Discussion: JWOC

The US and Canadian teams have all arrived safely in Druskininkai, Lithuania (except for Siobhan Fleming who is due in tonight). The Canadians have been here since Sunday, and the US Team arrived yesterday. We all had a training session this morning on one of the nearby maps, and the woods look quite nice although a bit thick.

The races start on Monday with the Sprint followed by the Classic on Tuesday. The Middle Distance Qualifier and Final are on Thursday and Friday, and the Relay is on Saturday.

We'll try to keep you posted once the races start. Results should also be posted on the Official JWOC website.

the aussie team has been here since the 23rd and the running over here im am loving, but yeah it is a bit thick sometime. training has been going well as well, and the practice race on monday was good, so bring on the real races!!

I can add that the full US team is now in residence, and that we are all happily adjusting to the new terrain ( lots of negative contour features, no rock features to speak of) and really enjoying the location. Druskininkai is a very nice spa town and some of our members have been enjoying the top quality spa treatment. Sounds like steam baths and honey rub was more appreciated than the high powered bidet!

Training this morning consisted of going out to visit control points, placed by the organizers, in groups of two or three. We would do a few controls and then meet up to discuss the various things we'd noticed, what we found difficult etc. etc. All in all we were trying to stay relaxed and not get lost very much. There are some nice depression features that seem to be clustered in linear strings, and Bob thinks they look a lot like bomb craters. craters or no, they are pretty cool looking. Today's vegetation was very runnable, but all the other teams are telling us that some of the maps are really thick. We hope that they have chosen the best terrains for the competetions, so we don't have hack through too much stinging nettle ( lot's of it around though).

Who is Bob?

it's the big gun!
Toph good to see you're running.

I think he's talking about Bob Paddock.

Good luck all. It looks like fun and challenging terrain, where 100% concentration thru the whole race may be worth some places. Hopefully I'll be able to follow the races from Austria.

Good luck to the US and Canadian and Aussie teams at JWOC!!!! We'll be following the results closely and cheering hard from back home!

Stinging nettle..... I used to pin plastic bags inside of my running pants to avoid stinger of stinging nettle. It's no fun running through the stinging nettle field. It would always throw off my concentration level. Just a thought that I'd have to run it through them would make me think about alternate routes.

Nettles typically grow in nitrogen-rich soils, i.e. by outhouses or at the edge of farm fields. As long as the courses are mostly in the forest, you shouldn't have any problems.

Good luck everyone!

They can grow lots of other places, too. I can show you some pretty impressive patches of it in the middle of forests around here.

The Recipe

1. 4 mil map cases work well. Absent those, try getting some thicker plastic bags from elsewhere. Size is about 8" x 14", depends on the individual.

2. Separate the case into two (i.e. make it single layer, double will be too warm.)

3. Reinforce the corners with athletic tape. Duct tape will be better, but probably not available in Druskininkai.

4. Turn your pants inside out and pin the plastic bag inside each pant leg. Go for full coverage of the knee and the front of the upper leg, the lower leg is not particularly sensitive.

Nettles be gone,

Vladimir

duct tape should be in stock in any hardware shop or supermarket (Maxima, Media, or Seniukai for example)

Interesting recipe, Vladimir. But this must be just abstract theory for you, because at the NA rogaine champs, where there was plenty of stinging nettle, and they even told us about it ahead of time, you wore on your lower legs not only no plastic bags, but nothing at all. You told me that being from eastern Europe, where stinging nettle is rampant on O terrain, you've developed immunity.

Stinging nettle or not, I know that the US JWOC Team will be stinging the competition. And I look forward to watching and cheering remotely.

Have fun everyone!

I happen to compete in Lithuania few about 15-20 years ago and there were courses where stinging nettles were everywhere (or at least it seemed so). As a matter of fact the trick with plastic bags - I picked up that up from Lithuanian runners. Not sure that knowledge of where the nettle typically grows could help to navigate through the course. It might be even distraction if you have to think about avoiding routes that could potentially lead through the nettle fields. Definitely it's a question I'd ask organizers. Also - if you have never experienced sting of the stinging nettle - find some patch and sting yourself intentionally to know what kind of "pain" it is. I am not aware of any health issues it could cause. It is not going to "kill you" but at least you'd know what to expect. Sting stays with you at least for couple minutes but it should be gone by bed-time. I do have to caution that there are different kinds of stinging nettles - some are light stingers, some are real hard code stingers. However once you have seen one type you will be able to recognize any other type.

