WOC 2008 – Czech Republic

from The Australian Orienteer – September 2008

EXECUTIVE MATTERS

Surprises in Czech Republic

Michael Hubbert

Women’s Relay start. Photo: Erik Borg

Czech Republic is a fascinating example of a country pulling itself into the 21st Century. Lovely modern new trams running on tracks so old the trams have to crawl around corners to avoid derailment. Majestic old buildings recently cleaned and repainted standing amongst others in urgent need of major repairs. Derelict factories abound in most towns and villages yet the agricultural sector appears to be booming. Fields of corn, wheat, rye, soya and poppies spread as far as the eye can see. In Prague (Praha) it’s a well kept secret that a fast and shiny new underground rail line joins two decrepit old main line terminus stations. Fun and games for the traveller trying to make connecting trains.

The WOC carnival was based in Olomouc, a smaller city in the eastern part of the country. Volunteers had been brought in from far and wide to help run the carnival and there was a significant contribution from the army too. The volunteers worked really hard and were very keen to help all visitors in any way they could. Unfortunately the main organisers seemed to have missed the point that most visitors had come to see the WOC races and that participation in the public events came a distant second.

Sprint

Qualifying races were in Prostejov, a short train ride from Olomouc. Five Aussies qualified for the Final – all three women (Kathryn Ewels, Grace Elson and Jasmine Neve) and two men (Julian Dent and Simon Uppill). The Final was held in the old town part of Olomouc with start and finish in the main square. In the Women’s race Finland’s Minna Kauppi thought she had won the event for quite some time and hung around the finish line for confirmation. But it was not to be – Norwegian Anne Margrethe Hausken was a later starter and though it was close for most of the race she eventually beat Kauppi by 9.3sec. Kathryn Ewels at 27th was the best of the Aussies, closely followed by Grace Elson at 32nd and Jasmine Neve at 42nd. In the Men’s race, Sweden’s king of the sprint, Emil Wingstedt, mispunched near a TV control leaving it to Andrey Kramov (Russia) and Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) to fight it out for a close 1st and 2nd with the rest of the field well back in their wake. Julian Dent (41st) and Simon Uppill (42nd) could not match the speed of much of the field.

Middle-distance

Minna Kauppi blitzed the field in the Middle-distance Final winning by over two minutes. But behind her 39yo mother of four, Swiss legend, Vroni Konig-Salmi ran the race of her life to claim the silver medal. Konig-Salmi said after the race that she only came to WOC2008 to run in the relay and that the Middle-distance silver medal was a real bonus. It was her best performance at that distance in World Championships. Czech spectators went wild when Radka Brozkova ran in to take bronze. Best of the Aussies was Grace Elson (16th) closely followed by Jo Allison (17th) with Vanessa Round 32nd. Middle-distance king, Thierry Geourgiou of France confirmed his dominance of the event by winning his sixth title at this distance while Australia’s only male qualifier, Julian Dent, finished 32nd.

Long-distance

The long-distance Final was a brutal event with some incredibly long legs and patches of new pine plantation where visibility was down to less than 5 metres. Early in the race Norway’s Marianne Andersen lost a contact lens when thick tree growth brushed it from her eye. She finished with a silver medal, just 43secs behind Czech Dana Brozkova and it’s quite possible that with two good eyes she might have taken gold. The open forest was eminently runnable so any time lost in the thick stuff was magnified manyfold. Kathryn Ewels ran the race of her career to take 14th place whilst Jo Allison was 25th and Vanessa Round 39th. Daniel Hubmann of Switzerland won comfortably from Norway’s Anders Nordberg and Francois Gonon of France. Australia had no male qualifier.

Relays

Relays always bring excitement and the unexpected. Just two years ago (2006) the Australian women stood on the Relay podium in 4th place. This year the experts thought 7th or 8th would be a very good achievement. Jo Allison led off and for a time seemed to be leading the field according to information from the TV controls. She had a great run bringing the team into 6th place, just 80secs behind the leading team, Russia. Grace Elson kept up the pace putting the team into 7th after two legs, but ahead of her 39yo Vroni Konig-Salmi had streaked to the front building a 50sec lead for Switzerland early in the leg. She was able to maintain a good lead to the end of the second leg ahead of Sweden, Russia, Czech and Finland.

Simon Uppill waiting to start the Sprint. Photo: Robbie Preston

Women’s Relay first change – Allison to Elson Photo: Erik Borg

Aussie cheer squad during the Middle final. Photo: Mike Hubbert

Jo Allison in the Long final. Photo: Erik Borg

Minna Kauppi took over for Finland and proceeded to power through the field to 2nd and then to 1st by control #8. She ran brilliantly to build a substantial lead over Sweden, Russia and the Swiss. Kauppi burst out of the forest into an open field near the finish, did a forward roll as a victory salute then raced down to the finish with her teammates, Finnish flag flying. This was Kauppi’s second gold, and third medal of the week. After a brilliant 14th in the Long-distance Final the previous day, Kathryn Ewels had a great battle with Latvia and China towards the end and finished off a successful week to bring Australia into 8th place, just behind the flying Chinese Li Ji. The Chinese team’s performance was a real surprise though the open forest probably suited the fast running abilities of their former Olympic runners. In the Men’s Relay the French team was near the lead for most of the race and Thierry Geourgiou built a commanding lead on the last leg. But then tragedy struck. At Control #22 with just five controls to go Geourgiou appeared to start heading towards control #24. We could see on the screen that he would miss #23. It was only a short leg and about halfway along he appeared to realise his mistake and turned toward #23. By then the British and the Russian runners had nearly caught him. Geourgiou appeared to linger at #23 while the other two ran on. TV pictures showed him walking. Gueorgiou had suffered an allergic reaction after being bitten by an insect and was eventually helicoptered to hospital. France’s day was ruined. Although Briton Jamie Stevenson had run in the Long-distance Final, he was still able to outsprint Valentin Novikov of Russia in the run home. This was Britain’s first WOC gold in the Men’s Relay. Australia finished 15th after a great last leg from Julian Dent (11th fastest on the leg). He ran most of the last leg on his own, and was able to pull in a number of nations on the last loop. Earlier, David Shepherd finished 18th on the first leg, and Simon Uppill 20th on the second leg.