2006 Archive

The 2006 Outback Carnival held in the Wilpena Region of the Flinders Ranges is always a highlight on the South Australian Orienteering Calendar. 2006 was no exception with 3 days of exceptional racing and a strong fields in all classes.

The Saturday warm-up produced tight and furious competition in all three courses as everyone warmed to the thoughts of understanding all those knolls and creeks. Saltbush OC is to be commended for excellent courses and organisation.

The “main event” for the weekend was the revisit to the 2002 national championships terrain for the SA season’s first badge event and SA Orienteer of the Year event. With the Golden-Orb Spiders out in full force, competitors not only had to keep a track of which knoll they were passing, but also had to weave sporadically through the pines to avoid the thick silk. The terrain offered the well known, but little comprehended system of dry creeks broken up by many small knolls. The terrain was fast with moderate to excellent visibility amongst the Callitris Pine. With little undergrowth this was sure to offer some very fast kilometre rates.

In the Junior Classes, Benjamin Lee put in a solid effort to take out M14A, and Rachael Sampson was uncontested in the W14A class. In the M17-20A class a tight finish between Jason Nicolson (YA) and Tristan Lee (TJ) put Jason only 13 seconds in the lead after the 10.5km race. Simon Uppill (OH) took out M21A over Timo Sild (TJ) by 4:30 minute margin after a lengthy 14.4km race. Jenny Casanova will be proud of her victory in W21A showing this terrain can favour the more consistent orienteer. A tight tussle between Steve Cooper (YA) and Paul Hoopmann (TJ) produced exciting results in M40A for the 2^nd and 3^rd places with a slim 30 second margin; this was no match for Robert Lewis (BK V) who took the lead by 8 minutes.

The final event to the carnival was the SA middle distance championships on Wilpena Spurs. Runnability was once again good with very little undergrowth able to pierce the loose stony ground. In the junior classes Bryn Soden (OH) and Bryn McComb (OH) duelled to result in a margin of 26 seconds which favoured McComb. In M21A Simon Uppill (OH) remained un-stoppable, taking the lead over Timo Sild (TJ) as Timo competed in his final race in Australia before returning to Estonia to prepare as a hopeful for the Estonian JWOC team. Susanne Casanova (WA) comfortably held the lead in W21A over JWOC representative Vanessa Round (TT). Another tight field in M35A as newcomer to the class Greg Morcom (TJ) finished in front of Stephen Dose (TT) and Ruhi Afnan (YA) with a 90 second margin from first to third.

This race rounded off a brilliant weekend’s racing in unique and unforgettable terrain. All reports have resulted in nothing but high praise for the organisation and the experiences of the day’s race. It seemed a pity that the Seekers were in town and the carnival was over.

Tyson Hillyard

Straight from the plane to the forest, Adrian Jackson and Alex Randall have raced the Fillari Cup, a 2-day world ranking race in Finland and also the selection races for the Finnish team to the World and European MTBO Championships.

Although Adrian was felt good physically both days, Alex found it hard going after the flight and the tough middle distance race on Saturday.

The maps, which were not typical for Finnish terrain had a sparse track network with only one detailed pocket of tracks.  The riding was very rough and both were glad they had their Scott dual suspension bikes.

Both Adrian and Alex were feeling tired on Saturday but managed 8th and 12th respectively.  In Sunday’s race Adrian felt strong and despite a 2 minute error beat top Finn and former world champion, Mika Tervala by 33 seconds.  Alex was 21st.

The SA club relays have been traditionally one of those awkward events for the organising club as it virtually eliminates them from being a competitive entity. This year the Southern Arrows took over this event as a fundraising activity and to gain exposure and awareness of the squad, enabling all the clubs to be included in the competition for the first time in many years. The “Southern Arrows Roulette” was a two person format with two courses for each competitor, which proved to be a fast paced and action packed day for all involved. The assembly area in the centre of Gravel Pit (Yalanga, 1993, Irena Palmer/Ian Harding/Ian Smith) set the tone by being a well sheltered and picturesque location for the day and allowed for the complex nature of the relay format.

