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AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Blair Trewin
NSW Championships, Tuckland, 7 July
The week opened with the NSW Championships at Tuckland near Dunedoo, an area which was largely gully-spur but with some lines of rock along the slopes. Many courses had a very long first leg, and this was crucial in deciding the result in several classes. The two favourites in the open classes both showed why they were favourites, winning by double-digit margins. Dave Shepherd was in front from the start and won the first ten legs, with his only wobble on the course being the loss of a minute at #22. He was 5mins in front by #13 and doubled that by the end. Karl Dravitzki (NZ) was his closest challenger for most of the day, but lost 3mins at #24 and 1min at #27 to drop out of the placings, in favour of his fellow New Zealander, Neil Kerrison, and Rob Preston. Hanny Allston was even more overwhelming in W21, only losing two legs, both by small margins, and finishing an enormous 13mins clear of the field. Grace Elson lost 6mins on the first leg, then bounced back strongly but it left her too far back to get ahead of Jo Allison for 2nd place. Cassie Trewin, in her first major event in Australia for several years, was just behind in 4th. The junior classes were depleted by the absence of the JWOC team. Kieran Sullivan was a comfortable leader from the start in M20, a result which turned out to be crucial in the National League, whilst Aislinn Prendergast opened what was to be a breakthrough week by scoring her first win at this level after a tight contest with the Neumann sisters, Krystal and Laurina. Notable results in other classes included a rare defeat for Patricia Aspin (NZ) in W55, where she was unable to run down Carol Brownlie after losing 4mins on the first leg; a narrow win for Paul Pacque in M50 after a fluctuating battle with Geoff Lawford; and Steve Craig’s return to Australian orienteering in M35, for 2nd place behind Jock Davis despite a strong finish.
Aislinn Prendergast continued her good form into the first day of the Australian Schools Championships when she took out the Senior Girls’ class. Her closest challenger was Krystal Neumann, but once Prendergast took a narrow lead in mid-course she was never headed and scored by just over a minute. The Tasmanian pair of Catherine Hewitt and Claire Butler both led at times in the first half, and whilst they drifted back a little later were still very competitive in 3rd and 4th. Queensland dominated the Junior Girls, having the three fastest times on the day. Glennie Nottle only won two legs, but she led most of the way and took the race by 22secs from a fastfinishing Katie Doyle who only came into the team at the last moment because of an injury cloud over Lilian Burrill. But Burrill wasn’t too badly affected because she ran the third fastest time. As a reserve, she did not count for 3rd place in the official competition, which was taken by ACT’s Georgia Parsons after a steady run. Oscar Phillips looked out of it at halfway in the Senior Boys; he trailed by over 3mins at #8 after losing two minutes at #7. By #14 he had fought back to be within a minute of the lead, and then took his opportunity when Simon Mee, who had led most of the way, crashed to sixth with an 8min error at #15. That left Phillips comfortably clear of the field with only Josh Blatchford as a plausible challenger, and they went on to take 1st and 2nd, two minutes apart. Oliver Crosato completed the placings after a good second half. The closest race of the day was fought out by Kurt Neumann and Sam Webb in the Junior Boys. They were never more than 15secs apart at any stage, but Neumann held a razor-thin lead throughout the second half and was 10secs clear at the end. 3rd place was even closer, as three Victorians finished within 9secs; James Robertson squeezed the more experienced Todd Neve out in the chute. Four States were in contention after the individual, with Tasmania holding a one-point lead over Queensland. The competitors coped surprisingly well with the most technical terrain used for this event, with only a few major blowouts.
Australian Schools Relays, Sappa Bulga, 13 July
Tasmania took out the Australian Schools Championships for the second time, after a consistent performance on Relays day. Victoria, the best performer in the relays, and New South Wales tied for second, four points behind, with Queensland slipping to 4th place. Schools Relay day rarely passes without a certain amount of drama. 2007 saw the usual quota of shooting stars and untimely mispunches. This year’s distinctive feature, thanks to the limited daylight after the JWOC Relays, was the final leg mass start, only 90 minutes after the start; it became a factor in several classes, especially the senior girls. Like the individual race, the Junior Boys were close from first step to last with the two leading teams being together almost throughout. Five teams finished in the lead group on the first leg. This was whittled back to two after two legs as Victoria and NSW pulled away from the field, and they were still almost together at the last control. Dave Mallen had just enough in hand over Kasimir Gregory and was able to hold him off by 13secs, while Brett Fisk, who had impressed with his speed at times, ran the day’s fastest time to get away from Sam Webb and give the South Australians 3rd. Queensland’s title chances had already been severely weakened when their Junior Boys fell right out of contention on the second leg, and disappeared altogether when Oliver Crosato mispunched on the second leg of the Senior Boys. That left Tasmania in the box seat, and they reinforced that position by winning the race, Oscar Phillips coming from 2mins down on the last leg to overrun New South Wales. Leon Keely and Lachlan Dow both ran spectacular last legs but could not quite lift their teams into the top-2. Like the Junior Boys, there was a big lead pack – of four – after the first leg of the Junior Girls, but after that it was, predictably, all Queensland as they finished nearly 30mins clear. In one of two races where the mass start was a factor, the ACT were second across the line but the inexperienced Victorian team finished early enough to squeeze them out on total time. Tasmania were never in the hunt, but four points for 4th were enough to virtually ensure them of overall victory. The mass start was a major factor in the Senior Girls. Only two teams avoided it, and both only just; Tasmania and New South Wales went out together. Krystal Neumann and Aislinn Prendergast went out together in the mass start. The Victorians were totally out of contention but Neumann had to beat the other two across the line by ten minutes, which looked just about possible. It was even more plausible when she had an 8min break by the spectator control, and although Prendergast just beat
Start of the Schools Relay. Photo: Ian Dalton
Neumann across the line in a sprint finish, it was Neumann’s run which gave Queensland a memorable victory. In a result which determined 2nd place overall, Prendergast’s run was almost enough, remarkably, to overcome a 29min deficit and squeeze into 3rd, but NSW finished just in time to hold on.
