The second half of WOC for Team South Africa once again continued to have mixed results as Eugene battled to overcome blisters, Cobus battled to overcome the big step up to international competition and as Nicholas battled to overcome a cold from the previous week. Thus a Top-10 at the Beer-O, organised by Team USA, is something to be proud of (we think).
Sprint
Thursday's Sprint race was a tough affair, with qualifications races in the morning, followed by the final for the Top 15 in each heat in the afternoon. Once again, there weren't any real hopes that the South African competitors would make this final, but goals were set against many of our peer nations.
In Heat C, Eugene finished with 2 notable mistakes at #5 and #13 which saw him loose some minutes. Persistent blister problems saw him running in pain most of the way, but he still managed to put in a strong sprint. He got it wrong coming off the bridge however in the finish chute, as he nose dived down the slope into the dust. Determined to further impress the crowd, he recovered quickly and still managed to finish 23rd out of 37 in the sprint finish leg! Overall, he finished 35th in 26:48.
Pic: Eugene nose-dives into the dust in the finish chute of the Sprint Qualification race (photo by Eddie Bergeron).
Pic: Eugene recovers quickly from the spill down the bridge crossing... check the dust! (photo by Eddie Bergeron)Nicholas put together a good run in the forested terrain. Being in the forests rather than an urban setting meant a more technical race than recent years in the Sprint, with Nicholas using this to full advantage. He finished 31st out of 38 starters in Heat A in 18:34, four minutes behind the heat winner. He was happy with his race, which only had 1 mistake of about 40 seconds when the race entered a compound with 1m high 'uncrossable' fences that required some major detours.
Pic: Nicholas completing the Sprint Qualification, and showing the correct technique for running over a bridge (photo by Eddie Bergeron)Cobus had a fair run, but was disappointed with finishing 34th out of 38th, with a time of 28:12. He had a big mistake at the 3rd control before settling down into a good rhythm. However, trouble on controls 13 to 17 saw him loose time on the rest of the field.
Pic: Cobus in the run-in at the finish of the Sprint Qualification (photo by Eddie Bergeron)Relay
There was no day of rest before the Relay, so the team were still a bit tired after their hard runs in the Sprint the day before. Eugene was the worst off, as he could now sport various scrapes and bruises in addition to his blisters. The decision had been made a few days earlier that the running order would be Nicholas-Cobus-Eugene. The goal was to keep South Africa competitive against the peer nations as long as possible.
The first leg went well. Nicholas was dropped by the fast pack immediately after the start. However, he was catching stragglers by the 2nd control, and was in a group of 5 peer nations by the 4th. He had a good run in the end, brining the team home in 32nd (out of 38) at the end of the first leg. This put us just behind Belarus, Serbia and Ireland, but ahead of countries like Turkey, Croatia, New Zealand, Germany, China and Hong Kong.
Pic: Eugene goes to his 'special place' just before his run.Cobus took over on the 2nd leg and performed well with a constant run all the way around the course. He was overtaken by some countries with much stronger runners but still managed to keep Hong Kong at a far distance. Furthermore, he passed the Serbian and Japanese teams to bring SA home in 35th.
Pic: Cobus hands over to Eugene for the final leg of the relay.The final leg saw Eugene being forced to take the course slow and steady due to his numerous injuries. The team lost a couple more spots but still managed to finish well ahead of Hong Kong. The team took 36th position, one place higher due to the dramatic injury sustained to Sweden on the last leg.
Pic: Team South Africa comparing notes after the finish.The Rest of WOC
With not making any finals, Team South Africa had plenty of time to enjoy the rest of WOC. We spectated in all the WOC Finals and off course had ring-side seats to the injury drama in the Men's race in the Relay (is there any other sport that can equal sportsmanship like that?).
We also managed to participate in various races of the Hungaria Cup. The most enjoyable day had to be Day 6, which was held just prior to the Long Final race (map below). This was definitely a first: registration in Hungary, 50m from the Slovak border. Start in Slovakia, control 1-3 in Hungary, controls 3-finish in Slovakia and then download in Hungary! The yellow ride is the old border between the 2 countries. The forest was also absolutely beautiful! 100% white runnable forest with lots of sinkholes all over the place.
Pic: Day 6 of the Hungaria Cup with the Open 3 (longest) course and Nicholas' route.That just leaves one final race: the WOC Beer-O. The USA team put together a great event for the 40 or so participants that turned up after the Long Final for the unofficial World Champs in Beer-O on the University Campus map. They represented at least 15 or so countries, including USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Belgium, North Korea, Portugal, Bulgaria, etc. The rules were simple, drink before and after each of 3 butterfly routes around the campus. They even managed to arrange a special guest (Per - the WOC speaker) to officiate the proceedings. Portugal took the Gold (chocolate) in the Men's and USA in the Women's races as the National Anthems of the countries were played (well, sort of). Nicholas finally pulled off the result he was looking for with a Top 10!
That's it for WOC 2009 (except for the Banquet, where the goings-on are never mentioned anyway). Next year WOC takes place in Trondheim, Norway. Wohoo! If you ever wanted to find out how its possible that marshes can form on the slopes of mountain, what cloud-berries taste like or what it's like to orienteer so close to the arctic circle, you'd better start training!
Final thanks: to Pieter Mulder for managing the Team in Hungary, to the South African National Lottery for the support of Sport in SA, to the organisers for hosting a great WOC and to all the other teams for the great competition.
Pics: Thanks to Eddie Bergeron (Team USA) for the great pics of the team at the Sprint race.
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