Forget Fornication

It was only second this year at the World Adventure Racing Champs for the Fornicator, and I love this photo (stolen from Chris and Em's blog) of the man himself having given everything washed up on a strange beach in a strange land.

A belated congrats to the Adventure racers amongst us. Aaron and Brent ensured three out of the top four teams had NZ Osquad members guiding them around!You guys rule the world...now lets just sort out your priorities aye?

Seven kinds of Prickly

Orienteering at Labour Weekend this year was held down in the deep South...and although some of those pansy North Islanders (Mark Lawson excluded!) decided it was too far to come down and had their own crappy OY's in cutty grass filled sand dunes... the 3 awesome events went off without a hitch.

Saturday Afternoon, Otago University/Polytechnic. Fast, Intense urban sprint. Carsten blasted around the course to win the M21E grade, only to be beaten unofficially by the mapper (yours truly....) by 3 seconds. 4th Place getter from JWOC 2008, Anna Forsberg from Sweden took out the women's grade.

After a feast of a few slices of pizza on Saturday night it was off down to Gabriels Gully in the small town of Lawrence. Carsten had finished this map just in time for this event, and the map didnt disappoint. It was a really cool little area except for the massive ammounts of green shit. There was just about every type of green prickly stuff you could think of excluding matagouri, cutty grass and Spaniards. I ran first and got very frustrated blazing a trail through the sticky prickly bush and ended up at the head of the pack a few seconds in front of Matt Scott. Mark Lawson was just a few seconds behind that. Anna again took out the womens grade just ahead of Lara Prince. It was the kind of map that Chris Forne would just eat for breakfast! Very frustrating but very fun...especially when you win!

The end of the good weather came on Monday at Cuttance Block, opposite the airport in Dunedin. The map has recently had an extension and the addition has just made this awesome map ten times better. Carsten was dominant in the wet and steep conditions, with Matt finishing close behind. Anna completed a clean sweep of the weekend beating everyone on course two including the M20 winner by 20 seconds.

Overall an excellent weekend of Orienteering down in the South. Would have been better had there been a good number of elites turn up but obviously it was bad timing with exams for most of the juniors falling in and around the same time of the year....but such is life!

Map

Results

WOC - Sprint Final - NZs best ever male result

Chris finally broken into the top 20 in a WOC race, the first time for a NZ man. His time of 16:42 was good enough for 20th, 1:32 behind defending champion Andrey Khramov of Russia. Chris wasn't totally happy, loosing 20 sec on the 2nd leg, by taking the wrong route choice, but is still pretty stoaked.

Chris at the spectator control

Ross also had another creditable result in 30th, 17:15, 2:05 behind. Ross was going great to start with, climbing into 10th spot, but made some mistakes through the zoo (see map below), what might surprise a few people is that lightning can strike the same place twice, or maybe it should strike Ross, he again forgot his shoes for the final, even after all the teaming asking him in the car if he had them, fortunately he found a much more suitable pair to borrow than last year and owes Mikkel Lund a beer or six. It was also great seeing Kathryn Ewels (AUS) take 5th spot, (after some support and help from us of course), and personally also seeing my old flatmate Kiril take 6th was awesome.

Ross starting out in the borrowed shoes

The map and mens course is below, the 'zoo' had all the short legs, with lots of direction change and no go areas.

Relay
The relay team has been decided for a few days now, so the team in running order will be:
1st Greg Flynn
2nd Ross Morrison
3rd Chris Forne

The start for men is 11am local (9pm NZT) with leg lengths of 5.96km, 8.76km and 8.72km, Chris is giggling like a school girl about it.

WOC - Update

Sorry had a couple of days off, getting carried away with the happenings here and also being in the same time zone makes watching the World Athletic Champs a lot easier.

The biggest thing since the last WOC posting has been Chris' 34th place in the Middle Final. A very creditable result, especially when he choose not to follow Peter Öberg when he went past him and instead run his own race (which is more than some other people). Chris said he made some mistakes early on but was flying around the last loop leaving Anders Nordberg in his dust. The course was described as physically and technically challenging, and there were some blow outs by some big names, notice the lack of Scandinavians near the top of the results board. It was again "The Great One" Thierry Gueorgiou that took the victory, ahead of the threesome of Swiss.

(WOC 2009)

Other than that we have had the opening ceremony and a couple of model events. The opening was a standard affair, with a small team march, some speeches and traditional singing and dancing.

