The Victorian Sprint, Middle and Long distance MTBO championships are on the weekend of 27/28 April at Castlemaine and Whroo. These championships are also round 1 of the Australian MTBO Series and selection races for Australia’s World Championships team.
Booking accommodation in the Castlemaine area is recommended. There will be a dinner on Saturday evening at the Cumberland Hotel in Castlemaine.
Entries are now open using the new Orienteering Australia Eventor entry and membership system.
These events are organised by three different clubs and to simplify the finances and entry data for the organisers, it will be necessary for you to enter and pay for each event separately. Payments can be made when entering via PayPal or Poli
You can also renew your State Association membership through Eventor and it is advisable to have current membership before you enter so that you can claim the member discount on the entry fees.
There are several documents attached to each entry page, so make sure you read the “Important information on Entry Fees” before you start the entry process.
A tip. Use the “Additional Services” menu to claim the member discount entry fees. Also use this, when entering the Middle Champs, to book a place at the Saturday evening dinner at the Cumberland Hotel.
OA High Performance Managers are currently collecting data from all current Senior and Junior elite orienteers regarding their competition schedule for 2013, their Orienteering goals for 2013 and beyond. This information will be shared with the WOC and JWOC coaches and managers and will be an important part of the overall review of the HP pathways within Orienteering Australia currently being undertaken.
Any Senior and Junior orienteer who wants to compete at either W/M21E or W/M17-20E level is requested to fill out the Athlete Profile.
Event 1a: Saturday March 9th, Sprint Qualifier – Flinders University
Event 1b: Saturday March 9th, Sprint Final – Waite campus of Adelaide University
Event 2: Sunday March 10th, Long distance Mass Start (multi-loop) – Belair National Park
Winning times: 75 – 80 mins for open elite women; 85 – 90 mins for open elite men.
Same course for 21E and 17-20E
All events within 30 minutes of the Adelaide CBD.
Round 2: Australian 3 Day Orienteering Championships, Victoria
Event 3: Friday March 29th, Prologue (Sprint)
Event 4: Saturday March 30th, Middle
Event 5: Sunday March 31st, Long
Event 6: Monday April 1st, Reverse Chasing Start
Round 3: World Championships Selection Trials, ACT
Event 7: Saturday May 4th, Sprint
Event 8: Saturday May 4th, Middle
Event 9: Sunday May 5th, Long
Round 4: Australian Championships Carnival, ACT
Event 10: Saturday September 28th, Sprint
Event 11: Sunday September 29th, Long
Event 12: Saturday October 5th, Individual Final, Long
Event 13: Sunday October 6th, Team Final, Relay
Round 1 Accommodation Information
Accommodation in Adelaide for March NOLs
The March 9th/10th NOL races are on a long weekend in SA (Adelaide Cup) and also during WOMADelaide music festival and the Adelaide Fringe, so accommodation will be tight and some places may have a 3-night minimum on bookings.
There are caravan parks at Belair, Brownhill Creek, Kingston Park(Brighton) and West Beach near the airport, and Hackney just NE of the city.
The YHA in the city is within walking distance to Central Market which is open Fri/Sat – and there are a number of other backpackers’ in the CBD.
There used to be a number of small YHAs in the hills which could be booked in their entirety but only the one at Mt Lofty is open now. It has 10 beds and it’s not yet booked out for the March long weekend (slight catch is that the key has to be collected from the office in the city during working hours).
Pictured: Anthea Feaver; spectators at event 5, “The Slip” which featured mass starts of each class in typical hilly NZ farmland. Matthias Muller & Venla Niemi in their leader’s “yellow jerseys.”
Thirty one year old Swiss star Matthias Muller celebrated his time in sunny New Zealand this January by taking out the Sprint the Bay title. This was no suprise in that he has a World of O world ranking for the sprint of no 2, and has a gold WOC medal from 2010 and bronzes from 2011 and 2012 in his trophy cabinet. Tim Robertson from Hutt Valley in New Zealand demonstrated his great potential with a fine 2nd overall, less than 2 minutes down and a minute ahead of Denmark’s Tue Lassen. Tue started off 12th of the 80 man field in event 1 but improved through the series, even winning the last race narrowly. Junior Olle Poland was Australia’s top ranked runner at 12th, followed by Oscar McNulty 17th, Bruce Arthur 20th and Chris Naunton 21st.
