Author: craigf

Experienced orienteers Eric Morris from Bennelong Club in Sydney and Wendy Read from Ugly Gully in Brisbane turned in outstanding performances at the two day Queensland Orienteering Championships at Flagstone to beat their younger rivals.

Both Eric and Wendy are old enough to compete in the 35+ age group but chose to run in the top 21A class. Eric won by over 7 minutes over the two days while Wendy just edged out club mate Julia Davies by 38 seconds. The event was conducted in excellent weather with temperatures in the low 20s.

There was much praise for the map by Rob Simson and the course setting by Neil Simson and Fiona Calabro. Running times by a number of the class winners was a little faster than anticipated though close enough to the target times.

Nearly 250 competitors took part in the two day event with the youngest being several 5 year olds escorted around the novice course, and the oldest, Elizabeth Baxter in the W75+ age class. British visitors Simon and Helen Errington and Spanish visitor Lluis Ferrer enjoyed the challenge of competing in unfamiliar terrain. Simon won the M40A class, Helen was 3rd in the W40A, while Lluis finished 7th in the M21A.

The organisers would like to thank the controller, Tim McIntyre from Ugly Gully, the Junior Cyclones catering group, all the Toohey Forest Club members who pitched in and helped in planning and preparation during the two days of competition, and also those including some members from other clubs who stayed behind and helped pack up and bring in controls on the Sunday afternoon.

Applications are called for scholarships for 2006 at the OA National Training Centre at ACTAS. An application form can be obtained from Neville Bleakley at
nevandpam@bigpond.com or by telephoning 02-62810335.

Applicants must meet the selection criteria below. In addition:

• All offers of scholarship will be conditional upon a cash contribution from the athlete’s home State association (or another source).
• One scholarship will be offered at a discounted rate (yet to be agreed) to the person who best fits the selection criteria. That amount was $500 in 2005.
• Other scholarship holders (up to a maximum of three) will be charged an amount yet to be agreed for 2006. That amount was $2,500 in 2005.

Selection Criteria for OA Scholarship the National Training Centre

The following are the selection criteria for an Orienteering Australia
scholarship to the National Training Centre based at ACTAS:

• An elite orienteer who is a resident in ACT but competes for their State of Origin;
• Current member of the National Senior Squad;
• Demonstrated potential to achieve an OA benchmark performance at a world orienteering championships (WOC);
• Strength and conditioning levels required of an elite athlete, and a commitment to improving them;
• Commitment to a squad-based training program;
• Commitment to a systematic, “holistic” program.

Conditions of a National Training Centre Scholarship:

1) Whilst an OA scholarship holder, must compete for his/her home State in the National League during the season of the scholarship;

2) Will not be eligible for direct cash assistance from the ACTAS squad funds or Sport and Recreation ACT Travel Grants.

Selection Process for OA Scholarship to NTC

A selection panel will be formed consisting of the Head Coach, OA HP Manager, and other members as deemed appropriate.

The final MTBO World Ranking Events were held in the Czech Republic over the weekend 27-28 August, and there were some very encouraging results from the national team members in both the middle and long distance races.

2004 Orienteering Australia Athlete of the Year, Adrian Jackson, won both races, finishing ahead of some of the best riders from the Czech Republic, Russia and Slovakia, many of whom rode to podium finishes in last year’s World MTBO Championships in Ballarat. Alex Randall also finished in the top 6 in both races, confirming his comeback to top form after a troubled lead up to last year’s World Championships.

With high place finishes in the Czech Republic and Polish World Ranking Events, and the possibility of further high finishes in the forthcoming World Championships, Adrian has a good chance to be in the top few ranked male riders in the world for 2005.

The Australian women raced consistently well, with all team members finishing well inside the top half of the field in both races.

Notably missing from the men’s and women’s fields were the Finnish and French team riders, so there will be some increased competition for the Aussies when the World Championships begin in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, on September 5th.

Results summary:

Women – Middle distance: Anna Sheldon 5th, Mary Fien 7th, Carolyn Jackson 13th, Long: Mary 6th, Anna 10th, Carolyn 11th.

Men – Middle: Adrian Jackson 1st, Alex Randall 6th, Anthony Darr 41st, Long: Adrian 1st, Alex 5th, Anthony 25th

Bulletin 2 for next years WOC in Denmark has been published.

http://www.woc2006.dk/

Following several weeks of setbacks in preparation for the World Championships, there are still 6 riders who will take on the forest tracks of Slovakia in the WMTBOC in September.

After sustaining an elbow injury, Anthony Darr has been racing well in NSW and will take his place in the team. Unfortunately, Paul Darvodelsky crashed heavily during a road cycling race and sustained two broken collar bones and several cracked ribs. At the time of writing he is well on the way to recovery but will be unable to take his place riding in the Team. He will be travelling to Slovakia as Manager/Coach.

