Discussion: Team USA at JWOC 2009

Hi all,

Here is a long-overdue report from the first part of the JWOC week, as well as the pre-JWOC training camp here in the Dolomites in Italy. I apologize for not posting anything earlier, but we were in the mountains with no internet access for the training week, and the first two days of actual JWOC were extremely hectic.

Last week, the team met up, together with the Canadian JWOC team, in Venice, and drove up to Primiero, about 120km north of Venice, using a large bus that was rented for the week. The teams then spent several days staying at a large cottage at a beautiful mountain pass up at 1300m above sea level. We cooked, trained, and relaxed together. The training ranged from middle distance on steep slopes, to route choice comparison on a hillside leg, to a day of sprints (four short sprints run in alpine villages), to a relay on the final day of training camp. The focus was on quality over quantity, to make sure the athletes approached JWOC week with sharp minds and fresh legs. For recreation, the teams spent a day sightseeing in Venice, played a friendly soccer match against juniors from Swedish club OK Linné, and found numerous other ways to entertain themselves and bond closer as a group.

On Sunday, the teams moved into their official accommodations, and JWOC proper began. Read my next post for my impressions of the sprint.

The sprint took place in two villages with a maze of streets, narrow alleys, passageways, and houses, connected by fields and farms. The trick was to stay in control and be careful in the challenging town centers and raise the speed and pick good route choices out in the fields. The whole setting was made beautiful by the setting: a valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains rising up thousands of feet above the valley floor.

This is my second consecutive year as one of the team leaders at JWOC, so I can only compare the team's performance with that last year in Göteborg. And, across the board, the performance was much, much better this year. Both the guys and the girls had good runs, with the whole level of the team higher than a year ago. The absolute highlight was Tori Borish of COC, whose 47th place was the best by a North American on the day, and the best by an American in a number of JWOCs.

You have surely seen the official results, but here is a comparison of placings of team USA at sprint-2009 with sprint-2008:

Men
2008 2009
146 95
154 101
159 119
161 122
166 133
--- 137
(Total number of starters: 173 vs 172)
Our "worst" placement this year was better than our "best" a year ago!

Women
2008 2009
98 47
107 89
111 95
--- 99
--- 105
(Total number of starters: 127 vs 120)

Despite these positive results, a number of runners were understandably disappointed with their races, which only means that we can expect improvement in coming years through continued hard work and dedication to the sport.

The long distance, taking place at an alpine mountain pass at 2000m above sea level, was an epic experience, and every runner who managed to get around the course deserves recognition for perseverance. Everything started innocently, with an overcast sky and some wind for the early starters, but the weather quickly took a turn for the worse. By the time the middle start block was setting out from the start, the skies opened up, and a thunderstorm, with accompanying wind, lightning, and occasional hail, erupted over Passo Rolle. Visibility was reduced to virtually nothing, and every navigational mistake was punished not only with lost time, but also with the freezing cold that came when you stopped moving to read the map. Add to this an extremely technically and physically challenging course in soaking wet forest, and you understand why this was a JWOC long distance to remember. A number of competitors from many different nations came to the spectator control shaking from the cold, in tears, or simply walking. We the coaches were very impressed and proud of our runners, each of whom completed the course. (The only DSQ was Nate Lyons, who was caught in the worst of the storm and punched the wrong control after his control descriptions became illegible, and he was on the verge of hypothermia.)
With all this in mind, the most impressive performances were turned in by Alison Campbell, a first-time JWOCer from DVOA, who came 57th, Holly Kuestner of COC who was 59th, and Andrew Childs of GMOC, another rookie who was 106th and the best American despite running during the absolute worst part of the storm.

Here, again, is the side-by-side comparison of the last two JWOCs:

Men
2008 2009
134 106
138 111
142 117
150 130
DSQ 143
--- DSQ

Women
2008 2009
102 57
104 59
DNS 81
--- 98
--- 110

We should also mention the excellent performances by some of the Canadians at JWOC, with Colin Abbott being the best North American male in both the sprint (75th) and the long (95th), and Emily Kemp's 27th place in the long being (I think) the best North American JWOC result since Samantha Saeger's 8th in Bulgaria in 1999.

The teams are now enjoying their well-earned rest day and preparing for tomorrow's middle distance qualifiers, where we are hoping for more clean and fast runs!

Adding some photos & other links:
USA @ Opening ceremony: http://picasaweb.google.it/JWOC2009/05072009#53550...
Canada @ Opening ceremony: http://picasaweb.google.it/JWOC2009/05072009#53550...
Photos of John Williams @ Long 1, 2
Coach Boris: http://picasaweb.google.it/JWOC2009/06072009#53554...
JWOC Sprint Results Men, Women & Maps Men, Women
JWOC Long Results & Maps

I thought that was you in the picture when I was going through them but didn't realize that you were there...nice photo!

I'm compiling much of the information found on AP on the USOF website, on the US JWOC2009 page, for future reference.

Boris - Tell all of the Juniors that we're so proud of them and that we are all cheering wildly from the US!

Thank you Boris for your update. It was great to read all about it. Tell, Sam I saw her photos on Facebook and they are fantistic! The team is doing great and we are all very proud of them. Keep up the good work ! GO USA!