Junior Worlds 2018
After a busy and beautiful day in Budapest, I made my way south to the town of Kecskemét... or the "Land of Golden Sand" as (some) of the locals might say. This was the hosting city of the 2018 Junior World Champs, and I was getting there early for a prep week or two.
Anton (honorary Canadian) and I met up with a teammate, Michael, and some friends from South Africa for our official-pre-JWOC-training-camp at a cute little AirBnb that we shared. For the next week, our days consisted of lots of training in new terrain, naps, tacos and a TON of ice cream!
I was nervous before coming here in terms of what the terrain was going to be like. From what I'd heard from others, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park out there. There were big, scary juniper bushes, and branches that trapped you inside. Some of the terrain was like that, but there were also sections with the most open and speedy white forest that I've even seen! It took a lot of getting used to, but after that first week of training I found myself really enjoying it out there! Now what I didn't get used to was the toilets in Hungary. They literally made no sense at all. Google it and you'll see what I'm talking about.
The next week, the rest of my teammates arrived at our accommodation for the actual race week... Our accommodation which was 100m away from an ancient soviet-era military training area... not sketchy at all! See below.
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| Home sweet home? |
The Long Distance - July 9th
The first race of the week was the long - a gruelling 10km course for the women, and the longest in JWOC history. The race took place in a terrain with a mix of open and planted pine forest, as well as open, shrubby fields. For the most part, it was fast running. Like, real fast.
The race for me was going super smoothly, even after a small mistake at the first control. Then I made a big error on my compass, and instead of relocating using the small fence that I came across, I bailed out and lost about 8-10minutes, and a top 10 finish in the race. What a gut-punch. But hey, that's the sport. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. I knew that I was fast enough to be with the top ladies, and now I had some anger to fuel my next race!
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| *So Close* |
The Sprint Distance - July 10th
When I first saw that I was the second last starter in this race, I was so incredibly nervous. But, after the race I had the day before, I was motivated. I knew that I was fast enough, I just had to run a clean race and give'r. Before the start, my injured leg was killing me, and that got me nervous. But soon the adrenaline kicked in and off I went. The race was technical - a World-Champs level course for sure. There was a tricky multi level section where I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. I was caught by Simona, the last starter, at control 9, and I knew that I had to run and navigate as hard as she did, and that it was gonna hurt. It did. But 6th place in the world was well worth it :P
Going into this season I didn't think that I was anywhere near fast enough, after all the injuries I've suffered over the winter. But to see that I could push hard and perform as well as I did was so incredibly rewarding, and shocking (really shocking, I honestly couldn't believe the announcer when he yelled out my result). I've always dreamed of walking up on that podium, and I couldn't have done it without all my teammates, my coaches, and my family and friends :)
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| Photos: Robert Svoboda |
The Middles - July 12th and 13th
The transportation we took to this race involved a bus and a military truck. Yep, you heard me. About 20 of us were hauled into this big, open-aired truck to travel down a lovely sand road to the race start area. There was dust everywhere, and so thick that I almost asked someone if they wanted to play tic-tac-toe on my pant leg. The next day the organizers gave us surgical masks to cover our faces. They helped, but it still felt like I was in some sort of zombie apocalypse...
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| On our way to the *real* quarantine! |
The middle qualifier took place in a more forested section of the terrain. It was fairly simple and fast, but still challenging in the areas with a lot of juniper. I had a very great race except for 2 very small mistakes, but that was enough to get me into the A final for the first time!
The final was where the fun was at - the juniper maze terrain. We'd heard that the organizers had been told to make the courses "easier"... can't say that it felt like it! The courses were tricky and technical, and also very physical under the hot sun and the dense vegetation that pushed you around. It was a tough race, and I made a large mistake to the first control, but managed to come back and make up time in the last loop to have my best forest result at JWOC.
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| Crazy. |
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| You know the terrain is thick when you have a small tree stuck in your hair... |
The Relay - July 14th
Tattoo-ed and hair ribbon-ed up, team Canada was set for the relay! It was a toasty day out there, but you could tell that everyone was excited. I ran the first leg of the relay, with my teammates Sianna and Rachel. I got off to a quick start and was up at the front of the pack. Then I got caught in some juniper (rip to my bare arms) and had to hustle to get back up there. The race was going really well, and I was pushing hard in the top 5 at one point. Then, a small error on a short leg lost me the lead pack, and then the fatigue hit. Rode the struggle bus back to the finish, but was still enjoying the course! Crazy proud of my girls for putting in some great races too!
It's always sad to end a week of races. This one was particularly sad since it had had so many high-highs, and lower-lows, but also because it was my last year as a junior. But our team killed it with the banquet outfits, so it all evens out :)
Thank you to everyone for the support over this past week of racing, and with everything that happened online. I can't thank you enough for your kind words, and donations. You guys rock!
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| The Squad! |
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| Rockin' |
Nice place you stayed at.
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