The Classic!

Today was the day for the classic. The traditional distance in orienteering which is being slowly whittled away from the orienteering program due to the dominance of sprint and middle races. Hanny was our girl in the final and most team members had a restful morning waiting for the action to start. Well, everyone except Tom 'the boss' Quayle, who managed to get three punctures on his 45 minute morning ride and had to be rescued just in time to take Hanny to quarantine. 

Resting up in the morning

What better way to hear about the Long Final than from the finalist herself.....Hanny.

Hanny finishing in front of the big crowd

'9th July... a long but very exciting day for spectators and runners alike.  Today was the long distance final held ( ).  After Julian dropped Tom & I off to the quarantine, Tom & I boarded the bus for our long drive to the pre-start.  Whilst we chatted about life and the universe, we managed to circumnavigate the entire map, only to end up back near the arena.  A 60 min scenic tour of more Finnish forest, farmlands and marshes.

I felt surprisingly relaxed and tried to just take in the atmosphere of my first WOC back in 4 years.  I am amazed by how much the sport has developed and running into the arena for the start highlighted this.  There were people everywhere!  

Discussing the race...

My plan was just calm, cautious and relaxed, leaving some energy in the tank for the end of the 14km course.  I did just that, my only mistake was a large 5 min error as I tried to find a bridge across the impassable river just before the arena.  I was expecting a large, wooden bridge and sadly missed the floating pontoon hidden by the grass and long vegetation along the river's edge.  This shook my confidence for a while before I regained control.  This was my only error for the entire course and whilst the Russian girls came flying past me, I felt solid and completed the race according to plan.

With the middle and relay coming up, there is still lots more to look forward to.   However, I am already thinking forwards to next year.  What do I have to do to crack the top 6 again? I already know that in order to be competitive in the long distance race, high end running speed and maintaining this over a long period of time will be critical.  I feel excited at the thought of returning home and strategising!

As I have the honour of writing this post, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing support of our coaches - Tom & Wendy.  They are two legends and the rocks of our team.  I have turned to them for support & confidence when I have felt in need of a boost.  The thing is, we all have and they never fail to give all their energy to our team.  I must also acknowledge the rest of the team - Simon, Bryan, Lachie, Aislinn, Jas, Fel, Sus & Ness, you are all amazing athletes, team mates and friends.  It is an honour to share WOC 2013 with you all.  And finally, big thanks to Elin our physio for keeping my legs turning, the Aussie supporters here cheering in the arenas, and to all our wonderful families, friends and followers back in Australia.  

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... Oi, Oi, Oi!'

-Han

The crowd was huge and atmosphere electric...

With Hanny placing 22nd it was a solid result for her return to WOC competition. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the team in the hustle and bustle of the Finnish crowd with the other Aussie supporters, watching Simone Niggli and Thierry Geuorgiou reassert their dominance of international orienteering. Thierry was clearly annoyed with the 'ease' of it though. 

Now,I'll be able to answer journalists about my time at half-marathon:1h41'39".Looking forward to attack trickier controls in Vuokatinvaara!
— Thierry GUEORGIOU (@tgueorgiou) July 9, 2013

When Jani Lakanen came in to take silver it was going off in the arena as you can see below. 

The girls playing silly

In the evening all the athletes and spectators gather outside Vuokatti Sports Institute for the medal ceremonies which gives the event a great village-like atmosphere all day and night. Tonight this made the girls very excited....or maybe it was just that they found a new swing to play on....

Although....it was obviously endorsed by 'The Boss' Tom as he joined in!

In good news for the team, Bryan 'Breezer' Keely has been feeling good after his sprint qualification race with his seven stitches in his knee, testing it out with a run today. He is pumped for the middle and relay later in the week. 

The seven stitches

Breezer getting 'well looked after' by the caring Swedish lady Elin - gotcha! 

Stay tuned tomorrow for our rest day blog and a special look at Australia's past WOC performances here in Finland with an enthralling 'Then and Now' article on our smoking mens relay team from WOC Finland 2001...where are they now?

Two Sprints in One Day

Hi all, Lachy Dow reporting to you from Vuokatti, at the end of a hectic day of both the sprint qualification and sprint final. 

The qualification was held in a holiday park consisting of many nearly identical houses, a put put gold course and some water features. The organisers also put up temporary fences for added route choices. 

