Australia leads the way in WMOC sprint finals
Monday, 12 October 2009
Australia led the way with seven gold medals in the sprint finals of
the World Masters Orienteering Championships, held today at Sydney
Olympic Park. It was also an excellent day for New Zealand, with three
golds, while Sweden was the other multiple gold winner with five.
Those
to add victories today to a history of WMOC success were Jenny Bourne
(W55), Natasha Key (W35) and Hermann Wehner (M85). Bourne was a little
off the pace in qualifying but produced the goods when it mattered for
a comfortable victory, continuing her record of collecting at least one
win in every age group she has contested, while both Key and Wehner had
comfortable wins.
Warren completed a Key family double in
M50, and at the older end of the spectrum there were gold medals for
Kevin Paine (M80) and Maureen Ogilvie (W75). The most dramatic
Australia win of the day, though, was that of Su Yan Tay in W45; after
having one of the day's largest margins yesterday, she had the
narrowest possible margin today, coming from well behind after two
early errors and making up six critical seconds in the finish chute.
That
was not the only one-seconder of the day; in M60 Ossi Lakkala (Finland)
edged out Tim Sands (Great Britain), in another race where the lead
changed hands in the chute, five seconds covered the medallists and 19
seconds covered the top five. At the other end of the scale, Anne-Marie
Holmstrom (W60, Sweden) and Gunnar Lerfald (M70, Norway) both had wins
by about 90 seconds in highly competitive classes.
In
addition to the seven golds, there were three silvers and three bronzes
for Australia. Runners-up were Anthea Feaver (W50) and Jenny Enderby
(W40) - both to NZ opposition in Gillian Ingham and Marquita Gelderman
respectively - along with Paul Pacque (M55). Bronzes went to Bruce
Arthur (M35), Clive Pope (M70) and Neil Schafer (M80).
Results available and splits available here Splits available via Winsplits here
Competition continues with the first long qualification race near Lithgow on Wednesday. Report by: Blair Trewin
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