The women started the day first at 2:00pm, with Ainsley Cavanagh and Kellie Whitfield starting in the first half-hour of the field, and Sophie Barker, Vanessa Round and Hanny Allston all starting within the next 7 minutes, the Australian girls were grouped closely together. Jasmine Neve started 3rd last a full hour after the first starter.

The first radio control, and also the spectator control for the women was only 800m from the start, but still allowed enough distance to determine who was going to be at the top of the leader board. Hanny held a competitive split at the spectator control and held the lead up to the end. She was beaten by a later starter, Norwegian Ingunn Weltzien Hultgren by a very close 3.3 seconds. Hanny was very pleased with her result and is looking forward to another podium finish tomorrow in the long distance race.

Matt Parton surprised many, but those in the know realised he was a potential podium placegetter by his very fast running coming from an athletics background and recently concentrating on orienteering skill development.

Matt starting half way through the field and was leading for about 10 to 15 minutes but his lead was gradually pegged back to an eventual 6th place after the Italian runner who appeared to be in second position (which would have pushed Matt into 7th spot) was unfortunately disqualified, leaving Matt to take the 6th place to achieve a podium finish. This delighted the whole Australian team and its many supporters who were watching from Australia including parents and observers from the JWOC 2007 committee.

Results