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Pre WOC racing

Show Profile  Casser Posted: 9 August 2007, 8:50 AM  
Chris Forne outsprinted the Norweigian Leader (no name has been revealed) in the chasing start to take the overall victory in the Transylvanian Open in Romania. Congratulations on a great effort!
Read the whole exciting story through the words of em on their blog http://chris-emily.blogspot.com/

http://www.transilva.ro/ Transylvanian Open Homepage doesn't have much info on it yet, but it might show later on!

To keep this topic going a little bit, it can now be revealed that the WOC team is competing in the Ukrainian Open over the weekend. It doesn't seem to have a homepage at the moment, but maybe some news will appear on http://www.woc2007.org.ua/en/ WOC homepage

This message was edited by Casser on 9 August 2007, 3:51 PM

This message was edited by Casser on 9 August 2007, 3:52 PM

Show Profile  Marquita G Posted: 10 August 2007, 8:49 AM  
Hope the Kiwis aren't booked into accommodation standard A6 - Hostel!http://www.woc2007.org.ua/en/

Show Profile  Casser Posted: 10 August 2007, 9:29 AM  
No, they are staying at the event centre (Hotel Tourist) for the duration of WOC, but have had some problems with cold water at the accommodation for the pre pre-WOC training camp and had to do some moving around as far as I have understood.

The results and a nice photo of Chris F with some sportsdrink http://www.transilva.ro/ (follow link to events and then the results link to the right). I wasn't able to see any marks from the special transsylvanian kissing (biting) girls as the price ceremony.

Show Profile  onemanfanclub Posted: 10 August 2007, 12:48 PM  
Don't forget, team, when registering in Kiev, to point the concrete number of hot lunches at the event office.

Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 10 August 2007, 1:21 PM  
IMPORTANT INFO

The best Ukrainian beer

Russia and the Ukraine may sound like terrible destinations for anyone looking for a decent pint of beer, and while both countries are for the most part deserts of pale lager, things are not nearly as bad as they may seem. There are some interesting beer styles, some brewpubs, and the quality of the industrial beer (especially in the Ukraine) is not at all bad. And prices are low, of course.

(Apologies for the lack of good photos, by the way. I lost nearly all my Russian beer photos together with the laptop.)

Despite this, Ukrainian beer seems largely unexplored on RateBeer, while Russian seems better covered. When we left for the Ukraine, only 27 Ukrainian beers had 10 ratings or more. Two months (and 55 ratings from me) later, the number stands at 29. The beer scenes in the two countries seem very similar, as far as I can tell, so I will treat them as one here. In general, Russia seems a little more sophisticated and a little more aware of modern craft beer attitudes, and Russian beer also seems to enjoy much broader international distribution.

Drinking beer in Russia and the Ukraine
Beer generally seems to be the drink of choice in Russia. People drink it in parks, in the street, in pubs, in restaurants, at the bus stop, before orienteering racing etc etc. In fact, in Kiev it's not uncommon in the late afternoon to meet men in suits carrying a briefcase in one hand and an open beer bottle and a cigarette in the other. People seem to do much more drinking in public places than in pubs and bars, probably because of the prices, and possibly also because of the loud music.

We did see people drinking strong liquor or wine, but not very often. Alcopops exist, but are barely noticeable. The Russian reputation for vodka drinking seemed undeserved to us, but probably more vodka is drunk at home and in social settings than in public places.
Pyatiy Okean, Moscow. Brewpub with tap on the table


In general most restaurants and pubs in Russia and the Ukraine have only pale lager, and while there are quite a few of these this gets boring quickly. The strange thing is that the breweries make other beers, but in three weeks we only found one place that had something else in their menu (only on the menu, of course; when we ordered it they turned out not to have it). However, there are a couple of brewpubs in Kiev, and there are some pleasant surprises here and there, so it isn't all dreary.

One interesting thing about Russia and the Ukraine is that pretty much every street corner has a couple of kiosks selling various groceries, typically including 10-15 different beers, and the beers vary from kiosk to kiosk. The prices are also incredibly low (2-4 UAH for an 0.5l bottle; that is, 30-60 EUR cents), so if a beer does not appeal you can simply pour it out and have another. The result of this (and the loud, horrible music played in most pubs/restaurants/cafés) is that often the best place to have a beer in Russia is on a park bench, or on a beach promenade. Or, in the worst case, your hotel room.

It seems that foreign beer enjoys much higher prestige than the local brews. Foreign beer is consistently much higher priced, often by a factor of 4-5. The more upscale a restaurant or pub is, the fewer domestic brands it seems to carry. The same pattern seems to hold for grocery stores, so trying to find a well-stocked supermarket to buy the best Russian beers is not going to work, because most likely the supermarket will have only foreign brands. Local "gastronom" shops for the common people are a much better place to seek out local brews, although some supermarkets carry local specialties like meads.


