2005 Archive

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.

Provisional results of this morning’s qualification races. The finals will be run later today.

Provisional results of this morning’s qualification races. The finals will be run later today.

As indicated in the preview the sprint races were held in a very difficult area. Mike Dowling, who competed in the public event between the heats and the finals said: “It was just like competing in New Zealand native forest, steep, thick and low visibility”. During his run he had a heavy fall, smashed compass and bruised his hip.

The day started in bright sunshine, then a shower came through wetting the ground & making it extremely slippery. After the rain the temperature and humidity rose sharply. The recorded temperature when the women started at 13.00 was 37C and it got hotter later in the day.

Spectators were given a map of the controls they could visit and it seemed like there were more spectators around controls directing runners than there were at the finish. Some runners may have received an advantage.

Troy de Haas ran steadily throughout both races, and had an excellent start in the Final. He lost a few seconds over the concluding stages and that not only cost him a podium finish, but probably also a medal.

Grant Bluett had a reasonable run in the heats, was not feeling well after that run and did not get away well in the final. However, he picked up the pace and finished strongly over the concluding stages.

Jo Allison , Natasha Key, Allison Jones and David Brickhill-Jones all did their best but it was not quite good enough on the day. Tash Key backs up in middle distance final on Thursday, Jo Allison takes on the long distance final on Friday and David Brickhill-Jones’ next run will be in the relays on Sunday.

Some notable features of the day were that all Japanese women made it through to the final, the New Zealanders again did well in terrain that suited them (confirming Mike Dowling’s assessment), and previous top sprint distance competitors Yuri Omeltchenko and Tore Sandvik both missed the final. Switzerland’s Simone Niggli claimed her third straight sprint distance gold medal and her current form suggests she might repeat her record of four medals in 2003.

As indicated in the preview the sprint races were held in a very difficult area. Mike Dowling, who competed in the public event between the heats and the finals said: “It was just like competing in New Zealand native forest, steep, thick and low visibility”. During his run he had a heavy fall, smashed compass and bruised his hip.

The day started in bright sunshine, then a shower came through wetting the ground & making it extremely slippery. After the rain the temperature and humidity rose sharply. The recorded temperature when the women started at 13.00 was 37C and it got hotter later in the day.

Spectators were given a map of the controls they could visit and it seemed like there were more spectators around controls directing runners than there were at the finish. Some runners may have received an advantage.

Troy de Haas ran steadily throughout both races, and had an excellent start in the Final. He lost a few seconds over the concluding stages and that not only cost him a podium finish, but probably also a medal.

Grant Bluett had a reasonable run in the heats, was not feeling well after that run and did not get away well in the final. However, he picked up the pace and finished strongly over the concluding stages.

Jo Allison , Natasha Key, Allison Jones and David Brickhill-Jones all did their best but it was not quite good enough on the day. Tash Key backs up in middle distance final on Thursday, Jo Allison takes on the long distance final on Friday and David Brickhill-Jones’ next run will be in the relays on Sunday.

Some notable features of the day were that all Japanese women made it through to the final, the New Zealanders again did well in terrain that suited them (confirming Mike Dowling’s assessment), and previous top sprint distance competitors Yuri Omeltchenko and Tore Sandvik both missed the final. Switzerland’s Simone Niggli claimed her third straight sprint distance gold medal and her current form suggests she might repeat her record of four medals in 2003.

The long distance qualification races were held in similar conditions to the middle distance heats, with the same finish area. If anything the temperature and humidity were higher than Sunday. The terrain was again very difficult, with much of the course slow running and walk.

Hanny Allston was Australia’s top performer with a third in her heat just two minutes behind veteran Vroni Konig Salmi. Her result was all the more remarkable in that she hurt her ankle going to the first control. Mother Julia was on hand to render first aid and the diagnosis for the middle and long distance finals is good. Her third is the best result by an Australian in a long distance heat.
Jo Allison was next best with a steady run in her heat to finish seventh behind Marianne Andersen of Norway. Although seventh, Jo was only two minutes behind Andersen and she was in great shape coming into the finish. Her next race will be the sprint on Wednesday.
Allison Jones was unfortunately the only Australian not to make it through to the finals. Her only mistake was on a long leg from three to four, where the control was near the bottom of a long spur, 11 contours below the optimum attack point. She lost confidence that she was on the correct spur and moved to another one before realising her mistake, which she estimates cost her about five minutes. She missed qualifying by three minutes. She will now focus on Wednesday’s sprint race.

Grant Bluett came in 10th, about five minutes behind Marc Lauenstein of Switzerland. He said he was very leg weary during the early stages and came home strongly. He was not overly affected by the run and is looking forward to the sprint and long distance final.
Dave Shepherd managed not to lose his contact lens today and was a little leg-weary after yesterday’s middle distance heats. He had a few anxious moments as the latter runners came in, but he managed 14th place, a good two minutes ahead of 16th place.
Troy de Haas almost overdid his cruising around the final loop in just managing to scrape in by 10 seconds. Troy claimed he was misled by a team member, as he passed a spectator control, who said that he was just a couple of minutes down on the leaders. Coach Jim Russell jokingly said that Troy overdid it, as he had nine seconds to spare.
Sweden and Switzerland are now the only nations to have all of their competitors through to the finals, with Australia and Denmark both dropping one runner today.
Simone Niggli is again going for four gold medals and on her form over the last two days she must have excellent prospects to achieve that feat. The Swiss and the French seem likely to displace the Scandinavians at this World Championships as the top orienteering nations.

The sprint distance on Wednesday is also going to be run in tough, forested areas and this could blunt the speed of David Brickhill-Jones, who has been in great form in Europe during the past six months. All of the other Australians have a competitive run under their belt and that should help them.