2009 Archive

Ian Fehler and Kay Haarsma are the 2009 SA elite MTBO Champions after testing courses on the new Fox Creek map in the Adelaide Hills.  This area includes one of the top downhill and crosscountry mt biking areas in SA and has a dense network of tracks through both pine and native bush in very hilly terrain.  Adrian Uppill, both mapper and course setter, did a wonderful job creating route choices that many competitors are still pondering.

Ian Fehler, who comes from a xc mt biking and adventure racing background, improved from 4th last year with a 4 minute win over Lee Merchant, with Heinz Leuenberger a further 9 minutes adrift.  The 25.5km course with over 1,000 metres of climb took 120 minutes for the winner.  Kay Haarsma took 122 minutes for her 18.5km course with newcomer to mtbo, Fern Tomas doing well to finish 2nd.

A grade winners were:
M16 – Jack Allison
M20 – Riordan Dose
M21 – Ian Fehler
M40 – Ruhi Afnan
M50 – Gerry Velatis
M60 – Peter Mayer
W21 – Kay Haarsma
W40 – Michelle Chamalaun
W50 – Anthea Williams
W60 – Helen Smith.

Australia again led the way at the long distance finals at the World Masters Orienteering Championships today. While the host nation did not dominate to quite the same extent as they did in the sprint, they still took home six gold medals. Warren and Natasha Key both repeated their sprint victories in M50 and W35 respectively, as did Hermann Wehner (M85) and Jenny Bourne (W55). Paul Pacque went one better than the sprint in taking out M55, while the final Australian gold medallist was Cath Chalmers in W40. The hosts also took six silvers and three bronzes.

Non-European nations dominated the women’s classes, winning eight out of ten, with Australia and the United States taking three each. The three American gold medals matched Sweden’s performance.

Two classes which were won by Europeans provided two of the best races. In M40 Russia’s Alexey Marozov led five within two minutes of the lead, while M45 was even better, with five within 1.11. Per Magnusson’s loss of 52 seconds at the fourth-last dropped him from first to fourth and was the exact gap to German gold medallist Michael Thierolf. W50 was also an excellent contest with 34 seconds covering the medallists (who were only separated by one second at halfway). Natalia Deconescu took out one of the three American golds, while Liz Abbott held off a fast-finishing Carey Nazzer for silver.

The gold medallists were:

M35     Carsten Jorgensen (DEN)

M40     Alexey Morozov (RUS)

M45     Michael Thierolf (GER)

M50     Warren Key (AUS)

M55     Paul Pacque (AUS)

M60     Andy Hemsted (GBR)

M65     Rune Radestrom (SWE)

M70     Rodrigo Slavins (LAT)

M75     Sveinung Bleivkin (NOR)

M80     Helmer Ekberg (SWE)

M85     Hermann Wehner (AUS)

W35    Natasha Key (AUS)

W40    Cath Chalmers (AUS)

W45    Pavlina Brautigam (USA)

W50    Natalia Deconescu (USA)

W55    Jenny Bourne (AUS)

W60    Patricia Aspin (NZL)

W65    Sharon Crawford (USA)

W70    Birgitta Thunell (SWE)

W75    Nesta Leduc (CAN)

W80    Pella Rye (GBR)

Provisional results are available at the WMOC site.

Splits now available on Winsplits.

It was another good day for Australia in the World Masters Games long distance qualifiers, with eight of the 24 classes being won by locals. For three of them, Natasha Key (W35), Warren Key (M50) and Hermann Wehner (M85), it indicates a good chance for them to add to their sprint gold medals. John Brock was especially convincing in winning his M65 heat by eleven minutes over the two days, while there were also wins for Paul Pacque (M55), Caryl Woof (W75), Ray Kelly (M80) and Liz Abbott (W50), who prevailed by 43 seconds after a close contest with Gillian Ingham.

