Aussie Boomerangs Training camp update

Another blog post from the Aussie Team, the day before the WOC races start tomorrow with the Long Distance qualification...

final day of Swiss O week in Flims

Previous to our official training camp beginning last week in France, a few WOC team members (Wendy, Simon, Aislinn, Mace, Jas, Ness and Robbie) attended the Swiss Orienteering Week for some pre WOC race training. We stayed near Flims and caught chair lifts and cable cars up the mountains to almost 3,000m to race next to glaciers. The biggest Aussie triumph of the week was coach Wendy Read zooming past the world champion, Simone Niggli Luder, in the finish chute on day 2! Yep, she sure did!

Rob checking out the views of Mont Blanc from Aguille du Midi

The team then drove (via a pizza shop in Chamonix for some) to the little French mountain village of Arith for our week long WOC training camp. Rob L, Rach and Grace joined us there. We staying with our newly adopted French family, Sophie, Chef Gerard and two year old Remy, who made us delicious four course evening meals, and helped us out with a game of trivial pursuit.. in French.. We were joined on a few evenings by French trampers who were stopping on their way though the mountains. Sophie, Remy and Gerard have promised to come and watch the sprint race.

post training discussions after our first day... a lot to learn

interesting area of Le Creux qui Sonne, note the wide route choice from 6 to 7- a bit of respite from the forest is definately a worth while choice!

We found out pretty promptly what all the fuss over the French terrain was about. Our first few training sessions in the French forests saw us running over 20 minute kilometers.. Vanessa and Jas agreed that “there is so much detail on the map that it's tricky to read, but there is even more detail on the ground..” Luckily we have all steadily improved. By the end of the week everyone had had at least one good run.

The sprinters were pretty happy having beautiful little French towns to run around. However, they had to get up early to avoid the crowds on their training maps. Mace described the sprint terrain as “fun, but tricky with lots of little alley ways and confusing route choices.”

Shopping for lunch at the Annecy markets after a sprint training session. Unsuspectingly we purchased the most smelly cheese possible, some of it is still lingering in the fridge a few days later!

We moved to our WOC accommodation in Aix Les Bains yesterday. We settled in to our rooms, and received our accreditation tags. The model events opened yesterday and long and middle distance runners spent the morning out in the forest.

The 'bush O' girls team frolliking in the meadows of Le Revard. The long distance races are supposed to include a mixture of open meadows and intensely technical forest...

The competition starts tomorrow, with the long distance qualification. Ness, Jas, Aislinn, Robbie and Julian will be running. Keep your fingers crossed for us and check out our results on the WOC website!

You can follow our results and view the full program by visiting the WOC website at: www.woc2011.fr

Jas and Ness check out the view of Mont Blanc from a 'hilltop' after a training session in the forests below.

The view from our WOC accommodation- we are self catering here, so are no longer enjoying Gerard's French cuisine, but are making sure we still a variety of fine smelling cheeses!