Author: craigf

Julian Dent was our best performing runner in yesterday’s Middle distance World Cup event, being only 8 minutes behind the winner, Swiss Matthias Kyburz, who ran above his world ranking of 21.   Swiss superstar Simone NIGGLI-LUDER continued her successful 2012 comeback, after giving birth to twins, to make it a double Swiss victory.  With three men in the top 4 and five women in the top 10 places the Swiss are certainly eyeing off medals in their “home” World Championships in three weeks.

The terrain consisted of steep slopes with deep but crossable valleys.  Mostly highly runnable with no undergrowth. Courses were 6.3 (women) and 7.0 km (men) with 220 / 290 meters of ascent. Planned winning times were 37 minutes for both men and women.  View maps and tracking of top runners on website.

Sprint, Sunday.
First start women 8.30pm  AUS – men 9.35. The terrain is a flat city centre, mostly urban old town centre including a  UNESCO world heritage monastery.  Courses are 2.4 / 2.9 km long with 75 / 100 meters of ascent – winning times of 14 / 14:30. See the old map with a thought course made by Eva Jurenikova here (via Twitter).    There is GPS tracking and live TV coverage.  Seehttp://www.postfinancesprint.ch/    Only the top 40 ranked runners are in the official sprint, so our runners will be competing in the earlier public race.

1 Matthias Kyburz            SUI         40:41 0:00

2 Olav Lundanes               NOR       40:45 +0:04

3 Baptiste Rollier              SUI         41:34 +0:53

4 Matthias Merz               SUI         41:53 +1:12

5 Frederic Tranchand      FRA        42:12 +1:31

6 Jan Sedivy                        CZE         42:15 +1:34

71 Julian Dent                   AUS       49:08 +8:27

77 Ross Morrison             NZL        50:48 +10:07

84 James Bradshaw         NZL        54:46 +14:05

85 Tane Cambridge         NZL        55:24 +14:43

86 Evan Barr                       AUS       55:32 +14:51

87 Murray Scown             AUS       59:06 +18:25

Many of our best runners have just departed / are about to depart overseas for Junior, University or elite World Championships.  Some early arrivals took the opportunity to race in Finland, including the prestigious Venla – Jukola Relays last weekend.   Following the races on live internet coverage, with cameras in the bush and GPS tracking on the maps made for entertaining watching, even from here.

Our women’s team, comprised of all elite runners, did exceedingly well both place and time wise.

Vanessa Round’s individual leg place of 59^th was our best.  She followed this up by filling in for a Finnish Jukola team the next day, and did well in running the longest leg (15.1km).  Anna Sheldon also ran first leg of Jukola for another team – energetic girls!

The men’s team had several last minute replacements subbed in and they sensibly led off with three elite runners before putting the veterans out on the shorter legs and having promising junior, Kasimir Gregory, run the long last leg.   Murray Scown and Ian Lawford ran outstandingly, with Ian having the long night leg.

WOC runners Julian Dent (42^nd) and David Brickhill-Jones (99^th) ran impressively for their respective Scandinavian clubs.

Venla women’s relay – 1,235 teams

1)      2.57        Halden (NOR)

2)      2.59        Paimion Rastii (FIN)

3)      2.55        OK Pan Arhus (DEN)

93)  3.38       AUSTRALIA

Leg    Win team         AUS       Leg place     Overall          Name

Kms      mins               time

5.4         38                    47.30     200                         200         Anna Sheldon

5.5         38                    47.09     133                         139         Laurina Neuman

6.9         46                    58.17     108                         117         Felicity Brown

8.1         54                    66.01     59                             93          Vanessa Round

Jukola men’s relay – 1650 teams

1)      7.56        Kalevan Rasti  (FIN)    Leg times were – 78, 74, 82, 47, 47, 59, 86

2)      8.04        Malungs (SWE)

3)      8.08        Halden (NOR)

278      AUSTRALIA

Leg    Win team         AUS       Leg place     Overall          Name

Kms      mins               time

12.7        78                   94           277                 277       Evan Barr

12.7        74                    89           121                174       Murray Scown

14.1         82               100             133                140       Ian Lawford

7.7         47               109             1,259             315       Nick Dent

8.1         47                   74           432                317        Anthony Cox

10.2         59                   93           406               318        Jim Russell

15.1        86                    123         244               278        Kasimir Gregory

Other Australian Runners

Julian Dent     Malungs 2                        Leg 7     99.40 mins  42 leg place  36^th team place

David Brickhill-Jones  Rasti-Kurikka   Leg 1   93.26       99th leg place  62^nd team place at end.