Other then that – ENJOY!!! Careful with steam-bath days before the races – could affect your speed.

I was "protecting" myself almost exactly the same way how Vladimir is recommending in a "The Recipe". Any durable but light plastic bag will do the trick.

I'd strongly second Gil's recommendation to run through it beforehand. If you've never had it, the sudden onslaught of pain is enough to convince you that something really terrible is happening. It passes quite quickly, however, and the best remedy seems to be to keep running hard so you aren't thinking about it so much.

It's hard to avoid stinging nettles and I never did it while I was orienteering in Lithuania (my home country) for several years and probably I delevoped some sort of immunity. For those who never had experienced it - use Vladimir's recipe.

A late start time helps.

Nels Holmberg once told me that you should hold your breath when you run through nettles. It doesn't work (of course). But, once you've heard the advice it is hard not to try it when you're in the midst of a huge patch of the stuff. The power of suggestion is remarkable....So, to harness that, I'll suggest that the best way to deal with stinging nettles is to navigate well and run fast.

We use a similar type of training method up here (Yukon) to get used to the one potential hazard we face. We purposely spread honey all over our bodies and seek out salmon spawning areas, bear dens etc. to taunt the grizzlies into chasing us so we get used to it. Good speed work out. Plastic bags on our legs do not help much.
But seriously folks -- Go Justine!

one detail - stings only located on the top of the leafs and on the branches, so it's safe to grab separate plant from behind. not sure this could help on the run.
as to health implications, vladimir zerdev told that ones he ran a course where optimal route lead throught 1+km of neetle field. than he and other couple runners developed some kind of allergy or strange drowsyness condition, which had gone by the next day morning. but that was the only known accident.
active agent in the nettles is formic acid. also, early sping nettles are good ingridient for soups and salads (young nettles spings with cottage cheese).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettle

1+km? wow!!!
or should I say OUCH!!!
or should I say OUCH, OUCH, OUCH for about 6+ minutes?

I hope that JWOC organizers from Lithuania avoided setting up courses in areas with lots of nettle fields. (well… unless they are hoping for some kind of home field advantage and don't care of JWOC or WOC coming back to Lithuania in foreseeable feature... just kiddin…)

On serious note - nettles are painful but bearable. If it is small patch to run through - I would not worry about having additional protection. If you get late start (like Spike mentioned) - I would not worry about it as well. Nettles are fragile and first 10 or so runners would create clean path through nettle fields.

No--most definitely the stem is the worst (where the little hairs are found in abundance). The leaves are generally safe to touch.

And it's interesting that we have similar discussions up here - which is worse -- the teeth or the claws?; not to mention of course considerations for different species.....

leafes' upper part is covered with stings, back side is safe to touch. also, ants uses the same formic acid to attack. and the tollest plants I've ever saw were about 2 meters high.

Seriously though -Go Justine!
http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/brent/newsItems/view...

We have some stinging nettles at our girl scout camp, where I set an Orienteering course every year for an outdoor skills competition. The first time I set a control near the nettles we ended up with about a dozen girls in the infirmary - all from allergic reactions, most were asthmatics. I think the only really serious reaction was a girl who had bad asthma and had actually tripped and fallen straight into the plants.

Now I have to keep the nettles out-of-bounds and surround them with caution tape. Too bad, because there is a very nice streambed junction in the nettle area that makes a good control site.

South African Team arived in Druskinkai yesterday. Way too much traverling, over 18 hours of it. Ran this morning in the forest for the first time. Technical, many many countor features which can be hard to recognise in places. Looks like it will be alot of fun though. Good luck to the other competitors.

Hey Rosstopher, remember that great run at Jukola - that's what I'm talking about for JWOC as well.

