2014 Archive

MTBO SPRINT at ROTORUA

10 January 2014
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Today the Sprint event was held at “Redwoods” park in central Rotorua with courses comprising of an intricate network of tracks and large amounts of clearings and open ground which riders needed to look at their compasses to maintain direction.

Fine weather was welcome after a mudfest yesterday.  With most courses averaging a control every 200-300 metres there was some quick decision making needed, and the occasional MP.  Australia did better today in the challenge with victories to the W40, M50, M60 and M70 classes thus making the score today as Australia 4 and NZ 5.5 points.

NZ dominated the elite classes with victories to Marquita Gelderman and Chris Forne, despite the latter requiring a hospital visit after a nasty tumble down an uncrossable ditch.    The fastest ride of the day was by M20 foot O star Tim Robertson, with Aussies Tim Jackson and Angus Robinson taking the minor placings.

Wins went to Tim Hately (M70) and Gaby Withers (W16), with 2nd places to Peta Whitford (W50), Lucy Mackie (W16), Carolyn Matthews (W40), Ryan Biggs (M16) and thirds to David Firman (M60), Richie Robinson (M50) and Tamsin Barnes (W40).

Tomorrow’s event at Whakarewarewa Mountain Bike Park will now be the long distance challenge.  This has the added challenge of navigating using mostly one way tracks, a new concept to most.

Yesterday’s long distance Aus v NZ challenge was voided, mainly due to the atrocious conditions meaning that there were many mechanical DNF’s.  The Maramarua Forest is clay based and heavy showers just as the event started caused many tracks to be unrideable.  Bikes literally stopped dead in the mud!  Those who finished felt justifiably proud.  Those of us who have orienteering in NZ over many years felt that this event was the mtbo equivalent to the famous foot o event at Kapamahunga (spelling questionable!).

Results are available

HP Training Camp -last two days

8 January 2014
craigf
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The HP Training camp concluded on Monday and Tuesday. Monday saw a return to Mt Pearson for some terrain similar to the WC Long terrain of Constable Creek. Using a 1:15,000 map there was a 9km and 7km course with plenty of climb to give the athletes a taste of what the WC Long may be like. Some tired runners did well to complete the course whilst others cut it short. Hanny Allston completed the 9km course which gave her a very good physical challenge. Thanks to Hilary Wood for setting these courses

mt pearson training 2014.Mens.pdf

mt pearson training 2014.Womens.pdf

The afternoon was a one person relay with a mass start for women and men. This saw some very fast running through the area used as the model map for the 2012 Australian Championships. There were three legs of just over a km each. Some competitive challenge between the Aussies and the NZers present was a feature of this exercise.

One person relay GF east.Course 1.pdf

One person relay GF east.Course 2.pdf

One person relay GF east.Course 3.pdf

Toph Norton has produced some great video of this exercise- see link

https://vimeo.com/83586722

Tuesday was a very early start to travel to the north west edge of Lively Bogs for the camp champs. This was a technically challenging middle distance course similar to NOL races in 2011.

Results

Men: Nick Hann 40.09, Matt Ogden 41.44, Simon Uppill 42.04, Andrew Barnett 49.40, Lachlan Dow 51.30, Ian Lawford 51.41, Brodie Nankervis 51.42, Josh Blatchford 53.32

Women: Hanny Allston 41.58, Laura Robertson 47.57, Aislinn Prendergast 48.54, Lizzie Ingham 52.22, Vanessa Round 52.53, Belinda Lawford 55.47, Heather Muir 59.19, Bridget Anderson 59.35, Jacqui Doyle 63.54, Mary Fleming 67.07.

Maps

Camp Champs Livelys Bog.1.pdf

Camp Champs Livelys Bog.2.pdf

Splits from some training events

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?ct=true

Camp Champ winners

Camp Champs.jpg

with their special St Helens trophy- “the stealth of the tiger and the aggression of the shark”.

As if training twice a day wasn’t enough Nick Hann and Matt Ogden planned some night training on Sunday night using a special map of Golden Fleece prepared on OCAD which featured a map of Tasmania. They convinced a few Aussies to go and do the course also. The map is worth having a look at.

NightTraining NZ Creation.pdf

A great camp and especially rewarding to have some great competition between the Aussies and the NZers, something we will do more of in the future. It also provided some of the younger elites with an insight into how the best in NZ and Australia attack their training.

Kiwis take lead in Aus V NZ MTBO Challenge

7 January 2014
craigf
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Chris Firman and Liz Randall.

After the middle distance event held an hour north of Auckland the Kiwis grabbed a commanding lead with a 9 point to 1.5 point victory today.

