2009 Archive

A small contingent of Australians have spent the last week experiencing what one could only describe as an amazing orienteering event! Camped together on the event centre campground (aka large paddock), most of us have shared the following memorable highlights:

• A fantastic fireworks display to celebrate the Swiss National Day,
• An exciting sprint event held in the town centre of Schwyz with a wild thunderstorm for added atmosphere,
• 24 hours of torrential rain on the second day turning the routes between the final controls into mudslides and the campground into a swampland,
• Incredible transportation logistics using buses and army vehicles to reach breathtaking assembly areas and start locations close to 2000m altitude,
• A 2 hour walk to the start with 900m climb, followed by a very technical course on karst pavements, followed by a 900m descent back to the assembly area,
• The long race day with only about 100m climb for most runners, but with the start at 2050m, it included 850m of descent and million dollar views during the race, and
• A middle distance race of only 2km or so for most runners – but in extremely technical, rocky, forrested terrain with low visiblilty.

Disappointingly for the organisers, the heavy rain early in the week also caused rockfall and land slips on the roads to the Day 4 event. This meant a huge re-organisation of the program to swap the Day 4 and 6 events, with organisers hopeful of roads being re-opened in time for the final day. But with more rain forecast for the final day, it was decided to reuse a previous area, with runners advised to BYO pen to mark up maps prior to their start! Only in Switzerland could such chaos be turned into seamless organisation.

Aussies have faired quite well in such challenging terrain, most placing in the top half of the field with the occasional top 10 result!

The Swiss O Week is certainly an event to be included in your ‘must do’ list. The efforts of organisers and course setters to showcase the Swiss mountains has been amazing and the overall event organisation simply superb.

The World Masters Orienteering Championships has received over 1,100 entries. But you still have a chance to enter as the closing date has been extended for 5 days.

Record numbers of overseas orienteers will be attending the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Sydney and Lithgow this October. Unfortunately record numbers of Australian and New Zealand Orienteers have chosen not to attend and support this international event.

This is looking to be a great carnival so if you have been undecided about attending you have a second chance.

Click Here for more information

The Australian Orienteering MTBO team is about to meet in Tel Aviv for their training camp prior to the World Championships.

The team is Carolyn and Adrian Jackson, with Timmy Jackson along as chief photographer and Kay Haarsma as coach.

Conditions are likely to be extremely hot at 35 degrees and limited forest cover.

Specific event rules require riders to start with at least 1 litre of water.

Riders may also ride cross country, not having to stay on tracks, and must ride on the right hand side of tracks.
AUG 3-8    Training Accomm – Ramat HaShofet – 100 kms north of Tel Aviv

This is a kibbutz with a dairy farm.

AUG 9-15    WOC Accom – Ben Shemen Youth Village – 25 kms East of Tel Aviv.

This is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in central Israel. In 2006 the village had a population of 627. It has around 1,000 students, of which 400 live in the village
The Israel website has names and photos of competitors, as well as some photos and maps. Sweden is at WOC for the first time with one male entered.
Most of the top riders, es expected are competing, perhaps with the main absentees being some of the Danes.
See: www.nivut.org.il/mtbo/

Also we will be communicating occasionally back via AJ’s blog page, so watch that space too from Aug 3rd on.
http://adrianjacksonsblog.blogspot.com/

This World Champs, being in Israel will certainly be different, interesting, challenging and ultimately enjoyable I’m sure, so stay tuned.

The Australian team members all ran great legs in the to give Australia 4th place in the Mixed Relay, the final event of orienteering for the World Games.  The venue was the same as yesterday’s Middle Distance.

