The World University Orienteering Championships 2016 in Miskolc, Hungary, were successful for me before my race had even begun. The selection in itself was the hardest part for me and once this was done, I could simply enjoy the ride. On top of this, I had got to the start line of the Long on Monday the 1st of August healthily and in good shape, as well as witnessing at first hand, one of the GB team's most successful days in orienteering at the Sprint race on Sunday which included Kris's gold medal run. Experiencing something like this is priceless so I can only imagine how he feels about his success.
Another great experience before the races had even begun was waving the team flag on the stage in front of all athletes, managers, organisers and cameras at the opening ceremony. It's fair to say that my heart rate was maxing out higher than it was at any point for the rest of the week!
Eventually though it was time to race, and it was exciting. The terrain was unlike anything I had ever experienced but it suited me well. Typical continental fast, leaf-carpetted, rolling hills, where although one would think route choice would be interesting, was in the end fairly simple - straight unless there's something awful in the way. Things started off poorly, 30s lost to number 1 - arguably the trickiest control of the race, but then got better in better as I found my rhythm and began catching people and forming trains. My gels and drinking went perfectly for the first time ever and by the end I was satisfyingly destroyed. I finished 24th and some minutes down, but I feel like this is all I could give in my current form, and comparing to others in my age category, this was a great run. My summary on the BOF website concludes my thoughts on this race well:
"My aim for today was a clean race with solid plans and to not let myself physically fade by the end due to the racing time being longer than what I'm used to. I'm happy to say that this was largely achieved and any gaps that I can now bridge in the future to the top guys will be mainly on the physical side. I haven't run in much Eastern European areas so it was a new, very enjoyable experience for me, especially as my technical abilities seemed to adapt very well to the new terrain."
GPS Tracking
The following day was amazing, in short. The sprint relay team was always going to be a favourite, even more so after the sprint race, but no one could have imagined the shear dominance that happened on the day. Felt very very proud simply watching and inspired to run well in the next two days.
On the day of the middle things were different. I think the massive amounts of energy spent on the Long and cheering at the Sprint Relay caught up with me and I felt a bit lazy. Thankfully though it was just a middle and shouldn't have effected me much. After a jog around the WU map I was laughing. The terrain was grotty as hell and it was a roasting hot day. This was going to be fun.
An aggressive start hit me hard and I began losing time in the middle of the course. It was pure torture, every small lapse in concentration, tiny hesitation and micro-route choice error was losing me time. However this is good, and it really shows the kind of speed and perfection is needed to do well at senior level - totally different to what JWOC has been in the past for me. I was eventually caught by my 2min Fin and we raced round the last section together very quickly and cleanly, gaining me back some places but also dignity in my race. I finished 32nd, not too bothered and satisfied with the experience.
My summary was as follows:
"My aggressive approach to today's Middle race was always going to be risky, and unsurprisingly by half way round I was beginning to fumble around having gone a few miles into the red zone. However, although my mistakes from today total a time loss that's much larger than my recent norm, I am very satisfied with the sections of my race that went well, especially during a head-to-head with a Finland competitor for the second half of the course. I was punished harshly for every hesitation and poor micro-routechoice, but that's what I came here for and I feel I have gained some valuable experience from these championships so far."
The pressure was somewhat off on the day of the Relay, as I was running 2nd leg for the 2nd team. However when Johnny came in ahead of the first team, suddenly things got exciting and I headed out with many other top teams to race against. I lugged round a rather long gaffle and lost some time towards the end but largely kept our position to set Aidan off with a few people to battle against. Eventually the first team overtook again but I don't think many people were proud with their runs today. The banquet made up for an average day in the woods, and the next day we travelled home to Britain.
Certainly an interesting taste of senior competition and I feel motivated to fix not only my larger time losses, both physically and technically, but the tiny ones that eventually stack up to change my results dramatically. There's lots to focus on in my final junior internationals later this year and next year.
