World Orienteering Championships - Sprint Finals

by Peter Gagarin

So the Sprint final is over and Ali and Sam have done real good, 27th in the world for Ali and 38th in the world for Sam. I’m pretty sure that 27th is the best we’ve ever done at WOC. 

The sprint was in the middle of the small city of Chambery, a maze of streets and small twisty alleys, plus a nice castle, with the start and finish right in front of the castle and all the streets blocked off to traffic. Just an amazing scene. Lots and lots of people, enthusiastic cheering and flag waving, a huge video screen, great announcing. Orienteering with the feel of a big-time sport, in other words. The eventual winners were a Swedish woman (with Swedes also second and third) and a Swiss man.

And we all went away feeling quite worn out from all our hard cheering. :-)  And also feeling very proud of our Team, as I’m sure you all are too.

And one more thing. Because after talking to Ali and Sam after the race, one thing became clear. Neither one had run a good race. No big mistakes for Sam, but the flow wasn't there and her legs were getting real tired the last half. And Ali had one terrible control, misread the clue for the control at the castle, lost 55 seconds to Sam right there. 

It's a sign of how good these two are getting when they can place as well as they did when not at their best. The future looks very bright.

Maps, results, splits are at:
http://live.woc2011.fr/