WOC 2017 Long Race

Monday was a rest day. It rained. A lot. I eventually managed a trip to the supermarket to stock up, but other than that we stayed in most of the day and did important press and website things. But by early evening it had brightened up and we set off to the Medal Ceremony for the sprint races. The band was no match for C-Jam, so we did a loop up the hill and round the University again to take a few photos, and look at the grassy bank from above. Yes, it is still very steep.

A rather better crowd turned up than for the opening ceremony, and it felt like something was really happening. The GB sprint relay team managed to make it onto the stage to receive their certificates for 6^th place, and the resulting tweet is our most popular yet, even if the picture does show up as four pairs of legs on most phones. I was slightly surprised by the choice of prizes for a World Championships when Per announced that the buckets would be presented by some local dignitary, but these disappointingly turned out to be bouquets. So that was the rest day done: now for some real exertion.

Tuesday and it’s the Long race day, which is always a long race day if you see what I mean. Up at 6.45, left the apartment slightly too late at 7.10 and ended up running to catch the bus. The WOC bus left 10 minutes late today. The journey to the Long race area was filled with an Estonian orienteer providing running commentary of things we passed (Tartu airport, storks, NATO convoy, more storks, ex-Soviet ballistic missile site, nice runnable area of pine forest nothing like we would be running in today) and 75 minutes later we arrived in a field with a large stork’s nest in it, or at least a 30 metre high observation tower designed to look like a stork’s nest.

Of course the first thing to do was climb the tower to get a view of the area. Forests and lakes as far as you can see. We then made for the press tent just in time for the press briefing and map hand-out. The map is huge, and the courses have several very long legs with significant route choice. They also have an arena run-through followed by two orange standard controls before the finish. Not what I would have planned.

But before the OC runners start coming it is our turn to see what the forest is like. The spectator race is in an area that adjoins the WOC map. The most noticeable thing walking to the start is the paths that they have had to cut through the open areas (!) to get the children’s courses through. I set off and take brave straight route to control 1. Thick and bushy with low visibility, muddy, lots of marshes which look more like lakes, lots of fallen trees, open areas full of thick vegetation, felled areas filled with raspberry bushes: pretty much just as expected. Control 1 goes OK, control 2 is a disaster caused by forgetting what a compass is, control 3 includes a small detour to the wrong corner of an open area, but after that things improve. 75 minutes for 6.5 km isn’t great but it could be worse. James struggles a bit, and is just over 2 hours for 9.3 km.

Then it’s a solid four hours of photography, trying desperately to get shots of all the GB athletes. This just about goes OK, even if nearly every photo shows them looking exhausted, since they’ve just run up a 25m hill to get to the arena for the run-through, or up the same 25m hill to get to the finish. British results are as they so often are: not bad but difficult to get excited about. Ralph loses time on the long leg to control 2 but then has a good run from there to end up 18^th. Holly seems unhappy at the finish but ends up 16^th. Jess is much happier with her run to be 17^th. Tove Alexandersson and Olav Lundanes retain their titles. The long day ends with a long bus journey home,  and we get back 12 hours after leaving. All that remains is to sort and post the pictures, write the BOF report and even have something to eat. And so to bed, but not for long because we’re going back to the same place tomorrow to run on the WOC map itself.

Estonia added to the list

Peter Hodkinson finishing in 13th place

Day 2, and the first day of the Estonian O Week, closely followed by the WOC Sprint Final. But first it was a trip to the WOC Event Centre to pick up our media passes, and to the supermarket so we had enough food to give us a chance of getting through the first few days. There was the usual fun of trying to work out exactly what we were buying, and what colour milk you needed (or indeed, what was milk at all), but so far the only mistake seems to have been buying tinned sweetcorn and finding the apartment doesn't have a tin opener.

The Spectator Race was based at the Tartu Song Festival Grounds, with the start and finish in an enormous concrete amphitheatre. The area was a mixture of ornamental parks, lakes, buildings, scattered woodland, a BMX track, a frisbee golf course and what felt like a skating rink to run on, but was in fact just the walkways around the main stadium. My 2.8km course had 26 controls which meant things happened quite fast. This was enough to cause a few map reading problems, especially given the amount of mapped detail that was less than obvious on the ground. But after 18 minutes and 56 seconds I had skated my way to the end of the run-in and added Estonia to the list of countries that I have orienteered in.

