Sprint start times

Dylan is starting at 13:35. Alex is starting at 13:51. The course is 2.81km long and the winning time is expected to be 12 minutes and 55 seconds. The 55 seconds part is very important - its not 13 minutes!

The live coverage page has more information: here

The archipelago and the map of the base

This is a 1:5’000 map of the base where we are staying. We had an easy run on the map and a good stretch. Peter even set himself a course and worked up a sweat.
In the afternoon, we took the tram to Saltholmen and got on a ferry to see the archipelago. The ferry is part of the Gothenburg public transport system, so our travel passes allowed us to use them. This picture comes from the island Styrsö. It has 1348 inhabitants. The ferry took us to the furthest stop, Vrångö, in about 50 minutes and with 4 stops.

The sprint race is tomorrow. We will be getting our start times this evening. The starts are from 12:00 to 15:30. Have a look at the Live Results online here

Pavelund Sprint

This morning we walked out of the Military base, across the tram line and a short way down the road to this sprint map. We found that there were a few new buildings around #1. This set things off to a confusing start. The rest of the course was fast and it was usually easy to find the controls. The route choices were the hard part, with many seemingly 50/50 choices. We both ran steadily to allow our legs to recover. Monday’s sprint race will be about 3.2km, with 16 controls. We can expect 80% urban running and 20% forest. We’re expecting plenty of route choice.Most of the teams are here now. The eating hall is getting busier. We actually saw another team out there today –Hong Kong were starting the sprint as we were leaving.

Into the accommodation

Karl, who is a taxi driver in his spare time, gave us a ride from Skatao to the Military camp where we are staying for the competition. We dropped off our stuff and went to meet our esteemed manager Peter at the Central Station.

We are lucky enough to be in B accommodation. Everyone is staying in the military camp. We’re in an eight person room: 3 South Africans and 4 Latvian women (!) It’s really tough having to go downstairs to the men’s bathrooms to change. Sigh...

Anyway, back to the orienteering. We went to a 1:10’000 middle distance map called Ojersjo (written with some dots and circles - we don’t have a Swedish keyboard any more). The terrain was very physical. We took it easy and picked up controls for 40 minutes.

We’re taking it very easy now, in preparation for Monday’s Sprint Final. We’re eating well, although at odd army hours, and we’re trying to convince Peter to get a Rickshaw to transport us - no luck yet.

Elk in the forest, elk for supper

We both saw the same big gray elk in the forest yesterday. It watched us as we made our way past. Then Karl phoned and said he'd bring us some meat for supper. At some stage he aquired half an elk, putting 76kg of elk meat in his freezer. He brought us some elk mince, so we had some spaghetti elk-bolognoise for supper. It was good to have some meat that isn't a vienna or meatball!This morning we crossed yesterday's map and hit this 1:15'000 map. It took 25 minutes to get to the start. We spent 1h40 out there, and then jogged home again. It turned into an epic morning and we're knackered. We weren't expecting it to be so tough, and it isn't ideal at this stage just 4 days before the sprint. Anyway, we had a bit of practice with long legs.This is a picture of our cottage. The juniors from last year may think this picture looks familiar...

We're about to meet up with Peter and we're going to move into the JWOC accommodation. We're not expecting much: the classes are A, B, C on the entry form. Somehow we ended up in D....

Skatao

We've moved into our new accomodation. It is a collection of cottages around a lifestyle center on the edge of a big forrest. Most of the cottages are club houses for sports clubs, like the Goteborg-Majorna O club who is hosting JWOC, a frisbee club and several soccer clubs. This area is a running Mecca, with routes up to 21km in the forest. Dylan demonstrates one of the tougher stretches we use.
We are staying in a soccer club house with two Spaniards. We recognise one of them from the Orientabonito Camp last year.
We stepped out of our cottage and onto this map. The southern half has been burnt recently. We are getting better at finding the controls and executing plans, but control flow and speed need some work. Tomorrow, we'll cross this map, to a 1:15'000 map.

Partille-Gunillse Map

On Tuesday morning we went out to a 1:15’000 long distance relevant map. It seems to be particularly relevant because the blank south eastern part is the long competition area. We picked up controls for almost two hours. After getting used to the scale, we enjoyed the simplification that a 1:15’000 map brings.

We’re packed up and ready to move. We should meet Karl for the first time. The sun has come out now, but it’s still 13 degrees. Hopefully the sun will stay for another week and a half.

Eriksberg Sprint Map

After messing around in hectic forests for the past few days we were both keen to do some fast running and fast orienteering. We did the course below on a 1:6’000 sprint map. We both missed the best route to #4 and went the long way around left on the paths. There weren’t any controls to be found so hopefully we found all the right features. Alex took about 22 minutes and Dylan took about 23 minutes.

