JWOC Relay 2013. What a great day full of excitement and anticipation! It was warm, the Aussie supporters were out in force and the athletes eager to start. First off was the women’s race, mass starting at 10.00am. Lanita and Mary were first to begin and soon disappeared into the forest. Spectators could follow the action and mistakes on the big screen and the race was well commentated. Lanita was the first Aussie to appear and tagged Jacqui who sped off and collected her map from the map change area.

Mary tagged Michele and we once again had two Aussies in the forest. Third change was Jacqui to Heather and Michele to Nicola. There was a lot of excitement in the air as the winning team was disqualified, leaving 2nd placed Czech Republic the gold medal. Aussie finished in 28th and 37th.

The men’s race started at 12.00pm with Ian and Matt the two Aussie representatives. A huge wave of athletes past over a narrow bridge to disappear into the forest.

For some time a power interruption cut off the announcing and the big screen, so spectators were anxiously waiting to see what was happening. We eventually got sound back just in time to welcome the first men through the spectator area. Aussie was doing well with Ian in 22nd. Ian completed the final loop and tagged Oscar who sped off to collect his map. Matt changed to Brodie and both 2nd leg runners were in the forest. Oscar had a brilliant run tagging Olle in 16th position. Brodie too caught up some positions and gave some words of wisdom to Andrew as he tagged through the change area.

With Olle and Andrew in the forest, there was lots of excitement with the lead field. Czech made it a double with a convincing win over Finland and Sweden Team 2. Australia finished in 17th and 37th position. Final thoughts from the Aussies;

Lanita – A mistake half way through put me down in places a bit but I was still happy with my run and the JWOC 2013 Championships!

Mary – Limping now! Tripped around the course after straining my quad. However absolutely awesome time at JWOC. The long was my best and some disappointment in others but overall had heaps of fun! I want to come back for more. Bring on Euro Meeting.

Jacqui – Solid run today and looking forward to getting a lot stronger for next year JWOC 2014.

Michele – Nice to finish with technical challenge. I am ready to reflect on JWOC2013 in preparation for next year.

Heather – Nice way to finish last JWOC race. OK run just really tired after a big week.

Nicola – Bit of a disappointing way to finish but happy with my JWOC week. A great experience!

Matt – Very average. Lost time on first control and lost pack. Poor from then on. Good experience though and a good run in the sprint. I have lots of ideas and stuff to work on for JWOC 2014.

Brodie – Went out too fast and blew first control. Lost 4 minutes. Hit sore knee on first control. Still ran through though, relying on track options as I was by myself. Lost 3-4 minutes on separate controls. Not my best race and hit my knee again near the finish. Slowed down momentarily but finished strongly. Lots of things to work on next year and looking forward to JWOC2014.

Andrew – Good! Took Brodie’s advice, ‘be safe’, as we tagged, so took easier routes to eliminate mistakes and had a steady run. It paid off with a good run and time.