All the maps and courses can be found on route gadget, with some routes choices entered, here:
http://live.woc2009.hu/RouteGadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi

Here is Chris' map from his Long Qual
Ross doing his last speed session (while being paced in the car)
Bryn punching the spectator control in the Long Qual

(WOC 2009)

The perfected sponging technique

(WOC 2009)

WOC - Long Qual

Again it was the Fornicator show, he easily made it into the final, even with a couple of small hiccups. Ross and Bryn both made mistakes that they are not too pleased about. Me and Maja perfected our sponging by the time Chris came through (which of course lead to his performance). Not much else tonight, will try and get some courses and photos up tomorrow when there is only the sprint model and opening ceremony, as right now we are all a bit tired from the day out in the sun.

WOC - Middle Qual

The Middle Qual was held on a map called Galuzsnya, Kenneth had pretty much guessed bang on where the start was and the general area of the courses as well (he had the 2nd to last controls off)

Chris was the stand out performer today, easily making it into the final on Wed. He had passed Emil Wingsted early on in the course and then enjoyed Emil pushing the pace over the last few controls (Chris has the fastest last 2 splits) as he could have been in danger of missing the cut. Ross could be forgiven for feeling a little hard done by, having the tightest heat of the 3, he made a mistake in the earlier part of the course and despite some fast splits in the middle, never made up enough time to get into the final. I made a few small mistakes, loosing just over a min in total if I was being picky (which I am), but was never really fast enough in this terrain, with the leaders doing just over 5 min/km.

Chris is all excited, Ross and Bryn are looking forward to good days tomorrow, and Me and Maja are on sponge duty, with the temp looking like it will nudge 30 degrees like today, Kenneth has devised some cooling techniques with state of the art bucket and sponges from Tesco.
The course are as follows in heat order:

Ross

Greg

Chris

Serious Stuff

The starts for tomorrows Long Qual are:
9:10 Bryn
9:26 Ross
10:02 Chris
Thats from 7:10 NZT, the live link is here
http://live.woc2009.hu/?p=home

WOC - Day 1

Today we headed out to the model for the Middle Qual (also same as Long Qual). Kenneth had a few things for us to concentrate on and joined a few of the controls together for these. Nothing new really, it was a bit more stonier on the top but otherwise it was business as usual, apart from Ross, Chris and Myself all getting confused at the missing flag, which was an extra control Kenneth had drawn in, but none of us realised at the time. Afterwards we went and saw the old castle 'The Castle of Diosgyor' (this was where the opening ceremony of JWOC 01 took place), which was set up like medieval times with actors, shows and jousting. Serious Stuff
We have the starts for tomorrow Middle Qual, they are:
10:10 Greg
10:26 Chris
11:04 Ross
We are 10 hours behind NZ, so 10am here is 8pm in NZ. There should be live results(no GPS) and the best places to try and find these will be on:
The world of O website - http://www.worldofo.com/
or the WOC 09 website - http://tajfutovb2009.hu/
Sweet

WOC - final training camp day 4

Not much to report today, most of us were having a final hit out, that was on Olasz-kapu, it was another longish drive up through a semi-close nature park, by semi closed it meant we had to pay to drive in. Also having the full team meant someone was in the boot, Bryn drew the short straw on the way there and thankfully I managed to hitch a lift back with the Danes (wasn’t too much of a problem to organise, considering our entire support crew is Danish). This map was a bit older and Chris found lots to scrutinise, it was also mapped rockier but didn’t seem that different to the other places we have been. Again visibility was good, and the biggest help is just looking around and using the obvious features. This afternoon we moved in to our official WOC accommodation, in the Uni Hotel, its much nicer than anywhere else I’ve stayed for a NZ representative trip. We also had our first ‘serious’ team talk with Koach Kenneth, about the competitions and oing, it was good as he put some pretty straight forward, common sense stuff on the table, which I’ve never had come from a coach before, and made some good points about certain techniques for certain controls (don’t want to give to much away...)

(Typical forest, photo stolen from an Irish, but he owes me money so its ok)

Its really starting to feel like WOC is here, we have our accreditation IDs and final bulletin packs and the team seems relaxed and comfortable and I’m getting amped, just the way I like it.

