Senior Home Internationals

On Friday I left Durham ,starting a six and a half hour journey up past Edinburgh (where we stopped for pasta at Zoe's, picking both Zoe and Charlotte up) and on towards Ballater where we were staying in this hostel type accommodation where me and Zoe managed to get a room for eight to ourselves :)

The Queen's Castle!!!

Although there was lots of heavy rain in night, I slept well; I stuffed my face with crunchy nut cornflakes in the morning and headed off to the event which was located right next to Balmoral Castle! In The Queens grounds!! Me and Zoe had a cheeky selfie with the castle before running off to the start. Although the first two controls took us straight uphill my legs just about coped and for the first half of the course I felt good, strong in the terrain (even though there was heather, moss and stones to throw you off line) and my navigation was holding up well. A few slow uphill legs and a route choice mistake saw the lead I'd conjured up quickly slip away but I still felt good having caught up some fellow orienteers.

Then I decided to cross this river - I'd looked at the leg earlier and with the scale of 1:10000 the route on the path round looked too far, so I'd already planned to cross it. However when I got to the river - which was deep, fast flowing and spotted with large boulders - my sense of self preservation disappeared and I stubbornly tried to cross the river. I tried in two places thinking: "No way can I cross it here", when losing my footing a few times and feeling the current against my legs. So I tried a little further up where I saw some rocks that I could wade between. Wading turned into controlled (ish) falling/being swept by the current from rock to rock; at one point I was sat on a rock in the middle realising this was a stupid idea. I was almost at the far side when I got caught in the current and swept down stream a little bit. I WAS SO SCARED. Grabbing a tree I pulled myself out and tried to continue on the course, shouting at myself with glee that I was still alive and CONQUERED THE RIVER.

My legs however seemed to have frozen up and with the next leg up hill, my top now weighing an extra stone with the water it soaked up I took a while to get going. The last five controls were okay, not as smooth as the first half, knowing I'd lost time in my near death experience.

Finishing in the lead, the time in 1st was short lived when Zoe came storming in to the lead, by two and a half minutes. Although annoyed with myself, the English girls had got 1st and 2nd which was great for the overall competition; although there wasn't as much success across the other age categories and after the individuals day England were second behind Scotland by four points. Wales and Ireland were on equal points which was setting the relay to be all to play for.

Food food food....

That evening there was another ceilidh but before we had A FEAST. No joke - an actual feast. Normally orienteers just want vast quantities of food, and aren't as fussed with quality but that evening we were waited on with silver service and treated to a hugeeeee hog roast and a gorgeous dessert before coffee and fudge all within the grounds of Balmoral castle!!

With a quick dance it was off to bed, with an early wake up the next morning to get to forvie - the sanddunes area allocated for the relay. As I had nicely drenched my top in the river the day before it wasn't that disgusting to run in the next day; but even so my levels of happiness weren't exactly high. I wanted to be in bed, resting my bruised legs instead of facing the wind, about to run against not only the best seniors in the United Kingdom and N. Ireland but also some top international athletes from Czech and Sweden. So 6.2km in sanddunes sounds okay - I enjoy sanddunes but knew the pace would be rapid so when we started at a pace I was comfortable at, sticking with the top dogs I was really happy! And the sand dunes ended up being THE TOUGHEST EVER. At one point running down them was harder than uphill as my legs got swallowed each step by the tall marram grass, marsh and heather. I made a small error in the control circle and was quickly dropped by the leading pack with the first England team, a scottish team and the rest were foreign athletes.

I ran the rest of the way with Katie and another foreign woman. Near the end I was UNBELIEVABLY TIRED, being pushed over by the terrain - luckily it was a relatively comfortable landing everytime on the soft terrain. I handed over to Bex Harding, who caught up the scottish second leg runner, meaning England were once again in positions one and two! :) the last leg runner of my team - Cat Taylor absolutely destroyed everyone and even came back before the other England team which meant a WIN for my team. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY :) unfortunately the boys weren't as fortunate with two of the first leg runners not really loving life - some speculation about this possibly being down to the selection of attire...cough Adam Potter cough...;)

 

With a win, I was obviously transformed into a happy human :P and after a quick stint on the podium (where we were awarded with a scottish porridge spurtle (wooden stick which you stir porridge with!!)) we soon left - starting the six hour journey back home! The whole weekend, and the one before: collectively making the event RaceTheCastles was INCREDIBLE and I absolutely loved it! The organisation and planning was awesome and it was great to compete against some of the best without having fly off abroad! 

