EASTER 21 REPORT

from The Australian Orienteer – June 2021

O-SPY

Easter 2021

The Trewin Report © PhotosByTom.com.au

Family Relays

After a year’s hiatus, it was a welcome return to national orienteering competition as the Australian 3-Days took place around Molong in NSW. The turnout was only slightly below what would normally be expected at Easter (despite some last-minute dramas for the Queenslanders).

The terrain provided a serious challenge for all concerned. After the prologue Sprint in Orange, the first day was near Molong at Noah’s Ark Ridge, a narrow line of rock which still made for highly complex Middle Distance courses. For the next two days proceedings moved to Gumble, a granite area first used in the early 2000s and made even more challenging as it has become thicker over the intervening couple of decades. It provided a relentless test for sometimes rusty navigational techniques (and, with temperatures in the high 20s both days, a physical test as well). Times were long, especially on Day 2, and tales of large time losses were numerous. The last day was more forgiving with more of the courses in semiopen areas on the northeast side of the map, but most courses were still plunged into one of the most difficult parts of the map to finish; more than one race was won and lost there. The senior men had a weekend of fluctuating fortunes. Aston Key opened up with a 31-second win in the prologue, a comfortable margin in a Sprint, and retained that lead the next day after he deadheated with Matt Doyle, with Patrick Jaffe only nine seconds behind. Brodie Nankervis looked like he might have blown his chances on the Saturday when an erratic run saw him in tenth place, over seven minutes down, but he reversed things dramatically over the Long Distance of Sunday. There he finished over nine minutes ahead of Jaffe, whilst an injury to Key eliminated him from overall contention. That set up a last-day chasing start in which Nankervis led Jaffe by two minutes, with Doyle another two minutes back. Jaffe caught Nankervis in the early part of the course and they opened up a five-minute break on Doyle. It looked like a race in two, but there was another twist to come in this tale; on the first leg back into the heavy forest, the leaders led each other astray, and by the time they finally reached #21, they had lost seven minutes apiece and Doyle had slipped through. That proved to be the decisive moment, as all completed the last part of the course without significant incident. Doyle won by just under two minutes, with Nankervis edging just clear of Jaffe for second, and Alastair George just shading Matt Crane for fourth in an impressive first Easter as a senior. The women’s race was always going to see a bit of a shake-up of the recent established order because of the absence of two of the stars of recent years (Bridget Uppill after the recent birth of her son, Natasha Key through injury). Shannon Jones turned back the clock with a winning performance in the prologue, then Olivia Sprod, already a National League race winner this year, took over with a win on the Saturday, but rarely has the adage that Sunday is moving day proven more true than this year, with one of the true epics of Australian

Logan Seaman (WR-N) Grace Crane (ACT) Jensen Key (Vic)