Dave Shepherd and Hanny Allston repeated their NSW Championships victories to take out the national titles when the orienteering public at large got to take on Sappa Bulga in a big race. Shepherd was as dominant as he had been a week earlier, once again finishing 10mins ahead of the field. He took command of the race on the long ninth leg, by which stage he was already 5mins ahead five kilometres into the race, and he relentlessly extended his lead with only trivial wobbles. His win was not without controversy given his involvement in JWOC setting, although his event had been at the opposite end of the area and the size of the margin left little room for doubt. As it had been a week earlier, his closest rival was a New Zealander. Whilst both Rob Preston and Ben Rattray were strong challengers for second in mid-course, both dropped out of contention – Preston made two significant errors and Rattray drifted away – Karl Dravitzki (NZ) held it together and took 2nd, ahead of Eric Morris’s consistent run. There were also top-6 results for Ryan Smyth and Chris Naunton in their first year as seniors. Allston, in contrast, did not have things all her own way. She lost time at #2 and #9 and swapped the lead with Grace Elson for most of the first half of the course. At #9, beyond the halfway mark, she was only 16secs ahead, before gradually extending that margin over the second half of the course to be beyond 3mins by the end. Jo Allison was always within striking distance of Elson, but was never quite able to bridge the gap to her, which remained near a minute to the end. 4th and 5th were occupied by two usual suspects in Kathryn Ewels and Susanne Casanova. Aislinn Prendergast’s winning streak in W20 ended, but only because of foreign opposition. Mariann Ulvestad (NOR), sister of JWOC Long-distance winner Siri (and an unexpected omission from the Norwegian team in her own right), was a class above the rest of the field and won by 8mins. Prendergast’s closest opponent was Krystal Neumann. Prendergast lost time early and was 4mins down by #5, got back into the race when Neumann dropped 3mins at #8, but did not take 2nd until the very end, eventually holding it by 8secs. After emerging from JWOC with his reputation enhanced, Louis Elson backed up the next day to take the M20 national title comfortably. Bryan Keely matched him for pace most of the way but had left himself too far behind after losing 4mins on the first two legs. Oliver Mitchell, now recovered from an altercation with a truck during the summer, was second for much of the way, but his chances ended when he lost 8mins at #19. The battle for 3rd between two other Queenslanders, Kieran Sullivan and Simon Mee, was not resolved until the last control, with Sullivan taking the place – and the National League with it – by 5secs. The current crop of M16s are a group of whom more will be heard, and two of the cream of the crop fought out a high-standard race. Lachlan Dow got an early break over Josh Blatchford, and whilst it was cut a little in the second half he held on to win by a minute. Kurt Neumann, running up an age group, was an impressively close 3rd. Another member of the large Neumann clan, Melanie, scored an unexpected win in W16, a minute ahead of Nadia Velaitis. The eighth leg claimed many victims in this class, including NZ JWOC team member Kate Morrison, early leader Claire Butler and Schools winner Glennie Nottle, all of whom missed the placings after major time losses there. Two long-term expatriates returned to take national titles: Steve Craig (M35) and Donald Staudte (M40). Craig’s win was comfortable, whilst Staudte inherited the lead after favourite Paul Liggins’s chances ended with a 15min mistake at #8. Two of the tight results from the NSW Championships were reversed this time. Geoff Lawford led from the start in M50 and gradually pulled away from Paul Pacque for a 3min win. Once again Patricia Aspin fell behind Carol Brownlie in W55 after losing time early, but she was close enough to recover in the second half, turning a 2min deficit into a 2min win. Aspin’s win was one of two for New Zealanders, the other being Marquita Gelderman in W40, where Clare Leung also managed a significant breakthrough by beating Christine Marshall and Nicola Dalheim for the resident title. The two closest veteran races were W45 and W50. Robin Uppill shaded Sue Neve by 6secs after a fluctuating race, with the lead changing hands at the last control. W45 saw a greater late swing, when Jenny Bourne lost 2mins late in the course after leading throughout, opening the door for Liz Abbott to win by 27secs, with Chris Brown and Anthea Feaver also within 3mins. W60 looked set to be just as close with Debbie Gale and Jenny Hawkins only seconds apart for almost all of the course, but Hawkins slowed at the very end to give Gale a comfortable victory. Unusually, there were comfortable margins in some of the larger classes. Nigel Davies (M55) and Tim Dent (M65) were both more than 5mins clear, and even Bob Allison’s 2min margin in M60 was larger than is normally seen in that class. Less than a minute separated John Lyon and Clive Pope in M70, with Lyon leading most of the way but never by much, and Sue Healy had a similarly close race with Anne Stewart in W75. Hermann Wehner further extended his winning record, with his comfortable win in M80 being his 15th national title.
