JWOC 2010

Niall Ewen reports on the Long Distance

The Irish contingent at JWOC has just competed in the 11.3km long distance event in the dense sand dune forests of the Svinkløv area. Sean Knight took the early start block and started fourth of the males, but at the last second the start was delayed by 40 minutes, forcing Seán to wait and warm up again. I was second out of the Irish starting in the middle block although it took me a while to get into the technical contour features of the terrain and finding controls in green depressions. After that the race became easier although the going was still tough and most of the open areas were covered in felled trees, the course took us from high up on the forested plateau down 30m to the beach to fast sand dune orienteering and then back up the hill to the forests four times. The butterfly and arch nemesis from jwoc 09 was slightly unusual having two central controls and only one control on each wing, this time I decided to follow the planners recommendations and get the controls in numerical order. Many of the longer route choices were on paths rides and open fields with most orienteers avoiding the thick dark green areas at all costs. The arena was ideally situated for a good view of the action with two spectator controls and an uphill run in. Conor Short was last start for the Irish team having a solid run but as with all of us found the 1:15000 scale challenging in the circle.

The Irish Team will compete in the qualification round of the middle distance event tomorrow on a map called Kollerup a fast and technical area about an hour outside Aalborg.

Irish results:

Long distance, Svinkløv, 11.28km

1. Kubat,Pavel Czech Republic 1:18:48

120. Ewen, Niall 1:59:49

121. Short, Conor 1:59:55

136. Knight, Sean 2:11:20

On Monday 5th July JWOC opened with the Sprint in Aalborg University. The Danes on home ground took Gold in both Men's (Rasmus Thrane Hansen) and Women's (Ida Bobach) races. On a sunny day with almost 1000 spectators the atmosphere was highly charged.

Sean Knight (seen here at training) reports on the Sprint.

The three Irish athletes at JWOC were met again by another hot day today as they prepared for the first of five races here in Aalborg, Denmark. Earliest start went to Conor at 10.34am who left the barracks first with team leader and coach, Ruth Lynam. Seán and Niall followed shortly after and joined Conor at the Quarantine area.

The course was 2.7km in length through the technical and challenging grounds of Aalborg University and consisted of 22 controls. Like the rest of Denmark it was quite flat with 30m of climb and fast paced wouldn’t even describe it. Long taxing legs interspersed through sections of short legs with many direction changes made for interesting orienteering. As if competition wasn’t in the air already, one minute intervals and a spectator control heightened the atmosphere. Mike Long and family joined the crowd at the finish arena offering their support.

Sweat poured from the athletes as they raced in the heat and a look of sheer determination was painted on all three faces. Conor had a slight hiccup at the first control but clenched his teeth and pulled back to finish in a very respectable time of 19mins and 11 seconds. Seán bandaged his feet and finished in 17.23. Niall’s famous dislike of sprint events seemed ridiculous when he finished in 17.49.

As this is written Conor, Niall and Seán are relaxing, quietly contemplating what lies ahead in the 11.3km of the JWOC Long Distance tomorrow...

Irish results:

Sprint, Aalborg University, 2.68km

1. Hansen,Rasmus Thrane Denmark 13:04

126. Knight, Sean 17.23

130. Ewen, Niall17:49

141. Short, Conor 19:11

The Irish JWOC team: Niall Ewen, Sean Knight, Conor Short & Team leader Ruth Lynam arrived in Aalborg in West Denmark on Wed 30 June in time for several days training on JWOC terrain before the competition started up. Long & Middle race terrain is thickly forested sand dunes, very complex in parts, but with plenty of paths. The Relay terrain is completely different, a series of sttep hill and deep river valleys, largely open with heather & ferns. The team accommodation is in Aalborg barracks on a Sprint map, perfect for some Sprint familiarisation.

Conor Short describes pre-JWOC training. Conor & Niall prepare training maps

The Irish Junior team at JWOC in Aalborg, northern Denmark, has spent the last couple of days training, and are now psyching up for the sprint race tomorrow morning in Aalborg University. The first thing that we noticed when we went out onto the maps was the heat. Our first day was spent in the thick, dense forests of Vester Torup on the northern coast, which closely resembles the terrain of the long distance race. The shade of the tangled mass of trees offered no relief from the blistering heat however, and the three juniors and their team leader returned to the car drenched in sweat.

On Saturday, after a quick run on more long distance terrain, we first tried out the Emit Timing system that will be used in all five races. Due to the system apparently being ‘inaccurate’, an extra tag has to be worn on our arms which will record the finish times. I can’t understand why the good ol’ SI system isn’t used! Today, we did a quick practice sprint on the terrain before relaxing for the rest of the day before the long week of racing ahead of us.

Unfortunately, Seán has already been to hospital before the competition has even begun! His new shoes gave him severe blisters which subsequently got infected. He’s been taking medication and the good news is that it looks like he’ll be up and running in time for the sprint race tomorrow.

The food so far has been excellent: there is plenty of it and it covers all the food groups, from meat to the all important sugar! We are accommodated in an army barracks with comfy beds and plenty of space to chill, so I think I can safely say that there are four happy team members over here raring to get going!