AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS

Over 1000 attend Easter Carnival

by Blair Trewin

MORE than 1000 competitors and volunteers descended upon Bendigo and Castlemaine over the Easter period for the Australian 3-Days Orienteering Carnival, the foremost event on the calendar for our orienteers. Competitors came from Darwin, Perth and other, closer, towns and cities; even internationals from France, Japan, the UK and Scandinavia. Monday’s competition was an IOF-sanctioned World Ranking Event in which elite competitors compete for world-ranking points, so the heat was most certainly on for that last race of Easter. Blair Trewin reports:

Overall, the Australian 3-Days saw comfortable wins for preevent favourites Dave Shepherd and Hanny Allston. Both took the lead from the Prologue onwards, and although both were tested for the first two races, they pulled away from the field to have substantial margins by the end of Monday.

Close finishes are the norm in the Prologue, which this year was contested in gold mining terrain on the fringe of Bendigo. The men had a very close finish, but not so the women. Allston set the scene for her eventual victory when she finished nearly two minutes ahead of her closest rival on the day, Anna Quayle. Perhaps more significantly, Jo Allison, her most likely challenger over the four days, pulled up with a knee injury after finishing fourth and did not run again for the rest of the week. The men were much closer, with Shepherd finishing 7secs clear of Grant Bluett and Kerrin Rattray not much further back.

Saturday saw a move to the lightning-fast gully-spur near Maldon, where sub-5 minute kilometres were commonplace amongst the men. This was the day when Allston did not have things all her own way, as small errors added up and left her just short of fellow Tasmanian Grace Elson on the day. She was still two minutes clear, though, and in a strong position. The men stayed closely bunched at the top. Shepherd once again won the day by a single-digit margin – this time three seconds from Rattray – and Bluett was close enough to leave the three leaders covered by just over a minute after two days.

The critical moves in the elite classes are often made in the long race on Sunday. With Spring Gully proving to be relatively fast terrain despite the areas of mining detail, it wasn’t as much of an endurance test as Easter Sunday sometimes can be, but the key breaks were still made. Shepherd’s two nearest challengers both disappeared from contention, by misadventure rather than lack of endurance. Rattray’s chances were ended by a six-minute mistake at control 21, and Bluett missed control 22 altogether. That left the lead expanded from a few seconds to six minutes, and Eric Morris and Rob Preston, both of whom had solid runs, in the minor placings. Allston displayed her formidable long-distance skills in running away from the field. She was already three minutes ahead by the fifth control, and won by five. Elson remained in second place, whilst the consistent Anna Sheldon worked her way into contention with a third.

The final day was also the most detailed, in the intensive mining and often low visibility of Deadman’s Flat. It was a map which provided plenty of opportunity for people to make big mistakes – opportunities which were often accepted in other classes – but the reverse-order start in the elite classes means that packs are quite common and big moves are rare. They were certainly hard to come by amongst the men. Shepherd made it four wins out of four as he scored by a minute to stretch his final margin to eight, Morris and Preston held their places, and the biggest excitement was the resolution of a tight four-way battle for fourth in favour of Rune Olsen.

The women’s finish was more interesting, not at the front – that was a no-contest as Allston extended her lead well into double figures – but in the rest of the field. Elson, who led Sheldon by three minutes at the start of the day, lost that advantage at the first control, and despite some fast legs in mid-course was never quite able to regain second, falling 26secs short in the end. Whilst they fell short of the placings, Danielle Winslow and Orla Murray both had excellent final-day runs – Murray’s second on the day being her best result in a couple of years – to put themselves into contention for the WOC team with one trial to come.

Uppill dominates, and a first major win for Whitfield.

Simon Uppill was expected to dominate M17-20E and did. He showed his form by winning the Prologue in a time fast enough for sixth in the open event, and went on to win all four days comfortably, ultimately finishing twelve minutes clear. The close contest was behind him as Chris Naunton and Ryan Smyth fought for second place. They were only seconds apart on the first two days, before Naunton edged clear over the last two.

There were more surprises on hand in W17-20E. With three of the leading juniors (Allston, Jasmine Neve and Vanessa Round) running the

Simon Upill (SA), a clear winner in M17-20E

elite class, Sophie Barker went in as clear favourite, but an erratic run in the Prologue left her four minutes off the pace, and despite wins on two of the last three days she was unable to get any higher than third. Clare Brownridge got off to a good start on home ground, but by Saturday evening Kellie Whitfield had the overall lead, and extended it to four minutes with a win on Sunday. She was slowed a little by knee soreness on Monday but still had more than enough in hand for her first win in a major national event. The tensest battle of the final day was that for second and third. At its outset, less than a minute separated Barker, Ainsley Cavanagh and Heather Harding, with (probably) only two JWOC team places available, but Harding lost five minutes on the first two controls, leaving Cavanagh to narrowly hold second from Barker.

Like W21E and W17-20E, W16 was a class where a critical move was made in the early, technical controls of the final day. Emily Prudhoe went into the day two minutes ahead, but after winning three of the first four legs she had extended that to eight, and ended up an easy winner ahead of Julia Sullivan, who came through strongly on the last day. Rachael Sampson also turned a close race after two days into an easy win after three in W14.

Australian terrain – especially maps with contours and little else of the sort used on Saturday – has been known to catch out even the most experienced of Scandinavians on their first visit (as Bjornar Valstad and Hanne Staff found out at the 2000 World Cup). That made the wins of the Blomgren brothers, from Sweden, significant. Martin was particularly impressive in M14, winning all three days by at least five minutes. Erik had to work harder in M16 but the two minutes he pulled out on the field on Saturday was decisive in the end. There was a good race for first Australian between two promising prospects in Lachlan Dow and Kurt Neumann (who was running up an age group), with the Canberran coming from just behind after two days to take second place.

