AUSTRALIAN CHAMPS CARNIVAL

Mace Neve (ACT) Shannon Jones (ACT)

Rob Preston (NSW) Ben Rattray (SA)

The Trewin Report

Blair Trewin reports on the Australian Champs Carnival held in Queensland in September.

For the first time, all four foot Australian Championships were held in the same week, with the mountain bike Championships the next week for good measure. For the first time, a major Queensland carnival was held in the gully-spur country north of Brisbane. Many expected straightforward and fast gully-spur terrain from reports of the National League events in the region in 2006, but most of the terrain was more challenging than that. There was an abundance of erosion detail in lowvisibility gullies to deal with, and the terrain also brought more than its share of spectacular parallel errors, with more than one big name coming horribly unstuck at least once during the week. Hanny Allston returned to Australian orienteering after the best half of a year in New Zealand and was predictably dominant, especially early in the week when none of the 2008 Australian team were present. Her only loss came through a mispunch in the Sprint. Simon Uppill went one better, winning everything except the Relay, although what was happening around him was not the most encouraging of signs for the long-term future of the Australian men; only one other placegetter all week (Ryan Smyth in the Sprint) was under 30 years of age, and several times three or four of the top five in M21E were eligible for M35.

Australian Middle Distance Championships

The big week for Uppill and Allston started at the Australian Middle Distance Championships, which introduced most to the heat and the humidity, and to terrain which was trickier than most expected. Allston was already two minutes clear of the field by #5, and hardly put a foot wrong in some tricky sections in the second half. Anna Sheldon took second, four minutes behind, after a solid run, with Susanne Casanova third and Ilka Barr taking her best result at this level with fourth. Uppill was a little slow at the start, as he was several times during the week, but took a sustained lead by #6, and made sure of the result when he won seven successive legs in mid-course. Grant Bluett lost time on #3, a control which troubled many, but pulled back on the second half to take second two minutes behind. Another two minutes back was Lorenzo Calabro, who led early and went on to his best result since his 2001 WOC year. The best of the National League races was in M17-20. Kurt Neumann, still only a first-year M16, led for most of the race but lost two minutes at #9, and had to settle for third. That left it open for New Zealander Scott McDonald, but he was strongly challenged at the end by Geoff Stacey. Stacey made up ground over the last few controls but fell 19secs short. In W17-20, in a race where the top three were seven minutes clear of anyone else, the fourth control was crucial. Kate Morrison and Krystal Neumann both lost time there, giving Laurina Neumann a lead which she never surrendered. At the end she had two minutes in hand over Morrison. For a middle distance event close races were in short supply, but one which was close was in W60. Patricia Aspin has dominated on almost every visit over the last decade, but she was pushed all the way by Jenny Hawkins in a fluctuating race which was not settled until the last control. Several other veterans had big wins in decent fields, including Paul Pacque (six minutes in M50), Robin Uppill (six minutes in W50) and Hugh Moore (four minutes in M60). Ian Lawford had a solid two-minute win over Aaron Breed in the competitive M16 class, while Laura Robertson started a good week for New Zealand by having a similar margin over Morgan McIntyre in W16.

Queensland Long Distance Championships

Hanny Allston was even more dominant than she had been the previous day, winning by the massive margin of 13 minutes. She was already four minutes up by #3, and continued to extend her lead on a day when she only lost two splits. Amber Morrison provided her strongest opposition, and Susanne Casanova overcame early time losses to take third for the second time on the weekend. Simon Uppill had to work harder than that, but never really looked like losing after the first few controls. The gap narrowed to 1min25secs at #13 after Grant Bluett made the most of a long leg,

