JAPAN – WOC 2005
WOC 2005 – Aichi, Japan
map of Kurosaka/Kiriyama
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ONTOURS, contours and more contours – that’s what will face competitors in the 2005 World Championships (foot-O) in Japan this August 7-14. Based in a region just east of Nagoya (near Toyota City) the WOC program will be augmented by the Forest Festival - a 7-day series of public competitions held on the same maps where the national team competitors will run. To top it off, the Orienteering program will be part of the much larger World Expo 2005 near Toyota City. August is holiday time in Japan so expect massive crowds wherever you go. In Sweden some 6000 spectators paid to watch the Relays. It’s likely that the number of spectators in Japan will set new benchmarks.
Build-up to WOC
Already the Swedish national team, including 2004 gold medallists Niclas Jonasson and Karolina A. Höjsgaard, have spent time in Japan last November getting familiar with the terrain, the local people and the food. The Swedes will go back to Japan for more training later this year. The Swiss national team also plans to spend almost two weeks there in March to further familiarise themselves with the terrain; members were there in August 2004. Because vegetation will be thicker in August, when WOC takes place, and because the weather will be hotter with high humidity, the Swiss team will arrive in Aichi some ten days before WOC in order to acclimatise. Australian and New Zealand orienteers are saying that Japan will be ‘neutral’ terrain where they can expect to compete on more level terms with the Scandinavians. That remains to be seen. What is certain is that all competitors will need a high tolerance to heat and humidity to be successful, and some mountain goat abilities will be useful too.
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MARCH 2005 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11
