Author: craigf

22 Australians have reached the sprint finals, to be held tomorrow, at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Hungary.

The Australian highlight of qualification day, held in the old town of Pecs, was Jim Russell’s win in heat 1 of M50. He will have a good medal chance tomorrow, as will Hermann Wehner, who qualified second in M85.

Other Australians who look to be in with a good chance of a final result in the top ten, or perhaps better, include Susanne and Jenny Casanova (4th and 6th in W35), Ann Ingwersen (third in W65-2), Debbie Davey (5th in W50-1) and Grant McDonald (fifth in M50-2).

The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) and World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) will both be getting under way in Europe this weekend.

JWOC is taking place in Poland with a full Australian team of six men and six women. The first race is the sprint, on Sunday afternoon. Australia will go into the sprint with high hopes, particularly in the men’s event where several team members have performed well at senior domestic level this year. The remaining events are the long distance on Monday, the middle distance on Wednesday (qualification) and Thursday (final), and the relay on Friday.

48 Australians will take the field at the World Masters at Pecs in southern Hungary, which starts with the sprint this weekend (qualification on Saturday, final on Sunday). Previous Australian WMOC medallists in the field are Hermann Wehner (M85) and Jim Russell (M50); others who have good chances for high placings include Susanne Casanova (W35), Grant McDonald (M50) and Ted van Geldermalsen (M55). Australia also has one of the oldest competitors in the event, Paul Adrian, who is one of six entrants in M90 (there is also one M95). Remaining events are the two long distance qualification events (Tuesday and Wednesday) and the long final (Friday).

The 2012 SILVA National Orienteering League program has been confirmed. 2012 will be the 20th season of the NOL, and it will be the largest program yet held with 20 races. Races have previously been held in all states and the ACT, but for the first time the Northern Territory will host a round. To be held in August, it will include the Northern Territory Championships and should draw a strong crowd of elite and age-class competitors as a mid-winter escape to warmer climates.

The Eureka Challenge will again be the season opener, including the famous Massed Start Hagaby race in complex gold mining terrain. The 2012 Easter 3-days in Queensland will be followed by a weekend of racing in Brisbane. The WOC trials will be held in Newcastle, NSW in May before the national team heads to WOC in Switzerland.

The final round will be in Tasmania, including the Middle, Sprint, Long and Relay Australian Championships.

Round 1- March 10-11- Ballarat, Victoria

Round 2- April  6-9- 2012 Easter 3 Days in Queensland.

Round 2b- April  14-15- weekend following Easter in Brisbane

Round 3- May 12-13- WOC trials in Newcastle, NSW

Round 4- August 10-12- Northern Territory

Round 5a- Sept 22-23- Tasmania- Australian Middle Distance and Tasmanian Long Distance Championships

Round 5b- Sept 28-30- Tasmania- Australian Sprint, Long and Relay Championships.

Further information will be posted on the Orienteering Australia website in coming months.

Melanie Simpson, one of our Australian team members competed well in the middle distance World Cup event placing 19th, just 10 minutes behind the winner, Marika Hara from Finland. In the long distance event she had some difficulties, placing 38th, with another Finn rider in Susanna Laurila sprinting to a 2 second win over Russia’s Ksenia Chernyh. With a mass start, this long distance event evidently resembled a xc mt bike race, with riders jostling for positions in the main pack.
Victories in the men went to Jussi Laurila (Finland) – middle and Erik Skovgaard Knudsen (Denmark) – long.
Finland domination continued in the mixed relay with Hara, Laurila and Juho Saarinen having a narrow win over Switzerland, with Denmark third.

Australia had 3 representatives in the Masters World Championships. In the 40+ Newcastle’s Damian Welbourne did exceedingly well in placing 20th in the long event, and was 37th in the sprint and 38th in the middle. Johan Salfors, who has just moved back to Sweden after 2 years residing in Victoria, placed 27th, 29th and 31st in the same category.
Albury-Wodonga stalwart Leigh Privett, competing in 60+ also had his best result of 16th in the long, with 21st in the sprint and 18th in the middle.

National Round 2 and Queensland Middle and Long Championships – July 30-31 
Yarraman, Queensland.
Why not escape the winter and chase the sunshine and MTBO controls in Queensland.
Race Australian Jwoc star Chris Firman and give him some good competition just days before he heads overseas to the Worlds.
Entry and more details:  http://www.qld-mtbo-champs.com.au/

Last weekend near Auckland the New Zealand Pinestars retained the Key/Aspin Trophy, defeating the Australian Bushrangers. The test match points are at ANZ_TestMatch_QB_2011

The test matches were part of the NZ QBIII Three Days and the best Australian performer in the Three Days was Belinda Lawford  who finished second in W21E behind the Pinestars’ Kate Morrison. Bushrangers Rachael Effeney and Aislinn Prendergast finished 7^th and 8^th.

In M21E there was a clean sweep of the placings to Kiwis Toby Scott, Gene Beveridge and Karl Dravitzi. The best of the Australians were Simon Uppill in 4^th place and Rob Preston 10^th.

