Author: craigf

Kathryn Ewels completed a clean sweep of national titles when she won the Australian Long Distance Championships in the Warby Ranges today. After losing a little time early, she took the lead by half-distance on the physically and technically demanding course, and settled the race on the long eleventh leg, seeing off a challenge from Vanessa Round. Round was her closest challenger, in her best race of the season, and was the only one to get close to her, finishing two minutes in arrears in the end. It was a much closer battle for third, eventually taken by Anna Sheldon, who ran the fastest final sector of the course to gain three places in the last three legs.

Dave Shepherd also capped off an excellent week with what turned into a reasonably comfortable win. As expected, he was in a close contest with Simon Uppill early, but pulled out a minute on the sixth leg and was never headed again. Uppill ended up having to settle for second, after a close battle with Rune Olsen that was not finally settled until the Dane lost time at the third-last.

A third dominant figure of the week, Max Neve, also finished off the individual races of the series with a comfortable victory. It was effectively settled at the second control, by which he had already made up more than three minutes of the four-minute gap to Leon Keely. They were together by #6 and dominated the field thereafter to fill the first two places. Lachlan Dow never really looked like winning but was the best of the rest.

There was a maiden national title for Bridget Anderson in W20E. She had been competitive all week in the faster terrain without quite breaking through for a win, but the rocky terrain was more to her liking and she led for most of the way. Aislinn Prendergast lost time at the end of the course but it made no difference to her place, merely dropping her from a close second to a more distant one, and the remaining placing was settled at the end of the day when last starter Sarah Buckerfield, in her first race back in Australia, ran an excellent second half to squeeze Belinda Lawford out of third.

The two junior classes in the SILVA National League were settled today – or rather not settled because Prendergast and Lawford finished in a dead heat. Max Neve’s win saw him come from behind to take the title by seven points. In the team events, the Victorian Nuggets turned practical certainty into mathematical certainty in the senior women’s and consolidated their position in the junior men’s, but an excellent battle for second looms in the senior men’s between the Southern Arrows, the Nuggets and the Canberra Cockatoos, with tomorrow’s relay to settle matters.

Results and splits are available.

Dave Shepherd and Kathryn Ewels took out the Australian Sprint Championships at Benalla today, both backing up from wins at their last start on Sunday. For Ewels it was a comfortable win, but the men’s race was in doubt until the final moments.

Ewels never really looked like losing, hitting the front by the time the race reached its most technical section on the islands of Benalla’s river flats, and continuing to extend her lead through the race. Ultimately she finished 46 seconds in front, an impressive margin for a sprint race. First starter Rachel Effeney posted a time that only Ewels could beat in her best senior result yet, whilst Natasha Key showed that she is still a force to be reckoned with over the shorter distances by coming in third, just three seconds further back.

The men also had a formidable time posted early, by Nick Barrable of Great Britain. It was a time which withstood increasingly serious challenges, first from Bryan Keely, then from Simon Uppill, who was level with Barrable with four controls to go but was not quite able to match the Briton’s speed over the closing stages. Shepherd, though, went through the spectator control in front, and although he had the slightest of wobbles at the end, he was still able to finish two seconds clear. There was still one serious challenge, from Denmark’s Rune Olsen, but after going through the spectator control with a five-second lead, he lost 30 seconds on the next control and fell out of contention.

The junior women’s class was equally close. Aislinn Prendergast posted a time early and was never headed, but there was not much in it, as three others got within ten seconds of her. First Belinda Lawford fell just short, then Bridget Anderson was in front late in the course but got beaten for speed at the end. Angela Simpson came in with the fastest time but had missed a control, and then finally Laura Robertson finished fast but not quite fast enough. Lawford was second, one second ahead of Anderson and Robertson in equal third.

The junior men’s was another triumph for Max Neve, who is having an excellent week. He posted a 30-second lead and never looked like losing. There was plenty of excitement behind him, though, as the 15-year-old Oscar McNulty proved that his M21A WA Sprint Championships win was no fluke with an exceptional debut at this level. He finished second, ahead of Josh Blatchford. Leon Keely might have got second, but ran past the third-last control before doubling back and had to settle for ninth.

