AALBORG, Denmark - For the second consecutive year, Shippensburg University men's cross country/track and field athlete
Greg Ahlswede will be representing the United States at the Junior World Orienteering Championships. This year's competition will take place in the scenic landscape of Denmark.
Ahlswede is a Spanish major at Shippensburg who is also seeking minors in French and German. Over the span of one week, Ahlswede will compete on four orienteering courses: sprint, long, mid-distance and team relay. Last year, Ahlswede was the highest American finisher on the mid-distance course and the third-highest North American finisher after earning 46th place in the 'B' group final.
FINAL BLOG: RELAY COURSE (SUN. JULY 11; 6 AM EST)
Yesterday we had the relay competition. It's a nice way to end the week since it's a mass start and you can see all the countries competing head to head.
To minimize the amount of following that can take place the runners are given slightly different courses. For instance, you might be following someone and they go to one control but if you check your control sheet you may sadly realize that is not the one you're supposed to go to. So it definitely pays not to follow blindly.
I was put on as the second leg of the USA 'A' team. I had a great race navigationally and nailed almost every control perfectly. The only thing which slowed me down was the massive amount of climb. Over my course, which measured by straight line distance, was 7.5 kilometers more or less, there were 355 meters of climb. There is a rule in the International Orienteering Federation handbook saying that no course can have climb that is more than 4% of the overall distance. This championship got special permission to exceed the 4% rule.
I can completely understand why the rule was put in place. When it flattened out enough for me to run I would go for about 50 meters and start walking because it got too steep to run. Still this did benefit me slightly due to my base with track and cross country. Otherwise, I had a great course which I'm very happy with since last year my relay leg went terribly and I felt I was letting down my teammates. I felt I did my part this year.
Yet the US 'B' team beat the US 'A' team in this relay once again. Their first and third legs ran faster than the 'A' team's legs, so we couldn't hang. But for me, it doesn't matter if someone from the US beats me - because it means the US continues to improve.
The relay was followed later in the night by the banquet and closing ceremonies. Once again, the idea of international cooperation was brought up and I haven't been to many places where it is better illustrated. There was a dinner and then a DJ for the rest of the night.
I won't go into details, since I think most people can imagine what happens when you let about 300 16-to-20-year-olds go loose in Europe. But it definitely was a fun place to be.
I challenged a Spaniard to a 1k race at 8:30 just after breakfast. He's apparently pretty big on running too, so I expected a good race.
He trounced me.
I tried responding when he passed me but apparently a night of dancing and then 4.5 hours of sleep does not help with my racing. I had nothing in my legs. Go figure.
So this is the end of my blog for JWOC 2010. I'm flying back into JFK tomorrow afternoon.
As much as I love Denmark, I am looking forward to returning home. I miss the States.
I want to thank everyone who read my blog during these two weeks. I wasn't expecting many people to be interested, but knowing that there are people who want to hear about it really does make me happy.
I hope that maybe some people out there are interested in trying orienteering after reading this.
If not, still, thank you for the support and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back.
Takk.
BLOG #6: MID-DISTANCE COURSE FINALS (FRI. JULY 9; 3 PM EST)
I only made the 'C' final for the middle distance race, which I thought was going to be my best race. So after that disappointment I dedicated myself to winning the 'C' final. I didn't win it, but man, was it a good showing for the USA!
I took sixth place in 29:56 after two errors put me a few minutes behind. But out of the five Americans in the 'C' final we had four runners in the Top 6. The fifth runner is in his first world championship and simply in his experience gathering stage. But it really is beautiful to see so many Americans at the top of the list even if that list is only the 'C' final. It's a better result than last year and also seems to hint that most of us should have competed in the 'B' final but simply weren't on our day yesterday.
This result makes all of us feel very hopeful for the coming years. We're not the bottom anymore. We're not the top either, but little by little we keep moving up. Things are happening for U.S. orienteers. We've had people place higher but it seems like every year the group as a whole performs better.
