World of O News
The Long distance is the Marathon distance of the World Orienteering Championships. With winning times of 1:40 or more for the men – the runners are completely exhausted when they come to the last part of the course – and thus keeping the concentration all the way to the finish is crucial.
Favourites among the men include the King of Middle distance – Thierry Gueorgiou – who is the last starter at 13:29. Other favourites are Francois Gonon, Andrey Khramov, Matthias Merz, Daniel Hubmann and Anders Nordberg. Home favourite Adam Kovacs might also fight for a medal in the this tough long distance race.
In the womens class, Minna Kauppi, Simone Niggli and Marianne Andersen are again the big favourites. Will Kauppi finally show what she can in this championships? Will Andersen get her first individual gold medal? Is Niggli back on the very top?
Important facts Long Final
The mens course is 17.6 kilometers with expected winning time of 95 minutes. In the past championships, winning times have been longer than expected. In the womens class, the course is 11.8 kilometers with expected winning time of 75 minutes.
The first women start at 11:01. Last start in the womens class is 12:28 (Marianne Andersen). The first men start at 12:00 – the last starter is at 13:29 (Thierry Gueorgiou). Thus the womens class will be decided around 13:45 and the mens class around 15:05. All times are local times (CET).
Follow the event live
- Live results Relay + Live text commentary + live speaker sound (pay service – 5 euros) + Startlists
- 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 LiveBlog
Follow the action in at the World Orienteering Champs through the LiveBlog and Twitter. 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.