The NSW Stingers got enough points today to assure themselves of the senior men’s title in the SILVA National League, but several other issues remain resolved, especially the junior individual title. Lachlan Dow, Josh Blatchford and Max Neve are separated by a single point, and Aislinn Prendergast’s win today puts her close enough to Belinda Lawford to overhaul her with a win tomorrow.

Results and splits are available.

In an exciting day for the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships Qld withheld a gallant fight from ACT to take out the 2009 title.  New Zealand was clearly dominant in the Southern Cross challenge to win again with QLD finishing second.

In the senior boys relay three teams battled it out up until the final sprint to the line with Josh Blatchford from NSW crossing the line first in what was a tight battle with NZ and ACT also in the finish chute at the same time.  Due to a mispunch by Josh Blatchford, NSW were Disqualified leaving  New Zealand winners and  ACT 2nd by only 4 secs. Lachlan Dow (ACT) posted the fastest split of the course but was unable to close the gap to Duncan Morrison of NZ .

Senior girls showed that New Zealand are clearly dominant with a strong win over ACT and Qld picking up third.  New Zealand won in a time of 109.15min with ACT a further 6min behind.

In the Junior Boys race WA headed into the relay clear favourites but after the first leg WA was fourth 1.10min behind Tasmanian Brodie Nankervis.  By the third leg NZ had developed an unassailable lead leaving TAS, NSW, WA and QLD  to battle it for the minor medals.  New Zealand won in a time of 83.14min whilst NSW held of a valiant charge from TAS to place second with TAS third and WA 19 secs behind in 4th.

QLD showed that their junior girls are a strong team as they proved that the win the previous day was not a fluke.  Rebecca Freese of QLD established a lead of 22secs after leg one from Michele Dawson (NSW) and that gap was only whittled down to 14secs by the end of the third leg.  Qld took the win in a time of 99.07mins with NSW second and New Zealand taking third.

After 2 days of competition New Zealand were clear winners in the Southern Cross Challenge ending up with 59pts ahead of QLD 46pts and ACT 40pts.

In the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships QLD took the win with 44 points ahead of ACT 40points and TAS third with 39 points.

Honour Team Announced

The 2009 Australian Schools Honour Team was announced at the schools presentation dinner.  This years team consists of:

Junior Girls

Rachel Austin      (WA)
Michele Dawson (NSW)
Jacqui Doyle       (QLD)
Rebecca Freese  (QLD)

Junior Boys

Matthew Hill       (NSW)
Bill Mann             (WA)
Oscar Mc Nulty   (WA)
Oliver Poland      (ACT)

Senior Girls

Lilian Burrill         (QLD)
Clare Butler         (TAS)
Belinda Lawford  (ACT)
Georgia Parsons  (ACT)

Senior Boys

Lachlan Dow      (ACT)
Ian Lawford       (ACT)
Max Neve          (VIC)
James Robertson (VIC)

Today saw the opening race of the 2009 Australian Schools Orienteering Championships provide plenty of spectacle and suspense.

Today’s individal race near Bendigo Vic saw all our categories have race wins of less than 50secs.  On a map that was predicted to be a fast running map and with far better weather than the 3 previous days, the competition was fast and furious.

In the Junior Boys category WA created history with Oscar McNulty becoming the first ever West Australian male to win an individual gold at the australian schools championships in the 20yrs that WA have competed.  Oscar won by 36secs from Oliver Poland (ACT) with Liam Paterson placing 3rd from NZ. The race was effectively decided at the first control; Oscar had a 35-second lead there, and the margin was between 24 and 40 seconds for the rest of the race.

Jacqui Doyle from Qld took the win in the junior girls with a 12 sec win from Michele Dawson (NSW).  Qld showed their strength in the junior girls class with Rebecca Freese placing 3rd.

Local hope Max Neve stole a win on local terrain to take a win in the Senior Boys, as the lead changed several times throughout the mornings race.  Max ran the senior boys course of 8.1km in a time of 37.16, 50secs ahead of Lachlan Dow (ACT) followed by Gene Beveridge of NZ.

