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!