World Masters Orienteering Champs : Long Distance

Following on from Andrew’s report on the Sprint competitions, here is an update on the Long Distance events now that the ESOC contingent has all returned home from Switzerland.

In the Long Distance, there were 2 days of qualifying races, followed by a rest day, and then the Finals Day. All these races were in the Jura mountains, which are near the French border and are around 1200m above sea level. On a clear day there are excellent views to be had of the Alps in the distance.
Qualifier 1 was in a brilliant area - short grass underfoot with scattered fir trees but no distinct vegetation boundaries, undulating contours and few line features. Compass and pacing was the order of the day. Janice had a stormer in W55 and finished 4th in her heat, only 3 and a half minutes behind her leading runner. Eleanor was 8th in her W65 heat, 8 minutes down on the leader, whilst Marion was 9th, but with a faster time and only 7 minutes down, in hers (leading to a little friendly banter about whose was the easier heat!). Ian made a costly error and finished 38th in his M65 heat, whilst Brian came 66th in his.
Qualifier 2 was a complete contrast, very rocky underfoot and with poor visibility due to undergrowth, it made sense to use the paths where possible. Marion coped the best with the conditions, coming 12th and again only 7 minutes down in her heat. Everyone else was at least 20 minutes off the pace, but Janice was still 7th overall in her heat and Eleanor had also done enough to get into the A Final.
The area for the Finals was adjacent to Qualifier 2 and unsurprisingly was similar in character. Eleanor came away with the best result, 28th in W65A. Janice was 38th in W55A, Marion 58th in W65A, Ian 39th in M65C and Brian 40th in M65D.

There are a couple of photos of the small band from ESOC in the photo gallery.

Full results available on the WMOC 2010 website.

Eleanor Pyrah