but then drifted out again to its eventual three minutes. Darren Ashmore was challenging Bluett for second most of the way, but fell away towards the end and was eventually overhauled by Craig Dufty, running his first major interstate events of the season, for third place. Several who might have been considered contenders for minor placings had days they would rather forget (highlights of the GPS tracks can be found via Attackpoint for those who like watching slow-motion train wrecks). Like the previous day, M17-20 was a close race and W17-20 an easy win for Laurina Neumann. The top three boys, none of whom featured in the previous day’s placings, were covered by only 46 seconds. Oliver Mitchell had a more comfortable lead than that for most of the way, opening up a 3min30secs gap by #11, but lost most of it at #14 and had to hang on desperately after his lead narrowed to 8 seconds at the second-last. Josh Blatchford was his closest challenger, and JWOC team member Oscar Phillips had his best run of the week to take third. Neumann was dominant again, and was four minutes up by halfway; she lost two minutes at #10 but it didn’t matter. The next three places were filled by New Zealanders, with Angela Simpson the best of them. The best race elsewhere was in W55. Lynn Dabbs led Carol Brownlie most of the way, dropped just behind at the second-last, but came back to win by seven seconds. Kurt Neumann dropped back to his own age class of M16 and unsurprisingly won it by a lot (six minutes), but there was a surprise in W16 where Laura Robertson was beaten by hitherto little-known Victorian Mary Fleming, who was a minute clear of the field on the first leg and never let that advantage go.

Australian Sprint Championships

The action moved to the Maryborough Showgrounds on Friday for the Australian Sprint Championships. The fields swelled here with many making their first appearance of the week (although on the other side of the coin a few in the veteran classes passed this one up). This was the one race of the week that Hanny Allston didn’t win. She came in 49 seconds ahead, but it turned out that she had punched a wrong control (which some felt was closer than it should have been to the correct one). Two of Australia’s three star performers from WOC were on hand to take advantage of this. Jo Allison led through a close first half, but Kathryn Ewels gained 14secs at #9, giving her an advantage which she held to the finish. Mace Neve, 39secs further back, completed the placings with a career-best result at this level. Like Ewels and Allison, Rob Walter appeared for the first time during the carnival and gave Simon Uppill his tightest race of the week. He led for most of the way, but never by more than 10 seconds in a remarkably constant run. The event was not decided until the last few controls. Uppill gained four seconds on each of #27 and #28, and that was enough in a race of fine margins. Ryan Smyth never quite looked like winning, but still had by far his best run of the week and came home fast to squeeze Grant Bluett out by a single second. Bryan Keely’s season has been ruined by the stress fracture that forced him out of the JWOC team last July. In Queensland he was still unable to handle anything much longer than a Sprint, but showed that he has lost little of his speed with an impressive run in M17-20. Almost as impressive was the New Zealand M16 Duncan Morrison, running up, who was within a few seconds all the way but finished nine short. Again there was a close battle between Lachlan Dow and Josh Blatchford, this time for third, with Dow prevailing this time. Laurina Neumann won again in W17-20, this time by 18 seconds. Belinda Lawford was next in her best result of the week, recovering well after a slow start, and Aislinn Prendergast was third. Sprint events always see some close finishes and 2008 was no exception, with three margins of two seconds or less. James Robertson won M16 by that margin over Ian Lawford in a sprint finish; Steve Flick held off a fast-finishing Michael Wood in M60 by a single second; and John Sheahan and Clive Pope could not be separated in M70 after the Queenslander pulled in three seconds in the chute. The Sprint also throws up some different winners to those we are used to seeing in the bush (among this year’s crop were Barbara Hill in W40, Ian Taylor in M50 and Valerie Barker in W55), and gave Western Australia a rare trifecta when Oscar McNulty, Bill Mann and Brendon Canzirri filled the placings in M14.

