WMOC Sprint Championship Eddie had a cracking run in the qualification race and finished 2nd. As there were only two heats he went into the finals in 4th place. Towards the end he was in 3rd place but sadly a disastrous error and a 49th place on a leg took him back to 22nd place so a medal in this event passed him by! Results can be seen here http://www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/Sprint%20Final%20Results.txt

For a more revealing view you can also watch the race on Routegadget http://garingal.com.au/cgi-bin/gadget3/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=46&kieli=

WMOC Long Final Eddie is celebrating gaining 5th place in the recent World Masters Orienteering Championships held near Sydney, Australia. The world’s leading over-35 orienteers came together for the event, which was part of the World Masters Games where Harwood was running in the M55 class. He spent 3 weeks down under in preparation for the championships, and in the lead up to the games he won the Australian Middle-Distance Championships and was second in their national championships Long-Distance race a week later.
Before the World Final, there were 2 days of qualifying races on 14 and 15 October. Although Harwood comfortably gained 8th place in his qualifying heats over the 2 days, he was battling against a sickness bug that affected his speed, especially on the hills. At the final, held at Lythgoe to the North West of Sydney, he had to call on all of his experience and every reserve of stamina and concentration to record what Harwood reckoned was a “perfect run” where he lost absolutely no time to navigation errors, hesitating to read the map or deciding on the best route to take. Sadly, the extra turn of pace which is vital at this level of competition, just wasn’t there, and he was slightly over 3 minutes adrift of the event winner, Australia’s Paul Paque. Nevertheless, this was a fantastic performance for the Moray athlete at the very pinnacle of the sport.

Results - http://www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/files/WMOC2009_LongFinalResults.pdf