Discussion: Swiss O-week: G rolls the cheese home

While Peter's log is showing no signs of excitement at all, the investigative reporter has found out, that Mr. G has posted the best M60 times for the first two days of the Swiss-O week in Zermatt. The cheese consumption definitely helped. Impressive!

Rock on! Don't come home without the Gold Cheese!

Ok, he is not just winning, but destroying the competition (he won Day 1 by almost a minute and Day 2 by 2.5 minutes!). What kind of cheese was it anyway?

Will they be posting total time results at any point so that we can watch our old goat leave those rusty Swiss goats in the valley praries?

Check out Sharon's times in D60. She's doing a great impression of the Terminator.

Here's the official results page.

I wish there was an easier way to look up which US Orienteers are running. Does anybody have a good list with categories so that we know where to look in the results?

Alright, I have gathered some names:

Peter Gagarin (CSU) - H60
Sharon Crawford (RMOC) - D60
Sandra Zürcher (OLG Bern) - DE
Mike Waddington (GHO) - H35
Boris Granovskiy - (OUOC?) - HE
Ross Smith (none) - HE
Patrick Goeres (O-Klubb Canada) - HE
Louise Oram (O-Klubb Canada) - DE

Any others?

Gail Gagarin (CSU) - D55
Randy Hall (DVOA) - H35
Ekaterina Orekhova (OUOC) - D20

Sharon is kicking some serious pygidium over there. Way to go!

Sharon & Peter are doing just as well as the US DE/HE per/km.... Very impressive...

Never let it be said that Sharon and Peter don't know what to do with pygidium.

Barb Bryant (Cambridge USA) - D40
Andy Dale (Oregon Cascades OK) - H35
Siobhan Fleming (NEOC) - D20
Mike Minium (OCIN) - H45
Ted de St.Croix (South Surrey Spirit) - H45

And don't forget O-Ringen: Mike Eglinski (Spike) in H40 and Mary Jones (maprunner) in D40K

Robbie Paddock - H20 - also at O-Ringen.

OK, so is anyone not there?

pygidium?

Yeah, why is Sharon kicking pigeons?

Some more at Zermatt.

Ben Legg (ORCA) HAM
Liz Kotowski (NEOC) DAK
Adrian Zissos (Calgary) H45
Alex Kerr (GVOC) H70
Barb Bryant (NEOC) D40

Starr Waddington (GHO) - D40
Emma Waddington (GHO) - D10

J-man, obviously anybody who's anybody is there. So, the rest of us are nobody.

And the next time you see Sharon, just give her a Good Times-esque "Tri-lo-bite!"

Well, I'll be there in spirit! That's got to count for something.

Tapio Karras (BAOC) - H40

He's actually 45, but somehow managed to sign up for the wrong category.

Robbie is doing very well. He was second in his category on stage 3 and is in 7th overall.

Peter won his 3rd race by 2 minutes!

Yeah, and Sharon keeps taking names, too.

Sandra had a top 10 finish today.

Excellent! Very nice job, Sandra.

It sounds like a meaningless question, yet still: How come both Peter and Sharon are able to lead in an European race as seniors? Are the Europeans slacking off when they get older? Are the Americans late bloomers? Or is it that both Peter and Sharon are exceptions to the rule?

How come this is not happening in elite and junior races?

I think Peter and Sharon are exceptional; indeed the exception that proves the rule.

One could also say they are just crazier than increasingly indolent Europeans, but I wouldn't.

Seriously, I think the first explanation actually does have merit...

I think there might be something to the notion that Americans "peak" later, considering how much experience counts in the sport. Plus, it's harder to get O burnout living in the US...

Had Peter started O at age 8, he'd be done by now.