In the women it was a Finnish quinella with the consistent Venla Niemi winning by 2minutes 33 ahead of Hanna Raitanen and another Robertson, this time Laura, was 3rd of the 44 starters. Venla also is somewhat of a sprint specialist. Although only 22 years old, she has a sprint World of O ranking of 10, and was on the WOC podium in 6th in Switzerland in 2012. She also was in the 5th placed Finnish WOC relay team last year. Susanne Casanova ran a pleasing 9th in the final race and placed 7th overall. Other leading Aussies were Aislinn Prendergast 9th, Lauren Gillis 10th, andBridget Anderson 12th.
The outstanding “athlete of STB” was Western Australian Anthea Feaver who achieved the double hat trick of 6 wins from 6 races in W50. Her class included Jean Cory-Wright, a multiple WOC team member for Britain. However it was the ACT pair of Toni Brown and Ana Herceg who made it an Aussi trifecta. Remarkably there were 8 Aussie women in the top 10 for this class.
Su Yan Tay had 4 wins and won W40 by over 6 minutes, while Karen Blatchford was 5th. There was an Aussie trifecta in W60 with Debbie Gale, Carol Brownlie and Jan Hardy.
In M40 Steve Doyle was 2nd overall and Rohan Hyslop 5th. Victorian Ted Van Geldermalsen snuck through on the last run to snatch victory from Jemery Day by 40 seconds. Jemery had won 4 of the 6 races but his 9th in the last event at Havelock North cost him the title. Nick Dent (M60) also led into the last day but rued some mistakes. These allowed Kiwis Mike Hampton (13 secs) and Michael Wood (3 seconds) to displace him to 3rd.
Asha Steer showed great promise in winning event 6 and placing 2nd overall in the junior girls category, while Tara Melhuish claimed 5th. Aidan Tay (Qld) was 4th in the boys and brothers Mason and Torren Arthur were 7th and 8th. In the senior category Lanita Steer was the 5th girl , and Steve Melhuish (4th) and Darwin’s Kelly Bertei (5th) did well in the boys.
ACT’s John Harding described the farmland terrain of event 5 – “There was a 1.5 km walk to the start up and over a mountain range and down to a river, with awesome scenery all the way. Then I had a 2.3km course with the same amount of climb as Mt Ainslie. On finishing, everyone sat on the edge of the escarpment watching the elite action below. In this the men had 2.7 kilometres with 210m of climb!!”
There were also jerseys awarded for King of the Mountain and Sprint leaders, based on split times from nominated legs on the course.
Race 3 of “Sprint the Bay” was on “Kaiwaka,” another brand new map. Described as “very unique and tricky terrain” it was set in the riverbed of the meandering TukiTuki river with unusual contour and vegetation detail. After the earlier urban stages this terrain challenged runner’s physical and technical abilities to the max.
Elite “yellow jersey” wearers Matthias Muller (Swiss) and Venla Niemi (Finland) successfully defended their leads with both winning. In the absence of Julian Dent it was Ian Lawford (16th) who was the leading Aussi, with Olle Poland close behind. Ian was 2mins 34 behind the winner. Bridget Anderson enjoyed her best result of the carnival with a fine 5th, just 90 seconds down. Susanne Casanova was our next best in 12th.
WA’s Anthea Feaver continued her great form in W50, making it 3 consecutive wins, with a 2 minute margin over ACT’s Toni Brown. One of the victims of the tricky terrain was W40 leader Su Yan Tay who was 5 minutes off the pace in 9th. Steve Doyle was happy to break into the placings with his 2nd in M40. Likewise Ted Van Geldermaisen broke through for a win in M50. Debbie Gale took her first win in W60, while Rosemary Kullman was happy with her 3rd. Day 1 leader Jan Hardy had to be content with 4th. Rob Rapkins won a close encounter in M60 though Nick Dent lost only 36 seconds in 3rd.
In the younger classes Stephen Melhuish was our best senior boy in 6th, while Lanita Steer was 4th. ACT’s Noah Poland did well to take 3rd in junior boys while Asha Steer also grabbed the bronze position in the girl’s section.
Race 4 saw competitors travel to the city of “Napier” to run through the “art deco capital of the world!” This was super-fast urban terrain favouring those with genuine speed. Matthias Muller snatched another victory and will head into the final day with about 50 seconds over local lad Tim Robertson. Olle Poland (ACT) ran well for 13th, just one minute behind, as did WA’s Oscar McNulty, who was only a few seconds slower in 19th. Olle will go into the final day with a slight lead over fellow junior Ian Lawford for Aussi bragging rights.
