JWOC 2011

Jack Reports on the Long Distance:

The Irish team faced an 11.1km course with 410m climb for the long distance race.

The terrain was predominantly beech forest with fast running, some steep hills and a healthy network of paths.

Josh and I were in the early start block, Cillin and Colm in the middle. Conor opted for the later start. I was starting very late in the early block, only 10 minutes before Cillin. We had a long leg early in the course from 4 to 5 with no obvious route choice, causing some problems for the Irish. From 5 to 9 we had a series of short legs in a greener area of forest which led to the majority of orienteers taking to the tracks and roads. I lost a few minutes on routechoice to number 9 opting to struggle through green when a run along a nearby road was favoured by most.

There was another long leg from 9 to 10 before we had what has become the planners favourite tool - the butterfly loop. During the butterfly I met team mate Cillin who had just started his first loop - this hurried me up a bit. There was another relatively long leg to control 18 those who had not prepared for this during the butterfly were caught out a little, resulting in some interesting route choices. From here we were on the home straight and into the finish arena, with stands that allowed for a great experience for spectators.

For the young Irish team, there were solid performances but still plenty of room for improvement.