Vanessa Round                                      Leg 7   131 mins  373 leg place  373^rd team place

Anna Sheldon                                         Leg 1

130 mins  1035 leg place after starting at no 1605!

FINNISH  FORSSA GAMES middle length course

17 – Murray Scown          11 – Vanessa Round

24 – David B-Jones           27 – Anna Sheldon

32 – Evan Barr

64 – Kasimir Gregory

FINNISH Sprint

4 – David B-Jones             1 – Vanessa Round

11 – Murray Scown        11 – Anna Sheldon

Orienteering Australia is very pleased to announce the appointment of Gareth Candy as High Performance Operations Manager.

Gareth is a University of Canberra Graduate in Applied Science in Coaching and has a considerable background in orienteering high performance development and management. From 2009 to 2012 he was Performance Director for British Orienteering responsible for all aspects of Talent Identification, Talent Development and High Performance programs. From 2007 to 2009 he was manager of Junior Programs for British Orienteering and in 2006 and 2007 was Orienteering Australia High Performance Manager and Head Coach.

This weekend the famous Venla and Jukola relay races are happening in Finland.

There will be Australian representative teams in both these races.

The 4 person women’s Venla relay sees Australia with a full team (No 352) for the first time ever with Anna Sheldon, Laurina  Neumann,  Felicity Brown and Vanessa Round running in that order. The start of the relay takes place on Saturday approx. at 3 pm Finnish time, which is about 10pm in the eastern states of AUS. The distances of four legs are 5 – 8 km, and the best teams use approx. three hours before they cross the finish line.

The 7 person men’s team (No 324) is Evan Barr, Murray Scown, Ian Lawford, Nick Dent, Anthony Cox, Jim Russell and Kasimir Gregory.   Ian Lawford has the honour of running the long night leg!  Unfortunately Bryan Keely (injury) and Oliver Mitchell (ill health) were late withdrawals from the team as they are no longer travelling overseas to compete in WOC & WUOC respectively.  Those with long memories will recall Anthony Cox, being a promising ACT junior – he has been based in Paris for many years now.

Other Aussies running in other teams include Julian Dent with Malungs (probably team 26 or else 62) and David Brickhill-Jones with the  Rasti Kurikka team – no 37.   In the Jukola male relay the distances of legs vary from 7 to 15 km. The starting time is around 11 pm, (6am Sunday in eastern states)and so runners of the 1st … 3rd or 4th legs have to carry headlights. The winning team crosses the finishing line early on Sunday morning, around 6 or 7 am Finnish time, while some of the slower teams will take almost twice as long!

In this event if a team member mispunches the remaining runners aren’t allowed to start, so that is real pressure to check those codes!

A record high number of teams will be competing in Hakunila, Vantaa on 16-17 June.

A total of 1266 women’s relay teams have registered to compete in the Venla race and 1686 in men’s Jukola!!   The 16,866 orienteerers registered makes Valio-Jukola 2012 the largest sports event of the year in Finland. It is also the largest Jukola relay of all time now beating the former high achieved in 2010.   So should be a great atmosphere!   The team number is also your start position so our teams are well placed by being in the 300’s.

You can check out the teams (and the competition) on the Jukola website:  http://registration.jukola.com/?kieli=en&kisa=j2012&view=1&!

“Valio-Jukola taking place in the metropolitan area of Helsinki is a key factor contributing to this year’s surge in numbers. Long term aim of many of the teams to take part in Jukola is being realised this year. Good location has attracted in particular many new friends and work teams to come along.  It is an international orienteering event with teams from 24 countries taking part. The majority of orienteerers (ca. 75 %) are from Finland, many teams come also from Sweden and Norway.” says Päivi Luoma, the event Executive Secretary.

The first Jukola relay was organized in 1949 and it has consequently been organized every year in different sites around Finland. For the ladies, an individual race with common start was organized in 1951 and it then was turned into a relay race in 1978. The first Jukola relay attracted 41 teams total.

The Jukola relay is mainly a competition of high quality, joining all the best orienteers and clubs in the world. They compete about the victory and fame. The majority of the teams, however, do not try to win the race. For them, it is most important to be able to participate in the event and to not have to give it up. Everybody in the team must have a chance to run. In addition, teams which do not represent any official clubs, can take part in the same relays. The proportion of such teams is already 20% and is growing. Their majority comes from firms and institutions, but there are also groups of people sharing the same passion or hobby, some family teams, etc.

