A new page has been added to the OA website which is a reference for all Anti-doping matters for Orienteering Australia. The has links to important information and other anti-doping websites. The page will be updated whenever new information is released.
The page can be found at highperf/antidoping or under the high performance tab on the left hand side of the website.
The Australian Bushrangers Team for the 2008 Australian Championships Carnival has been announced. The team will compete with the New Zealand Pinestars for the Key/Aspin Trophy at the Australian Sprint and Long Distance Championships.
Men
Ben Rattray (Southern Arrows)
Dave Shepherd (Canberra Cockatoos)
Ryan Smyth (Tassie Foresters)
Simon Uppill (Southern Arrows)
Women
Susanne Casanova (Southern Arrows)
Shannon Jones (Canberra Cockatoos)
Mace Neve (Canberra Cockatoos)
Anna Sheldon (Queensland Cyclones)
Although not considered for the Bushrangers team due to its developmental aim, the Australian championships carnival signals the return to Australian competition for 2006 world sprint orienteering champion Hanny Allston. Hanny will be looking to maintain her position at the top of the Australian rankings following strong performances from the women’s team at the 2008 World Championships.
The final day of this year’s MTBO WOC saw the men’s and women’s relay events conducted. Australia was very hopeful for a podium position in both classes but this didn’t eventuate.
Alex Randall (53min) led the men out but a 6 minute mistake half way through the course gave the other team members a difficult task to chase other teams down. Paul Darvodelsky had a solid ride (51 min) before handing over to Adrian Jackson who rode well, recording a time of 48 minutes, to bring the team up to 11th place overall. The winners were Denmark over Russiaand Czech Republic.
In the women’s class, Melanie Simpson had the pressure of leading the team off in her first ever relay. After a great first half she made a 5 minute mistake and immediately afterwards rode directly from control 6 to 8, missing an in and out ride to control 7. Jen Graham-Taylor rode the second leg not knowing of the disqualification to record her best ride of the week, finishing in 49 minutes, giving her 20th fastest time overall. Thor Egerton rode the 3rd leg and was pleased with her time of 51 minutes. Finland won the race ahead of Russia and Austria.
David Simpfendorfer and Cath Chalmers rode in an Open 2 person team doing the women’s course. David came second overall finishing in 38 minutes and Cath was pleased with her effort, finishing in 50 minutes.
Also of note was David’s 3rd place in yesterday’s B final for the long course in a time that would have placed him 46th in the A final.
This concludes this year’s MTBO WOC in Poland. The highlights for Australia were Adrian Jackson’s 3 podium finishes including the Gold medal in the Middle Distance event. There were also benchmark top 16 performances by Alex Randall and Melanie Simpson and the 3 newcomers in the team learnt a lot and showed great potential for the future.
For a full summary of the week and plenty of pictures have a look at the team blog.
The day dawned with a torrential downpour giving the early riders a wet start and the later riders some advantage with drier tracks. On the whole the tracks were either muddy or sandy, making for some slow riding conditions.
Adrian Jackson started late and as one of the favourites but a recent stomach bug had him feeling weak before the start. He rode well with minimal mistakes and did well to finish 6th just over a minute behind the bronze medal. Alex Randall also gained a late start through a good qualification race. He rode well to finish in 13th place but was disappointed with a few minor errors. New Zealander Chris Forne rode well to finish in 19th place.
Melanie Simpson continued her good form with a very competitive 26th. She had an early start and rode alone on the course but held the leading time for quite a while. Thor Egerton (29th) and Jen Graham-Taylor (31st) were pleased with their rides with just a few minor mistakes. Cath Chalmers was disappointed to finish in 49th.
David Simpfendorfer is chasing a good time in the B Final as we type.
The Relay will be held tomorrow morning. The teams will be:
Alex Randall, Paul Darvodelsky and Adrian Jackson (in that order) for the men and Melanie Simpson, Jen Graham-Taylor and Thor Egerton (order yet to be decided) for the women.
Adrian Jackson and Alex Randall led the way for Australia today, building on yesterday’s success. Adrian qualified fastest in his heat with the fastest time of the day, leading by over 2 minutes. Alex was 3rd in his heat, only 42 seconds down on the leader. Paul Darvodelsky (in 22nd place) and David Simpfendorfer (23rd) narrowly missed the final by 31 seconds and 1 minute 27 seconds respectively. The standard of MTBO fields has been increasing significantly and Adrian and Alex will be in intense battles for places in Friday’s final. Also flying the oceania flag was Chris Forne of New Zealand who qualified 3rd in his heat.
In the women’s race all 4 Australians made it through to the final. Jen Graham-Taylor, Thor Egerton and Cath Chalmers settled into their races after yesterday and all finished well up the field. Cath was in 13th place, Jen 15th, Thor 17th and Melanie Simpson 26th. (For the womens race there were only 2 heats).
Marquita Gelderman continued her outstanding form of this week, placing second, and another New Zealander – Georgia Whitla comfortably qualified in the junior race in 7th place.
Tomorrow is a rest day for the riders in preparation for the Long Distance final on Friday and the Relay on Saturday. Friday’s final will be around 27km for the women and 39km for the men.
The 2008 MTBO WOC commenced today with a Sprint Distance race in Olstyn, Poland. The event was held on a university campus, in an almost totally urban environment providing some novel challenges for the riders. The race consisted of 2 laps in very technical terrain, starting and finishing at an athletics stadium. There were unusually large time gaps for a sprint event, reflecting the complexity of the terrain.
