Author: craigf

Two convincing wins each at Round 4 in Oberon NSW gave Melanie Simpson (NSW Stingers) and Ricky Thackray (WA Nomads) wins in the Elite MTBO Division for the 2011 season.  Victoria’s Carolyn Jackson and Steven Cusworth took second placings, ahead of Damian Welbourne (NSW) and Mary Fien (NSW), last years’ winner of W21-E.

Tasmania’s Oscar Phillips and Victoria’s Jasmine Sunley took out the M-20 and W-20 honours respectively in the junior elite ranks.

In the Elite Team Rankings  Victoria’s depth proved decisive  with Victorian Nuggets 170, NSW Stingers 112, Queensland Storm 87, WA Nomads 52, and ACT 25.

Strong competition from visiting New Zealand riders, a feature of the last 5 years, will make the upcoming Otago MTBO Festival – the ANZ Challenge – in early January 2012 a terrific competition.

In the Masters MTBO Division, winners came from 3 different states: Craig Steffens (Qld, M40-), Carolyn Matthews (NSW, W40-), Rob Prentice (NSW, M50-), Heather Leslie (Vic, W50-), Rick Armstrong (Vic, M60-), Kathy Liley (Vic, W60-), Graham Fowler (NSW, M70+), and Joyce Rowlands (Vic, W70+). The strong New Zealand contingent in W50-, M40- and  M60- lifted the Masters competition to new heights.

The Masters Teams Rankings saw the Victorian Nuggets establish a new record 434 points, with NSW Stingers 2nd (257), edging Queensland Storm into 3rd (221), with ACT (66), SA and WA (50) and WA (18).

The full 2011 National League Team and Individual Standings are now published.
Round 1 of the 2012 National MTBO Series and the Selection Trials for Hungary will be staged at Maryborough and Newstead, Victoria on 28-29 April.

Blake Gordon

This weekend’s NSW Championships at Jenolan East, and the lead up event at Black Springs, will be hot! In W21, the top 3 riders from the Australian MTBO Championships last weekend – Marquita Gelderman (NZ), Melanie Simpson (NSW via Norway) and Carolyn Jackson (VIC) will go head to head with 2010 National Series winner Mary Fien (NSW) and current World No.1, Ingrid Stengaard (Finland), who is en route to Tasmania for the Adventure Racing Worlds.

November 13^th  – ACT Championships  Kowen Forest, Canberra

5 courses from 12-36kms.  Contact Julie Sunleyjuliesunley64@gmail.com   Ph:0433 222 644

November 13^th – SA Championships  (rescheduled date)  Knott Hill, south of Adelaide

Information – Ruth Nicolson 8339 5247 or  www.sa.orienteering.asn.au/

Jan 6-15^th  – Aus v NZ Challenge, South Island of NZ.   We need to nominate age classes for challenge asap. If you haven’t indicated your intention to compete on the mtbo.com register page then please email me at kayhaarsma@hotmail.com with your name and age class by Oct 26^th.

2012 MTBO NOL DATES

NOL Round 1 = 28-29th April – VIC Champs & National Selection Trials @ Maryborough and Newstead, Victoria.

NOL Round 2 = 18-19^th August QLD Champs @ Beerburrum, QLD

NOL Round 3 = 27-28^th October – Australian Champs @ Taree NSW

Analysis of GPS tracking data from races outside Europe is still a novelty in the orienteering world. With the exciting and picturesque native forest of the Oceania 2011 Orienteering Championships – and several longer legs with different route choice options – this was really an interesting task for World of O to assess.

Read the full article here at World of O.

The MTBO Championships were held this weekend in glorious weather in and around Beechworth, Victoria.

