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MTB-O NEWS THE hot summer has come and Blake gone – and our attention has Gordon shifted from cricket and tennis to the Winter Olympics in Italy, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the new season of Mountain Bike Orienteering! This year, with the World Championships (July) in Finland, the World MTB-O Ranking Events (25th/26th March) in NSW and the Australian MTB-O Championships (October) in Western Australia, the MTB-O scene will shift from its 2004-2005 Victorian-centred major events to new horizons around Australia. “Thanks be for that” I hear the Victorian event planners and organisers saying, but it is time for our major events to be staged outside the golden triangle of Ballarat, Daylesford, Castlemaine, Bendigo and Maryborough in the central Victorian goldfields. First allow me a couple of reflections on the past season.
2005 Australian Championships – a terrific weekend Bendigo and Maryborough were the sites of the best racing we’ve seen since the 2004 World Championships. The Longdistance Championships held at “Wildflower Hill” in the suburbs of Bendigo provided some of the most challenging route choice and technical riding on the maze of rocky singletracks. Even the winners (chart below) were often running their bikes on the narrow uphill tracks and then flying safely down the steep descents. A good measure of the excellent course setting (John Chellew, Bendigo) were the groups of tired riders clustered round at the finish comparing route choices and splits. The Middle-distance Championships at “Mosquito Flat” the next day were completely different – relatively flat and fast terrain. But careful route choice and keeping contact with the complex track network made Helen Edmonds’ (Nillumbik) courses a real navigating challenge. The colourful finish area, “instant results” on the big result boards, and “O-flag stained glass” awards - a perfect conclusion to the championship weekend. The participation of a talented contingent from New Zealand, plus a good roll-up of interstate riders, was encouraging to the organising clubs (Bendigo, Eureka and Nillumbik) and set a record (101) for the Middle-distance Championships. 2005 Long-dist Australian Champions “Wildflower Hill” Bendigo M-16 Leon Keely BG.V 92.13 M-18 Bryan Keeley BG.V 94.22 M Open Adrian Jackson MF.V 94.42 M40- Piotr Czajkowski VOA 102.49 M50- Rob Garden NW.NZ 74.52 M60- Tim Dent YV.V 80.47 M70+ Graeme Cadman YV.V 82.20 W Open Carolyn Jackson MF.V 82.09 W40- Kay Haarsma TT.S 126.08 W50- Peta Whitford YV.V 93.57 W60+ Dale Ann Gordon EU.V 85.51
2005 Middle-dist Australian Champions “Mosquito Flat” Maryborough M-14 Timothy Jackson MF.V 43.58 M-16 Leon Keely BG.V 61.34 M-18 Brett Merchant TJ.S 73.01 M Open Adrian Jackson MF.V 59.40 M40- Fabrizio Andreoni AW.V 68.39 M50- Rob Garden NW.NZ 50.58 M60- Tim Dent YV.V 49.45 M70+ Graeme Cadman YV.V 47.01 W-14 Reanna Clark BK.V 43.01 W-16 Louise Krstic CH.V 90.20 W Open Anna Sheldon UG.Q 57.59 W40- Kay Haarsma TT.S 61.39 W50- Roz Clayton PA.NZ 48.15 W60+ Dale Ann Gordon EU.V 43.31
2005 Australian Longdistance champs at Bendigo. W Open podium, from left: Marquita Gelderman (NZ) 3rd, Anna Sheldon (QLD) 2nd, Carolyn Jackson (VIC) 1st.
2005 Australian Long-distance champs at Bendigo. M Open podium from left: Grant Lebbink 3rd, Adrian Jackson 1st, Tom Walter 2nd.
IOF Helsinki MTB-O Meeting The Mountain Bike Orienteering Commission meeting (21 - 22 January) provided some interesting outcomes for our developing sport. •N o Sprint event in WOC 2006 so the Sprint will be contested for the first time at WOC 2007 in CZE (19-26 August 2007). •E vent advisers for WOC 2007 (Tamas Janko, HUN) and European OC 2006 (Alexey Kuzmin, RUS) were appointed. •C ountries interested in organising a WOC in 2009 and 2010 (Estonia, Italy, and Portugal) will be evaluated in early February 2006. •S coring for World Ranking will be similar to that used in 2005 except that points scored at any event will stand for 1 calendar year – with the best 6 scores during the past 12 month period counting for the ranking. (2005 World Ranking - Adrian Jackson 2nd, Alex Randall 7th, Anna Sheldon 8th and Mary Fien 19th). •W OC and EOC will be annual in the immediate future but this principle will be re-evaluated every year. •D eadline for applications for the 2007 World Ranking Events is 15 August 2006. (Australia will stage our first WRE’s in NSW on March 25th /26th 2006.) •A revised edition of “Guidelines for Organisers” will be coordinated by Blake Gordon, AUS. •S everal new mapping symbols were adopted. Federations will be made aware of these changes.
2006 Wildside – Adrian and Alex are surprise placings in the MTB scene Wildside is one of Australia’s premier MTB stage races, running from Cradle Mountain to Strahan on Tasmania’s wild west coast. With 7 race stages over 4 days it’s one of Australia’s toughest MTB races and attracts the best riders in Australia. Adrian Jackson just got pipped overall and ended 2nd in Under 23. Alex Randall was 3rd Men Open. Overall AJ was 4th and Alex 7th in the 7- stage endurance event which attracted over 250 riders. These stunning results against the best riders in Australia show the strength of Australian MTBO and auger well for the upcoming World Championships in July in Finland. MARCH 2006 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41
