Garingal's James Lithgow has won the M55 B sprint final at the World Masters in Italy. James finished the 2.3km course in 18m26s, an impressive 38 seconds clear.
The sprint final was held in the town of Sestriere (host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics), where many orienteers came unstuck through the intricate streets of the ski village and recorded slow times or an mp.
Also in James' race Waggaroos' Alex Davey was 16th, Peter Orr (NC) 45th and Larry Weiss (GO) was 74th.
Among those who qualified for the A finals, Wagga's Debbie Davey was the best with a 12th in W55 and Karin Hefftner (GO) 30th.
Ross Barr (GO) was 28th in M65. To show how competitive this class is, Ross was only 3 minutes behind the winner. Ron Junghans (GO) was 29th in M70. Robyn Pallas (CC) was 62in in W60.
Maureen Ogilvie (UR) mispunched in qualification, a mistake that ended up costing the former WMOC champion bronze as she went on to record the third-fastest time in W80A.
Jim Merchant (GO) was 42nd in M65B, Maria Orr (NC) 34th in W55B and Gayle Shepherd (UR) 53rd.
Uringa's SI guru Ron Pallas was 54th in M60 C and John Giles (GO) was 5th in M65C.
Full results from the sprint finals are here.
The long competition begins today with two days of qualification races before the final on Saturday.
