2013 Archive

The ACT MTBO titles held last weekend produced some of the best racing of the year on terrain that was well suited for the varying disciplines.  The sprint saw riders negotiating the maze of single track at Sparrow Hill.  The middle had them merely go on the opposite side of the road into Kowen East, which gave a mixture of single track and fire roads.  On Sunday riders assembled in the middle of Kowen Forest at the Homestead Campgrounds and mostly had very fast fire tracks with intriguing route choice options. All courses were master minded by Sean Sunley and Julie Sunley cheerfully handled the admin.

The men’s elite had quite a lot of depth and the podium places were shared around as follows:

Sprint:  Ricky Thackray, Seb Dunne, David Simpfendorfer

Middle: Todd Novack, Seb Dunne, David Simpfendorfer

Long: David Simpfendorfer; Todd Nowack; Ricky Thackray

NSW’s Steven Todkill was just outside the placings on each ride, as was WA’s Ian Dalton.

Women’s elite saw Carolyn Jackson (who had won 3 gold medals in W50 World masters the previous weekend) strongly challenged by Danielle Winslow, a former foot WOC representative and top adventure racer, who was undertaking her first competition after the arrival of her first child.  Carolyn took the honours overall but Danielle certainly made her work hard.  Janet Street grabbed the third places ahead of Jasmine Sunley.

There was some great potential shown by a whole bunch of juniors who rode some fast kilometre times.  Paul Jongh (“fresh” from 3^rd place in the World solo 24 hr Mtb U23 race) shared the spoils in M20 with brother Ian.  Alysha McNee rode fast to win W20, as did Gaby Withers in W16.  Gaby is quite experienced for her age, even having ridden a public race in Estonia recently.   The M16 class saw close racing between Ballarat’s Declan Dickson and Canberra’s Steve Melhuish and NSW’s Eddy Prentice. Declan took the trifecta of wins but was hard pushed by Steve in all of them.  Patrick & Tristan Miller shared the spoils in M14 while Sonya McNee literally grabbed the choccies in W12.

The closest finish of the weekend went to Jennifer Strack, who was thrilled to win the W50 long title by a mere 3 seconds ahead of Heather Leslie.  Congratulations to the  masters who managed to win all 3 events: Malcolm Roberts, Keith Wade, and Dale Ann Gordon.

Victoria dominant state in MTBO in 2013.

Victorian Nugget riders capped off a busy competitive year at the ACT MTBO titles in Kowen Forest by winning back the Orienteering Australia Shield (which is contested over all 3 Australian title events) with Queensland 2^nd and 2012 winner NSW 3^nd.  The ACT sprint title also doubled up as the Australian Sprint Championships.

Victorians were also dominant in the National MTBO Series which was finalised after these championships.

Point summary for placegetters is:

494 Victoria;  286 Queensland;  280 NSW;   106 ACT.

Overall state age class winning states and individual 1^st & 2^nd places were:

State    1^st                                            2nd

M14     ACT     Patrick & Tristan Miller (ACT) draw

M16     VIC      Declan Dickson (V)         Eddy Prentice (NSW)

M20     QLD    Karl Withers (Q)                      Tim Jackson (V)

M21     WA      Ricky Thackray (WA)             Callum Fagg (TAS)

M40     QLD    Craig Steffens (Q)                  Bruce Patterson (V)

M50     NSW   Malcolm Roberts (NSW)        Rob Prentice (NSW)

M60     VIC      Peter Cusworth (V)                 Paul Haynes (NSW)

M70     VIC      Keith Wade (V)                       Blake Gordon (V)

M80     VIC      Graeme Cadman (V)

W16     QLD    Gaby Withers (Q)

W20     ACT     Alysha McNee (ACT)

W21     VIC      Carolyn Jackson (V)               Danielle Winslow (TAS)

W40     NSW   Carolyn Matthews (NSW)      Julie Sunley (ACT)

W50     VIC      Heather Leslie (V)                   Norah Skilton (Q)

W60     VIC      Kathy Liley (V)                        Julie Fisher (Q)

W70     VIC      Dale Ann Gordon (V)              Jenny Sheahan (V)

W80     VIC      Joyce Rowlands (V)

2014 will see a lot of travel for keen mtb orienteers, starting in January when over 30 are travelling to the multi-day carnival in New Zealand.   The national series has races in 3 states:  Queensland in May -Selection Trials for Junior & Elite World Champs too; Alice Springs in June for Australian MTBO Champs, and to WA for round 3 of the Series in early October.

