2006 Archive

Hanny Allston’s sensational 2006 has been further rewarded with a clear lead on top of the women’s elite rankings for the second consecutive year.  Fellow Tasmanian, Grace Elson, finished in second place for her highest ever year-end ranking.  Elson was just ahead of our most consistant women’s performer of recent years, ACT’s Jo Allison.  Queensland’s Anna Sheldon was the big improver of 2006, with great performances at her first WOC and a win at the Australian Long Distance Championships helping her to finish the ranking year in 4th place.

2006 Elite Women Ranking list

It was a much closer battle at the top of the men’s elite list with ACT pair David Shepherd and Rob Walter finishing 1st and 2nd respectively.  Although outshone by the women’s team, these two again performed exceptionally well at WOC in Denmark, as they have done for many years now.  Rising star, Julian Dent (NSW) won many of the domestic elite races, but injury forced him out of WOC this year and prevented him from reaching any higher than a close third place in the rankings.

2006 Elite Men Ranking list

There are no prizes for anyone who guessed that Hanny Allston would also top the W20 Elite ranking list.  It was a good battle for the minor placings however, with Victoria’s Jasmine Neve just edging out big improver Vanessa Round (SA).  Sophie Barker (ACT) and Sarah Dunnage (WA) completed the top 5.

2006 Elite Junior Women Ranking list

SA’s Simon Uppill was the standout junior in M20 Elite this year.  He topped the rankings by a large margin, and was very competitive in several open elite races this year.  Chris Naunton (VIC) had a good first half of the year to just outscore Australian Long Distance Champion, Ryan Smyth (TAS), who came storming home in third place.

2006 Elite Junior Men Ranking list

Four Australians are currently serving on IOF commissions; two on discipline commissions, and two on support commissions. The discipline commission members are Mike Dowling (Foot Orienteering Commission), and Blake Gordon (MTB Orienteering Commission).

The support commission members are David Hogg (Environment Commission), and Barry McCrae (Rules Commission).

Blake Gordon’s efforts have been in formulating guidelines for the organisation of MTBO events, as well as managing the staging of the inaugural Oceania MTB-O Championships in the Albury NSW area on 23-25 March 2007 (helping Blake will be Kathy Liley (Event Adviser) and Rick Armstrong  (Event Organiser)).

The Rules Commission is responsible for maintaining the competition rules for the various forms of orienteering (foot, ski, mountain bike, and trail), and for the education and appointment of IOF event advisers. Barry McCrae has been re-appointed as member of the IOF Rules Commission for 2007-8, continuing a series of appointments that began with membership of the IOF Technical Committee in the late 1980s. He has held a number of positions in the IOF, and was Controller of the 2001 World Championships in Finland.

The IOF Environment Commission consists of orienteers with professional experience in environmental management and research.  It is responsible for promoting good environmental practice among orienteers and event organisers, and compiling and publicising technical information on environmental issues relevant to orienteering.  Several  reports prepared on behalf of the Commission are being made available on the IOF website.  The Commission is chaired by Brian Parker of Great Britain.

Australia is represented on the IOF Environment Commission by David Hogg, who has an environmental consulting practice based in Canberra.  He has been involved with environmental aspects of orienteering since the 1970s, and is currently working on a handbook for natural resource managers which summarises current knowledge of the environmental impacts of orienteering (in most respects, very low) and develops guidelines for addressing matters of possible environmental concern.  He has recently been conducting studies of the potential impacts of orienteering on Aboriginal archaeological sites.

The role of the Foot Orienteering Commission is to maintain the quality of this fundamental aspect of the sport, and explore future development of the sport (see detailed summary)

The last championship of the year was decided on Wednesday night when Bruce Arthur and Jasmine Neve took out the Victorian sprint titles, which were held at La Trobe University.

Arthur’s win was a very comfortable one, with a margin of nearly two minutes over the field. His closest challenger was Adam Scammell, who continued the sprint form he showed with a top-ten finish at the Australian Championships. The next fastest time was run by junior winner Chris Naunton, who was closely challenged by MTBO national team member Steven Cusworth.

In contrast to the men’s race, the women fought a close contest with the places covered by 35 seconds and the winner decided by nine. Neve was the winner in the end, just ahead of visiting New Zealand WOC representative Jenni Adams, while Kirsten Fairfax completed the placings. Another visitor scored in W20 with Kendal Sutherland taking out the race.

Results

Bruce Arthur’s route choice

Orienteering Australia has announced the Bushrangers team to tackle New Zealand in the first of the 2007 Test Matches. The team is as follows:

Women:

Anna Sheldon
Briohny Davey
Grace Elson
Kathryn Ewels
Jasmine Neve
Vanessa Round
Reserve: Kirsten Fairfax

Men:

Julian Dent
Robbie Preston
Dave Meyer
Ryan Smyth
Gareth Candy (subject to satisfactory fitness)
Simon Uphill
Reserve: Ben Rattray

The Test Matches will be held over a series of races on 3-5 February near Taupo in New Zealand

The team combines a mix of runners with senior World Championship experience as well as a number of up-and-coming athletes. In the latter category are Ryan Smyth, Simon Uphill, Jasmine Neve and Vanessa Round, all of whom represented Australia at the junior world championships this year.  Ryan and Vanessa are the current Australian junior long distance champions.

Coach Tom Quayle expressed delight about the team, commenting that “although this team is young, it contains an impressive mix of experience and talent. I expect we’ll give the Kiwis a serious run for their money”.