This is our last night in Karl’s flat. We’re off to stay with some Spaniards in a cottage.

JMV-test

On Sunday afternoon we attempted the course from the selection races for the Swedish and Danish JWOC teams. There were small tags hanging in the forest. It was intensely technical. We probably wouldn’t have made the teams. Maybe reserves J Alex was a bit more positive than yesterday. Dylan was about as positive as yesterday. This place is hard. We saw a small snake on the walk home.

We’re getting a lot of distance in our legs at the moment. We’re walking a lot to and from trams and buses. We’re planning a shorter sprint training tomorrow. On Tuesday we’re moving to new accommodation: a cottage near a club house. It’s on the edge of two of our training maps. We need to get to a 1:15’000 map soon.

Jonsered Training

On Saturday we hopped onto the Blå Express Bus to the Jonsered training map. It is a ‘middle distance relevant’ area. We both agree that it is one of the hardest places we’ve tried to ‘orienteer’ in. Notice the huge cliffs and the many confusing contours. We’re worried about having to race or go fast in this terrain.We spent the morning getting buffeted by the strong wind on the Göta River. We took a public transport ferry ride west along the river.

Here is a picture of our accommodation until Tuesday night.

This morning we met the event director Mats. We collected some more training maps, including the Swedish and Danish JWOC selection race map. We will try it this afternoon. It looks a bit crazy. We’ll put it up tomorrow.

We hope everyone enjoyed Gauteng Champs!

The first training

Our first run on a Gothenburg map was in a middle distance relevant area, on a 1:10’000 sprint spec map. We quickly found out that if all the bare rock was marked, the map would have been very grey. Almost all the open areas on the map are bare rock. There are lots of large rocky areas, in between all the forest. Its great to be in the Swedish forest again!

The city

We’ve got public transport passes so we can go where we please. It seems we can get to all our training area on the public transport network.

It’s very quiet at the moment because the Swedes are disappearing to their summer cottages to celebrate the summer solstice. Its light from 3:00 to 23:00.

The travelling

We left Jo’burg on Wednesday night and arrived at Schipol on Thursday morning. We had a short trip into Amsterdam, taking in the most important sights.

We arrived in Gothenburg on Thursday evening. We’re staying in a one man, one room flat that is about 10 minutes bus ride from the central station. Thank you to a very trusting Swede, Karl or Nightfox on Attackpoint, who is letting us stay in his flat while he is in Switzerland. Thanks Karl. We're enjoying the NCL (Nightfox Compact Living)

The Team

This year's Junior JWOC team sets off for Gothenburg on Wednesday the 18th of June.

We'll spend the first part of the trip training and getting to grips with the Gothenburg terrain and maps. Competition starts with the Sprint Final and Opening Ceremony on Monday the 30th of June. Four races later, the event will close with the Relay on Sunday the 6th of July.

The team consists of:

Alex Pope:
Witsoc
20 years old
2nd JWOC and 2nd time orienteering in Sweden
Links to Training Logs and ramblings are on the right

Dylan Hemer:
Witsoc

20 years old
2nd JWOC and 2nd time orienteering in Sweden
Links to Training Logs are on the right

The team is managed by Peter Hemer:
RACO
Not as young as he used to be
2nd JWOC as manager
1st Orienteering trip to Sweden

Fundraising

We'd like to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to South African Junior Orienteering.

Firstly, thank you to the Moms for putting in such an effort over the past year. We've steadily been raising money at every event, and they've even put on some special events.

Picture off the RACO website

Peter Hemer has been working very hard at making this trip a success. Hopefully you'll enjoy it Peter!

Our sponsors are shown on the right. Thanks for the donations and contributions. We are very grateful to everyone who has contributed.

Thank you to the Gauteng Orienteers for putting up with another year of fundraising:
- Thanks for buying boerewors rolls, chicken burgers and drinks.
- Thanks for supporting the raffles.
- Thanks for supporting the fund raising tea and the rally.

The Blog

We're about to jet off to Sweden and this is how we're going to show people at home what we get up to. We'll put up pictures, results and stories from Gothenburg and JWOC 2008

• You can get a good overview of last year's trip by looking at the posts from 2007.
• Our sponsors are shown on the right --->
• Some of the juniors log their training (...some of the juniors train?). Have a look for the Attackpoint
• The JWOC 2008 homepage is also listed. You can see the calendar of events for the week long competition --->
• We've got a good crop of juniors for the next few JWOC's. Have a look at the Italian and Danish JWOC's --->
• And the Gauteng Orienteering Clubs' web pages are also there --->