The six coach / manager positions for Australian teams travelling to World Championships in WOC & JWOC in both foot orienteering and mountain bike orienteering in 2014-15 are now being advertised after the conclusion of the previous two year roles.

Below are the headlines of the advertised roles.

Detailed information on ALL positions is available on this link: OA Coaching Jobs 2014.docx This includes job requirements; selection criteria and application requirements. Applications are due by November 15th.

Two Positions: Australian World Orienteering Championships (WOC) Officials.

Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Position 1 – Coach of the WOC team, with limited management roles.
Position 2 – Manager of the WOC team, and assistant coach, if applicable.

Position: Australian Junior World Orienteering Championship (JWOC) Coach
Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Coach the Junior World Orienteering Championships team. This includes leading training and coaching of the squad/team, and liaise and provide technical assistance to the individual coaches and the squad/team members to assist in their development as orienteers.

Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) Team Manager Position.

Time Period: November 2013 – end October 2015.

Job Requirements:
Provide appropriate information to all potential Australian Junior World Orienteering Championships team members and their parents or caregivers, both directly through email, and indirectly through the OA High Performance website, The Australian Orienteer magazine, state email newsletters etc.
Undertake the co-ordination of squad/team travel arrangements within and outside Australia and distribute detailed itineraries.

Australian MTB Orienteering Coach.

Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Primary role:
Coach of the combined WMTBOC & JWMTBOC team, with a management role within Australia.

2014 Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships Australian Team Manager.

Time Period: For 2014 World Championships.

Job Requirements:
Co-ordinate the day to day arrangements of the Australian team (WMTBOC & JMTBOC team members) whilst they are overseas, both at the pre-champs training camp and at WMTBOC itself. This specifically involves food, accommodation and travel needs.

Orienteering Australia will send a team to contest the 2014 Junior World Orienteering Championships in Bulgaria from 21^st to 27^th July.

It is expected that a team of at least 4 men and 4 women will be selected. Additional team members (up to a maximum of 6 men and 6 women) may be selected depending on performance in the selection trials.

Nominations

Nominations are to be made to the Chair of the Junior Selection Panel, Jan Hardy, by e-mail (janhardy@iprimus.com.au). A note advising of your availability for selection is sufficient. Nominations should be received no later than Sunday, 9^th March 2014. Verbal nominations will not be accepted. Late nominations may be accepted at the discretion of the selectors.

With your nomination please advise a phone contact for the days after Easter – this will make it easier for us to get the good news to you if the occasion requires.

Selection Criteria

The primary selection trials are the four races of the Easter weekend, to be held in NSW from 18^th to 21^st April 2014 .

Secondary selection trials will be the 2014 March National League races on March 22^nd and 23^rd in Victoria.

All candidates for selection are expected to compete in these events unless they have grounds for special consideration.

In such cases of special consideration, or where selection is exceptionally tight between 2 or more nominees, selectors may refer to the results of other recent major events, including 2013 JWOC and 2013 Australian Championships.

The recent MTB Orienteering World Championships in Portugal saw Australia’s contingent of 5 riders have great success.

Victoria’s Carolyn Jackson won gold in all three distances, sprint, middle & long in W50. Peter Cusworth (M60) was 2nd in sprint, 3rd in long and 8th in middle.

Thor Egerton (W40) was 2nd in sprint and took the bronze in the other two events. Jon Sutcliffe (M40) & Carolyn Cusworth (W50) also participated well.

This week-end in Canberra sees the last round of the MTB Orienteering National Series events being held in the fantastic trails of Sparrow Hill & Kowen Forest. There will be the Australian (and ACT) sprint championship & the ACT middle championships on the Saturday followed by the ACT long championships on the Sunday. MTBO statistician Blake Gordon will be on hand to do the final maths so that the national series trophies can be presented on the Sunday.