Today’s Scandinavian bragging rights, in contrast with the sprint, went to the Norwegians, who took out four classes to two for Finland and one each for Sweden and Denmark. The other country with multiple winners was New Zealand, for whom Jason Markham led M40 and Patricia Aspin, returning after injury forced her out of the sprint final, won W60.

Unfortunately, two Australian hopes fell by the wayside, with Christine Marshall (W45) and W75 sprint gold medallist Maureen Ogilvie failing to qualify after mispunches in the heats.

The finals will be contested on Saturday. The area is adjacent to today’s but is expected to be more technical and generally more rugged, with many classes having shorter courses despite the longer projected winning times.

Results are available through the World Masters Games site.

Australia led the way with seven gold medals in the sprint finals of the World Masters Orienteering Championships, held today at Sydney Olympic Park. It was also an excellent day for New Zealand, with three golds, while Sweden was the other multiple gold winner with five.

Those to add victories today to a history of WMOC success were Jenny Bourne (W55), Natasha Key (W35) and Hermann Wehner (M85). Bourne was a little off the pace in qualifying but produced the goods when it mattered for a comfortable victory, continuing her record of collecting at least one win in every age group she has contested, while both Key and Wehner had comfortable wins.

Warren completed a Key family double in M50, and at the older end of the spectrum there were gold medals for Kevin Paine (M80) and Maureen Ogilvie (W75). The most dramatic Australia win of the day, though, was that of Su Yan Tay in W45; after having one of the day’s largest margins yesterday, she had the narrowest possible margin today, coming from well behind after two early errors and making up six critical seconds in the finish chute.

That was not the only one-seconder of the day; in M60 Ossi Lakkala (Finland) edged out Tim Sands (Great Britain), in another race where the lead changed hands in the chute, five seconds covered the medallists and 19 seconds covered the top five. At the other end of the scale, Anne-Marie Holmstrom (W60, Sweden) and Gunnar Lerfald (M70, Norway) both had wins by about 90 seconds in highly competitive classes.

In addition to the seven golds, there were three silvers and three bronzes for Australia. Runners-up were Anthea Feaver (W50) and Jenny Enderby (W40) – both to NZ opposition in Gillian Ingham and Marquita Gelderman respectively – along with Paul Pacque (M55). Bronzes went to Bruce Arthur (M35), Clive Pope (M70) and Neil Schafer (M80).

Results are available from the WMOC site.

Splits available via Winsplits here

Competition continues with the first long qualification race near Lithgow on Wednesday.

The National Junior Squad and Junior Development Squad for 2009-10 were announced at the Australian Relays presentation last weekend.

The National Junior Squad is:

Lilian Burrill (Qld)

Belinda Lawford (ACT)

Sarah Buckerfield (Tas)

Krystal Neumann (Qld)

Georgia Parsons (ACT)

Mary Fleming (Vic)

Catherine Hewitt (Tas)

Max Neve (Vic)

Leon Keely (Vic)

Lachlan Dow (ACT)

Joshua Blatchford (NSW)

Oscar Phillips (Tas)

Callum Fagg (Tas)

James Robertson (Vic)

Kurt Neumann (Qld)

Oliver Crosato (Qld)

Alex Massey (NSW)

The Junior Development Squad is:

Rebekah Sunley (Vic)

Michele Dawson (NSW)

Emma Campbell (Tas)

Rebecca Freese (Qld)

Jacqui Doyle (Qld)

Katie Doyle (Qld)

Oscar McNulty (WA)

Ian Lawford (ACT)

Oliver Poland (ACT)

Todd Neve (Vic)

Karl Bicevskis (Tas)

Marc Gluskie (Tas)

Congratulations to all those selected.

It was a good day for the hosts, along with Sweden and Great Britain, as the 2009 World Masters Games orienteering got under way with the sprint qualification at Macquarie University. Sweden led the way with seven victories from 24 classes contested, with the locals and the British taking five each.