I'm fine with my performance. It wasn't my best but wasn't my worst either. It was decent. And in my experience sometimes decent is something very special. I've already improved my highest placing at a World Championship. My long placed me 14 places higher than my previous highest. Little by little I'm improving. And it seems that I enjoy and appreciate more of the sport as I keep getting better.
We've got the relay tomorrow. Each country is allowed to enter an 'A' and 'B' team of 3 runners. We've decided to name our teams, Team Edward and Team Jacob because Twilight seems to be so popular out here. Andrew Childs will be leading, I am the second leg and John Williams is anchor. We only need 3 solid legs. We don't need anyone to go and be a hero.
Although, if we all have 3 solid legs some people might call us that.
BLOG #5: MID-DISTANCE COURSE (THURS. JULY 8; 2 PM EST)
Race 3: Mid-Distance Results
So today was the middle qualification. Last year I made the 'B' final so it was my goal this year to make the 'A' final. In order to do so I would have needed to come in the Top 20 in my heat. The male competitors are split into three heats of slightly different courses so they can't follow each other as easily.
But to get right to the suspense, I didn't make the 'A' final, nor did I make the 'B' final. I'm stuck in the 'C' final after making four minutes worth of errors on controls #2 and #3.
The toughest part about it is that the course wasn't even that difficult. I passed by the depression that control #2 was in at least three times and somehow did not see it. I'm not sure how it happened because the more I think about it the more convinced I am that I was in the right spot. I suppose my mind wasn't in the right spot to see it.
After those two mistakes I decided to go all out and risk another error because I probably couldn't get much lower. I was flying through the rest of the course but it wasn't fast enough to make up for my errors. But it was quite fun.
I was very angry after I finished and still hold a little bit of frustration. But I do accept that what happened has happened and I have to move on to the next stage. I am in the 'C' final tomorrow, but I am going to give it my all to win it. I'm not concerned with what happens. I just want to know that I didn't let up when I've earned an opportunity like this. I'm excited for it and truly think it's going to be fun. I've noticed that is usually when I have my best races.
After the race Sari Venshøj gave me a ride back to the Aalborg barracks. She spent some quality time with the American team and watched the French play a game of pool. I appreciated seeing a familiar face of Shippensburg so far away from home.
BLOG #4: LONG DISTANCE COURSE (TUES. JULY 6; 3 PM EST)
Race 2: Long Distance Results
Taking my lessons from yesterday helped today's competition go much much better. Yesterday I finished 126th due to my messing up out of the gate. Today, in the long distance, I finished 92nd and within 135% of the leaders. My overall time was 1:46:56 and the winner ran 1:18:48.
For an American, this is a very good result. Last year, I finished a little over 2 hours and in about 118th place - so this is officialy my highest finish at JWOC. All of my coaches told me as soon as I finished that it was a good run and that I should be happy. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to do it.
I took the first control a little more safely so that I didn't have a screw up like yesterday. I also was very sure to stay hydrated as I passed the water stops along the course. I could feel my mind starting to go in the last few controls before each water stop so I was sure to be extra careful as my mind functioned more poorly.
Some legs were just very difficult physically. For instance, on one leg I had to run from a beach along the ocean up a steep, sandy, grass covered hill. Very tough. Also, if I were to improve anything about my course, it would be my ability to run through forests. Running on grass fields and tracks is a different game from trying to charge through the woods at top speed. The top people have an amazing ability to fly through which I can only touch in certain circumstances.
We have a rest day tomorrow where I'm planning on visiting the Aalborg Zoo, which is apparently quite famous around here. Then maybe an evening in town followed by map study to prepare for the middle distance on Thursday.
Also quite an interesting note, Sari Venshoj, a student from Denmark who attended Ship for the Spring 2010 semester and ran on the track team, will be coming to the park on Thursday to say hello and watch me compete in the middle. Halfway around the world and I'm still connected to Ship.
BLOG #3: OPENING CEREMONIES / SPRING COURSE (MON. JULY 5; 1 PM EST)
Race 1: Spring Results
Training throughout the last week has gone great. I've identified consistency in any errors I've made while running the courses here and have been trying to implement different ways to deal with them.