The placings were

1. Russia       1:55:08
2. Finland      1:56:38
3. Norway    1:56:49
4. Australia    1:57:11

The Australian team to compete at the relay was

1. Simon Uppill –   AUS in 7th place, 1 min 20 secs behind the leader
2. Kathryn Ewels – AUS in 4th place, 1 min 53secs behind behind the leader
3. Julian Dent – AUS in 5th place, 2 mins and 18 secs behind the leader
4. Hanny Allston  – AUS in 4th place, 2 mins and 3 secs behind the winner

Russia led the men into the changeover after the first leg, ahead of Sweden and Norway.  Simon Uppill was with the leaders at the first spectator control, dropping a few places in the second half of the course.  Kathryn Ewels ran a great second leg, losing very little time to the leaders, where Sweden overtook Russia at the end of the second leg.  Andrei Khramov, the sprint gold medallist, chased down Peter Oeberg of Sweden to give the lead back to Russia.  Chasing were Julian Dent  and the Middle Distance gold medallist Daniel Hubmann.  Julian was with the Swiss runner for much of the course, but kept Australia in the medal hunt being in 5th place at the changeover, just behind Tero Foehr of Finland and ahead of Norway’s Oesterboe.

The leading runners from Sweden and Switzerland made errors on the early part of the final leg, allowing Minna Kauppi of Finland, the Sprint gold medallist to move into second place.  Australia and Norway were battling for fourth, with Elise Egseth holding off Hanny Allston for the Bronze Medal.

Full results and tracking available.
For comments from the team see the Team Blog

Hanny Allston has claimed her second major international gold medal in winning the World Games Middle Distance race. Allston, the 2006 Sprint World Champion, has returned to international competition in scintillating form. Her victory margin was a huge 1 minute and 16 secs over yesterday’s winner and world number 2 Minna Kauppi of Finland. This comes on the back of her silver medal in the sprint and shows she will be amongst the favourites for the World Championships to be held in Hungary in August. The gold medal is the second for an Australian at a World Games after Grant Bluett won in 2001. The second half of the women’s team, Kathryn Ewels, was 19th after losing small amounts of time at the 3rd and 13th controls.

Julian Dent achieved his best international result to date in the men’s race. A solid run allowed him to capture 13th. Simon Uppill, the first finisher for the day, was 23rd. Daniel Hubmann took revenge after being beaten into second place yesterday by Andrey Khramov. Khramov was third, with his Russian team mate Dmitriy Tsvetkov in second place.

Results and routes from today’s race can be found on the World Games Online website.

Once the euphoria of a gold medal subsides the team will refocus for tomorrow’s relay. The format, which is unique to the World Games, combines all team members in a four person mixed relay. Coverage, including video streaming and live gps tracking, will begin at 4pm AEST.

Photos and comments from the runners will be posted when available. Don’t forget to check out the team blog

Women

1)  Johanna Allston AUS 27:01
2)  Minna Kauppi FIN 28:17
3)  Linnea Gustafsson SWE 28:44
4)  Signe Søes DEN 28:49
5)  Aija Skrastina LAT 29:16
6)  Dana Brozkova CZE 29:18
19)Kathryn Ewels AUS 32:08

Men

1)  Daniel Hubmann SUI 27:43
2)  Dmitriy Tsvetkov RUS 28:16
3)  Andrey Khramov RUS 28:51
4)  Tero Föhr FIN 29:00
5)  Mattias Millinger SWE 29:01
6)  Øystein Kvaal Østerbø NOR 29:32
13)Julian Dent AUS 31:08
23)Simon Uppill AUS 32:28

Alex Randall finished strongly to take 6^th place in the Lithuanian WRE MTBO Middle Distance race on Friday. Alex started well and was in a medal winning position until control #8 when he made a 2 minute error. But strong riding over the last 10 controls (7 split times better than the winner Tonis Erm from Estonia) saw him take 6^th, 3 seconds out of 5^th place. The Long Distance event – the distance Randall has had success with over the past 7 years – rolls away today.

Blake Gordon

The World Games Orienteering competitions start today with the Sprint Distance race held at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Last night the team took part in the opening ceremony, including a march into the Kaohsiung Main Stadium. The stadium looks magnificent and features a roof constructed of solar panels and is built in a shape similar to the dynamic curves of the city’s Love River. The team marched with other Australian representatives from sports such as Ultimate Frisbee, Rockclimbing, Skydiving and Sumo Wrestling. Entering the stadium to cheers of 40 000  spectators will no doubt be a highlight for most athletes sporting careers.

