M O U N TA I N B I K E O R I E N T E E R I N G
National MTBO Series
Adrian Jackson coming in to finish at Nerrina where he won the Middle and Sprint races. Photo: Mike Hubbert
Kay Haarsma
M
TBO’s finest riders came together in Ballarat in April for the World Championship Trials weekend, which also doubled up as the first National Series events and the Victorian Championships. Just like at the 2004 Worlds, Welcome Stranger Holiday Park was again the place to be, with most riders choosing to be accommodated there. Sandra, the caravan park manager reminisced about having to ask many overseas competitors to “cover up” when using the spa in 2004, but our riders were more discreet this time. The training camp was a tremendous success, allowing the “outer Staters” to get a feel for the more detailed Victorian terrain and people getting to know each other being an added bonus. Riders from four different States were thrown together in several cabins and new friendships blossomed. The “newer” guys benefited from Alex Randall’s well-traveled cappuccino machine. Damian Welbourne’s arrival from Newcastle was delayed by airline hassles and then they had the cheek to misplace his bike for an extra 24 hours! We had junior boys from Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria all learning from their older counterparts. They all were really keen and showed heaps of potential. One said that “racing the trials would make all those 6.30am training rides worthwhile.” Another got excited by riding with the traffic down Sturt St (main Ballarat road) “as there aren’t too many vehicles in my country town.”
Taree, NSW (110.50) who had the misfortune of a puncture, while Southern Arrow Susanne Casanova (113 mins) lost 5mins on a wide route choice. Carolyn Jackson (115mins) and Jen Graham-Taylor (125 mins) rounded out the top-6.
We had three New Zealanders in the training mix too. Marquita Gelderman, (8th in Worlds 2006), demonstrated how to do a “ride by” dob with the SI stick, while Rob Garden (M40) and Alison McDonald (W50) loved the detailed Aussie forests. Our squad’s speedy demolition of $500 worth of pasta and pizza impressed the staff at La Porchetta on Saturday night.
The junior elite boys rode the same courses as the women all weekend. In the long event the Braemar College Victorian lads took the quinella. Winner was tall 16 year-old Peter Markworth (109 mins) who rode without cleats. Heath Jamieson (115mins), a 15 year-old pocket rocket, took out most of the fastest splits in finishing second, while Tasmanian Chris Horne (126mins) was 3rd.
Long Distance
Sunday saw a double-header event at Nerrina, just a 5min ride from where most were staying. The morning saw the Middle Distance races over 18km (men) and 14km (women & boys) on 1:10,000 maps while the afternoon Sprint races of 8km and 6km were held on a 1:7,500 edition.
This event was held on a new 1:20,000 MTBO map, Muckleford Diggings, near Newstead. This utilised the existing Blow Mine and Mia Mia foot-O maps. There was a good track network amidst the native bush with some farms along the main road dissecting it. Course setter Geoff Armstrong set challenging courses with plenty of route choice that had riders constantly wondering whether they had made the right choices. He used multiple controls at the end of legs, so riders on different courses couldn’t presume they were heading to the same control. The finish was great for spectators with riders negotiating a dam wall and then a short uphill push. The men scorched around their 36.5kms with first finisher Alex Randall (94.01) being pleased with his time even before knowing what others would record. Adrian Jackson (95.41) and David Simpfendorfer (98.29) took out the minor placing. It was great to have 18 men racing this event. The women’s race saw the most experienced competitors in Marquita Gelderman and Carolyn Jackson both have difficulty with some indistinct tracks en route to one control. Thorlene Egerton (106 mins) had a well deserved victory for the 28.5km course, while WA’s Cath Chalmers (108mins) used both her foot-o and road racing background to place 2nd. Marquita (108.50) squeezed into 3rd ahead of Melanie Simpson, from
Middle Distance & Sprint Adrian Jackson (50.51) had a 2min win over Alex Randall, while Tony Clark completed the trifecta for the local Victorian Nuggets. Tony rode well in all races but unfortunately was unavailable for world champs selection. NSW Stingers Paul Darvodelsky and Rob Preston were 4th and 5th. David Simpfendorfer suffered a puncture, while Anthony Darr was a victim of somewhat faint overprinting, and completely missed a control. The courses had many shortish legs requiring riders to decide their route choice quickly. There was also some very steep and technical ascents and descents to test out skills. AJ completed the double with a win in the Sprint, his time of 21:42 being almost a minute ahead of Alex, while Rob Preston was just 30secs further back in 3rd. Rob, a long time elite foot orienteer commented that: “I would certainly do more MTBO if it was always this detailed and exciting.” Rounding out the top 6 were: Tony Clark, Paul Darvodelsky and Tasmania’s Matt Hope. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41