Hannu Rihma (Finland) took the honours in race 4 but fellow Finn Venla Niemi’s 4th was close enough that she will wear the yellow jersey into race 5. However Kiwi Laura Robertson is within striking distance. The outstanding Aussie female run of the day was from Garingal’s Lisa Gray whose 9th was just 2 minutes behind the international visitor. Lisa has certainly a turn of speed so the great result wasn’t a complete surprise. Close behind her were Aussie representative Bridget Anderson (10th) and champions Arrows runner Lauren Gillis, in 11th.
Su Yan Tay restored order in W40 by taking her third win and will lead Kiwi Anna Robertson (that last name keeps popping up!) into day 4. NSW’s Karen Blatchford grabbed 3rd spot in race 4. Anthea Feaver showed great consistency for her 4th win in W50, this time with a minute to spare over fellow Aussies Ann Herceg and Carol Harding. Another kangaroo trifecta in W60, with Carol Brownlie winning ahead of Jan Hardy and Debbie Gale, and for good measure Janet Bush was 4th. It may well be a Tasmanian showdown with Debbie having a slight overall lead over Jan.
Steve Doyle was reunited with 4th place in race 4 but will be locked in a battle with several Kiwis tomorrow for 2nd place, as first seems unassailable. Jeremy Day had another win and Grant McDonald another 3rd in M50. Jeremy and Ted Van Geldermaisen lead overall into the last day. A close 3rd for Nick Dent ensures that he leads M60.
Jarrah Day placed 4th in senior boys and Lanita Steer was 5th in the girls. In the junior boys Queensland’s Aidan Tay got amongst the places with 3rd, whilst very young Victorian Mason Arthur did exceedingly well for 8th. In the girls Asha Steer was an agonising 4 seconds behind the Kiwi winner Lara Molloy and Asha will look to consolidate her place tomorrow, Tara Melhuish did well for 7th.
The final day has two distinctive terrains. The morning utilises a new map called “the Slip” which evidently is quite similar to the World Cup farmland map, “the Slump.” The final stage is back in traditional urban sprint terrain of Havelock North Village. (Map from earlier in carnival below.)
The “Sprint the Bay” competition is presently being held in New Zealand – from Jan 15-17th.
Based in the Hawkes Bay area, this year the event involves 6 races, with 2 being held each day.
The fields have been buoyed by the presence of quite a few of the elite internationals who have chosen to stay on in sunny New Zealand following the World Cups. The men’s elite has 75 starters and the women 42.
The addition of age classes also has meant that many junior and veteran Aussies have decided to stay on as well for the extra competition. Overall there are 333 entrants – quite a big sprint!
Day 1 included an amazing venue – Splash Planet, as the afternoon event site. This is NZ’s biggest water park and there was even a control in the middle of the toddler’s pool! This venue also saw a lot of mispunches – in fact 8 of the elite women’s field suffered that fate, including NZ favourite, Lizzie Ingham and Aussie Heather Muir, who had been our leading elite in race 1.
Swiss Matthais Muller leads the men after day 1, but only by a 6 second margin. Julian Dent is sitting nicely in 4th, just 80 seconds down, while Olle Poland’s 14th in race 2 was our next best result. Another Swis, in Judith Wyder has a big 2 minute lead, while Felicity Brown ‘s 8th in the afternoon moved her up to 9th overall, after an 18th place in race 1.
The morning race at “Woodford” was a World Ranking Event, so some of the internationals decided to just compete on day 1 of Sprint the Bay. More detailed results are below.
The Australian veteran women have been outstanding.
Su Yan Tay (W40), Anthea Feavor (W50) and Jan Hardy (W60) all lead their class after having won both races.
Tasmanian Debbie Gale (W60) has taken 2nd place in both races while ACT’s Toni Brown (W50) has been 3rd in both events.
Jemery Day has been our stand-out veteran man with two wins in M50, while Grant McDonald sits in second in that class. Steve Doyle has been Mr consistent with two 4ths in M40 and sits in 4th overall too. Nick Dent leads M60 with one win and a second.
In the junior classes Asha Steer is placed 3rd overall and Noah Poland is the best Aussie in 7th. Jarrah Day is 4th and Lanita Steer 8th in the senior class.