WOC - final training camp day 3

Day 3 in Miskolc and again it looked like it was going to be a scorcher, but was just a mild 28 degrees in the end. There was some set training on a map next door to the Long Distance area, in Slovakia in the afternoon, so I took off in the morning and did some o intervals on Hollóstető, wanting to get a good final speed session in. I did 2 sets, C+D and again had some problems with the ‘40cm’ high stakes, which were mostly about 4cm high, and also with the vegetation. The distinctive boundaries are hard to see, there is a vegetation difference but I have not been able to spot the boundaries or the distinctive trees for that matter, and again the charcoal burning places shouldn’t even be mapped. I also got re-acquainted with Hungarian stinging nettles, they are not too bad but from 01 and today, any clearing is full of them. But on the positive side visibility is good and if it is not too rocky it is fast (super fast, winning times are at 5min/km).

In the afternoon, after a 2 hour drive into Slovakia, in a rental car not permitted out of Hungary, and with Chris having a small panic attack near the border after we told him he needed his passport which he left behind (all EU so of course no border control) we made it to a map called Torzó, that was mainly the karst depression terrain. The long boys went out for a mission, working out if there were any faster route., Bryn was successful, he worked out not getting lost is way faster. The routes on the map show the choices between Ross and Chris, Ross had some problems in rocky slopes (where the pen is) and also in the green where the track did not exist, but still thinks Chris’ way is faster. All in all its much of a muchness as to picking as straight as line as possible through the depressions and staying on it.

Kenneth arrived tonight so we are now the complete WOC09 NZ team, and are also making some news stories since we have Kenneth as our coach, for those that don’t know, he is the full time coach of Halden SK, one of the best clubs in Norway (and Scandi), http://www.orienteering.is/halden-coach-leading-team-new-zealand.4617848.html . Tomorrow we move into the offical WOC accommidation, Me and Bryn are hoping the beds are just as good in the building next door (where we are moving) as both think they are the best things we have slept on in ages, and in a student hostel in the back blocks of Hungary of all places, go figure....

And check out Ross's muscles...

In this article on a Norwegian website featuring Kenneth Buch's involvement with our WOC team. Also just realised Ross has a great blog on the world games experiences. I especially like the references to icing ones scrotum and old fogies...

Forne Tilting at 3rd World Title

Well if anyone can win a World title in adventure racing, rogaining and orienteering, its going to be the Fornicator. Chris was recently the first Norwegian in a Norwegian 3 day, and third overall in the Swiss six day. On the eve of WOC Hungary I am excited about the results we might see from our teams. Alistair Landels position as New Zealand's best ever male performer at WOC is definitely under threat. Oh yeah then there is the rocketman as well. Ross Morrison, JK sprint winner, and top ten at the World Games!

WOC - final training camp day 2

Today we awoke to some light rain and cooler weather (22 degrees) which was a nice change and very good for training. A sport ident course was set up by the organisers and we thought it might be a chance to spot some other teams as well, a few familiar faces here and there but it looks like the majority of people are leaving their arrival until later, I suppose thats what you get when can get on a plane for only a couple of hours and do up to 4 trips in advance....

The training was on Tamás-kút, that should be relevant to the Middle and Relay. The lime burning pits were obvious and good to use (the curved earth wall like symbol), where as the charcoal burning places were useless and nonexistent (brown X). We all found it much better with actual controls at the sites, and mostly hit them all pretty good with Chris feeling more confident now, has he enjoyed giggling up all the hills and through the green.

This was all done by lunch time, so when we got back it was eating time, but after placing some trust in Ross to be able to feed himself today, that was quickly lost and tomorrow he is back on the bottle.

Chris 3rd in Swiss Six Day

Great coverage of this on Sportzhub, and no doubt further into the depths of the internet if you feel like trawling.

WOC - final training camp day 1

The NZ WOC 2009 team (minus Koach Kenneth) all arrived in Miskolc last night, with Bryn, Ross, Maja and Myself driving from Budapest, and Chris magically appearing at the accommodation (which was a surprise since no one had heard from him since Jukola and we had no idea what his plans were) After some difficultly trying to sort out that had actually booked in for the training camp (an email was lost and our final booking was never received) we smoothed things out and all got our rooms at the pretty sweet Miskolc University, slightly more up market than the derelict mental hospital that was the base for JWOC 01. Today was planned around 2 short and sweet sprint trainings, with the sprint boys checking out the terrain and racing some route choices. The first area was around the cave baths complex with some steeper forest slopes and a flatter park like area. The second a much steeper forest and some urban streets to finish on. The results, 'dirty d' pants are awesome (they are so comfortable and everybody should buy some), Ross thinks Chris is a nutter by the way he was canning it down some steep rocky bits, and the 3 of them are looking fit and fast!

