2012 World Orienteering Championship

WOC began with the Sprint Qualification race in the morning followed by the Sprint Final in the afternoon. The qualification race was held in the university. I went and spectated at this race, cheering on Nicolas, David and Colm, along with Rosalind who were all attempting to qualify for the final. The sprint qualification has the same format as the Middle and Long qualification, three heats, with the top 15 in each heat qualifying for the final. Nicolas Simonin (BOC) was the only one to qualify for the final. 

Later in the afternoon we headed into Lausanne-Ouchy, a touristy part of Lausanne which is located on the shores of Lake Geneva. The arena was set-up with a run-through where the athletes came through before heading out on another loop on the course. There was a big screen and commentary, along with a remote control helicopter which was used to capture some overhead tv images. With crowds that surely ran into the thousands, there was a very good atmosphere, particularly when any Swiss runner entered the arena. Ladies first, and it was the Swiss athlete Simone Niggli who took gold, her umpteenth WOC gold. In the mens race it was a Swiss 1-2-3 with Matthias Kyburz winning, the other two Swiss men on the podium were are called Matthias (Merz & Müller). Nicolas finished in 27th place which was a superb result. 

After that mistake I refocused on what I was doing and got back orienteering. After the drinks station my stomach felt a small bit ill so thoughts of my long distance qualification race from last year where a similar issue occurred entered my head. Thankfully the sick feeling didn’t last too long so I upped the pace. Took safe route to 15 but to 16 I probably lost a few seconds. The longest leg on the course was next but there didn’t appear to be many route choices, so went via tracks where I could. But my direction was a small bit off at the end of the leg, hit green which was near where the control was, found a track, and made a parallel error. Looked around but no control so headed away from the control, found more green and my control. Think I was lucky here.The rest of the course was ok, maybe a few seconds lost here and there but nothing of note. Finished in 31st place in my heat. Can’t say that I was pleased with the result, but I was generally happy with how I ran. 

No rest before the Middle Distance Qualification race the next day, Monday. This area was in the Jura so was very different terrain to the long distance. The middle distance race was the one I was hoping to do well in, having had some good results this year. But on the day, these results stood for nothing, and it ended up being a race to forget. Started ok, legs didn’t feel tired after yesterday. Was not too certain going to the 1st control but got it ok. 

Middle Distance Qualification 

(©worldofo.com)

On the way to the 2nd control I bashed my knee, off a fallen branch I think, but that didn’t affect my race or the relay later in the week. Took a track option to 3 but at 4 I made my 1st mistake, overshot on a track and then lost time finding the control. Got 5 ok but again made a right mess of 6, it was a pit on a flat area, knew where I was approaching the control but just didn’t see the control. Found another control, knew where I was but still couldn’t find the control. Finally did, more time lost. 

I knew I had messed up the Middle race but afterwards I wasn’t feeling as low as I thought I would be. I think the reason for this was that I still had the relay to run. I had a few days to recover between the middle qualification race and the relay. I actually ran the middle final race as a training run on the Wednesday, and also ran on the relay model area. Body was feeling tired at this stage. After some discussion the relay running order was finalised, Nicolas, Colm and then me on 3rd leg. 

We were again quarantined for the relay, so spent a bit of time penned in there as the women ran first. Nicolas then lead the Irish team off, and had a fantastic race, handing over in 14th place. Colm dropped a few places during his run. When your incoming runner passed through the spectator control the next runner was then allowed to enter the changeover pen. From the changeover pen you could see the big screen with GPS tracking. So when I got in there after Colm passed through some of my course was on the big screen. It allowed me a sneak preview of part of my race, the long leg from 6-7. This was definitely beneficial. As I waited the Brazilian team changed over and then just in front of me the New Zealand team headed off, maybe 20 seconds of a head start.