The End

JWOC has come to an end. It has been a fantastic experience for me and, I hope, for all the runners. I think that this year's US team is a great bunch of talented juniors who all have the potential to excel at orienteering in the future. Coming to Europe and racing against the best in the world is no easy task. After being used to winning or finishing in the top three in every race back home, you suddenly find yourself in the bottom third of the results list even with a nearly clean run. This should not be discouraging, but quite the opposite - inspiring. The elite athletes who end up on the podium at JWOC are exactly that - elite athletes. Most of them have trained 8-12 hours a week, 52 weeks a year since they entered their teens in order to get to where they are now. And with the same training and dedication, our athletes can get there too. This is easier said than done, as the European juniors have much better environments for training and racing than their North American counterparts, mostly through an extremely well-developed club structure and having peers to train with and race against every week-end without having to fly across the country. However, it is amazing what a bit of motivation and some hard work can do, and I hope that each of our runners takes some inspiration home from this JWOC and puts in the effort needed in order to improve, both physically and technically, for JWOC '09. And then, next year, I hope to watch as our runners finish ahead of some of those competitors who seemed unbeatable this year.

Once again, I'd like to say that working with the juniors was a great experience for me, and I'd like to thank Janet Porter for giving me the opportunity to do this, as well as Samantha Saeger and Kat Orekhova for being awesome co-team leaders. Thanks!

Finally, the US Junior Team is able to provide support for travel to training camps and competitions for our best juniors thanks to a number of very generous individuals. On behalf of the Junior Team, I would like to thank the following people for having donated to the US juniors over the past year:

James & Millicent Plant
Carol Moran
Shin & Chiori Shimizu
Stan Knight
Sherry Litasi
Nancy Niemann
John Campbell & family
Bob & Beth Lux
James Eagleton
Linda Kohn & Rick Worner
Lt. Col. John Corral
Richard & Dayle Lavine
Karl Ahlswede & family
Jeff Saeger & family
Louis & Jane Pataki
John Harbuck & family
Philip Hawkes-Teeter & family
Stephen & Donna Fluegel
Brett Schwartz
Jimmy Durham
Stephanie & Phil Martineau
Max Suter
Guy Olsen
Robert Wilkison
Walter Siegenthaler
Charles & Linda Ferguson
Larry & Sara Mae Berman
Clark Maxfield
Craig Murray & family
Alexander Izzo
Peter & Susan Goodwin
Peter Zurcher
Chris Whitmyre & family
Kent & Caroline Ringo


- Boris

Sunday, July 6

Start of the JWOC women's relay

The final race of JWOC was the relay, with 57 men's and 43 women's teams on the starting line. The US women started off very well, with Holly Kuestner coming in 24th on the first leg, ahead of many very good teams, including Denmark, Great Britain, and Estonia. Tori Borish ran a steady second leg, and Anna Shafer-Skelton, who was not even sure she would be able to run because of foot pain the day before, felt much better, and anchored the US to a solid 32nd place.

Holly coming into the finish after an excellent lead-off leg

The girls after Anna came into the finish

The men, tired from an exhausting long distance race the day before, had a tougher time out in the forest. Things seemed to be looking up when Hunter Cornish, running the second leg for the first team, caught up 13 minutes on Fraser Ross, running for Canada's first team, but it was later revealed that Hunter had unfortunately skipped a control early in his race. The runners said that the terrain was more runnable and open than during the long distance, but also trickier and full of less distinct features, leading to large mistakes out on the course.

Andy Strat going out on the anchor leg right behind Lee Hawkings of Canada


After the relay, JWOC 2008 concluded with the banquet, for which the US team was dressed to the nines:

Holly, Tori, and Anna

Hunter, John, Andy, Gabe, and Malcolm (Jordan had a flight to catch on Sunday night)

It has been enjoyable blogging about the US Team's adventures this past week. I hope it has provided the fans back home with a glimpse into the JWOC experience. Please stay tuned for one final post with my thought and impressions of this year's JWOC when I get home later tonight.

- Boris

Saturday, July 5

Today was the long distance, which was battled out on the Partille-Gunnilse map in nearly 30C heat. The courses were tough and hilly, with a lot of running through tall grass and heather. The start window had a depth of 6 hours, meaning the first runners had already finished by the time some of the later starters had even woken up. The heat did not keep the best juniors in the world from racing at blazing speeds, as the top 5 runners were separated by less than 20 seconds. On the other hand, towards the end of the results, the spread was a lot greater, and the last runner took over 4 hours, while nearly 20 runners did not complete the course.

The best American performance was by Andy Strat, who came in 134th place with a time of just over two hours. Gabe Svobodny, who had had a solid run, was unfortunately disqualified as he failed to punch at one of the refreshment controls. On the women's side, Holly and Tori were separated by only a few minutes, as they took places 102 (Holly) and 104 (Tori.)