No1 Norwegian

What is happening to Norwegian orienteering that a kiwi can be the first "Norwegian" in a Norwegian four day? Lets just say things are looking promising for WOC 2010 and a great performance from the Fornicator!

Chris and Em continue on in their indomitable style, mixing orienteering with 7 day tramps, climbing around in the Lofotens and general absurdity. Its unlikely Chris will add an orienteering world champs title to those he already owns in Adventure Racing and Rogaining, but if he did so what a triumph it will be for the spirit of the adventurous amateur munter kiwi outdoor lifestyler. Go you good things!

The blog also includes Chris's take on the World Cups, Forssa Games,Jukola and scrotum shrivelling nudity.

Ranking a Mention

From the Forssa Games website:

The participants will be from Australia, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Great-Britain, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, New Zealand, Russia and Estonia.

There are orienteers from New Zealand after a long absence; four in the class H21A. The most renowned name is be Chris Forne, whose position in the world ranking is 132.

There will be 179 runners in H21A, and 79 in D21A.

The other Kiwi's are Todd Oatts(Wellington), Greg Flynn(NorthWest), Keith Agmen(Nelson), the event takes place today (Thursday 11th June 2009)

NOC Map

I borrowed another map from Oystein Kvaal Osterbo and the World of O is full of reports about this race, one of the years big ones, the Nordic Open Championship. It looks like established stars Daniel Hubbman and Minna Kauppi came away with the wins. The New Zealand connections at this race were Todd Oates and Greg Flynn, Todd just beginning an extended orienteering summer, Greg getting in some racing before WOC which he will return to Europe for in August. These two are both big movers in the New Zealand elite scene (Greg ranked 19th, up 7, Todd 21st up 17) finally coming to grips with things after difficult transitions from the junior grades. Its going to be great to watch how they progress in the next few months...go hard youse fellas!!

And if you look at Osterbo's blog, the previous entry is details of a sprint in Trondheim where he raced head to head with Chris Forne (or maybe really Chris's head to his backside:-)). I guess this terrain is quite relevant in regards to next years WOC sprint as well.

Orienteering to AR...its just a different scale

One of the highlights of the recent Super Series finale was the presentation of National orienteering squad stalwart and World Adventure Racing Champion Brent Edwards to a packed hall of competitors in Wharepapa. Brent outlined the incredible success of his adventure racing team "Orion Health Adventure" from novices to World Champions.

Its a great story. After failing to finish the 2005 World Championships in New Zealand, the team finished 6th, then 3rd, then 1st in the next three editions; Sweden, Scotland and Brazil. They will defend their title this year in Portugal. Brent went over some of the key lessons they had learned (as if I would repeat them to this audience:-)), some of the difficulties they had faced and backed it up with some incredible video footage from the World Champs and other races they have completed like the famous Primal Quest. The best footage isn't available on the web, but I found a photo presentation below from the Scottish race.

Alongside the JWOC team heading off to the Dolomites it must have been a great inspiration for the young people present to see some of the places and challenges navigation sport can confront you with. And Brent isn't alone, at least five members of the National Squad have podiumed in either the World Championship or Primal Quest, with Chris Forne (arguably our best orienteer currently;-)) also a key member of the Nike adventure racing team. There is no limit on this earth to the places orienteering can lead you to.

Chris Forne in the process of winning Primal Quest

Brent was asked a few questions after the session, including some on the differences in navigation, "quite similar just a different scale and different stresses", but for any that are thinking about having a bit of a practice at the longer stuff check out this earlier posting I wrote on topo map navigation, or just get out there on the hills with a map in hand, nothing beats a few lessons through experience!

Two Kiwis in top 30 of Spring Cup!

Just caught up on Ross's and Chris's performances at the Spring Cup, great write up on Ross's Blog! (as well as map, route, etc). Also checked out the google english translation of Daniel Hubman's write-up...worth it for the amusing computer translation...

I started very well, although I find the first two items could not read a lot and easily to the familiar direction. The card was pretty confusing, what I later race also observed. Up to my first error in Item 15, I expressed no difficulty. There, I ran a little too cheeky and crossed into two water troughs apparently without notice to it.

But awesome guys, you guys are doing us proud and lifting the benchmark back up to where we were in the late 90's with Al, Darren, Bruce, Greg et al. I look forward to seeing you lift it higher. A real intense battle going on there to see who is going to be the first kiwi male to usurp Al as "New Zealand's best male orienteer ever!".