Rachel Effeney and Ralph Street took out the elite classes at Friday’s Australian Sprint Orienteering Championships, held on a complex and convoluted course at St. Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

Effeney, a finalist in the sprint in the World Championships, was making her first appearance of the week. The last starter of the day, she was in front from early in the course and once she was under way she never seriously looked like losing, eventually scoring by more than 30 seconds. New Zealander Renee Beveridge recovered from a slow start to take second, while Krystal Neumann’s third gave her a useful four-point lead in the National League with one race to come.

Street had been a close second in both of last weekend’s races after arriving from the UK, but went one better on Friday. Starting in the middle of the field, he came in with a big lead. Only once was it seriously challenged, when Matt Ogden was in touch through most of the radio controls, but he was never quite able to match Street and fell 11 seconds short at the finish. Henry McNulty, still a junior, was best of the locals in third place. Neither Matt Crane nor Simon Uppill improved their National League score, leaving the former one point in front.

Olivia Sprod had her best result at this level with a win in the junior women’s event, scoring by six seconds after a fluctuating contest with Tara Melhuish. Tommy Hayes showed his pace by dominating the junior men’s race (in a time which would have got him third in the seniors), with Patrick Jaffe the best of the rest. Despite not improving their own scores, Matt Doyle and Lanita Steer secured the National League titles when others failed to get the results they needed.

Competition continues with the Australian Long Distance Championships on Saturday.

Results and splits are available.