Author: craigf

The start of the National Orienteering League 2006 is now less than a month away! Which means even less than a month to finalise and send in your theFOOL team. Entries have started trickling in already, but perhaps most of you are waiting for that extra bit of inside knowledge…

Round the Grounds

ACT – The reigning champions are seemingly unbeatable. But a few things have changed this year. A training camp in Beechworth may have been a good step for granite practice but it revealed a few holes. A few of the big names are just coming back from injury and maybe not in time for the first races. Other team members are now living overseas, weakening any depth they might have had. The summer series in Canberra has revealed good form for Anna Quayle though.

VIC – Runners-up last year taking that title away from NSW at the last race of the season. They are relying on some aging stars but have the advantage of quite a number of races at home. Of course Troy de Haas is back in Australia and he can make a massive difference. And they have some promising juniors coming up, as well as those versatile mountain bike types. There is some cluckiness around.

NSW – If anyone can challenge the Cockies, it’s the Stingers, or so you might think. A few of the men raced the Overland track, a 82km run! This may seem a little silly to some and presumably isnt the best preparation just over a month before the start of the season. The purchase of kayaks suggests some may be concentrating less on orienteering these days. An extremely high quality sprint series in Sydney will add good preparation though and has seen the return of Orla to Sydney which should boost the Sydney women’s scene. And then there are the distant cries of babies…

QLD – Is a team that may be the best prepared going into this coming season. With Geoff Peck playing an influential role in coaching, the squad seems to be active at training camps and preparing specifically for the coming races. All this and more are hinted at on their website. And in case you are wondering who will be running for them, even their team selection is on the web!

SA – Has a big training camp this weekend and a renewed push to take on the likes of the Cyclones and even sneak into the top 3 overall. With ideas for a new uniform as well, the team is hopeful they can encourage more out to the races. Because there is a lot of talent in SA, its just whether they make the start line, either through not being able to travel or being injured. Did someone say injured?

WA – To be honest, I have no idea what is happening out West. There is plenty of talent for solid results, maybe the silence is a sign they are too busy training. Despite the distance I can hear something though… is that more babies??

TAS – The Forester women are getting awards left right and centre. Hanny of course picked up a state award and Grace won the Overland track race. Some concern over operations and long races/adventure races may come into play. The men are a different story though, and the Foresters didn’t finish last last year due to their women. Although there are some young ones with promise there is a sense they may not be too keen to develop it.

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent anyone, particularly Orienteering Australia or theFOOL.

Orienteering internationals David Schneider and Jo Allison had comfortable victories in today’s ACT Mountain Running Championships on Mt Tennent.

The two minute win by the well performed Allison, the Australian orienteering champion, in the women’s 8.3kms in 54 mins 2 secs was expected, with greatly improved Weston Creek runner Leanne Wilkinson runner-up in 56:03, and Queensland veteran Hubertein Wichers third in 57:09. Danielle Winslow was 4th in 59:57 on the course which had 850m of climb.

Schneider, the orienteering champion of Switzerland, a country renowned for both its stunning mountain scenery and its elite mountain runners, caused a major upset in leading from start to finish to defeat an ACT men’s field containing four of the top five members of the Australian mountain running team. He took only 32 minutes to reach the half way point at the summit and just over 25 minutes for the remainder of the 12kms climbing 1000m, setting a course record of 57:45. Dual Australian champion Ben Dubois of Wollongong was second in 58:56, with fellow Australian team members from Wollongong, Barry Keem and Stephen Brown, next in 59:06 and 59:49.

South Canberra Tuggeranong Tour de Mountain champion Stuart Doyle caused a boilover by taking out the ACT resident title in 60:47 from North Canberra Gungahlin’s Australian representative David Osmond who ran 60:47, with veteran orienteer Anthony Scott third in 63:09. Other orienteers to perform well included:

Trevor Jacobs, 6th outright and 1st M50 in 66:29
Tim Sawkins, 2nd M40 behind Anthony Scott
Michael Burt, 3rd M45
Hugh Moore, 2nd M55, running the 6km course with 700m climb in 46:53
Carol Harding, 2nd W45
Results are up on the AMRA web-site.
The Australian Championships will be conducted over the same courses on Mt Tennent on 29th April.

