The 2007 NSW State League series opened with the NSW Sprint Championships, held at CharlesSturtUniversity, Wagga Wagga. Orienteers were greeted by unfamiliar wet and cold conditions, although the rain stopped just in time for the first runners. Competitors were treated to a mixture of technical buildings, small pathways and hidden passages through buildings, combined with some open grassland legs.
Julian Dent
Julian Dent showed he’s recovered from the injury which kept him from last years WOC, winning the 2.9km M21A class in , 45 seconds ahead of Canberra’s Dave Shepherd; brothers Ben and Kerrin Rattray battled it out for 3rd and 4th, Ben slipping into 3rd in . The W21A class was much closer with Victoria’s Mace Neve taking her first elite title in , just two seconds ahead of Canberra’s Jo Allison with Anna Quayle in 3rd.
Mace & Julian collect their prizes
Results in other classes were just as exciting, with Alexander Stollznow taking out the M45A class by one second from Graeme Dawson, with Mark Darvodelsky just three seconds behind in 3rd. Lloyd Gledhill and Ian Hassall fought out in the M70A class, Lloyd prevailing by six seconds. Hilary Wood showed she’s in good form winning the W50A class by over three minutes from Julia Prudhoe.
After discussions between the WOC team coaches, selectors and athletes all agreed to a change in date and location for the men’s middle distance trial. It will now take place a week earlier on the the 14th of April in the middle of Sweden in depression terrain which is much more similar to the WOC middle distance race also in depression terrain.
This change will allow more of our athletes to compete in the overseas trial as well as holding the middle distance trial in more relevant terrain.
The men’s long distance trial and both of the women’s trials will remain on the weekend of the 21st-22nd May in conjunction with the Swedish Elite Series races.
Any athletes who are intending on competing in the overseas trials but have not yet contacted Brett Weihart need to do so immediately.
SchoolSport Australia are currently advertising for three positions for the upcoming international series against New Zealand
The positions available are:
Tour Manager
Coach
Assistant Coach
For more information regarding these positions and application forms please contact School Sport Australia Orienteering Secretary, Ian Dalton at Dalton.ian@cathednet.wa.edu.au or your State School Sport Association.
The orienteering event for the 2007 World Police and Fire Games was held on Saturday 17th March in Belair National Park near Adelaide in ideal weather conditions. Participants from 14 countries including Spain, Germany, USA, United Kingdom and Australia, competed in open and a number of veteran age groups. As well as police and fire services, competitors also represented customs, correctional services, immigration services and border police.
The physically demanding courses challenged but were enjoyed by all competitors, with Szymon Lawecki from Poland (State Fire Service) winning the Open Men’s 6.9 km course in 46:24 mins. Open Women was won by Anja Wursig from Germany (Brandenberg Police) with 87:24 mins for the 5.8 km course. Timea Horvath from Hungary (Budapest Police) completed the same course in the Senior A Women class in 67:14 mins.
All courses from the event which was organised by Onkaparinga Hills Orienteers on behalf of the 2007 World Police and Fire Games organisation, were open to the general orienteering community in the afternoon following the Games medal presentation.
Competitors from Australia, United Kingdom and Spain are shown punching at the start.
Head Coach Gareth Candy today advised the Board of Orienteering Australia he will be resigning from the position with effect from mid April to take up a position with the British Orienteering Federation as Manager of their Start and Potential programs. The Start and Potential programs are the junior development programs operated by the British Federation.
Gareth had taken on the duties of Head Coach following the resignation of Grant Bluett in January.
The Board of Orienteering Australia will be seeking to appoint a temporary Head Coach to fulfil the vital tasks involved in leading the preparation of our national teams for 2007 World Championships.
It is the intention of the Board or Orienteering Australia to advertise nationally and internationally for a substantive Head Coach to take on a two year contract with effect from July 1st 2007.
The Board of Orienteering Australia thanks Gareth for the valuable contribution he has made to Australian orienteering in his role as 2006 JWOC Coach, Executive Officer and as Head Coach and wishes him all the best for his new direction.
Mike Dowling
Director, High Performance.
Hanny Allston Named Tasmanian Female Athlete Of The Year
In the “Mercury” Tasmanian Sports Star Awards for 2006 that were presented last night in Hobart Hanny took out the major award for female athletes in Tasmania by being named the 2006 Tasmanian Female Athlete of the Year. In addition, she was also recognised as the 2006 Tasmanian Junior Female Athlete of the Year. Her running coach Max Cherry shared the Coach of the Year Award.
