JWOC: Exciting days in exotic terrain down under!

The night between the coming Saturday and Sunday – at 01:30 CET (09:30 in the morning local Dubbo time) the sprint distance starts the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Dubbo, Australia. Two and a half hours later, at 04:00 CET, the two first Junior World Champions in the 2007 Championships will be known.

The terrain is a new and somewhat unfamiliar experience for most of the runners (see pictures above from the middle distance training terrain – all photos by Christoph Rüedlinger) – and it will be interesting to see if this gives some special surprises on the result lists. However – a JWOC is always much more open and full of surprises than a WOC – so be sure we will see some surprises on the podium the following week…

Getting familiar down under
Most of the competing juniors have been in Australia for a week – many on an official training camp – getting used to the terrain, the Kangaroos, and the local specialties. But after a week of fun and getting used to things, the serious part of the program starts Sunday morning. As the Danish trainer said: “No summer camp anymore – from now it is a World Championship!” (Photo on the right: Danish Junior Team in Australia. Source: Danish Junior Team blog).

JWOC Program
The JWOC distance consists of 4 distances in 6 days, giving 5 competitions as there is a qualifier for the middle distance. The complete program (times given in CET and local time):

Sprint distance

The sprint distance is in Western Plains Zoo (Dubbo) – study the satellite picture above in detail at Google Maps. As you can see, this will be mainly a forest sprint, but with numerous out of bound areas. The organizers state that “The sprint event will be held at the Western Plains Zoo. It is a flat-forested area with sections of open parkland. It has an irregular road and track network with some buildings and fences along with numerous out of bounds areas. It is a public area with pedestrians, bicycles and cars and will be operating as normal during the event”.

And who will take home the victories in the sprint distance? Looking at the previous years competition usually gives a hint of possible favourites – so let’s take a look:

1	Weltzien Hultgren Ingunn	Norway	0:10:46.8
2	Allston Hanny	Australia	0:10:50.1
3	Svensson Eva	Sweden	0:11:25.3
4	Vaculikova Jana	Czech Republic	0:11:32.5
5	Terekhova Ekaterina	Russia	0:11:41.0
6	Stand - Horn Welle Fanny	Norway	0:11:42.0

In the women’s category, both Ingunn Weltzien and Hanny Allston are seniors now – so the Swede Eva Svensson is the best runner from last years sprint participating in Australia. Eva Svensson also got a second place in this years Nordic Open Champs (NOC) Sprint, and should therefore be counted as one of the big favourites. Also among the favorites is the Norwegian NOC Sprint winner Siri Ulvestad. Jana Vaculikova and Fanny Welle Strand-Horn are not on the starting list this year – but 5th placed russioan from JWOC 2006, Ekaterina Terekhova is present in Australia. This is very open in the womens category!

1	Kristensson Mikael	Sweden	0:11:44.8
2	Karisson Patrik	Sweden	0:11:53.5
3	Glebov Ruslan	Ukraine	0:11:55.9
4	Jochen Verdeyen	Belgium	0:11:59.7
5	Rizhkov Sergei	Belarus	0:12:02.4
6	Parton Matthew	Australia	0:12:08.4

In the mens class, the 2006 JWOC sprint champion Mikael Kristensson must be counted as the biggest favorite. However, several runners will fight hard against Mikael for the Gold medal – most notably Danish Søren Bobach (Gold medal NOC Sprint) and Norwegian Olav Lundanes (Silver medal NOC Sprint) – both nominated for Junior of the year 2006 along with Mikael Kristensson. In the Junior of the year 2006 poll, Bobach was the best of these three – will he manage at the JWOC sprint as well?

Update 7/7 10:00 CET: Søren Bobach just states on the Danish Junior Team blog that he has twisted his ankle quite hard. He still thinks he can run the sprint though – based on an examination by the Swiss doctor, but is not 100% sure.

Guess the winners!
I am surprised if I have named the winners in both the mens and womens category in the sprint distance here. Add a comment below with your winner tips: No money but a lot of honor to the one who manages to guess the medal winners in both the mens and womens category! Even guessing the correct two winners won’t be an easy task. My guess goes for Søren Bobach and Siri Ulvestad!

Long, Middle and Relay disciplines
The location for the other disciplines is Southwest of Dubbo – near Mountain Creek (see satellite picture in Google Maps here). From the terrain description, it is evident that it is quite special terrain the runners will meet at the long distance at Monday:

The area is dominated by complex granite outcrops. Many of the higher hills support spectacular granite formations with grand views of the countryside. The terrain varies from flat and undulating to very steep. Generally broader hillsides with many gullies and saddles predominate throughout the area, although some complex contour details occur in some sections. The forest is made up of native trees, mainly Eucalypts, Cypress Pine and Wattle with runnability mostly fast to very fast through open forest.
The understorey in some sections of the forest restricts visibility and runnability greatly through a concentration of scrubby ushes, young Cypress Pine, fallen timber and rocky ground. The extensive rocky ground is a major feature of the area and reduces runnability in the sections away from the rock, especially along the many broad valleys. Granite rock is strewn throughout the area and presents many boulders (some towering over 6 metres), rockfaces, bare surface rock and rocky ground. Many clearings occur throughout the area. The region is currently experiencing drought and so water is rare. Most watercourses, pools and creeks are dry, with some small erosion gullies occurring.

Map sample: Typical terrain the juniors will meet in Australia.

At the trainings the week before the competitions, runners have been surprised by areas with extremely stony grounds – whereas other areas have had very good runnability. The ability to change speed when required, and to get fast through stony areas, will be important in these competitions! Who will manage best?

We will come back with more favorites for the other disciplines after the sprint distance.