The Swedish women, lead by 21 y.o. Johanna Öberg, took care of no less than the ten(!) top places on the chase start in Euromeeting in Våler Saturday. Amongst the men 29 y.o. Estonian Timo Sild was the top guy.

OK Moss was in charge of the preliminary test for the WOC 2019 organization, when they took care of organising the middle distance race with a prologue and chase start Friday and Saturday. The WOC organization is a collaboration of all the clubs in the county of Østfold, that will join forces to host the 2019 World Orienteering Championships.

Friday and Saturdays races were held in Våler, just a few kilometers away from the terrain that will be used during WOC 2019. Ten nations took part, most of them represented by their development teams. Young aspiring runners on a level right behind their regular national team squad. The level of both the runners and the organisers nevertheless proved to be very good, and the quality of the competition was worthy of praise.

Strong Swedes

On Friday British top runner Catherine Taylor managed to stay clear of the Swedish pack to win the womens race, but on Saturdays chase start the Swedes showed just how wide the range of skills are distributed amongst their runners, and claimed no less than the top ten spots!

-The terrain was familiar to the Swedes. It was technically challenging, and Swedes are technically skilled, said the winner Johanna Öberg. the first year senior has a relay gold medal and silver and bronze medals from the middle distance in previous JWOC's.

-I've done two good races this weekend, and really hope to be among the participants here in Norway at WOC 2019, Johanna said after the race.

Wants to defeat Olav Lundanes

The Swedes performed well in the mens class too, with three runners amongst the top six. Anton Johansson won the prologue on Friday, but the Estonian Timo Sild took a quite early lead on the chase start, and managed to stay clear for a strong win.

-The terrain is physically demanding, but the visibility is good and I don't think there will be done many big mistakes during WOC 2019, Sild said after he had performed well on a map he enjoyed very much.

-What you saw on the map was distinctly visible in the terrain as well. The runability over hills that were marked white on the map could vary though, perhaps the Norwegians have more knowledge on wether a hill is runable or not? Sild wonders.

His intention is to learn this kind of terrain even better, because his ambition is clear:

-Att spö Olav! (To beat Olav Lundanes)
-He beat me during "my" WOC in Estonia this summer, so I want to have my revenge on his home territory two years from now, Timo Sild said with a big smile on his face.

The results from the prologue and the chase start can be found here: http://eventor.orientering.no/Events/Show/7891