Masters of the World
A large local contingent was in action at the World Masters Championship in Catalonia, and there were a number of excellent performances from FVO athletes, including a pair of podium finishes in the forest races.
The annual Masters Championship brings together athletes in age classes from over 35 to over 95, and features an array of stars of yesteryear, as well as club athletes from around the world, and unlike the Junior and Senior World Championships, there are no national quotas on how many athletes a nation can enter, so there are generally a large number of Scandinavians, for whom orienteering is their national sport, present.
The standout performance of the week from a local competitor was an excellent 5th place for Hazel Dean in the W60A race. Hazel was close to the front throughout her round, with two quickest splits, and came home in 30.53, with only the 2nd last leg, where she was 60th blotting an otherwise sound card.
There were two more FVO top 20 performances, as Rona Molloy (33.12) was 13th in W55A and Louise Longhurst (35.08) was 18th in the same race as Hazel.
Hazel then showed that her Middle performance wasn't just a flash in the pan, as another top run brought her her second podium finish of the week, in the Long race.
Things didn't get off to the ideal start, as she dropped five minutes on the opening leg, but she was soon back in form, and gave away only two more minutes in the rest of the race. A finish time of 55.10 featured four quickest splits, and established Hazel in 6th place, less than a minute outside the medals.
Once again, there were two more FVO top 20's, as both Jen Leonard (W55 - 65.38) and Roger Goddard (M50 - 69.10) were 19th in their class, while there were podium finishes for Dawn Goddard and Dave Coustick in B races
Hazel's best chance of a medal appeared to have come in the Sprint race in Girona, which opened the week, as she was quickest (16.00) in her heat to take the second-last start in the final, but a disastrous route choice in the castle area in the middle stages cost her eight minutes, and she ended up a disappointing 55th. Roger Goddard had his best World Masters result, as he was 13th (17.16) in M50A, and Dave Coustick was just outside the top 20 in M80, 22nd in 21.52.