2011 Archive

The QLD MTBO Champs for 2011 has been run and won, with 2 National Team members featuring highly in the results. The Mens Open (Elite) class was won by rider Chris Firman and the Womens Open (Elite) class by Mary Fien.

The Yarraman Area west of Brisbane turned on perfect riding conditions with dry, firm tracks and fantastic warm winter days. The challenging pine and native plantation had plenty of climb to content with as well as the neighbouring mine owners who kept bulldozing new tracks right up until the event weekend. With a cemetery backdrop for day one and a rustic shed for day two, competitors had some interesting scenery at each event area. As word of an impromptu dinner spread the numbers at the local pub swelled to near 70 as the kitchen staff went into overdrive at the influx of customers. For all the results visit the event website and for photos check out the MTBO Club facebook page.

Craig Steffens

Many of the tracks were incredibly overgrown making for difficult riding conditions.

As a team, Queensland Elite riders Chris Firman, Gary Sutherland, Paul Elby adapted best to the conditions and now stand second to Victoria after the Middle and Long Distance events: Victoria 74, Queensland 66, NSW 38, WA 26 and Tasmania 18 in the combined team competition.

Ricky Thackray (WA) and Ian Dalton (WA) rode well each day in the Elite Mens Division and surprised organisers with Ricky winning the Long Distance Race and Ian second in the Middle Distance. Ricky now leads the national series, closely followed by Damian Welbourne with Ian Dalton not far back in 3rd.

Mary Fien (NSW) took first in Women’s Elite on both days with Kim Beckinsale a very close second in the long distance and Carolyn Jackson second in the middle distance event. The National Series is now lead by Carolyn Jackson with Mary and Marquita Gelderman (NZ) tied in second place.

In the Masters Divisions, Queensland scored maximum points to narrow the gap to Victorian riders. The Masters team standings after Round 2: Victorian 186, Queensland 134, NSW 35, SA 34 and WA 8. Round 3 will be staged at Beechworth, Victoria, in mid-October with ACT organising and Albury-Wodonga club setting the courses.

Blake Gordon, OA MTBO Convenor

Results

Australians continue to have a presence in the European season, in both the recently-concluded Swedish 5-Days and the forthcoming Swiss O Week.

At the Swedish 5-Days, the world’s largest individual orienteering event, a dozen Australians were amongst more than 9,000 participants, including leading WOC team member Julian Dent, and three members of the JWOC team. The best overall performer was Susanne Casanova, who was tenth in W35. Dent, with WOC approaching, did not run all five days, but achieved top-twenty results in M21E on two of the three days he did finish, day 2 (sprint) and day 4 (middle).

The Swiss O Week got under way today with a prologue before getting into full swing tomorrow. Several WOC team members are starting the European phase of their preparation there, including Rob Preston, Simon Uppill and Aislinn Prendergast.

Swedish 5-days results: www.oringenonline.com

Swiss O-Week: www.swiss-o-week.ch

The 2012 Australia-New Zealand MTBO Orienteering Challenge will be contested at the Otago MTBO Carnival in the Long, Middle and Sprint Distance Championships from 8-14 January 2012. Australian teams of 3 + Reserves will be selected for the following age groups (if sufficient nominations are received):

M-20, 21, 40, 50, 60, 70
W-20, 21, 40, 50, 60, 70

Eligibility: Any Australian citizen who is a current financial member of their State Associ ation and a Club (regardless of where they live).
Primary guides to selection: Performances at the 2010 Australian MTBO Championships, 2010 National MTBO Rankings, 2011 National MTBO Series events, and the 2011 Australian MTBO Championships. People who contest only one of these will still be considered.
To nominate for the AUS MTBO Team: Please advise your name, age class (as of 31 December2012), state and club, email address, phone numbers, and whether you need an Australian MTBO jersey on the “Register” page of the http://www.otagomtbotrip.weebly.com by 21 August 2011. If you wish to purchase a jersey, check the size chart on the website.
Note: Each selected member of the AUS team must ride in the same age class at each of t he three events in the team jersey.

The team will be announced by the National MTBO Selection Panel in early November.

Blake Gordon, OA MTBO Convenor

Susanne Casanova has won Australia’s only medal of the World Masters Orienteering Championships, taking silver in the W35 long distance final, which was contested in hot conditions in Hungary today. A consistent run saw her bettered only by many-times Romanian WOC representative Zsuzsa Fey, with Hungary’s Agnes Simon in third place.

Susanne’s older sister, Jenny, also made the top ten, her ninth making her one of four Australians with single-digit placings. Jim Russell, for the second successive final, lost time late in the course but still finished seventh in M50, as did Hermann Wehner in M85. The other top-twenty placing went to Blair Trewin, celebrating a significant birthday (as was Susanne) with 13th in M40.

Full Australian A final results:

W35: Susanne Casanova 2, Jenny Casanova 9

W50: Debbie Davey 31, Mary Macdonald 69

W55: Lynda Rapkins 46

W60: Val Hodsdon 54

W65: Ann Ingwersen 70

M40: Blair Trewin 13, Paul Liggins 48

M50: Jim Russell 7

M70: John Hodsdon 52

M85: Hermann Wehner 7

The final race of the 2011 Junior World Orienteering Championships was today’s relay race. With a full team of 12 athletes, Australia is able to enter two teams of 3, in both the male and female races- though only the best placed team is ranked officially.

