Author: craigf

Hanny Allston and Grace Elson used last Sunday’s annual “Point to Pinnacle” race in Hobart as their Sunday run, and recorded impressive results. Starting at the Wrest Point Casino, the run is uphill all the way to the top of Mt Wellington, 22 Km with a climb of 1270 metres.

Hanny (1:44:47) was a close second to last year’s winner Jenny Gillard (1:44:09), with Grace in eigth place in 1:55:50; Hanny’s mum Julia also showed her liking for tough runs with a very creditable 2:17:41.

In the men’s division, Kim Gillard made it a family double with a time of 1:27:31, ahead of ironman triathlete mark Guy. Adding to the sporting variety that the run attracts was Athens Olympics rowing silver medallist Simon Burgess, who was fifth in 1:36:21.

Best placed male orienteer was junior Patrick Watts, in 2:00:38, followed by Callum Fagg, no doubt inspired by his win in the junior division of the World Rogaining championships, with a time of 2:02:36.

The IOF Mapping Commission has released an updated version of the sprint map standard, ISSOM2007.

Copies of the standard and details of the changes are available from the Mapping Commission’s website

While many of of his orienteering colleagues were battling the heat and flies in the World Rogaining Championships in the Warrumbungles, Waggaroos stalwart Rod Dominish last month won the Double Decathlon for Men 60+, in the 25th World Championships, held for the first time in Australia, in Bendigo.

The Double Decathlon is scored over 20 events 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, hammer throw, javelin, and discus.

Rod attributes his success to the fact that in contrast to the traditional decathlon, where power events predominate, the Double Decathlon features a high proportion of distance events, and Rod’s orienteering and distance running background suited him particularly well.

For those wanting to try something a little different, the next championships will be held in Finland in August next year.

The selection critieria and process for WOC 2007 and the Bushrangers test matches are attached.  Please note that nominations for the first Bushrangers test are due by 22 November.

WOC 2007 Selection Criteria.rtf

The end of the 2006 elite orienteering season has seen several teams turn their hand (and legs) to Adventure Races (AR). AR generally consists of running, mountain biking and kayaking, all with a navigation component and in teams of 2-4 people. It’s a great way for orienteers to train during the summer, and keep up a bit of navigation training too.

The NSW Ultimax Stingers have been competing with regular success in the AROC Sprint Adventures Series. At last Sunday’s event in Narrabeen, Sydney, the team of Rob and Peter Preston, and Richard Mountstephens won the Men’s category, and race outright. Ben Rattray (Southern Arrows), Mace Neve (Vic Nuggets) and Glenn Meyer (Stingers) raced to 7th outright and 3rd in the Mixed category. Danielle Winslow also raced in the 2nd placed All Women’s team, Canberra based ‘Adrenalin Adventure’.

In Victoria, several Nuggets team members competed in the Teva Series race at Mt Macedon. Adrian Jackson, Alex Randall and Jim Russell destroyed the field to win by 40mins. But success didn’t stop there, with Kirsten Fairfax, Kathryn Ewels and Jasmine Neve winning the women’s category.

Ben Rattray and Andrew Hill have recently returned from Chicago, USA, as the World Citychase Champions. City chase is an urban Adventure Race where competitors are required to run, and uses public transport to complete different tasks around the city. It is a similar format to the television show ‘The Amazing Race’. They competed as Team Australia, after winning the Sydney leg of the international series earlier this year.

The World 24hr Rogaining Championships was recently held in the Warrumbungles National Park, about 500km NW of Sydney. The event was very popular, with orienteers making up many of the 300 teams. The men’s class was won by New Zealand orienteer Chris Forne and his partner Denis de Monchy. Rob Preston (NSW Stingers) and Damon Goerke were 2nd. The women’s class was won by occasional Canberra orienteers Julie Quinn and Heather Logie, with Victorian Nuggets Kirsten Fairfax and Kathryn Ewels 2nd. The Mixed Category was won by a Latvian team, with Canberra based Team AROC finishing 2nd.

The new National Junior Squad is as follows, in no particular order:

Simon Uppill (SA)
Bryan Keely (Vic)
Rhys Challen (WA)
Nick Andrewartha (Tas)
Oliver Mitchell (Qld)
Kieran Sullivan (Qld)
Tristan Lee (SA)
Sebastian Woof (Tas)
Morten Neve (Vic)
Simon Mee (Qld)

Heather Harding (ACT)
Laurina Neumann (Qld)
Clare Brownridge (Vic)
Vanessa Round (SA)
Ineka Booth (ACT)
Sarah Dunnage (WA)
Jessica Davis (Tas)
Rachel Effeney (Qld)

The selection is for the next 12 months. The squad may be added to at any stage during the year (particularly after the JWOC selection trials).

Blair Trewin

Chair, Junior Selection Panel

The championship season finished this weekend with the Victorian Championships. The middle distance event took place on the goldmining terrain at the south end of Sailors Creek, while the long distance event was on a Rob Plowright remap of Mount Beckworth, originally used for the 1990 Australian Relays but little used since the late 1990s.

Simon Uppill took another step in his journey as a rising star with his first elite championship win on Saturday. He hardly put a foot wrong and was more than a minute clear of Jim Russell, with Adrian Jackson in third.

Kathryn Ewels continued her good form from the Australian Championships with a win in W21A. She had two minutes in hand, but it was closely bunched behind that, with the next six separated by just over a minute. Jasmine Neve and Natasha Key, running her first major event in a year, were the best of that group.

