AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS
N AT I O N A L L E A G U E
Hanny Allston, and three on Anna Quayle, there. Given some of her performances in the last year coming back from two minutes down was certainly not beyond Allston, but she never quite managed to get herself back into the contest and had to settle for second. It was Elson’s first senior national title. Consistency was the key further down the list, with the last spot or two in the World Championships team possibly up for grabs. Susanne Casanova had her best result of the week to come third, with Danielle Winslow in fourth, and Felicity Brown achieving her best senior result with fifth. The junior classes were weaker than Easter as some moved up to race against the seniors instead, but M17-20E still turned on a fine contest as Chris Naunton and Ryan Smyth took up where they left off at Easter. Smyth led for the first half but lost time at 10, giving Naunton a narrow lead over Murray Scown which he held to the end, with Smyth in third. Clare Brownridge won her first national title at any level, pulling away from Ineka Booth over the second half, whilst Jess Davis finished well to just miss out on second. It was the first time since the early 1990’s that a Middle-distance national championship had been contested in other classes. Many of the fields were smaller than might have been hoped for, particularly amongst the juniors, and close finishes were surprisingly hard to come by. It was, instead, a day for master classes by some of Australia’s best technical orienteers in the tricky terrain. Geoff Lawford partly made up for his Easter disappointment by finishing nearly five minutes ahead of Paul Pacque in M50, whilst Tim Dent (M60), Jenny Bourne (W45) and Sue Neve (W50) all repeated their Easter wins, in some of the event’s larger fields, with margins of five minutes-and-something.
NSW lead a close four-way battle in the National League
Canberra and Tasmania finish the week on a high note, The Canberra Cockatoos and Tassie Foresters finished the week on a high note with convincing wins in the National League Relays on the final Sunday near Bendigo. The Tasmanian women have hardly dropped a point all season and went in as heavy favourites, after filling three of the first four places at both Easter and the Middledistance Championships. Grace Elson and Anna Sheldon came in four minutes ahead of the field, and with Queensland having juniors on the last two legs the Foresters never looked in danger after that. They were five minutes ahead after Danielle Winslow’s second leg, and Hanny Allston added another four to that with the day’s fastest time. The most interest was behind them. Four teams went out in just over a minute at the start of the last leg, but it was Kathryn Ewels who prevailed as she led Victoria into second place ahead of Canberra. The Southern Arrows were fourth, whilst Orla Murray’s last leg lifted the Stingers into fifth and got them some important points. Canberra’s win in the men’s race didn’t look as much of a sure thing beforehand as the Tasmanian women did, but with Grant Bluett and Dave Shepherd running the last two legs, as long as Gareth Candy could bring them back somewhere near the lead they were going to be hard to beat. Candy did exactly that, coming back with Queensland, NSW and Victoria in the lead group; Bluett opened a four-minute lead on the second leg and after that it was never in doubt, although Shepherd made sure of it with the day’s fastest time. David Meyer gave NSW enough of a break in the battle for second to give Eric Morris an edge which he never surrendered, whilst third came down to a sprint finish between Rune Olsen and Simon Uppill, in which Olsen just prevailed for the Victorians. The small junior men’s field produced one of the most memorable relay finishes seen in Australia for years. All four teams hit the final section together; Nick Andrewartha (Tasmania) led into the last control but missed it slightly and missed the placings altogether, whilst Leon Keely sprinted clear to give the points to the second Victorian team. Victoria also had the only finishing junior girls’ team. 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2006
Blair Trewin reports: The NSW Stingers are narrow leaders in the 2006 National League after nine of the 16 rounds. They hold a three-point break over the Canberra Cockatoos, whose chances were damaged when Jo Allison’s injury left them with only two women for the last three days of Easter. The Tasmanian women have hardly dropped a point all season, which has been enough to put them in third place despite only limited contributions from their men. The Victorian Nuggets complete a top four separated by only 18 points, the closest season for years, and all four teams have at least some chance of winning. Grace Elson and Hanny Allston look set to fight out the individual title. Elson has a 20-point lead at present, but Allston has four wins to Elson’s three and should close the gap once her Round 3 DNF falls out of her leading scores. Eric Morris holds a six-point lead over Grant Bluett in the men’s competition, but the two most likely winners are behind them, providing they can post some good scores in the later part of the season. David Shepherd has won all five rounds he has contested so far, while Julian Dent, who missed the Easter carnival through injury (stress fracture), has two wins and a second from his three events. Victoria, with the benefit of home-ground advantage over the Easter week, has taken over from early leaders Queensland in the junior division, but with Queensland having two home rounds to come they still look the team to beat. Simon Uppill is in a very strong individual position after winning five rounds on end, whilst Kellie Whitfield leads a well-contested series from Heather Harding and Clare Brownridge.
Kellie Whitfield (WA) is leading the Junior Women’s National League and will also be a part of the Australian team at JWOC.
