The Orienteering Australia Annual Awards were presented at the Annual Dinner held at the Spring Gully Soccer Club in Bendigo on 31 March at Bendigo.
The winners were Fiona Calabro (QLD) – Silva Award for Services to Orienteering in Australia; Richard Matthews (WA) – David Hogg Award for Event Management; Julian Dent (NSW) – 2012 Athlete of the Year; Adrian Craig (SA) – Silva Award for Services to Coaching; Jenny Bourne (VIC) – 2012 Orienteer of the Year.
A tight battle looms for the lead going into the last day of the Easter 3-Days in M21E, while Lizzie Ingham continues to dominate the women’s event.
Matt Crane was well down the list in places yesterday (although only four minutes in time), but he recovered today with a comfortable win in the long distance on the tough physical granite terrain of Mount Alexander. He was three and half minutes ahead of Simon Uppill, a result which will leave them only seconds apart going into the final day. Lachlan Dow continued a consistent week with third.
There will be no such close contest at the front in W21E, where Lizzie Ingham’s lead is approaching double figures. She won today by six minutes, completely dominating the second half of the course – she won the last nine splits. Grace Crane was next in line, just ahead of Lauren Gillis who achieved a career-best result.
The junior women will have a tight race on the final day. Jacqui Doyle had her second win of the weekend today after a consistent run, two minutes ahead of Heather Muir, and will take that as a lead into tomorrow. Oliver Poland will have a more comfortable break thanks to a four-minute margin over Brodie Nankervis (not in overall contention after a Friday mispunch), with Ian Lawford his closest overall challenger.
Bendigo’s Chris Naunton achieved probably his best result yet with a win in today’s middle distance day of Easter.
As with yesterday’s sprint, the winning margin was in single digits. For much of the course it looked as if there might be a home-ground win from another source, with Bryan Keely leading through most of the first two-thirds of the course. However, a number of small mistakes in the closing stages dropped him to third, leaving Naunton and Simon Uppill to fight out the result. Naunton had just enough of an edge over the final controls to score by nine seconds. It was a very closely-bunched field, with twelve within three minutes.
It was a much more comfortable affair for Lizzie Ingham, who extended her overall lead with a second comfortable win in succession. This time the margin was just over two minutes; she had a one-minute break by #6 and was not seriously challenged thereafter. Grace Crane overtook Hanny Allston in the closing stages to take second place.
Lanita Steer continued her excellent early-season form with her second National League win of the year in the junior women’s event, pulling away from Heather Muir in the closing stages. Ian Lawford also registered his second win for the season ahead of Todd Neve and Oliver Poland.
Matt Crane and Lizzie Ingham got off to a good start over the Easter weekend with wins in the Good Friday prologue at La Trobe University in Bendigo.
The two races were in marked contrast to each other. Ingham was in a tight battle over the first half of the course with Hanny Allston, making her return to high-level orienteering after a long break. She edged ahead after halfway, before a small margin was turned into a large one when Allston lost 55 seconds on #16. Her gap ended up being nearly a minute and a half over Allston, with Jasmine Neve in third place.
The three leading men were separated by only five seconds. Crane got off to a wobbly start when he lost time on the first control. For most of the course the lead was contested by Bryan Keely, on home ground, and Simon Uppill, but Crane gradually whittled the lead back and hit the front for the first time with three controls to go. He ended up scoring by two seconds from Keely, with Uppill three seconds further back.
The Canberra Cockatoos’ sweep of the prologue races was completed in the junior classes. Oliver Poland was ahead of Ian Lawford in M17-20E, while Jacqui Doyle had a good win over former Queensland teammate Heather Muir in W17-20E.
Results and splits are available.
Maps and courses can be seen at RouteGadget.
Orienteering Australia is seeking to fill two vacancies on its Board at this Sunday’s Annual General Meeting in Bendigo – Director, High Performance, and Director, Development. The Annual General Meeting will be held at 4pm at the Spring Gully Soccer Club Rooms, Stanley Avenue, Spring Gully, Bendigo on Sunday 31 March.