Adrian Jackson flew the Australian flag high with a 6th place finish in the men’s competition, his time of 20:55 was 1:12 behind the winner, Lasse Brun Pedersen of Denmark. Adrian said he never felt comfortable but came home strongly with a good second loop. Paul Darvodelsky rode a solid race for 48th, Alex Randall suffered a crash with another competitor derailing his chances placing him 50th, David Simpfendorfer had a mixed race and came home in 68th position.
The women’s event was won by Hana Bajtosowa of Slovakia, Thor Egerton was Australia’s best placed in 32nd and was pleased with her ride. Cath Chalmers was close behind in 33rd place after having started well. Newcomers Jen Graham-Taylor and Melanie Simpson got rid of some first big-event nerves to also finish close together in 41st and 42nd places. Jen had a great ride apart from a single large mistake, while Melanie was a little too cautious on a number of controls. They both feel much more confident heading into the middle distance event tomorrow. Of note was a fantastic 4th place by Marquita Gelderman of New Zealand.
Results Summary:
Men
1. Lasse Brun Pedersen DEN 19:43
2. Jiri Hradil CZE 20:16
3. Tonis Erm EST 20:19
6. Adrian Jackson AUS 20:55
48. Paul Darvodelsky AUS 26:20
50. Alex Randall AUS 26:37
68. David Simpfendorfer AUS 32:11
Women
1. Hana Bajtosowa SLO 21:04
2. Michaela Gigon AUT 21:08
3. Martina Tichovska CZE 21:43
4. Marquita Gelderman NZ 22:05
32. Thor Egerton AUS 27:00
33. Cath Chalmers AUS 27:12
41. Jen Graham-Taylor AUS 28:49
42. Melanie Simpson AUS 29:30
The first loop of the men’s course can be found here.
Competition continues with a middle distance event tomorrow, stay tuned for more results and check out the team blog for all the latest news.
Adrian Jackson built on his good form in the sprint event yesterday to take out the win in the Middle Distance event at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering championships today.
Adrian was 8th last starter and after being a minute up at the radio control lost a little bit of time in the last few controls. He had a nervous wait until all had come in but none of his challengers managed to better his time at the finish.
Melanie Simpson, in only her second ride for Australia finished a fantastic 16th place in the women’s event, in which Marquita Gelderman of New Zealand was 5th.
More details to follow.
The MTBO team have all arrived in Poland and are in a training camp in Nowa Kaletka. Our hotel is next to a large lake and we are surrounded by a large forest that is covered by 4 MTBO maps for training.
Preparations are going very well – 4 of the team (Adrian Jackson, Alex Randall, Paul Darvodelsky and Jen Graham-Taylor) raced in a 75km cross country marathon race on Sunday and all came home with trophies. Thor Egerton and David Simpendorfer both raced in the Swiss WRE on the weekend – Thor finishing in 5th place and David in 17th.
Polish meals are becoming more normal as we adjust to a hearty meal of soup & potatoes for lunch and bread and cheese for dinner. Breakfast sausages are also quite a hit.
The Russian and NZ team are also based at the hotel and the Russians set a full SI course yesterday which the team competed on with them. Track interpretations are inconsistent and it is an aspect that the whole team are working on.
The team are maintaining a team blog where you can follow their activities.
The first ever Top End Middle and Senior Schools Orienteering Championships will be held at the Holmes Jungle Nature Reserve, Berrimah on Wednesday, 20 August 2008.
The event will be hosted by Top End Orienteers. Schools from Darwin city, the northern suburbs and the greater Palmerston area are expected to attend. Courses will range in length from 2 km for the 12 years age group up to 5 km for the Boys open event. There will be separate classes for boys and girls across age groups. Students can either participate as an individual or as pairs. The course terrain is fully fenced and includes bushland with good tracks and contour detail.
It is hoped that this event will enable a team to be formed to represent the Northern Territory at future Australian School Sport Orienteering Championships.
As a lead in to the championships a number of practice events have been held for participants at the Botanic Gardens, Marlow Lagoon and Charles Darwin National Park. Over 300 students from seven different middle and senior schools across the region have participated in these events with 130 students from Darwin Middle School, St John’s College and Kormilda College taking part in the recent Darwin Botanic Gardens event. Other participating schools include Taminmin High School, Palmerston High School, Palmerston Christian School and The Essington School.
The photo shows Kelly Bertei, age 14, of Darwin Middle School, at the Botanic Gardens practice event.
The sport of orienteering is growing in popularity around Darwin and the Top End. Weekend events regularly attract in excess of 70 participants with many first timers keen to test their navigation and sporting prowess.
For more information, contact Susi Bertei, Top End Orienteers on 8981 5841 orsusibertei@smartchat.net.au
New Zealand has announced its elite team to battle with the Australian Bushrangers at the Australian sprint and long distance championships in September. The New Zealand team is:
Women
Tineke Berthelsen, Lizzie Ingham, Amber Morrison, Rebecca Smith
Men
Darren Ashmore, James Bradshaw, Rob Jessop, Martin Peat
The Australian team will be announced shortly and will be selected from available athletes on the basis of the previously announced criteria. No nominations are required.
Paul Liggins, Chair of selectors