both men and women. With the unavailability of Julian Dent and Oscar McNulty (injury) there are two men making their WOC debuts- Ian Lawford and Brodie Nankervis. Also in the women’s team we have two sisters, Krystal and Laurina Neumann making their WOC debuts.

Womens Team: Sprint– Hanny Allston, Rachel Effeney, Krystal Neumann

Middle-Hanny Allston, Anna Sheldon

Long– Hanny Allston, Laurina Neumann, Vanessa Round.

Relay– Laurina Neumann, Hanny Allston, Anna Sheldon

Mens Team: Sprint-Bryan Keely, Ian Lawford, Brodie Nankervis

Middle-Lachlan Dow, Simon Uppill.

Long– Bryan Keely, Simon Uppill.

Relay-Simon Uppill, Lachlan Dow, Brodie Nankervis (sorry previous entry incorrect)

Mixed Sprint– Hanny Allston, Rachel Effeney, Lachlan Dow, Simon Uppill

Coaches: Tom Quayle, Wendy Read.

Program

Sprint Qualification: Friday 31^st July (3:00am AEST)

Sprint Relay: Saturday 1^st August (3:05am AEST)

Sprint Final: Sunday 2^nd August (1:51am AEST)

Middle Distance: Tuesday 4^th (8:54pm AEST)

Relay: Wednesday 5^th (11:00pm AEST)

Long Distance: Friday 7^th August (7:00pm AEST)

Terrain Descriptions

The Sprint Qualification and Sprint Final will be staged in the former Royal Burgh of Forres. This small town is renowned for impressive parks and gardens with their floral structures, and these will be appreciated from the main race arena near the centre of town. The competitions will include a range of types of terrain from housing estate with extensive path networks to complex old town with many “vennels” (small lanes and minor roads). There are also several areas of parkland with an extensive path network.

The Sprint Relay will take place in the attractive seaside town of Nairn on the Moray Firth. The competition terrain will include complex old town with areas of parkland and dunes ensuring fast running, together with many options in route choice.

The Middle Distance and Relay will both be staged in Darnaway, seat of the Earls of Moray for many centuries. The current Earl (the WOC 2015 Patron) was present at WOC 1976 in Darnaway, where Men and Women battled out the Long Distance. The race arena will be in sight of Darnaway Castle. This extensive well-managed forest has a mixture of woodland types: open pine wood with ground  cover of heather and dwarf shrub, denser pine and areas of broadleaves, especially beech. There are multi-tiered levels of vegetation, particularly in the beech wood, and both runnability and visibility will vary throughout the courses. The terrain is rolling, with steep slopes above the River Findhorn. There are complex contours due to glacial moraine features. There are some rough open areas (felled a few years ago), some open fields, and a non-linear track network.

The Long Distance will take place in Glen Affric, by common consent the finest of all of Scotland’s glens (valleys). The race arena is set within a few kilometres of the picturesque conservation village of Tomich, allowing access to what the Forestry Commission Scotland describe as “a classic landscape of perfectly-placed lochs, mountains and a wonderful mix of pine, birch and oak trees. The woodland is one the best examples of the Caledonian Forest that once covered much of Scotland. The rich environment is an important haven for wildlife, so the whole glen is protected as a National Nature Reserve”. The terrain is hilly but generally there is good runnability throughout the area. There is localised deep heather, very little bracken and few paths or tracks in the area.

There are 49 countries participating in these World Championships and this includes three countries from Africa- Egypt, Uganda, Cameroon. There are about 80 Australian orienteers competing in the Scottish 6 Days event which is being held in conjunction with WOC.

Live results, commentary and GPS tracking will be available- check WOC website.

WOC 2015 website

Detailed reports and analysis will be provided after each event on this link. As well the World of O will have very detailed reports and analysis after each event.

World of O

From all Australian Orienteers- those in Australia as well as those who will be spectating in Scotland, we wish the team all the best for the events and we will be following your performances with interest.