The M21A long race was a tale of two duels. Adrian Jackson caught Jim Russell at 6, Simon Uppill caught Blair Trewin at 11, and both pairs were together for long stretches of the race. Jackson was clearly fastest through the first part of the course, and that gave him an advantage that he never relinquished. Russell picked up another second place to complete a good weekend, and Uppill broke away in the later stages to secure third.

Briohny Davey completed an excellent year with her second state long distance title of the year, adding Victoria to her previous win in New South Wales. Kathryn Ewels had an unfortunate start when she took the wrong map and lost four minutes in returning (Natasha Key suffering the same fate); she had got back to within two minutes by 4, but that was as close as she got for the rest of the day. A solid run by Kirsten Fairfax saw her in third.

Among the juniors, there was a major surprise in W17-20A when Belinda Lawford, a first-year W16 running up an age class, won by ten minutes over Clare Brownridge, while Bryan Keely impressed in a small but talented M17-20A field.

Middle distance results

Long distance results

Australian team members dominated the Be Active Australian Championships Mountain Bike Orienteering events which were held in WA this week.  The terrain, courses and weather were all variable, but the Australian team coped the best, holding off challenges from NZ and the WA locals.  The middle distance race was held in a heatwave, on a forest block with multiple cross-country single tracks at Wellington Mills near Bunbury.   NZ scored with Mark Lawson winning from Paul Darvodelsky (NSW), and Grant Lebbink (VIC) third.  In the women’s race, foot orienteering Australian Champion Anna Sheldon (QLD) continued her good form with a win from Cath Chalmers (WA) and Mary Fien (NSW).

Middle Distance Results here.

The long distance event the next day was dominated by severe weather with driving rain and cold conditions as a strong cold front moved through the area.  That was no help to Kiwi Lawson who slipped to third behind Darvodelsky and Lebbink.  An indistinct track in a new pine plantation cost Sheldon her second win as veteran Carolyn Jackson prevailed, with the also-affected Fien again in third.

Long Distance Results & Splits here.

Finally the short distance event was held on a downhill arena near Perth airport and the complexity of the track network combined with the steep slopes flummoxed quite a few.  The podia were the same however – in the men’s race, Grant Lebbink got to the top step to register the win in the first championship event of this type in Australia, and Darvodelsky and Lawson were second and third respectively.  The women’s podium again consisted of the bronze medalists from the World Championship relay in 2004, but this time the order was Sheldon first, Fien second, and Jackson third.

Short Distance Results here.

The WA challenge looked the part but local knowledge probably proved less than useful.  Marck Norrett had the lead briefly in the long distance race, but faded late.  Ricky Thackray also challenged hard in that race and halfway round was on the virtual podium, but came a cropper on the long leg.  Stuart Greig was technically adept and skilful but needs a couple more years of race practice.  Pete Spencer was the most likely contender and came away with three fourth placings – not bad for a relative newcomer.  In the women’s events, Cath Chalmers was up there but will be disappointed with just that one podium place.  Nadia Komyshan, WA State Champion, performed well and will improve, while Sarah Dunnage has talent and years on her side.

Cath Chalmers

The Canberra Cockatoos completed a perfect week in the National League by winning both open relays at the Australian Relay Championships.

For the first half of the men’s relay it was a two-way battle between the Cockatoos and the NSW Stingers. Gareth Candy and Jock Davis ran most of the first leg together, and Rob Preston also stayed with Grant Bluett for much of the second leg. The decisive break came shortly after the spectator control, with Bluett giving his team a lead which was never challenged thereafter. Dave Shepherd stretched the margin with the day’s fastest run to give them an easy victory. NSW finished second, ahead of the fast-finishing Southern Arrows, for whom Kerrin Rattray ran an excellent final leg.

Canberra’s second women’s team gave its first team something to think about early on, thanks to an excellent lead-off run from Sophie Barker, but Anna Quayle hauled Shannon Jones in on the second leg, and the result was never in doubt thereafter, Jo Allison giving her team an easy win. Anna Sheldon came through from fifth on the last leg to give Queensland second, whilst Kirsten Fairfax, who was a doubtful starter until the very last moment because of illness, won a sprint finish with Cath Chalmers to give Victoria third.

The home state had something to cheer about when they won W17-20E easily, whilst the junior men’s event was taken out by the Tasmanian second team, after their first team was disqualified for taking a wrong map.

The Canberra Cockatoos are confirmed as the senior National League champions for 2006. It was their twelfth title in 13 seasons, and was eventually won by the huge margin of 88 points, after they achieved the maximum possible score in all six rounds held in Western Australia.

The battle for second was closer, with the NSW Stingers starting the Australian Relays nine points ahead of the Victorian Nuggets. The Nuggets needed to beat the Stingers in both relays to have a chance, but it was clear by halfway that the men had little chance of doing so, and the Stingers secured second comfortably.

Queensland entered the final day of the junior competition all but certain of victory; whilst the ACT and Victoria had a theoretical chance of winning, all Queensland had to do was have two teams finish with vaguely respectable results, which they achieved with a second and a fourth. The ACT took second with Victoria third.

Grace Elson (senior) and Kellie Whitfield (junior) secured individual titles earlier in the week. Dave Shepherd’s Australian Long Championships win was enough to ensure him of the title, whilst Simon Uppill’s second also sufficed to hold on despite Ryan Smyth’s win.