Author: craigf

Day 3 of Easter concluded today with Julian Dent and Hanny Allston going through the formalities to win the elite classes. Allston dominated the race to beat Victorian Kathryn Ewels in 2nd. Jasmine Neve came 2nd on the day — not enough to overtake Ewels but sufficient to hold on to 3rd place in front of her elder sister Mace. Meanwhile, Dent tore around a tough course in under 5 min/km (in terrain where such speed should not be possible). The result was a deserved victory over Simon Uppill, with veteran Grant Bluett in 3rd.

But, as always, Day 3 of Easter belongs to the juniors, with the naming of the Australian team to compete in Italy in July. Josh Blatchford, who missed out on the team last year, made amends with a breakthrough victory over the 3 days ahead of Lachlan Dow. Max Neve – tied for 1st on the day with Leon Keely – finished in 3rd overall, while a strong finish from Callum Fagg was enough to ensure his selection.

Belinda Lawford sealed her 3 Day victory, but the action was taking place behind her in the placings. Sarah Buckerfield – whose big victory yesterday put her in 2nd place overall – couldn’t reproduce her feat, and Bridget Anderson overtook her to claim 2nd place.

The JWOC  team is:

Josh Blatchford Lachlan Dow Callum Fagg Leon Keely Max Neve Oscar Phillips	Bridget Anderson Sarah Buckerfield Lilian Burrill Belinda Lawford Krystal Neumann Aislinn Prendergast

Reserves are Kurt Neumann, James Robertson, Catherine Hewitt and Brea Pearce.

The Silva National Orienteering League is shaping up to be an exciting contest. In particular, the women’s competition is a close battle between the Canberra Cockatoos (currently on 51 points) and the Victorian Nuggets (50). Tasmania is in 3rd place 10 points adrift. In the men’s competition the Canberra Cockatoos made up some ground on most of the field this weekend, but are still 33 points behind the NSW Stingers (63 points) who extended their lead with victory on every day and have a 100% record for the season. Southern Arrows are still in the hunt on 42 points, while Victoria is 3rd.

Normal service continued at Royal George today as Julian Dent and Hanny Allston stamped their authority on the Australian 3-Days. The normally fickle Tasmanian weather has turned out for the best again and runners found themselves in pleasant terrain, with some vague areas adding to the technical difficulty.

The elite classes are usually all but decided on the long distance Day 2, and the women’s class this year appears to be no exception. Hanny Allston dominated proceedings with a staggering 10 minute win over Kathryn Ewels. Allston’s lead of 13 minutes now appears to be unassailable. Another solid run from last year’s WOC debutant, Jasmine Neve, sees her holding onto her third placing ahead of Susanne Casanova.

Julian Dent’s win over Simon Uppill wasn’t quite so emphatic. But the extra 3 miutes gained today, coupled with the fact that Dent is yet to be beaten in this year’s Silva National League makes it appear unlikely that Uppill can make up 5 minutes tomorrow. Meanwhile, veteran Cockatoos Grant Bluett and Rob Walter continue their ding-dong battle for third: Grant won out today and takes a 2 minute lead into the final day. Surprise packet of the day was Ian Meyer’s 5th place (only one minute behind Rob Walter).

In the junior girls, Belinda Lawford (winner on the first two days) was blown away by Tasmanian Sarah Buckerfield, but still holds the overall lead. Josh Blatchford held onto his lead in the junior boys, with Lachlan Dow still in 2nd, but pre-race favourite Leon Keely failed to finish.

Another glorious Tasmanian day greeted participants at Diddleum Plains, 45km east of Launceston. The venue was located at 600m elevation and with Mt Barrow as a dramatic backdrop. The courses finished with a tough section up a  marshy hillside in full view of spectators. The terrain varied from open farmland with scattered marshes to sections of dense Eucalypt plantations.

Hanny Allston was the first finisher in the Women’s elite class, and remained on top of the results board for the remainder of the afternoon. Victoria’s Jasmine Neve had a strong run to finish 2mins down and Southern Arrow Susanne Casanova was 3rd.