Suspense came in the result of the Senior Girls class as Angela Simpson of NZ stealing a win from Belinda Lawford by 1sec after trailing for virtually the entire course. Belinda was the only Australian in the top four, with Laura Robertson from NZ a further 39secs back and Selena Metherell just behind that.

New Zealand are comfortable leaders of the Southern Cross Junior Challenge, but the state competition looms as a thriller. Queensland are three points ahead of a three-way tie between the ACT, NSW and Tasmania.

Tommorrow’s relay on the same map shapes up to be a block buster as everyone has now had a run on the fast open terrain and have dialed in their understanding of the area.

Simon Uppill and Kathryn Ewels took out the open titles in the Australian Middle Distance Championships, run yesterday in wet conditions in the complex goldmining terrain of Chewton Diggings.

For Uppill it was a second successive national middle distance title. He was pressed harder this year than last year; while he led for most of the race, Danish visitor Rune Olsen finished fast and closed the margin to just 11 seconds. In a slightly unexpected result, Bruce Arthur completed the placings, posting a good time early and seeing it withstand almost all challenges.

Ewels went in as clear favourite in the absence of Hanny Allston always looked like winning. She was close to a minute up by halfway and held that margin through to the end of the race. On a day as un-Darwin as they come, NT-based Susanne Casanova achieved a career-best result, recovering from a slowish start to come through to second with an excellent second half, while Mace Neve just held off Vanessa Round for third.

There was a victory for New Zealand in the junior women’s when Angela Simpson scored by 39 seconds in a fluctuating race where the top four all had chances. Belinda Lawford took the resident title ahead of Bridget Anderson. In the junior men’s, Max Neve started very well and overcame some wobbles in the middle to finish 54 seconds ahead. Josh Blatchford, who has been sidelined with injury for several weeks, made a successful return to finish second, just ahead of fellow JWOC team member Oscar Phillips.

Results, splits and RouteGadget are available.

Dave Shepherd made a successful return to long-distance competition today when he won the open men’s event at the Victorian Long Distance Championships. It was the first significant long distance race he has run in more than a year following a serious ankle injury, but far from struggling with the distance, he kept his nose in front of Simon Uppill over the first two-thirds of a physically demanding 15.1 km course, and then pulled right away over the closing stages to win by nearly four minutes. Uppill held on to second place ahead of Rob Walter, another who surprised with his endurance over the closing stages.

Kathryn Ewels totally dominated the W21E race, falling only a few seconds short of winning every split as she took the race by nearly nine minutes. It was a lot closer behind that, but in the end a good second half saw Susanne Casanova repeat her second place from yesterday, ahead of Shannon Jones.

Two more home wins for the Victorian came in the elite junior classes. In W20E, Aislinn Prendergast finished at the top of the field, although Bridget Anderson came close to catching up at the end. Leon Keely got on top early in M20E and ended up three minutes ahead of Lachlan Dow, who edged out another local in James Robertson.

Results, splits and RouteGadget are available.

Last weekend the Western Australian Championships were held for both the Middle Distance and Long Distance formats.

A new area was mapped for the event and provided numerous challenges for the comeptitors whilst offering spectacular views over the Perth coastal plain as well as the hills to the east.  The terrain was open and very runnable with grass and wildflowers, but prolific black boys made visibility difficult.

Craig Dufty showed that he has recovered from his recent marathon with good form to take very convincing wins in both events.  Saturday’s Middle Distance course was set by Adrian Day and was an exercise ib concentration from start to finish.  Craig led the way, winning all but 2 splits (in the middle of the course).  John Toomey was second, with Eoin Rothery in 3rd place.  A novelty of the event was a local dog “Tash” who started with Craig, ran part of the course with Eoin when she couldn’t keep up, and then accompanied Ian Dalton the majority of the course.  The women (running the same course as the men) started later and When Rachel West headed off to start Tash took off with her, but apparently once around the course was enough as she returned to the finish area soon after.

Cath Chalmers won the womens race, although Rachel West was not far behind, having taken the lead through controls 8 & 9.  A good long leg transitioning to the later part of the course saw Cath take the lead again and hold on until the finish.  Rachel was 2nd and Jen Graham-Taylor showed that her orienteering is improving quickly, close behind in 3rd.

Sunday’s long course was set by Phil Dufty and proved to be a true long distance test.  Craig Dufty was able to capitalise on his recent long distance training to take another very convincing win, but the women’s results were overturned with Rachel West taking the win.  Steve Fletcher was 2nd and Ricky Thackray 3rd in the mens, while Jen Grahamm-Taylor also improved on her previous day’s result to take 2nd in the womens.

The Queensland Championships took on an international flavour this year with 18 orienteers from Great Britain, Canada and Sweden, en route to the World Masters Orienteering Championships, joining over 210 local and interstate orienteers for the two day event.

The Championships were held close to Stanthorpe in Queensland’s Granite Belt with the longer Day 1 courses crossing over the border fence into NSW. The combination of subtle terrain and isolated granite features on the Over the Border map caused even some of the experienced competitors to lose time in the forest. Former Australian representative, Lorenzo Calabro (TF Q)took out the 5.5km M21A middle distance event in a time of 35.14, 4 minutes ahead of Mark Gregson (TF Q) with junior, Kurt Neumann (EN Q) a further minute behind. In the 4.3km W21A course, Anna Sheldon (UGQ) showed her superiority with a 5 minute gap to nearest rival, Laurina Neumann (EN Q) while Melissa Thomas (UR N) was just behind in third place in a comeback to Australian major events after several years in Germany.

Day 2 of the Championships saw a return to the famous Cascades map, west of Stanthorpe, which must rate as one of the most technically complex granite maps in Australia. Few people managed a clean run in this challenging area with many tales of woe and long times. Lorenzo and Anna once again demonstrated their experience and abilities, with Lorenzo finishing his 9.2km course in 88.22, 5 minutes ahead of Blair Trewin (YV V) while Kurt Neumann was a further 10 minutes behind. Anna won her 6.4km W21A course in a time of 71.33, 8 minutes in front of Laurina, while Melissa was a further 13 minutes back to finish in fourth just behind Ainsley Cavanagh.

Other competitors who handled the tough conditions of The Cascades with good runs included Krystal Neumann (W17-20A), Judith Hay (W55+AS), Geoff Peck (M55A), Darryl Erbacher (M65A) and Ray Kelly (M80A).

Results (both days)

Splits (Saturday)

Splits (Sunday)

Mallee, spur-gully terrain, deeply eroded creeks, interspersed with open and semi open ridges and flats, was the challenge for South Australian orienteers for the Long Distance Championships held north of Burra.  Conditions were mild (after a hot, dusty Saturday), and apart from blustery wind at times, ideal for orienteering.

In the open classes, Jenny Casanova was the winner in W21A in 108:49 over a challenging 12.5 km ahead of Lauren Gillis and Fern Tomas.  Simon Uppill was three minutes ahead of Victorian Blair Trewin in M21A after 14.4 km in an unexpectedly close race; third was John Nieuwenhoven.

Other closely contested classes were M45A where the place getters were Steve Cooper, Andrew McComb and Phil Hazell. In M55A, Adrian Uppill, Paul Hoopman and Rob Tucker took the placings. Riordan Dose impressed with a comfortable win in an excellent time in M20A.

Results and splits are available.

The SILVA National Orienteering League turns 18 next year and it just gets better with age. The four round, 18 race competition will feature quality maps close to major cities and is sure to draw big numbers.

Round 1 will feature the return of the Eureka Challenge Massed start Hagaby in complex gold-mining terrain. And the Mixed relay is back after a years rest and is sure to be a highlight of the season.

Round 2 is the Easter 2010 carnival based around Canberra, and the ACT Championships in Buckenderra near Cooma.

Round 3 is the traditional WOC trials in May and will feature Macquarie University, one of the best sprint maps in the country. The middle and long distance races will be in the Southern Highlands’ rugged Sydney sandstone terrain.

Round 4 is the Australian Championships Carnival near Adelaide, South Australia. SA hosted the 2009 Round 1 and if those races are anything to go by you won’t want to miss the 2010 Aussie Champs.

The final 5 races of the 2009 SILVA National Orienteering League start in Victoria in just a few weeks- for all information checkout the Bushrangers 09 carnival website.

2010 SILVA National Orienteering League Program