Both Melissa Thomas and Tony Clark withdrew from the team due to personal and work reasons.

Alex Randall and Adrian Jackson travelled to Europe early to get in some racing in Finland and Estonia and both are racing very well.

The team which will represent Australia at WMTBOC 2006 is Mary Fien, Carolyn Jackson, Anna Sheldon, Anthony Darr, Adrian Jackson and Alex Randall.

The team meets in Prague on 25/26 August and goes to Czech world ranking events on 27/28. From there to Banska Bystrica for the final training camp and WOC 5/11 September.

Given the results achieved in the past by all the members of this team, and the performances in Europe so far by Alex and Adrian, we hope for some great results in all disciplines in 2005.

Ann Scown
Chair of selectors

The venue for the relays was the same as the long distance finals, but the competition area was to the south and east of the assembly area, while the long distance finals were held in the area to the north. The assembly was a large dirt/sand sports field and being very dry, when the wind blew, it was very dusty and unpleasant. The temperature seemed much higher than on Friday and plenty of fluid was the order of the day. The race was set up to be a good one for spectators to watch, with competitors coming back through the arena about a third to half through their course.

Australia sent out its two best teams and despite the men’s results and even with the benefit of hindsight, there was no suggestion that different teams or sequences should have been used.

Jo Allison led out for the Australian women, and was going well after her first loop and came back in sixth place just ahead of Finn Paula Haapakoski. Tracy Bluett had a slightly better time than Jo, but although she recorded the sixth fastest time, the team dropped to seventh because Finland’s Heli Jukkola passed her. Both Jo and Tracy were happy with their runs, and felt that they could not have done much more on the day (see photo of a determined Tracy heading to the finish).

Hanny Allston went out in seventh place followed by a very determined Heather Monro (Great Britain), who was keen to pick up some of the placings that their first runner had dropped. While Hanny was relatively satisfied with her run, she said that she made a few costly navigational errors due to tiredness. She finished in 8th place overall with the 11th fastest time for the third leg. In July, she put in four outstanding runs at the World Junior Championships and in the past eight days, she has run in five gruelling races, three in last four days, so it was not surprising that she might be a little drained.

At the President’s Conference a number of the top nations complained that there was not enough gap between the World Games and the World Championships. The gap between JWOC and WOC was the same as between the WG and WOC, and the races at JWOC would have been much more demanding, so by any measure Hanny’s performances in the past five weeks have been outstanding. New Zealand was very happy with its ninth placing, their best for sometime.

The women’s race was won by the Swiss to give Simone Niggli her second set of four gold medals. The way she reeled in the leaders during the first loop of the third leg was incredible and she looks like being at the top for a long time, unless she decides to retire or take time out to have children.

As for the Australian men’s team, to quote David Brickhill-Jones, “I stuffed it. I had a reasonable first loop, a few minor mistakes but nothing serious. But I stuffed the first control on the second loop and from there on I was never in it.” From the best I can ascertain, he was heading for control 327 (at the southern end of a dry water course) and he stopped one short, after counting an unmapped gully on his way to the control. He finished his leg in 18th place, in 54 min 35 sec about 9 minutes behind the leaders.

Troy de Haas was the second leg runner and had a steady first loop. I did not talk to Troy after his run but I understand on the second loop he took an adventurous route choice to try to catch up some time and placings. It did not come off and he finished 11th fastest and in 16th place overall.

I also did not get to talk to third leg runner Grant Bluett who had a steady run of 49 min 47 sec and 13th fastest on the leg to bring Australia into 15th place, the lowest men’s placing since 17th in the Czech Rep in 1991. No doubt they would be disappointed with the result.

The men’s race was won by Norway, thanks to a good start by Holger Hott Johansen and anchor leg by Jorgen Rostrup. The French, with Thierry Gueorgiou as their anchor looked like winning gold, but Gueorgiou was no match for Rostrup. During a post race interview, Rostrup said that he took it easy on the first loop and applied the pressure on the second loop. He was 28 seconds clear of Gueorgiou at the finish (see photo of Holger Hott Johansen cracking open a bottle of champagne to celebrate his team’s win).

