Cheering for the National Team and Competing Ourselves at the WOC Tour

The organizers of this year’s World Championships and WOC Tour were already promoting last year that the event schedule was designed as an orienteer’s dream: it’s possible to compete yourself and also follow the top athletes in the home World Championships. Our veteran orienteering group from Jyväskylä jumped at this rare opportunity – registration submitted and a cottage rented.

After Monday’s sprint, Tuesday morning offered a great chance to follow the World Championship middle distance qualification. We heard there was a good crowd of supporters along the final stretch at the base of Tahko’s slopes, but we decided to put our cottage’s tech to use and track the GPS trails of different qualification heats. One of our orienteering friends even stopped by to warm up after being caught off guard by the wind blowing along the finish line. Syrjäläinen’s and Savolainen’s GPS trails kept our heart rates low, but Kirmula brought plenty of excitement to the morning. Harju, Haapala, and Teini kept things under control, and we began to shift our focus to our own race. We hoped to get into the same terrain in the afternoon – especially the detailed area on the western part of the map looked like a fun challenge.

Once we arrived at the competition stage, it became clear that Tahko’s slopes wouldn’t make things easy. Among clubmates and fellow competitors, we wondered where the finishers were – target times were being exceeded, but our own rivals weren’t appearing on the final stretch. With a hint of nervousness, we began the climb to the top of Tahko and our start – memories of the grueling courses and dense terrain from Fin5 orienteering week six years ago were still fresh.

At the finish, the range of emotions was, as usual, wide. Maps were spread out and post-race analysis was shared with just about every familiar face we encountered. We were pleased with the courses and thrilled to have run in the same areas as the World Championship athletes. There was some grumbling about mistakes, but also plenty of shared laughter. One of our group had spent an extra four minutes searching for the first control in the wrong reentrant but made it through the course despite recent leg issues. Another was frustrated with a few route choices and control approaches but also found several particularly successful legs. A third had lost four minutes on the way to control six, and in a class of nearly 70 runners, their ranking dropped. Luckily, the competition week is long, and the old optimist wasn’t bothered for long – especially after getting invited to the sauna. As for me, I struggled with a long leg near the end of the course, but the beginning of the race came close to that elusive flow state we all chase.

Our cottage crew’s goal for today’s middle distance at Tahko is to avoid mistakes. After that, we’ll head to Neulaniemi to follow the World Championship middle distance final, soak in the competition atmosphere, and cheer especially for our blue-and-white national team. Best of luck to everyone competing in WOC Tour and the World Championship finals!

Original version in Finnish: Kati Korhonen
Photo: Johannes Leppävuori