Mixed results for Team RSA in Middle Qualie

Team South Africa had mixed results on the first day of competition at WOC, the Middle Distance Qualification, which were held in the forests just south of the village of Bükkszentkereszt on Sunday morning.

Pic: Eugene, Nicholas and Cobus pose for the Official Team S.A. photo.

The highest result came from Nicholas Mulder, 29th on Heat C (36:10), which put him 9:59 behind the winner and 5:00 away from the elusive 15th spot, the final qualification place for the Middle Final on Wednesday. 38 runners competed in each heat. He's described his run as 'mediocre', with about 45 seconds of mistakes. The main problem however has been a lingering cold over the last week which he feels slowed him down by a couple of minutes. He's mostly over it now, so is looking forward to a positive Long Qualification race.

On Heat A, Cobus Van Zyl ran into a 36th place in a very respectable time of 44:40, especially commendable given that this is his first ever international race at the elite level. He seems quite happy, and had a fairly clean run despite being very nervous over the last few days as he realised the magnitude of what he was getting himself into. In true orienteers form, he's already dissected his mistakes and come up with a grand total of 4 to 6 minutes of errors that he should be able to avoid.

Eugene Botha had a disasterous first race in WOC. Within 3 controls he had developed severe blisters on one foot due to sock troubles. These soon became unbearable and he eventually finished Heat B in 37th place, 54:06. He has received treatment on these (and was caught off-guard by the Medic when he quietly applied the Merthiolate). However, there is a strong possibility that Eugene may decide not to start the Long Qualification tomorrow morning. A final decision will be made on the morning.

The courses themselves were enjoyable. They were extremely fast and technically easy, with 100% runnable beech forest and no undergrowth over almost the entire distance. Even the light green forest was actually quite close to 90% runnable. This seems to have caught a few people off guard however as many runners still made the odd silly mistake, upsetting their chances of qualification.

Pic: Nicholas' map (Heat C) with his course (5.1km, 190m climb).

The team is now spending the rest of the day relaxing and recovering in anticipation of a tough, hilly Long Distance Qualification race tomorrow morning on the adjoining area to the west and south. The first start is at 9am, with Cobus off early again at 9:18. Eugene is next at 9:30 with Nicholas following at 9:58.