In the final wash up of the 2005 World Championships, the objectives set four years ago of a medal and top six in both relays were not achieved, but there were a number of positives:
· Hanny Allston set a new best ever result for an Australian at WOC and for a foot orienteer from outside of Europe with her sixth in the long distance final. Apart from being the first foot orienteer from outside of Europe to be on the podium for an individual race, she is probably one of the few juniors from anywhere to enjoy that honour.
· Troy de Haas set a new best result for an Australian in a sprint distance final with his seventh.
· Tracy Bluett set a new best result for an Australian in a middle distance final with her 13th.
· Julian Dent made one of the best (if not the best) debut run with his 22nd in the middle distance final.
· The women’s team recorded another benchmark performance in a relay (their fourth)
The IOF Council made a number of decisions yesterday, including:
· 2008 JWOC – Sweden.
· 2008 WMOC – Portugal.
· 2006 WOC – Micro-orienteering will be included with the middle distance final. I hope to be able to show a video of using micro-orienteering at the Nordic Championships during the Australian Championships carnival.
This has probably been the final WOC for a number of people, including yours truly.
Sayonara

Women
1. Switzerland 2:07:45
2. Norway 2:09:28
3. Sweden 2:10:35
8. Australia 2:21:11
9. New Zealand 2:26:06

Men
1. Norway 2:16:47
2. France 2:17:15
3. Switzerland 2:17:48
15. Australia 2:34:42
18. NewZealand 2:41:23

The Long Distance final was a great result for both Australian women. For Hanny Allston it was about creating history and for Jo Allison it was about getting to the start and finishing; more below.

Hanny Allston only become serious about orienteering a few years ago when she decided to give away swimming because of shoulder problems. She won her first National League race in March 2003 and her first international medal, a bronze at the World Junior Championships in Switzerland in July. She set up today’s good result through a great solo run in the qualifying heats on Monday. Today’s race was run in warm to hot humid conditions, but it was the terrain and vegetation that tested most people. The 8,800 metre course had 21 controls and 630 metres of climb.
Hanny had a plan and she stuck to it. It was to concentrate on navigating as well as she could and if and when one of the faster later starters caught her, to stay focused on her own navigation. She was not caught until well into the race, by Finland’s Paula Haapakoski and they travelled together for a while until they caught Russia’s Tatiana Ryabkina who started two minutes before Hanny. About the same time another Finn Heli Jukkola and Simone Niggli joined what was now a pack.

Leaving the 13th control Hanny made a brave decision, not to go on the same route as Simone who went low, but to stay high with the Finns. As a consequence they reached control 14 ahead of Simone and stayed ahead of her through to about the 17th control. Simone and one other reached the second last control (where I was sitting taking photographs) about two minutes ahead of Hanny and the pack, which now included Romania’s Zsuzsa Fey. The climb out was very steep and the run home arduous. Hanny managed to beat Haapakoski and Ryabkina to the finish line. Her result was a just result for her efforts.

Australian team member David Brickhill-Jones added to Hanny’s occasion on the podium by presenting her with a large garland of hydrangea.
The indomitable Simone Niggli who is on track to win four gold medals again at a World Championships won the race. Jo Allison’s preparation was severely disrupted by being stung on the sole of her foot by wasp that flew into her motel room. Her foot ballooned in size and she spent most of the night treating her foot to ensure she could get to the start line. Although she said that she suffered no pain throughout the race, the emotional trauma, etc obviously had an adverse impact on her and she did well to finish 28th, her third top 30 in a long distance final and her sixth in WOC finals.

Russia’s Andrey Khramov won the men’s race by over two minutes from Switzerland’s Marc Lauenstein and Norway’s Holger Holt Johnansen (who was second in the 2000 long listance World Cup race at Big Badja). Italy’s Michele Tavernaro finished sixth in what might be his nation’s first podium result. The big Frenchman, Thierry Gueorgiou had to settle for seventh.

For the Australian men the race was not much short of a disaster. Dave Shepherd has been troubled by illness and injury for most of the year, and the demands of two gruelling races on consecutive days took their toll on him and he pulled out during the race. In most other races he would have been fine, but the Japanese terrain is very unforgiving.

Troy de Haas got away to a great start and everything looked fine until he accidently missed a couple of controls mid-course. When he realised his error he decided that it was not worth going to get them and to fight for a place in the 30s, so he opted out, to save himself for the all-important Relays on Sunday. Grant Bluett finished the course and was strong throughout, but he missed punching control 22, a common drinks control on a road crossing. A legal time would have put him about 26th position.

With the individual finals now completed (notably with no Swedes on the podium today), the focus will now be on the Relays. Australia’s women’s team (Jo Allison, Hanny Allston, Tracy Bluett) will go into the race as a medal prospect, but the Swiss team will be hard to beat. The men’s results are hard to predict. Anyone of about 8 nations could win. Great Britain is likely to be without Jamie Stevenson who has a knee injury. Australia’s team (Grant Bluett, David Brickhill-Jones, Troy de Haas) has the potential to be amongst the thick of things as the race draws to a close and much will depend mood of team members on the day. I have every confidence that history could be repeated and that both teams could be on the podium. Here’s hoping.

Robert Mouatt

Today’s middle distance finals were held in much cooler conditions than the previous days, with the top temperature in the mid 20s and the humidity was much lower, but getting around the courses was no easier.
The highlights were Thierry Gueorgiou’s third consecutive victory in the middle distance final, Simone Niggli’s second gold medal at these championships and second gold medal in a middle distance final, and Denmark’s Chris Terkelsen’s silver medal after a long lay off caused by chronic fatigue (he had not been competitive since winning the 1998 World Cup series).

