2005 Archive

The 2005 Xmas 5 days headed to Buckenderra for the 4th day of competition. It proved to be a tough day for the field, with steep hills, lots of rock, high temperatures and thicker forest.

Robbie Preston took full opportunity of the terrain early, catching Switzerland’s David Schneider 1 min into the course. Schneider ran into the finish 25 seconds ahead of Preston for third place, while Preston took the lead. Schneider later reported being disappointed with his run due to several mistakes.

Eric Morris finished a mere 2 seconds behind Preston to take 2nd place for the day and the overall lead. The final day is set to be exciting with David Schneider in need of victory if he is to snatch the overall honours out of Morris’s hands.

The women’s course saw Grace Elson take her 3rd victory out of a possible 4. Sofia Olsson from Sweden had little difficulty with the unique Australian terrain to finish a close second only 28 seconds behind. In third place was up and coming junior Sophie Barker, who has shown some good form over the 5 days so far.

Barring any surprises on the final day, overall honours look to be heading towards Grace Elson. Sofia Olsson looks solid in second place but can’t afford any major mistakes, as Anna Sheldon could pounce from her current position of third.

Kerrin Rattray

Results for day 4

Splits for day 4 (lost)

Cumulative results to day 4

Eric Morris has taken the lead in a quality men’s field on the first day of the Xmas 5 days yesterday, while Swedish international Sofia Olsson heads the women’s field.

Morris holds a narrow 10 second lead over young gun Julian Dent, with Swiss international David Schneider 3rd. Surprise of the day was a return to form for Peter Preston (NSW) finishing within a minute of British international David Brickhill-Jones in 6th place.

Sofia Olsson and Eva Tiselius, both Swedes, head the womens field, with the leading Australian being Grace Elson in 3rd.

Provisional Results

Results with Splits (lost)

Stay tuned for regular updates from the 5-days over the next week

Mt Gladstone Day 1

The Christmas 5 days kicked off in traditional fashion with a hot afternoon greeting orienteers to Mt Gladstone, being used for the first time since the 1989 Family Relays. With most runners having some time off orienteering since the Australian Championships, there was some rough navigation and a few unfit bodies charging around the courses. As usual, there are many European orienteers littered through the classes enjoying some of the best granite the Snowy Mountains has to offer.

The men’s A class is looming as a close battle over the coming week. Swiss WOC star David Schneider (4th in the Long Distance in Japan earlier in the year) spearheads a quality field containing some of Australia’s top elites and juniors. But it was the local Ultimax Stingers Eric Morris and Julian Dent who showed some early form. Morris claimed a close victory over Dent by 9 seconds when Dent lost 60 seconds on the second last after leading the whole race. Schneider was acclimatising to the Australian conditions and came in third two minutes back, while senior retiree Grant Bluett was just behind in 4th. Back home for the summer, British international David Brickhill-Jones, was 5th ahead of a close pack containing the Ultimax stingers boys, Peter Preston, Rob Preston, and Dave Meyer in 6th 7th and 8th respectively.

It was a case of the traditional Scandinavian invasion in the women’s A class. Former Swedish B team member Sofia Olsson claimed the top spot in an impressive first hit out in Australia winning by over two minutes over another Swede, junior Eva Tiselius. The local girls seem to have their work cut out for the rest of the week. Newlywed Anna Quayle was leading for the majority of the course until losing 5 minutes on controls 12 and 13, but this proves she will be a threat in the remaining days. Consistent WOC contender Grace Elson will also be one to beat. She had a good start today finishing 3rd ahead of group of other up-and-comers llka Barr, Briohny Davey and Jasmine Neve.

Results from all classes with splits (lost)

Day 2 – Glenbrook

Returning to the open fast granite terrain, the conditions on day 2 were more favourable with the weather cool but with very gusty wind.

