MICK Heath and Julian Donnelly of Pendle Forest Orienteers have just returned from the World Masters Orienteering Championships at Aarhus in Denmark.

There were 3,000 veterans from 35 countries, including 130 from Britain competed in the three-day event. Youngest entrants were in the 35 to 39 age group, the M35 class, oldest were the M90's.

In each of the three days there was a competition through the wooded hills in Jutland. The competitions over the first two days were qualifiers for the finals. Mick competed in the M50 age group which was the biggest class with 380 entrants, and he qualified for the D final, the fourth group of five. In his final he was 43rd out of 68. Julian disappointingly made only the third of three finals in the M35 age group, but then had a great last day to take second place in his division. At home, Pendle Forest Orienteers major event is the Capricorn Two Day Mountain Orienteering competition which has just taken place in the Northern Lakes. The format is similar to the Karrimor where competitors navigate a course between given check points on two successive days, and make camp overnight.

The difference is that it is run individually rather than in pairs. Three Blackburn Road Runners, Ray Moulding, Eileen Peat and Lynda Mason took part in Class C which involved 11 miles of running on the first day and seven on the second. Despite torrential rain on the second day which caused 100 to withdraw, they all completed the course, Lynda in her first two-day event.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.