For the Australian team, it was Tracy Bluett’s successful return after missing two World Championships following the birth of her daughter to better her 14th place in Scotland in 1999. Everybody was pleased for Tracy, as it has been a long way for her to get back to the top. Her 13th is the best by an Australian in either a short or middle distance final at a foot World Championships. Even though she was caught and passed by Finland’s Anni-Maija Fincke, Tracy was happy with her run as she finished strongly, which augurs well for the Relays on Sunday.

Hanny Allston’s 18th equalled Jo Allison’s in Switzerland in 2003. Only Tracy Bluett and Natasha Key (17th in 2004) have done better, yet she was very disappointed after having made a two-minute error, which could have given her a top eight placing. She came home very strongly, and was faster than most over the last 25 per cent the course (after the radio control). She is really fired up to do well in the long distance on Friday and the Relays on Sunday.

Natasha Key (35th) was a little disappointed with her run, mainly because she made some wrong route choices, which cost her time and energy. Her worst error was to miss a route from 2 to 3 around the hilltops. Instead she red-lined it down through a gully and across a water course, encountering a lot of long grass and then she had to climb a spur to reach the control. She lost about two minutes and a lot of energy.

Julian Dent’s 22nd was probably the best debut result by an Australian; certainly in recent times. He had a fairly clean run throughout and like Hanny Allston came home very strongly. His time was much faster than most, probably because he didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t tire.
Dave Shepherd was also happy with his run, even after making a few small errors over the final 25 per cent of the course. He said that his interrupted preparation meant that he is not as fit as he would like to be, so 25th was a pretty good result in his eyes. He is still looking forward to a good run in the long distance final on Friday. Rob Walter was disappointed with his 32nd, even if it was his best result a World Championships. He made two mistakes, with each costing him a minute, in comparison to Julian Dent. His most annoying was in going from 4 to 5. He missed seeing Control 5 on the map. It was a broken circle in a straight line from 4 to 6. He had past the control before he noticed it on the map and had to go back.

The weather forecast, as best we can make out, is for a 40% chance of rain. All Australian runners are feeling good and we are hoping for some good results.

Today’s middle distance finals were held in much cooler conditions than the previous days, with the top temperature in the mid 20s and the humidity was much lower, but getting around the courses was no easier.
The highlights were Thierry Gueorgiou’s third consecutive victory in the middle distance final, Simone Niggli’s second gold medal at these championships and second gold medal in a middle distance final, and Denmark’s Chris Terkelsen’s silver medal after a long lay off caused by chronic fatigue (he had not been competitive since winning the 1998 World Cup series).

For the Australian team, it was Tracy Bluett’s successful return after missing two World Championships following the birth of her daughter to better her 14th place in Scotland in 1999. Everybody was pleased for Tracy, as it has been a long way for her to get back to the top. Her 13th is the best by an Australian in either a short or middle distance final at a foot World Championships. Even though she was caught and passed by Finland’s Anni-Maija Fincke, Tracy was happy with her run as she finished strongly, which augurs well for the Relays on Sunday.

Hanny Allston’s 18th equalled Jo Allison’s in Switzerland in 2003. Only Tracy Bluett and Natasha Key (17th in 2004) have done better, yet she was very disappointed after having made a two-minute error, which could have given her a top eight placing. She came home very strongly, and was faster than most over the last 25 per cent the course (after the radio control). She is really fired up to do well in the long distance on Friday and the Relays on Sunday.

Natasha Key (35th) was a little disappointed with her run, mainly because she made some wrong route choices, which cost her time and energy. Her worst error was to miss a route from 2 to 3 around the hilltops. Instead she red-lined it down through a gully and across a water course, encountering a lot of long grass and then she had to climb a spur to reach the control. She lost about two minutes and a lot of energy.

Julian Dent’s 22nd was probably the best debut result by an Australian; certainly in recent times. He had a fairly clean run throughout and like Hanny Allston came home very strongly. His time was much faster than most, probably because he didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t tire.
Dave Shepherd was also happy with his run, even after making a few small errors over the final 25 per cent of the course. He said that his interrupted preparation meant that he is not as fit as he would like to be, so 25th was a pretty good result in his eyes. He is still looking forward to a good run in the long distance final on Friday. Rob Walter was disappointed with his 32nd, even if it was his best result a World Championships. He made two mistakes, with each costing him a minute, in comparison to Julian Dent. His most annoying was in going from 4 to 5. He missed seeing Control 5 on the map. It was a broken circle in a straight line from 4 to 6. He had past the control before he noticed it on the map and had to go back.

The weather forecast, as best we can make out, is for a 40% chance of rain. All Australian runners are feeling good and we are hoping for some good results.