World of O News
For many both runners and spectators the Relay is the climax of the World Orienteering Championships. The 2008 edition of the WOC Relay was one of the most exciting in the orienteering history – especially the mens class. This year the French team is surely ready to get the medal they lost last year. The Swiss, however, have proven extremely strong so far in the championships. And what can the Scandinavian countries do in this Hungarian terrain? The Finnish men have yet to show their full potential – and the Norwegian team is still without a medal.
In the womens class, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland are the biggest favourites. Australia might however also be in on the medal fight – so might Russia and Czech Republic. And can China manage to improve their 7th place from 2008?
Important facts Relay
There are three legs in both the mens and womens classes. The men have a shorter leg first (6.0 km, 36 minutes), and then two legs of around 8.7-8.7 km (53 minutes). The women also start with a shorter leg (4.9 km, 32 minutes) – the last two legs being 6.9 (43 minutes) and 7.2 (45 minutes) respectively.
The men start at 11:00. The women start at 13:45.
Follow the event live
- Live results Relay + Live text commentary + live speaker sound (pay service – 5 euros) + Startlists sprint
- GPS Tracking (pay service – 5 euros)
- Live video (pay service – 5 euros – included in GPS tracking payment)
WOC History
Another useful resource is the World of O Runners WOC history page – giving you all the best WOC results for each discipline sorted by country. Who is the best placed Latvian in the Long distance ever? Of course you knew: Ants Grende in 1993. (Note! As you see in the comments, a Latvian runner was better placed in 1989, but she was then running for Russia). We will also try to update these pages during the championships.
#WOC2009 @ Twitter
Follow the action in at the World Orienteering Champs through Twitter. Below the latest Tweets for #WOC2009 are shown in the LiveBlog. Your tweets including the hash-tag #woc2009 will also show up below. There is also a mobile version of the LiveBlog here.
Program
The first two days are the most important ones for many of the smaller orienteering nations – then we have qualifications in Middle and Long distance. The first final is the Middle final at Wednesday – whereas the Long final is the last competition in this World Orienteering Champs at Sunday August 23rd.
- Sunday 16.08: Middle Qualification, 10:00-12:00 CET
- Monday 17.08: Long Qualification, 09:00-12:00 CET
- Wednesday 19.08: Middle Final, 10:00-14:15 CET
- Thursday 20.08: (1) Sprint Qualification, 09:00-11:00 CET. (2) Sprint Final, 16:20-19:00 CET
- Friday 21.08: Relay, 11:00-16:30 CET
- Sunday 23.08: Long Final, 11:00 CET – 16:00 CET
Course lengths
For complete information about the courses, see Bulletin 4.
- Middle Qualification: Men 5.1 km (25 min), Women 4.1 km (25 min)
- Long Qualification: Men 10.4-10.5 km (58 min), Women 6.5-6.8 km (43 min)
- Sprint Qualification: Men 2.9 km (14 min), Women 2.5-2.6 km (14 min)
- Sprint Final: Men 3.2 km (15 min), Women 2.6 km (14 min)
- Middle Final: Men 6.6 km (35 min), Women 5.3 km (35 min)
- Long Final: Men 17.6 km (95 min), Women 11.8 km (75 min)
- Relay: Men 6.0-8.8-8.7 (36-53-53), Women 4.9-6.9-7.2 (32-43-45)
Note! The 15 best in each qualification heat will qualify for the final.
Maps and Terrain
We have published a separate article about the maps and the terrain. You find the article about old maps for the competition areas here.
The terrain for all competitions except for the long final and the sprint is described as non-typical karst with a small number of negative features and many point objects. The terrain is quite hilly, and the competitions will be physically though. For the sprint, the terrain is describes as semi-urban with many paths and some erosion features. The long distance final is the most special terrain ? with many negative features and quite stony.
GPS Tracking, Live results and Live tracking
There will be live GPS Tracking form the middle final, long final and relay. Note that GPS-tracking is a pay-service, and you will have to buy a code before you can view the tracking. Tracking is available through www.smartway.hu.
In addition to GPS Tracking, there will be live results, the organizers provide live text commentary, and maps will be presented in RouteGadget after the competitions.