OA congratulates those selected athletes. Tom Quayle will be in contact with each of you shortly.

The selection trials for the Australian team for the Junior World Orienteering Championships will be as follows:

1. The National League events in NSW (Molong/Orange) on 19-20 May.

2. The Australian 3-Days (including the prologue).

The NSW events will have the greatest weight. Previous performances in Junior World Championships may also be taken into account.

Candidates for selection will need to run in M/W17-20E in these events unless otherwise approved by the Chair of the selection panel. If you want to run M/W21E at these events please contact the Chair.

If you wish to be considered for selection, please send a nomination to the Chair of Selectors no later than 1 April 2007. Nominations may be sent:

By e-mail: To b.trewin@bom.gov.au

By mail: To 2/53 Darebin St, Heidelberg VIC 3084

(no phone or verbal nominations please – they might get forgotten)

If you have already nominated you do not need to do so again.

A more detailed selection policy will soon be available on the OA website.

Blair Trewin

Chair, Junior Selection Panel

At the announcement ceremony of the TIS 2007 scholarship holders at Hobart’s Wrest Point Casino three orienteers were awarded scholarships. World Champion Hanny Allston and fellow WOC team member Grace Elson each received a level 1 elite scholarship and current Australian junior long distance and sprint distance champion Ryan Smyth received a level 2 elite scholarship.

Hanny was also named the TIS Athlete of the Year at a ceremony a few weeks ago in recognition of her gold medal winning performances at the Senior and Junior World Championships this year. Hanny spoke to the assembled audience yesterday outlining the benefits of the TIS scholarships for athletes and again proved to a superb ambassador for our sport.

With the Ultimax 5 Days now just one month away the entries are flowing in as orienteers from around the world take up the opportunity to compete on some of the best terrain Australia has to offer. With 4 of the 5 days on quality Australian granite terrain centered around the Central NSW town of Orange, it provides orienteers from around Australia and the World with a golden opportunity to train for JWOC 2007 and the Australian Championships 2007, both to be held in Dubbo in July. There is a large international contingent already entered in the competition led by Norwegian Junior World Champion Olav Lundanes and Swedish senior team member Mats Troeng. All classes are looking to have a large international flavour, with both men’s and women’s elite crowded with international runners, providing great competition for local runners.

There is still plenty of time to get your entry in to be part of one the most international orienteering events in Australia since 2000.

Anne and Bruce Arthur (Melbourne Forest Racers and Victoria Nuggets) are proud to announce the arrival of Sophie Reese Freja Arthur, born at 11:54pm on Friday 1st December, 2006 at the Freemason’s Maternity Hospital, East Melbourne.

Weight 3050g or 6lb11oz
Length 46cm
Head 33.5cm

Meanwhile, while Anne and Bruce were at hospital, experienced elite orienteers Tracy Bluett, Paul Marsh, Natasha and Warren Key were providing coaching to several JWOC team aspirants of the early 2020s: Aston, Jensen and Milla Key, Tia and Jamie Marsh, and Mason and Torren Arthur.

http://mason-torren.blogspot.com/2006/12/sophie-arthur-arrives.html

The OA Council Annual Conference to be held in Canberra over the weekend 2-3 December will consider a number of key issues, including:

•  Junior Sports Framework
• Risk Management Framework
• Extending the levies on events to all events
• Strategic Plans, Operational Plans, and Budget and Forward Estimates
• Changes to competition rules and ranking systems
• Sponsorship arrangements
• Membership arrangements
• Changes to the National League
• Changes to the Selection procedures
• Bidding for major international events

Board

President                          Bob Mouatt

Director (Development)       Ben Rattray

Director (Finance)              Blair Trewin

Director (High Performance) Mike Dowling

Director (Technical)            Andy Hogg

Director (Special Projects)   Robin Uppill

IOF Senior Vice President     Hugh Cameron

State Associations

ACT Councillor          Bill Jones

ACT Delegate           Bob Allison

NSW Councillor                  Robert Spry

NSW Delegate                   Mike Weller

QLD Councillor                   Liz Bourne

QLD Delegate                    Eric Andrew

SA Councillor                     Tyson Hillyard

SA Delegate                      Gerry Velaitis

TAS Councillor

TAS Delegate

VIC Councillor                    Ruth Goddard

VIC Delegate                     Ian Dodd

WA Councillor                    Cath Chalmers

WA Delegate                     Ian Dalton

Elite Councillor                     Tom Quayle

Executive Officer                 Gareth Candy

In attendance

Head Coach                       Grant Bluett

Hanny Allston and Grace Elson used last Sunday’s annual “Point to Pinnacle” race in Hobart as their Sunday run, and recorded impressive results. Starting at the Wrest Point Casino, the run is uphill all the way to the top of Mt Wellington, 22 Km with a climb of 1270 metres.

Hanny (1:44:47) was a close second to last year’s winner Jenny Gillard (1:44:09), with Grace in eigth place in 1:55:50; Hanny’s mum Julia also showed her liking for tough runs with a very creditable 2:17:41.

In the men’s division, Kim Gillard made it a family double with a time of 1:27:31, ahead of ironman triathlete mark Guy. Adding to the sporting variety that the run attracts was Athens Olympics rowing silver medallist Simon Burgess, who was fifth in 1:36:21.

Best placed male orienteer was junior Patrick Watts, in 2:00:38, followed by Callum Fagg, no doubt inspired by his win in the junior division of the World Rogaining championships, with a time of 2:02:36.