Home ground World Cup 2.0

World Cup 2015 is almost here! In two days time I'll find myself lining up for the second time in two years in what I could consider a homeground world cup.

The preparation for the two has been pretty different however. Where as two years ago I headed home about a month before the races in order to best prepare, this time around it's fair to say my mind has been elsewhere - in fact, it was a pretty big shock when I realised last Friday that the races were a week away!


I can't really complain about my preparation though (although I have, sorry). Over the last month we've taken the opportunity to get out training on some of the classic areas around Canberra; including trips to Badja, Rendezvous Creek, and Glendale. All of them great granite maps, with a lot of undergrowth and fallen timber. Super tough stuff, and super tiring. (which I complained about at the time. Again, sorry). And super relevant for Tassie.

Pretty much summarizes my brain state the last month.

Also. I saw a baby wombat.
Yep. Possibly the best moment of my life.

If you want to see a Wombat, got to #8.

Speed work has gone pretty well too.The midday 30+ degree trainings may not have been pleasant, but with the temperature looking to hit 30 on sprint final day, it's hopefully going to pay dividends! (Fluke - it was more due to being too lazy to get up early to train!)

True story. near enough.

After a low key Christmas, I traveled down to Tassie a couple of days ago. It's been great get back out onto the terrain (and beaches) and I finally feel like I'm getting my head back into orienteering mode.

Mistakes to the start triangle aside...

Training hard.

It's also awesome to have a good group of keen and talented kiwi juniors training with us. It turns out that not much has changed in the 10yrs since I was in the schools team - there's still nobody that wants to sit in the front of the van with the driver, there's still car-drive games that get played ad-nauseum, and there's still loud sing alongs enroute. The only big difference is that suddenly I'm on the other side of things - feeling like a soccer mum and feeling incredibly out of date with my music tastes!

The juniors are also absolutely fearless, smashing through marshes without a thought to what may inhabit them (one even going out in running shorts and short socks). Which is more than can be said for the internationals by all reports. So with races a couple of days away, it's time debunk a popular myth:

You're Welcome. (from Fake Science)

But seriously, if you've read this far, and want to keep up with the races from home the world cup (and Oceania Champs) schedule is:

2nd January (PM): Sprint Qualification
3rd January (AM): Sprint Final
8th January: Middle distance
10th January: Long distance

The Middle and Long hold extra importance to the Kiwis and Aussies, as the top Australasian will gain an automatic spot in the World Champs 2015 as Oceania Champion.

I'm afraid there won't be any gps tracking to watch, however live results will be available thanks to O-lynx and co.

So with that all out of the way, A Happy New Year everyone - safe to say it'll be an early one for us, not sure I'll be awake to see in 2015. But all going well, there'll be enough celebrations post World Cup! :)

Prepared and Ready! Bring it on!