World Masters Championships under way in New Zealand
Posted on | April 23, 2017 | Category: Arena, News
The World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC), the biggest sport within the 2017 World Masters Games, starts today in Auckland, New Zealand with more than 1750 competitors from 40 countries taking part.
Orienteers from all over the world have converged on Auckland, many of them taking in the Oceania Championships last week as preparation for WMOC. As usual there are Sprint and Long Distance events, the Sprint having one and the Long two qualification races.
Both of the Sprint races are in Auckland, using combinations of parkland and university campus terrain. The Final uses the famous Albert Park in the middle of Auckland together with the University City Campus.
The Long Distance races are all in Woodhill Forest, a huge area of pine-covered sand-dune terrain towards the west coast, about 1 hour’s drive from Auckland. Here the terrain is both physically and technically demanding, and quite varied; “It will be the competitors that keep their heads and balance their technique and speed who will come out on top,” as the text in Bulletin 2 puts it. There are large areas of radiata pine interspersed with bits of native New Zealand bush and some open areas.
Sweden has the most competitors entered with 352 as at the beginning of March, followed by Finland and Australia. Classes W55 – W65 and M50 – M70 inclusive all have over 100 competitors, with 210 in M65 being the highest.
The colourful Opening Ceremony of the World Masters Games was held in Eden Park in Auckland on Friday, and today the Sprint Qualification has been held. Results can be found on www.wmoc2017.com, and live results from each race are being published on www.o-lynxlive.com.
WMOC Programme
Sunday 23rd April: Sprint Qualification
Monday 24th April: Sprint Final
Wednesday 26th April: Long Distance Qualification 1
Thursday 27th April: Long Distance Qualification 2
Saturday 29th April: Long Distance Final
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