The first half of the competition was finished with two good results,
but not perfect, and I was hoping that the middle distance will be my time to get into the top-20.
6/7- Middle qualification- not like last year, when the most important day of the championship was the middle Q, this time it was the middle final which was the "goal day". So there was just a small task to do in the day before- qualify into A-final, a task which shouldn't have been so difficult, after all, I qualified last year, and now I'm in a much better shape… The day started well. I knew that also in the qualification I should run really fast, because the terrain isn't technically difficult, and most of the runners won't do any mistakes. But in the forest I didn't really give everything I had, because I thought that if I will run in a faster pace I will increase the risk of making a mistake. So the race went good, I ran in a fast pace with no mistakes, and coming into the 9th control I decide that I will take the safe route around to control 10 in order to prevent any chance of doing a mistake at the end, and hey, anyway I'm in the final, so those plus 15-20 seconds won't make the difference. I started as one of the last starts, and when finishing I was around the 17th place, and then It started, when me and Oded were looking at my name on the results board, as it started to move lower, and lower until it stopped in the 21st place, 4 second out of the final. I wanted to cry, but was too embarrassed for doing that, so I was just sad for the rest of my day/(life?)… I think that I lost something like 15 second when going around to the 10^th control, but anyway my running speed was a bit too slow then it should and could have been. 21st position, +2:17 from Eskil Kinneberg.
MapResultsSplit
The 10th control7/7- Middle B final- I decide to try to fight for a top place in the B final and give all of what I have. First two control it worked well, but then I started to do some mistakes, and not seeing the marked route on the map to the spectators control (50 sec') and after that I lost the fighting spirit. 22nd place, +3:36 from Thor Norskov and Christian Tingstrm.
MapResults+ splits
8/7- relay- It was decided that I will run the first leg, and I hoped that I could run with the leading pack, and so it started, the first 4 controls we were really lots of guys (maybe 30) running more or less together (and really fast), in the uphill before the 4th control I lost some valuable seconds and then I started the long flat leg just at the end of the pack and didn't keep the pace and was left behind.
Shame:( . I was running alone until the 7th control where I caught some guys, but on the 10th control I made a mistake and lost around 40 seconds as well as the other guys, 20 seconds more on the 12th control and I switched out to Guy as number 24, 3:00 minutes behind. Guy ran well, but Asaf had a bad day, and also made some mistakes. We finished in 39 position (26 without the 2nd teams), +38:40 from the host team who took the victory- Poland! Recommended-
great video from the relay.
MapResultsSplits
By: Agata LechTo summarize it all, I'm happy with my first two races and a bit disappointed with my "main goal" (middle), but I'm happy I met lots of new (and old) friends and had great fun.
JWOC 2011 will be remembered as an awesome experience!
My Opera
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