Sprint Qual Map

The runners and spectators were greeted with a great day and cut-throat racing. It was a good qual for us Aussies, with all three women qualifying! Simon made it through to the final as well, and while Bryan missed out, it really was a good international debut. to give you an idea of how tough qualifying is, Bryan was 26 seconds and five places away from the cut off. all with seven stitches in his knee! Dont worry bryan, you'll be back with a vengeance!

'Breezer' breezing through the Qual

Intimate racing in the qualification with big crowds

Simon 'bumming' the crowds away

By the last control Simon had perfected his punching technique!

Happy qualifiers

Do I have to take this picture...

After lunch back at our accommodation and a short celebration for Susanne's birthday (happy birthday Sus!) runners began refocusing for the sprint final. for most this is all about relaxing and getting a bit of sleep, but for everyone its about eating and drinking! Simon's favourite (recovery) foods are pringles and coke.

After dealing with the traffic jam of spectators (over 5000 of them) getting to the final arena, we were greeted with one of the coolest sprint arenas possible. The runners both started and finished in the Sotkamo baseball stadium:

The Sprint final arena. 

The women ran first, and our girls did us proud, with Felicity in 31st just pipping Vanessa (32nd). Both seemed to have cautious but clean runs, a sound strategy in the town sprint which was heavily modified with impassable temporary fences. Route choices with often wide and convoluted, and hard to spot on the map. Jasmine was disappointed with her run, with an early mistake and she found it hard to find routes through the buildings. But when you see how high the level of competition is, just making it to the final is no small feat. There was no betting (literally) on who the winner of the womens race would be. Simone Niggli was the unbackable favourite as she stormed home for the gold medal.

Vanessa starting

Jasmine starting

Fel starting

Vanessa loved the experience and atmosphere!

Jas found the route choice really tricky!

Fel discussing her course with Elin after the finish.

Simon making a flying start. 

Men's Final

In the mens race Simon made a cracker start to be right up there through the tricky labyrinth style section in the town, but he faded a little toward the end with a mistake missing the small gap on the way to the last control which cost him a few places. But, Simon did come out with his best ever WOC result of 30th place. Mårten Boström gave the home crowd something to cheer loud about when he stormed through the course and provided the first real surprise of the WOC week winning gold ahead of a great friends to many Aussies and someone we were cheering loud for - Scotsman, Great Brit, Prisoner of Her Majesty... Scott Fraser with Sweden's Jonas Leandersson third.  

It certainly was a great atmosphere in the arena but the online results failed to work for most of the Women's race along with a distinct lack of commentary did make us wonder that maybe you had more information than us watching back in Australia. 

Tom 'The Boss' Quayle wondering which country this weirdly dressed supporter comes from???

After a big day, Tom 'The Boss' Quayle went to extraordinary lengths, (with the permission of Wendy 'The Manager' Read) cleaning up spectators and driving off gutters, to get home on time for a late dinner and bed. Just to prepare for the long, the classic day tomorrow where we have Hanny Allston looking to perform in the forest in the Long Distance Final. Remember, grab a beer, the paper and watch away, it is just like cricket....goes alllllllll daaaay. We will be out there cheering Hanny on and we hope you are at home as well! 

GPS routes from today are here

Results are here

Hanny starts at 20.11 AEST Tuesday. Follow live here. 

Long Qualification done...

The first race for WOC 2013 has been run. The team got one qualifier, Hanny, through to the final out of four runners today. Hanny  returned to international competition after a four year hiatus and placied 3rd in heat 3  which gives Hanny a great starting position in the Final on Tuesday.

'Relieved' was Hanny's feeling after today's Long Qual

Susanne has a solid run to place 17th in heat 1 just missing the top 15 qualification threshold. See Susanne's thoughts on her race below. 

Aislinn had a solid run for 11/13 legs but lost time on a few controls to place 20th in heat 2. See Aislinn's thoughts on her race below.

Lachlan made his debut at a World Championships race today and there isn't a tougher way to do that than in the depths of tough Scandinavian terrain in a Long Qualifier with a winning time 7 minutes longer than expected. Lachlan was not happy with his race with a significant mistake on the long leg to 5. He will certainly be better for it in the future and will have many more opportunities. Starting with the Middle Qualifier on Thursday. 

Naturally disappointed, but many more opportunities to come for Lachlan!

This afternoon the Sprint runners are resting up and preparing for their big day tomorrow.

In the meantime check out GPS and the maps from today here.

Long Qualification is on!

Today it is time for the Long Qualification. Conditions are fine, warm and sunny with not a cloud in sight. Perfect long conditions.  Susanne, Aislinn, Lachlan and Hanny were all in good shape heading out the the quarantine this morning.

Tom 'I'm the boss' Quayle has things in order with the OFFICIAL team car! 

Awaiting them is fast and open forest as you can see with the old map below.

You can see the results of the prettying up session yesterday with the team photos done here in Vuokatti. 

'I reckon here, let's just get it done' - Bryan

C'mon team 

'How do we have the collars again'

'Finally got it...'

'Ah yeah the Coaches too...'

'It was a bit hot...'

Follow live GPS and video or just follow OA Facebook and Twitter for updates.

The coming week...

It is about to begin!

The Aussies have been resting up and fine tuning their skills for the coming week. It all begins with the Long Qualification tomorrow morning. The terrain is best described as super fast, super open with contour detail. The biggest challenge will be keeping the speed under control and finding that Long Distance rhythm.

Susanne making final preparations for the Long Qual

In action Sunday (with start times) the Aussies have Susanne Casanova 16.40 AEST, Aislinn Prendergast 17.04 AEST,  Hanny Allston 17.37 AEST,  and Lachlan Dow 17.03AEST.

Lachlan 'tuning the pins' for the Long Qual

Follow live on the OA Facebook page, Twitter and from the official WOC live site.

Today the expectation has been building in the event center here at Vuokatti Sports Institute with an Olympic Village feel. Almost all teams are eating and sleeping in close proximity combined with 6000 competitors arriving for the spectator races it should be a cracker week for all.

Part of the Aussie team spent the morning checking out the Sprint model events in the pouring rain. With the organizers wisely choosing not to mark hedges as impassable the biggest challenge for many teams was working out their hedge jumping techniques.

Sprint Qualification model map with the entertaining hedges

The Sprint final will be a typical urban affair but with the added uncertainty of the possible construction of fences 'somewhere' in the terrain by the organizers. Just to add that little bit of complexity. Certainly taking Sprint orienteering to that next level!

To spice things up Bryan Keely was testing out his sliding technique in the wet conditions and ended up with a nasty gash in his knee. After some fast action by Team Physio Elin and Swedish Team doctor Mia Jodal, Bryan was quickly cleaned and stitched up with seven stitches all the while providing some afternoon entertainment for the queezy Swedes. I'm happy to report though that Bryan will be ready to race and it will not effect his plans for the week.

Bryan receiving his stitches from Swedish Team doctor Mia Jodal!

This afternoon was spent prettying up for team photographs and Aislinn, Susanne, Hanny and Lachlan were resting up and preparing for their Long Qualification race tomorrow morning. Cheer them on tomorrow!

Hanny is 'pretty relaxed' about her return to international competition Sunday!

WOC 2013 - Vuokatti

Welcome back for another year of action with the Australian Boomerangs. The World Orienteering Championships 2013 in the northern Finnish town of Vuokatti will be a tough and exciting championships with Scandinavian terrain and thousands of spectators expected to attend.
The Australian team is currently in Vuokatti and familiarizing themselves with the terrain in the final week leading up to the competitions.
So who are the Boomerangs team of 2013? It is a great mix of old and new with many runners making their WOC debut. But the big news is the return of World Champion Hanny Allston to the international orienteering scene. It is great to see Hanny return to international orienteering.

In the coming days and throughout the championships this blog will provide the inside news from within the Boomerangs team here at Vuokatti, so stay tuned for updates throughout the next ten days and leave comments to support the athletes.

Firstly, let's get to know all the team a little more...


Name: Hanny Allston 
Age: 27
Attackpoint: Nup
Born: Hobart, Tasmania
Lives: Canberra, Australia
Occupation: Running and Life Coach
Disciplines at WOC: Middle/Long/Relay
Favourites...
Orienteering Location:  Bay of Fires and; St Helen district of Tasmania - Did you know there is a World Cup coming there in January 2015!!
Shoes - The North Face Hiace
Food - Homemade fresh bread with Jalsberg cheese. mmmm
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: A long run that isn't 'training' but rather a 'mission'. Heading off and exploring new regions and mountains - there is nothing more exhilarating.
Cross training: Mountain biking. I love speed and single track.
Group or alone: I'm a bit of a loner but I love hitting the trails with my partner Graham. Somehow we never feel like we are training when we are playing on the trails together. However, I have really loved training with the Aussie group here in the lead up to WOC. Their energy and enthusiasm for the forest is infectious.


