The 2013 Australian Championship carnival concluded today with some thrilling relay races across all categories. It really was a stampede from the rodeo corral when almost 300 first leg runners grabbed their maps and literally headed for the hills. Many of the longer courses had a long leg with options of going straight over the main granite hill, or run quite wide to either the left or right. In M20 Ashley Nankervis, on the first leg, bravely went left when all others went straight but all emerged fairly equally at the control evidently. Simon Uppill went straight and had the fastest time I believe by about 30 seconds. Matt Crane (ACT), who went straight and Matt Ogden (NZ) who went wide to the right, actually headed off on leg 3 at the same time and got to no 1 control at the same time. Interesting route choice!

There were some exciting racing with leads changing throughout and many close finishes. In the women’s elite Jo Allison made up a 3 minute deficit on the last leg and came into sight of the crowd with a 300 metre lead over Kathryn Preston (VIC) and got home by 20 seconds. The girls hadn’t seen each other on the course and Jo only realised she was leading and the urgency of the scenario when the crowd and commentators erupted. This victory also gave the Cockatoos the Silva National League overall series win. Hanny Allston stormed home on the third leg to record the fastest time of the day and to secure third place for Tasmania.

Men’s elite saw the Canberra Cockatoos have an exciting 2 minute win over NZ, with the Cockatoos no 2 team excelling for 3rd. Matt Crane and Matt Ogden went out on the third leg together and saw a lot of each other until Craney spiked a control neatly and got a decisive lead about two thirds of the way around. Simon Upill (SA) took fastest time with a dominant run on the first leg.

The M20 elite class saw another Cockatoos v NZ showdown for victory. However it was young Ashley Nankervis (TAS) who led home Olle Poland (ACT) by 6 seconds on leg 1, with the Kiwi team 3rd at that stage. However, after a great run by Andrew Barnett (ACT) on leg 2 Ian Lawford headed off on the anchor leg with a 30 second advantage over NZ’s Tim Robertson. This was soon gobbled up as they climbed the hill but it was the young Aussie who emerged in front as they hit the paddock for the run in. Ian managed to stay in front with an 18 second margin – a great result. Brodie Nankervis, Tassie’s 3rd leg runner had the fastest time by several minutes, as he secured the 3rd place on the podium.

The Tasmanian young guns had another outstanding result with an unexpected win in the junior female class. All three girls had fantastic runs, with Anna Dowling returning first, as did Hannah Goddard and Nicola Marshall brought them home almost 3 minutes ahead of the Kiwi trio. NSW were third.

Final NOL results will be uploaded in coming days.

Thanks to the numerous ACT orienteers and orienteering parents who gave so generously of their time and efforts over the last 9 days. New maps, challenging areas, well set courses and great hospitality made for a “champion” carnival.

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=classes&databaseId=28115

Message from organisers re computer overload:While we try to fix problems uploading results to Eventor the 2013 AUS Relay results are here http://act.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/results/2013/2013AUSRelayResults.pdf
The splits are now on WinSplits