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