Australian Long Distance Championships

All four championships are now in the same week, but the Long Distance Championships still carry the greatest kudos among most of the orienteering community, and brought the largest numbers of the week. They also brought the week’s most diverse area (at least if your course was long enough to reach the rocks), and the least humid weather of any of the running days (the best day of all was wasted on the Thursday rest day). Hanny Allston was pushed harder than she had been for most of the week. After losing a minute at the first control, she did not get the lead from Jo Allison until #7, but, as she has several times before, she took command through mid-course and opened the way for a comfortable margin of four minutes. Kathryn Ewels also got ahead of Allison at that stage, giving her a break in the battle for second which she held to the end. It was Allston’s third elite win in as many attempts. This time Simon Uppill had the larger margin of the two. The field was stronger than it had been earlier in the week (although Dave Shepherd, who injured his ankle a couple of weeks earlier, was missed), but he never looked like losing once the race settled down. He stretched his lead from one minute to three on the long

Hanny Allston (Tas) runs the Sprint at Maryborough Showgrounds. Photo: Peter Yeates

Lorenzo Calabro (Qld) waiting for the Relay start. Photo: Rob Preston

twelfth leg in mid-course, and a minute lost at #18 was only a wobble on the way to a five-minute win. Rob Walter drifted back over the second half and looked as if he might surrender second to Craig Dufty, but Dufty lost a minute at the second-last to miss that chance; third was still his best result at this level. Laurina Neumann looked as dominant as ever for the first half of the race in W17-20 and had opened up a five-minute lead by #10, but then fell away dramatically over the last part of the course. She lost significant time on four successive controls to surrender the lead to Angela Simpson, and a late surge was not enough to wrest it back. Bridget Anderson, who ran as a senior for most of the week with some solid results to show for it, returned to juniors and took third place. M17-20 saw another interesting contest, ending with Oliver Mitchell’s first national title, which came with a consistent run once he was through the first. Scott McDonald led early but crashed out when he lost seven minutes at #10, and it was Kurt Neumann who impressed greatly again, leading at times and coming home hard to get within 42secs of Mitchell. Again it was Dow v Blatchford for third, and this time it was the NSW competitor who got the result. There is a long history of good M16 races at this event and 2008 was no exception, with less than a minute covering the top three and a surprise win to Tom Palfrey, who could not make the Tasmanian schools team but went from strength to strength during the week. He did not take the lead for the first time until the third-last control, ahead of Duncan Morrison and Robert Bennett; Ian Lawford led for much of the way but dropped back to seventh after losing time at #10. Rebekah Sunley looked to be running away with W16 when she was six minutes ahead of the field by halfway, but dropped out of contention with an error at #6, resulting in another New Zealand quinella through Laura Robertson and Selena Metherell. There was another upset result in an erratic M60 race. Hugh Moore, who has dominated the class all year, should have lost any chance when he lost seven minutes at the first control. He was still six minutes down going into the third-last control. Both Bob Allison and Reid Moran lost time there, but had enough of a lead – just – to hold on by less than a minute over Moore. There was an even closer race in W50, where Carolyn Jackson overhauled Debbie Davey in the finish chute, while in M50 Paul Pacque was pushed all the way before winning by just over a minute from Melvyn Cox and Chris Norwood. Patricia Aspin had an easier time of it in W60 than she had in the Middle Distance, although the result was the same – Aspin first and Jenny Hawkins second. Carolyn Chalmers took out W65 over Barbara Pope and Rob Simson was ahead of Clive Pope and Ian Hassall in M70, in two slightly unexpected results. Paul Liggins, who was unexpectedly beaten in M40 last year, made no mistake this year, whilst a slightly more surprising double-digit margin was achieved by Mark Nemeth over Mark Darvodelsky in M45.