Steven Cusworth dominated the elite men winning all three individual titles while New Zealand superstar Maquita Gelderman did similiarly in the women.  Melanie Simpson won the Australian long championship resident trophy with a good second place while it was no suprise that the evergreen Carolyn Jackson was second in the ulta detailed middle distance event held on a 1:5,000 map of Rowdy Flat.  Tassie star Oscar Phillips also took out the trifecta in M20, but had Chris Firman, Tom Goddard and Heath Jamieson all close behind.  That good form augurs well for Oscar’s move to M21 next year.  Rebecca Sunley also won all races in W20 but the long was only a 4 second margin over her sister Jasmine.   The New Zealnd contingent did well in the veteran classes also, with their W50 runners even filling all places in the long.   All races were run on excellent maps well suited to the specific disciplines.    Victoria took home the interstate trophy with New south Wales being second. Many thanks to Albury-Wodonga and ACTO for the well run weekend that also inluded catering for all meals.

Results and splits are now available at the OA Results page

The Championships season continues next weekend with the NSW Championships.

It’s the turn of the MTBO riders to invade the Beechworth area this weekend with 4 races over 3 days.   These include IOF World Ranking events for the middle and long championships and National Orienteering League races 5, 6 & 7.

The races kick off with the Middle Distance Champs at Yackandandah on Friday afternoon.  Reading the 1:5,000 map while riding on small tracks in technical goldmining should prove a challenging exercise.

Saturday starts with a sprint in the Beechworth town and surrounds followed by the “Indigo Winery” relay based at a nearby vineyard.  Sunday sees the more traditional format of the long based in the forests around Stanley.

Steven Cusworth, after riding brilliantly in the Scott 24 hr last week, is the favourite in men’s elite. NZ’s Brent Edwards, ACT’s David Simpfendorfer and WA’s Ricky Thackray look to be his main challengers.

The elite women’s 12 rider field is very strong. New Zealander Marquita Gelderman has usually reigned supreme in past visits but the NSW pair of Melanie Simpson and Mary Fein are both in good form. The wily Carolyn Jackson will certainly be a danger in the technical middle event.

The M20 class has 3 of the JWOC team in Tom Goddard, Oscar Phillips and Chris Firman, as well as Victorian Heath Jamieson all vying for wins.

Entries for this year’s carnival have broken previous Australian MTBO Champs records with over 150 starters including a contingent from New Zealand.

Please be advised that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has released the 2012 Prohibited List, which will come into effect on 1 January 2012.  To give you a chance to familiarise yourself with the List, WADA has published it on their website along with a summary of major modifications and details on the 2012 monitoring program.

The major change to the 2012 List which will affect Australian athletes and support personnel is to inhaled formoterol.

In its announcement of the 2012 List WADA advised that, “The List prohibits the administration of all beta-2 agonists except salbutamol (maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours), salmeterol when taken by inhalation, and now formoterol (maximum 36 micrograms taken over 24 hours).”

WADA also has a monitoring program that focuses on substances which are not on the Prohibited List, but which it wishes to monitor in order to detect patterns of misuse in sport. WADA has confirmed that in 2012 it will be monitoring the effects nicotine can have on performance when taken in oral tobacco products such as snus. WADA stressed that it was not the Agency’s intention to target smokers.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) encourages you to be aware of the new List, and also reminds you that it is your responsibility to check the status of any medication prior to use.

You can re-check the status of any medications at any time by referring to the Check Your Substances tool on the ASADA website. The Check Your Substances tool will be updated to reflect the 2012 changes on 23 December 2011.

More information about the List and anti-doping in general can also be found on ASADA’s:

website: www.asada.gov.au

Twitter page: twitter.com/anti_doping

YouTube channel: youtube.com/asadavideo

The quarantine requirements for the Oceania Sprint Distance Championships apply to all Elite competitors, both Senior and Junior. ALL are to be at the Quarantine Area adjacent to the Start by 12 noon – not just the WRE competitors as stated in the program. And the quarantine area is 600m (down hill) from the assembly area and there will be a clothing return for all elite competitors from the quarantine area to the registration tent.

Tasmania have won the Australian Schools Championships after a consistent set of results in the relays on Wednesday. While they did not win any of the four relays, they were second to New Zealand in both junior relays, and performed well enough in the two senior relays to ensure they extended their overnight lead.