The maps we have been given are incredibly detailed. The amount of change that can happen in a small hill is amazing. Also, the vegetation is very thick in some parts but in others it is amazing to run through. I have found though that the difficulty for me doesn't happen when I'm in a very detailed area but rather in an area which is sparse with details because if I lose track of where I am, then I have few ways to find myself.
The opening ceremony was Sunday, July 4 in the evening. It was a very meaningful ceremony and the idea that we are here not to win but to participate in a worldwide event was really driven home. Seeing people from all different countries really makes the rest of the world very tangible for me. The ceremony was followed by a show put on by local unicyclist club which is apparently quite good world wide. We returned back to the barracks and studied maps for the rest of the night.
The first event was the sprint distance event. I had requested a late start time because I normally perform better later in the day. However, sprint is not my favorite distance nor my best distance but I resolved to bring my best no matter what. I started at 11:56 a.m. and discovered some important information about me, orienteering, and crowds.
I need to ignore them. I had some teammates in the crowd who understandably wanted me to do well and so were cheering very loudly for me. But when I'm trying to get into my zone and roll through people calling my name only distracts me from my zone. I ended up losing contact with the map from the first control and ended up at the 17th control instead.
I relocated and quickly got back on course. The damage had been done and was only added to by me forgetting to tag control 12 and then running back so I wouldn't be disqualified. The combined errors added approximately 2:20 onto my time. I finished in 17:19 and if I had run without the errors I would've gotten my goal of top 60.
It is comforting to know that I have the speed and navigational skills to compete at that level but frustrating that these errors got in the way. I suppose I'll take the lesson, use it, and move on.
The long distance is up tomorrow I'm feeling spry and ready to roll.
And please when I'm orienteering... only yell for me at the finish.
Takk.
BLOG #2: SETTLING IN (WED. JUNE 30; 4 PM EST)
So far Denmark is great. My flights got into Reykjavik and then Copenhagen and then Aalborg without delay. I got into my hotel in Aalborg and spent Sunday night by myself in Aalborg while planning to meet up with my team the next day. This was fine, since everyone here speaks English, so I certainly didn't feel isolated. Although, the sun not going down until 12:30 a.m. was quite a strange experience.
I met up with my teammates on Monday and we moved right into Aalborg barracks. And since then we've been training very hard. The maps here are just as difficult as I imagined and I'm finding that my largest difficulties come when I get very close to the point I am navigating to. The navigation is just so detailed that it's very easy to get confused. I am impressed with how well it is going considering the technical difficulty of the maps. Me and two other teammates seem to be fairly even and switch it up quite often as to who beats who on the courses. It's great fun. We were orienteering for about 2.5 hours today and I got a really good feel for the minute details on the map after all that. It definitely feels like good preparation.
Since all the other teams are staying in the barracks with us we are getting a lot of international interaction. I'm listening to a game of UNO between Brits, Aussies, South Africans and Americans as I am writing this. I'm becoming friends with the Spanish team since I'm one of the few people who can speak Spanish and they don't speak English. The Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes are remaining very scarce but I believe we will see more of them as the week proceeds.
All in all it's been great so far and I am looking forward to more.
BLOG #1: DEPARTURE FOR DENMARK (SAT. JUNE 26; 11 AM EST)
My flight leaves today from JFK at 2 p.m. I'm feeling a little nervous about the whole travel process especially since I have a layover in Iceland. Layovers on long flights always make me nervous. Still, I am excited to get this trip underway. I have trained very hard this year to try and bring my best competition to the rest of the world. I just have to put the finishing touches on everything now.
Next week we start our training camp where we are going to get into forests around Aalborg to get on similar terrain so we'll know what to expect when we start the races. From what I've heard the woods can be very confusing over there. I've worked hard to prepare for this so I hope that once I get a feel for the vegetation and how the terrain flows while I'm running I'll be able to roll. I'll see if I can get some pictures of the maps on here so people can understand better what I'm talking about. Overall, I'm excited to orienteer. I hope people are excited also to hear how the competition develops. Tack so mycket!
