Middle Distance Qualifier

Monday 20th - Middle Qualification

Middle distance runners woke this morning to a blanket of mist covering Kiev. It was not to last however. By the time of the first start at 09h30 this morning, the cloud had lifted and the temperature immediately rose. Air humidity was also quite a bit higher from the Long Qualification of Sunday.

The South African WOC Squad put together another bunch of mixed results. In Heat A Team Member Richard Lange got off to a bad start, missing on the first control and having to relocate and attack from an easier attack point. He settled down however and still managed to put in a good result given the low visibility terrain. He finished in 34:28, in 34th position out of 40 starters. The tough terrain, with vague contour detail at an interval of only 2.5m, in the dense green vegetation, saw many competitors disqualified for various reasons, including running over-time. Quite a number of 'definite' qualifiers also made costly errors and will now not appear in the Middle Final.

On heat B, Team Member Jeremy Green ran a fair race, with no major errors but quite a few smaller ones. He finished round about 52 minutes, but learnt immediately that he had mispunched control #8 (a nearby re-entrant instead of a depression).

Team Member Nicholas Mulder ran heat C and finished in 38:01, to claim 27th out of 41 starters. Nic got off to a good start, catching an Israeli participant 2 minutes ahead before the first control, and continued this form until #5. A long leg saw Nic loose time and contact with the Israeli before further small errors over the rest of the course. In the end however, a good result.

Maps

The South African WOC Team has managed to put some of their route choices up.

Here is Team Member Jeremy Green's run on the Sprint Qualifier:


Here is Team Member Nicholas Mulder's route on the Long Qualifier:


Whilst here is Team Member Richard Lange's route choice on today's Middle Qualifier:


Other Stuff

We've taken a few more photos from our high perch on top of Hotel Tourist. First is a statue on the other side of the Dnieper River, built in the early '80s. It's apparently the 3rd highest in the world. We can't go visit it just yet, as the area around it will be used for the Sprint Final this coming Sunday.


The Hotel Tourist is in part of Kiev that is more accurately described as 'suburban'. All of the building are apartment flats. Here is a view of some of the neighbouring ones. Don't let their dilapidated state fool you... housing prices are still sky-high in Kiev due to a housing shortage. Expect to pay US$700 per month for a 2-room apartment in one of these run down establishments. if you are lucky enough to find one to buy, expect to pay well above US$ 100'000. (Yes, prices are advertised in US $). Although not visually aesthetic on the outside, most apartments are well looked after once past the apartment door.


As alluded to in yesterday's post comments, there are a few more South Africans in the WOC area. Richard Gathercole is the Team Manager for the Austrian Team as well as being the South African Team Sandwich Maker. Although not yet spotted, ROC member (now living back in Sweden) Gosta Guteland will also be participating in the WOC Tour public races.

Coming Up

The next few days are going to be a well deserved break for the South Africans. Team Manager Ian Bratt puts on his other cap as SAOF President and attends 101 different IOF meetings. The team will go for a long walk around the main city area of Kiev tomorrow and do some sightseeing before attending the official Opening Ceremony. On Wednesday we'll be spectating at the Middle Final and maybe running a spectator race. Thursday is the Long Final. Friday will be a good rest day before the Relay event on Saturday.

The team wi'll put up some more interesting pictures of Kiev on the blog tomorrow evening.