The race kicked of at 10:30 with competitors scattering in every direction into the forest in a spectacular fashion. The terrain included open fast ground with moderate-excellent visibility in the eucalypt forest with clusters of complex rock for the first half of the course. Competitors then crossed into open sheep grazing land with more of the complex rock and some steepening gullies. After the second leg there appeared to be a tight competition developing in Group 6, with Tjuringa’s Ben Lee, Yalanga’s Brodie Dobson-Keefe and OHOC’s Simon Mitchell all returning to tag their 3^rd runners within 30 seconds of each other. In the top group (group 1) Tjuringa’s Timo Sild and Greg Morcom extended their lead to an unbeatable amount. At the completion of the third leg it looked as though there would still be a tight competition in the open women (group 3) with OHOC’s Robin Uppill and Tintookies’ Alison Radford only separated by 52 seconds overall.

At the completion of the race all but one class had clear winners with the only exception being group 4 which resulted in a dead heat between OHOC’s Michael Roberts/Adrian Uppill and Tintookies’ Tom Dose/Benjamin Diment. In the Club Points competition it came down to a draw between Tjuringa and OHOC proving that Lachlan Hallett’s and Simon Uppill’s convoluted and confusing points system did not show a bias to any clubs.

Many thanks must go to Yalanga Orienteers who gave up this event and their equipment for the Southern Arrows. Yalanga also refused any royalty for the use of their map (they even seemed grateful for us to deplete their old offset printed map stocks!!). John Lyon must be thanked for acting as controller and advice-giver to the Southern Arrows. Simon Uppill, Vanessa Round and Zebedy Hallett did very commendable jobs as course setters. All of the Arrows need to be thanked for their tireless efforts both on the day and the late nights leading up to the event. The Southern Arrows are now looking forward to trying their hands at another event in 2007.

Rob Preston found his form today in the 3rd of 3 Test matches against New Zealand. Preston finished the tough classic race in 3rd place, only a minute behind winner Neil Kerrison. Dave Meyer held on to come in 12th, with Peter Preston 18th and Bruce Arthur 20th.

In the women’s race, Tania Robinson (NZ) finished  with a clean sweep of all the races. The best-placed Bushranger was Briohny Davey in 5th. Kathryn Ewels and Kirsten Fairfax were 8th and 9th respectively, with Orla Murray 14th.

Orienteering ACT regrets to advise the passing of Jim Sawkins.  On Sunday morning Jim was orienteering on the new Goorooyaroo map when he collapsed soon after starting his course.  Despite receiving the best possible first aid (some orienteers, well trained in CPR, were with him quickly and the paramedics were on the scene soon afterwards), he was not able to be revived.

Anne had started earlier than Jim and on her way back to the finish she came across the group (including ambulance paramedics) trying to revive him.  A number of close orienteering friends stayed with her and Jim until son Tim arrived to take her home.  She is being supported by family and friends.

Jim was the consummate orienteer, both as a competitor; he won the M65A class at the 2006 Australian 3-Days and was the 2005 ACT Orienteer of the Year, and as an official; on Saturday he was the organiser of the usual Saturday Program event and he contributed to the success of many major orienteering carnivals in the ACT.  He was the best.  He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

The Sawkins family wants it to be known that orienteering should not be seen as in any way contributing to his death.  He was in great spirits when he started and he died on a beautiful sunny Canberra winter’s day on a new map doing what he loved.

The family and the organizers of Sunday’s event wish to thank the many who stopped to provide assistance and to stay and comfort Anne during her moment of need.

Orienteering ACT is currently seeking advice from the ACT Ambulance service, which provides access to counselling.  More information will be provided when the details are available.

Anne Sawkins and family have announced that the funeral of the late Jim Sawkins will b held at the Norwood Park Crematorium on Thursday, 8 June 2006 at 4.30pm.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with Anne, Tim and his family Jenny, Hannah and Rebekah, David, Robert and the extended Sawkins family.