Good luck to all of you out there - I'd love to be in Lithuanian forests rather than in a London office right now (32C here today) - enjoy it while you can!

US JWOC Team: good luck, stay safe, and have fantastic runs out in the woods!

I'm so glad that everyone has finally arrived and that you are all doing well. Had a report from Ross last night and it sounds like all of you are getting well prepared for your big week next week. John and Siobhan keep the icing going and Anna it wouldn't hurt for you to do some to for your shoulder. I hope that your uniforms arrive by Wednesday like coach said. I'm sorry that they will not be there for opening ceramonies but maybe those that have uniform from last year can share so that all of you have at least a piece of the USA uniform to wear.

Have good time and run your best. GO USA!

The sprint is on right now. Good runs by Erin Schirm and Mike Sandstrom so far in the sprint and John Fredrickson still to come from the HVO sprint specialist trio!

Go USA! And go HVO!

Aussies doing well today (leading in mens right now and Hanny took the silver) but that Swiss guy just knocked 30 seconds off the best split to radio#1. Crikey!

Watching the live results list move makes *me* nervous. I can't imagine how the athletes at the end of the start list feel.

The last two 'mericuns have started. Now I can relax a little...and wait...but not too long (hopefully).

oops JF 92nd at radio#1!

No, you got him confused. He's running incognito for Sweden.

Wow, the HVO boyz finish within 7 seconds of one another.

It's under the "live" coverage section in the URL John posted at the top of the thread.

Thanks, got it

yay for hanny :) and matt :)

i reckon! good work hanny and matt! actually the whole aussie team is doing really well. cant wait for the long distance tonight. go australia!

HANNY WINS CLASSIC :)

And doesn't just win it - demolishes the field. Wow. 10 fastest splits out of 18, a total of only 43 seconds lost to the fastest splits on the other 8 legs, and a win by 4 1/2 minutes over second place and 6 1/4 over third. Wow again.

Are you seeing the results at the same place? I get a 404 error under the live or results link.

The long results are here, and you can get results for the other events from that page, too. I haven't been looking when the results would be live, so I don't know if that page displays live results.

Thanks

Anyone know what's up with 24 DSQ's in the men's long race?

Well I know what it means! I am wondering why so many.......as that seems like a lot, even with a large field.

I think this time it means that a lot of them were overtime... must have been a tough course.

My guess is that the large field is the main reason for the large number of DNF:s (as I think they mostly are), DSQ:s etc. With 5-6 runners from each participating country it´s clear that not everyone is yet a full-fledged orienteer or fit enough to complete a 12.5 km course in hot weather.

Most of the DSQ's were people who could not finish the course in the 2.5 hour time limit. I think that's what happened to all the Canadian and Americans there.

Very good first split for John Fredrickson in heat#1 in the middle. If he can keep that up he'll qualify. The Swedish JF is currently leading heat#3.

Currently 6th at the finish with about 10 guys to go. Good run. Just like the World Cup it is very hard to qualify for finals.

Top 20 and JF was 17th.

Good work John!!

Keep focus and don't be satisfied with a final qualification.

Go!!

Great run John!! Congrats to everyone on making their finals and have fun tomorrow :)

Very nicely done, John! Now go kick that other John F's butt (the one who can't spell his last name right).

Congratulations for the qualification for the A-final, John. Hope you have a great focused flying awesome run on Friday!

GO USA!!!

oh and about the nettles. they do sting like crazy!! and sorry to say but the sting does not go away that fast ( at lest for me it didn't, but they were scottish nettles so maybe there is a big difference) i fell into a big patch a few years ago and my whole hand got stoun and it didn't stop stinging for about 2 days. but i have heard that if you rumb i think it is a dokin (not sure how to spell the name sorry) leaf on it the stinging stops. and it really works and guess what normaly the dokin leaf grows right next to the nettle. not sure if that will help there but if you run in scotland it sure does!

good luck to everyone!! run clean.

Hmmm, the Scots seem to have some sort of improved breed of nettle. Anyway, if it really gets to the point you that you can't focus anymore, another thing that works most of the time is to rub it a bit with some water. Not a cure, but it takes some of the edge off. Another reason to run with a hydration pack.