NZ Day 26 - Long Qualifying 1

We had relatively short drive out to the event today, but then a very long walk to the assembly area (2kms).   I took a few photos as we trudged back to the car at the end of the event.   There would have been quite a few classes (the W70, W75 etc) for whom the walk to the assembly area would have been longer than the distance of their course!

I tried to take some more photos of the orienteering area today - it was really nice under the pine trees (when we finally got there!).

Clare getting ready to run, and a tree decorated with stinky orienteering gear afterwards (note also someone is getting changed at the left). 

Harald and Linda after their successful heats (2nd and 1st respectively)

The finish chute 

The World Masters Orienteering Championships has 2 qualifying races for the final of the long event - you need to finish in the top half of the field with your total time to go through.  I had a slow and messy run today so I am currently sitting in 15th spot (I need to stay above 22nd). Clare had a great run to finish second,  Jon & Paul are sitting comfortably at 10th and 12th respectively, and Andy is sitting right on the cut off point at 27th out of 54 runners in his heat.   Hopefully we all make it through tomorrow.

After the orienteering we picked up the kids (who had spent the day relaxing, reading, watching tv, and in Zali's case, researching cruises we could all take), went down to the beach for a swim, some frisbee throwing, and to check out the gannet colony living on the rocks.

The beach was filled with nattering orienteers, and also a Russian soccer team who must have had a day off.

Then it was back to the house for a dinner of leftovers and chocolate. This house also has unlimited wifi, which is how I've managed to continue with prompt blog posts!