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The World University Orienteering Championships concluded today in Alicante, Spain. The Swiss and Swedes dominated the medal race. In the men’s event Switzerland claimed victory by a mere 18 seconds from Sweden. However the gold and blue colours of Sweden triumphed by 4 minutes in the women’s, with the host nation thrilled at gaining the bronze. Matt Parton had his best run of the carnival, as did Laurina Neumann. Rachel Effeney seems to have had a pretty useful first leg. The NZ’ers won the down-under battle finishing ahead of both our teams, but narrowly so in the women.
Men
1 Switzerland 1:46:22 A Rüedlinger 34:49 J Mathys 37:12 A Kyburz 34:21
2 Sweden 1:46:40 O Sjoeberg 34:53 A Ridefelt 36:35 E Liljequist 35:12
3 Norway 1:48:44 J Forseth Indgaard 34:51 VRuttenborg 37:20 V R Bråten 36:33
18 New Zealand 2:16:41 G Beveridge 40:50 J Harvey 52:40 T Scott 43:11
20 Australia 2:31:14 Matt Parton 42:57 Oliver Crosato 50:55 Aaron Breed 57:22
DNF New Zealand 2 Simon Jager mp Georgia Whitla 1:01:53 I. Scott 1:02:31
WOMEN
1 Sweden 1:50:25 A Forsberg 37:22 A Bachman 36:55 L Forsgren 36:08
2 Switzerland 1:54:31 B Mathys 37:18 J Gross 36:16 S Jenzer 40:57
3 Spain 1:58:38 O R Perramon 38:42 A G Sánchez 39:47 A S. Arqués 40:09
12 New Zealand 2:16:14 K Morrison 39:51 A Simpson 45:08 GKnarston 51:15
13 Australia 2:19:39 R Effeney 41:27 A Prendergast 46:18 B Anderson 51:54
NC Australia 2:21:14 L Gillis 46:52 L Neumann 45:33 Ilka Barr 48:49
NC = non-competitive, as only the first team from a country is counted.
Four of the Aussie team in Rachel Effeney, Bridget Anderson, Aislinn Prendergast and Murray Scown leave to join the WOC team for a week’s training camp in Switzerlandhaving benefited from the tough international racing here. Bridget and Murray will be making their WOC debuts. Kiwis who raced here in Kate Morrison, Greta Knarston, Angela Simpson and Toby Scott will also be competing at WOC as part of NZ’s 10 person team.
World Masters Championships to be seen from above via drones!
Who has never wished to see the competition area from above? To have a point of view that shows control points at once and clearly differentiates peculiar kinds of terrains. Or to watch the runner who started earlier and thus find the optimal course to the next control.
Exactly that point of view is going to be provided on Saturday for the long-distance World masters finals. Professional aerial photos will be taken at the competition using modern photo and video drones. That innovative service is offered by the company “PHT Airpicture GmbH – Video- und Luftbildtechnik Michael Mehle”. The innovative point herein is the use of unmanned drones that are led to their destination by coordinates sent from the ground. From there they send high resolution pictures in best quality. The already broad spectrum of uses for the technology is enlarged by the production of pictures for orienteering.
Perhaps it is possible to gain new insights in orienteering through this technology. Surely interesting aerial photographs will result. Homepage: www.pht-airpicture.de
The Masters have just had two long qualifying events and have the final on Saturday. Amongst those who qualified highly were Aussies Jenny Bourne and Geoff Lawford (both 2nd), Natasha and Warren Key, Blair Trewin, Jim Russell, Hermann Wehner and Ann Ingwerson
The Junior World Championships start on Monday in Slovakia with the sprint event. See what our juniors have been up to in training via their blog site (above) or here – http://ausjuniororienteering.blogspot.sk/*
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