Hi Eureka members!

I’m sorry for my late email, but yesterday turned out to be quite a busy day, although I wasn’t running! After a jog around the long distance final model, Wendy, our physio Elin and I made our way up to the final to watch Vanessa run. The day was very exciting, with two radio controls, a fantastic arena and of course GPS tracking, meaning we missed none of the action. Vanessa ran through both radio controls quickly, taking 2nd place as she ran through the first and dropping little time through to the second (I can’t remember the her placing there exactly). All was going well and Vanessa was having a very smooth run until losing a small amount of time on control 13. She said that she had stood on top of the cliff and hadn’t been able to see the control, running away to relocate and then back in again. She ran in to the finish very strongly to take out 7th at that point in time in 47 minutes.

Vanessa said her goal had been to run a very smooth race and to prevent making big errors. Instead of running risky route choices she decided to play it safe, and it worked, giving her 31st place, her best WOC result to date. She reported that the terrain was easier navigationally than the qualification, with large features such as knolls and depressions making it easy to know where you were at most points in the race. Despite having less steep slopes, however, the terrain was exhausting with cut wood and mossy rocks covering almost the entire map. Both Vanessa and Lizzie said they found the race very physically challenging.

The women’s race was exciting until the very end, with several contenders likely to take the win. Young orienteers Tove Alexandersson and Ida Bobach ran very well to take 2nd and 4th, but after Simone Niggli-Luder’s surprising error, which saw her navigate from control 7 to control 15, Minna Kauppi was free to take the lead, with a very strong race. Tatyana Riabkina ran well to take 3rd place.

The men’s race was also a surprise, with neither the main contenders Olav Lundanes and Thierry Gueorgiou taking out top honours. Lundanes made an error in the circle at control 9 from which he never recovered, and though Gueorgiou seemed to have no major errors, the very close time gaps meant that some of his more conservative route choices cost him time. Latvian Edgars Bertuks took out the win, with Russian Valentin Novikov second, and a very excited young Swiss Fabian Hertner third.

The team is having a rest day today, and I’m hoping to get out to do some sightseeing in the afternoon. Suzanne, Bridget and Wendy have gone to compete in day 4 of the Swiss 5 Day, which is 2 hours drive from Lausanne. I’m very jealous as it is reportedly a very beautiful area with spectacular scenery! Best to rest up for tomorrow, though.

Hope you’re all well and might enjoy some sleep tonight without a WOC race to keep you up,

Aislinn

By Aislinn