It was then a 20 minute walk back into the centre of town to arrive just in time for the start of the Women's sprint race. Ed Nicholas made a brief appearance, said hello and then dashed off to do important stuff. A lap of the Town Square finally located the Media Centre, and we managed to grab a start list and maps before heading out to try to get photos of all the British runners. This went OK for Alice and Jo (did these the easy way, as they left the start) but we then decided to head out into the area to get some action photos. We found a suitable control, and I worked out the best camera angle. Runner 36 came past: Megan is 38 so will be here in about two minutes. Three minutes passed and runner 39 arrived. It turns out that runners 37 and the camera-shy 38 had taken a different route choice. We quickly headed down the hill to get her on the second loop. As we set up in front of the TV control by the main University building we saw runner 36 followed by 37. And then my camera battery decided to die just as Megan came into view. I just managed to get back to the Media Centre, find my spare battery and rush out onto the balcony overlooking the run-in as she appeared round the corner to punch the last control. The photo made it to the BOF website, even if it is a bit of an awkward angle, but very few people will know the tension involved in getting it.

So then it was the men's turn. I thought I had learnt my lesson, so I got Peter as he started. Just need a photo of Chris now. Let's go for a shot of him running up the hill. Oh look, there's a good camera angle from behind the fountain and flags. Indeed there is, but if you get there 10 seconds after the runner has gone through then the resulting photo lacks a little something. I decided I couldn't muck around any longer, so stationed myself by the last control. This turned out to be a good spot, and I got some great photos of Peter finishing. Oh, and one of Chris as well.

Then it was another quick lap around the hill to see a few of the later runners on the last loop, and finally back to the Town Square to get a picture of a Finnish flag with Daniel Hubmann's legs coming out the bottom of it as he sprinted down the run-in to victory. This press thing is not turning out to be as easy as I'd hoped. But things improved when we finally tracked down some British team members, and I spent fifteen minutes interviewing Peter, Chris and Megan. They had all clearly had a fantastic time and were more than happy to tell people about it. Spirits are high in the GB camp, and tomorrow could be a good day. Mind you, it's almost tomorrow already, given how long it has taken to write various articles for various websites and sort through nearly 300 photos, some of which even show GB runners. And I even managed to set up Routegadget for the HH Saturday series that was taking place in Highfield Park at the same time that we were running in the Spectator Race.

That list in full for those desperate to know, in order of appearance: England, Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Netherlands, France, Northern Ireland, Canada, USA, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Russia, Finland, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Iceland, Estonia

I also get half a point for Portugal, where I did the IOF Event Advisor Course, but never managed to run an event.

WOC and roll

C-JAM putting the WOC in rock and roll

I consider myself something of a connoisseur of WOC opening ceremonies, even if I need to look up the spelling before committing it to keypad. I particularly remember some corner of a far-flung Norwegian hillside that was forever and forever and forever Norway. That and the sky-diver at WOC 1999 in Scotland.

What we have just had in Estonia is going to be right up there with the most memorable. The large town square seemed almost devoid of people, even some minutes past the official starting time. After we'd been there about 20 minutes our recycled GB flag on a stick from WOC in Scotland 2015 was in third place in the "biggest flag in the crowd" category behind the Swiss and Swedes, mainly because these were the only three flags that I could see. Gradually more people drifted in, and then a distant thumping sound signified something might be about to happen, The thumping sound grew gradually larger until a lorry appeared in the far distance with two extremely large speakers on it blaring out some random Estonian tune of the moment, and a long trail of flags and orienteers behind it.

And then something happened to confirm this really was WOC. Per Forsberg bounced onto the stage and started announcing the teams as they made it into the square. Ever the professional, not once did he succumb to the temptation of querying the delay in proceedings with a trademark "I think he's too late". The parade was somewhat underwhelming. As ever the number of athletes was quite small, since people don't want to stand around all night when they have races to run. But at least we could watch as teams like Cyprus, Chile, Egypt and North Korea marched past. The teams formed up around the fountain at the top of the square with Tartu Town Hall in the background, and the assembled crowd (which by now just about deserved that term) formed around them.

After that we had the normal sorts of speeches (although commendably short) from IOF President
Leho Haldna, who turns out to be from Tartu, and then impressively from Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid. She managed to drop in various interesting facts about Estonia, including the surprisingly low population of just over a million.

