New Zealander Greg Barbour retained his world open mens title in rogaining
(24-hr orienteering) at Lesna, Czech Republic at the weekend. Barbour ran with
David Rowlands (Australia), his partner in the previous championship in
Canterbury, Jan 2000. Barbour is also in the New Zealand team for orienteering
on foot, and took part in the world championship for MTB-orienteering 3 weeks
ago, where the photo was taken. (Click for a larger version.)
He is based at the Hague in Holland.
The event which is the 5th world championship in the relatively new form of orienteering attracted teams from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and was run in mostly forested terrain containing picturesque villages in western Bohemia, right next to the German border. One of the 72 control points was a border post from the "iron curtain" of the cold war era.
The winning margin for Barbour and Rowlands was 100 points, equivalent to visiting one of the most difficult control points, or 5 of the easiest. All teams on a rogaine have 24 hours to maximise their score, and time is only used to break ties. The winners came into the finish with 10 minutes to spare.
New Zealand's other significant performance was a win in the mixed super- veteran (55yrs plus) category by the Canterbury team of Peter Squires, Bill and Ann Kennedy. In fact the team did so well that they also came 2nd in the Mixed Veteran class and 6th in the mixed open class!
There were five other NZ teams: Bruce Meder and Vivienne Prince (Chch) 3rd Mixed Veteran (33rd overall); Dave Laurie and Andy Buchanan (Chch) 8th veteran men (52nd); Michael Wood and Tony Gazley (Wgtn) 3rd Mens Superveterans (63rd); Nick Collins and Annie Sanderson (New Plymouth) 12th Mixed Veteran (98th); and Michael Croxford and Sally Lattimore (Chch/London) 118th.
Full results are available on the WRC2002 Website.
This page written for use by the NZOF Media Officer, by Michael Wood and installed 30 July 02 and updated slightly on 25 Aug, with the photo added 6 Sep.