Two of the largest victories went to Australians. Defending long-distance W35 champion Natasha Key was nearly three minutes clear of the small W35 field, but a more surprising big win was the two-minute margin that Su Yan Tay held in W45, ahead of 2009 American WOC representative Pavlina Brautigam. Hermann Wehner won the M85 heat, while Warren Key and Paul Pacque won their heats in M50 and M55 respectively.

In two classes New Zealanders saw off Australian opposition; Marquita Gelderman edged out Cath Chalmers in W40, and Gillian Ingham headed Anthea Feaver in W50, with Carey Nazzer making it a clean sweep for the Southern Hemisphere.

The finals will take place at Sydney Olympic Park tomorrow.

Results are available through the WMOC 2009 site.

The Canberra Cockatoos and Victorian Nuggets won the open classes at the Australian Relays today. Both teams went in as favourites after good individual performances on the two preceding days.

The Canberra men lived up to their favouritism. They opened up a two-minute lead over the nearest state team after Grant Bluett’s first leg, and extended it on each of the next two legs, ending up five minutes clear after Dave Shepherd capped off an excellent weekend with the fastest leg time. There was much more of a contest behind that, with the next four state teams separated by only 30 seconds going into the final leg. Simon Uppill came through to give the Southern Arrows second, while the NSW Stingers were third ahead of two Victorian teams.

In contrast, the women’s event was a close battle. Slightly surprisingly, Victoria came back a couple of minutes behind the lead pack (led by NSW’s Tracy Marsh) on the first leg, and while they recovered somewhat through Kathryn Ewels on the second, they still trailed entering the final leg, where Natasha Key was chasing Briohny Davey. Davey, who missed the previous day with a leg injury, held together better than might have been expected, but was still run down by Key and by Queensland’s Anna Sheldon, who ran an outstanding final leg (not for the first time). The three were separated by less than a minute at the final spectator control, with Key holding it together to take the win for Victoria, with Queensland second and NSW third.

Queensland extended their lead at every change to score by five minutes in W20 over the ACT, but there was more drama in M20, when what was expected to be a comfortable Victorian win was derailed by the Cockatoos, first when Oliver Poland’s outstanding second leg brought them back into contention from ten minutes down, then when Lachlan Dow overturned a 90-second deficit on Max Neve to gain some revenge for the previous day’s result.

The best race in the other classes came in M16, where the first six teams went out on the last leg within a minute, and Oscar McNulty eventually prevailed over Marc Gluskie in a sprint finish by the narrowest possible margin to win another race for Western Australia. W55 was also decided by seconds, with Tasmania narrowly beating Queensland.

Results

Splits

The SILVA National league team trophies have a new name on them. Previously, only the Canberra Cockatoos and Victorian Nuggets had won senior team competitions, but this year the NSW Stingers emerged to run away with the men’s title. They opened the season with a spectacular streak of 12 consecutive victories to give themselves what turned out to be an unbeatable lead. Julian Dent’s late-season injury put paid to possibilities of a perfect score, but they still had more than enough in hand. It was much closer behind them, coming down to the Australian Relays, where the Canberra Cockatoos’ win lifted them into a share of second place with the Southern Arrows.

The women’s margin ended up being even larger as the Victorian Nuggets built progressively on their lead on home ground at the end of the season. It was tight between the Nuggets and the Cockatoos early on in the season, but the absence of Allison Jones for most of the second half of the season left a hole that the Cockatoos were unable to fill and the Victorians took full advantage. The Tassie Foresters held third for much of the season, but were severely depleted at the end of the season and were overtaken by the consistent Queensland Cyclones.

The Victorian Nuggets took another title when a good final week saw them pull clear in a close junior men’s competition. It was even closer behind them than it was at the front, to the extent that the Cockatoos were fifth at the start of the final leg of the Australian Relays and second at the end of it. The Queensland Cyclones once again won the junior women’s competition, ahead of the Cockatoos.

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.