The venue is part of the Neiweipi Cultural Park at Gushan District. The part features many large sculptures and a wetland ecological park with a man-made lake. The finish area at the Museum is a fantastic amphitheatre that will provide spectators with a great view of the action as the runners start and finish within full view.

The Australians start times in AEST below. So either stay at work and use their broadband to view the live video and GPS feeds, or get home early so you don’t miss the action!

Hanny Allston- 16:07
Kathryn Ewels- 16:14
Simon Uppill- 17:11
Julian Dent- 17:24

World Games Orienteering Site with live GPS tracking and results
http://australianorienteeringteam.blogspot.com/The Aussie team Blog site for all inside news

Hanny Allston has taken the silver medal in the World Games sprint in Taiwan. She led for much of the day but was eventually overhauled by Minna Kauppi of Finland, who took the title by 23 seconds, most of which was set up in the first part of the course. Norway’s Elise Egseth was third. Kathryn Ewels placed 15th, 1.34 further back.

Both the Australian men finished in midfield positions. Simon Uppill was 17th, his best international result to date, while Julian Dent was 22nd after losing time on the second half of the course. Andrey Khramov (Russia) edged out Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) by 1.6 seconds for the gold medal, with Tero Fohr (Finland) taking bronze. Another noteworthy result was a tenth place for New Zealand’s Ross Morrison.

Competition continues tomorrow with the middle distance, and concludes on Sunday with the relay.

Results are available on the World Games orienteering site.

Keep up to date with team news on the team blog

The OA Board is seeking expressions of interest to fill the vacant position on the Board of Director, Development. The Development Director takes responsibility for co-ordination of the affairs of Orienteering Australia in the development area and oversees,  reports on and represents at Council and on the Board the  activities of the following:

• Development and Participation Committee,
• Media and Sponsorship Committee,
• Website Management Group,
• The Editor of The Australian Orienteer,
• Editorial Reference Group, and
• Schools Liaison Officer.

A more extensive outline of the recent activities of the Director, Development can be found in the 2008 Annual Report.

Please contact OA President Bill Jones on 0428 255 210 or via email for information about the position. Submit expressions of interest  to John Harding, Executive Officer  by 31 July.

The 2009 World Games starts on Thursday in the City of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Orienteering is one of the 31 sports included in the program of these games.

The World Games is an international multi-sport event held every fourth year under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 2001 orienteering made its debut on the program of The World Games held in Akita, Japan, where Grant Bluett collected Australia’s first International Orienteering gold medal.

The Games, with an expected 5000 athletes and officials will get under way with the Opening Ceremony at the Main Stadium on Thursday, July 16, 2009. The athletes and officials will parade by country under their national flags with competitors of all other sports. The race program is:

Friday 17 July- Sprint Distance
2pm- First female start
3pm- First male start

Saturday 18 July- Middle Distance
12.30pm- First female start
2pm- First male start

Sunday 19 July- Relay
12.30pm- Massed start
*Note- add 2hours to these times for AEST

The Australian Team – Julian Dent, Simon Uppill, Hanny Allston, Kathryn Ewels and coach Rob Preston have been training and acclimatising in Hong Kong for the expected hot and humid conditions. The local orienteers have been a great help and Julian and Hanny even gave a talk about the technical aspects of Orienteering to a group of local juniors. The team heads to Kaohsiung tomorrow feeling confident they can handle to the conditions and terrain in Taiwan.

The IOF has set up a specific website for the event where you can follow the live results, including GPS tracking, which will be very exciting.

World Games Orienteering Site with live GPS tracking and results

www.worldgames2009.tw Official World Games site with info on all sports

http://australianorienteeringteam.blogspot.com/ The Aussie team Blog site for all inside news