A battle is forming in the men’s elite class between NSW Stinger Julian Dent and Southern Arrow Simon Uppill. Dent was again the victor, by 40secs, but the pair were a long way in front of the rest of the field. Cockatoo Rob Walter had an impressive run to finish in 3rd place and move up many places on the overall rankings.

Victoria’s Leon Keely had a convincing win in the Junior Men’s Elites class. His 1min27sec winning margin over Lachlan Dow helped Keely make up for a poor result in yesterday’s sprint. Josh Blatchford (NSW) finished 3rd and now leads the 2-day cumulative results.

Belinda Lawford (ACT) picked up her second win in a row, and starting to build a lead in the Junior National League. Bridget Anderson finished 1min40secs behind Lawford and moved into 2nd place cummulative. Queensland’s Lillian Burrill had her best Junior Elite result to finish 3rd, just ahead of a tightly bunched group down to 8th place.

The annual Easter 3 Day carnival began in Launceston today with the Elite Prologue followed by the Family Relays and Public Prologue. Tasmania produced a perfect day of warmth and sunshine that was appreciated by the interstate visitors. Competitors reported that technical racing was the feature of the day.

The Elite Prologue had an interesting start draw with 4 athletes starting at the same time. This was only possible due to the multi-looping course with 3 pivot controls and plenty of spectator involvement. The terrain was fast open Eucalypt forest with lots of horse jumps, including one water feature.

Kathryn Ewels took the lead in the womens competition with a strong victory over Shannon Jones and Hanny Allston. Ewels takes a handy one minute seven second margin over Allstion into the second day.

Julian Dent headed a familiar leader board in front of Simon Uppill with local Taswegian Ryan Smyth shaking off injuries trouble to comein third. Troy de Haas would have been in second place had it not been for a mispunch. Several big names were disqualified in the complex array of controls, including De Haas and Kerrin Rattray.

The prologue was the first selection trial for the JWOC team to compete in the Italian Dolomites in July. Youngster Kurt Neumann took the opening win in M17-20E with a time that would have just placed him outside of the top 10 in the eilites. Max Neve and Josh Blatchford dead heated in second place. One of the bigger names to slip up was Leon Keely who ended up three minutes down in 14th position. Belinda Lawford dominated the junior womens beating Ainslinn Prendergast by 45 seconds and Bridget Anderson by over a minute. Lawford’s time was enough to give her fifth time in the women’s elite.

The Lawford family had a dominant day with Geoff, Jenny and Ian joining Belinda in the winner’s circle. They took out the Family Relays with the Uppills in second, giving Simon a double for the day. Tasmania’s Phillips and Andrewartha families were 3rd and 4th, Newcastle’s Blatchfords in 5th and another local family with years of orineteering tradition, the Elsons, were in 6th.

The 2nd round of the SILVA National Orienteering League is held in conjunction with the Easter Carnival and the following weekend. Competition will be heating up with selection for the World Games and World Championship teams on the line. Australia is one of only 13 nationals represented by two men and women at the World Games in Taipei in July. The Junior Elite will also feel the pressure of their selection races for the Junior World Championships in Italy.

Hanny Allston has lived up to her favourite status and will be hard to beat over 4 days or racing in her home state. The remaining podium spots look like it will be filled by Victorians Kathryn Ewels and Jasmine Neve, with improving Cockatoo Shannon Jones putting the pressure on. Vanessa Round (SA) and Anna Sheldon (QLD) will be hoping to put injury worries behind them and move up the leaderboard.

Julian Dent (NSW) continues to hold onto the #1 spot in Mens Elite class, and will be the hot favourite. Southern Arrow Simon Uppill is currently in 4^th place in the SILVA league, but missed the 3^rd race though course-setting obligations. The dark horse in the race will be Victorian Troy De Haas who is returning to national competition after a break to pursue mountain running and career goals. The 7 time WOC representative has plenty of experience and will be out to show he means business. Outside these 3 are host of challengers like Matt Parton (NSW), Bryan Keely(VIC) and Ryan Smyth (TAS) who can match it with the best on their day.

Results and Reports will be posted on the Orienteering Australia website over the weekend.

