2005 Archive

Men

1 Finland 179.14 (Timo Sarkkinen 61.53, Mika Tervala 58.46, Jussi Mäkilä 58.35)
2 France 182.55 (Matthieu Barthelem62.15, Stéphane Toussaint, 58.14, Jérémie Gillmann 62.26)
3 Switzerland 184.17 (Beat Schaffner 61.58, Simon Seger 61.18, Rémy Jabas 61.01)
7 Australia 194.46 (Anthony Darr 73.19 Alex Randall 61.50, Adrian Jackson 59.37)

Women

1 Germany 158.52 (Anke Dannowski 48.10, Gerit Pfuhl 57.05, Antje Bornhak 53.37)
2 Czech Republic 162.08 (Michaela Lacigová 56.14, Markéta Jakoubová 52.04, Hana La Carbonara 53.50)
3 France 164.45 (Karoline Finance, 53.05, Madeleine Kammerer 60.49, Aurélie Ballot 50.51)
Disq Australia (Mary Fien 56.49, Carolyn Jackson 61.05, Anna Sheldon DISQ)

Carolyn Jackson, Mary Fien, and Anna Sheldon have qualified for the long distance final, as have Adrian Jackson and Alex Randall.

The first race of the 2005 World MTBO Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia produced two top 10 performances from the Australian Team in what turned out to be very tough and long middle distance races.

Queenslander Anna Sheldon raced to 6th place and a spot on the podium, after starting very strongly, recording the third fastest time through the first radio control, and taking the lead half way through her race, before coming unstuck on the vague tracks that caught out many other competitors. New Zealand’s Marquita Gelderman rode an almost error free race to record a 4th place finish.

The defending Middle Distance champion, Adrian Jackson, finished in 8th place after a great start, where he also briefly held the lead. Adrian had mechanical problems early – he got to the start and discovered that one of his pedals was nearly falling apart! Adrian was forced to ride the entire race with the malfunctioning pedal. He came unstuck in the last few checkpoints in an area with some vague mapping.

For more Middle Distance reports, photos and maps see the Australian Team Blog

The Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships resulted in wins to Lee Andrewartha in M21A and Grace Elson inW21A on a day of perfect Tasmanian spring sunshine. Held on the little used north eastern section of the Risdon brook reserve map near Hobart, the championship course setter Patrick Saile produced a very technical and challenging set of courses. The terrain consisted of a vague, undulating hilltop with a range of complex sandstone cliff lines falling away down the hillside back to the dam & reserve. Many runners came unstuck on the critical fourth leg across and over the side of a hill by drifting out to the right.
In W21A Grace Elson had a comfortable victory over Hanny Allston in the excellent time of 34.48 for the tough 4.1km course. Elson’s run was one of the highlights of the day in all age groups and shows she has very much thrown off her injury problems of last year. In M21A Lee Andrewartha had a good margin of 5 minutes from veteran Bernard Walker with fellow veteran Mike Dowling a further two minutes back.

After 14 years of international competition, 7 years living and competing as an elite in Sweden, a World Games gold medal and numerous top 10 and top 20 performances the legend of Australian elite orienteering, Grant Bluett, is retiring from international competition.

Grant has led the charge for Australia in international orienteering since 1991 when he finished the 1st leg of the 1991 JWOC relay in Berlin, Germany in 3rd place. In those days for an Australian to be in the top few at any level was fairly unheard of. When Grant followed up the following year at JWOC in Finland with a 15th place he was sending a message to all back home that we were good enough. Orienteering Australia’s High Performance Manager and regular Voice of the Forest commentator Jason McCrae spoke to Grant about whether he really is finishing up now and asked for a few reflections on his wondrous career.

