JWOC REPORTS

The Events

Blair Trewin

Sprint, 8 July

The Junior World Championships started with the Sprint at Western Plains Zoo. A somewhat unconventional area for the Sprint – the out-of-bounds areas on the maps were marked with the names of the animals contained therein. (At most Sprints people going into out-of-bounds areas risk being disqualified; here, they risked being eaten). Steady rain fell for the two hours before the start, but it broke to occasional drizzle by the time the first competitors headed out (the last vertical moisture seen for the week). Being the first race, judging the favourites was difficult, although it was expected that most of the likely prospects would start in the later part of the field (teams can choose which people to allocate to which start blocks). In such situations the early leaders rarely stay close to the top. The most impressive time of the early stages was posted by Jenny Lönnkvist (SWE), who held the lead for much of the first half of the day. The action heated up in the middle of the day, when two very impressive times were posted. Vojtech Kral (CZE) was more than 30 seconds clear of the field when he crossed the line, whilst Eva Svensson (SWE) took an 18-second lead over her compatriot. Both margins looked impressive in a Sprint race but it was far too early to say that they were medal-winning runs. Both times, though, did hold up for gold medals. Svensson’s time looked highly likely to fall when Sarka Svobodna (CZE) was 21secs ahead of her at #10, but that margin was gradually whittled away over the last third of the course, and disappeared to nothing by the end. She fell a single second short. Maja Alm (DEN) was the last real chance; she was always within a few seconds of Svensson, but could never quite catch up and had to settle for bronze. Lönnkvist finished 5th, just behind Siri Ulvestad (NOR). Kral was not really challenged until late in the day. Mikael Kristensson (SWE) looked a possibility before losing time at #12 and #14 (only 15secs apiece, but that is enough to be fatal in a Sprint at this level), but a more serious threat was Olav Lundanes (NOR), regarded as one of the best juniors for many years and favoured for multiple medals this year. Lundanes always looked like getting in the top two, and made a charge over the final controls, but it left him with a silver medal, 6secs short. Whilst he never looked like winning, Ivan Sirakov (BUL) managed a major milestone for Bulgaria; his bronze was their first-ever international medal. Illustrating just how fine the margins can be in Sprints, only ten seconds separated 7th and 19th. Simon Uppill was the pick of the Australians. The Sprint was expected to be his weakest distance, which made his 10th place a very encouraging result. Vanessa Round was the best of the women in 23rd. It was also a good day for the New Zealanders, with top-twenty results from Tom Reynolds (15th), Greta Knarston (19th) and Lizzie Ingham (20th).

Long-distance, 9 July

At first glance Sappa Bulga looked as extreme an area as anyone had ever seen, with hillsides filled with rock and more rock. Once out there it was a bit easier than it looked, but it still provided a major test for the field’s endurance. It was definitely an area to sort the best out from the rest. The Norwegians had a fabulous day, rekindling memories (for some of us – although probably not for the competitors, none of whom were born then) of the senior World Championships of the early 1980’s when Norwegian clean sweeps were a regular occurrence. They took 1st and 2nd in both races, led by Olav Lundanes, who won the JWOC Long-distance for the second time. After early skirmishes of little consequence to the front end of the final results, the first seriously challenging time was posted by Stephan Kodeda (CZE). His result held up for a long time, but it was expected to come under major challenge later in the day. When his time was surpassed it was done convincingly, with Magne Dæhli (NOR) coming in more than three minutes ahead. The next major interest in the men’s race was the run of Simon Uppill. From the start it looked like he was on an extremely competitive time and had a real chance of a medal. A minute lost on the long 17th leg cost him a chance of overhauling Dæhli’s time, but he was still fast enough to be in medal contention. When Uppill crossed the line he was in 2nd place, but by then Lundanes was in the forest and clearly on an excellent run. He was narrowly ahead of Dæhli through the spectator controls, but was still only 13secs ahead at #20, and 37secs ahead at #22. That was where he took control of the race, finishing much stronger than anyone else in the field. He won six of the last eight splits, and finished nearly three minutes ahead and an almost certain winner. The only thing which remained to be decided was whether Uppill could hang onto bronze. He saw off several challenges, notably from Jan Benes (CZE) (who looked good until he lost time at the very end), but was eventually squeezed out by the last realistic contender, Christian Bobach (DEN). Like the men, the women saw a fast time posted in the middle of the day, but this time it was one which held up to the end. Siri Ulvestad (NOR) crossed the finish five minutes ahead of the field. It looked a good time, but would it be enough? Her team mate, Kine Hallan Steiwer, was the closest threat. She was at least as fast as Ulvestad (who did not win a split), but two minutes lost at #9 would eventually prove crucial; she came back hard at the end but fell 26secs short. Vanessa Round provided the next major excitement when she led through the first seven controls. She was always in touch with the leaders after that, not quite close enough to challenge seriously for a medal, but close enough to set herself for a very significant placing. That left the task of chasing the Norwegians down to two remaining runners. Heini Saarimaki (FIN) looked an excellent chance for silver at least for much of the way. She was only three seconds behind Steiwer at the second last control, but lost 30secs on the last and had to settle for bronze. Sabine Hauswirth (SUI) was very competitive, but never quite looked like breaking into the medals and finished in 4th place. Round held onto a podium place in 6th. For the Australians, apart from their two lead runners, Louis Elson could be happy with his day’s work. At halfway a top-20 place looked possible; he drifted back a little in the second half but still ended in the top third of the field at 37th. Rachel Effeney also had a solid race (especially for someone not in the original team), finishing midfield at 53rd, whilst for New Zealand Greta Knarston’s 16th was her second top-20 result in two days.

