Author: craigf

The 2012 Australia-New Zealand MTBO Orienteering Challenge will be contested at the Otago MTBO Carnival in the Long, Middle and Sprint Distance Championships from 8-14 January 2012. Australian teams of 3 + Reserves will be selected for the following age groups (if sufficient nominations are received):

M-20, 21, 40, 50, 60, 70
W-20, 21, 40, 50, 60, 70

Eligibility: Any Australian citizen who is a current financial member of their State Associ ation and a Club (regardless of where they live).
Primary guides to selection: Performances at the 2010 Australian MTBO Championships, 2010 National MTBO Rankings, 2011 National MTBO Series events, and the 2011 Australian MTBO Championships. People who contest only one of these will still be considered.
To nominate for the AUS MTBO Team: Please advise your name, age class (as of 31 December2012), state and club, email address, phone numbers, and whether you need an Australian MTBO jersey on the “Register” page of the http://www.otagomtbotrip.weebly.com by 21 August 2011. If you wish to purchase a jersey, check the size chart on the website.
Note: Each selected member of the AUS team must ride in the same age class at each of t he three events in the team jersey.

The team will be announced by the National MTBO Selection Panel in early November.

Blake Gordon, OA MTBO Convenor

Susanne Casanova has won Australia’s only medal of the World Masters Orienteering Championships, taking silver in the W35 long distance final, which was contested in hot conditions in Hungary today. A consistent run saw her bettered only by many-times Romanian WOC representative Zsuzsa Fey, with Hungary’s Agnes Simon in third place.

Susanne’s older sister, Jenny, also made the top ten, her ninth making her one of four Australians with single-digit placings. Jim Russell, for the second successive final, lost time late in the course but still finished seventh in M50, as did Hermann Wehner in M85. The other top-twenty placing went to Blair Trewin, celebrating a significant birthday (as was Susanne) with 13th in M40.

Full Australian A final results:

W35: Susanne Casanova 2, Jenny Casanova 9

W50: Debbie Davey 31, Mary Macdonald 69

W55: Lynda Rapkins 46

W60: Val Hodsdon 54

W65: Ann Ingwersen 70

M40: Blair Trewin 13, Paul Liggins 48

M50: Jim Russell 7

M70: John Hodsdon 52

M85: Hermann Wehner 7

The final race of the 2011 Junior World Orienteering Championships was today’s relay race. With a full team of 12 athletes, Australia is able to enter two teams of 3, in both the male and female races- though only the best placed team is ranked officially.

The super fast terrain produced fast finish times, and very tight racing, particularly in the men’s race. There were lots of changes in the lead, with expected countries such as Spain (4th) and New Zealand (12th) in the hunt for a medal until the last leg. Eventually the home town support and local knowledge got the Polish team over the line first, closely followed by Sweden and Czech Republic.

The Aussie boys teams had a very close battle, with Lachlan Dow (Australia 1) heading into the 3rd leg trying to make up a 2min deficit on Ian Lawford (Australia 2). Lawford was able hold off Dow by 28 secs, and finish officially in 21st position.

In the women’s the race Denmark were the red hot favourites to give Ida Bobach her 4th gold medal of the championships. However she was left with tough challenge to chase down Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson. Sweden ended up winning comfortably, from Czech Republic and Denmark picked up bring bronze. The Australian girls had a good battle, and Australia 1’s Belinda Lawford just holding off a fast finishing Georgia Parsons in Australia 2, to finish in 22nd place.

13 Australians qualified for long distance A finals at the World Masters Orienteering Championships after today’s second qualifying race.

Leading the way was Susanne Casanova, who reinforced her status as a genuine medal chance in W35 after remaining in second place after the two qualifying races. The other standout was Jim Russell, who was unable to repeat his victory from Tuesday but still qualified third in his heat.

Hermann Wehner had a better run today and finished 7th in M85, while Paul Adrian will go through to the final as one of five finishers in M90. Other top-ten qualifiers were Ann Ingwersen (6th in W65), John Hodsdon (8th in M70) and Jenny Casanova (10th in W35). A potentially interesting Australian contest looms in M40, where Paul Liggins and Blair Trewin both qualified 11th in their respective heats and will start two minutes apart in Friday’s final.

The remaining Australian qualifiers were Debbie Davey (12th) and Mary Macdonald (23rd) in W50, Lynda Rapkins (14th) in W55 and Val Hodsdon (18th) in W60. There were also a number of near-misses, perhaps the most unfortunate being that of Alex Davey, who was 7th today but had left himself with too much to do and fell two places short.

Lachlan Dow was the best of the two Australians in the middle distance A finals at the Junior World Orienteering Championships today, placing 36th. He was a bit over three minutes behind an exceptional three-way tie for the lead. Oscar McNulty, who had done well to qualify in his first appearance, was 58th.

Australia was unrepresented in the women’s A final, in which Ida Bobach made a clean sweep of the individual gold medals and led a group of three Danes in the top four.