The GEO-QUEST Adventure Race was again won by a team of mostly orienteers with Richard Mountstephens (formerJwoc team member), and Kathryn and Rob Preston joining up with Damon Goerke in the Macpac team for victory.

Early Bird discounted entries close on 30 June for the 2013 Oceania Championships Carnival in New Zealand from 4 to 13 January 2013. The website is http://oceania2013.co.nz

The Carnival features not only Oceania Championships open to everyone in sprint, middle, long distance and relays but 4 World Cup events (2 middle distance and 2 sprint). With areas and event centres chosen specifically with spectator interest in mind this is one series of events that you cannot afford to miss. Lots of photos have recently been added to the website photo gallery.

Just after the completion of the 2013 Oceania Championships, Australian and New Zealand orienteers are being invited to participate in a 3 day orienteering carnival in New Caledonia called Cal O’rie on Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20th January 2013. A website http://www.convergence.nc/ has been set up and further details will be posted on the 3-day mini-carnival. You can also contact Ariel Llambrich at clubconvergence@lagoon.nc

A mapping workshop “Guide to urban map making” is planned for Monday 24 September which is during the 2012 Australian Orienteering Championships Carnival ‘BEACHES & BOULDERS’, Tasmania. The workshop, to be held at St Helens, is intended both for new mappers wanting to learn how to prepare a map for urban orienteering and for experienced orienteers interested in becoming mappers. It will include instruction on setting up base maps on OCAD, preparing base maps for field work, using GPS, a practical session of field working and drafting of the map.

Those interested in attending the workshop are invited to register their interest (please do this now so that I have some idea on numbers) by contacting me (Adrian Uppill) at aruppill@chariot.net.au

The draft outline of the Workshop is:

1 Introduction: Purpose of map, mapping standards

2 Area selection: suitability of terrain, land tenure, permissions

3 Scale: 4000/5000, 10000/15000, symbol size, generalisation, legibility

4 Preparing the Basemap in OCAD: Basemaps sources (LiDAR, topo & cadastral maps), Background maps, Georeferencing, Magnetic declination

5 Fieldwork: Level of detail / generalisation, Equipment (mapboard, pencils, GPS), Survey procedure, Relativity of objects, Reading & recording the terrain ‘ground to map’, Accuracy, Interpretation

6 Drafting: Downloading tracks & waypoints, scanning fieldwork, cartography & legibility

7 Printing: Draft scale for mapping, competition scale & map legibility

8 Wrap-up
Adrian Uppill
Chair, OA Mapping Committee

The NZ Pinestars continued their top form in the “loops race” today to convincingly win the Test match over the inexperienced Bushrangers.  However the young Aussies have taken away many lessons in how to race in different sand-dune terrains.  We look forward to having more of our elite runners available when the return “test” is held in Tasmania in September.

Rachel Effeney did well to overcome some early mistakes to claw back from 14^th to 4^th in the women’s elite class, and was less than a minute behind overall.   Rob Preston was in 6^th place for most of the men’s race before finishing 10 just 2 minutes behind the winner.  Kiwi WOC team member Chris Forne came 2^nd in all three events over the weekend and his biggest losing margin was 2 seconds!

Brodie Nankervis led from control 2 and survived a late charge from Kiwi Thomas Eatson to win M20.   Another Aussie junior to shine was Nicola Blatchford who ran well to take a fine second place in W18.     Ten of the juniors are staying on in NZ for the remainder of the week for a combined training camp with the Kiwis.     Many thanks to the Wellington club for their great organisation of the three events.

Meanwhile next weekend is the Aussie Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend!  This will find Jwoc team members being based in Creswick (VIC) for a final training camp.  Team officials Roch Prendergast and Valerie Barker will be assisted by Aislinn Prendergast, Lauren Gillis, Rob Lewis, Aaron Dodd and Sophie Barker, who bring a wealth of experience to the group.

