JWOC 2022 (part 2)Aguiar da Beira, Portugal, 3-6 November
ESOC junior Rachel Brown was in the GB team at the forest races for the Junior World Orienteering Championships.
JWOC 2022 was in Aguiar da Beira, in central Portugal. The first part of the event was in July – see this news report. Unfortunately the weather in Portugal was very hot and dry, leading to extreme risk of forest fires, and the Portuguese government imposed a ban on all forest activities. The forest races were therefore postponed, and JWOC part 1 had additional Sprint events instead.
Aguiar da Beira is between 600 and 900 meters above sea level, and the forest is mostly pine, with some deciduous trees, such as sweet chestnut and oak. It’s quite hilly, and there are large areas of bare rock, as well as rock features – big boulders and crags. Runnability varies a lot. Often the forest is open, but in places there is dense vegetation, including brambles and broom.
Middle Distance race
The Middle Distance event was on Friday 4 November at Quinta das Lameiras, which was described as “typical Aguiar da Beira forest, with large bare rock areas and a lot of rock elements”.
Relay
The Relay races were on Saturday 5 November, also at Quinta das Lameiras. The advance details said that the organisers used forestry trucks to open passages through some areas of dense vegetation to improve the courses! There was an arena passage on both Women’s and Men’s courses, with a map turnover at that point. Rachel ran 3rd leg in the GB 1 team.
Long Distance race
On Sunday 6 November, the Long Distance race was at Carapito, further east, in the forest to the north of a village where some of the Sprint races were held in the summer. This area has more forest and less bare rock than the other races, and large areas of dense vegetation. Again there was an arena passage.
Further details about the event, including official results, maps, GPS tracking and videos, are available on the JWOC 2022 website. (Results and maps are under the LIVE CENTER heading.)
There's also a report on the British Orienteering website here.
Other entries categorised under: Juniors