Again the early starters were the men’s A with junior Simon Uppill posting an early pace setter after quite an impressive run. Simon is seen as Australia’s great hope at JWOC 2007 in Dubbo. But it didn’t take long for the big guns to shine with David Schneider proving that he doesn’t take long to get used to the Aussie terrain. Schneider posted a two minute lead over Eric Morris to take the win. Morris was content with a 2nd to add to his 1st from the previous day to show that he is again in his traditional 5 days quality form. Julian Dent, after leading Schneider by more than 2 minutes early on in the course, finally settled for 3rd. David Brickhill-Jones has still not quite re-adjusted to the Aussie terrain, and came in 2 minutes back in 4th, with Uppill 5th.

It was a local fight back in the women’s A class. Grace Elson came away with an impressive win after leading most of the way, overcoming MTBO medallist Anna Sheldon, who was 2nd by 90 seconds. Day 1 winner Sofia Olsson had to settle for third 4 minutes back. The consistent Briohny Davey was in 4th, and Swedish junior Eva Tiselius had a clean run to end up 5th, backing up her 2nd place from day one. Tiselius had a clean run today, but tired towards the end — being one of Sweden’s best juniors is a good benchmark for our young girls to compete against.

Provisional results with splits (lost)

The competitor’s head back to more grass seeds at Glenbrook for tomorrow’s Day 3, before heading to the shores of Lake Eucumbene for the final two days at Buckenderra. With a lot of racing ahead both A classes are still wide open, but the consistent performers should win out, but stay tuned for more reports from the snowy region.

Julian Dent & Kerrin Rattray

Top performers at WOC 2006, Troy de Haas (7th in sprint race) and Hanny Allston (6th in long distance) feature in Orienteering Australia’s 6 person High Performance Group (HPG) for 2006. Other selected athletes are Jo Allison, Tracy Bluett, Dave Shepherd and Julian Dent.

New into the squad in 2006 are Tracy Bluett, who returns after the birth of her daughter Tiia, and Julian Dent whose outstanding promise (including 4th at the Junior World Championships) has led to his selection.

The HPG comprises the most outstanding prospects for the World Championships team for the next year. The aim is to provide them with financial and other support to help them reach their potential at WOC.

Orienteering Australia has also announced a National Senior Squad of 12 men and 12 women.  The purpose of the National Senior Squad is to give formal recognition to excellent results over the last year.  It is also a vehicle for identifying those with the best potential for international representation next year, as a focus for coaching, training and other support.

New into the squad include promising orienteers Julia Davies and Jasmine Neve.  Notable omissions include David Brickhill-Jones, now running for Great Britian, and Grant Bluett who has retired from international competition.

HPG_NSS2006

A brief message to thank all those I have worked with over the past 2 and a bit years. I have enjoyed my time as High Performance Manager. It’s been great to work with so many people passionate about orienteering. Most of my duties will be taken over by the new position of Head Coach and I wish he or she (they are yet to be appointed) all the best in the role.

Catch you all in the forest where I can return to my more leisurely role of sledger!

Jason McCrae

Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of WOC Foot-O Coaches for 2006-07. OA has altered the structure of coaching and management of the WOC team moving away from the previous model of a manager and a coach to that of having a men’s and women’s coach who share the managerial duties. The men’s WOC Coach for 2006-07 will be Brett Weihart and the women’s coach Sue Neve.

Brett began orienteering in 1982 in South Australia. He represented Australia at junior level and was part of the team that went to Sweden to compete in the first ever Junior World Orienteering Championships where he gained Australia’s best placing of 40th in the Classic (there was only Classic and relay in those days!). Not too long Brett Weihartafter that JWOC Brett met his lovely Swedish wife Camilla and has been living in Sweden ever since with his family (including a new born so Brett will be busy!).

