WMOC 2012Bad Harzburg, Germany, 1 - 8 July
6 ESOC members competed at the World Masters Orienteering Championships - Claire Ward won Gold in both disciplines, Sprint and Long Distance!
The World Masters is an annual event, open to anyone who is 35 or over. This year, it took place in and around the town of Bad Harzburg, in the Harz Mountains, in the northern part of Germany. ESOC was represented by Claire and Ray Ward, Eleanor and Ian Pyrah, Janice Nisbet and Brian Yates.
There are two disciplines, Sprint and Long Distance.
Sprint
The qualifying event was held on Sunday 1 July in Bad Harzburg, followed a day later by the final in the lovely mediaeval town of Goslar.
Claire, Ray, Eleanor and Janice qualified for the A final of the sprint, Ian the B final and Brian the D final.
The great news is that Claire won the W35A Gold medal, beating fellow UK squad member Sarah Rollins, in a reverse of the qualifying heat result. Ray was an excellent 9th in a strong M35A field, Eleanor 15th in W65A and Janice 18th equal in W55A. Ian was 75th in M65B and unfortunately Brian mispunched in M65D.
Long Distance
The Long Distance event had two qualification runs and a final. The first qualification race was on Wednesday 4 July, at Drei Annen Hohne, east of the Brocken mountain, and the terrain was mainly spruce forest with lots of rock features. Competitors travelled to the assembly area via a narrow gauge steam railway. Larger classes were split into multiple sub-classes with 60-70 in each. Claire was the star again, winning in W35; Ray was 25th in M35-2; Janice was 10th in W55-3; Eleanor was 29th in W65-3; Ian was 65th in M65-1; Brian was 61st in M65-4.
The second qualifier was on Thursday 5 July, at Pulverhaus Clausthal-Zellerfeld, which is further west; spruce forest again, with many depressions from old mine workings. After another great run, Claire Ward qualified as 1st overall in W35, despite being 17 seconds behind Sarah Rollins. Ray Ward similarly qualified for the A final, being 25th overall in the M35-2 heat. Janice Nisbet is also in the A final, having finished 5th in W55-3. Eleanor Pyrah qualified for the A final by finishing 20th in W65-3. Ian Pyrah had an excellent run, finishing 18th in the second qualifier, but sadly only qualified for the M65 D final. Brian Yates is in the M65 E final.
The Long Distance final was on Saturday 7 July, at Huneberg, near Bad Harzburg. Terrain was mainly spruce with some young deciduous trees, lots of steep slopes and some rock features. Claire Ward won her 2nd Gold medal of the championships, beating Sarah Rollins by 1 minute exactly and beating the 3rd place by 6:30 - very impressive. Ray Ward was a creditable 37th in M35A, on a very long course. Janice Nisbet was 20th in W55A; Eleanor Pyrah was 46th in W65A; Ian Pyrah was 35th in M65D; Brian Yates was 41st in M65E.
A selection of photos from the event is now available in the ESOC Gallery.
Further details and full results are available on the WMOC 2012 website.
Crawford Lindsay
Club Captain
first posted 2 July 2012
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