Masters in action for the European Cup

The 37th Tartu Masters tournament and European Masters Cup stage was held on June 5-7 in Tartu. There were 29 participants from eight countries; 14 in pentathlon and 15 in tetrathlon.

The competition started with riding in the horse farm of Urmas Saks. Tetrathlon started with shooting. Nine competitors got maximum results (300 points) in riding, led by Kaido Koppel (Estonia). Two other Estonians had excellent results: in shooting, Rain Raidna (186 out of 200) and in 100m swimming, Kaarel Kilk with 57.86 seconds. Another Estonian, Enn Jaigma, who was M60+ World Master in tetrathlon last year, won the 50m swimming in 37.65 seconds.

Fencing was split into two groups, one for pentathlon and one for tetrathlon. Both winners - Raidna (EST) in pentathlon and Aleksandrs Hudolejs (Latvia) in tetrathlon - scored 20 victories out of 26. Javier Carnero (Spain) won the 2km run in 7:03 minutes and Jan Bade (Finland) was best over 1km with 3:51.

A high score of 1445 allowed Tambet Kibal (Estonia) to win the M60+ pentathlon title while the M40+ winner was Raidna (EST) with 1425 points and the best in shooting and fencing. Both winners are World Masters at the moment.

Three Estonians were also age-group winners: Kaarel Kilk (-39M pentathlon), Toomas Naaber (-39M tetrathlon) and Hannes Priks (M50+ pentathlon).

Two Swiss competitors got first places: Eduard Weber (M70+ pentathlon) and Christine Stalder (W40+ tetrathlon).

Ukraine had two tetrathlon winners: Oleksandr Misik (M40+) and Petro Chelpanov (M60+). Andra Novicka (Latvia) came out on top in -39W pentathlon and Sergey Astashov (Russia) topped the standings at M50+ pentathlon.

Before the award presentation and dinner the athletes were introduced to the beer factory A Le Coq, one of the oldest in the Baltic States, founded in 1807. All competitors took home a polo shirt with competition logo while the three best of each group also got "table medals”.

The final day saw a continuation of the cultural programme, with athletes visiting Estonian Road Museum, walking in amazing Taevaskoja and relaxing in three types of sauna: smoke sauna (UNESCO World Heritage from Estonia), Finnish sauna and Iglu sauna.

Hanno Selg, the only Estonian pentathlete who has won an Olympic medal during his time with the USSR team, took part in the cultural programme. He won silver in the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, where he finished 10th in the individual event.

The 38th Tartu Masters tournament and European Masters Cup stage takes place on June 3-5, 2016.

See all results HERE.