OA is preferably seeking someone with expertise in marketing and sponsorship to fill the role of Development Director, and possibly a former elite orienteer with international competition and coaching experience and a vision for high performance development to head up the OA High Performance Management Group as Director, High Performance.
Please contact OA President Blair Trewin or OA Executive Officer John Harding at Easter carnival events on Friday or Saturday for more information and to nominate.
The SILVA mass start long NOL races at Belair National Park (Adelaide) were noteable by the presence of three new faces at the top of the leader board, in Victor Manser (elite) Shaun McDonaugh (TAS) and Lanita Steer (VIC) in the juniors.
The courses were excellently set by SA elite Simon Uppill who practically lives on the map, which father Adrian constantly updates. There were several small loops to start with on the flatter, more utilised area before all courses went into the steep hills to the east. The Adelaide – Melbourne train line bisects the map and there was a route choice that allowed runners to run through a long tunnel below it, where Simon had even placed lights for better visibility. Several long route choices legs were broken up with a series of 4 or 5 controls close together. Given that it was a mass start the control descriptions were only on the map, thus simulating a relay situation. This saw quite a few mispunches, even after Simon had warned runners to check codes at the pre-race briefing.
Luckily the organisers had moved the starts forward an hour (to 8.30am) as Adelaide’s renowned summer weather saw a cloudless sky. The first runner home caught the commentators by surprise as it was Victor Manser, a Finnish runner studying for 6 months in Geelong, who had been wisely recruited to the Victorian nuggets team. He stated that he likes the longer events as his fitness is more endurance based. However Victor had a scare close to home, as he left the second last control in the wrong direction and Bryan Keely was close behind. Victor sure displayed a good turn of speed to get to the final control first! Evidently Victor and Bryan had used their speed to move away from a small group on a road section about 80% through the course. However Bryan got bad news that he had mispunched control 3 in the helter skelter of the mass start.
Josh Blatchford (NSW) showed excellent early season fitness and form to finish just 3 minutes behind Victor, with Lachy Dow (ACT) a further 5 minutes back in third. The highly fancied favourite Matt Crane had the misfortune to roll an ankle half way round.
The juniors were on the same course as the elites, and started at the same time. Tasmania Shaun McDonough ran impressively to take the victory in a good time, with Matt Doyle 2nd and Andrew Barnett 3rd. Unfortunately many of the other juniors failed to finish. Henry McNulty, Brodie Nankervis and Ian Lawford all succumbed to the dreaded mispunch, while Ashley Nankervis pulled out with hamstring problems and Oscar McNulty also withdrew early.
The women’s field was very strong, as it included most of the top ten ranked athletes. Grace Crane went out favourite but there were some doubts whether a recent knee injury would flare with the hilly terrain. She took control mid-race and only Jasmine Neve could go with her. Although they took widely different route choices on the returning long leg they emerged together at the next control with Grace holding a narrow advantage. Grace continued to navigate well despite the pressure and ran up the finish shute a mere 13 seconds ahead of Jasmine. The fact that both looked really fit and healthy at the end, despite the warm temperature, augurs well for future events. Aislinn Prendergast was only 2 minutes back in third and local runner Lauren Gillis, after early mistakes, stormed through the field for an impressive 4th.
The junior girls certainly stood up today, with all completing the rugged course and only one mispunch. Lanita Steer (VIC) broke through for her first NOL victory, and her time was just 10 minutes behind that of Grace Crane. Heather Muir (Qld) had to settle for 2nd but she is showing fantastic consistency to always be at the pointy end. Jacqui Doyle(ACT) was well pleased with her 3rd position.
Thanks to Simon, Alison Radford (controller), Frank Tomas (organiser) and the Wallaringa club for all their efforts in putting the event on.
Also many thanks to SILVA who are generously providing prizes for all 13 events in the SILVA NOL program. Additionally the overall elite winners will each receive runner headlamps valued at $599 each.
