Long Distance

The weather was cloudy but not raining so good conditions for racing. The early starters began at 9 and the latest start was at 2:30 which went there was a lot of waiting around. Those who started early would get a good day of spectating while those who started late would spend a very long time in the quarantine area since everyone had to be in quarantine 9.

The Boys’ course was 11.1km and the girls 7.7km. Both courses had some large variation in leg length and also included butterfly loops. In previous years the girls’ course has not had a pivot of any sort so it was a welcome addition to their JWOC long. The boys’ course started 4 medium length legs then a long leg before some more shorter legs including some very dense area. A 2^nd long leg led to the butterfly loop with the pivot control being either 10, 13, and 17 or 10, 14, and 17 depending on which order you were to complete the loops in. The next 5 legs were of a medium to medium-long length and led into a flat park for the final 2 controls. The girls course had a similar structure except the long leg to 5 led into the butterfly loops with the pivot control being either 6, 9 and 13 or 6, 10 and 13. They too had a long leg from the pivot with some medium legs leading them into the park and the finish.

Again New Zealand performed better in the long than in previous years with the top place in the girls being Angela Simpson finishing 21^st and only 6 seconds off being in 18^th. Next it was Kate Morrison in 35^th, Laura Robertson in 90th, Selena Metherell in 98^th, Anna Gray in 102^nd and Jamie Goodwin in 106^th. In the men’s race all of the boys again finished in the top 100 which is a top result for New Zealand. Toby Scott and Matt Ogden both had great races with Toby in 22^nd and Matt in 30^th. Nick Hann placed 90^th with Tim Robertson just behind in 93^rd and Gene closely following in 95^th.

Written by Gene