13 minute read
XMAS 5-DAYS
2004 Christmas 5-Days
Blair Trewin
THE 2004 Christmas 5-Days was based in Armidale, NSW. With its location, further north than usual, it attracted a large number of Queenslanders (some of whom were caught unawares by the 1-degree third morning), as well as others wanting to try a wider range of Armidale terrain than most non-locals have previously experienced. The 5-Days is also usually a good place to find people visiting from Europe, old hands who aren’t sighted very often these days, and young juniors having their first shot at running up a substantial number of courses, and 2004 was no exception.
The most impressive performance of the week was by David Brickhill-Jones, back from Europe for a short time, who won all five days in Men A in a decent field – he even found time on day 3 to rescue a kangaroo stuck in a fence. In a cosmopolitan field – overseas competitors filled five of the top ten places – his nearest rivals were Eric Morris and Mårten Bostrom. Bostrom, a sprint specialist from Finland with a reputation as one of the fastest runners in world orienteering, looked to have the edge for most of the week, but had a bad day on day 5 to let Morris through for second. Julian Dent, another who might have challenged for second, mispunched on the last day.
Women A, in contrast, was a small field dominated by Queenslanders, most missed at least one day (the Queensland Cyclones organized two of the five days), and the five days had five different winners. Julia Davies was the most consistent to finish ahead of Wendy Read and Jasmine Neve, although Anna Sheldon, who only ran three days, would have gone close had she posted a fourth score.
Brickhill-Jones was the only person to win all five days. Jenny Bourne (Women C) went closest, her one defeat coming at the hands of daughter Julie on day 3. At the other end of the closeness scale, Andrew Campbell, making one of his occasional forays south from Cairns, managed to take out Men D by 4 points (or about 15 seconds) from Dave Lotty. Mike Burton edged out Lance Read and Mark Nemeth in Men B in probably his best result since he became perhaps the most unexpected winner of an Australian elite title (short distance) in 1993, while Kurt Neumann, still eligible for M12, took on the hard navigation of Men E and held off a tough challenge from Frank Anderson.
Apart from the results, the event will be best remembered for the route-choice decision of the week - across or around the gorge leg on most of the long courses on day 3 at Blue Hole. Most of those who took on the boulder-strewn gorge lived to regret it. The fine granite terrain of Banalasta, seen by some at the 2003 NSW Championships, was also very well-received.
Top End’s Kelly Bertei at the Xmas 5-days.
Ian Hassell wins 2004 Silva Orienteer of the Year
Ian Hassell (IK.N) has won the Silva Orienteer of the Year. In a remarkably consistent career Ian has won or shared this title 9 times in the last 18 years. Continuing this year, Ian won the Australian and Easter 3-day Championships and recorded 2 firsts and 3 seconds in State Championships. Well done Ian!
The Silva OY competition is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian Championships, the Easter 3-days, and all State Championships (Elite and A classes in M/W16 and above).
2004 Silva Orienteer of the Year
1 Ian Hassall IK.N 33 2 Kevin Paine BS.A 31 3 Hugh Moore RR.A 25 = Judith Hay BN.N 25 5 Conrad Elson AL.T 24 = Simon Uppill OH.S 24 = Clive Pope UG.Q 24 8 Heather Harding BS.A 23 = Dorothy Adrian NE.V 23 10 Nick Andrewartha AL.T 21 = Sue Mount AL.T 21 12 Julia Davies UG.Q 20 = Sue Neve MF.V 20 = Maureen Ogilvie UR.N 20
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Wendy Read (Team Manager)
School Sport Australia National secretary – Orienteering
INCREDIBLY, after nearly 30 years of Orienteering in both countries, the first Australia vs New Zealand Schools ‘Test Match’ was held in forests to the north of Auckland in January. For the past two years, a NZ schools team has participated in our Australian Schools Orienteering Championships, so it was a great opportunity and great honour for our very best schools age representatives to be selected to compete on NZ soil in our first ever Australian Schools Orienteering Team tour.
First leg runners head off from the relay start.
TEST matches such as this are important, as most of the participants will continue on to compete at higher levels in future years, and trips over the Tasman provide a great opportunity to orienteer in foreign conditions. The experience emanating from these ‘battles’ will hopefully flow on and benefit our future JWOC and WOC representatives.
Unusually, the relays were first up. The 4-man team format was used, so all team members were into the action early. Typical New Zealand weather of wind, rain and low cloud created an interesting atmosphere up on the high, open sandhills of Wood Hill at “Turkey Ridge”. After friendly introductions and a nervous start it was looking like the Australian and NZ teams would score two points each going into the 4th and final leg. The Australian Senior Boys team held a convincing lead, and the Senior Girls’ Heather Harding was a matter of a few paces behind the NZ runner. But an unfortunate mispunch in the Senior Boys team, and a very fast Lizzie Ingham (NZ) had the score at NZ 4 Australia 0.
After a few days of running in the muddy forests of Stillwater and with increasing confidence, the team was keen to make amends at the individual event held in the flatter, coastal sand dunes of Wood Hill on “Stag’s Roar”. The winning team in each class was to be decided by the accumulative times of the best 3 runners in each class. Again the terrain was very challenging, with the first leg into dark, dense pine forest. Despite some very impressive individual performances from the South Australian contingent in the team (Simon Uppill, Tristan Lee and Rebecca Hembrow), the task at hand was challenging, and New Zealand won this event 3-1.
All up, New Zealand won the test match, 7-1. However, points aside, the experience gained by the members of the team was invaluable. The lessons learned in traveling together for 12 days, endless shopping trips, cooking for a group of twenty, hand washing muddy O gear and competing at an Australian representative level, will stand these young orienteers in good stead for the future. We will eagerly watch the performances of these talented juniors in the future.
A final thanks to the NZOF and the North West Orienteering Club for organising this inaugural event. It was indeed a great success and we look forward to many more events such as this in the future.
AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND
Senior Boys:
Rhys Challen (WA) Richard Glover (Wellington) Chris Naunton (VIC) Alistair Long (Auckland) Ryan Smyth (TAS) Sam McNally (Te Puke) Simon Uppill (SA) Daniel Stott (Te Puke)
Senior Girls:
Claire Brownridge (VIC) Rita Homes (Wellington) Heather Harding (ACT) Lizzie Ingham (Wellington) Rebecca Hembrow (SA) Tessa Ramsden (WNHS) Bridie Kean (VIC) Kate Rea (Hutt Valley)
Junior Boys:
Matt Barrett (TAS) Simon Jager (Auckland) Tristan Lee ( SA) Andrew Peat (Auckland) Simon Mee (QLD) Thomas Reynolds (Auckland) Joshua Roberts (NSW) Jack Vincent (North High)
Junior Girls:
Bridget Anderson (QLD) Claire Dinsdale (Wellington) Ineke Booth (ACT) Cara McDonald (Hastings) Kylee Gluskey (TAS) Nicola Peat (Auckland) Emily Prudoe (NSW) Georgia Whitla (Christchurch)
Australia-New Zealand Secondary School Relays
6th January 2005
Junior Boys
Accum. Time Time
1st New Zealand
Peat Andrew 20:03 0:20:03 Reynolds Thomas 17:32 0:37:35 Vincent Jack 21:01 0:58:36 Jager Simon 19:07 1:17:43
2nd Australia
Mee Simon 27:17 0:27:17 Barratt Matt 22:13 0:49:30 Lee Tristan 24:44 1:14:14 Roberts Joshua 26:24 1:40:38
Junior Girls
1st New Zealand
Whitla Georgia 24:02 0:24:02 McDonald Cara 23:58 0:48:00 Dinsdale Claire 26:09 1:14:09 Peat Nicola 26:35 1:40:44
2nd Australia
Gluskie Kylee 27:18 0:27:18 Anderson Bridget 27:23 0:54:41 Prudoe Emily 27:21 1:22:02 Booth Ineka 26:21 1:48:23
Senior Boys
1st New Zealand
Stott Daniel 25:48 0:25:48 Long Alastair 33:02 0:58:50 McNally Sam 29:05 1:27:55 Glover Richard 29:13 1:57:08
mp Australia
Naunton Chris 25:36 0:25:36 Challen Rhys 29:06 0:54:42 Uppill Simon 25:08 1:19:50 Smyth Ryan mp mp
Senior Girls
1st New Zealand
Homes Rita 30:23 0:30:23 Ramsden Tessa 29:44 1:00:07 Rea Kate 29:52 1:29:59 Ingham Lizzie 24:53 1:54:52
2nd Australia
Brownridge Clare 31:09 0:31:09 Hembrow Rebecca 29:37 1:00:46 Kean Bridie 29:13 1:29:59 Harding Heather 29:51 1:59:50
Australia-New Zealand Secondary School Individual
11th January 2005 Junior Boys 4.450 km 110 m 15C 1. Jack Vincent HB NZL 45:44 2. Tristan Lee TJ-S AUS 48:53 3. Thomas Reynolds NW NZL 49:51 4. Andrew Peat CM NZL 62:29 5. Joshua Roberts NC-N AUS 67:16 6. Matt Barratt EV-T AUS 77:51
Simon Mee TF-Q AUS mp
Simon Jager A NZL mp Senior Boys 5.700 km 140 m 16C 1. Simon Uppill OH-S AUS 45:00 2. Ryan Smyth WR-N AUS 52:32 3. Richard Glover HV NZL 53:58 4. Daniel Stott R NZL 58:09 5. Chris Naunton BG-V AUS 59:07 6. Alastair Long CM NZL 61:15 7. Sam McNally R NZL 61:36 8. Rhys Challen WO-W AUS 68:49 Junior Girls 4.110 km 45 m 12C 1. Nicola Peat CM NZL 53:40 2. Georgia Whitla PAPO NZL 60:36 3. Ineka Booth BS-A AUS 68:57 4. Bridget Anderson UG-Q AUS 80:55 5. Claire Dinsdale W NZL 90:56 6. Kylee Gluskie AL-T AUS 98:53 14.Emily Prudoe CC-N AUS 116:54
Cara McDonald HB NZL mp Senior Girls 4.810 km 75 m 15C 1. Lizzie Ingham W NZL 50:17 2. Tessa Ramsden RK NZL 56:11 3. Rebecca Hembrow OH-S AUS 60:11 4. Rita Homes W NZL 62:18 5. Bridie Kean CH-V AUS 66:20 6. Heather Harding BS-A AUS 67:58 7. Clare Brownridge BG-V AUS 72:28 8. Kate Rea HV NZL 107:40
NZ NEWS
Rob Crawford
Rachel Smith, winner of the women’s elite at the Oceania Champs. Photo: Rob Crawford
TO those of you who ventured across the Tasman for a taste of Kiwi Orienteering recently at the Oceania Championships carnival, thanks for coming. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and were challenged by the terrain and courses offered by the organisers. Certainly you got lucky with the weather – after an initial day or two of the rain that has constantly been served up to Aucklanders this summer, the sun made a welcome and overdue appearance and decided to stick around to shine on you for the remainder of the carnival.