Treetops Adventure is a new concept to Australia. It is a ‘nature-based’ way of enjoying the outdoors – very much in the tradition of Orienteering . Hollybank Foresty reserve is located just 15 minutes outside Launceston. You’ll find an intriguing combination of gravity and natural braking controls your movements as you travel from one part of the forest to another. The final leg is a 700 m run down/over a ravine in the Pipers River. It’s an exhilarating experience with people who have participated being all ages, from 6 to 90.

The normal cost is $99 per person. During the Australian 3 Day Orienteering Championships we have arranged prices as low as $20 or $30. Please see more details below.

Friday 17th and any other day in April: At any time of your choice during April there is a “2 for 1” offer for any participant, their families or friends; particularly on the rest day of Fri 17 April.

Tuesday 14 April: Hollybank is going to try a ‘continuous program’ of people able to go around the ‘forestry circuit’ as couples or individuals instead of the normal groups of 6 to 10. The normal tour takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. The new concept takes just 2 hrs. Both include comprehensive briefings and fitting of the safety harnesses in the traditon of the care and safety taken with concepts such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. The special proposal for Orienteers for Tue the 14th : $30 per individual ; or $20 per individual if you have hired a car from our sponsoring car rental company, AutoRent-Hertz . ( Just show your car keys; max 2 people per car).

For Tue 14 April Hollybank will use a different concept in stationing tour guides at each of the 6 ‘sky stations’. Only in this way can they handle a larger volume of numbers. Participants will need to allow 2 hrs for this tour.

On Fri 17 April Hollybank will use the conventional concept of tours which are limited to just 6 x 10 people = 60. i.e. numbers would be limited and the tour period would be our normal 2.5 to 3 hrs.

BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL. FOR EITHER OFFER YOU MUST BOOK PRIOR TO APRIL 1ST

To make a booking for this special Orienteers offer we ask that you either send us an e-mail to info@treetopsadventure.com.au or phone our Office on (03) 6395 1390. You can get more information and view a video of what we offer at www.treetopsadventure.com.au. However do not make a booking via that site as it is configured only to charge the $99 per person.

Why this special offer? Hollybank Treetops Adventure is a joint venture with Forestry Tasmania using a concept first developed in the forests of Central American and South Africa. It is early days for us and we are still seeking word-of-mouth within the wider community. Any feedback you can give us at the end of your tour will help in our planning and evaluation for similar concepts in other parts of Australia. Whether you can join us or not, we wish all Orienteers and their families a very happy visit to Tasmania.

It was a big weekend for the men of the NSW Stingers in the SILVA National Orienteering League. They took out all three rounds by comfortable margins, giving them a thus-far perfect score of 27 points. No team other than the Canberra Cockatoos or Victorian Nuggets has taken out a senior National League title, but the Stingers have got off to a good start in their bid to expand that list.

The Stingers have the standout individual of the moment, Julian Dent, backed up by an impressive amount of depth – sufficient that they were able to survive two of their top four mispunching on Sunday and still win easily. Rob Preston, Matt Parton, Eric Morris and the Meyer brothers all provided valuable support to Dent, and as long as the core of this team remains intact through the season they will be very difficult to beat in 2009.

The Southern Arrows look to be the Stingers’ most likely challengers. They are also strong at the front, with Simon Uppill leading, but do not have as much depth as the Stingers and can ill-afford to lose a key runner through injury, as they did when Ben Rattray was injured last weekend. The Victorian Nuggets have depth in spades with the largest contingent of competitors at the weekend’s races, but the lack of a standout individual – unless Troy de Haas returns to competition – is likely to hurt them. Defending champions, the Canberra Cockatoos, are likely to struggle this year, with Dave Shepherd likely to miss at least the first part of the season and a lack of depth to cover him, although the return of Rob Walter for the next round should see them climb a little from their current position.

