Nopesport

The vets have been feeling the heat in Italy this week during the qualification races for the World Masters Orienteering Championships at Asiago Though not quite as hot as Halden last year, the Venetian province has been basking in the mid-80 – just like some of the competitors!

Don’t be fooled though kids – when you get to that age and if you’re still fit and healthy – you’ll find the competition is just as hard and thrusting at the sharp end of the sport – and just as fun and frustrating and the soft end – because anyone can run at the World Masters – you just pay your money, turn up and savour the experience.

Qualifications race 1 saw some outstanding performances from British vets with no less than eight finishing their heat in the top five.

Leading the way is Rob Lee M40 Interlopers and Michaeil Preason M60 WCOC – both winning their heat with Dick Amour M65 Invoc and Svetlana Berezina (?) W40 TVOC both in second place.

Qualification race 2 saw an astonishing 19 Brits finish in the top ten – surely assured of an A Class final. Rob Lee came in 2nd – just 20 second off the lead with Vincent Joyce, M50, Michael Pearson M60 and Dick Amour M65 also finishing second. Best placed woman is W70 Pat Grenfell of BOK, Pat endeared herself to nopers at the BOF annual meeting this year by describing juniors as “notoriously disparate”.

Perhaps it is more important for the vets than their younger counterparts at JWOC to balance qualifying with their performance in the final – so it remains to be seen who will have enough left in the tank to do the business with a clean slate on Friday!

Mrs H.