We certainly enjoyed hosting you. We also took a great amount of pleasure in relieving you of some of your luggage in the form of trophies that you may have thought you would be taking home. You can be assured we will take good care of them and may remember to bring them when we visit your shores next year.
Joking aside, over here we are more than a little satisfied with both our organisational and competitive efforts. One club (North West) organised the whole carnival – a mammoth undertaking and they managed to pull it off successfully. Our orienteers across all grades now can confidently mix it with the best you have to offer, although the real test of our ability will always be when we visit you in some complex granite or ridiculously fast open gully spur.
At least the Oceania Championships classic map was a reasonably “neutral” test. Moderately hilly with some complex contour patches, all covered in pine with low visibility (and a few deer fences to negotiate). Be assured, this was as foreign to us as it was to you, and in my humble opinion a true test of orienteering ability where it gave the tortoises as much chance as the rabbits.
Certainly in the elite grades it was interesting to see perhaps our best navigators come up trumps. Darren Ashmore has for years been recognised as our best technician, but his star has waned over recent years as he has forgone European sojourns and concentrated more on life outside of our sport. However, the small matter of an upcoming World Championships in Japan has seen him recently return with renewed motivation, and his win confirms he is returning to something like his best form. Without wishing to detract from his deserved win, there was some fortune with a pack of ANZ challenge runners forming in the forest, and at least for elite grades where World Ranking points are on offer, the practice of starting challenge runners first may have to be reviewed. It is possible that the pack that formed would account for some (but probably not all) of the 3-minute margin he had over Dave Shepherd, who was the most consistent elite of the carnival.
Over the past year, Rachel Smith has lived in Sweden with her personal highlights being a top run at Jukola for Swedish club IFK Lidingo, and a 27th place in the World Championship Middledistance race. Returning home a day before the carnival started, she put her European experience to good use with a comfortable win in the women’s elite race over NZ No. 1 Tania Robinson. From a NZ perspective, it is pleasing to see some of our other women not far off the pace, such as Rebecca Smith and Penny Kane. These four will probably form the nucleus of our WOC team and may have the potential to surprise.
The carnival has kick-started what could turn out to be a prosperous year for NZ Orienteering. In a few month’s time, the National Championships will be held and then the focus is firmly on WOC preparation, with trials in May and a visit to Australia to give your elites a chance to win back the Aspin-Key trophy at your WOC trials. Then, the biggie – WOC in Japan in August where NZ just may sneak up and surprise a few nations. Watch this space!
Bushrangers held up again
FOR the third time, an Australian Bushrangers team (made up of those who were not in the 2004 WOC team) traveled to New Zealand to contest a Test Match. New Zealand fielded a virtually full-strength team, having been far below strength at WOC 2004. They looked too good at the start of the week, and so it proved as they won easily, 178 points to 98. The Australian team, which originally looked strong on paper, was depleted by the loss of Clare Hawthorne and Cassie Trewin before the trip, and of Blair Trewin to injury on the first day of the carnival before the Test itself got underway, while Ian Meyer was also restricted by injury through the week. After being outclassed on the three individual days, Australia’s only real joy came when they were able to come out of the relays all square after a stirring come-from-behind win by the women’s team.
There were some encouraging performances by those who are on the fringe of the WOC team. Anna Sheldon had a good week, with two third places and an outstanding relay leg, whilst Tracy Bluett also suggested she is returning to something close to her pre-motherhood form, always competitive with a third and a fourth place to her name. The best of the men was Rob Preston, who was also there or thereabouts for most of the week, although his best placing (a close third on day 3) was not on one of the Test Match days.
The Bushrangers and New Zealand teams. The Bushrangers were Rob Preston, Glen Meyer, Rob Walter, Paul Liggins, Tracy Bluett, Mace Neve and Anna Sheldon. Sue Key, manager/coach. Photo: Adam Scammell
