06 July: Sprint final
From an early start time, Kevin O'Boyle (pictured below) impressed in Irish colours today to lead home the Irish challenge. He was followed home by Nick Simonin, Ruairi Short and Niall Ewen. The Swiss orienteer Matthias Kyburz, whom I am reliably informed is a 'beast', took the JWOC men's sprint title from a field of 169. Jenny Lonnkvist of Sweden won the women's title by almost half a minute.
Kevin reports from Italy on his race: Today, the JWOC 2009 Sprint was held in the towns of Mezzano and Imer, deep in a valley in the Dolomite mountains of Northern Italy. I will be writing about my race, feelings before and after, and also about my fellow teammates performances.
I stretched and warmed up very well before the race. The day was humid and sweat was soon forming on my brow. After a brief period on the warm-up map, all was set. My start time of 15.36 was displayed at the pre-start, and I cleared and made my way through the six-minute callup.
At this time, I'm not really sure how i was feeling. There was certaintly confidence, but also unease and even fear. I had told myself previously in the day that there is no room for holding back in this event, you're either willing or you're not. Would I run well? How would I deal with route choices that would undoubtedly appear? One thing was certain. Pain and sweat would feature.
Suddenly, the map is in my hand. The minutes leading up to the start of my sacred voyage had flown by in a blur of descriptions, clock beeping and silence in the start area. Number 1 is just a haze of building corners, sharp turns and a rocketing heartrate. Spike. 2, 3 and 4. Spike. (see map) After this section of the course, the long leg of number 5 loomed. Because of the complexity of the first part, I had had no time to plan. However, I saw a route quickly, it was clean and straightforward and I went. Spike. 6, another quite long leg. I can safely say right now, that a hill has never hurt so much. I glued my eyes to my map and pounded out the steps, like a man posessed. Down the road, and there's number 6. All was going well.
Controls 7 - 13 were again very complex, with narrow alleys, uncrossable walls and alot of screaming locals. However, I lost concentration exiting 8 and was disorientated briefly, but realised I had missed an obvious route choice and taken a much longer one. Minus 20 seconds. A pause on my way to 10, surely a precious second or two lost. Spiked 11, but on No.12 i again lost concentration, and found myself facing olive green. I'm pretty sure that I offended some locals with an unspeakable word here, but I was gone in a second. I desperately needed my flow back.
Control 14 was the longest leg of the course, but I thought my route choice good, going along a northern road and spiking the control. At this stage in the race, I was in extreme pain. 15 and 16 were a sweat-blinded tangle of rapid strides and chaotic avoiding of playground equipment.
17, another long leg. The control description flashed over and over in my head. My legs were screaming in agony. But I forced myself to focus. A few sharp turns, 17 and 18 spikes. I stagger across the road crossing. i'm not going to lie, at this stage in the race i wanted to lay down and cry. I'v never felt so exhausted. Nothing was real anymore, except the map in my hand and the orange and white flags dotting the trampled grass. 19... 20... 21... spectator loop. I have nothing left. but I drive on, knowing the regret will come later if I don't. At 22, there's a control in the depression, but i ignore it. many people mis-punched here. Around the fence, hit 23. Onto the track, 24. if you asked me to repeat exactly what happened on this last loop, I couldn't. My brain was in shut-down. Only my legs and a strain in my heart mattered.
The run in was the most painful moment of my life. It went on forever. But when I throw myself through the laser finish and collapse in a sweating, panting mess and some woman grabs my finger and stuffs my card in an SI box, I know that I've run a good race. I lie there for a good minute, the sun beating down on my battered and bruised figure.
In the end, I finish in joint 71st, two and a half minutes behind the incredible Matthias Kyburz. I'm quite happy. I was extremely pleased to learn that i was best of the Irish. Nicholas Simonin was having an excellent race until control 8, and from there he said that he just kept losing time in various areas. Quote Nick," I don't have the excuse of I'll do better next year anymore =)" Ruairi Short ran an expected mistake-free race, he reports that the sprint isn't his favourite distance and that he's looking ahead to tomorrows gruelling long. Much the same with new CNOC recruit Niall Ewen, who also prefers the endurance race. Niall will be reporting on tomorrow's Long distance, which we are all extremely looking forward to.
Until then, Kev out!
M20 results (full results here)
1. Matthias Kyburz, Switzerland 14:43
2. Midos Nykodym, Czech Republic 14:56
3. Martin Hubmann, Switzerland 14:58
71. Kevin O'Boyle 17:16
88. Nick Simonin 17:43
111. Ruairi Short 18:29
129. Niall Ewen 19:27
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06 July: Opening ceremony photos: click here
05 July: Sprint startlist released
The first race of JWOC will take place tomorrow - an exciting sprint race in the towns of Mezzano and Imer, 650 to 700m above sea level. 172 aspiring junior world champions will line up in the men's event, with 123 women on the start line. The men's sprint is 3.1km with 90m climb. The start list has been released and the Irish will be starting as follows (Italian time):
Kevin O'Boyle 15:36
Ruairi Short 16:17
Nicholas Simonin 16:55
Niall Ewen 17:02