All three Bobachs in final

What an orienteering family – the Bobachs from Denmark. Ida (14), Søren (17) and Christian (19) qualified for the middle distance final.

– We gained the knowledge from our parents, says Søren.

– Our parents have taken us orienteering from the time we were very small, continues Ida.

Their parents are Dorthe Hansen and Erik Bobach. They are course setters for the middle distance at WOC in Denmark. The family lives in Silkeborg where most of the races will take place.

Young Ida will be 15 years old on the second day of WOC.

Even though she is only 14, Ida qualified comfortably for the middle distance final. She finished 12th in her heat. The 20 best from each heat will run the final.

Christian was seventh and Søren tenth in heat two. They will both start in the last half in the A-final.

The very eager Bobach juniors live in a very good part of Denmark to practise orienteering. There are lots of maps and forests in Silkeborg, but they say you can also become too familiar with the forests.

– It will be good to go to Norway and Sweden for a time and train in Nordic terrain, says Søren.

From the start of JWOC the Bobachs have navigated well. Søren was ninth in the sprint final and Christian sixth in the long distance.

We know this kind of orienteering

The Lithuanians Vilius Aleliunas and Jonas Vytautas Gvildys know the kind of orienteering at the Junior World Championships, but only one of them will be in the final.

I ran straight to the last control from the third last control. I didn’t see the second last control, says Vilius.

He ran into the finish with a really good time and could probably have done very well if he had seen the second last control on the map.

– It’s a bit sad not to be in the A-final, says Vilius.

For Jonas things ended up much better. He finished fifth in his heat.

How is it to have the championship on home ground?

– It’s good because we know how to navigate, say both.

They are both 18 years old. Vilius has one year left as a junior and Jonas two. They are both glad they have more time as juniors.

The championship in Druskininkai is now a little more than half finished. It has been a really good competition with interesting and challenging orienteering. Lithuania has used new terrain that hasn’t been previously mapped. The small spa city of Druskininkai, close to both Belarus and Poland, may not have experienced orienteering before but it is surrounded by wonderful terrain.

Runners from many nations have performed well in the qualification. It will be a tough and exciting final on Friday with good runners from many nations.

Stories: Erik Borg