Australian Relay Championships

Simon Uppill finally tasted defeat in the Relay, but not before the men turned on a great race. In the fastest terrain of the week, initial skirmishes did not sort much out, with Eric Morris putting New South Wales a minute ahead of a close pack. It was that first leg which was crucial to the eventual result, but not at the very front. Both ACT and South Australia had put their weakest runners (on paper) out first, but both did admirable jobs to set their teams up; Lachlan Dow came in with the pack, and John Nieuwenhoven three minutes behind it when many would have expected closer to ten. The ACT took the lead on the next leg through Grant Bluett, and it took a great run from Ben Rattray to keep the Southern Arrows in touch. They needed to beat NSW to be sure of second in the National League and looked to have secured that at least, but Uppill still went out two minutes down on Rob Walter. By the spectator control they were together, and in a race with few splits, at the last control they were still together. That meant it came down to the sprint, and after a titanic struggle Walter prevailed by a few metres. NSW were third, winning a battle with Victoria after Rob Preston pulled away from Bruce Arthur over the closing controls. The women’s Relay saw more fluctuations. Hanny Allston predictably gave an otherwise thin Tasmanian team a big early lead, but her closest challengers came in the more surprising form of Belinda Lawford (ACT2) and Aislinn Prendergast (Victoria). New Zealand were just behind and opened up a six-minute lead by the end of the second leg, but a solid leg by Shannon Jones brought ACT1 back into the race. Jo Allison and Kathryn Ewels went out together in second, and ran down most of the gap to the New Zealanders, but Lizzie Ingham held on to win by two minutes, with Allison just ahead of Ewels for second. Both 17-20 classes were battles between New Zealand and Queensland with the visitors winning both. Scott McDonald pulled away from Kurt Neumann on the last leg, while Kate Morrison finished over the top of Krystal Neumann to take W1720 despite Laurina Neumann’s first-leg lead. W16 might have been expected to be a NZ-Queensland contest too, but as they had at the Schools, the ACT upset the party; once again Naomi Mitchell’s second leg set the result up, and this time it was Georgia Parsons who closed the deal on leg three. A different pair fought out a close result in M16 when Kasimir Gregory had just enough in hand over Oliver Poland to give NSW a ten-second win over the ACT in M16. M55 was the closest of the veteran classes, as Nigel Davies edged away from Derek Morrison to give Tasmania a margin of just over a minute over New Zealand. In W45 a fast start by Felicity Crosato put Queensland six minutes in front after two legs; Debbie Davey made most of that up on the last, but the finish arrived with NSW still just over a minute short. The result was reversed in W55, where Lynn Dabbs’ second leg set NSW up for a win pulling away from Queensland; New Zealand led into the last leg after Patricia Aspin’s first leg but had to be content with third.

THAT AUS Champs Relay finish - Rob Walter (ACT) just outsprints Simon Uppill (SA) in a thrilling conclusion to a close fought race. Photos: Dion Keech

Jo Allison (ACT) coming in 2nd in the Sprint. Photo: Mike Hubbert Arabella Phillips (TAS). Photos: Dion Keech Kathryn Ewels (VIC) brings the Nuggets home to an AUS Relays 3rd place. Photo: Rob Preston

