BUSHRANGERS IN NEW ZEALAND

Bushrangers invade New Zealand

THE Bushrangers is the Australia A team, an elite development squad for those runners on the verge of making the Australian Orienteering Team for the next World Championships. Special “Test” matches have been arranged for the Australian Bushrangers against the New Zealand National Team. This year the first Test matches were held in the sand dune forests surrounding Auckland in New Zealand.

The Bushrangers arrived in New Zealand keen and raring to have a crack at the Kiwis on their home turf in the sand dune forests around Auckland. After some Friday-training, in the rain, in Woodhill forest, the ‘Bushies’ travelled next day an hour’s drive south of Auckland to map a named Kelland Road. The terrain was like nothing we have in Australia - steep, lush, farmland in sand dune formations that fell away steeply to the coast on its edge. While competitors could see a long way the route choice was most challenging, the contour detail intricate and the unique Kiwi-approach of not marking fences on the map meant you had to be on your toes. It was also pouring down rain.

The physical nature of the terrain held the female Bushrangers in good stead with Hanny Allston, Anna Sheldon, Danielle Winslow and Kathryn Ewels taking 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th respectively to give the Bushrangers a comprehensive victory in the women’s Test match. A solid performance from Reuben Smith was not enough to carry our men over the line with Chris Forne leading NZ to a strong opening win.

The 2nd day saw the competition move to the famed Woodhill forest north of Auckland. Woodhill can be hard to describe to Australian orienteers simply because we have so little like it here. Think of Pittwater Dunes in Hobart (Day 3 Easter, 1999) with denser forest and combine that with sections of coastal terrain reminiscent of Cantara Dunes in SA (Australian Champs, 1994). Then imagine you are racing against a team that has orienteered there more often than you’ve had hot dinners and you get an idea of what the Bushrangers were up against. Despite the challenges our men improved on their Day 1 result with Robbie Preston backing up from a sub-par first day to produce a scintillating run, winning the men’s class. Young gun’s Ian Meyer and Simon Goddard also improved greatly. The women Bushrangers were not as successful as on Day 1 with only Hanny Allston expressing some satisfaction with her run. We were, however, getting used to the rain.

The final day was also at Woodhill and the Bushrangers, as is the purpose of the team, improved. The women led the way again taking 2nd (Anna Sheldon), 3rd (Orla Murray), 4th (Danielle Winslow), 5th (Hanny Allston) and 7th (Kathryn Ewels) to take their Test match comprehensively. This was a great achievement, particularly in Woodhill. Victory eluded us again in the men’s Test however another good run by Robbie Preston and Simon Goddard and Ian Meyer, maintaining their gains of the previous day, were encouraging signs. It also stopped raining for the presentation which was nice.

Overall the trip was a resounding success. Although we did not return with the Key-Aspin trophy our women managed to tie their series against the Kiwis and all Bushrangers gained greatly in terms of international experience and knowledge. We look forward to the next Test matches at the Grapes of Rock carnival in NSW in September where, hopefully, the Bushrangers will teach the NZ team a thing or two about orienteering in rock. Oh, and when we flew out it was raining. Jason McCrae, Coach/Manager, Bushranger Team

The Australian team after the final day at Woodhill: L-R: Jason McCrae (Coach), Craig Dufty, Rachel West, Bruce Arthur, Kathryn Ewels, Ian Meyer, Robbie Preston, Reuben Smith, Simon Goddard, Hanny Allston, Orla Murray, Danielle Winslow and Anna Sheldon. Photo: Jill Smith (NZ)

…… and from the New Zealand perspective Bushrangers Bushwhacked

NEW ZEALAND’S Queens Birthday weekend saw the locals play host to the visiting Aussie Bushrangers team for the second time. As with the first visit, the Kiwis ended up victorious over the three days of competition, but not before some of the Australians showed (again) their competitiveness on New Zealand terrain. The Aussie women, led by strong performances from Hanny Allston and Anna Sheldon, could claim a moral win after drawing with their New Zealand counterparts over three days, a victory denied by a dominant NZ second day performance in coastal sand dunes. Allston and Sheldon were 1-2 on the first day, separated by a mere two seconds (the first of a remarkable number of close finishes) and pushing NZ’s top-ranked orienteer Tania Robinson down to third place. After a disappointing second day where NZ filled six of the top seven places, the Aussie women bounced back on the final day with Sheldon, Orla Murray, Danielle Winslow and Allston all finishing within a few minutes of the last day winner, Marquita Gelderman. Gelderman won overall, and took out the New Zealand domestic league title, which also concluded over the weekend. Like a good wine, Gelderman is getting better with age and despite a lack of physical training can continue to outperform her younger competitors. She reminds the writer of a certain Melbourne bike shop owner who could also perform well in elite grade in his late 30’s on the back of experience and little else. The Australian men were well beaten, although there were a few individual highlights. Reuben Smith handled the first day well on a physically demanding farmland map, finishing third while Robbie Preston showed his technical ability with a win and a fourth in the sand dune forest. Overall, Preston was the best of the visitors finishing sixth, 13 minutes down on winner and NZ’s top-ranked orienteer Chris Forne. Full results can be found on the Auckland Orienteering Club’s website – follow the link from www.nzorienteering. com. Australia will have a chance for revenge in the return leg during the upcoming Australian Championship carnival. The NZ team is: Men: Darren Ashmore, James Bradshaw, Karl Dravitzki, Chris Forne, Rob Jessop, Neil Kerrison. Women: Marquita Gelderman, Penny Kane, Amber Morrison, Claire Paterson, Tania Robinson, Rebecca Smith

World MTB-O team named

Another team is also invading Aussie shores. With the World MTB-O Championships in the lucky country, NZ has selected a large team after the NZ MTB-O Championships, held recently in Waiuku Forest (near Auckland). The men will be led by Stu Lynch and Phil Wood, consistently the best MTB-O riders here over the past two years, while the women’s team features the selection of remarkable veteran Di Michels, who proved her worth by winning both open titles at Waiuku. Rob Crawford