Long Final and goodbye!

Yesterday was the final of the long distance course. Swiss stars Simone and Daniel were unbeatable. Our own stars Hanny and Kathryn did great in the unique "karst" terrain - especially at the end when it was rough, tough and steep.

Afterwards, we had the banquet and were pretty happy with the aussie songs that made it - Men at Work and Kylie were some of the hits played.

Today we all separated and said our goodbyes...

Kathryn (who actually left straight after finishing her course!) is off to Italy to compete in the World Mountain Running Champs

Jasmine left with the Americans at 3.30am to catch her early morning flight to Melbourne (via Germany and Asia of course!)

Grace left this afternoon to fly to her (temporary) home in Leeds ;-)

Rob and Anna are flying home to Melbourne (after 2.5 years in London!!)

Victoria is flying to her current base in London and is super pleased with her increased knowledge of orienteering :-)

Hanny is off to Finland to soak up the sun for a week or so

Shannon is going home to Canberra

Wendy and Lance are spending 3 days in Budapest then on to further european adventures - lucky!!

Thanks for reading our blog and cheering us on from home, we have had a great time over here in Miskolc, Hungary!!!!!

Hanny fanging it through the spectator chute

Kathryn with a couple of kms to go...

Cheering on the others

Victoria hears some surprising news from the commentator

Jas is pumped about something

The aussie girls! Kathryn has already started her journey to Italy with her parents.

Things are getting tense after spending 2 weeks together ;-)

Thank you for your hard work looking after us Anna and Rob!!

Rest Day

There were no WOC events today - tomorrow is the last one and it's the LONG FINAL. We have Hanny and Kathryn running. They are already tucked up in bed for a good night's sleep.

Last night we had dinner with the Aussie supporters in a traditional hungarian restaurant. Today some people went running and swimming in Lillafured, then there was a shopping trip, ice cream at the castle and much much more.

Hmmmm, no thanks!

The happily married couple at the head of the table - Victoria and Jasmine. Kylie is the bridesmaid.

Aussie supporters and team mates

Swimming in Lillafured - yes, the water really is that green

No other tourists thought swimming was a good idea...

Lack of a harness and climbing shoes did not deter Jas from the rocks.

Ice cream at the castle

Jasmine and Nagy

Victoria and Kathryn

Victoria and Hanny - last race tomorrow girls!!

Relay Day

Traditionally the relay is held on the last day of competition but not this year! In the absence of an Aussie Mens team, we decided to choose another country to back. This decision was not made lightly. After much deliberation and plenty of debate (ok it was an easy decision) we decided to choose the Swiss. Switzerland has amazing scenery, awesome chocolate and ice cream as well as spiky chestnuts. And aren't we glad we did! They won (after the first 4 teams stopped due to an injured swede).

Photos courtesy of Victoria's camera.

Our honorary team mate warming up

Still warming up...

Congratulations boys!

We are so proud of you guys

Why do you look shocked that your team mates are taking sneaky photos?

Great work team!

After the adulation of the Swiss boys taking gold, it was time to focus on the Aussie girls team. Another top 10 performance!! Well done girls :-)

Kathryn through the spectator

Kathryn and Hanny changing over...

Maryanne Andersen through the spectator in the lead - superstar!

Hanny flying through with just a small loop to go

The arena was packed!!

Shannon and Victoria sample the local sweet cuisine, yuuuuuuuummmmmm. Sweet sweet sugar donut thing.

kAtHrYn 5Th iN sPrInT fInAl!!!!!

Kathryn had a blinder to make the podium in today's sprint final - what a LEGEND!!!!!!!

Kathryn came 5th :-)

The results board!

Kathryn in 5th and a Finnish girl in 6th

The top 6 - 2 swedes, a swiss, a dane, a finn and an AUSSIE!!!!!

Kathryn and our physio extraordinaire Victoria

A proud coach with the star

Media were jostling to talk to Kathryn after her race

Kathryn gets a hug from renowned OA reporter Wendy Read

Kathryn starts hydrating for the relay

The aussie contingent are eager to hear about Kathryn's race

Kylie, Victoria and Hanny are part of the cheer squad

Kylie and Jas spot Kathryn on the huge screen!!

Middle Final

Today was the first final of the 2009 World Orienteering Championships. Hanny came 18th and Grace 15th (one better than last year!) We are all really proud of them both - it was a really tough course and area.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR COACH ROB!!!!!! We are about to celebrate with some cake :-)

Hoot dog anyone?

Does Rob look older or is the week looking after the girls taking its toll... ;-)

One of our stars of the day cooking dinner for us!

Chilling out at dinner

Happy birthday Rob!!!!!

How else would you want to celebrate your 30th birthday?

Hanny cutting the cake

Anna and Rob eating some yummy home made cake.

Kathryn multi-tasking (looking at the sprint map and eating cake)

We gave rob some really cool presents - like the thing that Jasmine is holding.