WOC Final Selection Races for GB Team

[Lard]

The final Team GBR selection races for the forest disciplines take place Friday and Sunday.

Basic info available here:
http://data.kalevanrasti.fi/

Unfortunately, only Scott will get to wear GPS (in the Long) from the GBR group.

I'm not holding for hearing much live news on the days - anyone hear anything - post here please !

All the best to everyone who has made the effort to get out to Finland.

[Jess]

The only way you might get updates is through this twitter page: https://twitter.com/2013mmkatsastus They tweeted some intermediate times for the swiss test races a couple of weeks ago.
Otherwise, we have internet here so will try and post you results when we get back this evening if they've not appeared.

[rocky]

Or here if the data can get past the bears and out of the forest:

http://online.tulospalvelu.fi/tulokset/ ... ats_keski/

[graeme]

So quite a large number of those selected (20 men, 11 women) aren't running?
Are they not out there, or just specialising?

[RS]

Well, 1 is getting married and suppose some will be guests. Seems a long, expensive trip for a 'British' selection race.

[RWK]

Possible GPS here as well, although not sure it's for the GB races http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/

[Spookster]

Lots of the lads all pretty close (and top three within 2 seconds ).
Great run by Hollie.

GBR Men results
GBR Women results

[graeme]

Hollie over a minute clear of everyone by number 1, then handing most of it back at 2 - must be tricky !
Performance squad not troubling the top-5 ...
and they seem to have run a different course from SWE/FIN ?

Speake/Nixon/Haines making it easy for selectors ... Palmer/Tullie/Harding making it difficult!

[Parkino]

I'd like to have look at leg 10 on the Men's race: GG blew it there, Ralph too. Congratulations to the top three guys, making it easy for the selectors, as Graeme noted.

[graeme]

Though, as you noted, this is assuming that the selectors will to base their middle race decisions on who managed to do the 7-minute leg right...
GBR seem to have had a different 15-control course, but the 1km+ leg is likely to be similar to what caused the trouble in the middle race (9-10 here) ...
http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20130621mmkatsH21/

I have no idea how to go about that leg!

[gg]

We had the same course.

[afterthought]

I'm not sure it is so easy for the selectors.

Aside from any judgements from looking at splits and speed comparisons with other nations, which you may or may not think is appropriate, the total team can only be 7 men and 7 women, with 3 places for each in each of sprint/middle/long. So some doubling up is needed; it's not a straight pick of 3 in each event. And the schedule means it's not good to double up on sprint and long this year.. Or in other words two of the three runners selected for middle should also run another discipline.

Incidentally the decisive long leg 9-10 seems to have got Leonard Novikov too. He was leading the non-FIN/SWE/LTU/GBR H21A race until he took 9:48 on it. Valentin Novikov, the winner, was 3 secs off the best leg time (his 2-minute man who he had caught by then) at 6:10. For a successful route - Valentin was wearing GPS - see
http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20130621mmkatsH21/

[Duncan]

How is anyone's Finnish? Anyone know what the difference is between "Kesk" (e.g. Kris) and "Hyl" (e.g. Anwen)? Google translate suggests keskeytti = "cut" and hylätty = "abandoned". Two different words for "retired" or is there actually a difference?

[afterthought]

The results page has a translation flag top right which yields Kris DNF, Anwen DQ.
As to whether this is at all significant I doubt, but do not know.

[rocky]

I think they both mean "had a train to catch".