orienteering history. Grace Crane had won the long National League race in March, and set about proving that it was no fluke with a consistent run on a day when no-one else could produce one. Several launched challenges but none could sustain them; control #15 was a particular scene of carnage, with Anna Sheldon, Krystal Neumann, Ellie de Jong and Nicola Blatchford all suffering double-digit time losses there. That left Crane with a massive lead – Sprod and Kathryn Preston recovered from early time losses to take the minor placings, on a day when only three finished within 30 minutes of the lead. Finishing things off on the last day was a formality; Crane stretched her lead on Sprod a little, with the major action coming through Neumann overtaking Sheldon for third. Last-day dramas were not in short supply in the Juniors, especially in M18 and W18. In both classes, the first runner across the line had missed a control (thanks to online tracking, this was known to the spectators before it was known to the participants). The drama was particularly late in M18, where Toby Cazzolato took a two-minute lead into Monday but was caught by Oskar Mella; the pair were together for several controls late in the course before splitting en route to the third-last control, which Mella missed altogether. With Sam Woolford, next in line, missing the same control, the South Australian went from being behind to being over 40 minutes ahead of the (surviving) field. In W18 the misfortune of leader Sophie Taverna came early, and it was Justine Hobson, who started the last day in fourth place 15 minutes down, who came through the field to finish in front of Mikayla Enderby. Nea Shingler, running up two age groups, made a big statement in the W20 prologue by winning in a time faster than any of the seniors managed on the same course. She got back to the lead with a win in a long Sunday race after Saturday winner Mikayla Cooper fell by the wayside, but Emily Sorensen stayed in touch throughout, and was there to take the honours when Shingler struck trouble in the first half of the last day, in her first major win at national level. The second place of Julia Gannon, consistent on a weekend when consistency was in short supply, was also a career-best. While it may not have been part of a family double, Ewan Shingler was the most straightforward of the junior winners, taking the lead in a close prologue where six finished within 42 seconds, and then backing it up with two more wins. By the last part of Monday’s course he was far enough in front that dropping seven minutes on two late controls was incidental to the result, although similar late misadventures for Jensen Key and David Stocks saw Tristan Miller leapfrog them into second. Tough terrain and tough courses often spread the field out, and Molong was no exception. 13 of the 20 contested masters A classes had double-digit margins, including such normally competitive classes as M70 (where more than half the field failed to complete all three days), where Steve Flick was 18 minutes clear on almosthome ground. Six swept all three days, a group which included Grant Bluett, who put together three consistent days in a deep M45 field which also included Bruce Arthur, Rob Walter and Andy Hogg.

Caitlyn Young – W20E. © PhotosByTom.com.au

Elle & Laura Keech.

Chris Brown shaded Carolyn Jackson in W60 for two days before breaking clear on the last day (the tenth control proving decisive), whilst dominant performances throughout were produced by Marina Iskhakova (W40), Greg Barbour (M55), Warren Key (M60) – one of a handful to get within the expected winning time range on either of the first two days - and Jenny Hawkins (W75). Gareth Candy, returning to Orienteering after a break of several years from national events, missed out on a sweep by the smallest possible margin when Tom Walter beat him by one second on the last day, but still won M40 comfortably. Perhaps the pick of the masters races was W45, featuring many familiar names from years and decades past. Tracy Marsh looked in control for two and a half days, but three significant errors in the last part of the course opened the door for Belinda Allison to turn a fiveminute deficit into a five-minute lead, whilst the closing controls also saw Jenny Casanova leapfrog Emily Walter and Allison Jones into third. (Four of the top five from W14 in 1989 made up four of the top five this time). Sue Hancock withstood a late charge from Su Yan Tay to take W55 by just over a minute – the Queenslander came from seven minutes down to take the lead before losing time late – whilst Ted van Geldermalsen, the only overall winner not to win a day, overturned a narrow gap on David Marshall in M65 in a class where four finished within five minutes. There were also turnarounds in the oldest classes, with Basil Baldwin and Helen Alexander both overcoming big deficits to take out M80 and W80 respectively. Lachlan Hallett was the best of the Sledgers, after early leader Ian Meyer (rumoured to be a casualty of Day 2.5) fell by the wayside. For the younger juniors, results were less predictable than in most years; a lot can change in the 18 months since the last time they appeared in national-level competition. They gave us the closest finish of all, when Aoife Rothery, winner of the first two days in W14, held on by 1:03 despite a last-day win for Liana Stubbs. Milla Key, highly impressive in the W20 prologue, moved back to W16 for the main event and, despite some Saturday wobbles, came through with big wins on the last two days. Owen Radajewski set up his first major win with a decisive victory on the long day in M16, as did Alex Woolford in M14, while Katy Hogg’s big day was on the last day as she came from five minutes down to take W12. Hayden (M12) and Layla (W10) Dent both won all three days in their classes. It was a tough reintroduction to national-level orienteering for a lot of the field (and the following weekend, for those who stayed, was no more forgiving), but also a reminder of what everyone had been missing. Tasmania at the end of September will be the next major test. (Editor’s note: A good measure of how tough the terrain and courses were on Day 2 is that some 37% of the Men’s Elite field and 30% of the Women’s Elite field failed to finish.)