GBR WOC Selection Long: Gueorgiou and Fasting

[Updated with map] Gueorgiou took another victory in the British selection races for the World Orienteering Championships in Scotland in August – this time over the long distance with a gap of 2 minutes down to Norwegian Carl Godager Kaas in second with Hans Gunnar Omdal (Norway) 7:20 down in third. In the women’s class Mari Fasting (Norway) took a clear win – nearly 5 minutes ahead of Anne Margrethe Hausken (Norway) with Annika Billstam (Sweden) in third. Tove Alexandersson was in the fight for victory until she 

The best British runners were Hector Haines (+11:08) in the men’s class and Jessica Tullie (+9:52) in the women’s class. This was one of the most relevant long distance races ahead of the World Orienteering Championships – and therefore an important test for the athletes. Tough courses gave big time gaps today. The terrain varied from featureless forest to very detailed areas, making it necessary to vary the orienteering technique in different parts of the terrain.

Men: Gueorgiou and Godager Kaas in own class

Thierry Gueorgiou won 2:01 minutes ahead of Carl Godager Kaas with Hans Gunnar Omdal in 3rd at 7:20. Magne Dæhlie finished more than 10 minutes behind in 4th. Carl Godager Kaas took the lead at the first control and stayed in front until control 3. Then the race lead changed between Thierry Gueorgiou (leading from the 4th to 8th control, losing 43 seconds and the lead at the 9th) and Carl Godager Kaas (leading at the 9th control, losing 23 seconds and the lead at the 10th) before Thierry Gueorgiou took over the lead at control 10 of 24 controls and kept it until the finish.

Several runners lost time on the long leg to control 5 which is shown below. Here Thierry Gueorgiou was 14 seconds behind the best split time by running left on the path down the hill, passing the refreshment control, and continuing up the steep hill (see 3DRerun).

Thierry Gueorgiou had an estimated time loss of 1:04, the largest being 29 seconds (leg 9). Carl Godager Kaas had an estimated time loss of 1:37, the largest being 33 seconds (leg 18). Hans Gunnar Omdal had an estimated time loss of 2:06, the largest being 0:59 (leg 15). Magne Daehli had an estimated time loss of 4:25, the largest being 3:29 (leg 12; see below – a control placed high in a slope with few clear attackpoints).

Looking at the performance index, Gueorgiou had a clear edge on the other athletes with Godager Kaas in second and Dæhlie in third. The big mistake of Dæhlie at the 12th leg did however ruin the Norwegian’s chances of getting Top 3. Dæhlie’s speed also got significantly reduced after his mistake. Thierry Gueorgiou lost 43 seconds or less to the leg winner on all legs – that was least of all runners in this race.

Note that Godager Kaas is not selected for the Norwegian team in the long distance at WOC in Scotland – the WOC long distance team consists of Omdal, Dæhlie and Olav Lundanes. Lundanes is present in Scotland, but does not run full speed on these competitions.

Women: Fasting with steady orienteering – not fastest

Mari Fasting  won 4:41 minutes ahead of Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg  with Annika Billstam  in 3rd at 6:53. Mari Fasting won 3 of 16 legs and did less than a minute of mistakes.  Mari Fasting lost 51 seconds or less to the leg winner on all legs – that was least of all runners in this race. Annika Billstam took the lead at the first control and stayed in front until control 4. Mari Fasting took over the lead at control 5 of 16 controls and kept it until the finish.

Although Fasting was far ahead in the final results, it was her constant orienteering and not the speed which decided the race. Looking at the performance index (further down), both Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg, Tove Alexandersson and Annika Billstam had higher speed in the parts of the race where they performed well – they did however all lose significant time in parts of the race.

Mari Fasting had an estimated time loss of 52 seconds, the largest being 23 seconds (leg 2).

• Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg had an estimated time loss of 4:47, the largest being 3:28 (leg 1).
• Annika Billstam had an estimated time loss of 4:40, the largest being 1:59 (leg 5).
• Tone Wigemyr had an estimated time loss of 2:35, the largest being 1:26 (leg 12).
• Jessica Tullie had an estimated time loss of 1:46, the largest being 51 seconds (leg 11).
• Eva Jurenikova had an estimated time loss of 4:32, the largest being 1:35 (leg 10).
• Tove Alexandersson had an estimated time loss of 7:50, the largest being 6:10 (leg 11; see the leg below. A cliff in a slope with very few details. It looks like this control should either be taken from the plateau below the control or from the plateau above the control with the stone as the attackpoint; the upper routechoice maybe offering some more security but being a bit longer).

Maps & courses

• GPS-data from the event in 3DRerun is available here

GBR WOC Selection Long Men

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

GBR WOC Selection Long Women

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

Quite tough course. Struggled with some controls at the last third of the course. 10min behind @MariFasting pic.twitter.com/jpje09CyJv

— Eva Jurenikova (@evajurenikova) July 11, 2015

Results

Women

• Full results