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sandrazürcher

orienteering and life

US WOC Team

Last weekend the US WOC team was selected. I was not able to go to the trials, but I was selected through a petition process. Here is our team:

1. Samantha Saeger, NEOC, 321.36 points
2. Sandra Zürcher, UNO and others, by petition
3. Pavlina Brautigam, WCOC, 293.16
4. Viktoria Brautigam, WCOC, 286.64
5. Cristina Luis, DVOA, 284.55

Alternate: Corinne Porter, DVOA, 274.23

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1. Eric Bone, COC, 301.66
2. Eddie Bergeron, SVO, 297.22
3. Ross Smith, CSU, 294.76
4. Boris Granovskiy, CSU, 293.29 (declined)
5. Wyatt Riley, DVOA, 291.16
6. Sergei Zhyk, DVOA, 288.59

Alternate: Clem McGrath, DVOA, 287.66


And here some pictures that I have stollen from Boris Granovskiy's facebook photos (hope you don't mind Boris...)

Picture 1: Women's WOC team (insert me in the picture somewhere:-))
Picture 2: Samantha Saeger (Winner of the trials races)
Picture 3: Viktoria Brautigam
Picture 4: Ross Smith

Our new Trimtex clothes look good!

and... so how am I doing, you ask? Well, I am busy with school and training and that is why I haven't written much. I would like to do a serious update sometime soon, put some maps online and tell you all the details, but that will have to wait a moment.

until later...

Building a house!



Marc and I build a house together today :-)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

C U in 2009

A good day!


News
World news
US elections 2008

Barack Obama to be America's first black president
John McCain praises rival in concession speech as record numbers turn out to vote in historic election


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/uselections2008

Training camp in Hungary

I feel really lucky that I had the opportunity to go to the training camp in Hungary for next year's WOC. Here is why:
-very well organized camp (super high quality)
-great terrain
-good maps
-good company (met up with US team members Ekaterina Orekhova and Boris Granovskiy, and Irish team member Ailbhe Creedon)
-warm weather (we just got several cm of snow at home in Switzerland, so I am glad winter waited a little to let us train well first)

The terrain has totally motivated for next year and I am also looking forward to spending some more time in Hungary. Here is a glimpse into their culture: Zsolti a béka

This music was introduced to us by Csaba Grösswein, who is Boris and Kat's roommate in Uppsala. Csaba did quite well at the Hungary Long distance champs. Very cool! Take a look:


Some more pictures:


How many nations represented in the 2nd photo?


I had a stomach flue just before leaving for Hungary, I still had some pain during the first few trainings. This is what I looked like. (Photo 3)


We went to the caves! (Photo 4)


By the end of the week I was a very happy orienteer. (Photo 5)

Photos are from Boris Granovskiy, thanks Boris!


Becoming a master at...

The 2008 orienteering season is over for me and I have to admit, I have not yet mastered the sport of orienteering. This season has had a lot of ups and downs and even though I have seen progress in my ability, I am not satisfied with where I am. I want more, I want to become better. But do we really ever master a task, or does the inner perfectionist in us always drive us to try to become even better. I wonder if Simone Niggli or Thierry Gueorgiou feel like they have mastered orienteering. Probably not, with every race different from the next, there is a continuous search for perfection.

I have decided to try to master something else and I have gone back to school in exercise science and hopefully in two years time I will have a Master’s degree. At least this tunnel has a light at the end of it and I feel confident that I can improve my knowledge of exercise science in this very interesting degree that is focusing on elite sports instead of sports as a promoter of good health.

It will be interesting to see how I handle school and training, but I am determined to continue with orienteering. In two weeks I will go to Hungary and see what the terrain looks like for next year. Until then I am taking a training break and focusing on school.

Here is a picture of me at the World cup in Switzerland (picture from Martin Jörg). I ended up being the 41st ranked participant after Saturday’s race and couldn’t run in the Sprint on Sunday. What a bummer. I hope to change that ranking next year and be a part of the finals more often!


