World TrailO Championships
Strömstad, Sweden, August 22-27
Having regained my TrailO Paralympic status this year, I was fortunate to be selected for the Great Britain TrailO team for both the European Championships earlier this year in the Czech Republic and the recent World Championships.
Both WOC and WTOC events were held concurrently in the Strömstad and Tanum area of the picturesque west coast of Sweden, just south of the Norwegian border, about two hours drive north of Gothenburg. Its a very rocky landscape, a bit like the NW coast of Scotland, but covered in trees.
I’d travelled to Sweden by car with Anne Braggins, our Team Manager, includung a drive over ‘The Bridge’, the Oresund bridge between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden. Other members had flown to Oslo and travelled down by bus to Tanum, where we collect them en route to athletes’ accreditation in Strömstad.
The GB FootO team stayed in the holiday village of Daftö, just south of Strömstad, but as their cabins didn’t cater for either wheelchair users, or their dogs, which was no use for one of our team members, Peter Roberts we based ourselves at a motel in Nordby, 20k to the north and so close to the border that my phone thought it was in Norway.
From the balcony of our cabins, we looked out to the south over typical idyllic Swedish lowland terrain- forest, field and the odd house. To the West, however, planted in the middle of nowhere, was a vast indoor shopping mall. Whilst we may regard Sweden as being an expensive country, it is a member of the EU. Norway, on the other hand, is not an EU member and is much more expensive to live in as a result (as is Switzerland). Such may shortly be the effects on us of Brexit!
Nordby is a mere 2 minutes drive from the Norwegian border, and everyday hordes of Norwegians flock over to stock up on food, consumer goods, booze and cigarettes. There was barely a Swedish car in the huge car park. Will we, I wondered, shortly find ourselves taking regular day trips from Poole to the Auchan in Cherbourg?
However, I digress. The Swedish organisers had helpfully made central Strömstad an embargoed area until after the finals of the FootO Sprint Relays and the TempO event, which meant that TrailO competitors were unable to watch the Sprint Relays or attend the Opening Ceremony without breaking quarantine!
Those of you who know my hatred of Opening Ceremonies over the years will realise that I wasn’t particularly upset about this, but there was to be no escape: the Organisers held a special welcoming ceremony just for the TrailO competitors between the heats and final of the TempO competition, complete with a couple of speeches, one of which, as custom dictates, we heard twice – once in Swedish and once in translation!
At least it was all mercifully short with none of the usual procession of athletes, local folk-dancing displays, or children dressed in traditional costumes fainting in the heat from all the standing around.
And we did better in the TempO than usual, with both Nick Barrable and Tom Dobra qualifying for the final.
I don’t usually make the TempO team (I’m too old and slow thinking), which this year was made up of our three Open Class guys, John Kewley, Nick Barrable, Ian Ditchfield plus Tom Dobra, who was selected for just the TempO and the relay. So my competition began with the first round of the PreO, held in a nature reserve on the delightful island of Saltö, where we had also had a model event the day before the TempO, which covered both the PreO 1 and TempO events. The course followed a track between crags and large lumps of rock, through the forest down to the beach, where we had several single flag controls (these are either correctly placed, or wrong and therefore zero controls ) on rocky promontories either side of the bay.
It was a very difficult course (but easier than the European Champs PreO in the Czech Republic which we almost impossible) and I had a poor day: one of those days when you narrow the choice of correct flag down from one from five to one out of two, then pick the wrong one. My score of 13 points out of a possible 21 left me in 25th place: but then the penultimate control was voided after complaints from Lithuania (its always Lithuania who complain, and this control was one I had got correct) and I finished 27th out of 38 with 12 points out of 20. Not good enough.
Click to view full Day 1 map
The following day our second model event revisited the Torseröd wind-farm near Tanum which had been the scene of the Nordic championships in May last year: the planner even re-used several of the control sites he used then, often with identical problems. This didn’t stop many of us getting them wrong again.
But it was good practice, particularly in getting to know the mapping style. The terrain had many areas of bare or bareish rock. If rock is totally devoid of vegetation, the Swedes map it as bare rock – grey. On the other hand, if its is covered in moss and lichen, it becomes yellow, I.e. open ground. If the rock has knee high heather patches etc., they are mapped as rough open.
The Day 2 PreO took us to another wind-farm, this time the spectacular Tolvmanstegan area, which has at least 25 windmills scattered on an exposed rocky plateau with areas of marsh, forest and scattered trees. The day began bright warm and sunny. We had a very long and demanding course with 28 controls, including a long trek between the first and second parts of the course: the Para course had a time allowance of 165 minutes, and I needed most of that. The first part had a one way section, which meant that two controls which could easily be solved from beyond the section, had to be taken before hand. After 16 controls, we had a pause for the timed controls, then a 1k trek back through the course to the start, in groups with an official to make sure we didn’t communicate with anyone on the way, and then on to Part 2.
On the second part of the course, just as I began to get very tired, the sky went black, there was a flash or two of lightning, the odd clap of thunder, and a vicious five minute rain /hail squall which left most of us freezing and soaked to the skin. At which point, just after I punched the finish, the sun came out and by the time I’d reached the arena, 1.5k away, I was almost dry again. This time I did better, getting 21 points and finishing in 24 position, lifting my eventual final placing up a couple of places to 25th overall. Peter Roberts unfortunately suffered a flat tyre on his Tramper only two controls in, which affected his performance.
The following day, was the first official TrailO relay, which was held over another part of the same area as the day before. There were 21 PreO controls, of which each team member had to visit 7 controls, (the first two legs having a choice of which controls to solve, with the last leg runner having to do the remaining seven), followed by a TempO control in front of the crowd at the Arena with 5 problems. Scoring was by totalling together any 60 second penalties for each wrong PreO control, 30 seconds for each wrong TempO plus the time taken solving the TempO cluster. The team with the least time penalties wins.
The GB team in the Open class, made one mistake apiece (one wrong PreO, two wrong TempO, which put them in 8th place. The Portuguese and Slovakian teams got everything right, Slovakia winning because they were faster in the TempO. Sweden, the favourites could only finish fourth.
Unfortunately, GB couldn’t field a Para relay team because John Crosby, who had been originally selected, was unable to travel, (and Peter still had his puncture) but I did get to go round part of the course after the event but before the prize-giving ceremony.
After an excellent athlete’s party on the Saturday night, Tom, Anne and I were up early on Sunday morning. We had to deliver Tom, who is a PhD student, to Gothenburg airport for an 11.00 flight which would take him, via Heathrow, to San Diego in California, where he was due to attend a fluid dynamics conference starting the next day and present a paper at it two days later, before we continued our long drive home.
The GB TrailO team is largely self-financed (BOF only paid for the event entry fees) so I’m very grateful to WIM & SWOA for financial support which was put towards the cost of my accommodation and travel.
Dick Keighley
The GB TrailO team, standing in the PreO 2 terrain – note the bare rock, ‘semi open’ etc.
Background: PreO terrain