Interview with Tane Cambridge

Tane Cambridge where in the world are you?

Czech Republic, have just been to a wedding (Czech-Scottish couple who live in Christchurch) now making my way to Germany and then Italy for at Training camp at Jonathon Wyatt's village, near to where WOC is next year

Crazy! So how many countries have you visited in the last 2 months?

4 so far, Finland, Sweden, Colombia, Czech Republic (and 5 if you count Germany which I ran just over the boarder to the other day). 

Looking mean!

So looking forward to the Mountain Running Worlds, how good is your form?

I'm not really sure, I haven't had many races to base my form on in the last two months running wise. At the World Games I was definitely on the weaker side in terms of running speed at that level. I have had plenty of time to recover from then and training feels like its going ok at the moment, apart from a stomach bug which had me up half the night spewing last night. So I guess at this running training camp I will hopefully find out how my fitness compares to the others. That all said i dont think I have got any slower from when I left NZ two months ago, so hopefully that means I have got faster!

It must be quite different focusing completely on your running rather than navigation?

Yep for sure. When there is the maps to think about alot of your spare time is put towards looking over maps, speculating where the courses might go etc etc. Running you know where you are going so you can plan ahead well before the race, so I guess its less like studying for an exam than orienteering. It is refreshing to focus only on running but at the same time it kind of feels like you are missing something in your training.

Although I guess there is still a mental element  in the mountain running, do you think there are similarities/differences to orienteering?

When its a big race whether it be orienteering or running you do go through the race in your head beforehand the same way (like thinking about how you will feel at particular points in the race, what to focus on and when, etc) so in that way its similar. The main difference is that your more focused on the physical side of things when your running- thats what I find one of the best things about Orienteering is that your mind is fully focused on the navigation and you just kind of hope you are running fast enough to be competitive

Tane in Mountain Running mode

What are your expectations for the Mountain Running Worlds; terrain, vibe, experience, results?

Well this year its an up and down course, so 3 laps, 13.8km and 823m climb. Upper altitude is around 1700m, so I expect its going to be tough going. From what I can gather the footing will be basically swept compared to an orienteering course. 

Besides knowing about the terrain its pretty hard to know what to expect. I have never done a big running race overseas so I can just imagine its going to be a fairly fast start and a tough race. 

Results wise I'm also am going in with no expectations, obviously Id like to win but the reality is that I'm not quite fast enough to do that so I would like to complete the race knowing that I had given it my best effort and held nothing back. And what would this correspond to in material terms?... I would like to think somewhere around 30th place.

Thinking back to the orienteering you have had a big year. Highs and lows I'm sure. Are there any experiences that have stuck in your mind?

Yeah, its been a reasonably big season but I feel like I'm only just getting into it now, so its a bit of a shame that there is no more big orienteering races left in Europe this year for me. 

The highlight would have to be the elite sprint at Oringen this year, it was a big race, a big crowd, and I turned up and performed to a standard which I was happy with. Other races that come to mind is the World Cup chasing start in NZ and the WOC sprint qualification this year (the atmosphere, not the result).

Lowlight was definitely the WOC middle distance qualification. I don't know but I didnt feel great the morning of the race and just went into the race blind and I just had a complete blowout and ended up with the most embarrassing run of my career. You learn much more from your mistakes and I went back the next day with the others to expel the demons which I think I took a lot out of. For some reason I could actually see through the forest this time and it just goes to show how the mental aspects of orienteering really is the glue that holds everything together.

Where in the world was Tane running here?

How about moments in your race, that you either did really well, or wished you could hit that rewind button and do something slightly differently (if you have any maps you could refer me to for this question it would be great)

Well you shouldn't really have "moments" as moments generally indicate a mistake... but if you read my answer above it is of course is yes. There was so many mistakes made on my trip this year but one that comes to mind is the World Games middle distance control 26. Getting near the end of the course and getting tired I decided upon reaching the edge of the forest to go against my plan and cut the corner. I was slow through the forest and then came out further down the track than I expected, missed my attackpoint and lost around 1min45s. From then on I continued to drop time on the following controls making small mistakes as I was orienteering re-actively and trying to run harder to make up time...

Well congrats mate, thats a damn big European summer, and give it death at the mountain running!

Thanks!