Author: craigf

Hanny Allston had a commanding win in the Australian Mountain Running Championships on Sunday. Allston completed the 8.2 km course in the Dandenong Ranges at Ferntree Gully in a fast 37:02, with defending champion Jessamy Hosking of the ACT runner up in 38:38, and local Knox runner Kate Siebold-Crosbie third in 39:03.

Tasmanian JWOC representative Oscar Phillips (pictured) had a strong run to finish third in the junior men’s 8.2 kms in 36:43. Victorians Jordan Nelson and Stephen McShane were first and second in 35:46 and 36:14 respectively.

The open men’s 12.3 km championship was won by Canberra runner Mark Bourne in 50:30. Bourne is the nephew of well known orienteers Geoff and Jenny Lawford.

The 2009 National Series standings have been updated after a tough weekend of racing at the Australian MTBO Championships.

Adrian Jackson and Thor Egerton lead the way in the Mens and Womens Elite fields.  Adrian now has an unassailable lead, but Thor will need to continue her hard work in Queensland if she is to take out the series for a second year running.

In the teams competition, Victoria swept up all three races in M21E and M20E and only lost the sprint race in W21E, while consolidating the Nuggets strong first place position in all 4 age classes at the conclusion of Round 2. Round 3 will be staged in Queensland in early September.

The weekend’s event also incorporated

the 2009 Aus/NZL MTBO Challenge.  This was convincingly won by New Zealand: NZL 13 – AUS 7 in the age classes M21-, W21-, M40-W40-, M50-, W50- and M60-. Despite winning the M21E- class for all three races (Sprint, Long and Middle) and W21E- in the Long and Middle races, the M40-, W40- and W50- riders from New Zealand won all three races to seal the Kiwi victory. The Australian M60- team salvaged some points winning the Sprint and Long races, while the AUS M50- riders won the Middle Distance race today in driving rain and wind. At the Sunday night presentation dinner (attended by a record 95 participants) the SA organizers, lead by Andrew Slattery, were given “three cheers” for an outstanding long weekend of races. A terrific atmosphere developed between the visiting 31-strong Kiwi team managed by Di Michels and the host Aussie team over the fortnight. The next AUS/NZL MTBO Challenge is scheduled to be staged in New Zealand in 2011. Complete results are on the SA webpage.

The Qld Sprint Championships, at The University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus, was the highlight of a successful Qld Orienteering Day, with 122 competitors.  Technical courses thoroughly tested both running and navigation as long route choice legs took competitors between the open parkland and complex buildings of the campus.

Mat McGuire took a clear victory in M21, ahead of Olly Mitchell and Kurt Neumann, with quick interpretation of the different levels of the campus proving critical.  Rachel Effeney overtook Anna Sheldon on the run in to the finish to secure a 1 second victory in W21 (and second fastest time overall), with Su Yan Tay third.

In the junior classes Katelyn Effeney won W20, while Emily Cantwell won W16.  Aaron Breed took the win in M20, ahead of Chris Firman and Joshua Neumann, while Mitchell Neumann won the M16 class.

Winners of the senior classes were Tim McIntyre in M35, Tamsin Barnes in W35, Richard Robinson in M50 and Geraldine Chatfield in W50.

Full results available on the Orienteering Queensland website.

Thanks to course setter James Mitchell, and the Qld Orienteering Day organizers.

Anna Sheldon

Top End Orienteers invite you to the 2009 Top End mid-year escape, Friday
3rd July – Sunday 5th July: 3 days of orienteering based in and near Darwin,
Australia culminating in the 2009 Northern Territory Championships. The
Championships are to be held at the site of the World War II Coomalie
airbase, on unique Northern Territory spur gully terrain mapped by Alex Tarr
and Andrew Slattery.

There will also be the opportunity to view and fly in 2 fully restored WW2
planes – a 1942 Harvard and a 1943 Douglas DC-3. Landowner and local
historian Richard Luxton welcomes you to dinner under the stars at the
airstrip and to a guided tour of his historic property.

July is during the middle of Darwin’s Dry Season. Expect temperatures in the
low 20s for morning orienteering, with afternoons reaching upper 20s –
perfect for visiting the nearby Litchfield National Park and its many
stunning waterfalls (safe for swimming), the intriguing magnetic termite
mounds,
various historical sites, and the weathered sandstone pillars of the Lost
City.

For more details check the website:
http://www.topend.nt.orienteering.asn.au/ or contact
Susanne Casanova ashercasanova@hotmail.com or 0431 822 812

The full race report and results can be found at the NavDash Website.

Jen Graham-Taylor

The OA Chair of Selectors announced tonight that a full-strength women’s team to contest the World Orienteering Championships. However, for the first time, no men were selected.

Australia’s top two male competitors, Julian Dent and Simon Uppill, are unavailable for selection, and the selectors did not consider that any of the remaining nominees was likely to make an A final and hence in accordance with the selection policy no men were picked.