This is another well deserved recognition by the Tasmanian sporting community for Hanny as she was also named as the Tasmanian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year for 2006 at their awards ceremony a couple of months back.
Queensland Cyclones Summer Series concludes with the Sprint Championships.
The Cyclones Summer Series has 3 aims; to assist in fund raising for the team, to give all athletes a good competitive basis for the season and to attract new participants from other sports and interests. The series has successfully achieved all of its aims for the third year.
The 4 Park O events attracted over 180 competitors over 4 Saturdays, with at least 1/3 being new to Orienteering. The competition was sponsored by Brisways who donated some excellent awards for the various age classes. A number of Cyclones also set courses and organised the events. Winners of the series were calculated in the best 3 from 4 races. Overall winners were Wendy Read in the Women’s and Kieran Sullivan in the Men’s. Kieran was also instrumental in course setting at one event and assistance at each event and is setting an excellent standard for others to follow.
The Cyclones also re-introduced Night Orienteering to the Queensland calendar with 50 competitors challenging a Brisbane stormy night. Dane Cavanagh made great use of Sportident to set a series of intricate courses on a very small bush map close to the city. Again Kieran Sullivan dominated, completing the 6.7Km Long course in 54 minutes. The best Woman on the long course was Bridget Anderson. Other winners were Julia Davies (Medium) and Gary Flynn (Short).
Anna Sheldon
The final event of the summer series was the Queensland Sprint Championships run on the new Geoff Peck map of GriffithUniversity, in hot conditions. The event attracted over 100 competitors with 5 age classes for Men and Women, and a short course for the less competitive. Cyclones also welcomed back Olly Mitchell, still on crutches after his brush with a large truck, but looking very positively towards the future. The event was run adjacent to the Queensland Athletics Championships and added to the flavour of athletic competition in the area. In the 21 Elite Men’s class Dane Cavanagh set the pace until control 7 only to lose the lead to Kieran Sullivan and then make a significant mistake to let Daniel Stott and Mark Nemeth into the placings. Kieran went on to make a clean sweep of the summer events with a time of 21 minutes for the 2.9Kms. In the 21E Women Krystal Neumann shot into the lead and held on until Control 4 where she relinquished the lead to a slow starting Anna Sheldon, who went on to win the race comfortably (19 minutes for 2.5Kms). All other runners were bunched very closely together until the last 2 controls when Julia Davies and Rachael Effeney emerged from the pack to take 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The series has been a great success and the Cyclones have now given themselves a good athletic and financial base for the season. Full results of all races can be found atwww.oq.asn.au
Discussions only recently concluded between Orienteering Australia and the Australian Sport Foundation will now enable Orienteers to support the JWOC activities through tax deductible donations. The arrangement also includes future major international events such as the 2009 World Masters.
As part of the “Hosting Major Events – International Events”, Orienteering Australia has successfully concluded an agreement with the Australian Sports Foundation to allow tax deductible donations to the ASF to be used to support this year’s Junior World Championships being organised by OANSW on behalf of Orienteering Australia in July in Dubbo.
Orienteering Australia has confirmed that ASF grants (in 2007) for the “Hosting Major Events – International Events” category will be passed to OANSW for acquittal against 2007 JWOC expenditures.
With the JWOC event now included in the ASF donation scheme OANSW hopes that this will encourage all Orienteers from around Australia to support the JWOC event who previously might have wondered how they could be involved in Australia’s major international orienteering event of the year.
Further information and a donation form can be downloaded from any of the following websites:
Orienteers interested in selection for WOC 2007 should send an email indicating their interest to Paul Liggins (paul.liggins@au.pwc.com) by 31 March 2007. There are no forms to fill in, however you should provide your contact details (including your address and phone numbers) and, if relevant, any plans you have for overseas orienteering travel this year.
WOC Trials
As previously announced, the domestic WOC trials are all 4 days of Easter plus specific trials to be held in Victoria on 5-6 May. However, sprint distance aspirants should note that results outside the official trials will carry more weight than for the other disciplines.
Overseas trials have been confirmed to be held on 21 and 22 April in Sweden, for more details email the Head Coach.
Preselection
OA would like to congratulate reigning World sprint champion Hanny Allston who has been preselected in the Australian team for WOC 2007 in accordance with the new selection criteria.
Bushrangers Team
Orienteers who wish to be considered for the July Bushrangers test against NZ at the Western Plains Carnival should advise Paul Liggins at the above email address, also by 31 March 2007.