US Champion :-)

I haven’t written anything since WOC, but lots has happened. It’s been somewhat difficult getting over the disappointment of running badly at WOC, but since then I have had some good races and regained some self-confidence. Directly after WOC, I traveled to Sweden to take part in the World Cup races at O-Ringen. This experience was fantastic, and since I was so burned out of putting pressure on myself, like I did at WOC, I actually ran well. Hum... a lesson for the future? We had a big team, 6 women and 5 men. That doesn’t happen much.
Two newbee’s Kat Orekhova and Alison Crocker certainly enriched our team, and I hope to have them on a WOC team soon. I managed to get some of my first world cup points for this year, I was satisfied with my 38th place in the sprint and 39th in the long. I had some trouble with dehydration and hypoglycemia in the middle. I guess I didn’t recover from the long distance the day before, where I had felt physically really pretty good.

After the WOC and World cup trip, I spend a few days at home, before flying to my hometown, Colorado Springs to visit my brother and spend some time in the States. One of the reasons I went to the US was to participate in the 2 Day US Classic Championships in Wyoming, just a few hours away from Colorado Springs. There were several days of training before the US champs, and I enjoyed running in the open woods and camping with many friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.

The US classic Championships are a 2-day total event. The “woods” were very interesting and challenging in it’s own way. Since the terrain is at about 8000 feet (2400 meter) high, the biggest challenge is the altitude and not running too fast since the terrain is open. It’s an interesting feeling to run hard at that altitude, basically I felt like I was running in 4th gear the whole time, but if I pushed harder my head would get foggy and dizzy. I managed to run races where I could push at a pace needed to run cleanly, but still fast enough to win. I won both days by about 2 minutes ahead of Samantha Saeger. I have never won a 2 day US Classic champs and was very happy to have finally achieved this goal. The results can be found here.

Maps:
Day 1
Day 2

I have put some pictures from the summer (WOC, World cup Sweden, and my trip to the US) up in the Photos section! Check them out!

½ way point at the World Orienteering Championships, in 0lomouc, Czech Republic

The World Championships consist of four disciplines: sprint, middle, and long distance and a relay. Each discipline has a qualification race and the top 15 in each of the three heats run in the final. The relay does not have a qualification race. I was selected to run all the disciplines this year, including the relay. If things were to go optimally it would have meant running 7 races in 8 days.

On Sunday July 13th I competed in the Sprint qualification. I was already pretty nervous a few days in advance and really had to work hard to get myself into the right state of mind. I managed this and the beginning of my race went well.
The race was quite simple, which meant you had to run really fast. I must have run over my limit and in the state of my oxygen debt I skipped a control, running from number 9 straight to 11. All three controls were on a straight line and I just skipped ahead in my map reading. I only realized this mistake when I was told in the finish that I was disqualified. This was very upsetting. I do however have to admit that I made a big error at the end of the race as well. The sounds of the speaker at the finish and seeing spectators flustered me; I suddenly couldn’t read the map well and lost 1 minute on my 12th control. With this mistake I would have not made the cut off for the final anyway, even if I had visited all of the controls. The only positive thing I can take home from this experience I could see in the splits that if I run a normal good sprint race I am fast enough to make the final.

However, it is difficult with the pressure and stress of running at the World Championships to run “normally”. This mental hurdle is something I am still struggling with.

There was certainly no time to wallow over my mistakes; I had 24 hours time to get ready for the long distance qualification race. I am pleased that I could get over the nerves I felt for the first race and felt confident and ready to race again.

The long distance qualification went well but not great. I had a solid run up until the end, with some small mistakes, but still at a speed where I was within qualifying for the final. I saw ahead on the course and noticed that the last few controls were “tricky” and prepared myself to take them carefully.


I was successful at doing this for the first tricky control but did not have my navigation in control for the next one. I ended up loosing 4 minutes on that control and loosing my chances at making the final.

