Swiss O week: Stage 1

Day 1 was a town sprint in and around Gstaad. The assembly and finish area was in the town square which had hosted the Gstaad Tennis Open during the previous week. They were still dismantling the scaffolding while the orienteering was being held. Curiously the square is known as the Roy Emerson arena - it's a pity that our Australian Orienteers didn't have the same success that Roy enjoyed in Gstaad.

Shade was at a premium as we met up with a few other Australians at the event including Jon and Cathy and family who were touring European Orienteering events during July and August.

The races themselves were interesting as the organisers made creative use of what could have been a rather simple area. Eric's first three controls were in the garden of a hotel (the towering castle like structure pictured top of page) including a control inside a small house. There was even an underground control. The second half of the race was a lot of short legs crossing the main street of Gstaad which wasn't too difficult but you had to be alert, especially so as not to run into other runners (and pedestrians) when turning corners.

Day 1 Video

The last part of Eric's course

We returned home straight after our races resisting a trip to Fondueland to pick up a fondue backpack much to Eric's disappointment.

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