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The Australian Middle Distance Championships were held at Petticoat Gully (complex gold mining terrain) and next door to the area used on Saturday for the Victorian Middle Distance Championships.

In the elite classes there was some very good international competition, with the winners coming from three different countries- Nick Hann NZ M21E, Liis Johanson Estonia W21E, Ed Cory-Wright NZ M20E and Anna Dowling Australia W20E.

The M21E race had many changes of lead. Simon Uppill was the leader at Control 1 and then Brodie Nankervis was in the lead at Control 2. Theo Fleurent (France) took the lead for the next 4 controls before Nick Hann took over and was in the lead until a small mistake on the longer leg 15 enabled Ralph Street (Great Britain) to lead until an error that cost him over 1 minute at control 22 enabled Nick Hann to regain the lead and eventually win by 24 seconds with Ralph Street in 2^nd and Matt Crane in 3^rd place.

In W21E Grace Crane who is returning to elite competition after the birth of her daughter (Florence) was running very consistently and was in the lead until the second last control when she was caught by Liis Johanson. Liis was 4 seconds faster over the last two controls. Liis had a faster running speed but had difficulties with controls 4 and 6 which cost her over 2 minutes early in the course. Anna Sheldon was 3^rd.

In M201E Ed Cory-Wright (NZ) in the absence of Matt Doyle who was running M21E was the favourite to win. However, Patrick Jaffe was the leader until control 13 when Ed who was running faster on the longer leg 14 took the lead and he maintained this to the finish to win from Patrick Jaffe with Tommy Hayes (NZ) 3^rd.

In W20E Anna Dowling continued her strong consistent performance that she had on Saturday to win comfortably by 3.38 from Winnie Oakhill in 2^nd and Olivia Sprod in 3^rd place. Winnie was running strongly until control 12. Her running speed slowed down from this control to the finish.

The Wildfire Sports Ultra Long Australian Championships were held in Ballarat, hosted by Eureka Orienteers. The overall winner of the return airfare to Europe was Henry McNulty, the 2015 JWOC representative who has only recently returned to Australia after spending the last 12 months training and competing in Sweden with the OK Linne club. The overall placing for the prize were: First-Henry McNulty, Second-Patrick Jaffe, Third-Ian Lawford.

In the M21E class, with a course distance of 22.3km, Ian Lawford  in his second year as a senior elite had a very strong, consistent run to finish 1:42 minutes in front of Brodie Nankervis. Brodie lost 4 minutes on Control 1*** and then another 3 minutes on Control 9, but he recovered to be in the lead at control 20, but Ian finished stronger to take out the win in a time of 156:05. ***this may be incorrect as the race was in loops , however, the overall results are correct.

In the W21E class, with a course distance of 14.4km, Aislinn Prendergast, a Ballarat local had a very steady start and finished very strongly to beat Krystal Neumann by 35 seconds in a time of 120.55 in a very close race.  (*** see above comment)

In the M17-20E class, with a course distance of 15km, Henry McNulty was a clear winner in a time of 104.00. Henry has obviously benefited from the training in Sweden as he was clearly the fastest runner in this class and his km rate was good enough to win the overall prize. Patrick Jaffe was second 3.44 minutes behind. Patrick was in the lead at Control 22 but he faded over the remainder of the course. (*** see above comment). Aston Key who can still run M16 was 3rd. An amazing run by Aston who was in the lead at Control 16, but he tired after this.

In the W17-20E class, with a distance of 9.4km, the NZ visitor Sonia Hollands was too strong and she won by 3.40 minutes from Lanita Steer in second place.

In the NOL Sprint held on the Saturday Ian Lawford also was the winner in M21E from Brodie Nakervis by 17 seconds (I am informed that Brodie was unofficial in this race) with Bruce Arthur in 3rd place. In W21E the winner was Krystal Neumann by 26 second with Natasha Key in 2nd place and Anna Sheldon in 3rd.

The M17-20E was a tie between Patrick Jaffe and Jarrah Day. The W17-20E the winner was Tara Mellhuish by 14 seconds from Sonia Holland in 2nd and Olivia Sprod in 3rd place.

This report has been done remotely from Sweden so I hope I have all the details correct. *** see above comment

A big thank you to Eureka Orienteers for organising this event again and providing the substantial prize to the overall winner. A special thank you to Geoff Lawford and Jenny Bourne for all their efforts.