ORIENTEERING: An amazing ride
I've sometimes wondered if I ever would see a New Zealander win a medal at a World Orienteering Championship during my lifetime. To think that in some remote forest in Slovakia last week it nearly happened.
I've had a few days to reflect on Marquita's 4th place in the middle distance at the World MTBO Champs. The reoccuring thought to me is "don't belittle this achievement". Sure, Mountain Bike Orienteering is a developing arm of our sport, but there are plenty of people who take it seriously. There were over 25 nations at last week's championships, so when you compare it to WOC in Japan (37 nations), it is not exactly in the bog-snorkelling or tiddlywinks class. This is a serious sport, and we have just had a Kiwi a minute away from getting a medal. The more I think about it, the more I shake my head in awe at the result.
It's one of the great things about sport - results that come out of the blue to shock and surprise. I sent a fax to the WOC team saying if Bangladesh can beat Australia at cricket, Michael Campbell can win the US Open, and our junior men can kick Aussie butt in the JWOC relay, what can you do? One of the reasons I can spend hours in front of a tele watching sport (apart from making money) is the great unpredictability it can produce. Sport constantly shows the lesson that human achievement is only limited by the personal obstacles that we put in front of ourselves.
Read to the end; more about that later. Let's get back to Marquita. OK, she's a friend, and the partner of one my best friends and greatest influences in my life, but she is so deserving of getting something like this. To think that after doing her cruciates so bad at the 1997 Nationals, she can come back, be a World Masters Champion on foot and fourth in the world on a bike ... fucking marvellous. And I always like to see people who are so giving reaping rewards. She's our Convenor of Selectors and has spent a fair amount of time in this role, not to mention a lot of hours fieldworking maps, drawing them on OCAD, setting and controlling events, etc etc. A blog post would not be complete with advice from my Mum, who always told me you get out of life what you put in. Well, Marquita has put in a fair amount into our sport, so seeing her get a result like this is just desserts. Onya chainsaw, I'm so happy for you.
Now, to those of less life experience than myself, read on. Many years ago I asked Paul Dalton what makes a good runner (now he won't remember this). Paul, in addition to being a reasonable orienteer, was quite a handy runner and I envied him - one year he ran the Rotorua Marathon in a tick over 2 hours 30 and I thought bloody 'ell, if he was half decent at navigating he'd be dangerous (sorry Paul). "So Paul, what's the difference between a 34 min 10k runner such as myself and a 32min 10k runner such as you?"
I'll never forget the answer, which went along the lines of the top 6 inches. If you can run 34min, you can run 32 min, the difference is 90% mental.
Sport at the top level is all about between the ears. For every champion in sport, there are 10 people who have the same talent who don't get there. Now I know this will come as a shock to some people, but I don't profess to know everything - however I do have some clues about psychology in sport to know that the difference between 3rd and 1st in NZ, or 40th and 10th in the world, is usually what goes on in the brain cells.
Some of us think that the biggest barrier to New Zealand orienteers achieving internationally is physical - we ain't fit enough. That is partly true, but I truly believe that the greatest improvement that most elite or aspiring elite orienteers in NZ can make is getting their head space right. Mental strength can make the difference, even overcome physical and technical deficiencies.
So use Marquita's result as inspiration. Not only to show what can be achieved, but even at times when things may not be going your way. Remember she was in hospital with significant doubt about whether she would be able to run again. Now she has come 4th at a World Championship.
Now get your arse off the chair in front of your computer and go for a run!!!
I've had a few days to reflect on Marquita's 4th place in the middle distance at the World MTBO Champs. The reoccuring thought to me is "don't belittle this achievement". Sure, Mountain Bike Orienteering is a developing arm of our sport, but there are plenty of people who take it seriously. There were over 25 nations at last week's championships, so when you compare it to WOC in Japan (37 nations), it is not exactly in the bog-snorkelling or tiddlywinks class. This is a serious sport, and we have just had a Kiwi a minute away from getting a medal. The more I think about it, the more I shake my head in awe at the result.
It's one of the great things about sport - results that come out of the blue to shock and surprise. I sent a fax to the WOC team saying if Bangladesh can beat Australia at cricket, Michael Campbell can win the US Open, and our junior men can kick Aussie butt in the JWOC relay, what can you do? One of the reasons I can spend hours in front of a tele watching sport (apart from making money) is the great unpredictability it can produce. Sport constantly shows the lesson that human achievement is only limited by the personal obstacles that we put in front of ourselves.
Read to the end; more about that later. Let's get back to Marquita. OK, she's a friend, and the partner of one my best friends and greatest influences in my life, but she is so deserving of getting something like this. To think that after doing her cruciates so bad at the 1997 Nationals, she can come back, be a World Masters Champion on foot and fourth in the world on a bike ... fucking marvellous. And I always like to see people who are so giving reaping rewards. She's our Convenor of Selectors and has spent a fair amount of time in this role, not to mention a lot of hours fieldworking maps, drawing them on OCAD, setting and controlling events, etc etc. A blog post would not be complete with advice from my Mum, who always told me you get out of life what you put in. Well, Marquita has put in a fair amount into our sport, so seeing her get a result like this is just desserts. Onya chainsaw, I'm so happy for you.
Now, to those of less life experience than myself, read on. Many years ago I asked Paul Dalton what makes a good runner (now he won't remember this). Paul, in addition to being a reasonable orienteer, was quite a handy runner and I envied him - one year he ran the Rotorua Marathon in a tick over 2 hours 30 and I thought bloody 'ell, if he was half decent at navigating he'd be dangerous (sorry Paul). "So Paul, what's the difference between a 34 min 10k runner such as myself and a 32min 10k runner such as you?"
I'll never forget the answer, which went along the lines of the top 6 inches. If you can run 34min, you can run 32 min, the difference is 90% mental.
Sport at the top level is all about between the ears. For every champion in sport, there are 10 people who have the same talent who don't get there. Now I know this will come as a shock to some people, but I don't profess to know everything - however I do have some clues about psychology in sport to know that the difference between 3rd and 1st in NZ, or 40th and 10th in the world, is usually what goes on in the brain cells.
Some of us think that the biggest barrier to New Zealand orienteers achieving internationally is physical - we ain't fit enough. That is partly true, but I truly believe that the greatest improvement that most elite or aspiring elite orienteers in NZ can make is getting their head space right. Mental strength can make the difference, even overcome physical and technical deficiencies.
So use Marquita's result as inspiration. Not only to show what can be achieved, but even at times when things may not be going your way. Remember she was in hospital with significant doubt about whether she would be able to run again. Now she has come 4th at a World Championship.
Now get your arse off the chair in front of your computer and go for a run!!!
Labels: orienteering
posted by Rob Crawford at 3:52 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah I know some of the team members have been accused of being 'overweighed' in the past but after that the rest is mental. More high end races are needed to simulate the pressure of racing in Europe. Bring back more mass and chasing starts!
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