Long Distance Results

South Africa produced less than impressive results at the Long Distance Qualifier at WOC 2009 on Monday.

The second day of competition saw Cobus and Nicholas return to earth with a bump after the good results on the previous day's Middle Qualification. Eugene was unfortunately not able to start due to bad blisters on his feet from the Middle distance.

Cobus was the early starter in the team once again, finishing Heat C as 37th out of 38 in a time of 1:46:32. He found it tough going, with numerous errors around the course. The high speed that his competitors were running at did not do his confidence any good as they breezed past him in the forest.


Flic: Cobus Van Zyl finishing at the Long Distance Qualifier (viewable only on blog)

In Heat B, Nicholas had a disasterous run, missing time on many of the early controls and destroying his confidence. Tiredness as a result of last week's cold also played its part as he finished a disappointing 34th out of 38, in a time of 1:29:47, about 15 minutes down of what he tought would be acceptable.

The terrain was once again fast and easy. A big suprise for many runners was that a big route choice leg was presented immediately after the start as the leg to control 1. There was also some suprising mapping of a whole forest of significant trees on part of the map, thus making the significant trees rather insignificant. Most runners made few mistakes and qualification was tough in all heats (but particularly in Heat A where you needed to finish within 3:22 of the 1 hour winning time to Qualify!). There was however a suprisingly technical penultimate control on all heats that saw some of the big names loose 2 - 3 minutes, probably as a result of higher speed and a loss of concentration so close to the finish.

Pic: Any decent comments or title for this photo?

Monday was also the first day of the Hungaria O' Cup, which saw 2 people running in the colours of the Adventure Racing Club! The first was Cindy Van Zyl who acquitted herself well with a time just over one hour in the W35 category.

Pic: Cindy Van Zyl finishes Day 1 of the Hungaria O' Cup.

The second AR Club vest seemed to have been worn by an imposter with a distinct British accent.


Pic: Dave Peel (technically SYO, U.K.) gives a blow-by-blow account of his race to the South African reporter.

The team now take a couple of urgently needed rest days before the Sprint Qualification on Thursday morning. On Friday the team compete in their last race, the Relay.