Middle-distance Qualifying, 11 July

The main interest in any qualification race is in the major casualties. This time, the main casualty was as big a name as they come – a Long-distance gold medallist. Siri Ulvestad, after being on the pace for much of the course, lost 8mins at #10. Even for a world champion, that is too much to recover from in a Middledistance race, and she missed by just over a minute. With 60 out of 92 to qualify, few other significant exits were expected and few eventuated, the most notable being Greta Knarston (NZ) missing a control, although Anna Forsberg (SWE) got a scare when a 4mins mistake at #5 left her in 19th, qualifying by one place. For the men it was much less of a formality. All of the top-10 from the Long-distance qualified, but there were a few notables elsewhere who did not, most significantly sprint medallist Ivan Sirakov BUL), Simon Hodler (SUI) and Jonas Gvildys (LIT) (who lost 2mins at the third-last). Whilst the results at the front end are not always a reliable guide as to what is likely to happen the next day, it was difficult not to take note of Jenny Lönnkvist’s run, as she won her heat by more than two minutes. The other two heats were won by Norwegian women, Kine Hallan Steiwer and Ida Marie Bjorgul. Timo Sild (EST), well known to the home crowd through his year in Adelaide in 2005-06, was a heat winner, along with Olav Lundanes and Zsolt Lenkei (HUN). Qualifying may have been a formality for some of the best (barring serious accident), but for most of the Australians it was a major objective. As expected, Simon Uppill and Vanessa Round qualified easily. None of the other men made it, although Louis Elson got agonizingly close, falling five seconds short after some wobbles at the end. It was a better day for the women, with Heather Harding and Bridget Anderson making it with a bit to spare, and Jess Davis also scraping through. Again New Zealand had their moments, with top-3 results for Lizzie Ingham and Tineke Berthelsen.

