Last weekend (29-30 June 2024) was the WOC 2024 Test Races in Edinburgh where five of our WOC athletes ran in preparation for next week: Mikayla Cooper, Henry McNulty, Brodie Nankervis, Ewan Shingler and Caitlin Young.
Angus Haines also competed, getting some training in for World Uni’s in August.
Here’s what Mikayla Cooper had to say before the test races: “It will be an exciting opportunity to figure out this different type of sprint maps and a great preamble for WOC!”
These races are a chance to simulate their upcoming races, competing on similar terrains with WOC course setters against many of the best orienteers from across the globe.
Ewan and Henry are coming off their sprint experiences from the 1st and 2nd World Cup rounds, whilst Brodie, Caitlin and Mikayla will be using these races as a good opportunity to blow the cobwebs out!
Individual Race – Saturday, 29 June
Saturday was an individual race in a fast but tricky housing estate area, including the addition of artificial barriers which made for some interesting route choices. There were some decent results from the team, good to see running against most of the countries competing at WOC next week.
| Men | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuomas Heikkilä | 00:13:39 |
| 28 | Henry McNulty | 00:14:20 |
| 42 | Brodie Nankervis | 00:14:51 |
| 53 | Ewan Shingler | 00:15:19 |
| 57 | Angus Haines | 00:15:28 |
| Women | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simona Aebersold | 00:13:31 |
| 27 | Caitlin Young | 00:15:03 |
| 44 | Mikayla Cooper | 00:16:29 |
Knock Out Sprint – Sunday, 30 June
Sunday was a knock out sprint style race with quarters, semis and finals around a university campus, again full of interesting route choices.
Ewan and Henry finished in the top three of their quarters, moving onto the semis. Henry placed 4th in his semi final, moving him into the 4th final which he won! Ewan placed 5th in his semi final, putting him in the 5th final where he placed 4th. Good effort lads!
“I was disappointed with my individual on Saturday, I orienteered quite sloppily and took some bad routes.
I got dialed over the course of the weekend, and was happy with how I was orienteering by the end of the knockout rounds.
My physical shape was good so I’m looking forward to doing the finishing touches over the next 10 days”
– Henry McNulty
Brodie, Mikayla, Caitlin and Angus placed outside the top 3 of their quarter finals, putting them in the repêchage competition.
In this, athletes started with 10 second start intervals and the top 5 from this semi final got a place in the knock out finals.
Caitlin placed 9th, Brodie 13th, Mikayla 16th and Angus 19th.
Brodie and Angus then ran the repêchage final placing 12th and 13th respectively.
All in all, the test races were a great way for our WOC team to get some practice in before competing in Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2024, starting on 11 July.