W21E     5.8km

1        Greta Knarston                       41:40

2        Amber Morrison                    42:21

3        Kate Morrison                        42:23

    4        Rachel Effeney                      42:28

   15        Heather Muir                       52:59

   19        Mary Fleming                       55:24

   20        Katelyn Effeney                    55:27

   23        Emily Cantwell                   1:05:46

W16A      2.9km

1        Alice Tilley                               26:42

2        Vida Fox                                   26:56

3        Helayna Ogden                       29:03

11        Hannah Goddard                  39:44

W18A     3.0km

1        Lauren Turner                              31:15

    2        Nicola Blatchford                        31:24

    7        Bec Butler                                     36:15

   10        Shea-Cara Hammond                38:07

W40A

    1        Su_Yan Tay                                  29:51

    2        Jenny Bourne                               30:03

3        Anna Robertson                           31:39

4        Wendy Read                                 31:55

W50A

1        Gillian Ingham                            32:43

2        Jay Paterson                               34:27

    3        Felicity Crosato                          39:44

M21E      7.4km

1        Thomas Reynolds                   40:51

2        Chris Forne                              40:52

3        Tane Cambridge                      40:55

10        Rob Preston                           42:54

   18        Brodie Nankervis                   51:44

   20        Aaron Breed                           52:03

   23        Oliver Crosato                        53:05

30        Kasimir Gregory                     57:29

35        James Robertson                1:07:06

M20A    5.8km

 1        Ashley Nankervis                          39:49

2        Thomas Eatson                              40:45

3        Benjamin Reynolds                       42:35

M40A

1        Paul Ireland                               38:23

2        Geoff Lawford                          40:27

Today saw the NZ elites dominate in the long distance race.   However junior Brodie Nankervis, who finished 15th of 37 in the men’s field, displayed much promise, as did brother Ashley in winning M20. Rachel Effeney, who will race both the sprint and the long at the World Championships,  “lost” 10 minutes on an early control but showed her potential by winning 8 of the 27 legs.

ACT’s Shea-Cara Hammond did brilliantly to place 2^nd in the 14 person W18 field, while Tasmanian Hannah Goddard did well to place mid-field in W16.   Emily Cantwell was a close 2^nd in W20.   Geoff Lawford, running “up” in M40 and Felicity Crosato (W50) took  good wins in strong fields.

Full results can be found at: http://wn.orienteering.org.nz/events/events-2012/

The final NZ v AUS “test” event is on Monday on the “Kaikokupu” map adjacent to Himatangi Beach.

This event is again on sand-dune terrain. Course planner comments are: “it is a loop race with several competitors from the same class starting at the same time. Each of these courses will have one or more pivot controls that competitors will visit more than once. Note that not all competitors will do individual loops in the same order.”

M21E

1        Tane Cambridge                    NZ                1:02:33

2        Chris Forne                             NZ             1:02:35

3        Karl Dravitzki                          NZ             1:03:02

4        Carsten Jorgensen                 NZ/DEN    1:03:43

   14        Rob Preston                          VIC                 1:14:02

   15        Brodie Nankervis                 TAS               1:14:17

   26        Kasimir Gregory                   NSW          1:25:45

   28        James Robertson                  VIC            1:33:15

   29        Aaron Breed                          VIC            1:33:38

   30        Oliver Crosato                         Q             1:35:08

M21AS

1        Simon Addison                NZ             58:25

2        Mark Hudson                  NZ           1:01:22

    3        Rob Lewis                       VIC          1:11:24

M20A

 1        Ashley Nankervis            TAS       1:02:23

2        Benjamin Reynolds          NZ        1:05:14

M40A  .