John Harding

Photos: Peta Jacobs

NSW and Tasmanian Orienteers completed the 82km Cradle Mountain Run last Saturday. The race travels along ‘The Overland Track’ through World Heritage listed Cradle Mountain National Park, and was first held in 1981. The field is limited to 50 runners to protect the environment and maintain the friendly atmosphere of the race. The track is famous for its mud, but a hot summer resulted in a dry, fast track.

The run started at 6am, and fog covered the mountains for most of the morning. Elson held a 3 minute lead over her rivals at the first checkpoint at Pelion Hut (manned by Paul Pacque and Christine Brown). By Narcissus Hut (62Km), over 9hours into the race she had extended her lead to 11 minutes. Thelast 18Km along the edge of Lake St Clair is considered the toughest section of the race, both mentally and physically. The end of the lake seems that it will never appear, and the tree roots are a constant battle for weary legs. Elson extended her lead to 18 minutes by the end of the race, finishing in 12hrs10mins. This was a particularly good effort for Elson in her first ultra-marathon, especially considering she was the youngest competitor in the race. Elson will now turn her focus to shorter training to prepare for the forthcoming NOL series.

The NSW Ultimax Stingers also sent a strong team of 5 runners to Tasmania. The race was seen as a good incentive to get out and do some long training runs over the summer. Rob Preston set the pace up the first climb to Kitchen Hut, on the shoulder of Cradle Mountain. But it was not long before pre-race favourite and 2005 winner Matt Dalziel went to the lead and pushed the pace down to Waterfall Valley. Preston stuck to Dalziel’s heels until Windermere Hut (20Km) before slowing to a more realistic pace. Andrew Hill, Richard Mountstephens (former elite runner), and Peter Preston ran together swapping the lead for the first 30Km. By halfway, Dalziel had extended his lead to 17 minutes over Rob Preston, and 23 minutes in front of 3rd placed Hill. Dalziel, a member of the famous AROC Adventure Racing team and Hobart’s Wellington Ranges orienteering club, completed the race in an exceptional 7hrs 49mins, 33 minutes faster than his winning time in 2005. This was the 4th fastest time in the race’s long history. Paul Reefman (Victoria) and Mountstephens ran the last section strongly to grab 2nd and 3rd places, ahead of very tired Rob Preston and Andrew Hill. Glenn Meyer ran a well judged race to finish in 11th place. Peter Preston was in 8th place at Narcissus Hut, but tired badly to finish in 14th place. The Stingers boys all agreed this was the hardest race they had ever done. They are planning on making a speedy recovery before the first round of NOL races on home territory.

2006 results

On Friday night, at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, Hanny Allston was announced as the Tasmanian Junior Female Athlete of the Year for 2005 in the annual Tasmanian Sports Stars Awards. Hanny received the award in recognition of her best ever 6th place result by an Australian at the 2005 World Championshsips in Japan and for her bronze medal at the 2005 Junior World Championships in Switzerland.

Orienteering Australia congratulates Hanny on this recognition in her home state for her achievements.

Mike Dowling
Director, High Performance

OA is seeking nominations from elite orienteers to compete at the European Orienteering Championships and World Cup in Estonia from 7 to 13 May 2006. There is a full program of events including sprint, middle, classic and relay. Each country may nominate up to 6 men and 6 women, and have up to 2 relay teams.

Selection will be based on the ‘past form’ criteria as set out in the selection criteria for WOC 2006.

Important things to note are:

• unfortunately OA’s budget mean no funding is available and competitors will be responsible for meeting all their own costs, including entry fees, travel and accommodation.
• each country must nominate a manager. In Australia’s case, this will be one of the competitors. Please indicate if you are willing to undertake this task.
• Even if fewer than 6 nominations are received, this is no guarantee of selection. OA will only select elite orienteers with the capacity to be competitive at a World Cup level.

Although country nominations officially closed on February 1st, we have received special dispensation to nominate a team by 28 February. Potential competitors should should indicate their interest to Paul Liggins on 0408 417 335 or paul.liggins@au.pwc.com by 20 February.

The special rules governing the conduct of the 2006 world cup in foot orienteering have been released by the IOF The rules detail the locations and dates of world cup races, scoring system, and rule amendments.

WorldCup2006SpecialRules

The sometimes tough and always scenic Wildside race concluded this morning with the 36 km 7th stage in Strahan, on Tasmania’s west coast. The MTBO-ers at the event: Adrian Jackson, Alex Randall and Katrin Van der Spiegel posted spectacular results.

All rode consistently through the 7 tough stages to place in the top of the 300 strong field. Adrian placed 4th in the general classification and 2nd in the U23 category, beating a swag of Australia’s top MTB XC riders, including those who’ve raced world champs and world cups.

Alex placed a briliant 3rd in the Open Men class, 2nd only to the best two MTB riders in Australia, Chris Jongewaard and Sid Taberlay. He was also 7th in the general classification.

After running 3rd in the Open Women’s category for the first 3 stages, Katrin Van der Spiegel showed her strength and form by winning the individual time trial last night. In the final stage today she continued the superb form with a 2nd place to Niki Fisher and beat Lisa Mathison by 5 minutes, who placed 10th in the Athens Olympic race.

Full Wildside results

The 2nd race in the Ultimax Sprint Series took place today in Hunter’s Hill, Sydney. The technical 2.9km course had sections of urban, bush and park orienteering, and was said to be worthy of an Australian Sprint Championships.

Swiss international superstar Matthias Mueller (13th WOC Middle Distance 2005) took the victory in 16.06mins, only one day after arriving in Australia. Mattias said he was very happy to win his only race in Australia before heading to NZ on Friday. 2nd Place went to Ben Rattray (Southern Arrows) in 17.01mins closely followed by Ultimax Stinger Peter Preston, 17.11mins.

In women’s class, it couldn’t have been closer with Ultimax Stingers Phoebe Dent and Orla Murray joint winners, 27.20mins. Austrian Karin Leonhardt, also on a short break from the cold European climate, took 3rd place in 27.44.

Next week the Ultimax Sprints move to Sydney Park, site of a National League race in 2005.

Full results can be found at http://sydneysprints.blogspot.com/

Date: 7th December, 2005

Nomination Process

All athletes who wish to be considered for selection in the Australian team for WMTBOC 2006 are required to submit an Expression of Interest, which should include all contact details eg. name, address, email, phone etc.

Expressions of Interest should be fowarded to the Chair of Selectors preferably by close of business February 10th 2006 (although any time before the first selection race in Victoria on February 25 is acceptable).
Selection Procedures and Criteria

The following Selection Procedures for WMTBOC 2006 have been discussed and agreed to by the High Performance Management Group MTBO.

Please read the procedures carefully as they provide all the relevant information on how to be selected.

Team size and composition

A team of at least 4 men and 4 women will be selected. Additional team members, up to a maximum of 6 men and 6 women plus 1 reserve respectively, may also be selected. Selection will be based primarily upon demonstrated potential to achieve a benchmark performance of a top 16 result.

The selectors will name athletes to participate in Long Distance, Middle Distance and Relay events, following the final selection race.

It is desirable that athletes have the ability to perform in all disciplines. If, however, you can demonstrate performance in only one discipline then you must clearly be the best in this and preferably have strength in another.

Because of Orienteering Australia’s limited resources to support a large team, allocation of funding for the team will be discussed, at a later date, with athletes who nominate for selection.

Selection Criteria

Performance at all selection races will be the major consideration when making selections. Competing at only some races will mean performing very well in those that you do contest, but will not preclude you from selection.

Factors other than the selection races may be considered. These are results achieved in 2005 World MTBO Championships and 2005 Australian MTBO Championships.

