NATIONAL ORIENTEERING LEAGUE
Ewan Shingler opened a ten-minute gap on the Victorians (and eight on the Cockatoos). Mason Arthur cut that in half on the second leg, but Jensen Key still had to run down five minutes on Sam Woolford, which he was able to do. The Southern Arrows junior women got the second place they needed, although after a close race for two legs, the Stingers ran away with it on the last leg to take the honours on the day.
NOL Report – some close races at Broulee Dunes BLAIR TREWIN – Photos: ©PhotosByTom.com.au
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he Victorian and Canberra Cockatoos teams took out the senior National Orienteering League titles at the final round Relay held at Broulee Dunes, NSW. The senior women started the day with any of the Cockatoos, Victoria or Southern Arrows able to take the title with a win, and after two legs the three were only separated by three minutes, but Belinda Lawford’s fine second leg had given Canberra a useful lead and Grace Crane was able to finish it off. The Victorian men had a more straightforward task, only needing to finish in the top three, and led the race throughout after Aston Key gave them a flying start, although Matt Crane cut the gap from five minutes to one on the second leg to add a bit of excitement. The Victorian junior men had a harder task than the seniors, needing to beat the NSW Stingers to take the season’s honours. It looked a difficult challenge after the first leg when
Aston Key and Grace Crane are the senior NOL champions for 2021 after the final individual round held the previous day in the sand-dune terrain of Broulee Dunes. Key started in front in the chasing-start format and was never headed, doing the day’s fastest time in his eighth win from ten 2021 rounds, with Patrick Jaffe and Brodie Nankervis in the minor placings. It was a much tighter affair for the women, with Crane and Olivia Sprod going out together. Crane edged away over the course to take the overall victory, while Krystal Neumann won the day and did enough to push the South Australian out of second overall. Both junior classes saw lead changes on the individual season’s final day. In the junior men’s one control was decisive. David Stocks led almost from the start, but needed to make up two minutes on Ewan Shingler, and for most of the course could not quite bridge that gap, but Shingler lost over two minutes at #18, and that was enough. In W20, Nea Shingler needed to catch 2:40 on Emily Sorensen and did so by mid-course, but there was a twist to come – both lost major time on #13, but with third-placed Mikayla Cooper also well off the pace today, they were still battling for the overall lead. This battle was resolved in Shingler’s favour over the last two controls. With the favourites all losing time heavily, Erika Enderby broke through for her first race win, with Natalie Miller also getting easily her best result yet with second. Patrick Miller
© PhotosByTom.com.au Tara Melhuish
Matt Doyle
Aston Key 18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2021