This WOC week so far has been tough. I feel like I have the ability to make the finals, but it takes getting every part of the race right. There is just no room for error. Luckily, I will get one more chance to see how good I can be. The middle distance qualification and final are tomorrow. I hope to navigate to all the controls in a manor that I am proud of when I run into the finish. If I can achieve this and I have a little bit of luck as well I may make it into the final. That would be a nice way to wrap up my individual races at WOC.

On Saturday, there is the long distance final race, where Marc will be taking part in. In 2005 and 2006 he was 2nd, winning the silver medal. Although he has been fighting with a hip injury since this spring he is ready to fight for the medals again. I will be there cheering for him.


On Sunday there is the last event, the relay. Samantha Saeger will run the first leg for the US team. I will run the 2nd and Samantha’s little sister, Hillary Saeger, will run the last leg. Our best placement at a WOC was 17th place in 2006. We hope to break into the first 15 places this year (and beat Canada too!).

I will keep you informed!

(Pictures from Will Smith: http://orienteering.smugmug.com/)

www.marclauenstein.ch

It’s been a while since the last time I wrote something. I have been busy and doing a lot of orienteering. I ran at the EOC’s in Latvia and the Swiss Selection races. During that time the US team for WOC has been selected. In addition, Marc launched his new homepage: http://www.marclauenstein.ch and he also earned his ticket to Olomouc for WOC.

The EOC week was very nice and I had a lot of good experiences. The races were technically tough for me, but I managed to have some good races. I missed the A-final in the Sprint by 7 seconds after a “not-so-great” race. This showed me that I *could* have made it and that my chances at WOC are pretty good. I ran a bad race in the long qualification; I was not calm enough and made lot of mistakes. I will have to run a lot better to have a chance to run in the Long final at WOC, which is my main goal for world champs. The middle qualification race went really well, I was able to stay calm and just run a normal, good race. No big mistakes, just constant speed and clean. To my surprise I made the A-final!! This was a great success for me, especially considering how difficult the field was at the EOC. There was an article written about me too!

After the EOC’s things continued in full swing. On the Friday afterwards was the first Swiss selection race (Middle distance). You can see the men’s course on Marc’s webpage. On Sunday we had the Sprint race and on Monday the long distance. I ran ok, but not great. My Sprint race was the best of the three races. Results are here: http://www.o-l.ch/cgi-bin/results

The US WOC team has been selected and I am very much looking forward to my experience at WOC. I have been given the opportunity to run all disciplines and I am really excited. I think it will be great to have a chance in every race to show my best and to see what happens. It will be a tough week, but I am ready for it!

tricky, tricky

Biofarm Cup: Sprint race in Aarau!

Today we had the 2nd race of the Biofarm Cup series, which was a sprint in the old town of Aarau. This was a very tricky race, with lots of route choices around all of the uncrossable walls, narrow alleyways and stairwells. I am very satisfied with my race, I was able to “solve” all of the problems during the race and I never fell into a trap. This put me into 7th place, 1 second behind 6th.

I thought the map would be interesting too look at without my route first, so here it is:
Biofarm Cup Sprint- without routes

Biofarm Cup Sprint-with routes

Results are here

swiss selection races and the middle distance champs

Last Thursday I took part in the first two of four selection races for the European champs in Latvia. I am allowed to take part in the Swiss selection races, which am I grateful for, but am not officially trying out of the Swiss team for the European champs. I will be representing the US in Latvia like always.

I ran two good sprint races, despite torrential downpour rain and the on comings of a cold. I placed 11th twice, once on a technical “old town” sprint in the city of Brugg and then in the afternoon on a super fast park and forest sprint. I felt good and was very satisfied not to loose more than 90 seconds to the leader, Sara Lüscher in the morning and only 1’15” to Ines Brodmann in the afternoon.
Results:
sprint 1
sprint 2

Unfortunately, on Friday I became ill, and spend most of the day in bed. On Saturday morning I felt better again and decided to run in the 3rd selection race, the Swiss middle distance champs, despite not being 100% healthy. I had a good race and was satisfied with my performance, even though I lost 1 minute on a sub optimal route choice and 45 seconds on a mistake in the control circle. My time, 6 minute behind Angela Wild, who won by one second in front of Lea Müller was only good enough for 17 place, somewhat a disappointment. In the evening it became apparent that I was not healthy enough to be racing and decided not to run the long distance race on Sunday. It was a good idea, since I am still struggling to get healthy.

