Preparing for JWOC and lightning

Today we started the morning early by packing up all our gear and walking to our new accommodation nearer town. Then it was across the river to catch the bus up to Passo Rollo. This was an experience in itself, up continuous switchback corners in a van and bus.

The area was a section of the long distance map so will be very relevant. Most of the team took a rest day and just walked or jogged the course. It was good to check out the vegetation, rough scattered trees but nice open white forest and a few marshes.

We all dodged the rain and massive lightning storm that surrounded the town tonight in an effort to get to the restaurant for dinner. Lots of tasty pasta and pizza were enjoyed by all.

Ciao
Angela

Fiera Di Primiero - Sprint Training

Today we did some sprint training around the centre of Primiero. We found that the map was not as technical as our previous sprint training in Tonadico. There was far more open running on roads and most of the route choices were confined to the longer legs. We also found that looking for a covered alley among shop fronts is not that easy when running through a crowd. We are still finding that it is worth the distance to take a wider flowing leg as opposed to a shorter zig zagging one.

After training we did the usual lunch chillout movies espresso and supermarket.

Simon and Scott were not content with this morning’s training so went to do some extra sprint training at a town up the road called Siror.

We haven’t really mentioned it but we are surrounded by glorious mountains. Although in the afternoons the rain haze tends to obscure them. However at nine in the morning, such as it is now, they are resplendent as the early morning sun gleams off their sheer cliffs, speckled snow and opposing peaks. Up one valley a castle forms as an extension of the rocky crag it sits on [I’m dictating this as Tom and Nicola hang out the window Ed.].

Ciao bella!

xoxo

Long Distance Training - Lake Caliata

Today we went up to a map called Calaita. Todays focus was to work on some long distance practice. The map was quite steep in places, but very manageable. There was a lot of rock and contour detail, which will be good practice for the races next week. Some of us did a lot of route choice exercises, especially for controls 9 to 10 - around the track seemed to be the quickest, even though it looked longer. Mark went straight and Tom went on the track, Tom ended up beating Mark to the control by about 7 minutes.

After training we decided to go to the stream on the map to ice our legs, it was definitely icy! Whilst down at the stream, the boys decided to build a mighty solid dam - the town in the valley below are currently experiencing a water crisis.

As always, up at the map, around lunchtime, the thunderstorms began to echo around the valley. We were beginning to get a little worried about the sprint being around the same time when it is rather wet.

In the arvo, we chilled, watched some movies, got some Gelato and just wandered around town.

More teams are beginning to arrive, we have seen the British, Irish, Swedes and the Aussies training around Primiero.

Sprint and some Middle

Norms surprise paparazzi



Todays middle training map



The view from San Martino, can just see the gondola in the distance

We began the day yesterday with some sprint training on the town we are staying in. Our accomodation is in a part of Primiero called Tonadico and we had a two loop sprint race around teh labyrinth of houses up here. The map also has a hill on one side which posed some route choice.

After the morning sprint we headed up to San Martino Castrozza and Passo Rolle for a drive through to get a look at the race terrain. Road goes up quite high quite quickly. The road has painting on it left over from the Giro d'Italia in May. San Martino is quite open with relatively clean forest floor, while Passo Rolle (long) seemed to have a little more branches and rock on the ground to slow it down. On the way up we also saw a suicidal gondola up to an impossibly small summit of a mountain, a little kid who thought he was in the Giro and the Norwegian team.

Afternoon training was halfway back on a tiny map called Dismoni. Magic terrain, mossy floor with lots of rock. We seem to have clicked onto the Italian rock mapping style (if in doubt leave it out) so we all felt much more precise with our orienteering. The map was steep and all on one hillside.

Picasa Photos

For some more photos from the last week or so and for during jwoc week check out Norm's Picasa Site. The link is:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Norm.Jager

Currently has photos from Asiago but Norm will keep them coming during this week and next.

Ciao Primiero!

We are now in Primiero. We arrived the day before yesterday after a pretty cool drive from Asiago. Instead of taking valley roads we went across the plateau straight down into the valley then straight up the other side. The Italians sure know how to do switchbacks.

Primiero has a much more alpine feel than Asiago, we are very much sandwiched in between mountains. We have awesome views from pretty much anywhere in town.
Training yesterday was our first run on one of the official JWOC training maps. An area called Passo Cereda which is about 20 minutes drive up out of the valley. It is supposedly quite similar to portions of the middle map. We had a course with controls set by the organisers which most of the team did in its entirety. Some of us tested out some of the Leppin Sport products we are using. The forest had less scattered rock than Asiago and contours in places that felt a lot like Weiti, between 3 and 4 for instance with teh re-entrants ending part way up the slope. The rocks on the map were alot easier to read than in Asiago. The vegetation varied across the area, up by control 10 and 11 was perfectly clean and lightning fast, whereas 4 to 5 was quite green.

We encountered the ther teams for the first time today, Russa, Japan, South Africa and Hong Kong were all out on the map training at the same time as us. We expect to see heaps more of the other countries as the week progresses, as Primiero isn't a very big place! JWOC is being promoted much more than last year in Sweden. There are posters and o flags up in shops all over town and most of the lamp posts have JWOC 2009 flags hanging from them.

Everyone enjoyed the map and is happy with how the preparation is going. This morning some of the team are doing sprint training on a training map provided by the organisers with a pre marked course starting from our accomodation.

Passo Cereda training map:

Last day in Asiago

Jourdan hanging it out


Andrew on the charge

Today is our last day in Asiago. We are packing up in the moment to head up to Tonadico near Primiero. On the way we are going to be stopping for some 1:15000 training on a map along the route. Simon arrived last night so we are a full team of 14 now.

Yesterday we had two sessions. The morning, which most of the team did was a downhill course focussing on navigation in the rock detail around here. The last few controls were supposedly very relevant for the terrain in the JWOC middle. The morning was quite wet but not too cold.

In the afternoon we headed into asiago for some sprint training. We had a course set around the center of town that inclded some parks, some tight alleys in the town center and some more open streets. The slippery streets made it quite tricky. Lots of discussion afterwards about optimal routes, especially on the legs from 20-21 and 21-22.

Todays sprint map: