theFOOL is a tight competition at just over the half way point. Remarkably Shannon Grant has virtually never been out of the top 3 (including last years competition). The Leaderboard top 3 is:
The competition goes to another level now though with the opening of the first of two trading windows. Managers can buy and sell runners but only at the newly calculated FOOL pricings.
The Canberra Cockatoos have narrowed the NSW Stingers’ National League lead to three points after the final race of the Easter carnival, the Victorian Relays near Bendigo on Sunday. Just 18 points cover the four leading teams in the most closely-contested National League season since 1998.
The Cockatoos set up their result with a comfortable win in the men’s event. With their two fastest runners, Grant Bluett and David Shepherd, running the last two legs, they were always going to be difficult to beat as long as Gareth Candy came back with the lead group or close to it on the first leg. He achieved this, crossing the line in first place, together with NSW and Queensland and with Victoria and South Australia also in close proximity. Bluett pulled out four minutes on the field on the second leg and it was never in doubt after that, with Shepherd extending the gap to nine with the day’s fastest time. David Meyer gave NSW a two-minute break in the battle for second, which Eric Morris was able to hold, whilst Rune Olsen just pipped Simon Uppill in a sprint finish to give the Victorians third over South Australia.
Tasmania went in as hot favourites and were even hotter favourites when Grace Elson was matched only by Queensland’s Anna Sheldon, with four minutes to everyone else and juniors running the last two legs for Queensland. As the Cyclones gradually drifted back through the field, the Foresters went from strength to strength, as Danielle Winslow and Hanny Allston extended the gap to five minutes at the second change and nine at the last. There was a tight battle for second, with Kathryn Ewels breaking clear of Anna Quayle on the last leg to give it to the Nuggets; Orla Murray gained two places late to get into fifth and salvage some potentially important points for the Stingers.
The small junior men’s field provided a finish to remember as all four teams were within seconds of each other at the end. Nick Andrewartha, for Tasmania, led into the final control circle, but missed it slightly to let all three other teams through. Leon Keely’s running speed was enough to bring his Victorian team home ahead of Queensland. Victoria were the only state to field a junior girls’ team, giving them enough points to take the lead in the Junior National League for the first time this season, but Queensland now have the next two rounds at home and will fancy their chances.
Full results are expected to be available onhttp://www.vicorienteering.asn.au/2006/Foot/State/vicrelays06.html on Monday morning.
Tasmanian Grace Elson won her first national title at the Australian Middle Distance Championships this morning. Elson took the lead at the 4th control, and kept her cool in the detailed granite of Korong Spur to beat teammate and pre-race favourite Hanny Allston. This was the final race before the Australian World Championships team will be announced, and Susanne Casanova did her chances no harm with a solid 3rd place. Standout performer was Felicity Brown who beat several of the WOC contenders for her 5th place.
In the mens race, Dave Shepherd prevailed once again – his 5th National League victory in a row! The minor placings were filled by old hands Grant Bluett and Eric Morris (who looks almost certain now to qualify for his 2nd WOC team). Other notable performances included returns to form for Adrian Jackson (4th) and Ben Rattray (6th).
The National League teams competition saw the NSW Ultimax Stingers retain their lead, but lose a point to both of their challengers – the Cockatoos and the Nuggets. The teams competition will heat up tomorrow at the Victorian Relays on the outskirts of Bendigo.
Results on winsplits.
Hanny Allston and Dave Shepherd both secured comfortable victories at the Australian 3-Days with victories on Monday’s final day, held in technical goldmining terrain.
Allston was particularly impressive, extending her already substantial margin to fourteen minutes with a three-minute victory. She fell three seconds short of winning all four races. There was a change behind her, as Grace Elson lost three minutes at the first control, opening the door for the consistent Anna Sheldon to squeeze her out of second place overall after a see-sawing final-day contest.
Shepherd’s final margin was not as great — seven minutes — but he did manage to win all four stages. His closest rival on the last day was Grant Bluett, who was out of overall contention after failing to finish on Sunday. Eric Morris and Rob Preston both had solid runs on the last day, consolidating their second and third overall places respectively.
Simon Uppill continued his dominance of M20, extending his lead by another four minutes to twelve over Chris Naunton and Ryan Smyth. W20 was closer; Sophie Barker and Ainsley Cavanagh both made their bids for glory with the two fastest times of the day, but overnight leader Kellie Whitfield was close enough to hold most of her four-minute break, with Cavanagh just holding off Barker for second.
The Australian Easter 3-days orienteering carnival saw the selection of the Australian Junior Orienteering Team set to compete in Druskininkai Lithuania from 2-9th July. The successful young orienteers are:
Men
Simon Uppill
Chris Naunton
Ryan Smyth
Matt Parton
Murray Scown
Evan Barr
Reserves: Morten Neve, Louis Elson
Women
Hanny Allston
Jasmine Neve
Vanessa Round
Kellie Whitfield
Ainsley Cavanagh
Sophie Barker
Reserves: Heather Harding, Clare Brownridge
The team will be coached by Gareth Candy with the assistance of Rob Walter and Reuben Smith who will attend the training camp in Lithuania in the week prior to the competition. Hilary Wood and Nick Dent will manage the team and Jan Sargood from Uringa Orienteers NSW will assist as Team Physiotherapist for the camp and the competition.
The team comprises a representative from each state of Australia. There are four boys and one girl who will be attending their first JWOC. The girls team is very experienced with the other five girls having been to at least one other JWOC overseas and Hanny Allston last year gaining 3rd place in the middle distance final and bringing home a bronze medal.
The team are keen to better their results on last year and bring home some medals.
The training camp will commence on the 23rd June and lead up to the competition with the sprint for the first time incorporated into the week long competition followed by the Classic –Long Distance race then a rest day, followed by the Middle Distance qualification, Middle Distance Final and finishing off the week with the Relays.
The team have spent the last week in camp in Bendigo training on the good quality maps in the area, using the complex mining terrain to help familiarise them with some of the complex flattish terrain they will encounter inLithuania, getting to know each other and learning about how to prepare for the overseas competition.
The team will be producing a calendar to promote the 2007 Junior World Orienteering Championships being held in Dubbo, NSW. It will be available for sale by June and all proceeds will go towards subsidising the substantial costs of the Juniors to travel to and compete in Lithuania.
Hanny Allston and Dave Shepherd hold comfortable leads going into the final day of the Australian 3-Days after convincing wins at Wattle Gully on Sunday. After narrowly losing yesterday, Allston returned to form in the long race today, pulling away from the field almost from the start to have a five-minute break over Grace Elson by the end. That stretched her overall lead over Elson to seven minutes, whilst Anna Sheldon completes the minor placings after a third place today.
Shepherd had the fastest time of the day in M21E, but his position was made a good deal more comfortable when Grant Bluett, who had been close to him for the first half of the course. This ensured that Shepherd was four minutes ahead on the day. Rune Olsen was the next best, with Eric Morris close behind. Morris is in second place overall, five minutes behind Shepherd, whilst Rob Preston heads a group of four within two minutes fighting for third place tomorrow. Bluett’s mishap also made for a bad day for the Canberra Cockatoos, as the NSW Stingers regained the National League lead by seven points.
Simon Uppill continued his dominance of M20, extending his lead over Chris Naunton and Ryan Smyth from four minutes to nine. Kellie Whitfield also had a good day in W20, pulling away over the second half of the course to be two minutes ahead on the day and four minutes overall. There is a very tight battle behind her, with Ainsley Cavanagh, Heather Harding and Sophie Barker separated by less than a minute. There may not be room in the JWOC team for all of them, which will make tomorrow particularly crucial.
The event will be concluded tomorrow at Mineral Springs.
Dave Shepherd and Hanny Allston remain in the lead after Easter Saturday, the first full day of competition at the Australian 3-Days, following yesterday’s prologue.
Shepherd won for the second time in succession, but had to work for his victory as he was behind for much of the course, following a one-minute error halfway around in the very fast terrain. Kerrin Rattray led for most of the way, but Shepherd finished strongly to pip him by three seconds. Grant Bluett was third a further 50 seconds back, on a day when the top ten were within 2.10 of the lead.
Allston’s run today was patchier than her dominant performance of yesterday, with two errors in mid-course after getting an early lead, and Elson got a break which was just enough to hold on, by three seconds. Kirsten Fairfax, in her best result for several years, completed the placings. Allston retains the overall lead, with Elson moving into second. Yesterday’s second-placegetter, Anna Quayle, was off the pace today, whilst Jo Allison did not start with a knee injury.
Simon Uppill was as dominant today as he was yesterday, and extended his overall lead to four minutes by finishing 2.20 ahead of a close bunch which included Murray Scown, Ryan Smyth and Chris Naunton. Sophie Barker, the pre-race favourite in W20E, who had a disappointing day yesterday, was much more convincing today and was also more than two minutes ahead there, with Heather Harding and Sarah Dunnage the next best. Kellie Whitfield is the overall leader from Heather Harding, but Barker has closed the gap from five minutes to two and will be one to watch.
Hanny Allston dominated the elite prologue at the Australian 3-Days, whilst Dave Shepherd scored a narrow win over Grant Bluett to take a 7-second lead into Saturday.
Allston was a commanding winner, having 1.37 in hand on the 3km course on the fringes of Bendigo. She was already 40 seconds up by the fourth control, and never looked like being challenged thereafter. Anna Quayle, 2005 Australian sprint champion, was next in line, with Grace Elson completing the placings. Jo Allison, along with Allston the favourite for the overall title, is in fourth place and still in touch.
Shepherd and Bluett fought out a close contest. Bluett was narrowly in front for much of the way, but his lead was rarely more than 15 seconds. Shepherd did not finally hit the front until the final section of the course in the California Gully school grounds, and was a little too fast for Bluett in the closing stages. Kerrin Rattray was in third place a further 24 seconds behind.
Clare Brownridge took advantage of her Bendigo upbringing to have a slightly unexpected win in W20, ahead of Kellie Whitfield, whilst Simon Uppill was almost as commanding in M20 as Allston had been in W21, and had a time fast enough to place sixth in the seniors as well.
It was also a good day for the Canberra Cockatoos as they wrested the National League lead away from the NSW Stingers. Tasmania remain in third, but will be tested over the next three days as most of their better men are running juniors.
The MTBO Selection Panel wishes to announce the selection of the following team for the 2006 World MTBO Championships to be held in Joensuu Finland in July
Women
Carolyn Jackson
Men
Steven Cusworth
Paul Darvodelsky
Adrian Jackson
Grant Lebbink
Alex Randall
David Simpfendorfer
The first relay team will be Adrian and Alex plus the best performed of the other 4 in the middle distance final. If a second relay team is allowed by organisers, it should be made up of the remaining 3 riders.
Mike Dowling
Director, High Performance
Orienteering Australia
A feature of the relays will be a taped route for all National Orienteering League runners.
All NOL and JNOL runners will assemble at the start for a taped route run through intricate terrain (approx. 1 Km) before collecting their first leg map. All runners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd must assemble and complete the route at the 10.30 mass start. Only after all team runners have completed the taped route can the 1st leg runner collect their map for the start of the course.
Course setter Warren Key comments: Courses have been set to keep the competition close and tight but separated by technical control sites. A taped route for NOL runners is made with interesting viewing in mind. Many controls close together so check numbers. A special course-setting feature is a large sand-dune amphitheatre will be used as a viewing mound which will give spectacular views of runners. Every leg runner will be seen twice and the last 3 controls on every course are visible to the spectator for excellent viewing. Note: all courses go through a spectator control just prior to half-way, and then near the finish.
Final Registration
Final team confirmation and chest number collection for the relays will be available for state/club managers after the completion of racing of day 3 on Easter Monday.
Emergency changes and SI stick hire collection will be available on the morning of the event from 8.30 to 9.30am. No team changes will be accepted after 9.30am.