The Australian Bushrangers’ competition continued in New Zealand today, with the team finding the going tougher than yesterday, particularly in the men’s event where the locals, led by Karl Dravtizki, filled the first four places.

Belinda Lawford was again the best Australian performer, taking third behind Amber and Kate Morrison. Aislinn Prendergast recovered from a poor first day to fill fourth place. Simon Uppill (fifth) was again the best of the men, with Rob Preston (tenth) the only other one in the top ten. Amongst the women Rachel Effeney was eighth and Mace Neve ninth.

Competition concludes on Monday.

Splits

Simon Uppill and Belinda Lawford got the Australian Bushrangers tour off to a good start with second placings in the first race of the weekend in New Zealand on Saturday morning, each only being bettered by a member of the Morrison clan. Uppill was three minutes down on Ross Morrison, while – in probably her best result at senior level – Lawford led a close bunch behind runaway winner Kate Morrison.

Other Australian top-ten finishers were Evan Barr (5th), Lachlan Dow (8th), Anna Sheldon (5th), Rachel Effeney (6th) and Mace Neve (10th).

Competition continues with a sprint this afternoon before two more races tomorrow.

This weekend is the Queens Birthday long weekend in New Zealand. The Australian Bushrangers team is travelling to New Zealand today and has a busy program of 5 events over 3 days in Test Matches against the New Zealand Pinestars.

Australian Bushrangers team for the Series of Test Matches against the New Zealand Pinestars on 4-6 June: Men: Evan Barr (VIC), Joshua Blatchford (NSW), Lachlan Dow (ACT), Rob Preston (NSW), Murray Scown (ACT), Simon Uppill (SA); Women: Bridget Anderson (Qld), Rachel Effeney (Qld), Belinda Lawford (ACT), Mace Neve (ACT), Aislinn Prendergast (Vic), Anna Sheldon (QLD).

Weekend race details:

Sat 4 June, morning: Long distance at Woodhill Forest

Sat 4 June, afternoon: Sprint distance at Massey University, Albany Campus

Sun 5 June: Long distance at Woodhill forest

Sun 5 June: Two-person relay at Woodhill Forest (Superseries team points only)

Monday 6 June: Long distance at Woodhill Forest

New Zealand MTBO Carnival&Aus v NZ Challenge – January 2012
(Otago area, South Island)

Here’s news about a fantastic MTBO carnival in New Zealand.

An Australia-New Zealand MTBO Challenge will be incorporated into it.
The 4 main races are in the Queenstown area, plus a warm-up event close to Christchurch. Here is their provisional program.

Jan 8th          Bottle Lake    Warm up Event
Jan 10th        Roxburgh       Sprint Distance
Jan 11th        Alexandra      Middle Distance
Jan 12th        Free Day
Jan 13th        Wanaka         Long Distance
Jan 14th        Snow Farm    Relay & Social

The recommendation is to fly into Christchurch or Queenstown airports, or perhaps arrive in Christchurch for the warm-up event and then exit from Queenstown after the carnival.  A co-ordinated bus and van (for bikes) transport and accommodation package will probably be organised for travelling Aussies.   More details later.

The Australian teams (juniors, elites and several veteran classes) will be selected after the October carnival in Australia.  However the event is open to everyone so plan to be in NZ in January 2012!   So start looking at flights and securing holidays now.

Other bike riding possibilities include:
–    the Central Otago Rail Trail.
– Hammer Springs

www.greatsouthernbrevet.blogspot.com

The Australian team named to contest the 2011 World Orienteering Championships at Savoie Grand Revard, in France, from August 10^th-20^th, is as follows (in alphabetical order):

Women:

Grace Crane (Tas, based in UK) – sprint, middle, relay
Rachel Effeney (Qld) – sprint
Jasmine Neve (Vic) – middle, long, relay
Mace Neve (ACT) – sprint, relay reserve
Aislinn Prendergast (Vic) – long
Vanessa Round (SA) – middle, long, relay

Men:

Julian Dent (NSW) – sprint, middle, long, relay
Rob Preston (NSW) – middle, long, relay
Simon Uppill (SA) – sprint, middle, relay
Non-travelling reserve: Murray Scown

Congratulations to all these athletes!

There are 3 newcomers to the women’s team, each named for a specific race distance, whose selection is based on the fact that these individuals have demonstrated potential and commitment to performing well in these disciplines. The decision to take a team of 6 women is testament to the depth of the women’s field in Australian orienteering at this time.

The decision to take a team of 3 men and name only two for each of sprint and long, was a difficult one, as there are a number of men who, with encouragement and dedicated training, have the potential to make the team in future years. Changes to the format of future races at WOC may facilitate this.

Murray Scown has been named as reserve for the men’s team and will replace any of the selected runners should they withdraw prior to WOC. Any withdrawals from the women’s team will be filled from within the team.

Jenny Casanova
Chair of Selectors
May 25^th, 2011