Centred on Sestriere (altitude of 2035m) and the surrounding mountains that hosted the 2006 Winter Olympic Games this seemed like a perfect setting for WMOC 2013. And it was too. The alpine climate was perfect with clear blue skies, a hot sun and cooling mountain air.
The magnificent setting of Sestriere
The organisers said this WMOC set a record for the largest number of countries represented – 45. However the total number of competitors was down with only 2603 entered for the WMOC. Finland had the largest contingent with 528 followed by Norway with 382 then Russia and Sweden. GB had 64 and surprisingly Italy, the host nation, only had 35. As a result of the lower numbers M55’s were split into 3 heats rather than the 4 in previous years.
Sprint Qualification – Pragelato – 1.9kms; 55m climb; 18 controls
Arena at the base of the Olympic ski jumps
Access couldn’t have been easier as we were camping on the outskirts of the town at Villaggio GoFree so cycled in. And what a splendid arena at the bottom of the Olympic Ski Jumps. Looking up those I’m glad I chose a sport that keeps you in contact with the ground.
Pragelato nestled in the valley
It was already very hot jogging out to for my start at 10:24.
Pragelato is quite a thin linear town on either side of the main road down the valley. As a result nearly all courses visited the grassy & forested areas surrounding the town on the valley sides as well as the older streets plus a timed crossing over the main road between controls 7 and 8 on my course.
The compact old town area wher controls 5 to 8 were positioned
My start was a little manic and before I knew it I had run well beyond my first control. I was also slightly confused by the control description symbol which was a circle and mis-interpreted it for a hill-top when there was a control on a small hill-top in front of me. Ran back to the correct control which was actually a bench / table. 1min lost already and I’d hardly even started my WMOC2013 campaign.
The exit from the busy market
Knuckle down, concentrate and keep moving fast – I told myself. And that’s pretty much what I achieved. No further mistakes and was well and truly out of breath at the finish. The course through the town was tight, twisty and fun though not without incident. At one point I was blocked by cars squeezing past each other and a parked car on a backstreet to #5, had to dodge shoppers in a busy market coming out of #8 and then nearly swept a lady off her feet on a small footpath leaving #9.
Once out of the narrow streets and across the river bridge, there was quite a long straightish run taking in 4 easy controls through fields and a gravel track to the run-in.
Comparing times with Gavin Clegg (WSX)
A bit of an anxious wait to find out if I had done enough to overcome the early error and get into the A Final – which I did being 9th in my heat. Phew! Not as bad as I thought it might have been. Effectively 27th in the class across all three heats. Gavin Clegg (WSX) won our heat and without my little indescretion I would only have been seconds behind him instead of 1min 19secs.
Have I done myself a favour perhaps ? as I shouldn’t be under so much pressure as if I’d got into the top 10 for the reverse order start of the final – we’ll see tomorrow.
Philip Eeles 