Andy sprinting into the finish:

Here are the results:

Men, 10.2km, 420m climb

1 Johan Runesson Sweden 1:12:22
2 Timo Sild Estonia 1:12:34
3 Matthias Kyburz Switzerland 1:12:36

134 Andrew Strat USA 2:03:23

138 Jordan Laughlin USA 2:12:04

142 Malcolm Wyatt-Mair USA 2:16:25

150 John Goodwin USA 2:38:42

Hunter Cornish did not start, resting his injured foot for the relay.

Women, 6.5km, 215m climb

1 Jenny Lönnkvist Sweden 55:12
2 Beata Falk Sweden 55:50
3 Siri Ulvestad Norway 56:25

102 Holly Kuestner USA 1:39:48
104 Tori Borish USA 1:43:22

Anna Shafer-Skelton did not start because of a flare-up of her plantar fasciitis.

Here is the men's course with Jordan Laughlin's routes:

Tomorrow is the final day of JWOC, with the highlights including the relay and the banquet.

Here are the line-ups of the US relay teams

Men's USA 1 (Team 57)

1. John Goodwin

2. Hunter Cornish

3. Andy Strat

Men's USA 2 (Team 22)

1. Jordan Laughlin

2. Gabe Svobodny

3. Malcolm Wyatt-Mair

Women's USA 1 (Team 143)

1. Holly Kuestner

2. Tori Borish

3. Anna Shafer-Skelton

A lot of activity has been going on in preparation for the second part of tomorrow's program, the banquet. A typical team bonding experience at JWOC is the creation of the "top 10 lists" of each team's favorite JWOC runners of the opposite sex. Below is an example of one of the more original top 10 lists, which have become more and more creative in their presentation in recent years:

Thursday, July 3

The middle distance final was the best day so far for the US team, led by John Goodwin's excellent run that put him into 17th place in the C final. Andy Strat (26th) and Hunter Cornish (29th), whose foot is getting better by the day, were close behind, and the whole men's team had solid runs. The men's course can be seen at http://www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008/documentDownload.php?file=93 .
The C final results are available at http://www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008/documentDownload.php?file=88 .

On the women's side, Tori Borish was the best American finisher, coming in 31st place. Holly was 40th and Anna 45th in the B final that had 64 runners. The women's B final map can be found at http://www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008/documentDownload.php?file=94 , and the results at http://www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008/documentDownload.php?file=89 .

This was an exciting day to spectate, despite having to spend an entire day standing in the hot sun in 30C weather on an open field. It was great to see the US men turn in solid runs across the board and racing a lot closer to what they are capable of. The women continued to put up solid races, and it feels like the team hitting its stride just in time for the long and relay. Canadian Emily Kemp continued to impress, coming in 33rd in the A final.

Independence Day is a day off for JWOC, and the US team will spend its well-deserved rest day taking in some of Goteborg's sights, relaxing and celebrating the 4th of July.

One more side note: team leaders Kat and Samantha raced the women's JWOC middle A final course as their spectator event course yesterday and both turned in excellent runs, with times very competitive with the world's best juniors. In particular, Kat's result would have been good enough for 18th place in the women's A final.

July 2. 2008

Middle distance qualification

Bright sunshine and perfect blue skies greeted the runners as they headed off for middle distance qualification on Änggårdsbergen, a map right in the city of Göteborg. The terrain was deceptively hard, both technically and physically. The runners had to deal with intricate hillsides, where the contours were partially obscured by deep blueberry bushes, and the going was slow most of the way. To give the readers an idea of the toughness, speeds of over 10 min/km were good enough to qualify for the A final on the women's side.

The best US performance was by Holly Kuestner from Cascade Orienteering Club, who was about 4 minutes away from making her second straight JWOC middle final. An interview with Holly follows further down. On the men's side the competition between the American runners was very tight, with John Goodwin, Hunter Cornish, and Andy Strat finishing with times within a minute of each other. As a result, all six U.S. male runners start in just a 12-minute window in the C final tomorrow, which can lead to some exciting head-to-head racing!

The class of the North American runners was once again Emily Kemp, who went through to the A final from Women's heat B in an impressive 10th place.