 1        Geoff Lawford                  VIC           59:35

2        Hamish Goodwin              NZ            1:04:34

W21E

1        Rachel Smith             NZ                 1:03:12

2        Greta Knarston         NZ                 1:04:38

3        Yvette Baker              NZ                 1:06:39

14        Rachel Effeney        Q                   1:14:36

   19        Heather Muir           Q                   1:19:30

   20        Mary Fleming          VIC                1:23:08

   24        Katelyn Effeney        Q                 1.29.42

W16A

1        Alice Tilley           NZ                      40:45

2        Vida Fox               NZ                      43:17

3        Kayla Fairbairn   NZ                       44:06

    7        Hannah Goddard        TAS           50:20

W18A

1        Holly Edmonds      NZ                  1:02:04

    2        Shea-Cara Hammond      ACT     1:04:26

3        Lauren Turner                   NZ        1:05:49

8        Nicola Blatchford              NSW    1:10:25

12        Bec Butler                          TAS     1:21:29

W20A

1        Renee Beveridge            NZ           1:14:47

    2        Emily Cantwell                Q            1:16:53

W40A

1        Katie Hill                           NZ           1:02:45

    2        Jenny Bourne                VIC            1:04:27

3        Anna Robertson              NZ           1:07:02

    4        Su_Yan Tay                        Q           1:08:43

    5        Wendy Read                      Q           1:08:48

W50A

 1        Felicity Crosato             Q                 50:32

2        Jay Paterson                  NZ                53:21

The annual Bushrangers versus Pinestars test match commenced today at Waitarere Beach, near Wellington, NZ with a World Ranking sprint event.    This was on a 1: 4,000 scale map called “The Strip” comprised of “ forested sand-dunes, with approximately 50% macrocarpa with clean running and good visibility and 50% pruned pinus radiata with a network of small tracks.”

Rachel Effeney’s love affair with New Zealand continued (after her 2012 Sprint the Bay victory), despite the unfamiliar sand-dune terrain, when she took a 5 second victory over Amber Morrison and a host of strong Kiwi runners.   Her sister Katelyn was the next best Aussie in 17^th place.   The field included two ex Great Britain stars.  Yvette Baker (nee Hague), a gold medallist in both the 1999 and 2001 World Championships placed 10^th while Jean Cory-Wright, who debuted in World Championships in 1976, was 19^th.

The elite men’s course attracted a gigantic field of 49 and NZ’s Nick Hahn took the win just one second ahead of compatriot Chris Forne.   Rob Preston was our best in 11^th, though youngsters Brodie Nankervis (15^th) and Kasimir Gregory (16^th) would be pleased with their relative closeness time-wise to the pointy end of the field.

The NZ Pinestars take a commanding lead in the test match but this was expected given that our team was quite inexperienced overall.   All good background for the January 2013 World Cup events and Oceania carnival being held in the same area.   There are a number of additional juniors at this event and they are staying on for a training camp afterwards led by Jenny Bourne and Geoff Lawford.

Sunday’s  long event is nearby on the “Hydrabad East” map, again on sand –dune terrain but with limited visibility.

It is noted that ” there are many electric fences and we anticipate that these will be turned off!  The flatter parts of the map are also crossed by a number of ditches. These are murky and of unknown depth but can be crossed by people with proficiency in the long jump.”   NZ always throw some different challenges up!   M21 have 10 kilometres and 30 controls.

W21

1        Rachel Effeney      Q         13:00

2        Kate Morrison      NZ        13:05

3        Piret Klade            NZ         13:20

10        Yvette Baker        NZ        14:14

17        Katelyn Effeney    Q          17:41

19        Jean Cory-Wright   NZ      18:05

22        Heather Muir         Q        19:47

25        Mary Fleming        VIC      23:52

M21

1        Nick Hann                NZ         12:28

2        Chris Forne              NZ          12:29

3        James Bradshaw     NZ         12:39

   11        Rob Preston            VIC        13:39

14        Carsten Jorgensen     DEN   13:47

15        Brodie Nankervis       TAS    13:49

   16        Kasimir Gregory        NSW    14:20

  23        Aaron Breed                 VIC     15:32

   28        Oliver Crosato             Q        17:30

W20

1        Renee Beveridge        NZ       16:33

2        Bec Butler                    TAS      22:07

3        Emily Cantwell             Q        22:58

4        Nicola Blatchford     NSW      23:06

M20

1        Thomas Eatson         NZ           14:22

    2        Ashley Nankervis     TAS         15:55

M40

1        John Robertson    NZ          14:57

    2        Geoff Lawford      VIC         15:50

12       Rob Lewis            VIC          21:41

W16

1        Fairbairn Kayla          NZ       12:13

    7        Hannah Goddard      TAS     17:03

W18

1        Helena Barnes             NZ         17:10

7        Shea-Cara Hammond      ACT     21:53

W40

1        Anna Robertson         NZ   18:37

2        SuYan Tay                 Q     19:08

    3        Jenny Bourne            VIC     20:28

    4        Wendy Read              Q        21:03

W50

1        Jay Paterson          NZ        15:57

6        Felicity Crosato       Q         20:51

Using GPS technology can reduce the effort and improve the speed and accuracy of course setting. Stuart Watt (BBB – QLD) describes the advantages of using GPS technology when he is setting Orienteering courses. You can find his article on pages 20 – 21 in the June edition of The Australian Orienteer.