JWOC team members Murray Scown (ACT), Evan Barr (VIC), Chris Naunton (VIC) and Sophie Barker (ACT) travelled to Tasmania to join Tasmanian JWOC representative Ryan Smyth to take part in the first of 3 days of racing on the highly detailed Pittwater Dunes map near Hobart. The terrain provides for some valuable training and competition in areas not too dissimilar to that the team will encounter in Lithuania next month at the Junior World Championships.

In the opening race today for the Tasmanian Sprint Distance Championships, which course setter Mike Dowling describes as a short middle distance type technical event, Murray Scown emerged victorious in the biggest M21 field seen in Tasmania outside a major carnival. Murray covered the 3Km and 16 control course in 22:15 to be 47 seconds in front of Chris Naunton with Louis Elson a further 30 seconds behind.

Course 1 results:

1 Murray Scown (ACT ) 22:15
2 Chris Naunton (VIC) 23:02
3 Louis Elson (ALT) 23:32
4 Lee Andrewartha (ALT) 24:11
5 Nick Andrewartha (ALT) 24:36
6 Evan Barr (VIC) 25:38
7 Matthew Patten (WRT) 26:00
8 Ryan Smyth (WRT) 26:18
9 Grace Elson  (ALT) 26:31
10 Paul Pacqué (EVT) 30:57
11 Bernard Walker (WRT) 32:10
12 Miles Ellis (EVT) 48:51

In the W21 class Sophie Barker was the sole entrant completing the technically challenging course of 2.7 Km in 29:33 with WOC team representative Grace Elson choosing to run the men’s race and Hanny Allston immersed in the books studying for her mid-year medicine exams.

In the very competitive junior classes some emerging talents showed their ability with Oscar Phillips winning M16, Kylee Gluskie returning from injury first in W16 and Sam Webb first in M14.

Tomorrow’s competition will be the sixth round of the Tasmanian Orienteering Series in the long distance format and the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships will round-off the long weekend on Monday.