In men’s elite the WA pair of Ricky Thackray & Ian Dalton are making the trip across, with local Seb Dunne and NSW’s Steven Todkill amongst a strong field that will challenge them. Women’s elite is a three way match up. The M20 class sees Victorian Tim Jackson being confronted by ACT brother’s Ian & Paul de Jongh. Paul is very fast normally but could be a little tired after riding outstandingly well for 3rd in the U23 class at the Solo World MTB 24 hour event last weekend.

Carolyn Jackson, having just won three gold medals at the Masters, will be challenged by ACT riders Jasmine Sunley and Danielle Winslow. Jasmine has just made the transition from the juniors while Danielle is a former WOC foot O orienteer and outstanding adventure racer who is getting back into competition after the birth of her first child.

Full details of the following MTBO positions (and WOC & JWOC foot O positions) will be uploaded tomorrow.

Australian MTB Orienteering Coach.

Time Period: October 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:

Primary role:

Coach of the combined WMTBOC & JWMTBOC team, with a management role within Australia.

Remuneration: The position is voluntary in its nature. Negotiated funding is available to support squad & team activities and coach expenses within Australia. All expenses will be met for travel to WOC.

2014 Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships Australian Team Manager.

Time Period: For 2014 World Championships.

Role:

Co-ordinate the day to day arrangements of the Australian team (WMTBOC & JMTBOC team members) whilst they are overseas, both at the pre-champs training camp and at WMTBOC itself. This specifically involves food, accommodation and travel needs.

Assist the coach through being present at the finish of all WMTBOC competitions, so as to meet the immediate needs of the riders.

Manage the team budget on a daily basis and maintain financial records of items spent whilst overseas and forward these on in orderly fashion to the coach, at the conclusion of the WMTBOC carnival.

Assist with publicity for the team via the OA website, Facebook and any blogs, in conjunction with the Coach.

Remuneration: The position is voluntary in its nature. All overseas based expenses at the training camp and during WMTBOC will be met. This covers accommodation, food and car travel.

In 2014 OA High Performance is establishing a new Talent Development Structure comprising three levels of Squads at the national level. This is part of the development of clearly defined Athlete Pathways for Orienteering based on the AIS  FTEM framework.

The application forms for all current and future elites who are intending to compete at NOL standard and above in 2014 have been sent to all athletes who completed an Athlete Profile for 2013.

Anyone who did not receive a copy of the application form and is interested in being part of these HP Squads in 2014 can do so by accessing the form at

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QAOTyvaX42j2uRCXdTqciEWLVOmGGqavl38eUgwM-mw/viewform

Or   email  nickdent7@gmail.com

The application forms need to be returned by the end of October. Included in these application forms is an indication of the athletes desire to attend either of the training camps in Tasmania and Canberra in January 2014.

Entries for the final MTBO national series round on Oct 18-19 in Canberra close THIS Friday via Eventor.  With the Australian Sprint title and the ACT middle and long titles being held in the intricate track networks of Sparrow Hill and Kowen Forest, there is plenty of fun to be had.

The World Masters MTBO Championships are being held in Portugal this weekend (October 10-12^th) with over 160 competitors entered including 5 Australians.   In conjunction with the Masters an elite World Cup is also being conducted.   The events are being held in the south-west area of Portugal, at Grândola, 130km south of Lisbon.

Carolyn Jackson, who medalled in the 2012 Championships should do well in W50, and fellow Victorian Carolyn Cusworth also will be racing this class.  Peter Cusworth also should be in contention in M60.   Ex-pat Aussies Jonathon Sutcliffe (M40) and Thor Egerton (W40) are journeying down from Norway for the event.

On the website you’ll be able to follow MTBO WCup’13 and WMMTBOC’13 events with live results, live TV coverage, GPS Tracking, Live Blog, text commentary, pictures, video, and route choices: www.wmmtboc2013.fpo.pt.