Overseas based athletes who are unable to compete in the selection races will need to provide the selectors with evidence that they can achieve a performance equal to or preferably better than Australian based athletes. Overseas based athletes will need to provide selectors, in writing, of races they wish to be considered as meeting the requirements of selection. These must be races where there will be a number of WMTBOC 2005 competitors present. It is however, in the interest of everyone to participate in the Australian selection races.

Any injury or illness will be given consideration provided notification of such is received by the Chair of Selectors prior to the relevant selection race and is supported by written evidence from a medical practitioner.

Similarly, consideration will be given to true mechanical failures during selection races.

The selectors consider the best results for Australia are achieved when a team works well together in representing Australia, so a person’s contribution to the team environment is also a consideration.

Selection Trials

There will be 2 series of selection races. Each weekend will have 2 days of racing. The first will be held in Victoria on the weekend of February 25/26, 2006, and the second in NSW on the weekend of March 25/26, 2006.

It is the athlete’s responsibility to ensure that they have separately entered these events. Neither organisers nor selectors will be held responsible if an athlete fails to enter and therefore does not race.

Details of the format of the weekend races will be available at least 4 weeks prior to each event.

Selection Panel

The selection panel for 2006 is:
Ann Scown, ACT,
Anitra Dowling, Victoria
David Hatley, NSW
Ann Scown
Chair of Selectors
email: scown@light.net.au
Home phone: 02 62925012

Australian Champion and 2nd ranked MTBO rider in the world, Adrian Jackson is showing his credentials in the Wildside MTB race in Tasmania. Wildside is one of Australia’s premier MTB stage races, running from Cradle Mountain to Strahan on Tasmania’s wild, west coast. With 7 race stages over 4 days it’s one of Australia’s toughest MTB races and attracts the best riders in Australia.

In Stage 1 yesterday morning, Jackson rode conservatively to place 8th in a field of about 300, just behind well known MTBO rider, Alex Randall. Both were only a short distance behind MTB Olympian Sid Taberlay and Australian Commonwealth Games team rider Chris Jongewaard. Jongewaard was fresh from a stunning 9th place in the pro-tour Tour Down Under road race.

Jackson unleashed the fury in Stage 2 yesterday afternoon, taking 2nd place to Jongewaard and leading a pack of Australia’s best MTB riders home, including Alex Randall in 7th place, although Taberlay lost six minutes after puncturing twice.

Stage 3 yesterday morning was a tough race over the pass between Tullah and Rosebery, mostly on technical, clay single track through some of Tasmania’s finest rainforest. Overnight rain made the stage very difficult riding. Jackson again showed his calibre with a strong 5th place, only a few seconds behind 3rd. Adrian is now 3rd outright in the general classification to only Jongewaard and Taberlay and leads the U23 race over Australia’s best up-and-coming MTB riders. Alex Randall is in 7th place outright in the general classification and in striking distance.

Yesterday afternoon’s Stage 4 was lengthened to run from Rosebery to Zeehan along an old rail route, once again through beautiful forest and past Montezuma Falls, the tallest waterfall in Tasmania. A mix-up by the organisers saw Jackson, Randall and a number of other riders miss their elite wave start and have to ride alone and overtake two other start waves. Despite this setback they rode the 4th fastest time of the day.

Rumour has it that the question on everyone’s lips is “Who the hell are these guys who’ve come out of absolutely nowhere and are beating the best riders in the country?” But of course, those of us in orienteering circles know better!
In the women’s race Sydney’s Katrin Van der Spiegel is placed 3rd outright in her first attempt at Wildside, having come 3rd in each of the first 3 stages to Olympian Lisa Mathison and Canberra rider Niki Fisher, both who’ve raced Wildside before. In the Montezuma Falls stage, Katrin rode very strongly to take 10 minutes out of Lisa Mathison and now lies 2nd in the general classification.

These stunning results against the best riders in Australia show the strength of Australian MTBO and augur well for the forthcoming World Championships in Finland in July.
Wildside results