Aussie girls finish 8th in the relays at magnificent San Bernadino. San Bernadino is a ski resort in the winter and the terrain is a mixture of alpine meadows on steep slopes and alpine forest with small knolls and gullies.

The Australian junior women’s team of Jasmine Neve, Erin Post and Hanny Allston finished eighth. Jasmine Neve led the team out under the noise and excitement of the crowd and a helicopter that was there to take aerial photos of the competitors at the beginning of the relay. Jasmine overcame her knee injury to put Australia in a reasonable position. Erin followed with a steady run and left Hanny to bring the team home to eighth position with her finishing with the second fastest leg time of the day in the women’s race.

In the men’s team Dave Meyer led the team out but lost a lot of time in the first loop being confused by the number of split controls and the noise and crowds of competitors. He was nearly the last competitor to come to the first spectator control above the assembly area. He was very disappointed in his own performance. Simon Uppill was able to salvage some time and brought the team up to 36th position after the second leg from 44th position. Then Julian Dent was able to make up more time and finished with the 6th fastest time for his leg and the Australian men’s team finished in 19th position overall for the relay.

JWOC 2005 in Summary

The 2005 Australian junior orienteering team finished overall in 10th position. This was due to some excellent personal performances from Hanny Allston (Bronze medal in the middle distance and second fastest relay leg) and Julian Dent (8th for the middle distance, 4th in the long distance races), the steady runs from Dave Meyer and Jasmine Neve in the long distance race and Simon Uppill in his first JWOC qualifying for the A final in the middle distance race.

The team displayed all the characteristics of good teamwork and supported each other in their successes and in their disappointments. The support from the physiotherapists Manuela Buzzo(from Switzerland), during the training camp and from Jan Sargood during the competition week assisted the team members to feel confident and comfortable with massages and advice.

Hilary Wood