This weekend the MTB Solo 24hr World Championships are being held around an 18km circuit on Mt Stromlo, Canberra.  Orienteers should recognise the following participants: Patrick Kluth, Kay Haarsma, Paul de Jongh; Scott Smith and Daryl Smith.

Jackeroo Cooler Arm folding chair (grey)

Handkerchief (small white)

Pair white socks

Bridgestone bag

Control description holders (4)

Silva headbands (2)

Baseplate compass

Canberra Centenary bag (black)

Towel (white)

Cap –Colombia (grey/black)

Stuff sack (Kathmandu) red

Folding chair packets (2) – Blue, Bottle green

Jacket (grey)

Plastic water bottle (2) – White, Blue

Baby’s bottle (Avent/Philips brand)

Gaiters (Protech) dark blue

Bandana (Canteen)

Shorts (Pink, blue & grey)

If you wish to claim any of these items please email John & Ann Scown at scown@light.net.au

Any items not claimed by cob Sun 27 Oct 2013 will be disposed of thoughtfully.

The Canberra Cockatoos dominated the 2013 SILVA National Orienteering League, winning three out of four team titles and three individual titles.

The closest team competition was the senior women’s. The Cockatoos and defending champions, the Victorian Nuggets, went into the season’s final race level. The Nuggets had a four-minute lead going into the final leg and were still in front at the spectator control, but, as with last year, the title came down to the last few controls of the last race. Jo Allison slipped through for the Cockatoos when Kathryn Preston made a late mistake, and while Preston did her best to come back over the last few controls she fell 50 metres short. A good final week saw the Tassie Foresters in third place.

The Cockatoos senior men led by only a point going into the season’s final week, but always looked to have something in hand, with the return of Dave Shepherd from injury adding depth to an already strong team. The Nuggets still had a mathematical chance of winning before the last race of the season, but beating the Cockatoos by two places was always going to be a tall order, and never came close to happening. The NSW Stingers were third.

The Cockatoos were even more dominant in the junior men’s competition, securing victory long before the season’s end. The one break to their monopoly came in the junior women’s class, where the Nuggets held off a fast-finishing Stingers team by two points, Tasmania’s relay win preventing the Stingers from getting the points they needed to overhaul their opponents.

The Cockatoos also won three individual titles. Despite missing the first two rounds, Lizzie Ingham’s eight successive wins made sure she had a comfortable lead over Grace Crane in the senior women’s event, while Matt Crane had a similarly easy victory by winning seven races in a season where no-one else won more than one.

Heather Muir was not as dominant as the two senior winners, but a season of consistent performances – three wins and seven seconds – was enough to see her emerge from a closely-bunched junior women’s field and secure the one non-Cockatoos individual title with a round to space. The one class which came down to the final day was the junior men’s, a contest between Cockatoos and JWOC teammates Ian Lawford and Oliver Poland which was settled by Lawford’s win in the Australian Middle Distance Championships.

The 2013 Australian Championship carnival concluded today with some thrilling relay races across all categories.   It really was a stampede from the rodeo corral when almost 300 first leg runners grabbed their maps and literally headed for the hills.  Many of the longer courses had a long leg with options of going straight over the main granite hill, or run quite wide to either the left or right.  In M20 Ashley Nankervis, on the first leg, bravely went left when all others went straight but all emerged fairly equally at the control evidently.   Simon Uppill went straight and had the fastest time I believe by about 30 seconds.   Matt Crane (ACT), who went straight and Matt Ogden (NZ) who went wide to the right, actually headed off on leg 3 at the same time and got to no 1 control at the same time.   Interesting route choice!

There were some exciting racing with leads changing throughout and many close finishes.  In the women’s elite Jo Allison made up a 3 minute deficit on the last leg and came into sight of the crowd with a 300 metre lead over Kathryn Preston (VIC) and got home by 20 seconds.   The girls hadn’t seen each other on the course and Jo only realised she was leading and the urgency of the scenario when the crowd and commentators erupted.  This victory also gave the Cockatoos the Silva National League overall series win.   Hanny Allston stormed home on the third leg to record the fastest time of the day and to secure third place for Tasmania.