The women’s competition is more closely contested for the moment. The Victorian Nuggets lead by a point from the Canberra Cockatoos, with the Tassie Foresters in third. The Nuggets, who won in 2007, won the first two rounds and should be difficult to beat as long as they can get three strong runners into the race – but for the moment are reliant on either veteran Natasha Key or junior Aislinn Prendergast for this, and paid for it when both were missing on Sunday. The Cockatoos are solid again, whilst the return of Allston to regular domestic competition – as well as the recruitment of new resident Ilka Barr – will give the Tasmanians a strong team whenever they can get a reasonable third runner. This happened only intermittently on the weekend, but if Grace Elson puts in any appearances on home soil this year they can be expected to get a lot of points. The Queensland Cyclones are increasing in depth all the time, but perhaps need another year or two for their impressive group of juniors and almost-juniors to mature before becoming real challengers.

The first round of this year’s SILVA National League finished today with a mass start, Hagaby style course. The looping and splits promised to provide some great action for both competitors and spectators, while the theme for the weekend (and perhaps the season?) continued with the expected wins of Julian Dent and Hanny Allston.

Dent’s margin was over seven minutes. Simon Uppill took time out from competing to set courses for today’s race — with spectacular results. But it meant that second place was up for grabs amongst the male elite field. OA High Performance Manager Rob Preston broke clear of the pack to take the second podium place with Grant Bluett a minute behind in third.

Junior men ran the same course as the Seniors today — meaning a long day out in the field for many aspiring JWOC-ers. This didn’t phase Leon Keely, who placed 4th overall and first junior. Josh Blatchford was only 22 seconds behind Keely, with his best result in this sort of company placing 2nd junior (an indication of the tight leaderboard being that he placed 12th overall).

For the women, Allston’s victory was no less impressive than Dent’s — she found herself 5 minutes clear after just a 1 hour course. Second place in the women’s came down to sprint finish between Kathryn Ewels, Jasmine Neve and the evergreen Shannon Jones. Ewels took the honours, just managing to hold off Jasmine Neve with Jones only three seconds further back for fourth.

Belinda Lawford backed up her good results yesterday with victory in the Junior Girls, comfortably ahead of Sarah Buckerfield.

Full results and splits now available. Team points will be posted as soon as they are available.

Dave Meyer

The second race of the SILVA National League began only hours after the first finished — a chasing-start middle distance through the Para Wirra Recreation Park. Julian Dent and Hanny Allston both carried healthy leads from the morning’s race, and both posted the quickest times to take easy back-to-back victories.

The women’s race showed the strength of the Victorian Nuggets, with Jasmine Neve repeating her second placing from this morning, while Kathryn Ewels posted a strong time to take third place. Aislinn Prendergast showed her morning win was no accident to take her second victory of the day in Junior Girls.

For the men, the second place getter also backed up from this morning — Simon Uppill —  although the 4 minute time difference was more than he would have liked. Eric Morris held off rumours of elite retirement with a strong third placing from ahead of the pack. Leon Keely’s speed did the job for him in Junior Men, narrowly defeating the morning’s winner, Lachlan Dow.

Full results and splits now available

Dave Meyer

The 2009 season of the SILVA National League opened today in the Adelaide suburb of Wynn Vale. The race was a sprint event which required a switch from high speed running to technical nous. It produced some tight racing, especially mid-field.

It was again Julian Dent who showed the men how it’s done with a commanding 45 second victory over the only person who seems able to threaten his dominance of the local scene – Simon Uppill. Starting a minute behind Uppill, Dent pushed hard during the early stages to get within sight of him and maintained his speed to take the victory. Grant ‘Frogga’ Bluett’s grey streaks may be showing, but his speed has not diminished and he took third. Nick Andrewartha had the performance of the day with a surprise fourth.

Similar to Dent, Hanny Allston was far superior to the rest of the field and took a 40 second victory. Allston, who has recently returned to Australia after a year long stint in New Zealand, overcame sickness to open her account for 2009. Jasmine Neve flew out of the start to taken the opening split then settled into her race and was good enough to take second only one second ahead of the smiling assassin, Shannon Jones.

Lachlan Dow had a barnstorming run to win the junior men’s and take sixth overall. Ainslinn Prendergast was the quickest junior girl and ninth fastest overall.

Results

Splits