Middle-distance final, 12 July

Jenny Lönnkvist (SWE) produced the dominant performance of the heats. This does not always mean anything for the final, but on this occasion it did. Making a mockery of the closely bunched group who were at the front of the field when she set out, she was already nearly a minute clear at #5 – so fast that those watching the radio controls wondered if she might have missed a control. She further extended her lead over the rest of the course, and was more than 2mins ahead when she finished. Ida Marie Bjorgul (NOR) made some impression on that in her silver-medal run, but never seriously looked like winning and was 1:34 behind at the end. It was close behind that; so close that the two contenders for the bronze could not be separated. Saila Kinni (FIN) and Tatyana Mendel (RUS) were close throughout and ended up level at the finish. As she had the previous day, Vanessa Round made a very promising start, but she lost time on the short ninth leg and ended up in 15th place. Martin Hubmann (SUI) was the clubhouse leader as the men’s race approached its business end, but in 2007 nothing was considered decided until Olav Lundanes had posted a time. As the splits came through it became apparent that Lundanes was again a very serious player. Once again he was closely challenged by a fellow Scandinavian – this time Petter Eriksson SWE). The margin was in single digits for much of the course, but #16 control was crucial. Lundanes gained 27secs there, consolidating a very narrow lead, and ended up 44secs ahead. Eriksson narrowly held on for silver ahead of Hubmann. Simon Uppill went into the race with very high hopes – his best domestic elite results have been in the Middle-distance – but he made an uncharacteristic poor start, losing a minute at the first control, and had to be content with 21st place. None of the other Australian finalists got into the top half of the field, with Heather Harding the pick of the bunch at 38th, and the New Zealanders did not quite fulfil the high hopes generated from their qualifying results.

Relay, 13 July

The JWOC week finished with the Relay. Sometimes Relays are slightly less technical than the individual events, but this one made no concessions and was as much of a challenge as the remaining events – starting with a major route choice on the first leg (although few were brave enough to go wide in a mass-start situation). At this level one normally expects significant lead packs on the first leg and JWOC2007 was no exception. Ten men and thirteen women finished the first leg within a minute of the lead, with the main interest being in who wasn’t there. The Finnish and Danish men both lost more than five minutes to the leaders and never got into medal contention, whilst the Norwegians were two minutes back, which was to prove crucial. Russia, Denmark and France were the major early casualties in the women’s event. The second leg was where the critical move was made in the men’s race. Jan Benes, a Middle-distance gold medallist in 2006, had had a disappointing set of individual events, but he ran a great second leg to give the Czechs a clear lead. He was 2mins clear of the field at the final spectator control, and whilst the Norwegians made some impression on that over the closing stages, he still had more than a minute in hand at the end. A minute still looked a tenuous lead, with double gold medallist Olav Lundanes to chase Adam Chromy (CZE), but Chromy was equal to the task in a superbly controlled race. He never missed a beat and maintained the lead at between 30secs and a minute throughout the course, extending it a little at the end to give his country the win by 1:10. The Czechs completed an excellent day when their second team came in third, but as only one team per nation counts officially, the bronze went – unexpectedly – to Latvia after three consistent runs. The second women’s leg whittled the pack at the front down but did not produce a clear leader, with Norway, Czech Republic and both Swedish teams at the front, and Finland only 30secs behind. Norway and Sweden looked the favourites with two world champions, Siri Ulvestad and Jenny Lönnkvist, up against each other. Lönnkvist looked to have made the decisive break early on the last leg. Ulvestad lost time at #2, as did Frida Aspnäs for the second Swedish team, and Simona Karochova (CZE) also lost time over the opening controls. That left the Swedes a minute in front, and they still had that lead into the final loop – but then Lönnkvist lost that minute at the third-last control, setting the stage for a sprint finish. The Swede still led at the final control, but only by a few metres, and after a fiercely contested, elbowto-elbow, sprint for the line, Ulvestad prevailed by a metre. The bronze medal also changed hands over the final control, as Sabine Hauswirth went through the Finns and Czechs to give third place to Switzerland. For the Australians, the chief highlight was Simon Uppill’s second-leg run. He had the fastest second leg, just ahead of Benes, and the fifth-fastest time overall. The team placed 19th. The women looked a chance for the top-10 at times, particularly after Rachel Effeney further enhanced her reputation with an excellent second leg, but were squeezed out of the top10 when Maja Alm had the day’s fastest time for the Danes.

Australia’s JWOC in Dubbo 2007

Hilary Wood, Team Manager

JWOC was on home turf this year with the expectation that the home advantage would clearly see Australia with a clear advantage. What was the reality?

