Author: craigf

Round 12 of the SILVA National Orienteering League was WOC trials long distance race on the Livelys Bog map north of St Helens. It was make or break day for those aspiring to a place on the Aussie team for the upcoming World Championships in France in August. Course setter David Marshall heeded the selector’s requests for a tough final trial with both classes having a mix of arduous long legs punctuated by bursts of short technical legs in their courses. In the often low visibility terrain, in combination with the marshes, it proved a tough day out for quite a few runners after the two races of the previous day.

In such situations, experience often shines through with Vanessa Round (Southern Arrows) and Julian Dent (NSW Stingers) prevailing. In Rounds’ case it was a 2 minute margin ahead of the Victorian Nuggets’ Aislinn Prendergast in her best yet senior result with follow Nuggets Kathryn Ewels and Jasmine Neve dead heating in a tick over 79 minutes for 3rd. Prendergast’s great race will certainly leave some food for thought in the minds of the selection panel in determining the WOC team composition. Dent again showed what a class act he is among the Aussie men with a strong 6 minute margin over fellow Stinger Rob Preston with Simon Uppill (Southern Arrows) rounding out the top three.

Tassie Foresters duo, Oscar Phillips of Launceston and Amy Buckerfield of Hobart, were the winners in the Junior divisions. On another wonderful late autumn Tasmanian day, Phillips just edged out Todd Neve (Victorian Nuggets) by a mere 3 seconds to take out the Junior Men’s division in a physically and technically demanding race. Oliver Poland of the Canberra Cockatoos was 2 minutes adrift to round out the top 3. Team mate Buckerfield was a clear winner ahead of compatriot Emma Campbell with Queensland Cyclone’s Katelyn Effeney a close 3rd

From Orienteering Tasmania:

The third round of the 2011 Silva National Orienteering League kicked off yesterday in Northern Tasmania with the round being the final selection trials for the Australian team to contest the World Championships this August in France.

The morning race was held in and around the UTAS Newnham campus with the morning fog persisting for the public race but fortunately clearing for the start of the junior divisions of this sprint distance format event of the National League. The afternoon race was held on a glorious late autumn afternoon on the Ben Bullen map at Diddleum Plains with magnificent views across to the east face of Mt Barrow for this middle distance format event held in conjunction with the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships.

The morning race was a classic sprint format competition. Quick decision making and execution of precise navigation was a key to success in orienteering in and around the campus. In the junior divisions the top 5 men were separated by less than a minute with Launceston’s Oscar Phillips emerging victorious from Max Neve of the Victorian Nuggets and Ian Lawford of the Canberra Cockatoos. Lawford’s sister Belinda was a clear winner in the junior women’s division from Hobart siblings Claire and Rebecca Butler.

In the Senior Men’s division, Julian Dent of the NSW Stingers again showed he is Australia’s best male orienteer in all formats by taking out the race by 14 seconds from Simon Uppill of the Southern Arrows with Bruce Arthur of the Victorian Nuggets rounding out the top 3. The Canberra Cockatoos dominate the Senior Women’s division by taking out all places. New Zealand national Lizzie Ingham took out her first victory for the Cockatoos by a clear 51 second margin with teammates Mace Neve and Shannon Jones dead heating for 2nd.

Competitors then had a couple of hour’s break which included a 45 minute drive east to Diddleum for the days second race held with the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships. In the Open Women’s division, Vanessa Round (Southern Arrows) and Kathryn Ewels (Victorian Nuggets) used their international experience to take out the top 2 places with Lizzie Ingham continuing her excellent weekend by rounding out the top 3. Team mate, Belinda Lawford also continued a dominant start to the weekend by easily winning the junior women’s division from Tasmanian duo Amy Buckerfield and Rebecca Phillips.

Speaking of domination, Julian Dent again led the way from Simon Uppill with a comfortable 2 minute margin with Murray Scown (Canberra Cockatoos) having a good race to round out the top 3. Over in the Junior Men’s division Oliver Poland (Canberra Cockatoos) was a narrow victor over Oscar Phillips and Ian Lawford was again 3rd. The junior men’s division was a tight race for orienteering with less than 7 minutes separating the top 12.

As this was a selection trial a lot was on the line in putting your name up in front of the selectors. The wet and boggy marshes from the recent period of wet weather in Tasmania and the cutting grass in one or two of the gullies claimed a few “victims” as competitors strove to “go the extra yard”. The aggressive running NSW Stinger Julian Dent confronted the cutting grass and Victorian Nugget Kathryn Ewels was one of a number to hit one of the extra boggy marshes.

Round 3 of the SILVA National Orienteering League and final World Championship selection races are on this weekend in Tasmania. First up on Saturday morning is a sprint race on University of Tasmania’s Launceston campus. A quick recovery and short drive to Benbullen for the Middle distance race. This map was previously used for the 2009 Easter Carnival and features a mixture of open farmland, plantation and native forest with a scattering of granite boulders. Sunday’s Long distance race is on Lively’s Bog near St Helens, and with recent heavy rains the marshes could be more boggy than ever.

