2022 Melbourne Sprint Weekend MICHAEL HUBBERT
KO Sprint start. Photo: Mike Dowling
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SW 2022 – what a weekend. Six events over three days for most orienteers and, for those in the NOL Knock Out Sprint, four high-energy races on the final day. What a program for the Elites demanding both speed and concentration and the exhaustion showed with a DNS or two and a mispunch in the final races. Aside from the physical exertion, two things stood out to the casual observer – black is very definitely the new black in colour choice of racing wear, and in the past two years when COVID limited us attending national gatherings like this many of the junior orienteers have added a good 30cm in height (that’s one foot in the old money). Some even more. Then there was the tribute to Shane Warne in the form of an oversized set of stumps at each of the last controls on Day 3. A nice touch.
Elites - Ewan Shingler, Mikayla Cooper, Caitlin Young and Patrick Jaffe. Photo: Michael Hubbert
The Shingler siblings, Nea and Ewan, had shown signs of vast improvement at the Xmas 5 Days and were expected to do well in the high octane atmosphere of this event. Those expectations were met in Race 1 at La Trobe University with Ewan winning M20E by a minute over Sam Woolford, and Nea 45sec ahead of Mikayla Cooper. Whilst in W21E, Grace Crane and Caitlin Young deadheated, with Shannon Jones just 17sec back. And in M21E Martin Dent had a 6sec win over Brodie Nankervis with Joe Dickinson just 18sec in arrears.
Cricket tribute - Mikayla Cooper runs past the stumps to end Day 3. Photo: Philippa Lohmeyer-Collins
Overall winners amongst the Elites were W20E - Nea Shingler; M20E – Ewan Shingler; W21E – Caitlin Young; M21E - Patrick Jaffe.
So the stage was set for some epic battles as the weekend progressed. Race 2 at Assumption College, Kilmore, saw both Nea and Ewan increase their lead by just over one minute each. In M21E, Aston Key had finished 19th in Race 1 but he made up some of that ground with a 52sec win over Patrick Jaffe in Race 2. In W21E Evalin Brautigam moved up the table posting a 19sec win over Belinda Lawford with Shannon Jones a further 8sec back. At this stage likely 21E winners were anyone’s guess. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19
