WUOC Sprint: Rosalinds Report
Some words from Rosalind after her first run at the World Universities in Alicante, in the sprint distance:
“Early evening saw the WUOC sprint distance competition take place in the Santa Cruz area of Alicante. Before the start athletes were brought up to the castle grounds via an elevator and quarantined there until they started their run. To warm up we were all provided with a small sprint- standard map of part of the castle grounds. Definitely the most interesting warm-up I´ve had before a competition. This also provided great views over the city as we were up so high.
The race itself was just as special as the prior setting. Starting from the castle grounds, and mainly located in the old town, the course brought you immediately into an intricate network of paths and stairs. Unfortunately, although I tried to take it carefully, I got confused in this network and lost some time heading towards the first control – allowing an Australian girl to catch a minute on me. Happily, though, the map made more sense following this and I could increase my speed and accuracy for the next few controls. Racing head-to-head with the Australian, I managed to drop her on the steep climb up to control 6. From here on I just kept the head down and the pace up while maintaining discipline enough to really slow down in the trickier areas.
A misread of the map towards control 13 meant my routechoice was actually a no-go. This lost some extra time but not too much, mainly just leaving me confused for a few seconds of hesitation. Upon finishing I was disappointed at the time lost to the first control, but in reality this was a really tricky and fun course where many people lost time on controls. As more athletes finished, and I realised I wasn´t dropping too far down the leaderboard, I realised that I had actually had a good, solid run barr that first blip. With the race followed by a free massage and watermelon, I was happy out. Roll on the middle!
Results:
Men (101 starters)
1 Hubmann, Martin Switzerland SUI 17:53
2 Huber, Raffael Switzerland SUI 18:12
3 Kyburz, Andreas Switzerland SUI 18:20
Women (78 starters)
1 Duchová, Iveta Czech Rep CZE 17:47
2 Gross, Julia Switzerland SUI 18:38
3 Bochenková, Ivana Czech Rep CZE 18:43
29 Hussey, Rosalind Ireland IRL 21:46
Roz gets a well earned massage
As in the long yesterday, the podiums were dominated by Swiss and Czechs. Full results can be found here: http://www.fedo.org/sportident/wuoc/ressprint.htm
Will someone else be able to get into the medal positions tomorrow??”
Tomorrow´s middle distance terrain is described as level (between 20-70 metres in altitude) with steep watercourses, in some cases uncrossable. Visibility will be largely limited in the low pine forest with small contour detail and lots of small rocks.
Ruairi starts at 08.58 Irish time on his 5.4 km course while Rosalind has her start at 09.31 for the women´s 4 km. With temperatures due to rise to 30 degrees (that would, once again, be termed scorchio in Rosalind´s meteorological language …), it will be survival of the fittest. Another tricky course is anticipated.
Check the WUOC website – http://sd.ua.es/en/orienteering-championship/news.html – for the live results feed link but it is likely to be athttp://www.fedo.org/sportident/wuoc/resmedia.htm. Be sure to follow their progress.