SILVA National Series leader Simon Uppill will have some added competition this weekend with the return of NSW’s star Julian Dent. Dent missed the last round of races due to commitments with his Swedish club Malungs, but his form shows he is the hot favourite. 2011 Easter Carnival winner Grant Bluett will miss the race after completing the tough North Face 100km Ultramarathon last weekend and leaves the Canberra Cockatoos team as depleted as Bluett’s legs. NSW Stingers are looking to extend their lead in the team competition, with the aid of Dent and Ian Meyer who is returning from an injury induced break.

In the women’s series, Kathryn Ewels holds a small lead from Victorian Nuggets teammate Jasmine Neve and SA’s Vanessa Round. Youngster Aislinn Prendergast has shown great consistency this season to hold 4^th place and experienced Susanne Casanova is showing she is also in great form in 5^th. The strong Victorian Nuggets team looks like they will again hold onto the NOL Series lead. The highly standard of the women’s field shows there is plenty of competition for the Australian team to compete at the World Championships in France.

Orienteers did really well in the North Face 100km running race last weekend in the rugged Blue Mountains.

Overseas runners took the first 3 places with Kilian Jornet from Spain winning in an incredible 9 hrs 19 mins.  ACT orienteers were right up there with Rob Walter placing 8th in 10.55 and Grant Bluett next in at 11.06.   Occasional orienteer and former MTBO Australian rep, Julie Quinn paced herself well, and  moved through the overseas female runners during the second half of the race and literally sprinted to a 50 second win in a time of 11.39.  Julie placed 20th out of the 850 starters and smashed her previous race record by 34 minutes.

The Winter Classic in Victoria saw three tremendous orienteering races held in Castlemaine and nearby areas over the weekend.  The overall trophy winners were Laurina Neumann and Bruce Arthur who had the best cumulative times in the open classes.  However junior Ian Lawford ran up and impressed with a win in the middle distance event and a close 3rd in the long.
Placegetters were:

Sprint:Results Splits
Rob Preston, Evan Barr, David Brownridge; Vanessa Round, Jasmine Neve, Laurinna Neumann

Middle: Results Splits
Ian Lawford,Evan Barr, Bruce Arthur; Laurina Neumann, Ainslinn Prendergast, Jenny Casanova

Long: Results Splits
Bryan Keely, Bruce Arthur, Ian Lawford; Kathryn Ewels, Vanessa Round, Laurina Neumann.

The Senior Selection Panel appointed by OA to select the Australian team for the 2011 World Orienteering Championships (WOC) in France is as follows:

Robert Lewis (Coach)

Wendy Read (Assistant Coach & manager)

Kay Haarsma (High Performance Manager)

Mike Dowling for women’s selection

Jenny Casanova (Chair of Selectors) for men’s selection
Nominations received.

The 2011 WOC team will be announced as soon as possible after the final WOC trials in Tasmaniaon May 21st/22nd, and will be chosen from among the following athletes who have submitted nominations:

 Men                                          Women

Bruce Arthur                               Susanne Casanova
Evan Barr                                   Grace Elson
Julian Dent                              Rachel Effeney
Chris  Naunton                          Tracy Marsh
Rob Preston                              Jasmine Neve
Tom Quayle                             Mace Neve
Ben Rattray                               Aislinn Prendergast
Matt Schepisi                             Vanessa Round
Murray Scown                           Anna Sheldon
Simon Uppill

Overseas trials being used for selection for two runners permanently based in Europe are:

Tom – Swedish sprint and Tio Mila
Grace – (Sprint only, Easter) British Sprint/Middle (April 9,10), British WOC trials (May 21, 22)

Jenny Casanova (Chair of Selectors)

Orienteering Australia has selected the Bushrangers Team selected to compete against New Zealand in the 2011 Bushrangers V Pinestars Challenge.

Women’s Team

Bridget Anderson (QLD)
Rachel Effeney (QLD)
Belinda Lawford (ACT)
Mace Neve (ACT)
Aislinn Prendergast (VIC)
Anna Sheldon (QLD)

Men’s Team

Evan Barr (VIC)
Joshua Blatchford (NSW)
Lachlan Dow (ACT)
Rob Preston (NSW)
Murray Scown (ACT)
Simon Uppill (SA)
Reserve: Ben Rattray (SA)

The competition will take place in New Zealand 4-6 June, as  part of the ‘Regal Orienteering Carnival’ being held in Woodhill Forests north of Auckland. The team will be supported by coach, Wendy Read.

Congratulations to the team, and good luck for the first round of the 2011 Bushrangers V Pinestars Challenge. A return challenge will take part during the Oceania Championships Carnival in Australia later this year.  The Bushrangers team will be reselected for the October Challenge.

The Australian Middle Distance Championships on the granite Marginata map was the concluding event in the “Frazzle Rock” easter carnival held in Western Australia.  With this event being a selection trial for the elite World Championships, there was no easing off.  The 3 day winners in Vanessa Round and Grant Bluett reinforced their status with solid wins.  Vanessa won by a minute in 32.35 over Jasmine Neve, with Mace Neve (35.36) holding onto third narrowly by 4 seconds over Tracy Bluett.   In the men’s race Rob Preston held the lead until control 11 but then Grant Bluett came to the front and won by 20 seconds over Simon Uppill with Rob a minute further back.

