JWOC 2004 POLAND

Hanny Allston 12th in World Juniors

The annual Junior World Championships in foot Orienteering took place this year from July 4-11 in the Pomerania district of northern Poland, with the event centre in Gdansk. JWOC is for M20 & W20 classes (men & women 20 years of age and younger). Events were contested by 296 athletes (140 women and 156 men) representing 35 countries, including all the orienteering nations in Europe and Scandinavia, and from much further afield such as Australia and Japan who both sent full teams of 6 men & 6 women. The terrain was forest-covered moraine hills with many paths and tracks and, generally, very good runnability, so competition was fast and furious. Team Manager Hilary Wood reports:

THE team arrived in Poland two weeks before the competition to acclimatise to conditions and to train in the local forests, becoming familiar with the terrain and mapping styles. They enjoyed this time together and were able to settle down well. For a few days before the competition the team stayed in a villa near the Baltic coast and enjoyed some rest time so they were fresh for the competition.

Day 1 Qualification Race - Hanny wins her Qualification Race!

The Australians did very well with four reaching the A Final - Hanny Allston (25:13) had an excellent run taking 1st place in her qualifying race. Julian Dent (30:42) and Conrad Elson (29:30) finished 14th and 15th respectively. Julia Davies (29:16) also performed well finishing 18th. All were very happy with their runs and stoked about making the A Finals.

Dave Meyer (30:43) just missed out on qualifying for the A Final by 7 seconds. Lachlan Hallett (30:16) was in a very competitive heat and finished just 3:56 behind the winner but was placed 29th. Hanny Allston felt very happy with her run. She kept the legs simple and clean. Erin Post found the running hard as she battled the effects of a cold. Jasmine Neve found the short sharp hills tough and difficult to run fast. Lee Andrewartha (34:37) in his first competition outside Australia ran a creditable time.

Day 2 – Middle-Distance Finals – Hanny 12th in A Final

Intermittent sunny periods with cool temperatures made for great orienteering conditions. Top positions were hotly contested with place-getters coming from six different countries, showing the strength of Junior orienteering in Eastern Europe and Great Britain. Two British girls just missed out on top places.

But the winners were Scandinavians. In Men’s A - Auden Bjerkreim Nilson (Norway) finished in 27:09 followed by Swiss Mathias Merz (27:34) (last year’s JWOC winner) and Lithuanian Simonas Krepsta (27:42). In Women’s A, Helena Jansson (Sweden) took first (28:59) followed by Radka Brozkova, Czech Republic, (30:08), and Finn AnniMaija Fincke (30:30).

Of the Australians, Hanny Allston had another excellent run finishing 12th in 32:53 (just 3:54 behind the winner). She said she would like to have done better but was very happy to have reached her goals of making the A Final and then being placed in the top 20. She recorded fastest time on some of her splits, showing her potential to compete and succeed with the best. Julia Davies made some costly mistakes leaving her in 59th position.

Julian Dent finished 28th with 31:00 (3:51 off the pace). Conrad Elson finished 52nd, about 7 minutes off the pace. A reliable Aussie source reported the Norwegian Auden Bjerkiem Nilson as saying “to be a world champion you have to be crazy and I just run to have fun!!!” Well I guess that's right - they say when athletes are performing 'in the zone' they are enjoying it and everything feels right.

Day 3 – ‘Classic’ Long-Distance Race

Teams tend to put their best runners out last and Matthias Merz from Switzerland - last year’s 2nd placegetter in the “Classic” and winner of the 2004 Middle-Distance – was one of those with a late start. That made for a very exciting finish and the crowd roared as Merz appeared in the finish chute with just 30 seconds to take first place. The Swiss team urged him to sprint but he looked tired and seemed to amble in. It was just enough for he hit the line one second in front of Martin Johannson of Sweden.

Talking later to Merz (72:19) he said it was just a bit of luck to win by one second but he was very happy. Johannsson (72:20) had a very good race, coming home strongly after running off the map at the second control, costing him two minutes. He recovered and had the fastest splits towards the end of the race. Third place went to Lithuanian Simonas Kreptas (72:29) matching his third in the MiddleDistance race. The men’s course had lots of route choice and challenged the competitors to make quick decisions on whether to

take straighter, more navigationally challenging, routes or longer track routes with not so much thinking required.

Silja Tarvonsen (Finland) convincingly won the women’s race in 59:51, nearly two minutes ahead of Swiss Veline Stalder (61:48) and British girl Alison O'Neil (62:22). O’Neill was very pleased with her run and put it down to the massages that kept her going over the week. Her main worry was how to get her lovely amber tree trophy home! Again, plenty of route choice required quick decision-making on the run.

Of the Australians, Julian Dent was the top performer. He felt good at the end finishing 41st in 81:32 (9:13 behind the winner but ahead of Middle-Distance winner Audun Bjerkreim Nilson who ran

81:58). Hayden Lebbink in his first trip to JWOC came 69th in 86:04, followed by David Meyer (86:24) in 72nd position. Lachlan Hallett (90:24) in 98th place found the going tough and made a route choice mistake which took its toll. Conrad Elson (100:38) and Lee Andrewartha (111:17) both found it physically hard, making route choice mistakes and losing contact with the map at times. Three Australian men finished in the top half of the field.

The girls performed creditably with two finishing in the top half of their field. Sophie redeemed her mispunch of the previous day where she failed to check a code and finished 53rd in 76:29. She felt a lot happier about her run with no major errors apart from a poor route choice costing her some time. Hanny Allston (77:04) in 59th place admitted she went out too hard, hitting the wall in the middle of the race. She never quite recovered, feeling very tired at the end. Time splits showed Hanny was winning the race up to the 6th control but then dropped to 20th at control 7, recovered a little but continued to lose time dropping to 38th position at control 13 and then 61st at control 14.

Felicity Brown (81:43) finished 83rd followed by Jasmine Neve (81:52) in 84th. Julia Davies was not far behind in 82:14 for 87th place. Felicity admitted to making a 90-degree error coming out of the drinks control, costing her dearly. Erin Post finished 116th. She made some big mistakes with route choice and navigation - not one she wants to remember.

Julia Davies heads off on her relay leg. Photo: Hilary Wood

Day 4 - Relays - Hanny Allston third on first leg!

Hanny had a great run finishing third on her leg of the relay in a time of 37:44. Her team members Julia Davies (45:06) and Sophie Barker (47:30) also ran creditable times though not quite at the same level in the tough competition. Their team finished 16th in a field of 23 national teams. Hanny has gained new confidence in her ability to compete at the highest level. Julian Dent (45:30) also performed very well in the first

leg of the men’s relay finishing 13th in a field of 50 starters. There was a problem at the second (common) control where a crowd of runners gathered and jostled for the control. Julian tried to get them to line up but it was a bit of a ‘bun fight’. In the Women’s relays the Scandinavian countries filled all three places, but the Czech Republic gave a stunning performance coming 2nd in the men’s competition and 4th in the women’s. The Swiss men’s team finished 3rd. The Australian men’s team finished 24th overall and 18th in the official A team competition. The Womens team finished 22nd. Overall Australia finished 16th as a nation out of a total of 35 competing nations. Nation results as follows: 1. Sweden, 2.Norway, 3. Finland. The runner-up nation was Czech Republic.

Hayden Lebbink reaches the last control in the Short final. Photo: Hilary Wood Conrad Elson finishing the Middle Distance qualification. Photo: Hilary Wood

Julian Dent, 13th fastest on his relay leg. Photo: Hilary Wood