On the other hand, the womens team sees the return of former World Champion, Hanny Allston, and the excellent form of Kathryn Ewels and Grace Elson raises hopes of another podium finish for the relay. Shannon Jones has been selected for her international debut in the sprint. The full team is:

As a result of an appeal against the selection of the 2009 JWOC men’s team, the team has been reselected.

The reselected team is unchanged from the original team:

Joshua Blatchford
Lachlan Dow
Callum Fagg
Leon Keely
Max Neve
Oscar Phillips

Congratulations to all athletes and good luck in Italy

Eric Morris
OA Director, High Performance

Hanny Allston and Simon Uppill both posted commanding victories in the ACT Long Distance Championships at Awoonga on the ridge above Lake George today.

In a forest still smoking from recent burning off, Allston left many wondering if it was she who had set the forest alight; the Tasmanian Forester led from start to finish to win by close to 10 minutes. The Canberra Cockatoos’ Shannon Jones and Victorian Nugget, Kathryn Ewels were only seconds apart for much of the race but Jones edged away in the final few legs of the course to take 2nd place only 44 seconds ahead of Ewels in 3rd.

In the men’s race the NSW Stingers’ Julian Dent posted his now customary blistering start, winning the first 3 splits but came unstuck shortly after with a massive 7 minute mistake on the 5th control to open the door for South Australian Simon Uppill.  Uppill, whose form has been on the rise all year, didn’t miss a beat on the hilly 17km course to take his second victory of the weekend.  Dent made an impressive recovery to begin posting fastest splits immediately and fought back to within 3 and a half minutes of Uppill to take 2nd.  Fellow Stinger Matt Parton produced one of his best performances of the year to take 3rd.

Full results and splits now available.

The Australian selectors now have the difficult task of selecting one of our strongest women’s teams ever,  and (with the top 3 men unavailable for WOC selection) deciding how many men will get the chance to represent Australia this year. The team announcement will be made later this week.

Rob Walter

Races 10 and 11 of the SILVA National League, both WOC trials, took place today in the cold and blustery conditions that befit ACT’s reputation. Race 10 was also the ACT Sprint Championships and was held around the Bruce CIT Campus, on a new map prepared by Grant Bluett.

Hanny Allston continued her preparation for the World Games, to be held in Taiwan in July, with a 42 second victory over Shannon Jones. Fellow World Games participant Kathryn Ewels took third. Bridget Anderson won a close battle with Belinda Lawford to take the junior women’s title.

In the men’s race, Julian Dent suffered his first loss of the season, falling to the ever present Simon Uppill. The two combatants form the male half of the World Games team and continue to challenge each other which should bode well for their aspirations in Taiwan. Dave Shepherd, returning from a serious ankle injury suffered last year, was third, 37 seconds adrift of Dent. Josh Blatchford seemed to have stormed in for a commanding victory but he had unfortunately missed a control meaning that Max Neve was the top Junior Elite – also ninth overall.

For the afternoon’s race, the ACT Middle Champs, the competition moved to Wild Deer Sands, east of Bungendore. Intricate mining terrain amongst low visibility casuarinas caused quite a few headaches around the courses. It was again Hanny Allston who rose above the rest in the women’s class with a dominating victory of over three minutes. Kathryn Ewels stood on the podium again, this time in second and Vanessa Round was third.

After being less then happy with his performance in the morning’s race Julian Dent went out with a point to prove, which he did. While not quite as dominant as Allston he still took the title with ease, swapping places with Uppill. Dave Shepherd was again third. Victoria’s Chris Naunton continues to pull out quality results and was fourth. Should he be able to sustain some consistency he may well find himself knocking on the selectors’ door when they select the WOC team later this week.

ACT Sprint Results
ACT Sprint Splits

ACT Middle Results
ACT Middle Splits

Orienteering Australia announced last night that an appeal against the selection of the JWOC team has been upheld. The Appeals Committee released the following public statement last night:

“The Selection Appeals Committee was asked to consider an appeal from Kurt Neumann following his non-selection in the 2009 JWOC team.

The appeal argued that the Selectors had inconsistently and incorrectly applied the selection criteria in a number of areas, namely:

• Individual day results against overall placings at Easter 2009;
• Performance in secondary criteria not being adequately considered;
• Prior experience on competition maps.

The Appeals Committee found that, whilst the selection criteria are open to some degree of interpretation, there appeared to be some inconsistencies in the application of those criteria to all candidates and that selections, not fully supported by selection criteria, appear to have been made. The Appeals Committee also found that some criteria were given little or no weighting when consideration of such may have assisted in separating candidates for selection.

For these reasons, the Appeals Committee has recommended to the OA Board that the appeal by Kurt Neumann be upheld on the grounds that the selection criteria have not been properly implemented.”

The OA Board has convened a new selection panel to re-select the JWOC team. The panel is comprised of Paul Liggins, Jenny Casanova and Dave Shepherd. The revised team will be posted on this website shortly.