Some results:

Women's A

1 Siri Ulvestad Norway 23.57

20 Carla Guillen Escribá Spain 30.31

33 Tori Borish USA 42.42

Women's B

1 Signe Klinting Denmark 26.53

20 Ona Rafols Perramon Spain 34.20

39 Anna Shafer-Skelton USA 52.00

Women's C

1 Jenny Lönnkvist Sweden 23.27

20 Julia Blomquist Great Britain 30.19

31 Holly Kuestner USA 34.10

Men's A

1 Sören Bobach Denmark 27.04

20 Denis Danchenkov Russia 32.17

56 Jordan Laughlin USA 57.28
57 Malcolm Wyatt-Mair USA 1.01.31

Men's B

1 Timo Sild Estonia 25.55

20 Paul Lützkendorf Germany 31.29

53 John Goodwin USA 50.05
54 Andrew Strat USA 51.19

Men's C

1 Tore Bjørseth Berdal Norway 27.50

20 Rafal Podzinski Poland 32.06

53 Hunter Cornish USA 50.22
54 Gabriel Svobodny USA 1.01.18

Hunter

Gabe

Jordan

Malcolm and John after the race

Here is a quick post-race interview with Holly Kuestner:

B: Your A final qualification from JWOC in Australia was a surprise for some people. Having accomplished that last year, what were your expectations coming into this year’s JWOC?
H: I knew it was going to be harder because of more competitors, plus the terrain is more challenging, but I was of course hopeful. I’ve had some trouble in the trainings because some of the contours are a bit subtle, so I planned to take it slow. In general, this worked. I did not take it as slow as I had intended, but slower than I would have otherwise. I got a bit flustered towards the end.

B: What caused your mistake towards the end?
H: I was not as meticulous as I had been before. I left the trail into a complicated hill complex without knowing exactly where along the hill I was. I went into the wrong re-entrant.

B: How did you relocate?
H: I saw an enormous cliff.

B: What is your general feeling about your race today?
H: It was a lot of fun. The mistake was frustrating, but it did not ruin the race for me. The whole race was pretty solid, and I got into a good rhythm. I spiked the first two controls and then had some bobbles, but nothing major. You cannot influence your place, but you can influence how clean your run is.

B: Do you feel like the training you did here the week before JWOC helped?

H:Yes. It is very different from terrain back home, so it was good to get out. The terrain varied a lot, with a mix of big and small hills and many and few marshes, so doing a lot of trainings in different terrain prepares you for whatever they could throw at you.

B: Did you do any specific preparation for JWOC, knowing it was in Sweden?
H: Not specifically.

B: Do you have any changes you plan to make to your race plan tomorrow based on today?
H: I will try to keep my focus for the entire race, not think about the time or results, and will try to execute each leg without mistakes.

B: What has the JWOC experience been like for you so far compared to the expectations you had?
H: It has been really fun and challenging so far. It is both inspiring and intimidating to see how fast the best times are, and inspiring to see how far I can go.

B: Thank you very much and good luck tomorrow.
H: Thanks!

Here are Holly's routes from today's middle qualification race:

Tuesday, July 1

Today was a day off from racing for the JWOC competitors, and they took this opportunity to attend the model event for the middle distance. The terrain on offer was tough, both physically and technically, with steep, at times rocky, hillsides and intricate contour detail on the hilltops. After spending the morning at the model event and at a team meeting, where route choices, mistakes, and successes from the sprint race were analyzed, the team got the afternoon off to relax and recharge their batteries before the challenges ahead.

The team also got some good news as, with the help of Kim Buckley, the British team physiotherapist, Hunter Cornish was able to run pain- and discomfort-free during the model event, and will be making his JWOC debut in the middle distance on Wednesday!

Opening ceremonies

The opening ceremonies, as well as prize-giving, were held in the evening of June 30th, in the self-advertised "one of the largest amusement parks in Scandinavia" Liseberg, right in the middle of Göteborg. The runners' (and team leaders'!) ID cards served as free entry passes to Liseberg and to all of its rides, and the juniors were given about two hours to run free in the park before the ceremonies began. The crowd of young orienteers took full advantage of this opportunity, and were seen on all the roller-coasters and other gut-wrenching rides throughout the evening.



After the ceremonies, a bit of time in the amusement park remained. The team expressed its desire to obtain a giant chocolate bar that was available as a prize in a game requiring great skill and acumen to succeed in (roulette). This was where the coaches had to step in and show the juniors how it is done. Here is coach Kat with the spoils of the evening:

Sprint photos

Some snapshots from the sprint - all that we managed to upload in 45 minutes. More later if the bandwidth allows.

Tori

Malcolm

Holly

Anna

The Sprint

The sprint day offered a pair of challenging courses for the competitors. There were a number of tricky legs that took the runners from apartment complexes into pockets of forest and pack into mazes of buildings again, and many large mistakes were made.

The best American results were achieved by JWOC rookies, Tori Borish on the women's side, who placed 98th, and Gabe Svobodny on the men's side, who finished 146th. The most impressive North American race of the day was run by another JWOC newcomer, Canadian talent Emily Kemp, who finished in a tie for 38th place, just 1:24 behind the winning time.