Race The Castles

 Before this weekend, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty stressed, run-down and I desperately needed sleep. First week back at university after the Junior European Cup was killing me. Camilla Bevensee, arrived in Durham on Friday morning ready for our early morning (5.45am) on Saturday to get to Edinburgh in time for our starts.

Love this crazy one <3

We went for a casual run with fellow orienteers Peter and Aine on the Friday afternoon, had a top notch spag bowl...which camilla decided to add apple to? Claiming it tasted good...and turned the house upside down to find my phone. Which was finally found, sat happily in my food cupboard? Obviously the next morning was not fun but it meant we arrived in Edinburgh at half eight, with plenty of time to prepare and get into quarantine before the race. I hadn't really considered how good the competition would be until I was sat in quarantine; looking around me and EVERYONE had been at a WOC or JWOC. Repping my England top, I jogged to the start for 10.16 and was in my usual relaxed, happy mood - turning round in the start box to wave at Ed who just replied: 'Focus Lucy'. HA.

I had a great run, well it was okay - felt a littttllleeeee slow trying to 'sprint' up at least one hundred stairs I reckon. I was hesitant here and there, taking a few wrong turnings. Nevertheless it was great fun, especially along the main street with the alleyways running off as you had to dodge between the tourists, surprising them when you randomly appeared out of an alleyway. I saw Florence in the final part of the course, coming up a steep grassy bank, discussing the length of my shorts...'I can't even see them Lucy!'.

Finished in 6^th - aware the best were still yet to come in, so I was pushed down to 19th in the end. The sun was out, we were given goody bags (these should be compulsory at every event - I don't care if I sound like a five year old but I love them) and I was pleased with my run. After finding some Wifi so I could work (boringgg), we left to find Isla and Kristian's flats: some EUOC athletes that had offered us floor space to save on accommodation costs. Me and Peter went for a little bimble of a run round the meadows before showers, a cuppa and then off for a Durham meal; where Camilla had her first Fish and Chips :P the ceilidh, I was explaining to the people in Durham who hadn't done one, was a sweat fest - although not as bad as some I've been to. It was pretty decent, even got a cheeky dance with Martin Hubmann - GULTAAAYY.

Misty and cold race...

The next morning was another early one - 5.45 wake up, although this time I managed to stay awake on the journey (to Stirling) and worked. Yes...worked. I am so productive! With starts an hour earlier than the previous day it was freezing and misty!! I started at 8.54, running into Stirling castle full of confidence, before stopping and thinking: Nothing matches up. Like nothing. 

Part of the course in Stirling

The run-in

I spent the rest of the course if I’m honest running fast, relocating, running fast, relocating etc etc. Embarassing myself later on in the course where I punched control 14 (the spectator control) before I’d been to 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13…WHUUPPPPSSSS. I finished with a smile and absolutely loved it, even though I had really done badly! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!

The afternoon I went off again to find some WiFi, before saying goodbye to Camilla L and starting the longgg drive home! 

Junior European Cup 2014

 

The team :)

 With a relatively early (10am) flight to catch on the Thursday morning from Manchester airport with part of the GB team I stayed in Sheffield for the night with my BOYFRIEND (yes I have somehow managed to get myself one…) before, getting him up at 6 to drive me to the station ❤

The journey was smoother than the year before as I'd remembered my passport this time...GOOD ONE LUCY. I bought myself two meal deals with Adam and Ben to last me for the journey; we then boarded the plane which I fell asleep for the whole duration. YES :)

We met with the whole group in Brussels and travelled across to Sunparks holiday camp where I had a snooze before dinner, a meeting and then bed.

Happy with my Sprint Race

We were staying in little cabins, six per cabin so I was with the W20 girls, staying in a room with fellow Durham girl Julie Emmerson :) the beds were ridiculously comfy and we both slept every night SO WELL. Before the sprint, which was late Friday evening, we went to the model map for the long/relay. FORESTED SANDDUNES YES YES YES. I was pretty tired so only did five minutes of orienteering and then a little easy jog, knowing I was going to race hard in the evening. And that's exactly what I did...maybe a little bit too hard; I started off RAPID. Although not making a mistake it meant I died later in the course; but just about held the navigation together (it wasn't that difficult if I'm honest). I finished up in 19th, another sprint I was surprisingly happy with - second GB girl behind Tamsin Moran (a complete tank, who I hope is beginning to realise her potential :)) - although I couldn't help comparing it to how the JWOC sprint went and the complete mare I had the following day :S

Again, I slept like a log – as well as sleeping a lot in the day - planting the seed that I wasn't completely healthy and on the edge of coming down with something. However I could take a while to get up in the morning with a late start of 11.46.