THIS year we had a mostly new Team apart from the two talented South Australians, Vanessa Round and Simon Uppill. Realistically, when one analysed the results over the preceding 12 months these two were our best chance of success. They did not disappoint with Simon’s results showing he can compete at the highest level in the world with a 4th and Vanessa attaining a 6th place in the prestigious Long-distance event. They were the best two performers overall. Their years of previous JWOC experience showing through along with the realisation of just how tough the competition is on the world stage. The Team shows it has the potential to develop over the next couple of years with youngsters like Belinda Lawford, one of the youngest Australians to compete in JWOC, showing great promise. Rachel Effeney coming from a running background and quickly picking up the navigational challenges also proved a good selection as first reserve after Ineka Booth had to withdraw from the team as a result of injury, however Ineka is back to training and will be no doubt be in the running for the team in 2008. The Team prepared with four days in Orange at the beginning of the official training camp and then retreated to the cold climes of the World Heritage Blue Mountains. Here the Team relaxed with some running in the mornings and taking in the magnificent scenery this area affords. Some Team members battled the winter woes of colds and coughs and plenty of immune boosting foods were consumed. We were fortunate to have nearby the official JWOC Doctor, Mark Freeman, who attended to us to make sure we would be in the best possible condition leading into the competition. Another home team advantage was to have the services of two physiotherapists, Jan Sargood and Jarrod Vos from Tasmania. The Team enjoyed the massages as well as the generous sponsorship from SKINS where each member was given four garments - shorts, tights, recovery tights and vests - to help them recover from their training sessions and perform at their peak in the competitions. We also were sponsored by HIGH 5 nutritional products which proved very popular with the team and ensured energy levels were kept at an optimum level for the races and in particular the Long-distance race where it is easy to become spent if one does not have on hand the gels to keep one going. The four days of training saw the selection trials area revisited and the Team tried exercise bikes to warm down after the race to ensure optimal recovery strategies were taken.

Sprint: Western Plains Zoo

The morning was cool and squally showers were threatening. Rain had fallen on the previous few days and it was not looking good. However the weather cleared and although a bit muddy underfoot the atmosphere was exciting with the Voice of The Forest providing excellent coverage in the arena and monkeys squealing to add to the fun. The Sprint race is characterised by quick running and fast decision-making on route choices and rewards those who are fittest and fastest in thinking over the short distance. Simon Uppill started Australia’s quest for its best result ever on a good footing coming 10th just 40secs down on the Czech winner Vojtech Kral (13:59). This gave Simon a huge boost in his confidence for the rest of the championships, showing that his fitness was up there with the best. Rhys Challen was the next best Australian male junior in 71st position which was very good considering he was recovering from a cold. The other Aussie boys all finishing within 48secs of one another in 17-18 minutes for the 3.3km course and showing that maybe a lack of physical fitness may be the cause of these more mediocre performances being three minutes behind the top runners. Vanessa Round surprised herself with her 23rd placing and 1:17 behind winner Eva Svensson (13:19) of Sweden over the 2.7km course. She did not expect to do so well as this is not her favourite distance. Vanessa was delighted and it gave her the confidence to believe her performance for the rest of the week could result in a podium finish. Rachel Effeney(15:28) was the next best placed Aussie girl and showed her running background playing its part in her result. The four other girls were led home by Belinda Lawford again, like the boys, finishing within about a minute of each other at the 16-17minute mark. Bridget Anderson was particularly pleased with her result as she does not see herself as a sprinter but her result was as good as her other Aussie teammates.

Long-distance: Malang – “Rock Area”

The Long-distance day saw the sun shining and beautiful weather. The Free Range Coffee horse trailer was on hand to keep spectators happy and the atmosphere was upbeat with high

expectations from the Australian crowd for the Aussie Team. The arena was magnificent with great views of two spectator controls - one on the rocky hillside above the results board and one manmade adjacent to the finish chute. Another run through on the other side provided plenty of opportunity for the spectators to watch the runners throughout the day. This race is the toughest of the championships requiring strong endurance and fitness and the HIGH 5 gels were extremely beneficial to our team and kept their brains working and enabled them to maintain the concentration and energy required for navigating on the run in peak form. The teams generally send there weaker runners out earlier in the day and so early posted times tend to be beaten later in the day. Simon, being our strongest runner, was in the last start block. He caused great excitement getting to the first radio control in the fastest time at that point. Vanessa also caused excitement when she came through the radio control as she also had the fastest time at that point. By the time Vanessa finished she was in a very good position but was closed out by later finishers with faster times. She finished in 6th place which was outstanding. Vanessa is only the second Australian girl to Hanny Allston in achieving a podium finish at JWOC. Simon also joins esteemed company in finishing in 4th place as Julian Dent did in Switzerland in 2005, Tom Quayle back in the 90’s twice, Troy de Haas being the only Aussie junior to finish better in 3rd spot in 1999. Louis Elson had his best run of the week in the Long-distance finishing in a creditable 37th position. He was very happy with this run and looked smooth as he passed through the arena.