The super fast terrain produced fast finish times, and very tight racing, particularly in the men’s race. There were lots of changes in the lead, with expected countries such as Spain (4th) and New Zealand (12th) in the hunt for a medal until the last leg. Eventually the home town support and local knowledge got the Polish team over the line first, closely followed by Sweden and Czech Republic.

The Aussie boys teams had a very close battle, with Lachlan Dow (Australia 1) heading into the 3rd leg trying to make up a 2min deficit on Ian Lawford (Australia 2). Lawford was able hold off Dow by 28 secs, and finish officially in 21st position.

In the women’s the race Denmark were the red hot favourites to give Ida Bobach her 4th gold medal of the championships. However she was left with tough challenge to chase down Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson. Sweden ended up winning comfortably, from Czech Republic and Denmark picked up bring bronze. The Australian girls had a good battle, and Australia 1’s Belinda Lawford just holding off a fast finishing Georgia Parsons in Australia 2, to finish in 22nd place.

13 Australians qualified for long distance A finals at the World Masters Orienteering Championships after today’s second qualifying race.

Leading the way was Susanne Casanova, who reinforced her status as a genuine medal chance in W35 after remaining in second place after the two qualifying races. The other standout was Jim Russell, who was unable to repeat his victory from Tuesday but still qualified third in his heat.

Hermann Wehner had a better run today and finished 7th in M85, while Paul Adrian will go through to the final as one of five finishers in M90. Other top-ten qualifiers were Ann Ingwersen (6th in W65), John Hodsdon (8th in M70) and Jenny Casanova (10th in W35). A potentially interesting Australian contest looms in M40, where Paul Liggins and Blair Trewin both qualified 11th in their respective heats and will start two minutes apart in Friday’s final.

The remaining Australian qualifiers were Debbie Davey (12th) and Mary Macdonald (23rd) in W50, Lynda Rapkins (14th) in W55 and Val Hodsdon (18th) in W60. There were also a number of near-misses, perhaps the most unfortunate being that of Alex Davey, who was 7th today but had left himself with too much to do and fell two places short.

Lachlan Dow was the best of the two Australians in the middle distance A finals at the Junior World Orienteering Championships today, placing 36th. He was a bit over three minutes behind an exceptional three-way tie for the lead. Oscar McNulty, who had done well to qualify in his first appearance, was 58th.

Australia was unrepresented in the women’s A final, in which Ida Bobach made a clean sweep of the individual gold medals and led a group of three Danes in the top four.

Belinda Lawford’s 3rd in the B final will have restored some confidence pre-relay, after two disappointing races.  Another good Australian performance in the lower finals was Oliver Poland’s 6th.

The championships conclude with the relay tomorrow.

Men A final

1=. Robert Merl (AUT), Topias Tiainen (FIN), Dmitry Nakonechnyy (RUS)    25.43

36. Lachlan Dow           29.09

58. Oscar McNulty        33.54

Women A final

1. Ida Bobach (DEN)      23.10

2. Tove Alexandersson (SWE)    23.45

3. Emma Klingenberg (DEN)     24.17

Men B final

1=. Christian Tingstrom (SWE), Thor Norskov (DEN)   23.52

6. Oliver Poland        25.56

32. Ian Lawford        28.04

Josh Blatchford     DNF

Women B final

1. Andrea Koch (SUI)     27.33

3. Belinda Lawford     28.39

19. Claire Butler        31.22

44. Krystal Neumann     36.00

47. Georgia Parsons      36.40

61. Jacqui Doyle        40.53

62. Lilian Burrill        41.01

Men C final

1. Marek Wojnowicz (POL)     26.10

4. Max Neve                  27.25

Jim Russell took the honours for Australia on the first of two days of qualifying for the World Masters long distance, winning his heat in M50 and repeating his result from the sprint qualification.

Another Australian who looks to have an excellent medal chance in Friday’s final was Susanne Casanova, who took second in W35, claiming some notable scalps in the process.

Whilst no other Australians threatened the placings today, a number of others are well-placed to qualify if they can back up with another good result tomorrow, including Jenny Casanova (W35), Debbie Davey and Mary Macdonald (W50), Lynda Rapkins (W55), Ann Ingwersen (W65), Paul Liggins and Blair Trewin (M40), Grant Macdonald (M50), Ted van Geldermalsen (M55), Hermann Wehner (M85) and Paul Adrian (M90).

The second day of long distance qualification will take place tomorrow.

Oscar McNulty and Lachlan Dow have qualified for the A final of the Middle Distance at JWOC 2011 in Poland. Dow was the best placed Australian in the Long Distance race on Monday and will be looking for another good result in his last JWOC year. McNulty has impressed in his first JWOC, and will gain valuable experience for upcoming years. For spectators (in Poland and on the internet) had a very anxious wait as Josh Blatchford and Ian Lawford were slowly pushed down the leader board to finish in 21st in their respective heats.

The girls were a little off the pace, but will hopefully get some confidence from competing in the B Final before Friday’s Relay race.

M20-1