Men’s elite saw the Canberra Cockatoos have an exciting 2 minute win over NZ, with the Cockatoos no 2 team excelling for 3rd. Matt Crane and Matt Ogden went out on the third leg together and saw a lot of each other until Craney spiked a control neatly and got a decisive lead about two thirds of the way around.  Simon Upill (SA) took fastest time with a dominant run on the first leg.

The M20 elite class saw another Cockatoos v NZ showdown for victory.   However it was young Ashley Nankervis (TAS) who led home Olle Poland (ACT) by 6 seconds on leg 1, with the Kiwi team 3^rd at that stage.   However, after a great run by Andrew Barnett (ACT) on leg 2 Ian Lawford headed off on the anchor leg with a 30 second advantage over NZ’s Tim Robertson.  This was soon gobbled up as they climbed the hill but it was the young Aussie who emerged in front as they hit the paddock for the run in.   Ian managed to stay in front with an 18 second margin – a great result.  Brodie Nankervis, Tassie’s 3^rd leg runner had the fastest time by several minutes, as he secured the 3^rd place on the podium.

The Tasmanian young guns had another outstanding result with an unexpected win in the junior female class.   All three girls had fantastic runs, with Anna Dowling returning first, as did Hannah Goddard and Nicola Marshall brought them home almost 3 minutes ahead of the Kiwi trio.  NSW were third.

Mens elite     158.33  ACT  Lachlan Dow, Dave Shepherd, Matt Crane

160.21  NZ    Tom Reynolds, Nick Hahn, Matt Ogden

169.34   ACT  Geoff Stacey, Murray Scown, Gareth Candy

Women’s elite   156.51  ACT  Lizzie Ingham, Matt Neve, Jo Allison

157.11  VIC  Aislinn Prendergast, Kathryn Ewels, Jasmine Neve

161.39   TAS  Grace Crane, Sarah Buckerfield, Hanny Allston

Junior men         146.54    ACT Olle Poland, Andrew Barnett, Ian Lawford.

147.12    NZ   Seamus Morrison, Nick Smith, Tim Robertson

159.19    TAS  Ashley Nankervis, Jarrah day, Brodie Nankervis

Junior women   170.11   TAS  Anna Dowling, Hannah Goddard, Nicola Marshall

173           NZ    Vida Fox, Kayla Fairbairn, Breanna Massie

202     NSW  Nicola Blatchford, Bridget Bennett, Michele Dawson

Final NOL results will be uploaded in coming days.

Thanks to the numerous ACT orienteers and orienteering parents who gave so generously of their time and efforts over the last 9 days.  New maps, challenging areas, well set courses and great hospitality made for a “champion” carnival.

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=classes&databaseId=28115

Results

The splits are now on WinSplits

Grace & Matt Crane (Tasmanian Foresters and Canberra Cockatoos respectively) claimed both elite Australian Middle Distance Championships today.  This was held on a new granite terrain area – “The Gib” near Bungendore, about 40 kilometres from Canberra.

Matt had a nervous wait as Simon Uppill stormed into the finish challenging his time.  However Simon finished 7 seconds in arrears.   While Matt had a consistent run, Simon ran faster on many legs, winning 10 of the 24 splits, but lost 2 minutes when he drifted off course going to no 5.

Grace Crane and second placegetter, Jasmine Neve both were well pleased with their runs.  Grace said that she was really focused and spiking controls well on the first two thirds of the race but had to work hard thereafter to maintain concentration.  Lizzie Ingham lost 3 minutes early on going to control 2 but steadied to take third place ahead of Kathryn Preston.  Hanny Allston led the field to control 8 but lost time on several controls in the second half, most notably 5 minutes to no 16, which saw her slip to 5^thplace.

Junior World Championship team members filled the placings in M20, with Ian Lawford taking out his last national junior title before moving on to M21, with almost a 3 minute margin over Olle Poland, with Brodie Nankervis and Matthew Doyle both close behind.

Markita Novotna, a Czech international running for WA, again dominated the W20 elite class, with a 3 minute win over Kiwi Kayla Fairbairn, while Queenslander Heather Muir added another bronze to her collection of Australian podiums.