After seeing the lovely Finnish WOC terrain, here's what Spike said: don't look for anyone living outside of Scandinavia to win any medals.

How did this hold up in the Classic race today?

Let's see, of the top 10 men, there were 4 Finns, 3 Norwegians (one, the winning Rostrop, living in Finland this past year), one Swede, one Russian (who runs for a Finnish club, I believe), and one Swiss runner - Thomas Buehrer. I think Buehrer runs for a Norwegian club at least part of the time.

Any different on the womens' side? Not really. Of the top 10 there, it was again 4 Finns, 3 Swedes, 2 Swiss (both of whom run for Finnish clubs), and one Norwegian.

A lot of Finnish! And no surprise, because the Finns are very good, have worked hard to raise their competition standard vis a vis the Swedes and Norwegians over recent years, and because the WOC is being held in a special sort of Finnish forest that does give the home team some advantage.

That last point makes me think about something I've thought before: that the next fine day the US hosts the WOC, we look for some type of terrain that is as uniquely US as possible rather than looking for something as Scandinavia-like as possible. Not that there was anything wrong with having our WOC in Harriman. Not at all; it was great. But when the time comes again, it would be nice to be able to give the home team whatever fair advantage we can, as far as a choice of terrain and forest go!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 31, 2001

Answers

WOC 2009 hosted by PTOC at Shawnee Mission Park.

-- Michael (meglinski@yahoo.com), August 01, 2001.

Did anyone follow the race live? How did the GPS sytem work out?

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), August 01, 2001.

I was up several times during the wee hours; I have no idea how well the GPS system might have been working because the web site itself was having grave problems (beset by the slooooooooooooooooooows). I ended up getting all my info from what was posted on Alternativet's Eftersnack, where folks were posting stuff based on what they could see from a Finnish TV station.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), August 01, 2001.

Needless to say, after a most promising start in the Sprint and Classic qualifying round, the Classic race itself was yet one more huge disappointment for the Swedish men. The Swedish women did a good bit better, even if they didn't win any medals either.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), August 01, 2001.

There have been a lot of races recently, including WOCs, in which the Swedes (particularly the men) have finished noticeably behind the Finns and Norwegians. I don't think it is just coincidence. The top Finns and Norwegians, especially the Norwegians, are simply better than their Swedish counterparts right now.

In the US, when a professional basketball or football coach has a number of seasons in a row in which the team seems to underperform its peers, that coach is usually fired or asked to step down. Look for a new coach for Sweden next season!

What will happen if the US team finishes behind someone like the Israelis or Bulgarians at the relays this year? (not likely, but hey, it's fun to speculate) Will the Jerk once again be called into service? He has his supporters you know! ... anyway, just one more good reason to cheer on the US team at the relays tomorrow.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), August 01, 2001.

What terrain would you suggest for a US WOC Mikell?

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), August 02, 2001.

I think we'd need to pick some weird terrain, start secretly holding competitions on it, then go for the WOC when we're good. Strict security would be essential. And the terrain would have to be wacky. Ideas: 1) Utah slot canyon terrain 2) Limestone caves (yeah, underground) 3) Ice

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), August 03, 2001.

In response to Snorkel, I would pick something that we've raced on a lot, and which wouldn't automatically confer a huge built in advantage to the Scandies. Of course, it's all meaningless without some running talent. Some big running talent. If you can't even keep up with the other guy and you're not looking at your map and he is and is doing the navigation right, then it's obviously a hopeless battle already.

Anyway, I think some hilly SLOC type terrain would do quite well, as one example. Another example, assuming you could get the silly altitude restrictions waived, would be something like Florissant Fossil Beds.

I wish we had more western maps and terrain types developed, because that's where the most promise would be.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), August 05, 2001.

How about that awesome area out by Laramie that reminds you of AUS? When do you plan on using that area for a competition? I take it you've run around there?

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), August 06, 2001.

It would take a whole team of mappers working hard for several decades to get that area mapped. I am hopeful that Denver will expand so much that eventually it's suburbs spill over into that portion of the national forest, thereby sparing me the task of attempting the task.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), August 08, 2001.