It was a tough start to the Championships for a lot of the US racers, as many of them ended up with results below the level they are clearly capable of. One comment that kept recurring is that the amount of detail on the sprint maps was a lot greater than that the runners are used to back home, and also greater than on the sprint maps they had seen here in Sweden over the past week. The terrain really required 100% concentration the entire way through the course, which was particularly difficult given the constant changes of direction and the different terrain types the course kept switching between. It is now time to regroup and get ready to strike back in the middle distance.

More later - time for the opening ceremonies!

Ready to go!

JWOC 2008 gets under way today with the sprint final on Ruddalen (see the old map at http://www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008/image/Ruddalen.gif).

The USA is represented by 5 male and 3 female runners. Hunter Cornish is not racing today because he is waiting for his foot injury to heal - he is hoping to be ready to go by Wednesday's middle qualifier.

The first start is at 12:30pm Swedish time, or 6:30am EST.

Here are the American start times:

M20
35 Malcolm Wyatt-Mair 13:04
78 John Goodwin 13:47
87 Andy Strat 13:56
133 Gabe Svobodny 14:42
164 Jordan Laughlin 15:13

W20
224 Holly Kuestner 12:53:30
243 Tori Borish 13:12:30
312 Anna Shafer-Skelton 14:21:30

Live results are available online at http://www.obasen.nu/liveresultat/templates/follow.php?comp=10043&lang=en

P.S. The promised photos have now been added to yesterday's post.

Sunday, June 29

Today was a rest day - the calm before the storm. The team is finally complete, as Jordan Laughlin arrived today, fresh off three weeks' worth of jumping out of airplanes with his West Point classmates. The juniors spent the morning having one-on-one meetings with the coaches and discussing their goals and hopes for the upcoming week, followed by an afternoon of relaxing and socializing.

While the team members were consuming their usual daily slop for dinner in the dining hall, the team leaders were treated to a fancy reception with 8 different kinds of the local specialty - herring - available.

Tomorrow it all begins with the sprint final, and the US runners are chomping at the bit!

We have some nice pictures of the herring and of today' social activities, but unfortunately the internet connection is too slow at the moment. Will try to post them later!

Go Team USA!

Here are some pictures:







The Team USA official poster: the theme is Signs of the Zodiac

Team leaders' reception at the officers' hall

The herring!

A heated taboo game during the day off


The view from our accommodations

Playing kubb with the Polish team

Saturday, June 28

Today Team USA had a sprint time trial, where the racers could compare times with a few Canadians, as well as with the girls trying out for the Swedish JWOC Team, who ran the same course as their selection race about a month ago. Anna and Boris put out some home-crafted controls for the occasion. The competition was heated, especially in the men's category, where John Goodwin edged out Andy Strat by a mere second. On the women's side, coach and WOC veteran Samantha Saeger showed the others how it's done.

Results:
1. John Goodwin USA 14:20
2. Andy Strat USA 14:21
3. Fraser Ross CAN 14:54
4. Samantha Saeger USA 15:49
5. Holly Kuestner USA 16:17
6. Malcolm Wyatt-Mair USA 16:56
6. Tori Borish USA 16:56
8. Gabe Svobodny USA 17:02
9. Kat Orekhova USA 17:11
10. Graham Ereaux CAN 17:29

Tomorrow the team is planning a rest day, and on Monday, the games begin!


Here are some pictures from today's activities:

Kat racing the sprint


Heated map discussion after the finish

Malcolm finishing

Anna in the forest

Hunter has been visiting the German team

Kat and Sam at the event center/army base

And here are a few terrain shots from the non-embargoed part of the long distance map:

A cliff

A swamp

A rock. And another rock.

Friday, June 27 - Pictures

Rannabergen map

Relaxing after the training:

Andy, Holly, John, and Hunter playing cards

Anna reading

Kat, Andy, and John battling the Canucks in table hockey

Malcolm hard at work

Taking the tram to training:

Kat

Anna and Sam

John

Friday, June 27

Welcome to Team USA's JWOC blog. We'll try to update this daily if possible.

Today was a training day for team USA. After an early wake-up call and a Swedish military breakfast of cream of wheat, we headed out to a map called Rannebergen at the exact opposite end of town from our accommodations. The trip there, using trams and a bus, took about an hour and a half, but it was worth it. The terrain, considered to be relevant for the long and relay, was gorgeous. Good visibility, nice open running on the hilltops mixed with fighting with snakes and tall grass in the swamps, provided for challenging and really fun orienteering. An American stamp was put on the day as we tossed around a football (the real thing, not one of those round things the Brits use) and used great powers of improvisation to consume our boxed lunches without utensils.
By the time we were back from training, a pleasant surprise in the form of Samantha's long-lost luggage was waiting for us!

Not much else happened.
Stay tuned for more news tomorrow!