Middle-distance Qualification: Ngan Girra – “meeting place”

The Australian Team were appropriately buoyed by the strong performances from Simon and Vanessa. The Team was hopeful of maximising the number of team members to qualify for the A final. The field is divided into groups of 60 competitors for the heats and the top 20 in each heat qualify for the final. The girls showed their strength in the shorter distance more technical terrain race and Australia came through with 4 girls having great runs to qualify for the A final. Vanessa Round convincingly qualified in 2nd place in her heat. Heather Harding and Jess Davis qualified in 9th and 17th place respectively in their heat and Bridget Anderson was very pleased with her 10th place qualifying her for the A final. These results show the potential for depth in the Aussie team with these three girls being potential runners for Australia next year. Rachel Effeney and Belinda Lawford just missed out both finishing 23rd in their heats. In the boys Simon Uppill continued his good form and qualified comfortably in 11th spot. Louis Elson’s steady attitude gave him a frustratingly close-to-qualifying time finishing in 22nd place and missing out by just 5 seconds. He just needed to sprint a bit harder through the arena and he would have been there. He commented that he made a few minor mistakes in the second half of his course which slowed him up. Rhys Challen, Morten Neve, Nick Andrewartha and Rob Fell followed the trend of the Sprint and all finished in the 31st minute, eight minutes away from the winning qualifying times.

Middle Distance Final: Dhaadyiwa – “look out for”

The Aussie girls were very happy to have made the A final and put their best efforts in, however so did the other competitors and the Final day proved to be a little too hard for them. Bridget Anderson made mistakes from the outset and never quite got into the map. Vanessa Round again showed her experience and finished in 15th place 4 minutes off the pace. Heather Harding was very happy with her run for her first JWOC finishing in 38th position 6:30 behind the winning time of Jenny Lonnkvist. Jess Davis was very happy too, although 8mins from the winning time, finishing in 47th place. In the boys only Simon was in the A final. He managed to finish in 21st position 3:30 off the pace which was a creditable performance. He was not terribly happy with his run commenting that it was a bit scrappy. Olav Lundanes continued to show his fantastic form winning the 4.5km course in 23:15.

Relays: Nguluway – “meeting each other”

The Relay day was very cold and very bleak. Again a lot of thought had gone into making the arena spectator-friendly and even though the weather was bitter it was an enjoyable day. The Australian Team were excited and keen to support each other in a good race. Obvious favourites were Norway in the boys and girls and they did not disappoint although the Czech Republic who had shown strong form over the week with people like Jan Benes and Adam Chromy in the team were going to make it a real race to the line. In the girls they were feeling good and well in with a chance of a top-10 result. Vanessa Round, Rachel Effeney and Heather Harding made up the stronger team and did well to finish in 11th place. In the boys the second team had something to prove to the coach after much deliberation over who would be in what team. The boys’ results over the week being much the same apart from Simon Uppill and Louis Elson standing out from the others. The third member was a cause of much angst for the coaches Jim Russell and Hanny Allston. As it turned out all three in the second team beat the times of Louis Elson and Rhys Challen, proving picking the best for the Relay is no easy task. Simon’s outstanding time of 43:06 was still a clear 7mins ahead of any of the other boys in the Aussie team and equal 5th fastest time on the day. Overall the Australian Team finished 12th country out of the 28 countries competing. The team has many young members who will no doubt be back next year in Sweden to show what they can do. They now realise how tough the competition is and what they have to do to improve on this year’s results. They will be working hard to improve their general level of fitness and will concentrate on Orienteering at a faster and safer pace, looking for safe and sure route choices to get them between controls in the fastest possible time.