Last day the key in deciding masters places.

The last day was the key in deciding many of the masters classes, with the more technical terrain catching many out in the opening controls. The lead changed hands in six of the 18 A classes, and in several others small margins after two days turned into substantial ones after three.

The most significant reshuffling happened in M60, the largest class these days and often one of the better contests. Terry Bluett and Dick Ogilvie, first and third after two days, both lost about ten minutes at the first control, whilst Tony Simpkins, second at the start of the day, had a similar misadventure at 4. All ultimately missed the placings and less than three minutes separated the top four, with Tim Dent prevailing over a fast-finishing Dave Lotty. The only other class with a similarly close set of placegetters, minus the volatility, was M75, where three minutes separated Tony Mount, Kevin Paine and Ron Larsson.

W55 was another class with big changes on the last day. Four started the last day within three minutes of each other, but two of those four, Val Hodsdon and Meredyth Sauer, crashed out of contention when they lost 20 minutes apiece over the first three controls. Kathy Liley, who started the day in third, had a very convincing run and ended up with a comfortable four-minute margin over overnight leader Alison Radford.

Jim Sawkins (M65) was another one who came from third on the last day, dominating the day with a five-minute win, although without as much reshuffling elsewhere in the pack. Shane Trotter turned a four-minute deficit into a five-minute win in the small M35 field – unlike most classes, this owed more to his strength over the second half of the course than to errors in the first half. Nigel Davies held on in M55, despite losing five of his seven-minute lead at the first control and a great run from Tony Radford to move into second, but the most spectacular comeback of all was almost pulled off by Helen Alexander in W65, another class where the first control on the last day was critical. She started the last day 18 minutes behind the two leaders, was almost in front by the first control and took the lead during the course, but lost it again at the very end as overnight leader Sue Davidson regained the front at the second-last control.

A tight battle between Nicola Dalheim and Christine Marshall for two-and-a-half days was resolved in Dalheim’s favour when Marshall lost seven minutes halfway through the last day. (The W40 course was the same as M21E on the first day, and both showed up a couple of the men). W45 also saw a high-standard duel between two former national representatives. Liz Abbott started the last day four minutes behind, made a very good start and briefly hit the front late in the course, but Jenny Bourne finished strongly to score by just over a minute.

M50 might have been an interesting two-way battle too, but was spoilt before it began when Geoff Lawford mispunched on the first day, leaving Paul Pacque to score an overwhelming victory despite narrow wins for Lawford on the last two days. Other, closer, classes where there were significant non-finishes were M70, which Clive Pope won by five minutes after injury ended Ian Hassall’s Easter on Sunday, and W70, where first-day leader Maureen Ogilvie missed a control on the second day and Sue Mount pulled away from Joyce Rowlands on the last.

Only three veterans were able to win all three days. Hermann Wehner (M80) and Sheralee Bailey (W35) were a class above their fields and were never seriously challenged, but Rob Vincent was equally dominant in the much larger M45 field in a very impressive effort. They were joined as a big winner by Jenny Hawkins, who was bettered by seasoned goldmining campaigner Dale Ann Gordon on the last day in W60 but still finished ten minutes ahead.

Kathy Liley (VIC) won W55

Shepherd and Elson take AUS Middle-distance titles.

Dave Shepherd made it five wins out of five for the week when he took out the Australian Middle-distance Championships at Mount Korong. On the tricky granite terrain which provided one of the week’s more testing navigational challenges, Shepherd’s run was a fine example of how steadiness can trump speed in technical terrain. He won only four of the 26 splits – one of them a ninesecond road crossing – but he had a narrow lead after the first few controls, and held it almost throughout the rest of the race. He had a one-minute break over a great battle for second; Rune Olsen looked a possible winner after a storming stretch in mid-course where he briefly took the lead before stumbling at 15, then Grant Bluett and Eric Morris swapped second at almost every control towards the end in a race that was finally resolved in Bluett’s favour in the finish chute. Adrian Jackson, always in the hunt before running a close fourth, achieved his best result at this level.

The women’s event was effectively decided on the fourth leg, the longest on the course. Grace Elson pulled two minutes out on

Felicity Brown (NSW)

Tony Radford finished second in M55

Andy Hogg (ACT) in the thick of it on Day 3.

W55A’s Pauline Moore (Waggaroos NSW), Lynn Pulford (Parawanga ACT) and Kerryn Jones (Red Roos ACT) in finish shute Day 3. Photo: Alex Davey

Matthew Hill heading out on the M12A course.

Danielle Winslow (TAS) fourth overall in W21E and selected for WOC in Denmark. Bruce Arthur and Paul Liggins discuss their plan for the last legs after the “dead” road crossing leg on Day 3.

Chris Naunton during the Prologue Sprint, finished 2nd in M17-20E at Easter and gained JWOC selection

Vanessa Round (SA) is also off to JWOC, seen here during the Prologue Sprint. She finished 11th in W21E overall. Dave Shepherd, Day 3, M21E. He won the Prologue and each of the three days

JWOC TEAM CALENDAR

The AUS Team to JWOC 2006 in Lithuania is putting together a calendar promoting JWOC 2007 which will be held near Dubbo, NSW in July next year. The calendar will be utilised as a promotional give-away in Lithuania but will also be available for sale to orienteers to assist with the expenses of this year’s JWOC Team. This souvenir 13-month calendar will have all the dates of major events leading up to JWOC 2007 and will be a great way to show our support to our talented Juniors. The calendar is available from June. To purchase a copy (or several) contact Nick Dent at dentwood@bigpond.com or OA Executive Officer, Gareth Candy, at orienteering@netspeed.com.au .