Julian Dent made it 10 SILVA National League victories in a row at the ACT Long distance Championships today. The venue, Glenbrook, consists of two working farms providing fast, open granite terrain. Dent managed to clock just under 5 minutes per kilometre to take 74.38 for the 15.7km course. David Shepherd got his revenge from yesterday’s disappointing result to take silver only 11 seconds ahead of Simon Uppill. The three Men’s Senior Elite placegetters demolished the rest of the field, with 4th placed Chris Naunton a further 6 minutes back.
Kathryn Ewels from Victoria took another long distance victory in the Women’s Senior Elite with a three and a half minute victory over Shannon Jones of ACT. Ewel’s team mate Jasmine Neve rounded out the placings.
Once again it was ACT’s brother and sister duo – the Lawfords – who took out the Men’s and Women’s Junior Elite classes. Belinda Lawford scored a 47 second victory over Tasmania’s Sarah Buckerfield with Georgia Parsons in third. Ian Lawford had a ripper run to take two minutes out of second placed Josh Blatchford from NSW. Kurt Neumann from QLD was a further two minutes back in third place.
The SILVA National League will continue in NSW on 16-17 May.
The easter twenty10 and snowytreble twenty10 organising committee would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers who helped make the carnival a success. Special thank you go to all course setters, controllers, team leaders and team members. Thank you also to all competitors who made the trip to participate positively and enjoy the seven-event carnival. See you at the Australian Championships in 2011!
Ian “Ezy” Meyer has broken into the placings of the SILVA National League round today at Buckenderra. It has been the same three places in the Men’s Senior Elite over the past 6 races and finally Meyer bumped David Shepherd off the podium. However, it was business as usual at the top end with Julian Dent continuing his clean sweep of races with a commanding three minute victory over Simon Uppill. The granite terrain and steep hillsides suited Dent and no one could match his pace out in the forest today. Dent will be looking to make it 10 wins from 10 starts in 2010 tomorrow with the ACT Long Distance Championships to be held at Glenbrook.
The roles reversed in the Women’s Elite today with South Australia’s Vanessa Round taking the victory two minutes clear of Shannon Jones. It was a tight fight for the minor placings with Jones narrowly beating Victoria’s Kathryn Ewels by 8 seconds and Ewels in turn beating ACT’s Jo Allison by 4 seconds. Jo Allison has recently returned from a maternity break and her result today shows that she will soon be back to her form of old.
esults
NSW’s Julian Dent and South Australia’s Vanessa Round are easter twenty10 champions – after 4 days of competition the pair have come out on top in the Men’s and Women’s Elite classes at the national event which wrapped up in Collector today.
Julian Dent made it look easy on the day having started with a 10 minute lead over his closest rivals Simon Uppill and Dave Shepherd. Dent was relentless in his pursuit of Easter glory and stated that he had a smooth run on Ben Rattray’s course. Dent’s plan to change his speed accordingly in the low-visibility areas of Collector Hill paid off as he emerged from the forest in a class of his own. Dent is looking forward to next weekend’s set of races in the Snowy Mountains before heading overseas to compete on the world stage in Sweden. Simon Uppill (SA) and Dave Shepherd (ACT) produced solid runs to finish 2nd and 3rd in the Men’s Elite.
It was a closer affair in the Women’s Elite with Vanessa Round causing a minor upset by starting in 3rd position, over 5 minutes down on Victoria’s Jasmine Neve, and crossing the line in first. Round passed team mate Susanne Casanova out in the forest as well as Neve who said she had some difficulties out in the forest today. Neve could not match the pace of Round, who is known for her strength in tough terrain. Neve held on to silver spot and Casanova the bronze.
The Men’s Junior Elite title was claimed by ACT’s Lachlan Dow with fellow team mate Oliver Poland starting and finishing in 2nd place. Queensland’s Kurt Neumann snatched third place from Ian Lawford. Neumann set a blistering pace early on and his time ended up being the fastest of the day.
Sarah Buckerfield and her Tasmanian comrade Claire Butler (pictured) made it one-two in the Women’s Junior Elite, although Queensland’s Lillian Burrill spoiled the Tassie trifecta by overtaking Brea Pearce in the forest. The fastest time of the day came from local favourite Belinda Lawford who started well after the main group due to a disqualification in the prologue on Friday. The Junior World Orienteering Championship (JWOC) selectors will have a tough job in picking the Australian team to compete at JWOC in Denmark later this year. The selectors should make their decision public later this week.
After a disappointing start to her Easter twenty10 campaign Kathryn Ewels showed her class with a comfortable win in the Women’s Elite class today. Ewels handled the intricacies of the Kowen pine forest better than her rivals, to finish three minutes clear of South Australian Susanne Casanova. In third place was Queenslander Anna Sheldon. Going into the final day’s chasing start, Victoria’s Jasmine Neve has a two minute lead overall ahead of Casanova, with Casanova’s team mate Vanessa Round in third position.
Dent will be heading off to Europe to compete after the weekend and is eager to see how his scintillating form in Australia will compare against the world’s best when he toes the line in the prestigious Tiomila relay in Sweden. Dent goes into the final day with a ten minute margin to Uppill with Shepherd heading out in third position.
Local boys dominated the Junior Men’s Elite class, filling all three places on the podium in today’s long distance race. Yesterday’s winner Lachlan Dow backed up for another victory today. Second place went to the young Oliver Poland who has had a consistent Easter weekend with two third placings prior to today’s result. Third position was claimed by Ian Lawford. Lawford has fallen just outside the places in the first two races, but with today’s result he moved up to third in the overall. The three Canberrans will head out in the first three positions in tomorrow’s chasing start, in the same order as today’s results.
RESULTS
Julian Dent showed again that he is in impressive form with a clear victory in today’s event at Gudgenby Homestead. In the Senior Men’s Elite class Dent toppled the rest of the field – the closest was Canberran Dave Shepherd who was nearly four minutes behind Dent’s time. The complex granite terrain provided sections of extremely technical orienteering which suited Dent’s strength and skill in the forest. Simon Uppill was three seconds behind Shepherd in third place.
In the Women’s Elite Jasmine Neve won again today which has set her up extremely well for the final two days of easter twenty10 competition. NSW’s Tracy Marsh made amends for a disappointing run yesterday to claim the silver spot – this was Marsh’s best National League result in recent times. Vanessa Round of the Southern Arrows led early on in the race but faded to finish in third.
Lachlan Dow of the ACT had a scintillating run in the Men’s Junior Elite class. He held a 2 minute and 20 second margin over second place’s Kurt Neumann of Queensland. Dow was pleased with today’s victory as he has been battling some ankle problems recently. Oliver Poland (still only 15 years of age) again proved his ability by rounding out the placings.
In the Women’s Elite, Victorian’s Jasmine Neve edged out Queensland Cyclone member Rachel Effeney by four seconds and both had a clear margin over third place – Susanne Casanova of South Australia. Neve showed she is back to the form that has given her selection on the Australian team in recent years. 5th place getter from the 2009 World Orienteering Championships Kathryn Ewels had some difficulty amongst the complex campus and finished in 15th place. Ewels will be looking to make up that time over the next three days.
Tomorrow’s event takes us on a journey from the urban maze to the wilds of Namadgi National Park with the elites running a middle race at Gudgenby Homestead.