Australian Schools Championships

Blair Trewin

Lachlan Dow (ACT). Photo: Rob Preston

Queensland’s junior depth has been building for some years now, and on home ground they were comprehensive winners of the Australian Schools Championships. They also came closer than any State team has for some time to beating New Zealand in the Southern Cross Junior Challenge, but were just three points short. A good Relay day left the ACT as the best of the rest. New Zealanders took out three of the four individual titles. For most of the first half of the senior boys’ course, Scott McDonald (NZ) duelled with Josh Blatchford (NSW) and Lachlan Dow (ACT), but took control on the long eleventh leg and finished 1min40secs ahead. Blatchford looked to have secured second by the spectator control, but lost time on #14 and had to come from behind on the last two legs to take second over Dow by the narrowest possible margin. In the girls, Kate Morrison (NZ) held a narrow lead over Krystal Neumann (Q) most of the way. The Queenslander got within 14secs at #10, but in the end the gap was just over a minute. Belinda Lawford (ACT) looked like making it a three-way race but then lost seven minutes at one control on the final loop, opening the way for Rachel Goodwin (NZ) to edge out Lilian Burrill (Q) for third. The third New Zealand win came in the junior girls, but came from unexpected quarters. Laura Robertson (NZ) was red-hot favourite, but her race was over by halfway after three major errors in four controls. The fifth leg decided the race; Selena Metherell (NZ) ran 4min21secs on it, Jessie West (Tas) (who was 13th) 5min42secs, and no-one else went sub-7mins. That gave Metherell a big lead, although she lost most of it at #11 to set up a close finish. Her nearest challenger, 46secs behind, was Mary Fleming (V), who reinforced her newfound status as an emerging talent with a second big result in three days, and Morgan McIntyre (Q) also consolidated a reputation advanced over the weekend with third. Kurt Neumann (Q) was an unsurprising winner of the junior boys, but he was pushed all the way by Oliver Poland (ACT); Neumann led all the way, but never by much, and the eventual gap was less than a minute. Ian Lawford’s (ACT) fast finish in third left him to rue time lost at the first control. The action then moved to the Relays. In the senior boys, Patrick Watts (Tas), who had emerged with a fourth place in the individual, gave Tasmania a one-minute lead after the first leg, but most of the other teams were in the next pack, including favourites New Zealand and Queensland. Those two teams emerged as clear leaders on the second leg and were still close through most of the third, but in the end Scott McDonald (NZ) pulled away from Joshua Neumann (Q) to win by just over a minute. The Tasmanians just held on for third despite Lachlan Dow bringing the ACT home in the day’s fastest time. The ACT had a slightly unexpected win in the senior girls. They were in the hunt after the first leg, where New Zealand led by just over a minute, but took a commanding lead on the second leg when Naomi Mitchell kept her head as others around her were losing theirs. They took a six-minute lead into the last leg which was extended further by Belinda Lawford. Queensland made up ground on the last leg to take second, and Kate Morrison outsprinted Sarah Buckerfield to pull New Zealand ahead of Tasmania. New Zealand had an easy win in the junior girls. The race was competitive for one leg, with Rebekah Sunley (V) coming in within a minute of Julia McMillan (NZ), but was never a contest after that as Selena Metherell and Laura Robertson successively lowered the benchmark for the day’s fastest time. Queensland were an equally comfortable second, with the Victorians taking third. The junior boys was declared a no-race after some teams got incorrect maps, which may have cost Queensland dearly, as it was their best chance to make up ground in New Zealand’s weakest age group. There were also National League races in conjunction with the schools individual. Once again Simon Uppill and Hanny Allston won easily, and Laurina Neumann took W17-20 in a time good enough for second outright. Scott McDonald’s winning run in the Schools was also enough to give him the National League points ahead of Oliver Mitchell.

Selena Metherell (NZ) won the Junior Girls Championship. Photo: Rob Preston

2008 SILVA National Orienteering League

Blair Trewin

The Canberra Cockatoos took both team titles in the 2008 SILVA National Orienteering League with some ease. The men’s result was set up earlier in the season, and the margin grew later on as no other team was able to consistently push them. The greatest end-of-season interest was in the race for second, between the Southern Arrows and NSW Stingers, which came down to whoever performed best in the Australian Relays. The Arrows’ second place there also gave them second in the League. In the women’s competition, the Victorian Nuggets pushed the Cockatoos through the first half of the season, but losing Jasmine Neve and Kirsten Fairfax overseas was too great a test of their depth and they dropped away at the end of the year. The Queensland Cyclones finished well to take third. Jo Allison’s good first half of the season gave her enough of a margin over Kathryn Ewels to have the individual title secured before the final weekend. At the AUS Champs Carnival the dominance of Hanny Allston (who did not have enough scoring races to be an overall threat) limited the point-scoring opportunities for anyone else. A consistent final week for the ever consistent Susanne Casanova, including three thirds and a fourth, was enough to place her third. Once it became apparent that neither Julian Dent nor Dave Shepherd would contest the final week, Simon Uppill became the favourite, and his excellent finish made sure of it. Rob Walter was next, a result built on three wins out of three in the Tasmanian rounds, while Grant Bluett edged Rob Preston out by a single point for third. Both individual and team competitions for the junior men came down to the final race. Entering the final week, the Victorian Nuggets were in a strong position in the team event and Bryan Keely in an equally strong position in the individual, but the injury which prevented him finishing anything except the Sprint and Relay severely damaged both his chances and the team’s. In the end Oliver Mitchell had to come first or second in the Long Distance Championships to claim the title, and the Cyclones had to beat a depleted Victorian team in the Relay. Both results were achieved, although the Victorians put up a better fight in the Relay than many expected. There were also close results further down, with the Cockatoos and Tassie Foresters tying for third, and Josh Blatchford taking third by one point over Lachlan Dow after a succession of close races between the two. There were no such dramas for the Queenslanders in the junior women’s. Their team only dropped points in three rounds all year (all of them races where most of their usual team were otherwise engaged in the seniors), and they took the first three individual places. Laurina Neumann’s big final week gave her an eventually comfortable victory, with Rachel Effeney and Bridget Anderson having enough points to take the minor places despite missing most or all of the final set of races.

