Me Crane in Ukraine

Well I've just got back from a GB training camp in the country they named after me. I can't say I was particularly looking forward to it, not least because I haven't been thinking about orienteering too much recently and also because I'd heard tales of woe and sickness from people who'd been out to Kiev before.

But as it turned out it was probably one of the most enjoyable training camps I've been on. And that's probably because I wasn't so het up about how I got on in the trainings. Ok, I wasn't happy the whole time, especially the mornings after overindulging on the old "sports drinks"... But I was still able to train well, and when I was feeling fresh my shape was pretty good. I even managed to win the Yellow Jersey doing a 6.6km middle race in 32.32 (GG was next). However the Swiss and Finnish teams were out there and 31mins seemed to be the optimum time. But I haven't got the coveted Australian o-top in my possession cos BJ won it in a sprint race at the end of the week. I was 6th though and 3rd Brit - and the 40 secs I was behind David Schneider (who won) was all lost on the 1st control... So maybe sprint's an option for next year. I dunno. Things to think about. The main thing is that it was fun and staying in a massive city and getting the metro to trainings certainly put a different spin on things. Hopefully someone will be in room 1809 at WOC and enjoy the message BJ left outside the window...

Little Races and stuff

Ok, so it's been a while since I last updated, and it's probably good that I've not been "living it up" as much as it may have sounded on my last story. That was all good fun and everything, but I needed a bit of time on the old straight and narrow. I've been running every day without particularly caring how fast, how long, or where... which has been quite refreshing. And I've done a few races to keep me ticking over. Going back in time

17th September - WCH district event - Oldacre
5mins drive from my house and an area I know, err, well - losing wasn't really an option. But GG was there and looking to steal the glory. But I had a pretty strong run and GG made a few booboos so I won fairly convincingly in the end which was nice.
Results

16th September - POTOC local event - Chatterly Whitfield
No results from this yet, and maybe that's a good job cos I didn't run very well. It was nice to try out a new area not so far from home and bits of it were pretty good. POTOC looked to be doing a great job attracting newbies. Personally, I didn't enjoy the litter and yobs and I had trouble finding a few of the flags. Still, it got me out of the house.

13th September - OD Sprint Series - Burton Dassett
This was a showdown against GG. 19 controls, match play, half a pint per control. Surely a sprint race on his favourite training area would somewhat favour the guy who came 9th in the WOC sprint... Oh no. I had other ideas. He lost 13-6 to me and somehow wormed his way out of the forfeit. But it's still there and he isn't getting away with it that easily.
Results (and a bit of analysis)

10th September - Totley Tormentor Fell Race
17ml, 4500' climb. I set off at a decent pace and got a bit bored of the sight of Neil's hungover backside but fortunately he died just before the finish a little more than I did and despite Dave Taylor nipping through I finished relatively happy with a nice run out on the fells copping bits of abuse here and there (but not as much as Neil). And Neil got disqualified for not having any emergency kit which made me laugh and laugh and laugh.
Results

29th August - WCH training race - Rowley Park
3.6km sprint race in 10.02. Probably the fast mpks anyone's ever done in an orienteering race. I thank you. Yup, I was fairly going for it and the "terrain" (football pitches) did kind of aid my world record. It's funny though how the straights on the athletics track on the map appears to be 150m long...

The other news is that I've moved house. I'm now back in da hood (Sheffield) for the forseeable future and am officially the thickest person in my house (being that I'm the only "Mr" - my housemates Bown and Middleditch are both Drs).