The terrain was absolutely fantasic, being a mixture of single tracks in sandy forest and an open section of farmland with complex contour detail.  In the latter riders were able to ride anywhere rather than stick to tracks.  Most of this land belongs to Marquita Gelderman and Rob Garden who meticulously groomed the trails and made new ones especially for this event.

Australia’s successes were in W21 and W70, though M60 (Peter Cusworth & Greg Bacon) were unlucky to fall short by 3 seconds and M70 (Kaith Wade & Tim Hately) by 3 minutes.   Carolyn Jackson won W21 and WA newcomer Tash Spargo backed her up to enable the victory.  Liz  Randall (VIC) won W70 by some 7 mins over Yett Gelderman, but with only 1 competitor each in this class only half a point is being awarded.

Adventure racer Stu Lynch won M21 from fellow Kiwi Chris Forne with Chris Firman taking 3rd.   M20 was won by star NZ foot o junior Tom Robertson in such decisive fashion that he beat all comers on course 2.   Karl Withers was our leading Aussie with 2nd.

Tamsin Barnes rode impressively in W40 placing a close 4th behind an ultra competitive Kiwi trio.  Aussie stars of the future are competing in W16 (not a challenge class unfortunately) with Lucy Mackie (NSW) and Gaby Withers (QLD) not only dominating that class but riding really fast times.

The long distance challenge will be held on a brand new map one hour south of Auckland, in Maramarua Forest, so we are hopeful of better results there.

Awaiting results at the moment.

Sprint Canberra is Coming!

3 January 2014
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With another successful Xmas 5 Days behind us we move into 2014 and are now only weeks away from the inaugural Sprint Canberra series which is being held in the north of Canberra over the Australia Day long weekend, 23rd – 27th January.

Sprint Canberra has been developed to run concurrently with the first sprint-specific High Performance camp ran by OA to be held at the Australian Insitute of Sport. With WOC now having a strong emphasis on the sprint discipline Australia’s elites are focusing on the shortest discipline.

Sprint Canberra will not only provide a great set of training races for the elite, it will offer some top notch courses to Open, Short and Very Easy classes. All pre-entered runners in each class will get to experience head to head racing, the franetic pace of an urban mass start and the pressure of a chasing start on the final day.

Entries are open now and all of the prceeds raised will help the High Performance program produce our WOC medallists!

Find further information and entries are now open on Eventor.

HP Training Camp- St Helens, Tasmania

3 January 2014
craigf
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Preparation for World Cup Races 2015!

The best of the elite orienteers currently residing in Australia have gathered together in St Helens, Tasmania to share their knowledge and get to know the terrain. There are 22 athletes including 4 New Zealanders and world champions. Hanny Allston(Australian World Champion Sprint in 2006), Matt Ogden(NZ JWOC Middle Distance Champion 2012) and Lizzie Ingham, 3rd in World Cup Sprint in Wellington 2013.

WOC coaches Tom Quayle and Wendy Read are leading the camp aiming to improve technical orienteering, at speed, adaptability to new terrain, and routines. High Performance Director, Lance Read is also closely watching the development and performances of the athletes. Also assisting with the camp are Roch Prendergast, Hilary Wood, David Quayle and Nick Dent.

Training commenced on Thursday 2/1/14 using the Golden Fleece map. The focus for training was to heighten awareness of the orienteering process and routines used during an orienteering race.

Friday saw 2 sessions one in the morning involving a head to head racing with 3 athletes completing 6 short courses on the Lively Bogs map.

Lively Bogs Friday Short.pdf

Lively Bogs Friday long.pdf

After a well earned rest the afternoon training was a corridor exercise to highlight fine navigation and map contact on Mt Pearson map. This area is going to be very similar to that which is embargoed for the World Cup Long distance event.

Corridor Mt Pearson.All corridor pdf.pdf

Saturday(AM) was training on the Golden Fleece map which is close to the World Cup embargoed area and there were two courses with butterfly loops.

In the afternoon the squad returned to Lively Bogs for some competitve challenge with teams of two completing four short courses with a mass start for the men on the first leg. Some exciting man/man and women/women running was the feature of this exercise. Coach Tom had put runners into the pairs hoping for some even competition. Teams were competing for some at the time, unknown prizes. The eventual winners were the pair of Andrew Barnett and Lizzie Ingham, with Toph Norton and Laura Roberstson a close second.

Sunday was a drive to Bicheno to do some sprint intervals and a sprint course on the unique sprint map used for the Aus Sprint Champs in 2012.

Bicheno Sprint.Sprint.pdf

Bicheno Sprint.Course 1.pdf

Bicheno Sprint.Course 2.pdf

Bicheno Sprint.Course 3.pdf

More maps and also some split times for the training exercises to follow. Some training photos will be on the OA Facebook page.