Elite men Elite women
98.05 Victor Manser (VIC) 85.47 Grace Crane (TAS)
101.41 Josh Blatchford (NSW) 85.54 Jasmine Neve (VIC)
106.08 Lachy Dow (ACT) 88.03 Aislinn Prendergast (VIC)
Teams competition – VIC, then NSW VIC, SA
Junior men Junior women
108.45 Shaun McDonough (TAS) 96.17 Lanita Steer (VIC)
118.10 Matt Doyle (VIC) 100.10 Heather Muir (QLD)
120.48 Andrew Barnett (ACT) 115.11 Jacqui Doyle (ACT)
Matt Crane opened the SILVA National League season with a win in today’s sprint event in Adelaide. After winning his heat, he look the lead early in the course in the final and stretched his lead to an impressive 50 seconds by the end. Lachlan Dow held a narrow break over Simon Uppill for most of the way and edged him out for second. Ian Lawford held off a fast-finishing Oscar McNulty to take the junior race by two seconds.
The women’s event was declared a no-race, due to construction works blocking a mapped route choice and a number of early starters being given the wrong map. National League points were declared on the qualification race results, with heat winners Rachel Effeney, Grace Crane and Susanne Casanova all taking maximum points.
World Orienteering Championships(WOC)
July 7-13, 2013, Vuokatti, FINLAND
(Note: The full selection document and the nomination form can be accessed via:
2013 WOC Selection Criteria 010313.doc
Selection trials and criteria Team selection will be based on the following criteria :
(i) Primary (ie most important) criteria
1. Results in the Australian based selection trials listed below;
– all four races of Easter from 29 March to 1 April 2013 in Victoria
– the three National Orienteering League races in ACT on 4 and 5 May.
(ii) Secondary criteria, in order of importance:
1. Past international performance, particularly at WOC 2. Recent performance at major Australian events within the last 12 months 3. Previous Australian performance;
(iii) Ability to relate well within a team atmosphere.
Overseas selection races
Overseas selection races have been scheduled by the selection panel for athletes living overseas who choose not to return for the Australian selection trials. These races have been indivualised for those nominees. All are strongly advised to race Tiomila on May 4/5 and the Swedish Silva Series on May 11/12, which will be the last overseas based trial.
Athletes will need to achieve results at the overseas trials which are judged at least equal to those achieved by Australian-based past WOC team members and competitive with WOC team members from other countries.
Nominations and team announcement
All athletes who wish to be considered for selection in the Australian 2013 WOC team will be required to submit a nomination form by email to both the Chair of Selectors and the Manager, High Performance ( kayhaarsma@hotmail.com ), by 11am March 29th 2013 (i.e. before the start of the first trial). All nominations should include the information set out in the nomination form which is found in the full selection document. It is the intention that the 2013 WOC team be announced within 2 weeks of the final international set of selection races on May 11/12.
Selection Panel
The selection panel for 2013 is:
· WOC Men’s Coach/Manager: Tom Quayle tomquayle@hotmail.com
· WOC Women’s Coach/Manager: Wendy Read wread2@eq.edu.au
· Manager, High Performance Kay Haarsma kayhaarsma@hotmail.com
· Chair of Selectors: Jenny Casanova jenny.casanova@health.sa.gov.au
Enquiries. Enquiries about the nomination process are to be directed initially to the Chair of Selectors, Jenny Casanova jenny.casanova@health.sa.gov.au or phone 0427 605 167
Those wishing to nominate for selection in the Australian team to contest the 2013 Junior World Orienteering Championships in the Czech Republic are reminded that they should do so by Sunday 3rd March.
Nominations are to be made to the Chair of the Junior Selection Panel, Jan Hardy, either by e-mail (janhardy@iprimus.com.au) or in writing (326 Murray St, Hobart, Tas 7000). Verbal nominations will not be accepted. Late nominations may be accepted at the discretion of the selectors.
The primary selection trials are the four races of the Easter weekend, to be held in Victoria from 29th March to 1st April 2013. Secondary selection trials will be the 2013 March National League races on 9th and 10th of March in South Australia. All candidates for selection are expected to compete in these events unless they have grounds for special consideration as previously advised.
Jan Hardy
All orienteers are welcome at the annual Orienteering Australia meetings during the Easter 3 Days Carnival in Bendigo.
OA Committee meetings, Saturday 30 March
Room 3 2.30pm-3.15pm Schools; 3.30pm-5.30pm Mapping