World Cup Round One.......2015

...And suddenly it's March! It's been another hectic couple of months full of work and travel, with niggley injuries coming and going, and thankfully some training and racing to keep me sane! The blog has taken a bit of a hit in terms of posts, but hopefully I can find a bit of time to keep it up to date as the racing season starts up again.

This weekend I'm once again sitting on my laptop, watching my opposition take to the course in World Cup races on the opposite side of the world. It's equal parts frustrating and motivating, having to watch rather than race. But I know soon enough I'll be on the 'right' side of the world, and in the thick of it :) In fact, as I watch the results trickle in, I'm attempting to nail down plans for my extended Europe and WOC campaign for June/July...but more on that another time!

Given I'm not there and racing in Turkey, I thought I'd make myself feel better by instead having a look ahead to WC R1 2015, Tasmania...

Oh hello Tasmania!
(Photo from the Oceania 2015 fb page )

At the very beginning of this year the Aussies were kind enough to invite us kiwis on their High Performance squad camp, based in St Helens, where the World Cup long will be come January next year. A quartet of us kiwis; myself, Matt Ogden, Laura Robertson and Nick Hann, attended the camp and gained invaluable experience in the tough Tassie terrain prior to next year's races.

The coaching team, led by Nick Dent and the Aussie WOC coaches Wendy Reid and Tom Quayle, along with Roch, Hillary and Lance, set us a full week of intense training, particularly focusing on learning and critiquing what each individual's 'orienteering process' was. For me, it was great to be on a fully focused and coached training camp; 2 quality orienteering sessions a day, and evening theory sessions. This was something that I haven't experienced since my JWOC days, and something that is currently lacking in the NZ environment at the moment. (although there are steps in place to rectify this). So a huge thanks to Nick for the initial invite, and all of the coaches for making the camp what it was! Hopefully we can see more NZ-AUS shared camps happening, on both sides of the ditch!

But what I guess most international readers want to know, is what is the terrain like? What can they expect come January 2015?

Well the main point taken from this camp: It is tough terrain. But heck is it beautiful! Some steep hills, plenty of ferns, logs and undergrowth, masses of granite detail. And marshes. Oooh those marshes! The map Lively's Bog was given it's name for a reason! It's worth getting to Tassie early simply to learn how to pick your crossing points across the many linear bogs. The fastest orienteers on the day will be the strong ones that push through the terrain with aggression, not just the ones with the speediest legs. It says something about the terrain that the organiser's aren't even using the mining terrain that is close on hand - the areas are good enough without needing it!

It may be tough, but it is wicked terrain. And the beaches are close by for optimal post race recovery. The water should be plenty cold enough for that, even in January!

Rather than raving about the terrain any longer, I'll just leave you with some map porn. More maps from the training camp can be found on my DOMA. Enjoy :)

Tin mining terrain, where Aus champs 2012 was held.

Intervals on Lively's Bog. Plenty of marsh and granite.
But much faster terrain in the last couple of ints.

Mt Pearson. Hills, granite, overgrown linear marshes.

Camp champs on Lively's Bog...or Littlechild's Creek?

Old map of Coles Bay, area for the WC middle.
 From the WC Oceania webpage