Twelve countries taste gold at European Masters Championships in Gyomro (HUN)

Almost 70 athletes from 17 National Federations including Egypt gathered in Gyomro, Hungary, for the ECMP Masters Open European Championships.

The 13th running of the continental championships took place from September 19-22 and included Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Relay events alongside the individual categories across Pentathlon and Tetrathlon.

The overall individual winners in the Pentathlon category were both from Great Britain, Sophie Saudo and Ed Norton, while there were also gold medals on the men’s side for Russia and Hungary, and Latvia and Switzerland on the women’s side.

In the Tetrathlon categories the overall individual winners were Javier Carnero of Spain and Barbara Oettinger of Germany. Gold medals also went to Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia and Monaco.

The competition was organised by the Gyomro-based Pentathlon and Riding Club Trion SC and supported by the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association (HMPA) as well as international and local members of the Masters community.

UIPM Masters Committee Chair Peter Engerisser (GER) said : “We saw three days of wonderful competitions in perfect environments and sports venues and surrounded by beautiful weather conditions.

“It was a wonderful, amicable gathering and the whole event was professionally supported by a team of experienced judges and Pentathlon organizers.

“Many thanks to the competition director Gabor Molnar, technical director Tamas Varga, chief judges Tunde Szeles and Zsolt Farkas and the whole LOC, who did an incredible job in preparation and monitoring this competition.

“The horses were of the finest quality, as were the 40 stands at the laser shooting range and the Fencing venue was state of the art.

“My thanks therefore go to the HMPA and their President, Dr Gyula Bretz, who provided us with the shooting range as well as horses from the UIPM Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships that took place two weeks before in Budapest. 

“Nevertheless, the event would not have been possible without the invaluable support of Trion Sport Club and its President, Szabolcs Burcsa, as well as Trion riding coach Gyorgy Czink and the help of a whole dozen young Budapest-based pentathletes, among them Olympic aspirant Balazs Szep. Trion provided us with their beautiful riding and running range as well as a major part of the competition organization.”

If you are interested in becoming involved in the UIPM Masters movement please contact Peter Engerisser.

• All photographs by Eszter Novák