Belinda Lawford’s 3rd in the B final will have restored some confidence pre-relay, after two disappointing races.  Another good Australian performance in the lower finals was Oliver Poland’s 6th.

The championships conclude with the relay tomorrow.

Men A final

1=. Robert Merl (AUT), Topias Tiainen (FIN), Dmitry Nakonechnyy (RUS)    25.43

36. Lachlan Dow           29.09

58. Oscar McNulty        33.54

Women A final

1. Ida Bobach (DEN)      23.10

2. Tove Alexandersson (SWE)    23.45

3. Emma Klingenberg (DEN)     24.17

Men B final

1=. Christian Tingstrom (SWE), Thor Norskov (DEN)   23.52

6. Oliver Poland        25.56

32. Ian Lawford        28.04

Josh Blatchford     DNF

Women B final

1. Andrea Koch (SUI)     27.33

3. Belinda Lawford     28.39

19. Claire Butler        31.22

44. Krystal Neumann     36.00

47. Georgia Parsons      36.40

61. Jacqui Doyle        40.53

62. Lilian Burrill        41.01

Men C final

1. Marek Wojnowicz (POL)     26.10

4. Max Neve                  27.25

Jim Russell took the honours for Australia on the first of two days of qualifying for the World Masters long distance, winning his heat in M50 and repeating his result from the sprint qualification.

Another Australian who looks to have an excellent medal chance in Friday’s final was Susanne Casanova, who took second in W35, claiming some notable scalps in the process.

Whilst no other Australians threatened the placings today, a number of others are well-placed to qualify if they can back up with another good result tomorrow, including Jenny Casanova (W35), Debbie Davey and Mary Macdonald (W50), Lynda Rapkins (W55), Ann Ingwersen (W65), Paul Liggins and Blair Trewin (M40), Grant Macdonald (M50), Ted van Geldermalsen (M55), Hermann Wehner (M85) and Paul Adrian (M90).

The second day of long distance qualification will take place tomorrow.

Oscar McNulty and Lachlan Dow have qualified for the A final of the Middle Distance at JWOC 2011 in Poland. Dow was the best placed Australian in the Long Distance race on Monday and will be looking for another good result in his last JWOC year. McNulty has impressed in his first JWOC, and will gain valuable experience for upcoming years. For spectators (in Poland and on the internet) had a very anxious wait as Josh Blatchford and Ian Lawford were slowly pushed down the leader board to finish in 21st in their respective heats.

The girls were a little off the pace, but will hopefully get some confidence from competing in the B Final before Friday’s Relay race.

M20-1

It was a day of solid performances for the Australian men in today’s long distance event at the Junior World Orienteering Championships. Lachlan Dow led the way with 50th, followed by yesterday’s best Australian performer, Max Neve, who was 66th. The other four team members all finished in close proximity near the middle of the field.

The women had a somewhat disappointing day, with Belinda Lawford unable to repeat her sprint performance and the others all finishing in the bottom half of the field, Krystal Neumann’s 82nd being the best of the results. It was again a Danish 1-2, with Ida Bobach taking her tally of gold medals to six and Emma Klingenberg again runner-up.

The next competition is the middle distance qualification on Wednesday.

Men

1. Yngve Skogstad (NOR)       68.49

2. Robert Merl (AUT)       70.23

3. Lucas Basset (FRA)       70.36

50. Lachlan Dow       81.22

66. Max Neve           85.23

81. Josh Blatchford      88.24

83. Oliver Poland        89.17

86. Oscar McNulty      90.51

87. Ian Lawford          91.09

Women

1. Ida Bobach (DEN)     55.23

2. Emma Klingenberg (DEN)   56.51

3. Tove Alexandersson (SWE)   57.37

82. Krystal Neumann          78.24

88. Belinda Lawford            79.50

96. Georgia Parsons           84.23

115. Claire Butler              97.27

116. Jacqui Doyle             97.54

Lilian Burrill                    DNF

Three Australians reached the top ten at today’s World Masters sprint final, led by Susanne Casanova’s 5th in W35. She fell only five seconds short of a medal in her WMOC debut, squeezed out of the places by former JWOC medallist Annika Bjork and long-standing Romanian international Veronica Minoiu.

Hermann Wehner added another to his long list of single-digit placings with a 6th place in M85, whilst Ann Ingwersen reached the top ten for the first time when she came 9th in W65.

Other Australians to finish in the top 20 were Jenny Casanova (12th, W35), Jim Russell (13th, M50) and Blair Trewin (17th, M40). Jim was on course for a medal when he missed a control late in the course and had to return.

Competition continues with the first long qualifier on Tuesday.

Men: Max Neve 29th, Lachlan Dow 33rd, Ian Lawford 35th, Oscar McNulty 62nd, Josh Blatchford 75th, Oliver Poland 103rd.

Women: Belinda Lawford 42nd, Lilian Burrill 94th, Claire Butler 95th, Georgia Parsons 110th, Krystal Neumann 112th, Jacqui Doyle 126th.