Middle Final

Today we had the final for the middle distance. With 6 of the team making the A final there was a lot of excitement surrounding this race. Toby, Gene, Angela, Jamie, Kate and myself made up the 6, while the remaining members of the team all made the B final. A very impressive effort!!!

First up was the B final. I missed out on all the action as the A-finalists were quarantied for the morning before their races. The terrain for the middle final was a lot greener and phsyically much more demanding than in the previous races. Today was all about being aggressive through the green, strong up the tough hills and making no mistakes.

We left quarantine and arrived at a rather familiar place after a short bus ride. The organisers had decided to use the same start area for the middle final and the middle qual. The warm up map was identical so no new areas of map greeted us as we arrived at the pre start. I was very excited for this race and a little bit nervous. I think most of the team felt similar. By now we had completed 3 Jwoc races so the intense pre race nerves had subsided a little, replaced with focus and excitement.

The team performed really well in the finals, absorbing the pressure of some big name competition and the fact that it was the JWOC middle distance final. Angela was a victim of somewhat poor officiating and was disqualified. As we ran into the event arena there was a marked crossing point on the map. However there was an unmarked, but tapped ( to stop runners ), crossing point down the fence closer to the control. Angela mistook this point as the correct crossing point and was subsequently disqualified. A protest was made, arguing that it was unfair that runners after Angela were told by officials to go through the correct gate. Sadly this protest was unsucessful and the disqualification still stood.

Results from the A-final are below. I cannot find the other results and the majority of the team is having a swim to recover. But look on the JWOC wesbite!!!

Jamie 43rd
Kate 49th
Angela DSQ

Matt 15th
Toby 30th
Gene 55th

Tonight we have the medal ceremony for the middle and long distances. Tomorrow is the relay. We are all excited and hopefuly we can do NZ proud.

Over and out.