Brett brings strong orienteering and leadership experience to the role of men’s coach. He has 15 years orienteering experience in the Nordic countries, was coach/manager for Australian team at Nordic Orienteering Champs in 2004, assistant coach for the Australian team at WOC 2004 and has been co-ordinator with overseas-based Australians in Europe in 2004 and 2005. In terms of leadership he is, in his non-orienteering life, Chief Financial Officer at Göteborg-Landvetter Airport (Sweden’s second largest airport), was a manager at Ericsson in different roles from 2000 to 2005 and has completed Ericsson’s 12 month Core Leadership Programme.

Sue Neve brings a wealth of experience at the elite level of competition, having been a member of Australian teams at numerous WOCs including the 1985 World Championships in Bendigo. She is ‘stepping up’ from two years as coach of the Bushrangers, Australia’s elite development team, and has coached and managed the Bushrangers in New Zealand and Australia. Importantly, from OA’s perspective, she also brings personal skills of having a mature, balanced approach in a competitive framework and we look forward to having Sue coach the women’s team.

Of course the arrival of new coaches means Jim Russell’s ‘reign’ as WOC coach concludes…….for the moment! Jim through the years has been a great servant to orienteering having been WOC coach, JWOC coach, JWOC manager, WOC assistant manager as well as assisting in numerous roles and jobs in state and national orienteering. We say ‘ends for the moment’ as it is a sure-bet that Jim, with his tremendous work ethic and knowledge of orienteering, will continue in some role or other in the future. OA thanks Jim for all the effort he has put in as WOC coach over the past two years and looks forward to whatever roles he takes on in the future.

The World Ranking Events (WRE) and Australian team selection criteria for 2006 MTB-O WOC are now available. Please find them attached as produced by the IOF and Australian MTBO Selection panel respectively.

MTB WRE events 2006

2006-MTBO-SELECTION-PROCEDURES

At the OA conference held last weekend the Selection Panels for the 2006-07 period were announced.

MTB-O Selection Panel

The selection Panel for MTB-O remains the same as the last few years:

Ann Scown (Chair), Anitra Dowling and Dave Hatley.

We thank them for their continued service to MTB-O.

Senior Selection Panel

At the end of 2005 Ian Prosser (Chair) and Nicki Taws advised OA that they no longer had the time available to commit to being selectors. OA would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for their service – Ian in particular has been invovled in selection for a long period and both have been considered by OA to have been excellent selectors. The Senior Selection panel for 2006-07 is:

Paul Liggins (Chair), Karen Staudte and Geoff Lawford.

Paul has been an elite for many years, entering elites in the same junior ‘year’ as Jock Davis and Eddie Wymer. Formerly of Tasmania, Paul works in a senior position for Price Waterhouse Coopers and as someone who still runs elite and is familiar to the majority of elites OA is excited that he is willing to volunteer his time for the role of Chairperson. Both Karen and Geoff are also either still running elites or recently retired and consequently familiar with elite matters. Karen has been a Junior Selector for the past 5 years and Geoff was a Senior Selector in 2005.

The first tasks for the Senior Selection panel will be to put out the criteria for WOC selection next year and select the National Senior Squad and High Performance Group for 2006.

Junior Selection Panel

With Karen Staudte moving to the Senior Selection Panel the Junior Selection panel will now be:

Blair Trewin (Chair), Fiona Calabro and Paul Pacque.

Blair and Fiona are long-standing Junior selectors and Paul concluded this year 6 years as JWOC Coach. All have a terrific working knowledge of Junior orienteering and OA looks forward to their continued involvement in Junior orienteering in Australia.

Signed

Jason McCrae, Manager (High Performance), OA

To all my orienteering friends,

I was recently diagnosed with lymphoma, which is a malignancy of the lymph system. Although this is potentially fatal (e.g. Jackie Kennedy), modern technology means that in most cases nowadays it isn’t. However the treatment always leads to hair loss, and also to lethargy, which can be very significant.

The upside is that this will be an excellent excuse for my poor performance or even non-performance for the next little while. M60’s needn’t count their chickens though, as the debility is usually temporary, and I’ll be back to exact vengeance when the treatment is over.

Trevor Sauer