Grace Elson qualified for the Middle Final today with a strong perfrmance, finishing 11th in her heat which included double EOC Gold Medallist Anne Margrethe Hausken (2nd) and World Champion Minna Kauppi (1st).
Emma Engstrand (SWE) and Helena Jansson (SWE) were the other heat winners, it is sure to be an exciting final tomorrow with Elson in the thick of the action. Fastest qualifiers from the men’s heats were Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA), Valentin Novikov (RUS) and Matthias Muller (SUI).
Grace Elson backed up her 37th in the Sprint race with 36th place in the Long Final in Latvia overnight. Elson was not quite able to match her outstanding form from the qualifying race yesterday, where she finished 6th in her heat, but will go into the Middle Distance event high in confidence after four consistant performances at the European Championships so far.
Norway’s Anne Margrethe Hausken, in a Simone Niggli like performance, made it two wins from two races, this time in front of Tatiana Ryabkina (RUS) and Emma Engstrand (SWE).
Dmitry Tsvetkov (RUS) was the early leader in the men’s race and eventually the surprise winner in front of the consistently good Daniel Hubmann (SUI) and Sprint gold medallist Emil Wingsted (SWE).
Former Victorian Nugget, Rune Olsen (DEN) was 46th in the men’s long final today after finishing 26th in the Sprint race on Monday. 2007 Australian National Orienteering Series Champion Matthew Crane (GBR) was 42nd in the Sprint Final but failed to qualify for the final of the long race.
The next race will be the Middle Distance Qualification on Friday from 5pm AEST, followed by the Middle Distance Final on Saturday from 6pm AEST.
After warming up yesterday with two Sprint races, Grace Elson was in fine form today in the Long Distance Qualification. The top 17 runners from each heat qualified for the final. In a heat won by World Championship medallist Emma Engstrand in 41.05, Elson qualified easily with the 6th fastest in her heat, 46.42.
The Long Final will be run tomorrow
The European Championships started overnight with a lightning fast Sprint Qualifier, Grace Elson did a great job to qualify in 10th place in her heat only 59 seconds behind heat winner Mina Kauppi. More than 1 minute and 26 seconds behind the winner in her heat was too slow to qualify!
In the final Grace backed up her strong heat performance with another consistent run, finishing in 37th place, 1 minute and 58 seconds behind winner Anne Margrethe Hausken.
Adrian Jackson wins the Anaconda Alice Springs MTB Enduro.
Adrian confirmed his outstanding fitness by winning the 7 stage, 287 kilometre Enduro race last week. There were over 200 competitors with great depth in all categories. The course was even harder this year than in the past, with extra length and more single track. AJ won stage 1 and defended his lead for another 6 days to record a 3.5 minute win after nearly 12 hours of racing.
Adrian will go over to Europe in July to prepare for the MTBO Worlds in Poland where he is keen to once again mount the placegetter’s podium.
SA MTBO rider Dave Clark won the veteran’s class, placing 15th overall in 13.14 hours. Evergreen Paul Darvodelsky was a close 2nd in 13.27 and 17th overall and his good form bodes well for MTBO WOC too.
The Jackson family had further success with Melinda doing extremely well to place 6th in open women (16.03) while Carolyn ( 17.35) was first in the over 50’s and 14th out of the 39 women riders. Thor Egerton was close behind in 17.40 and took out 2nd place in veteran women. This was good preparation for her second Australian team representation at MTBO WOC.
Other orienteers involved included Anthony Darr, Peter Cusworth and Huw Kingston.
Detailed results are available on the rapid ascent website
Orienteering Australia has selected the team to compete at the 2008 World Orienteering Championships in July in the Czech Republic.
The team includes first timers Jasmine Neve, Simon Uppill and Vanessa Round, all of whom have extensive experience at Junior World Championship level. Kerrin Rattray returns to the team after an absence of a year.
The full team is:
Men: Julian Dent, Kerrin Rattray, Dave Shepherd, Simon Uppill
Women: Jo Allison, Grace Elson, Kathryn Ewels, Jasmine Neve, Vanessa Round
Reserves have also been named, being William Hawkins (who lives in the US and recently returned for the selection trials in Tasmania) and Anna Sheldon.
The races that each athlete will run will be determined at a later date by the team’s coaches.
The World Championships will be held in and around Olomouc (pronounced Olla-moats), a town of approximately 100,000 in the western part of the Czech Republic. Racing commences on 13 July with the sprint races and finishes on 20 July with the relay. The WOC website iswww.woc2008.cz/en/homepage/
The Tasmanian round of the SILVA National Orienteering League concluded with the long distance WOC trial yesterday. A map with no shortage of contours — Mt Pearson — 13.7km for the men and 8.9km for the women and two tough races on Saturday had many elites talking down their chances about the daunting task ahead of them. While most came back exhausted, just as many were pleased with what was the perfect balance of tough but fair racing.