So very quickly we had talked the talk and raised the flag and we were on to the entertainment. Which turned out to be a cello quartet called C-Jam. Who played cover versions of rock songs. Starting with "Highway to Hell" by ACDC. Followed by "Whatever You Want" by Status Quo. And finishing with the age-old string quartet crowd-pleaser "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Watched by the North Korean orienteering team. In a town square in the middle of Estonia. Next they'll be telling you that Donald Trump is President of America.

Top that Latvia (WOC 2018 if you hadn't heard). All that remained was for the teams that had made it to take various team photographs and then it was off home to recover in time for tomorrow's sprint races (one for us mortals, one for the superstars).

Gallia est omnis divisa in tres partes

To get in the mood for something that might make an appearance tomorrow, we start with a Latin quote. “All Gaul is divided into three parts” according to Julius Caesar ('De Bello Gallico', Part 1, but wasn't Part 2 much better?) Wilson Hinkley, a geologist, noted that these were igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. But for our purposes, we are more interested in the three parts that WOC countries can be divided into when you look at the overall WOC medal table. (I realise this analysis struggles to cope with the break-up of countries since the late 1980s, but I think it is still a reasonable way of looking at things).

The first part consist of four countries, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Finland, who between them have won 480 WOC medals (158 gold, 167 silver and 155 bronze). They expect to win medals (note the plural) at pretty much every WOC, and when they don't there are questions asked.

The second part consists of five countries; Russia, Czech Republic, France, Denmark and, to be a little generous, Great Britain. These countries have won 115 WOC medals (41 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze). They pick up a steady stream of medals, but it is still reasonable cause for celebration when it happens.

The third part consists of the remaining eight countries: Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia, Austria, Soviet Union, Australia, Belorussia, Germany and Italy. These countries have won 23 WOC medals (7 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze). In many cases they are down to a single athlete putting it all together when it counts (such as Hanny Alston for Australia and Lucie Böhm for Austria). When these medals arrive it is party time for real.

What does this tell us about WOC 2017? The same four countries will take most of the medals. It will be a surprise, but not much of one, if GB can grab a medal. And we might see some new teams make it into the third part.There are two obvious candidates. First could be Belgium, with Yannick Michiels in the Sprint race. Secondly I’d go for Canada, where EmilyKemp continues to put in impressive performances and has been close before. After that who knows, but maybe an Estonian on home soil could do something special. But remember I spent a long time predicting that China would become a force to reckon with, and it hasn't really turned out that way.

So for the GB supporter you are left hoping we can reinforce our standing in the second tier of the table, but knowing that medals at World Championships are hard to get. If you look at the British medals to date there are some that we always knew would happen (Yvette and Jamie), some that we hoped would happen (Heather finally getting there in Japan, and Scott) and some that were a bit of a surprise (in which category I would put all three Men’s relay medals). This week I'd say there are two clear chances for a GB medal: Kris Jones in the Men's Sprint (if has recovered from recent injury), and the Mixed Sprint Relay team. Unfortunately the competition in both these races is very strong, lots of other countries think they will be taking the medals, and top six on the day could still be an excellent result. Of the other outside possibilities I'd go for the Men's Relay, after two years of being fourth.

Later in the week I'll look at how to work out how well we are doing even if we don't win any medals. The easy starting point is to see all runners qualify for the final. Job done in the Sprint. But for now, let the games begin.

The Missing Years

Mike Edwards spectating from the Commentary Box at WOC 2015

This blog started out to cover WOC 2006 in Denmark, and early posts covered WOC history to that date. Team Errington made it to the Ukraine for WOC 2007, but I've written nothing since the World Championships in the Czech Republic back in 2008, where Jamie, Jon and GG took an unexpected gold medal in the relay after Thierry's unfortunate meeting with a bee meant that he missed out on his first gold relay medal. So before things get started in Estonia on Friday there is just time for a quick look back at what the GB WOC supporters have had to get excited about over the past nine years.

WOC 2009: Miskolc, Hungary

GG, Scott Fraser and Pippa Whitehouse made the top 20 in a rather strange sprint race that was mostly in forest. GG was 9th in the Men's Long. But the talking point of the year was the Men's Relay. Swedish runner Martin Johansson was seriously injured after getting a stick impaled in his leg whilst in the lead on the last leg. France, Norway and the Czech Republic all stopped to help him, and Thierry had found a new way of not winning a WOC relay gold.