Swiss O Week is the most amazing orienteering experience I have ever had. The terrain is very demanding physically. Very rocky ground and lots of climb (and downhill). Day#1 had 3% climb but a net downhill of 350m. Day#2 had 7% climb. Day#3 was 5% climb but at 3100m and 100% of the run was on either scree, crushed rock or open rock. Check out the photos on the SOW web site. I'll try posting some to our family blog soon but internet is hard to find here. Rest day today.

Our heros in Zermatt, waiting for more loot at the Day 3 awards ceremony.

This photo was taken from the train we rode to Day 1 & 2 events; you can see in the foreground a trail I took back to Zermatt after one of the races. In the distance below and to the right of the Matterhorn, you can see tomorrow's orienteering area, the relatively flat and green region. I'm afraid that actually being here is even more tasty than it looks.

Is it my imagination, or are Peter and Sharon looking more and more alike (see photo above)? This gives additional creedence to the hypothesis held by many that the two of them are actually identical birth twins. I've been quick to pooh-pooh this theory before, but the new evidence is making me re-examine my beliefs.

This would also explain in part their recent superb results.

An additional explanation in part would be that Peter is a light and somewhat dainty 1 G, while Sharon is even lighter than that, at sub-G.

Gravity is reduced as one rises farther away from Earth's core.

Or as one trains, unlike many US orienteers. :)

Gravity is reduced as one trains?

Buoyancy is also reduced as one goes up through the atmosphere.

The first 3 days totaled up for H60 for Peter and D60 for Sharon. I complied this info...

We have updated our family blog that includes a bunch of photos from the Swiss Orienteering Week so far...

http://waddsquad.blogspot.com/

(feel free to leave a comment or two)

Man I wish I was there and not here staring at dots on plots. :( ...contemplating the hot, humid ride home in traffic.

But is Sharon left-handed? I suppose they could be mirror-image-identical-twins.

Left, right - does it matter? She can do it all! Well done to both.

Just check into Wadd's blog again and oh my god... I don't think I've ever had this bad a case of O'envy....

PG (aka the Troll, as he is known as in Canada) won today's urban race by about 4 minutes!! The Troll has consistently been North America's top age-grouper in international races. Congrats Peter.

Today's urban short race was very cool. We don't have any sprint areas that technical in North America at the moment and I suspect the only place that comes close is the old town in Quebec City.

I'll try to put the map on our blog later today.

Go Troll!

I agree, it's hard to imagine how orienteering/vacationing could be any better than what they have here in Zermatt.

About the required fitness level to be competitive here, the H40 winner in today's urban-O started 1min after me and passed me at #2. Afterwards he told me that he is really a road racer and had recently completed a marathon in 2h45min. His 10k best is 31min, but that was some years back.

BTW, I'm running in H40 as I registered late and am running in someone's cancelled spot.

Sharon won D60 for the week & Peter won H60 ! The street race through Zermatt was incredible (& my best race if the week). Dodging tourists, electric carts, horse & buggy, etc was exciting. No real cars allowed in Zermatt, but every hotel has a little electric cart just itching to run down an inattentive orienteer. Every evening after 7 pm, four of the local bars showed excellent, well-produced video of that days events. Organization and transportation was superb. This event was a once-in-a-lifetime, no questions asked! Every event was within easy sight of the Matterhorn, and the town race finished in the local sport-stadium. What a fantastic week!

OK, the photo of Peter and Sharon should go in ONA, who should run a contest for the best caption.

Oh wow, that was such a good event series/holiday in Zermatt! I think I've ended up with something like 100 pictures of the Matterhorn...

Has anybody heard any rumours on the location/date of the next Swiss Orienteering Week?

I bet it'll be in Switzerland...

but in a place that looks more like Denmark.

Thanks Wes.

Just got the Swiss O Week DVD today. Not as slick as the JWOC DVD from last year but still very very quite good. Some good camera coverage of Sarah B. and Louise O. in the sprint prologue. Brings back great memories of an absolutely awesome orienteering vacation.

Anxiously waiting for my copy!

Yah, me too.