Name:Vanessa Round 

Age: 25
Attackpoint: 007
Born: 10 Dec 1987
Lives: In Switzerland near Zurich
Occupation: Working in a Costume hire shop and an Octoberfest-Style (Dirndl & Lederhosen) shop..although trained as an Environmental Scientist
Disciplines at WOC: Sprint, Middle and Relay
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: In the bush in Australia, especially granite. Some scandinavian forests are just heavenly for orienteering though, and high in the swiss alps can be great if the steepness is cancelled out by technicall difficulty.
Shoes: my super speedy new inov8 shoes for sprint Orienteering
Food: oh...too hard to have a favourite...mangos, berrys, artichokes, nuts, marinated things, (all categorised under 'compost' according to the boys)
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: Long runs in the hills
Favourite cross training: Would love to do alot more cross country skiing next winter..loved the few hours I did at the beginning of this winter, until a Toboggoning accident kept me away from the snow..
Group or alone: Enjoy running alone, though with a group for better training benefit.


Name: Aislinn Prendergast

Age: 23
Attackpoint: kido (unused recently)
Born: Ballarat
Lives: Melbourne
Disciplines at WOC: Long
Favourites
Orienteering Location: Petticoat Gully (Creswick)
Shoes: Asics / inov8
Food: Cereal
Training...
Long run or intervals: Long run
Favourite cross training: Triathlon!
Group or alone: Love groups, but don't get the chance very often.

Name: Felicity Brown

Age: 29
Attackpoint: Fel
Born: Sydney, Australia
Lives: Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation: Facilities Manager, Skype Sweden.
Disciplines at WOC: Sprint
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Venice
Shoes: Inov8
Food: Berries
Training...
Long run or intervals: Intervals
Cross training: Cycling
Group or alone: Group

Name: Susanne Casanova 

Age: 36
Attackpoint: SusC
Lives: Darwin, Australia
Disciplines at WOC: Long
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Flinders Rangers, Australia
Shoes: VJ Bold
Food: Dried Fruit
Training...
Long run or intervals: Intervals
Cross training: Deep water running
Group or alone:  Both

Name: Jasmine Neve

Age: 27
Attackpoint: none
Born: Melbourne
Lives: Melbourne
Occupation: Public servant
Disciplines at WOC: Sprint and Middle
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Kangaroo Crossing, Australia.
Shoes: Flimsy cross country flats..
Food: Finnish summer berries, and my housemates lentil pie.
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: Intervals
Cross training: Bike

Group or alone: Mix





Name: Simon Uphill

Age: 25
Attackpoint: Simon87
Lives: Adelaide
Occupation: Engineer
Disciplines at WOC: Sprint, Middle, Relay
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Flinders Rangers, Australia.
Shoes: Oroc Inov8
Food: Schnitzel
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: Intervals
Cross training: None
Group or alone: Group






Name: Byran Keely

Photo: Graham Hammond

Age: 25
Attackpoint: Keely
Lives: Woodend, Victoria
Occupation: Student
Disciplines at WOC: Sprint, Middle, Relay
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Kooyoora, Australia
Shoes: Inov8
Food: Lasagna
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: Long Run
Favourite cross training: Gym
Group or alone: Group



Name: Lachlan Dow 

Age: 21
Attackpoint: Big D
Lives: Canberra
Occupation: Studying Science at ANU
Disciplines at WOC: Long, Middle, Relay
Favourites...
Orienteering Location: Venice or Namadgi National Park in the ACT (they're both equally glamorous)
Shoes inov-8's for orienteering, Vans for chillin!
Food: Pancakes
Training...
Long Run or Intervals: Intervals
Cross Training: Commuting to uni as fast as possible
Group or alone: Group

Long final!

Today was the long distance final at grand jurat, north of lausanne. It was a very fast, technical course and both Aislinn and Julian ran very well to place a very respectable 35th and 30th. After we had a supporters afternoon tea for all the Australians who came to watch woc.