World Masters

[Mrs H]

Well the World Masters kicks off tomorrow and there seems to be an extremely good British presence so hopefully we will get some podium places.

I would be willing to make a small each way wager on Ravinous getting a medal at some point and I wonder how AH and PG will get on slugging out in the M60 class.

I haven't studied the start list - so any more medal prospects we should be keeping an eye open for do you think?

[Sunlit Forres]

Eddie H has already had a 2nd in M55 in the Aussie Long-Distance Champs and went one better in the Middle Distance race. He couldn't run at all during July/Aug due to injury so he must have made a decent recovery. Hopefully Eddie will survive the qualifiers to put up a good show on 17 October.

[madmike]

sprint qualifiers:
Ravinous fastest qualifier in M35 by best part of a minute, PG won his M60 heat (Keith Henderson and Tony Thornley both 3rd in M60 heats) and EddieH was 2nd in his as was Gavin Clegg. Trevor Simpson and Arthur Boyt 1st and third in M70 and Geoff Geere 1st in M80. Barbera George and Eileen Bedwell 1st and 3rd in W75.

all the above should be in medal contention tomorrow if they repeat their runs.

PG, Geoff Geere and RAVINOUS my best bets for gold tomorrow

PS 3rd in Gavin's heat was a bloke called Jorgen Martensson 7 secs down - now that's a scalp worth taking

[Roger]

WMOC results page is here.
Spotted the legendary Tak Sugiyama among the M50s -- if EddieH or Ravinous can get a JOK membership fee from him, we'd be delighted to add him to the roll.

[Spookster]

SPOOK members Bill Edwards (M40) and Andy Simpson (M45) are also medal contenders I reckon. Fingers crossed...

[Scott]

Spotted the legendary Tak Sugiyama among the M50s -- if EddieH or Ravinous can get a JOK membership fee from him, we'd be delighted to add him to the roll.

I'm told that a Japanese girl who claimed to know Sugiyama-san signed up to OUOC at the Freshers' Fair this week .

[DJM]

Sprint Gold for ravinous!

Today's Spint Final at Sydney's Olympic Park proved to be much more technically challenging than many had predicted and mistakes were made aplenty. But not by last starter of the day, NickB who continued the recent record of British Gold at WMOC by coming into the Finish some 12 seconds ahead of 1997 WOC Gold medallist Carsten Jørgensen.

Mention must also be made of Tim Sands who narrowly missed M60 Gold by just 1 second, and there were five other podium successes too.

The full GBR medals table was:

M35 Gold Nick Barrable
M50 Silver Gavin Clegg
M60 Silver Tim Sands
M80 Silver Richard Arman
M65 Bronze Keith Henderson
W45 Bronze Alice Bedwell
W50 Bronze Judy Burge

Full results at http://www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/Sprint%20Final%20Results.txt

[Mrs H]

Hurrah! I knew he could do it - it'll be pay rises all round at CompassSport HQ

I must admit to being slightly bemused by the fact that a lot of the British contingent are names with which I am not familiar - perhaps some of these people live abroad - is that the case?

I'm guessing aforementioned Andy Simpson is Hilary and Trevor's son. Hilary told me his club was involved in the organisation.

There is an Ursula Oxburgh down as 3rd in W75 but as an Australian national - is that a bizarre co-incidence, a mistake or a story to be told?

[Spookster]

I'm guessing aforementioned Andy Simpson is Hilary and Trevor's son. Hilary told me his club was involved in the organisation.

Yes, that's him, left Sheffield to go and live in Oz in the early nineties I guess. But he only came 10th...

Bill Edwards gold in M40 , and his wife Susan a silver in W35 .

[mikey]

There is an Ursula Oxburgh down as 3rd in W75 but as an Australian national - is that a bizarre co-incidence, a mistake or a story to be told?

That is the WAOC Ursula Oxburgh - she has family out there so maybe entered via them?

[Clive Coles]

Yep ~ that's our Ursula.

Before she left our shores she reported to EAOA :

Anyway I'm off to Victoria to run in the Oz Long, Middle and Sprint Champs, all of them with course lengths commensurate with my speed! 1.8 K for the Sprint - brilliant! Not that I expect podium places, but the podiums (podia?) will be there.

Ursula

There is a message contained within that sentance for BOF. Some W75's don't appreciate having to run championship courses designed for the likes of Sarah Rollins !

The Australians can stage sensible courses ~ how about the Uk ?

[Scott]

I'm not sure what you mean. The British W75 Sprint Championship was over two courses of 1.5km and 1.7km (or would have been if any W75s had turned up). W75 at the JK Sprint had 1.62km. When did any W75s "have to run championship courses designed for the likes of Sarah Rollins"?

[Blanka]

I'm not sure what you mean. The British W75 Sprint Championship was over two courses of 1.5km and 1.7km (or would have been if any W75s had turned up). W75 at the JK Sprint had 1.62km. When did any W75s "have to run championship courses designed for the likes of Sarah Rollins"?

I think what Ursula meant is that at *most* sprint events the courses are planned with the elite in mind, with just W Open and M Open course. Everyone else can either take it or leave it. Where Sarah Rollins will do 3km in the prescribed 12-15 minutes, a W75 won't, and might take 50 minutes, which is not really a sprint.

The JK sprint and age-class sprint championships are the exceptions where courses for the "oldies" (or should I say more mature orienteers to be polotically correct?) are planned. However, as far as I know they are the only sprint events in Britain where the over 70s are catered for rather than being lumped together with either the Open class or the 60+ (a 60 year old is likely to be much faster than a 78 year old).

Today's Chester race is a case in point - as I said in another thread, I loved it but I am a W21 and run the W Open course. However, the only courses available were M Open (7km), W Open (5km) and juniors' (2.5km, lower TD), meaning that those over 60 can't really be competitive - the given lengths are longer than what they have to do in a forest event.

But well done to Ursula on her 3rd place - I expect she entered through her Australian club, which is why she came up as an "Au" in the results.

[Blanka]

Also, just to add a bit of controversy.

They are all brilliant results for the people you mention, and I don't want to take anything away from that, but is WMOC at least to some extent about who can afford to (both from a money and holiday perspective) go to these places rather than who is the best orienteer?

[Scott]

I think what Ursula meant is that at *most* sprint events the courses are planned with the elite in mind, with just W Open and M Open course.

Really? "Proper" sprint events are still few and far between, but although some (eg. the SE Sprints and the JOK Chase) don't offer particularly short Vet Women's courses, many of the sizeable ones have had a shortest top-TD course somewhere in the region of 1.3-1.8km (eg. the Scottish Sprints, SW Sprints, Sheffield Chase...).

Urban events (like Chester), with the usual M21 winning time somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes, are a different matter, but a lot of the bigger ones (eg. London, Oxford, Cambridge) offer a top-TD course half the length (or less) of the Men's Open, which doesn't seem unreasonable, although again some don't (eg. Edinburgh).

For both Proper Sprints and Urban races, I expect the problem at many events is simply a lack of demand - it's not seen as worthwhile to plan really short courses for only a few competitors.