The junior elites were not so predictable.  Nicola Blatchford stepped up from W16 to take a good win by 30 seconds over Krystal Neumann and Emma Campbell.  Brodie Nankervis ran brilliantly to hold off Ollie Poland by 19 seconds, with Ian Lawford in third.  However Jwoc team members Ollie Poland, Oscar McNulty, Lachlan Dow and Ian Lawford all take away a sprint victory over the elite field this week, so that is really exciting as they prepare for the Worlds in Poland.

Overall there were just a handful of orientering legends in the main classes who managed the trifecta of winning Easter, the sprint and middle distance championships.  Well done to Anthea Feaver (W50), Bernard Walker (M50); the kiwi Graham Fortune (M70) and the golden oldies Gordon Howitt and Hehman Wehner in M80 & 85 respectively.

With 7 events in 10 days the carnival was demanding on the runners, but even more so on the organisers.  Many thanks to the WA orienteers who worked so tirelessly to give us all that exciting running on enjoyable yet challenging maps.

The next round of the NOL races is in Tasmania on May 21-22, with these being the final selection races for the WOC team.

Results

Splits

The Australian Middle Distance Championships on the granite Marginata map was the concluding event in the “Frazzled Rock” easter carnival held in Western Australia.  With this event being a selection trial for the elite World Championships, there was no easing off.  The 3 day winners in Vanessa Round and Grant Bluett reinforced their status with solid wins.  Vanessa won by a minute in 32.35 over Jasmine Neve, with Mace Neve (35.36) holding onto third narrowly by 4 seconds over Tracy Bluett.   In the men’s race Rob Preston held the lead until control 11 but then Grant Bluett came to the front and won by 20 seconds over Simon Uppill with Rob a minute further back.

The junior elites were not so predictable.  Nicola Blatchford stepped up from W16 to take a good win by 30 seconds over Krystal Neumann and Emma Campbell.  Brodie Nankervis ran brilliantly to hold off Ollie Poland by 19seconds, with Ian Lawford in third.  However JWOC team members Ollie Poland, Oscar McNulty, Lachlan Dow and Ian Lawford all take away a sprint victory over the elite field this week, so that is really exciting as they prepare for the Worlds in Poland.

Overall there were just a handful of orientering legends in the main classes who managed the trifecta of winning Easter, the sprint and middle distance championships.  Well done to Anthea Feaver (W50), Bernard Walker (M50); the kiwi Graham Fortune (M70) and the golden oldies Gordon Howitt and Hehman Wehner in M80 & 85 respectively. 2010 SILVA medal winner Geoff Lawford (M55) was also undefeated and looks like he’s keen to hang onto the award.

With 7 events in 10 days the carnival was demanding on the runners, but even more so on the organisers.  Many thanks to the WA orienteers who worked so tirelessly to give us all that exciting running on enjoyable yet challenging maps.

Photos by John Harding of the Frazzle Rock Four Days, Bunbury Scatter O and Australian Sprint and Middle Distance Championships are at http://hardingjohn.smugmug.com/Sports/Orienteering/2011-West-Australia

The next round of the NOL races is in Tasmania on May 20-21st, with these being the final selection races for the WOC team.

Today saw a fantastic new venue added to sprint orienteering in WA and Australia.

Mandjar Bay map forms part of the Mandurah Foreshore redevelopment that includes canals, footbridges and dolphins on a good day.

Racing was very close in the M17-20E today with Lachlan Dow stealing the win off local boy Oscar McNulty by 3 seconds in a time of 16:53. Ian Lawford finished third in a time of 17:11. Lachlan Dow and Oscar McNulty’s times would have placed them in first and second on the senior leaderboard.

In the Women’s Junior Elite race Belinda Lawford had a comfortable win in a time of 17:52, Lillian Burrell finished second in 19:18 and Jacqui Doyle sqeezed into third place in a time of 20:10.

In the Men’s Elite race Simon Uphill took ou the title in a time of 17:07 followed by Grant Bluett  in 17:18 and Bruce Arthur taking third in 17:40

Kathryn Ewels showed her dominance on the Women’s Elite course today with a clear victory.  Kathryn finished in a time of 16:24, some 39 secs clear of Mace Neve and Rachel Effeney rounded out the podium in a time of 17:09

Results

Splits

Orienteering Australia is proud to announce the team for 2011 Junior World Championships.

Men’s team

Josh Blachford (NSW)
Lachlan Dow (ACT)
Ian Lawford (ACT)
Oscar McNulty (WA)
Max Neve (VIC)
Oliver Poland (ACT)
1st Reserve- Kurt Neumann (QLD)
2nd Reserve- Oscar Phillips (TAS)

Women’s team

Lillian Burrill (QLD)
Claire Butler (TAS)
Jacqui Doyle (QLD)
Belinda Lawford (ACT)
Krystal Neumann (QLD)
Georgia Parsons (ACT)

The Championships take place in Poland 1-9th July 2011. The team will be supported by coach Roch Prendergast and manager Valerie Barker.

Congratulations to the team, and good luck for the championships.