Show Profile  The Clem Posted: 10 August 2007, 1:32 PM  
The team has assembled in Kiev and we are staying in 2 apartments in the central city as we move into the final week before WOC. It's best place for access to maps, transport, food etc... Ross and Tania initially stayed in the hostel mentioned for a couple nights as it was near the WOC centre and some maps. But 'dodgy' is a nice way of putting it. Since then the team have trained and moved around Kiev running different maps. As carsten mentioned we will move into the offical WOC accomodation on the 16th a couple days prior to the start of woc.
First race of the Ukraine Cup today is the long. Details are still being recieved/given about the event even as the team is traveling to the start. We'd be lost without our Ukraine Manager as there doesn't seem to be a particular hurry by the organisers to provide anybody with any details about anything in particular. But there's no stress, as like the locals, stress has a low priority on the things to do list for us.


Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 11 August 2007, 6:29 AM  
A little birdie says a kiwi has got the trotts while getting acclimatised the the local cuisine. Better now than later!

This message was edited by Paul I on 11 August 2007, 1:31 PM

Show Profile  The Clem Posted: 11 August 2007, 12:35 PM  
Today the team takes on the middle for the Ukraine Cup. Would really love to tell you some solid results from yesterday, but we really don't know. The times yesterday were a little confusing. Hopefully there's something posted at the event today. Example, Ross looked like he came in second yeasterady ahead of Troy de Has. But the winner was 24 minutes ahead of Ross. Not sure that was physically possible yesterday and not sure if Ross really was second. All a bit confusing. Tania was about 2 minutes down on Hanny who we think came in first yesterday which would make Tania second as well. Could have been closer but for rain yesterday that made some of the teams maps wash out and for some completely disentegrate. Tania stopped to help and chat on the course with Emily (Wall) as she had half of her map fall to pieces; Ross ended up having to sightsee with some local runners for about 4 controls and Chris had a bit of a jigsaw as some sections between legs disapeared from his map. But for any of you who know how Chris oreinteers, his favourite description of how he orienteers constantly includes the words 'charging' or 'charged', he found it all 'very exciting'. No sarcasm there at all. Rob J managed to avoid any map self distruction but instead had his O-shoes completely shiet themsleves. They now RIP in Ukraine.

Will try and post something after today's race if any of it makes sense.

Ohh yeah... the trotts whether brought on by food or otherwise,should be considered as part of the plyometrics training prior to racing. I mean lets face it, when you gotta go, and I mean really gotta go; those short sharp sprint bursts racing to the dunny or nearest bush, have gotta help in any sprint. And if you don't make it in time, it's probably a good indication you need to do a bit more speed work.

Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 12 August 2007, 6:54 AM  
Has the kiwi team come up with a strategy to aviod the dog attack problem I heard about? (other than the above sprint training technique)



This message was edited by Paul I on 12 August 2007, 1:59 PM

Show Profile  jeffg Posted: 13 August 2007, 2:51 AM  
Hey Clem
Mark and I do not believe you re Rob's shoes. He will no doubt try to patch them together for the main WOC races. Do not let him do this.

Show Profile  mal g Posted: 13 August 2007, 3:22 AM  
Regarding the dog attack problem, how about if we send Mark L over to divert the dogs away from the team. This will have an added benefit of giving Mark some more training - which he probably doesn't really need and enhance his already awesome relationship with FERAL animals.


Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 13 August 2007, 6:46 AM  
Speaking about feral, has anyone seen the 'Wolfman' doco? That dude would be very handy in Kiev about now.
The question also begs to be asked... did Robs shoe decintigration have anything to do with a dog attack? And does he show odd signs such as frothing of the mouth?


Show Profile  mal g Posted: 13 August 2007, 9:38 AM  
mmmmmmm Foot and Mouth.......... thought that was only in England.
Whose mouth did Rob have his shoe in??????

Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 13 August 2007, 10:19 AM  
You can see we are reeeeally getting frustrated waiting for the commencement of WOC2007. The anticipation is building. We are despirately excited.
We need Michael to discuss the weather, someone to discuss the (long) course lengths and someone in the know to predict some results... like; der Thierry G for middle gold!

Show Profile  The Clem Posted: 13 August 2007, 10:13 PM  
Sorry guys, not much to add really. I'm still making heads or tails of the results from the cup of Ukraine, but needless to say that the east pirongia pre-school eskimo reunion might have a slightly larger event presence. I'm not saying that it wasn't organised well etc... but it wasn't quite the shin dig I evisaged. Still training is training and everyone is running well. Rob is borrowing a pair of Ross's shoes for the terrein running so it's all good. Rob's shoes are dead, and even he wouldn't even give them mouth to tongue to bring them back to life. Rob really does run his shoes to death.
We're checking if the russian mafia has the inside running on some o-shoes and possibly protection from the local dogs. Tania tried to pat a cute puppy a little girl was holding today. Shit that was one angry little dog. Must be something in the water. I'm not having any problems with dogs. Maybe they know I'm hungrier than them.

The other national teams are slowly dribbling in but otherwise it's business as usual.

p.s. Mal if you thought Sweden had some nice scenery, even tania is stunned by the sheer abundance of unkraine/russian beauty that is assaulting us everywhere we look. Traveling to training isn't as big a chore as it usually is.

Show Profile  SimonB Posted: 14 August 2007, 1:58 AM  
sweeeeeeet


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