WOC 2010: Trondheim, Norway

GB performance of the week was Scott Fraser taking sixth in the Long: still our best male performance, with only Jamie Stevenson and GG having also made the top ten. Pippa Archer, Sarah Rollins and Helen Bridle all made the top 20 in the Women's Sprint. The men took fourth in the relay after Thierry had found yet another new way of not winning a WOC relay gold. This time he was in the lead half way round the last leg when he ran straight past the control before the spectator run-through. The crowd soon told him of his mistake, but running back to get the control left France in sixth.

WOC 2011: Savoie Grand Revard, France

The French found some crazily complex terrain and then set Thierry on it. He won the Middle race by over two minutes, the Long race by over four minutes and finally picked up a Relay gold as well.

British highlight of the week was the Men's Sprint, with GG an agonising fourth, Scott Fraser ninth and Murray Strain 12th.

WOC 2012: Lausanne, Switzerland

Switzerland is where Jamie Stevenson took gold in the Sprint at WOC 2003. It was a case of oh so near in 2012, as Scott Fraser ended up fourth, behind three Swiss men all called Matthias. Claire Ward was seventh and Tessa Hill 12th in the Women's Sprint.

Surprise of the week was probably Switzerland failing to take a medal in the Men's Relay (that's what you get if you only pick two people called Matthias), with victory going to the Czech Republic. Individual performance of the week definitely went to Edgars Bertuks who won Latvia's first WOC medals with gold in the Middle race and bronze in the Long race.

WOC 2013: Vuokatti, Finland

Finally the near misses ended, GB had another WOC medal to celebrate, and Scott Fraser came home with a silver from the Sprint. Murray Strain was ninth and Kris Jones 16th, and Tessa Strain showed the Women were world-class as well taking fifth, with Sarah Rollins in 20th. Cat Taylor snuck into the top ten in the Women's long.

For Sarah Rollins it was her 11th and final WOC; a new GB record at the time but now having been overtaken by GG who will be at his 13th WOC in Estonia. And this was also Simone Niggli's 11th and final WOC. She only managed the three gold medals this time, but that made it a career total of 23 gold, two silver and six bronze.

WOC 2014: Trentino-Veneto, Italy

The Italians somehow managed to hold the Sprint races in Venice. Murray Strain was 13th and Kris Jones was 18th in the Men's Sprint, and Tessa Hill was 12th in the Women's Sprint. Elsewhere there was a better than normal set of top-20 results for Hector Haines (12th in Men's Middle), GG (20th in Men's Long), Claire Ward (12th in Women's Middle) and Cat Taylor (19th in Women's Long).

2014 also saw the first appearance of the Mixed Sprint Relay, with teams of two men and two women. If you have been paying attention you will realise this would seem to be playing to GB's strengths. Cat Taylor, Kris Jones, Murray Strain and Tessa Hill came home in sixth place. On a personal note, it was good to see the Russians taking a bronze medal. I first met Gleb Tikhonov (or rather his parents)  on a boat on a canal outside Moscow in 1994 when he was still in a pushchair.

WOC 2015: Inverness, Great Britain

Back on home terrain for a third time, including a third trip to Darnaway, this time for the Middle and Relay races. The British team put in a very strong set of results and did pretty much everything but win a medal. There were top 20 results in every race, with the highlights being fourth in the Men's Relay, where Ralph Street couldn't quite hold on for a medal on the last leg, and Cat Taylor's fifth in the Women's Middle (with Jess Tullie in 17th) and 6th in the Women's Long. Yet again the Men's Sprint produced three top-20 places (Kris Jones eighth, Scott Fraser 13th and Murray Strain 18th) and Charlotte Ward was 17th in the Women's Sprint. And Hector Haines and GG did the double in the Men's Middle (10th and 20th) and Men's Long (17th and 18th ).

WOC 2016: Strömstad-Tanum, Sweden

I was really struggling to remember much about this, but as ever Jan Kocbach on World of O came to the rescue. Kris Jones led the way for GB with fourth in the Men's Sprint, with Ralph Street in 17th. The Mixed Sprint Relay team got it together and ended up fourth as well, and so did the Men's Relay team. Three fourths is difficult to celebrate, and other top 20 finishes were fewer than recent years, with  Hector Haines 19th on the Men's Long and GG 19th on the Men's Middle. And a new country took a first medal, when Anastasia Denisova from Belarus took third place in the Women's Sprint.

So that's the past eight years dealt with. Next it will be time to look forward to what might happen this year.