Qualification – 5 Aug. Map: Mnichovice / Minichschlag It was a hot 33°C day for the first event in a Czechia – a qualification race where the top 20 in each heat progress to the long and middle A Final races, and the remaining competitors raced in the B and C Finals. Joe Lynch safely qualified for the A Final with 15th place in Heat 3 using the optimal NZ shorts and singlet racing attire to beat the heat. “I enjoyed the terrain and played it safe by taking time in the complex areas and on my route choices,” he said.

Renee, Laura and Zara all produced solid runs to qualify for the B Final. Renee reveals the course had “brutal hills with areas of blueberry-covered rocks that were tough going. I was reasonably happy with my run, however, in hindsight I lost time on the first long leg (6-7) as I took a long track/road option which missed out a lot of climb, but was perhaps too far around.” Fergus and Nick also snuck into B Final places in 38th and 40th respectively, while Ed and Cameron will race the C Final. Cameron described it as a “physical course with some interesting tricky controls” which demanded focus in the control circle.

The qualification followed the model map training, where the New Zealand team tackled varied southern Czech terrain with runnable forest, patches of thicker vegetation, shoe-sucking marshes, intricate rocky outcrop control sites and bonus snake spotting.Results:
Men
H1 38th Fergus O’Neill 1:16:22 (+23:14)
H2 40th Nick Smith 1:13:07 (+18:09)
H2 44th Cameron Bonar 1:15:28 (+20:30)
H3 15th Joseph Lynch 58:08 (+4:57) A
H3 46th Ed Cory-Wright 1:23:36 (+30:25)
Women
H1 30th Laura Robertson 1:21:06 (+26:57)
H2 31st Zara Stewart 1:29:18 (+32:49)
H3 32nd Renee Beveridge 1:17:47 (+21:29)

Long distance – 6 August. Map: Valdov / Waldou
The team headed into undulating forest with rocky knolls, and stony ground. Joseph Lynch aptly transferred his skills from the sprint in World Orienteering Champs in Italy, into demanding forest terrain for the long distance in the Orienteering World Cup in Czechia. Confident route choices saw him finish in a strong position for NZ. ” I’m really pleased with a solid race placing in a forest world cup. Nice to see that I am able to navigate okay with minimal forest training after sprint WOC and have fun while doing it”,  he said.
Laura also produced a confident performance, finding the long-distance terrain better suited to her. “I enjoyed the course a lot more than yesterday. It played to my strengths, I took lots of track options and safe entry points into controls,” she said.

For Fergus this was a classic challenge, he described it as “It was a proper long distance with plenty of route choice and hilly terrain. I had a good start, then struggled with energy through the middle but I’m happy to finish strong and looking forward to some shorter races over the next couple of days.”
Unfortunately Zara was not running today as she was unwell. Long Final Results: 
35th Joseph 1:50:07 (+14:48)

B Final results:
Women
17th Laura Robertson 1:48:30 (+18:37)
31st Renee Beveridge 2:05:46 (+35:52)
Men
49th Nick Smith 1:53:15 (+25:15)
57th Fergus O’Neill 2:03:10 (+35:10)

C Final results
15th Ed Cory-Wright 1:47:29 (+19:45)
20th Cameron Bonar 1:50:45 (+23:01)

Middle Final – 8 August .  Map: Pošlák / Poschlag
After a days rest, the NZ team were racing again in warm, dry conditions. Joseph Lynch produced a great run for NZ in bouldery hill-country forest for the Middle Distance. The course featured some climb before moving into a predominantly downhill run, with a traverse in uneven, rocky running terrain.

Rugged descents led into technical control sites tucked behind large boulder features, where many similar-looking rock formations demanded precise map reading. As several athletes discovered, it was easy to drop too low on the slopes. Careful interpretation of the vegetation was also crucial to staying on line and locating the controls. Joseph is very happy with his race remarking that it was “by far my best forest performance. He said he “tried to channel Matt Ogden and stay in the flow state the entire way.”

In the B- Final the NZ women placed well, enjoying the challenges in running this technical terrain. “I really enjoyed the middle today, it felt a lot smoother than the qual race. I was feeling a lot better so happy to get round with a pretty clean run minus a few mistakes. Parts of the forest were lovely to run though, with mossy rocks you could jump between”, said Zara

Middle final results: 
23rd Joseph Lunch 35:33.03 (+3:42.23)
B final: 
13th Laura Robertson 38:11.26 (+4:06.13)
17th Renee Beveridge 38:55.72 (+4:50.60)
20th Zara Stewart   39:58.76 (+5:53.63)
23rd Fergus O’Neill 33:16.89 (+3:19.41)
52nd Nick Smith 37:57.49 (+8:00.01)
C final:
3rd Cameron Bonar 28:07.23 (+1:37.28)
34th Ed Cory-Wright 39:25.11 (+12:55.16)

Relay – 9 August – Map : Martínkov / Martetschlag 
It was a ruthless relay, with the heat  back in force for a fast and tricky OWC3 relay, many athletes had a challenging time in the terrain. The men’s and women’s courses were similar with lots of forking, but the men had extra controls early on in the race. The women’s event started first, the NZ team was led out by Laura who described it as ‘hot and physical’. Zara found the race nice and technical but didn’t have the lungs for the hills. Renee summed it up nicely by saying it was “great to come in ahead of the Aussies!”

Fergus, running for NZL 1, felt there was “some room for improvement,” with “areas of time loss for all.” After a big week of orienteering through the stunning Czech forests, he said the relay was “physically demanding, but a valuable experience to be running against the world’s best orienteers.”

Ed commented that is was “pretty tidy from team NZL 2! My race was good, just one small overshoot as I watched the pack speed away. The previous days got to me physically towards the end, but I was happy on the whole.”

Relay results:
14th NZL 1 Laura Robertson, Zara Stewart, Renee Beveridge 2:19:37 (+37:05)
20th NZL 1 Joseph Lynch, Cameron Bonar, Fergus O’Neill. 1:55:59 (+27:03)
NZL 2 Ed Cory-Wright, Nick Smith, Jonty Oram 2:02:31 (+33:35). 
Photos from the event can be found here: