Author: craigf

Tom Quayle will be the new coach of the Australian Bushrangers. The Bushrangers is Australia’s development team for senior orienteers. Orienteering Australia is pleased that an athlete of Quayle’s calibre is taking on such a major role in high performance coaching. The Bushrangers will benefit from Quayle’s year of experience as a world-class orienteer, particularly in his specialist area of long-sighted planning, and major race preparation.

A persistent heel injury has put Quayle’s own orienteering career on hold since his 13th place in the Long Distance race at WOC 2005. Quayle has spent nearly a decade competing and training in Sweden and Norway. Amongst his achievements are two 4th placings at JWOC, a 13th and 14th placing in the Long Distance at WOC, and a 6th placing in the WOC relay.

The Bushrangers will compete in two test matches against New Zealand in 2006. The first will be in New Zealand from the 2nd to the 5th of June, the second in Queensland on the 19th and 20th of August. The Bushrangers team will be selected prior to the Easter round of NOL races.

The ACT kicked off its championship season in style at Sparrow Hill today with intricate courses providing testing racing.

With the sprint race up first in open pine forest on vague hillsides it was crucial to have good direction throughout the race. In the women’s field, it was a race in three, with WOC representative Jo Allison posting the early time to beat, and neither Danielle Winslow nor Anna Quayle, both of whom lost time early in the course, could match Allison’s time 16.37, three minutes ahead of Winslow, with Quayle a further minute back.

In the men’s race it was Kerrin Rattray who showed he is one to watch next weekend for
a potential WOC spot with a convincing win over some other top contenders. Rattray was consistently faster than his competitors and beat Eric Morris by nearly half a minute to win his first senior ACT State championship. Morris was a minute ahead of Andy Hogg in third and Ben Rattray was 4^th.

The middle distance race was held only two hours after the completion of the sprint, and with a technically challenging 26 controls, it provided for some testing orienteering in the low-visibility pine forest.

The women were again off first with Jo Allison starting strongly, taking the lead for the first part of the race with consistent running; Anna Quayle was always close, and at control 18, a 2 minute error by Allison cost her the race,
with Quayle taking the lead to the end. Winslow nearly snuck in for second but a late mistake pushed her back to third.

In the men’s race it was the return of David Shepherd that had the morning’s performers nervous. Shepherd had flown in froma training camp in Europe hours before the race, but you wouldn’t have known he had jet lag, with a dominating performance from the start taking the lead and never looking like being beaten. Shepherd won by just over 3 minutes from Eric Morris, who had another consistent run. Andy Hogg had a confidence-boosting run coming back from injury to place third only 30 seconds behind Morris. Kerrin Rattray struggled to replicate his morning run, ending up fourth a further two minutes back.

The ACT-based elites will now focus on the Australian Easter Three Days in Castlemaine, Victoria which start on Friday, and will serve as part of the selection process for the Australian team for the World Orienteering Championships in Denmark

ACT Sprint – Results

M21A

W21A

ACT Middle – Winsplits

Full Results available soon at OACT website.

A big contingent of MTBOers competed in the Sydney 24 hour mtb cross country race last weekend. The race is for solo riders and teams and started at 1 pm Saturday and finished at 12 noon Sunday (think about it! It’s the adjustment for daylight savings).

The format of the event is to ride the most laps of a 10 Km cross-country course near Wiseman’s Ferry. The course is a mixture of fire trails and single track around the Dargle Farm property and is great fun to ride. The toughest riders ride solo and spend as little as 15 minutes off their bikes in the 24 hours. Most competitors ride in teams and share the fun (pain?!).

The stand-out performance of the weekend was NSW MTBOer and XC endurance racer, Katrin Van der Speigel (Clarence Street Cyclery – Trek Bikes). Katrin rode solo and smashed the small women’s field. What was even more impressive was that Katrin placed 6th in the very strong men’s category. This follows her win at the Australian titles in the Mont 24 hour last October and is part of her preparation for the World 24 hour championships in Atlanta in September later this year.

MTBOers also entered an OZMTBO.COM team to try and defend last years outright 3rd place but were slowed to a crawl by the loss to injury and illness of 3 of the 6 team members. Nevertheless Emily Viner, Tom Walter (MalAjusted) and Paul Darvodelsky (Netti-Scott bikes) clocked some of the faster lap times against a field which included a number of the Commonwealth games XC representatives.

Fast, high-level XC competitions of these types are critical preparation for MTBO and the results show the continued improvement of the Aussie MTBO riders.

Between 5 and 10 cm of snow lay on the ground when the vast majority of the world’s elite orienteers competed in the traditional season-opener Spring Cup in Denmark last weekend. Spring cup is always an interesting weekend providing the first real test for runners and clubs with a classic race on the Saturday followed by a relay on the Sunday.

The men’s classic race was won by Swiss runner Mattias Merz with Sweden’s Jonas Pilblad second, followed by Great Britain’s Jamie Stevenson. Dave Shepherd and Rob Walter placed 75th and 77th respectively with only five seconds separating them. “There was so much snow! I’m happy that my ankle held up well though, now I’m just lacking competition form” said Shepherd who, along with several other Australians, will be continuing his preparation for WOC in Denmark with a training camp in Silkeborg this week.

Spring Cup is known for its close finishes but Simone Niggli made sure the women’s race was far from that. She outclassed a quality field and won by 3:26 to Finland’s Mina Kauppi and Switzerland’s Lea Muller. Allison Jones was 97th, Mace Neve 122nd and Cassie Trewin 128th.

The Spring Cup relay was held on Sunday in anything but inviting weather as the runners encountered snow and rain. Simone Niggli won once again with her Swedish club Ulricehamns OK. It was an impressive win for the Swedish club considering the Finnish national team had decided to enter a full strength team in preparation for WOC later this year. The Finns were eventually second, 1:25 down, with Swedish club IK Hakarspojkarna third. Allison Jones anchored her Swedish club OK Linne to 40th place.

The men’s relay was won by Finland’s Vehkalahden Veikot followed by Sweden’s IFK Gothenburg and Vaajakosken Tera from Finland. Dave Shepherd’s Swedish club Gothenburg Majorna OK was 25th and Malungs OK from Sweden with Rob Walter running the final leg came home in 45th.

Full results here

The latest world rankings for MTB-o have been updated to include the WRE event held at Newcastle recently.

The latest rankings put Adrian Jackson in first, Alex Randall in 3rd and Canberra’s David Simfendorfer in equal 12th.

In the women, New Zealand’s Marquita Gelderman is on top, with Carolyn Jackson 3rd and Anna Sheldon in 4th.

The next World Ranking Events in MTBO are to be held in Austria in late April.

Victorian orienteers (thanks to the Nuggets and Bruce Arthur) have trained and left tapes for anyone wishing to access the training. The maps available are Chewton Diggings, Crocodile Reservoir, and Smith’s Gully. Orienteers will need to print the map from the Nuggets website  or visit the Victorian orienteeering website & go to the Nuggets.

• Chewton Diggings has a 6 Km course and has interesting route choice options with some intricate mining. A course running through varied terrain for a taste of course setting on day 2 and day 3. Located on North Road at Chewton. Yellow tapes.
• Crocodile Reservoir is over the road from Day 2 and has a course set by Warren but no tapes.
• Smith’s Gully is good training for vague gully spur which will be similar to Day 1.  Located on the Castlemaine – Maldon road two thirds of the way to  Maldon. After clear paddocks turn right into the road that has the old school house historic sign.  Blue tapes.

Sue Neve

Queensland Sprint Champions blow the cobwebs out of UQ St. Lucia.

The Queensland 5 event Park O series concluded this weekend, with the Sprint Championships on the St Lucia Campus of the University of Queensland.  All events have taken place in very hot and humid conditions, making the courses very trying for all athletes.  The series, totally organised by members of the Cyclones squad, was a huge success with over 80 competitors at each event and they not only raised funds for the team but proved to be a great boost in the search for new competitors.

For the Championships the St Lucia campus was brilliantly mapped by Jon Sutcliffe who also set courses to match the standard of the map.  In most park events the runners have an easy task against the technical orienteers but in this event it was clear that athletes needed to be technically competent as well as fast.  The two long legs with multiple route choices proved to be the difference for the winning competitors.

In the M/W17-20, Matt McGuire took out the men’s class and Ainsley Cavanagh the women’s class.  The W21 class saw a great battle between Anna Sheldon and Julia Davies resolved in favour of Julia with an excellent 23 minutes for the 4.4Km course.  The M21 class was an incredible battle after the 3Km mark with first Oliver Mitchell leading, then joining in a battle with Dane Cavanagh and Kieran Sullivan before Jukka Oikarinen took control to win in 20 minutes from the fast finishing Matt Bourke in 2nd and the consistent Ian Anderson in 3^rd.

Silva Medal – 2005 – Ian makes it to double figures

Ian Hassall (IK.N) has won the Silva Medal for 2005. Ian has won or shared the title 10 times since 1987. Ian’s excellent year included first place in the Australian, the Easter 3-Days, and 5 State Championships. A perfect record for the year.

The Silva Orienteer of the Year competition is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian Championships, the Easter 3-Days, and all State Championships (Elite and A classes in M/W16 and above). Below is an interview with Ian. The OA statistician delves into the secret of Ian’s success:

Statistician: 10 times in 29 years is remarkably consistent.  How do you do it, Ian?

Ian: To be consistent at orienteering, I try to eliminate errors as much as possible. I use a basic routine which might be archaic but works for me. I use a base plate compass and always set it for the next leg and always pace count whilst reading the map. This method usually gets me close to the control. I also have the time to travel to the various State Championships to enjoy the variety of terrains and events and to socialize with interstate friends. I have always enjoyed orienteering enormously ever since the first event I attended in 1971. I love the mental and sometimes physical challenge it can provide.

S: Are you a good navigator or just fast?

I: Good navigation and speed are both important no matter what age group you are in. I work on running speed by training for 40-45 minutes 5-6days per week with a variety of sessions and regular speed work.

S: In recent times, veterans have held the trophy more often than non-vets (Rob Walter and Carolyn Jackson in 2001 were recent exceptions).  How can younger ones take the trophy from you?

I: In Rob Walter’s case, his win was more meritorious than mine as he competes against a larger number of excellent runners than I do. Recently, I have competed against small fields. However, when fields drop below 4 starters (as was the case for the Queensland championships this year in my age class), I get only 1 point instead of the normal 4 for a win.  The bulge of runners in the 50 – 60 age classes at present makes it difficult to win there, although Lotty and Erbacher have done it recently.

S: At your age how do you manage injuries so well?

I: I have been fortunate with injuries as any that have occurred I have been able to overcome quickly. To reduce the chance of injury I always train on soft surfaces such as grass and sand. Flexibility is very important so it is necessary to adequately stretch before and after running.

S: Is height an advantage in orienteering?

I: I have never thought of height as being an advantage or disadvantage. Two of our greats, Warren Key and Rob Walter have a great height differential. In my case, in pine forests with low branches, being small is an advantage but in 1.5 meter high undergrowth it is a disadvantage.

S: Well done, Ian.  Congratulations.

I: Thank you.

Leading point scorers were:

1 Ian Hassall (IK.N) 33
2 Kevin Paine (BS.A) 26
= Dave Lotty (UR.N) 26
4 Simon Uppill (OH.S) 24
= Sue Neve (MF.V) 24
6 Judith Hay (BN.N) 23
7 Jenny Hawkins (BS.A) 22
= Christa Schafer (GO.N) 22
9 Neil Schafer (GO.N) 21
10 Darryl Smith (WR.T) 20
=  John Lyon (TT.S) 20
= Bridgett Anderson (UG.Q) 20

OA Statistician