The NSW middle distance championships, on Saturday, had an abundance of controls meaning that the competitors had to be mentally switched on constantly and with a tight field in the men’s race, any mistakes were going to be costly. Eric Morris was quick off the start, winning the first two splits but then lost time at the 5th and Peter Preston momentarily took the lead at the 8th. Eric however recomposed himself and regained the lead until again losing it for a single control at number 18 where he lost a minute to Southern Arrow Ben Rattray who took the lead by a slender 8 secs. Eric then managed to pull away over the final controls to beat in Ben by just over a minute and Robbie Preston, who ran a steady race, by 2:20min.

The women’s race was an open affair punctuated with mistakes, with Victorian junior Jasmine Neve heading the field until a 2 minute error at the 6th handed it to visiting NZ veteran Jenni Adams who also held on for 5 controls until she took 19 minutess to get to the 10th where Danielle Winslow pounced but couldn’t capitalise allowing Briohny Davey to take a 58 second lead. Danielle settled and when she regained the lead, did not relinquish it. Nicki Taws, with daughter Annabelle waiting eagerly at the finish, ran consistently to finish second, with Davey third

Sunday brought an overcast, cold day and not too many were keen to get wet in the forest with a daunting task of 13.3 Km and 8.6 Km for the men’s and women’s fields respectively. In contrast to the lead changes of the previous day, Eric Morris dominated, leading from start to finish, although having the fastest splits on only 6 of the 19 controls. Gareth Candy, running in the new Canberra Cockatoos top, lost 8 minutes at the first and was never in the race, much like the sick Andy Hogg, who also lost time early on. Places 2 though 5 were separated by only 4 minutes, with Robbie Preston having another solid run to beat SA’s Kerrin Rattray into second by 47 seconds.

Although she didn’t quite lead from beginning to end, Danielle Winslow controlled the women’s race. Jenni Adams was off to a flyer leading by 1:42 at the second before losing 3 minutes at the third. Winslow went on to win 12 of the remaining 16 legs, losing only 60 seconds. Nicky Taws and Jenni Adams were 2nd and 3rd respectively, showing the rest of the younger field how it is done. Mace Neve unfortunately picked up the wrong map at the start and was 9 minutes down after the first control.
The area, Yewrangara, will be used along with the 2004 Australian relays area, Clonalton, for the opening rounds of next year’s National League.

Results and splits can be found at:
http://www.southernhighlands.nsw.orienteering.asn.au/archive.html