COMPETITION
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUNDUP Blair Trewin reports on recent State Championship events.
Queensland - Flagstone West, 27-28 August Eric Morris and Wendy Read got the spring season off to a successful start with wins in the Queensland Championships. Morris, one of the few interstate visitors, took a narrow lead over Lorenzo Calabro on the short first day. There was a real contest for most of the second day, as Calabro took a narrow lead early and held it through most of the first half. Morris got back on top after that, but the issue was not finally settled until he pulled away over the last 2km.
Victoria - Barambogie North, 11 September After 18 years of trying, Blair Trewin broke through to win his home state’s M21 title for the first time in his best result for several years. It was a close and fluctuating contest with Bruce Arthur for most of the way, once early leader Kerrin Rattray had dropped out, but the minute gained on a long climb at the start of the second loop proved decisive. Rune Olsen was slower than his normal self but still managed to hold third. Danielle Winslow backed up from her win the previous weekend to again score comfortably, six minutes ahead of the field. Behind that there was a great contest with four within 92 seconds. Emma Prime was an unexpected winner last year. She couldn’t quite repeat it this year but still ran a solid second, whilst another former JWOC representative who went unsighted for some years, Kirsten Fairfax, completed the placings in her first major elite race for some years.
Read set up her win with a twoand-a-half minute lead on the first Blair Trewin won his home state’s M21 title for the first time this year. day. The second day proved to be a fluctuating contest with big time swings on several legs. Julia Davies had an excellent first half and led Read by seven minutes WA - Umuna, 17-18 September on the day – and five overall – with four controls to go, but An excellent W21 race was the highlight of the WA significant time losses on two of them let Read back into Championships. In a meeting of multiple generations, only the contest and she held on by 38 seconds overall. Ainsley five minutes covered the top six on the first day with Cath Cavanagh was never far away, but had to settle for a close Chalmers holding a narrow lead, but Erin Post produced third. the goods on the second day and ended up three minutes
NSW - Bigga, 3-4 September NSW, for the first time, ran their Middle-distance Championships on the Saturday, followed by the Longdistance on the Sunday. The elite winners were the same in both races. Eric Morris continued his string of wins with a narrow victory on Saturday followed by a more substantial one on Sunday, whilst Danielle Winslow did the same. On a day which had more green than most were expecting, Morris took a lead through the early controls and held it the rest of the way, winning by about a minute. His closest challenger was Ben Rattray, running into some good lateseason form, with Rob Preston in third place. Sunday had a similar, but not identical, look. This time Morris pulled away steadily through a long, tough race to finish five minutes clear, Preston was second, and a different Rattray – Kerrin this time – completed the minor placings. W21 was a very close affair on Saturday. Winslow looked as if she might have lost her chance with a three-minute mistake at 14, but was able to recover to get across the line by 11 seconds from Nicki Taws. Briohny Davey, in the first of what would be a series of good races through the spring, was a close third, whilst early leader Jenni Adams crashed out with a 16-minute mistake at 11. On Sunday, Winslow was never seriously challenged and emerged with almost five minutes in hand, with Taws again second, and Adams recovering from her Saturday misadventure to finish third. 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2005
ahead of the field. Anthea Feaver just held off Rachel West for second, Chalmers was a close fourth, and another performance to note for future reference was the close fifth of first-year W18 Sarah Dunnage. M21 was more predictable. Craig Dufty took a four-minute lead over John Toomey on the first day, and trebled it on the second. Rhys Challen looked as if he could provide a challenge to the usual suspects with a third place on the first day, but he failed to finish the second, leaving Terry Farrell to end up in third place.
ACT - Ballinafad Creek, 18 September Eric Morris won his third State Championship in four weeks with a very impressive run as ACT orienteering returned to the Captains Flat area for the first time since the early 1990’s. The placings were the same as they had been at Bigga two weeks previously, but this time Morris’s margin was even more impressive, five-and-a-half minutes clear of Rob Preston on a shorter course than that of the NSW Championships. As he did at Bigga, Preston just saw off Kerrin Rattray for second place. In what turned out to be her only run of the championship season, Jo Allison had a comfortable win in a small but high-standard W21 field. She was a surprisingly large seven minutes ahead of fellow WOC team member Tracy Bluett, whilst Nicki Taws completed the placings.
