Melnichenko and Potapenko stars of the weekend

Yesterday's best five male runners proved they were the best of the field as they dominated the competition also on the second sunny day of the Vasa Orienteering Festival in Changchun. Victory went again to Anton Melnichenko from Khabarovsk, who completed the middle distance (approx. 5 km) through the forest of Jingyuetan more than 3 minutes faster than Oleg Grishchukov and Petr Nurmukhametov. Melnichenko even ran the course, which ended in front of the Vasa Museum inside Jingyuetan Park, in less than half an hour and is the man of the weekend. First Chinese runner today was Zhou Li Zhi, who required 43:58 minutes.

In the women elite category nobody was able to match the speed and orienteering skills of Anastasia Potapenko. The 20-year old from Wladiwostok, already clearly the best yesterday, ran home with an advantage of more than seven minutes over second-placed Anastasia Chevalova. The podium was completed by Nadezda Zhuravleva, closely followed by the first Chinese runner, Wu Lu.

Participants today pointed out how happy and impressed they were with the course design, which emphasised the success of the 2nd Vasa Orienteering Festival. As such, Nordic Ways Vasa Management will of course continue to promote and develop the sport of foot orienteering in Changchun and elsewhere in China. The 3rd Vasa Orienteering Festival will be held in September 2012.

ELITE MEN TOP 10

1. Anton Melnichenko (RUS-Khabarovsk) 29:59
2. Oleg Grishchukov (RUS-Wladiwostok) 33:15
3. Petr Nurmukhametov (RUS-Wladiwostok) 33:18
4. Maksim Ostropika (RUS-Wladiwostok) 34:18
5. Wladimir Popov (RUS-Wladiwostok) 35:11
6. Dmtry Mescheryakov (RUS-Wladiwostok) 39:25
7.Vasily Bocharov (RUS-Wladiwostok) 39:46
8. Peter Ivars (FIN-Vasa) 40:02
9. Zhou Li Zhi (CHN-Jilin) 43:58
10.Francis Duncan (GBR-Beijing) 44:39

ELITE WOMEN TOP 10

1. Anastasia Potapenko (RUS-Wladiwostok) 35:16
2. Anastasia Chevalova (RUS-Wladiwostok) 42:21
3. Nadezda Zhuravleva (RUS-Wladiwostok) 43:21
4. Wu Lu (CHN-Jilin) 46:55
5. Tatyana Dubovskaya (RUS-Wladiwostok) 52:01
6. Polina Iliusha (RUS-Wladiwostok) 55:34
7. Anna Schmeleva (RUS-Wladiwostok) 57:09
8. Alena Voytik (RUS-Khabarovsk) 1:00:51
9. Ekaterina Shpak (RUS-Wladiwostok) 1:01:54
10.Liu Fang (CHN-Jilin) 1:04:25