ESOC at the Park World Tour - 10/11 September 2010
The Park World Tour came to Perth for the weekend, and provided an exciting spectacle as well as a great opportunity for competing on some challenging courses. ESOC’s Claire Ward had outstanding results.
The Park World Tour events started with the prologue on Friday at Scone Palace, followed by the final on Saturday in Perth city centre. There were 15 invited elite runners from various countries, and open races at both locations provided a chance for everyone else to run the same courses. The fastest 15 from Friday’s open prologue also qualified for the Elite final.
Prologue
On Friday the invited elites had a separate start block, followed by the open race. Scone Palace has beautiful grounds, mostly fairly flat, with open areas and woodland featuring many fine specimen trees, thickets and bushes. The courses were quite technical and looped around the area with many changes of direction and tricky navigation.
Claire Ward had an exceptional run, winning the women’s open prologue by a clear margin and thus qualifying for the final. Other ESOC competitors who successfully completed their courses were Andrew Dalgleish (n/c), Martin Quirke, Clive Masson, Pawel Bugajski, Ian Pyrah, Alastair Lessells, Les Dalgleish, Brian Yates, Helena Nolan, Eleanor Pyrah, and Katy Lessells.
There was a second opportunity to run the courses at Scone Palace on Saturday morning. The best ESOC results were Walter Clark, 9th on the men’s course, and Elisabeth Henkes, 3rd on the women’s course. Other ESOC finishers were Daniel Forth, Robert Findlay, Janice Nisbet, Brian Yates, and Janet Clark.
Final
On Saturday afternoon in Perth, the elite start block was first, followed by the elite prizegiving, and then the open final. Courses were again challenging, zig-zagging through the alleyways and narrow streets, with some interesting route choices.
Early rain stopped, the sun came out, and there was a great atmosphere around the arena outside Perth Concert Hall, with commentary and a large TV screen showing action from different points on the courses. A large crowd of orienteers enjoyed the elite race, along with interested Perth residents and passers-by. Claire Ward had another fantastic run and finished in 7th place by a very small margin, a brilliant result.
In the men’s open final, the best ESOC result came from Ray Ward, in 9th place (and quicker than some in the elite final); other ESOC members in the top half of the results were Andrew Dalgleish 33rd, Mark Wood 38th, Clive Masson 41st, Andrew Lindsay 47th, and Walter Clark 48th.
In the women’s open final, the best ESOC result was Rona Lindsay in 4th place (also quicker than some of the elite finalists), with Janice Nisbet 16th and Helena Nolan 18th.
Other ESOC finishers were Ian Pyrah, Crawford Lindsay, Les Dalgleish, Alastair Lessells, Robert Findlay, Brian Yates, Sally Lindsay, Eleanor Pyrah, Janet Clark, and Katy Lessells.
See the Park World Tour website for more background details about the event and full results.
Some photos from the event are now in the ESOC Gallery.