Rob Walter continued his hot streak, completing his hat-trick for the weekend when he edged out Rob Preston for the second Rob quinella of the weekend. William Hawkins, who had journeyed all the way from New York to compete in the trials had his best run of the weekend taking 3rd ahead of NSW Stinger Matt Parton. Reuben Smith was next, and Blair Trewin seemed to shrug off his jetlag by rounding out the top six.
Jo Allison made it a Canberra Cockatoos double with a return to the top. Kathryn Ewels, along with Jo, must be looking towards to August and the Czech Republic with another solid display and took second. Anna Sheldon was seen powering up the hills on the course and finished in third, her best result of the weekend. Shannon Jones was 4th while Laurinna Neumann, a JWOC team member preparing for Sweden in July had an impressive run edging out Vanessa Round for fifth.
The selectors were seen in deep discussions over the weekend and there was a buzz around the field about the possible make up of the team. Simon Uppill, Dave Shepherd, Julian Dent and Grace Elson were all absent from the trials as they are currently in Europe. Although they didn’t run the trials they could be considered near certainties, barring any injury. Keep your internet browser on the OA webpage so you don’t miss impending selection announcements!
Results from the weekend can be found on the Orienteering Tasmania website.
Men’s map and GPS routes (download)
| Elite Men | State | Points | Elite Women | State | Points | ||
| 1 | Adrian Jackson | Vic | 87 | 1 | Thorlene Egerton | Qld | 84 |
| 2 | Alex Randall | Vic | 84 | 2 | Melanie Simpson | NSW | 76 |
| 3 | Tony Clark | Vic | 67 | 3 | Jen Graham-Taylor | WA | 72 |
| 4 | Paul Darvodelsky | NSW | 65 | 4 | Cath Chalmers | WA | 68 |
| 5 | Matt Hope | TAS | 59 | 5 | Carolyn Jackson | Vic | 65 |
| 6 | David Simpfendorfer | ACT | 52 | 6 | Susanne Casanova | SA | 62 |
| 7 | Dion Keech | Vic | 51 | 7 | Clare Brownridge | Vic | 37 |
| 8 | Seb Dunne | ACT | 49 | 8 | Kathryn Ewels | Vic | 24 |
| 9 | Stephen Balharrie | Vic | 48 | ||||
| 10 | Damian Welbourne | NSW | 46 |
| Men’s Teams | Women’s Teams | ||||
| 1 | Victorian Nuggets | 52 | 1 | Western Australia Nomads | 25 |
| 2 | Tasmanian Foresters | 24 | 2 | Victorian Nuggets | 19 |
| 3 | New South Wales Stingers | 21 | 3 | Queensland Cyclones | 16 |
| 4 | Queensland Cyclones | 21 | 4 | New South Wales Stingers | 14 |
| 5 | Canberra Cockatoos | 15 | 5 | South Australia Arrows | 10 |
This afternoon’s round of the SILVA National Orienteering League was the second last chance for WOC contenders to prove their worth in front of the selectors. With the same assembly area as this morning’s sprint many of the competitors were keen to get back out into beautiful forest.
Christopher Naunton held the lead in the men’s class for a good majority of the afternoon after a very impressive run that showed he in beginning to make big steps for the future. The last few starters included Rob Preston and Rob Walter, two of the favourites for the race. Rob Preston came through to take the lead but he was outdone by the last starter Walter. Walter’s back-to-back victories leave many wondering whether he should have hung up the shoes for WOC or not.
Vanessa Round came back to some good form with a victory of the ever-present Jo Allison and Tracy Bluett. Unlike the men’s class where again the top two aren’t in the running for the team, all three women would be hoping their run put them in the forefront of the selectors’ thoughts.
Results and Splits from both the days races on the Tasmanian website.
Men’s map and GPS routes (download)
The SILVA National League resumed today in St Helens, Tasmania. The morning sprint, through open forest punctuated with tricky granite and pockets of thick bush. The races for the weekend are the WOC trials and National Leagues 10–12.
Al Jones was expected to post an early leading time in the women’s but was undone when she punched the wrong last control. Her sister Shannon kept the Jones spirit alive with a quick time to take second ahead the NSW veteran Tracy Bluett looking to make a comeback to the international stage, Shannon however has not nominated for WOC. Jasmine Neve did her chances for a WOC spot no harm by with a convincing 18 second victory. Jo Allison was 3 seconds ahead of Easter winner Kathryn Ewels with junior Rachel Effeney rounding out the top 6.
Rob Walter had a barnstorming run to smash the men’s field by 39 seconds. Ben Rattray showed his recent heat-stressed training method is working taking second. Leading WOC contender Kerrin Rattray came in behind his brother, a further 18seconds adrift. With neither Rob nor Ben nominating Kerrin seems to be in the box seat for a run in the Czech Republic in August. JWOC speedster Leon Keely showed he will be a force to be reckoned with in Sweden taking 4th seconds ahead of his uncle, Jim Russell. Another old hand, Eric Morris finished in 6th.
Results up soon.
Men’s map and GPS routes (download)