Author: craigf

In an exciting mens elite race Julian Dent (NSW), Matt Crane (GBR) and Troy De Haas (VIC) each had turns in the lead before Dent accelerated through the final legs, winning five out of the seven final legs to take the win from a tiring Matt Crane. Troy De Haas seemed to have second place wrapped up and was even challenging Dent for the lead before making a four minute mistake on the short second last leg. In the overall National Three Days standing Julian Dent has a virtually unbeatable lead however only five seconds  separates De Haas and Crane setting the scene for an epic battle for second place overall in tomorrows final race.

In the womens elite event Grace Elson (TAS) briefly held the race lead after the first leg before Hanny Allston (TAS) took over in typical dominant fashion. Jo Allison (ACT) briefly challenged for the race lead in the middle stages but was unable to match Hanny’s pace over the final few legs finishing in second place. Grace Elson finished a close third to maintain second place overall in the National Three Days.

In the junior womens elite class Heather Harding (ACT) took the race win and a commanding lead heading into the final day. Jess Davis (TAS) was the big mover, jumping up to second overall after a strong performance but faces a tough battle with Rachel Effeny (QLD) and Belinda Lawford (VIC)  who are only seconds behind.

In the junior mens elite race Rhys Challen (WA) followed his strong result yesterday with an outstanding race today, winning by over six minutes to Morten Neve (VIC) and Brian Keely (VIC). Rhys takes a five minute lead into the final race while Morten and Brian are separated by only four seconds in second and third places.

Results and splits for all classes now available.

Julian Dent (NSW) may have been disappointed after he gave up a race-winning lead in yesterday’s prologue, but he made up for it today. Dent  started at a blistering pace, winning each of the first 8 legs, by which stage he had established a 2 minute lead over ACT’s David Shepherd. From there it was plain sailing, and Dent maintained his 2 minute lead. Troy de Haas continued his solid form to take 2nd place, while outstanding junior Simon Uppill (SA) continued to stake his claim for a WOC place by finishing third. Overnight leader Matt Crane (GBR) finished behind Shepherd in 5th.

World Champion Hanny Allston (Tas) build on her overnight lead, and now has a 5 minute buffer from Grace Elson (Tas). The other standout performer in the W21E class today was Kathryn Ewels (Vic) who returned to her form of old to take 2nd place on the day and 3rd overall.

Both Junior Elite classes are looking close. Heather Harding (ACT) held onto her overnight lead, despite losing 18 seconds to Qld’s Rachel Effeney, while Tristan Lee (SA) made the most of his home advantage to post a 2-minute win and jump to the lead in front of Kieran Sullivan (Qld).

In other classes, Rob Vincent blitzed a strong M45 field to win the day by 11 minutes, while Carolyn Jackson celebrated her recent selection in the Australian MTBO team with an 8 minute win in W50.

Full Results by class and Splits by course.

In the men’s race early starter Matt Crane (GBR) set an outstanding target which was never headed, running consistently fast through the whole course. Troy De Haas (VIC) ran strongly and came within two seconds of taking the lead at the last control but could not match Crane’s blistering final sprint, finishing just four seconds off the pace. Australian Sprint Champion Julian Dent (NSW) set a cracking early pace, leading by nearly 25 seconds after the first five legs but then faded over the later stages to finish 4th just behind a consistent Dave Shepherd (ACT). Top junior Simon Uppill (SA) had an outstanding run to finish 5th in one of the strongest Sprint fields assembled in Australia.

In the women’s race World Sprint Champion Hanny Allston  (TAS) dominated, putting in yet another world class performance to finish 70 seconds infront of fellow Tasmanian Grace Elson. Hanny had an amazing 11 fastest splits out of 16 legs. Two of the performances of the day were from our top female junior Vanessa Round (SA) to finish in third place and former junior star Kirsten Fairfax (VIC) in fourth. In equal 5th were the always consistent Jo Allison (ACT) and first year senior Jasmine Neve (VIC).

In the junior womens race the winner was Heather Harding (ACT) from up and coming star Belinda Lawford (VIC) and Rachel Effeny (QLD).

In the junior mens race Kieran Sullivan (QLD) won in front of Brian Keely (VIC) and Nick Andrewartha (TAS).

Results and splits now available.

The Chair of the MTBO Selection Panel has announced the following orienteers have been selected to represent Australia at the 2007 World MTBO Championships to be held at Milovy, Czech Republic in August.

WOMEN

• Carolyn Jackson (Vic)
• Thorlene Egerton (Qld)
• Kath Copland ( Vic)

Reserve – Kay Haarsma (SA)

MEN

• Adrian Jackson (Vic)
• Alex Randall (Vic)
• Paul Darvodelsky (NSW)
• David Simpfendorfer (ACT)
• David Wood ( QLD)
• Tony Clark (Vic)

Reserve – Matthew Hope (Tas)

Orienteering Australia congratulates all orienteers on their selection in the team and wishes them well for the MTBO World Championships

Mike Dowling

Director, High Performance

The 2006 Orienteering Australia Annual Report has been released and is available for download as a 2.4 Mb pdf file.

Download Annual Report

Orienteering Australia is very pleased to have reached an agreement with leading orienteering equipment supplier Trimtex of Norway for the supply of all competition uniforms and track suits for our foot orienteering teams. With Australia hosting JWOC we believe our teams both here and abroad will be very distinctive running in the green and gold. The images included here provide a preview of the competition top and track suit top. Competition uniforms will be supplemented with green pants and the track suit will feature matching navy blue trousers.

Mike Dowling

Director, High Performance

The Board of Orienteering Australia is very pleased to announce Tom Quayle has been appointed Head Coach of Orienteering Australia on an interim basis from April 16^th to June 30^th. Orienteering Australia is conducting a review of its High Performance and Coaching structures with a view to a substantive Head Coach appointment from July 1^st. Tom will bring a great breadth of knowledge to the role of Head Coach as one of Australia’s most successful World Championship performers and through his excellent work over the last year as coach of the Bushrangers.

Orienteering Australia has extended the call for nominations for the new position of National Junior Development Coach. The voluntary position includes conducting and leading training and coaching the Australian Junior Development Squad and providing technical assistance to the individual coaches of squad members. It offers a great opportunity for a coach to work with emerging & talented young orienteers that are identified as having the potential to be future Australian representatives.

Applications now close Friday April 20th, 2007 and should be sent to Mike Dowling, Director High Performance, email oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au The application form is available here.

In a fantastic boost for the 2007 Australian team, Orienteering Australia is highly delighted to announce that World Champion Hanny Allston has joined the team for the 2007 Junior World Championships to be held in Dubbo NSW in July as Assistant Coach. Hanny is very much looking forward to working will all team contenders and the team when it is announced at the final selection trails in May to help our young athletes maximise their potential for success in Dubbo come July. She will bring a superb insight into the technical, physical & mental preparation required to compete with success on the world stage. Hanny is very much looking forward to meeting with all team contenders over the Easter 3 Day in Burra, South Australia.

World of O, the international orienteering website portal, has announced a new service to bring video to the orienteering community. The service will broadcast reports and interviews from main international orienteering happenings by working with the race organizers and different professional and amateur producers, and will be hosted by www.veoh.com. To get straight to WoO-TV, click here. Initial services include archived videos and three channels.

As with all on-line videos, it should be used with caution if your internet service has a download limit.

More details of the service are available here.