Sweating in Slovakia

Now that Coach is here the serious training has started ;-) We did 2 sessions today. First up was a middle relevant training on a map called Broda. The first few controls were in a green area and a few of the paths were overgrown. The second half of the course was a lot easier and enjoyable. It helped having controls / toilet paper to find today.

We went back to our accommodation for lunch - potatoes, rice and chicken...again. Then we headed out to Bukovec for Relay / middle relevant training. A lot less green but very hilly. It was very hot and there was a fair bit of grumbling walking up the hill to the start. Luckily coach was feeling kind and knocked a km or so off our courses.

Long Walks and New Arrivals

Today we did some sprint training at Pavilon, we ended up walking 4km because we were having trouble with the buses ... We decided to do the course in intervals running 3 controls at a time with a short break in between ... Sarah and Salome ran together and Steph decided to run with Ant and Brad ... The pace on the course was good and there were some interesting route choices. (2-3, 5-6, 7-8,10-11-12-13)

It was some good training that we all seemed to have enjoyed!

We decided to just walk back to accommodation and on the way back each got an ice-cream for the equivalent of about R3 each :)

When we got back to the accommodation we looked on Google Earth and tested our different route choices with a few surprising results.

Big Nic (coach) arrived about 16:00 and gave us our new tracksuits :) and checked into his room.

After Dinner Nic told us about the training plans for the week ahead, we all had a chilled evening with some having an early night. Asaf (Representing Israel) arrived and will be joining us for training, glad to have him! Looking forward to tomorrows training  :-D

Soggy maps and soup

We arrived safely in Kosice yesterday afternoon. A dude met us at the airport and took us to our accommodation - a university res. It's decent - better than last year at least. The food is okay - not awesome but once again, better than in Poland. Soup is on the menu for every night - last night was garlic and tonight was barley. There's a small super market, bakery and bank just down the road. So far food seems really cheap! We can get a piece of cake at the bakery for R4 - R6 and a kilogram of cherries for 1 euro.

Coach is only arriving tomorrow so we spent the morning figuring out how to get to a training area. We asked a few people about buses / trams before we found a dude who spoke English. He showed us which buses to take and ended up buying us a map of the town and bus tickets. Very friendly! We're going to take him chocolate to say thanks tomorrow.

We headed to the training area after lunch - Hradova. Was a wise choice to get the bus and not walk there. Rather a hilly 5km! We walked to the start and hid our bags in the forest. Quite a straight forward area ...until it started raining and our maps turned to mush. We'll probably do some sprint training tomorrow morning. Coach arrives in the afternoon.

The NZL team and 2 Aussies are here.

Having a good time so far. Looking forward to the rest of the team joining us.

Almost in Slovakia! :D

We are currently in Austria for a bit of a wait until our flight to Kosice,

We found  a legit kids play arena, right by our next boarding gate, for playing with Bruceee! Worked up quite a sweat which has resulted in a few of us lacking a bit of energy:

Ant is probs just resting for the AWESOME training we are going to get started! :P

We are all really keen to hit up some Slovak forest! Keep checking this blog, our attackpoint links on the side.

Also check out the youth squds blog for info on their tour: sayoutho.tumblr.com

National Teams Announced

Congratulations to the athletes chosen to represent South Africa! The Junior team will be going to the Junior World Orienteering Champs in Slovakia. The Youth team will be doing the spectator events at the World Masters Orienteering Champs in Germany as well as at the Junior World Champs in Slovakia.

The junior team includes: Stephanie Courtnage, Jessica Hemer, Sarah Pope, Salome van Hoepen, Bradley Lund and Anthony Stott.
The Youth team includes: Jessie and Cian Oldknow, Christie Courtnage, Laura Troost, Sarah Dutkiewicz, Timothy Chambers, Dylan Barry, Greg and David Avierinos and Roark and Miguel Robinson.

Squads for 2012

The SAOF Selection Committee have announced the Junior, Youth and Development national squads for 2012:

Junior Squad:

Men: (In no particular order)

Bradley Lund

JP Sissing

Anthony Stott

Greg Avierinos

Women: (In no particular order)

Stephanie Courtnage

Jessica Hemer

Sarah Pope

Salome Van Hoepen

Youth Squad:

Boys: (In no particular order)

Roark Robinson

Timothy Chambers

David Avierinos

Dylan Barry

Miguel Robinson

Girls: (In no particular order)

Laura Troost

Cian Oldknow

Jesse Oldknow

Christie Courtnage

Sarah Dutkiewicz

Development Squad:

JP Sissing

All the athletes listed above will be expect to show steady improvement, commitment and fitness throughout the year. Included in this, the above athletes will be required to attend any squad trainings held in their respective provinces as well as 3000m track fitness assessments on dates to be advised. Team selection announcements will be made in March 2012.

Doornpoort

After a month of orienteering in Europe, the first run back home can be a bit boring but the event at Doornpoort was very enjoyable. The courses were tricky and we didn't go over the hill. The ruins, rocks an vegetation make it a great area.

Cobus won in 1:01:40. Below is the map with Alex's (2nd) route in orange, Brian's route is in blue. He was 4th. Garry's (7th) route is in Green. My route is in red. The splits are here.