(Picture from Martin Jörg)
Results:
middle distance champs
long distance race

Swiss selections


Next week I am going to Uppsala to train and prepare for Tiomila. Should be fun!

motivated for Lausanne

Yesterday, Swiss Orienteering announced that WOC 2012, if selected to be in Switzerland (there are no other applicants) will be held in Lausanne. Click here for the News article.

This is exciting news for Marc and I. We live in Magglingen, just above Biel, only about 100km from Lausanne. The woods in our area could be typical for some of the races at WOC 2012. This is very motivating.

(picture from www.map.search.ch)

A lot of the Swiss elite runners have set their sights on this WOC. For many of us, it would be a good "last" WOC. I could see that for myself as well. Actually I started a Fab-club at the beginning of this year with the goal to be in the Top 20 by 2012. With this WOC in our neighbourhood, I hope to be able to prepare well for it and achieve my goal. But until then there are many more World Championships to look forward to.

Of course I am also motivated for this year as well. I just got home from a training camp in Riga, Latvia and Gnesta, Sweden. Marc and I went to Riga with his VeVe club mates David Schneider and Tero Föhr. Heli Jukola was also in our small training group. We were able to train well in the coastal terrain of Riga and I have a good feeling for the first World Cup races and European champs. After several days in Latvia we took the ferry to Stockholm and met my club, OK Tyr, in Gnesta to train in Swedish woods relevant for the Swedish champs this fall. None of us are planning to run in the Swedish champs this fall, but it was a great opportunity to do organized training and spend some time with my club mates. At the end of our trip we ran in the Masenstafetten relay. I ran the first leg and was very happy with my race. David and Marc ran in a relay with VeVe and placed 2nd, SNO within striking distance ahead. Results are here
My computer broke down yesterday evening, so I can not post any pictures from our trip. What a shame.

Also a shame, during my trip in Sweden I injured my back. I was certain that the pain would go away within a few days and I continued to train. Unfortunately this has not been the case and I now have to take some time off of running. I am getting physical therapy and am also certain that the problem will go away soon, but it is still frustrating to deal with an injury. It also means that I will not be running the Swiss Night-O champs this Saturday (you will be able to see results here).

Next week we have the first selection races in Switzerland. The team will be selected for the European Champs based on two sprints on Thursday (10.April), Swiss Champs for Middle Distance on Saturday (12.April), and a Long Distance on Sunday (13.April). I hope that I can run again by then and take part in these races. You will also be able to find results here

preparing for...

the swiss cross championships next weekend by running a cross race this weekend.

Take a look:








Results are here

training camp in spain


On Friday the 15th of February, Marc and I left Switzerland with the Swiss National team for a training camp in Spain. The “winter” O-camp that the Swiss team has every year is traditionally also open to some “non-team” members. I was very happy to be able to go along, it was a great experience and I learned a lot.

Read more...

training camp in lanzarote



Our vacation in Lanzarote was filled with exciting runs, and beautiful site-seeing. This interesting island, formed by volcano activity has hardly any tree’s and very little plant life. Yet the landscape has a powerful and unique awe about it. The colors are ever-changing and tremendous. Every time we thought we had seen it all, we were surprised by the hidden beauties and treasures of the island.

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l a n z a r o t e

Marc and I are going to Lanzarote!! We are leaving on Tuesday the 22nd and spending 10 days on the island. We will be in good company, we are going with Simone and Matthias Niggli, and Daniel Hubmann and his girlfriend Annette Kindschi. I am really looking forward to my first "vacation" on the Canary Islands.

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