NORT 2011

[ba-ba]

Hmm, so there's as yet no mention of the first world-cup races of the year, Surprising.

Anyway, NORT (Nordic ORienteering Tour) starts today, Stage 1 being a 'sprint' in Porvoo, Finland.
Stage 2 (Tues 21st) will be a Knock-Out Sprint in Goteborg (SWE).
Stage 3 (Sat 25th) is a 'prolonged middle' chasing sprint just south of Oslo (NOR).
The top 30 in each stage get 'time bonuses' which are taken off their time in the overall chasing start next Saturday.
The prize-fund is 31,000 Euro

Stage 1 Qualification was this morning, with the top 30 from Qualification ('extended 30min sprint', i.e. what we would normally call an urban race) going into the final this afternoon, where 50 World Cup points will be fought for.

Despite this being described as a 'sprint' the qualification was more of a middle distance style, with those more often seen as middle distance specialists (not sprint specialists) doing well.

Results and maps available from here
Men (70 ran, 5.8km). Lundanes took the win, 24 seconds ahead of Ikonen, the Swiss trio of Merz, Hubmann and Muller rounding out the top 5.
Scotia was 14th (+2.36), the only British Qualifier. (GG 31st, Murray 47th, Ralph 62nd, Spongey 68th, Hector 69th)
Women's (50 ran, 4.9km). Finke took the win ahead of Bagstevold (24secs) with Rantanan, Wigmayr and Fasting completing the top 5. For the first time in a long time the top of the women's race was closer (time-wise over the top 10) than the men's!
For GBR, Clare Ward seems to have had a cracking run finishing 11th (+2.10) with Tess just scraping into the final in 29th. (Rachael 31st, Sarah 33rd, Holie 41st, CatT 46th, Harry 47th, Pippa 50th).

Final of Stage 1 will be at 15.00 CET today (14.00 UK). GPS Tracking/TV streams are linked from the WoO NORT Page (above).

As 3 sprint spots are up for grabs in the GB WOC team, will those not qualified for the final have a B final to duke it out for places in France?

[Gross]

Stage 1 being a 'sprint' in Porvoo, Finland.

Really nice chocolate shop in Porvoo

[lostlad]

world cup racing? disgraceful

how can people think they have the right to go swanning off to foreign countries representing us when we've yet to find an event level system everyone agrees with? no wonder its not been mentioned here yet.

[mikey]

The concept of a 'prolonged sprint' (or is it a 'slightly short middle'?) is a bit strange and the courses are hardly typical of what will be found at the WOC 2011 sprint - and certainly does not seem suited to sprint specialists.

[Gross]

the courses are hardly typical of what will be found at the WOC 2011 sprint

Maybe that's because it's not the WOC 2011 sprint!

[mikey]

the courses are hardly typical of what will be found at the WOC 2011 sprint

Maybe that's because it's not the WOC 2011 sprint!

But being used for selection to WOC 2011 sprint......

[brooner]

Scott took 8th place, 25 seconds down. Swiss sprint stars took the top 5 places, with the youngest of the lot Matthias Kyburz taking first place (won JWOC Sprint Gold in 2009).
http://online6.tulospalvelu.fi/tulokset ... lanne/1/0/

[andypat]

world cup racing? disgraceful

how can people think they have the right to go swanning off to foreign countries representing us when we've yet to find an event level system everyone agrees with? no wonder its not been mentioned here yet.

Genius

[Tatty]

Great result for Tess Hill 5th in the women's race

[ba-ba]

Now everyone has finished the Women's race, Tess is 12th (+1.10), with Clare 28th (+2.18)

After a Swiss lock-out on the Men's top 5, it's been a Swedish lock-out on the women's podium, Gustafsson, Eliasson and Billstam.

Both women's races today have been much closer than you would normally expect, what with the top 8 the world missing.

[Scott]

Good runs from Tessa and Scotia Looks like it was a bit more sprinty this afternoon. Particularly good work from Scotia to get the second-fastest split on the evil uphill leg.

[graeme]

Who is Matthias Kyburz ? Have the Swiss even selected him for WOC?

Interesting that the French didnt travel. The sound of powder being kept dry perhaps?

[jankoc]

The French (Gueorgiou, Adamski ... ) are there (Finland) - but preparing for Jukola instead. And with full focus on WOC i presume.

[ba-ba]

Apparently (according to an acquaintance) Kyburz won the Swiss WOC Sprint Selection race.

Heard the name before in the junior ranks but sometimes confuse him with his brother

[AAH]

The TV coverage is watchable after the event on an iPlayer like setup:

I think this is the direct link to the men's: http://areena.yle.fi/video/1308235699532
and the women's: http://areena.yle.fi/video/1308241809683

Looks like Jukola will be here for anyone with insomnia on Saturday night: http://areena.yle.fi/live

Does show that orienteering can look good on TV although I suspect it's more exciting if you speak Finnish.