Quarantine was standard banter: worriedly panicking about 30minutes before my start that I hadn't brought my top - but realising Dan had rudely stole it, thinking it was his ;) in the warm up I felt pretty tired and obviously tried not to think about this going into the start boxes with Adam.

Like the sprint, I started really well, felt good and I was spiking most the controls! Knowing this was the race I really wanted to perform in, I didn't feel too overwhelmed with pressure like at Junior Worlds so I was relaxed and my orienteering was smooth :). I also started steady (or what I thought was steady) but looking at splits afterwards, realised maybe I had set off too fast as my times to the first few were rapid yayayay :D happy that the orienteering was working, I just continued at the same pace and although feeling tired wasn't worried. Although making  a mistake at four, I considered my first large mistake (out of many :/) at control eight - starting the trend for the rest of the course. I had run into the area it was in, didn’t find it and then ran off before trying to relocate and double back with my head up (although I swear the map wasn't quite right in this part...).

After this I was a bit flakey to the following controls, tiredness began to creep in and I still had another 20 controls to go. With patches of greatness ;) still appearing amongst a range of mistakes I made it round to the spectator control and then had ten remaining controls. In total I clocked up 14 (yes 14) minutes of mistake - I was having a great time..., with my largest mistake of four minutes at control 30; here again I was so close first time, missing it by meters but then panicking and running backwards and forwards in the vague area. With both Miri Thrane and Mathilde catching me up I knew I wasn't going to do great in the results and was resigned to that fact as I crossed the line.

Kept missing those controls :(

 Post - race phone call to my parents ended up in tears and deciding I am truly shit at orienteering and with no long distance race all summer to say otherwise; I wasn't believing my parents attempts to comfort me ❤

I stayed away from the rest of TeamGB until I knew I was going to be happy, and not force them to try and deal with a miserable Lucy. SASHA CHEPELIN THOUGH. OH MY GOD. SECOND PLACE. YES. Complete hero and I think everyone from GBR was very proud :) in the afternoon I slept again yaaaayyy, before dinner, team meeting and then the party wooohoo; although with the relay race the next day it was tame and people headed to bed pretty early. I rang my dad again which helped and although not having spoken that much over the summer about training it was so nice to still feel the love :P again, like after JWOC I was to go into the relay for enjoyment - realising I run best when happy :)

In a strong relay team with Tamsin and Florence, I was confident before that we had the possibility of finally getting a decent relay result. I was last leg, which although I would have preferred first for reasons mentioned in previous blog entries, it was what was best for the team. Tamsin started well, sticking with the pack, although knackered from the previous days; although warming up now, I was told Florence came through spectator also with the group - the other two GB teams just ahead. Going into the box, waiting to hand over, I watched the two GB girls from the teams just ahead come through. But then unfortunately Florence had made a mistake in the final loop and came in some minutes down, setting me off with the rapid French girl: Lauriane Beauvisage.

Although I am aware I was running with basically no pressure, I had a FLYING first part of the course. I was literally rapid - call me cocky but it was amazing. I mean I was amazing hahahah. I felt good, the French girl wasn't running away from me (instead I was leading her); then we got to spectator control and in the last loop I did the same as Florence, making some mistakes and losing some places. Again I was running perfect most of the way to the controls, losing confidence when not finding it straight away and running around instead of just STOPPING AND RELOCATING. Naughty naughty; very bad technique. Need to work on this.

Our best GB team came 5th WOOOOOOP WWWOOOOP. Which must be the best in relays we have done in a while! Although they were unlucky, missing out on the podium I think honestly I would have been bummed (as well as happy for them obviously), mostly because I am a jealous bitch and would have wanted it for my team! :/

Post relay we went back to the accommodation, with hours to spare for a quick swim and time to pack before starting the journey home. With copious amounts of pizza and garlic bread and some great chat with Adam and Joe in the plane to Manchester, I hadn't had ANY sleep during the day :O so crashed when I finally arrived at Jack Benham's who is at Manchester Uni :) good weekend, yes - didn't do as well as I wanted but technically I was seeing some positives and knew what the weaknesses were, unlike with Junior Worlds. Again thanks to the coaches that helped: Jackie Newton, Mark Saunders, Alice Bedwell and my parents - again; they are the ones that get me through ❤