WMOC Wrap

This year twelve Victorians (plus at least two more for the open competition) made their way across to Riga, Latvia for the World Masters competition.

The sprint competition came first with the qualifier being held around a housing estate and finishing in a park that included one of Riga’s highest hills. The courses tended towards fast running and easy navigation. The Sprint Final followed after a rest day in Riga Old Town, an area filled with lane ways, streets at odd angles and lots of very rough cobbles. Unluckily the organisers had failed to get a gate unlocked to a lane way which was a crucial route choice for most courses. This led to the majority of courses being voided – so no medals to most classes this year. The results can be found HERE.

It was then onto the forest events, with the Qualifier and Middle Final being held in the same area. Both maps were in sand dune country, with the qualifier was predominantly set in a flat area with broad contours and lots of semi open sandy areas. Keeping on a bearing proved essential as a number of Victorians found out. The Middle Final then focused on a more complex part of the map which had lots of humpty dumpty contours to navigate by. It was commented on that it was a little bit like Woodhill forest in NZ.
Forest Qualifier results are HERE
and
Middle Final results are HERE

The Long Final then moved to another location further away from Riga beside the Baltic sea. It was a bit of a surprise to be led out straight to the beach for the 1.6km walk to the start, though it was a fantastic sight to see a stretched out string of colourfully clad people walking along side the lapping water (on the firm sand). All the starts were on the beach with a “run” on a soft sandy track from the map boxes to the start triangle. The New Zealanders must have loved this event for if the first two days were like Auckland sand dunes, today the map was similar to the sand dunes of the Manawatu in NZ, with complex dunes and lots of undergrowth. A video showing the terrain can be found HERE and the results HERE.