Western Australian Long Distance Championships at Umuna on 17, 18 September 2005

Craig Dufty retrieved the WA Men’s Championship trophy from second place-getter John Toomey with two days of slick orienteering across the granite strewn slopes of Umuna (scene of the two rounds of the National Orienteering League in May). Long time M21 stalwart Terry Farrell completed the top three.

Dufty had a comfortable 4 minute lead after the first day, run in uncharacteristically bleak conditions for Western Australian spring time. The second day’s fine and sunny conditions saw him add another seven and a half minutes to the margin over the underdone Toomey.

Just back from her JWOC jaunt, Erin Post maintained the pace through the two days and finished ahead of another stalwart in Anthea Feaver and last year’s title holder Rachel West.

The women’s race was a much more open affair. Cath Chalmers led by almost a minute after the first day, with Feaver second and then Post less than a minute further back. West was another minute or so further back.

Post then ran a faster time on the second day, one of the few competitors to manage this feat in the hillier terrain, and beat Feaver by four minutes on the day, enough to take the lead by three minutes overall. West ran another steady time to move into third, a minute behind Feaver, while Chalmers found the second day harder going and was a further minute away overall in fourth.

In the race of the Presidents, Eoin Rothery (the current office holder) had a blazing run on the first day in M45 and led the previous officer holder, Noel Schoknecht, by ten minutes. No doubt unsettled on the first day by a late start after attending a funeral in the city before the event, Schoknecht was more focused on the second day and was able to retrieve a minute and a half but Rothery really only had to finish to take the prize.