Men’s Elite – 2 event result summary
1 Matthias Müller SUI 18:17 2 16:17 2 34:34
2 Tim Robertson NZL 17:34 1 17:06 5 34:40 +0:06
3 Matt Ogden t NZL 18:42 6 17:02 4 35:44 +1:10
4 Julian Dent 18:30 3 17:24 7 35:54 +1:20
16 Oliver Poland 19:53 16 18:18 14 38:11 +3:37
17 Ian Lawford 19:47 15 18:28 18 38:15 +3:41
19 Oscar McNulty 20:14 19 18:33 19 38:47 +4:13
21 Bruce Arthur 20:30 22 18:50 22 39:20 +4:46
24 Henry McNulty 22:01 30 18:49 21 40:50 +6:16
25 Christopher Naunton 21:54 29 18:59 24 40:53 +6:19
The final race of the New Zealand World Cup program saw Swedish star Tove Alexandersson start first in the chasing start and successfully defend her lead to win by 83 seconds. This was Tove’s second gold medal of the carnival, as she was victorious in the sprint also. Anne-Margre Hausken Nordberg (Norway) started in third position but managed to pass Minna Kauppi, who held on for third. Minna had been unable to race the earlier events due to flu and this open hilly farmland terrain was especially difficult physically.
Grace Crane was the best Aussie today, finishing 18th. This gave Grace three top twenty results, with her 16thand 18th in the other races. Kathryn Preston had her best race of the carnival moving through the field to finish 28th overall. Felicity Brown, who is now based in Sweden, placed 30th today to complement her excellent 28th in the sprint. World Cup points go to the top 40 placegetters, so it was tremendous to see Aislinn Prendergast (32nd) and Anna Sheldon (35th) make it 5 of the Aussie women on the scoreboard. Kiwi Lizzie Ingham continued her good form to place 8th.
The men’s race saw more changes in places during the event. Jerker Lysell (Sweden) and Olav Lundares (Norway) started in 4th and 3rd respectively and passed those ahead of them mid race. Jerker was confident that he could win a sprint and so it was – he took the lead at the last control to win by 5 seconds. Peter Oberg, after going out first, had to settle for the bronze medal.
Julian Dent had placed a disappointing 53rd in the prologue, and given that the afternoon race was only 6 kilometres it was going to be difficult for him to place highly. However he gave it a great shot passing 17 runners on course and moved up to 36th at the finish. Simon Uppill maintained his 38thplace from the morning, thus giving us two men in the World Cup points. Rob Preston was the other Aussie who made up ground in the afternoon race, going from 60th to 52nd, to be the third Aussie home.
That concludes the World Cup and Oceania Carnival – a huge undertaking completed successfully by the Kiwi organisers. Some of the runners will still remain in New Zealand to run in the Sprint the Bay 5 race program near Hawke’s Bay.
The final World Cup race in New Zealand takes place on Sunday January 13th. This involves an exciting 2 race format, described by organisers as:
Middle distance chasing start in the afternoon with the start times based on a shortened middle distance prologue (20-25 minutes) in the morning. The prologue will have a loop format with 2 athletes starting at a time. The start interval will be 2 minutes and start order will be drawn randomly in three starting groups (early, middle, late).
The 12 first runners in the prologue will get bonus seconds 120-90-75-60-50-40-30-25-20-15-10-5 according to their placing in the prologue. These bonus seconds are then subtracted from each runner’s time in the prologue to produce an “adjusted time” used to determine start times in the final race. The winner of the qualification race starts first in the final in the afternoon. The second placed runner starts a time after the winner equal to the difference between his/her adjusted time and that of the winner, and so on.”
The prologue commences at 7am Eastern standard time (9am NZ time) and the chasing start kicks off at 1pm (3pm Kiwi time). So you will need to be by the computer in the afternoon to follow the action.
Below is an old map of the area being used and comments from NZ organiser, Duncan Morrison.
I think this map could be under estimated because it is so open but it can still be quite tricky
– It is a working farm with lots of unique contour details and scattered trees. There are small areas of low visibility forest on the map as well.
– The climb is quite tough with lots of short steep climbs.
Hopefully some Aussies will be right amidst the action.
Good coverage of the events, with viewpoints from many of the visiting countries can be found at: http://news.worldofo.com/
Congratulations to our Oceania age group team that went so,so close to stealing the Australia v NZ Challenge trophy – a fantastic effort on Kiwi terrain.
Many thanks to Kim Nankervis (TAS) for co-ordinating such a big team.
On the final day of the Oceania carnival today there were again many Aussies taking wins in their classes. These were:
Men: Kylian Wymer; Carl Dalheim; Geoff Lawford; Bert Elson; Alex Tarr; Gordon Howitt;.
Women: Alyssia Wymer; Anna Dowling; Isabelle Wymer; Robin Uppill; Ann Ingwersen; Maureen Ogilvie.
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