The best finish of the day was in the senior girls’, where a fluctuating race between Queensland and New Zealand came down to a sprint finish between the top two individual placegetters, Heather Muir and Selena Metherell. The Queenslander prevailed by a few metres, giving her state the points to tie NSW for second place. The senior boys also saw a close finish with New Zealand overhauling the ACT on the final leg.

The Australian Relays were contested in the afternoon. As a midweek event, the fields were much weaker than usual, but there were exciting finishes in both elite classes; in both of them, substantial leads were overtaken in the last few controls. Victoria edged out New Zealand in M21E, but in W21E it was the New Zealanders who prevailed over Queensland.

Schools points: Tasmania 48, NSW 38, Queensland 38, ACT 34, SA 24, Victoria 19, WA 10.

Southern Cross Junior Challenge: NZ 61, Tasmania 48, Queensland 40, NSW 38, ACT 36, SA 24, Vic 19, WA 10.

The following Students have been selected in the School Sport Australia Orienteering Honour team for 2011

Junior Girls:

Anna Dowling  Tasmania

Lucy Flemming  Victoria

Hannah Goddard  Tasmania

Winnie Oakhill Queensland

Junior Boys:

Nicholas Collins  Victoria

Matt Doyle  Queensland

Henry McNulty  Western Australia

Ashley Nankervis  Tasmania

Senior Girls:

Jacqui Doyle  Queensland

Rebecca Freese  Queensland

Heather Muir  Queensland

Olivia Sprod  South Australia

Senior Boys:

Ian Lawford  ACT

Bill Mann  Western Australia

Oscar McNulty Western Australia

Oliver Poland  ACT

Today saw the commencement of the 2011 Australian Schools Orienteering Championships at Murraguldrie State Forest.  Fine weather blessed the organisers and competitors for the Schools Individual race.

The Junior Boys race saw Callum Herries of New Zealand establish a winning time from virtually the beginning of the day and had to wait until the last starters finished to be finally knocked off the top and relegated to second place by Ashley Nankervis of Tasmania.  Matt Doyle of Queensland took third place.

In the Junior Girls race Winnie Oakhill from Queensland claimed the win in front of Anna Dowling from Tasmania with Brianna Massie of New Zealand placing third.

The Senior Boys race had the JWOC representatives battle it out for the podium placings with Oliver Poland of ACT taking the win from Oscar McNulty WA and Ian Lawford ACT settling for third.

Highlight of the day was watching Heather Muir QLD dominate the Senior Girls race with such a commanding lead over the rest of the field.  Heather won in a time of 52:56 nearly 9min clear of second place getter Selena Metherell NZ and Olivia Sprod SA stealing third place on the podium.

In the Asoc points table Tasmania are sititng currently on top with 24 points with NSW on 21 and ACT & Qld on 18points.  In the Sourthen Cross challenge New Zealand are leading on 30points with Tasmania on 24 points and NSW currently on third with 21 points.

Australia have narrowly held off New Zealand in the Australia-New Zealand Individual Challenge, winning 9 classes to 6 in the race contested at the Oceania Long Distance Championships on Saturday. It was the closest New Zealand have come to winning on Australian soil, with the result in doubt until the two elite classes were finalised late in the day.

Rob Preston had the biggest win of his career, taking out M21E by nearly three minutes over Dave Shepherd. He took charge of the race early on, catching Grant Bluett by the sixth control. The two were together for much of the race, along with Murray Scown (who finished seventh), but Preston broke away over the closing stages for a convincing win. Bryan Keely, returning to high-level competition after a break, took third by the narrowest possible margin over Bluett.

Jo Allison returned to the winners’ circle at the top level for the first time since becoming a mother two years ago. She set up the win in the first half of the course; by halfway only Aislinn Prendergast and Vanessa Round were within six minutes of her. Both Allison and Prendergast lost time at 16; this cost the Victorian a place as Round stormed home, but Allison held on by 34 seconds, with Round second and Prendergast third. Lizzie Ingham and Kathryn Ewels, both of whom lost substantial time in the first half, came home strongly to complete the top five.

Competition continues today with the Oceania Middle Distance Championships at Yackandandah.