Jason McCrae (JMc): Well GB the whisper in the forest is that Japan WOC was your last. Is it true?
Grant Bluett (GB): Yeh that’s it Jase. Maybe if I could just do the races I’d continue on but I’m not really enjoying it anymore, I don’t enjoy the travel, and especially not enjoying training for races. I still enjoy training but I’m sick of spending all year training for a particular race – looking at what’s required for that race, focusing my training on those requirements and making sure each session is directed towards being ready for that race – I’m tired of that. I will still keep training and competing in Australia however I just want to be able to do whatever training I feel like doing and not the intense focus.
JMc: No possibility that come next year you’ll change your mind?
GB: It’s possible I guess but I don’t want to be like Hakan Eriksson (Swedish orienteer) who announces every year he is retiring and then every year comes out of retirement. In fact I was talking to Hakan at WOC in Japan and he was encouraging me to go on. He said he would coach me and set a program for me and I was getting a bit excited thinking ‘yeh maybe I will keep going’ but then towards the end of our conversation he said ‘yeh you should go on – as long as you are enjoying it’ and it was then that I realised no I wasn’t enjoying it anymore so time to call it a day.
JMc: Well sounds like you’ve had a fair think about it. If it is the end Grant, looking back, what have been your best performances at an international level?
GB: Ahh I don’t know. I guess I look back on my World Games victory in Japan in 2001 and my long period of good results in the Park World Tour (PWT) as my best. PWT was particularly good as I had many good results over a decent period of time. It was also an exciting time for orienteering with PWT and sprint or park racing being new. It was really attracting crowds and television coverage in Sweden and it was great to be running so well in an exciting era for world orienteering.
JMc: Any time when you consider you had the perfect race?
GB: Yeh maybe in the PWT in Shanghai. I didn’t miss anything technically and I just felt so strong. I felt like I was running hard the whole way and felt strong and invincible. I won by 45seconds which doesn’t sound much but in a PWT sprint race that’s heaps.
JMc: What about disappointments?
GB: I wish I’d had a good run at WOC – I never had a great run in a final. I had great run in the Swedish sprint and qualified really well but was far from perfect in the final where it all went bad. Every single final WOC race have been disappointing. Even the 8th place which was my best result it could see so easily have been 2nd place but instead a little mistake meant I came 8th in stead of 2nd. A lot of the other finals I feel like I could’ve won the race but did not run well enough, whereas the time I came 8th I couldn’t have won but a little thing took me from 2nd to 8th.
JMc: Have you had a chance to reflect on your Japanese performances?
GB: Yeh that was hugely disappointing especially since it was probably the WOC where I had my best physical preparation for a long time or maybe ever. From when I moved home to Australia (January 2005) I only had a week off from my physical training and that was after hurting my back at the ACT tree-athalon and really a week is nothing in the scheme of things. I felt really good physically until the week before WOC in Japan but then I started to feel flat. I kept telling myself it was nerves but maybe I lost my shape too early. Everything else had really gone perfectly to plan in preparation.
JMc: Who were the big influences on your orienteering career?
GB: Warren Key is the obvious one. And John Porter when I started really encouraged me a lot. And then everyone I raced again from you up mate, from that Easter in 1988, (GB and JMc were competitors in juniors) I always wanted to be like them, beat them, and I tried to learn from everyone I was competing against.
JMc: And how do you see the future of Australian elite orienteering? Who do you think are the future Grant Bluett’s and how good can they be?
GB: I think the future will be a lot better than I ever was! Julian Dent and Hanny Allston especially. Hanny is already better than I ever was. I definitely think Hanny, if she continues, then I can’t see who can stop her from being world champion. There’s always things that can happen – she’s still young and might get injured or burn out however she’s way better now than Simone Luder or Hanne Staff was at 19.
JMc: And your plans for the future if international competition isn’t going to dominate your life?
GB: I don’t know (laughing). Coaching will always be part of my life even if I just am coaching a couple of people. It will be my future in orienteering rather than myself. I have an interest in coaching at a national team level also. I don’t attach my coaching as something that makes an orienteer win but you associate with it and that gives you a high, knowing you’ve helped them a little bit.
JMc: OK Grant thanks for giving us a few words and for being a legend of Australian orienteering.
GB: Yeh no worries Jase. You know you were awesome that Easter at Badja in 89.
JMc: Yeh, yeh I know mate. Thanks.

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/