State Championships roundup

Tasmania

The spring season of State Long Distance championships started in Tasmania, near Launceston, on 7 September. In what was to be one of several close races during the season, Ryan Smyth edged out Paul Liggins by seven seconds in M21. Jess Davis, returning to Australia after several months away, took out W21 over Emma Warren and Jess Fuller-Smith. There were also good wins in M20 and W20 for Oscar Phillips and Sarah Buckerfield respectively.

New South Wales

After his narrow loss the previous weekend, Paul Liggins broke through for possibly the best win of his long career in the NSW Championships, winning M21 against a good field in which less than four minutes covered the top four places. The minor placings were filled by national team members of the recent past, Eric Morris and Rob Walter. There was not as much depth in W21 but Jo Allison still impressed in finishing seven minutes clear of Belinda Lawford. The cream came to the top on a tough but interesting new sandstone area near Mittagong. Steve Craig, in his return to Australian orienteering, edged out former national (and Knox) teammate Jock Davis by 30 seconds in M35. Close finishes were rare elsewhere, but there were impressive runs by the likes of Josh Blatchford (M18), Christine Brown (W45) and Liz Abbott (W50).

South Australia

The SA Long Distance Championships took place at World’s End. Fields were mostly small, but it provided the opportunity for Simon Uppill to again display his talents on home turf, as he recorded an overwhelming victory in M21. W21 was closer, but Susanne Casanova still had 11 minutes in hand over her sister Jenny.

Western Australia

The third State championship of the 13-14 September weekend was in Western Australia, on the 2006 Australian Championships terrain, Hill Park Dale. This year the Middle and Long Distance championships were held on separate days, replacing the traditional two-day event. Craig Dufty and Rachel West both did the double. For West it was a close-run thing on both days, particularly in the Long Distance when she was only 15 seconds ahead of Cath Chalmers. Chalmers was also her closest rival in the Middle Distance, but Anthea Feaver was only a few seconds behind in third. John Toomey pushed Dufty to within 41 seconds in the Middle Distance, but in the Long Distance they were separated by a substantial 18 minutes.

Victoria

The final State championship weekend was in Victoria in October in the goldmining terrain around Daylesford and Castlemaine. There were two days of close racing in the open classes; indeed, the W21 Middle Distance could not have been any closer, as Natasha Key – running her first events in Australia since her World Masters victory – and Laurina Neumann dead-heated. Key then went on to win the Long Distance too, a minute clear of Vanessa Round. Bruce Arthur did the double in M21, showing few ill-effects from the injury that has troubled him during the spring season, but both were by single-digit margins – in the Middle Distance he was seven seconds ahead of Blair Trewin, and in the Long Distance eight seconds ahead of Paul Liggins (with Trewin also within the same minute). Liggins was an aggregate 15 seconds away from taking three State titles, but had to be content with one. The ACT Championships were held in April, and Queensland held theirs as part of the Australian Championships Carnival.