AUS 3-DAYS

EASTER 2022

Aston Key.

The Trewin Report

Easter returned to Queensland for the first time in a decade in what (so far) is a welcome return to a normal orienteering season, with a turnout at the better end of what was expected. The event was based in the Kingaroy region, a new experience for most nonQueenslanders, with relatively flat and open granite terrain for the Prologue and the first two days, and a hillier and thicker final day. The terrain was a tougher physical test than it might have been in a drier year, but the vegetation growth merely turned the first two days from being lightning fast to being merely fast, and the relatively tough final day sorted out many of the fields. The seasonal heat also broke a couple of days before the event, which was contested in generally pleasant conditions. The Prologue, a bush Sprint this year, is no longer part of the overall competition in the elite classes (fortunate for those who mispunched), but was still a National League round and well contested. Experience counted for a lot in W21E, where the average age of the placegetters was 44; Grace Crane, the youngest of them, took the win over Shannon Jones and Natasha Key. There was a minor upset in M21E where Brodie Nankervis edged out Aston Key by seven seconds. W20E was closer still, with Erika Enderby three seconds ahead of Mikaela Gray. Ewan Shingler impressed in winning M20E, in a time which would have placed him third in the seniors (and likely did him no harm in his ultimate selection for WOC). The Prologue proved indicative of form for the senior women as Crane controlled proceedings throughout the weekend. Saturday repeated the Friday placings but with a winning margin of four minutes, and she was also a convincing winner on the last day to stretch a five-minute lead to twelve. Only on the Long Distance day was she challenged when Aislinn Prendergast, out of overall contention after striking trouble on Saturday, ran an excellent second half to claim the stage win. The Prologue was also a precursor to a final result for Jones, who was a comfortable second overall despite losing time on the last day, while with Key sitting out the Long day, Emily Sorensen came through with a final-day second to complete the placings. M21E looked like it would be a similarly straightforward result for two days. After his narrow prologue loss, Aston Key was a comfortable winner on the next two days, and with a five-minute break it looked like the main interest in the chasing start would be the race between Alastair George and Brodie Nankervis for second. The pair went for it from the gun on the last day, cutting small pieces into the gap, and when Key dropped 90 seconds at #8 it was suddenly game on. The gap closed to just over a minute but that was as close as it got, and any chance of a boilover ended when Nankervis lost time at #12 and #13, followed by George at #18. George had to settle for second, and a first National League stage win. In junior classes a lot can change over one summer. A lot more can change in two and a half years, during which only one major national event had taken place, and the event therefore started with more than the usual number of unknowns. Julia Gannon had taken second overall in W20E last year without running a place on any day, amidst a sea of mispunches, but sent a very clear message that she had taken another step up on the Saturday by opening up a seven-minute

Grace Crane. Brodie Nankervis. M21E - Easter 2022 - Race 2.

W21E - Easter 2022 - Race 3

margin. Nea Shingler reversed that on the Long day and looked to be taking control of the event, stretching her lead to three minutes by the midway point of Day 3, but successive five-minute mistakes switched the course of the event again, and the Queenslander emerged as a convincing winner. Joanna George held off a fast-finishing Erika Enderby for third. The junior men, like the seniors, looked to be taking a predictable course for two days. Ewan Shingler followed a substantial win on Saturday with a smaller win on Sunday. He took a five-minute lead into the last day which he had extended to eight minutes by late in the course, but it all almost came unstuck at the fourth-last control. Losing eight minutes on a one-minute leg erased the gap he had spent three days building up and set up a three-way pack finish, but he was able to regain his composure and hold off Sam Woolford by three seconds in the event’s closest overall finish, with Grant Reinbott a further 14 seconds behind in third. Outside the elite classes, the closest finish was in W45, which provided an intriguing contest for the second successive year. Last year Tracy Marsh was overtaken on the final day, but this year her first-day win was just enough to hold on by 30 seconds despite Allison Jones winning the last two days. Another to hold off a fastfinishing opponent was Miles Bryant in M14; Lachlan Braid won the last day by four minutes but fell 36 seconds short of overall victory. Cooper Horley and Owen Radajewski were seconds apart on both of the first two days in M16. Both struck some trouble on the last day but Horley struck less of it, extending his narrow lead to about three minutes. W70, often a keenly contested class in recent years, was another class which was very close for two days, but in the end Lynda Rapkins broke away on the last day, turning a seven-second deficit into a nine-minute win.

Ewan Shingler.

Rapkins was not the only one to turn a narrow deficit into a big win. Warren Key had been expected to dominate M60, but five-minute mistakes at the first and fifth controls on Day 2 left him in a tough fight with Rob Vincent. Normal service was restored on the final day, which he entered a minute behind and finished 12 minutes in front. A single mistake on the final day was decisive in M45, where Rob Walter had narrowly shaded Bruce Arthur for the first two and a half days, but was not able to get far enough in front to be able to survive losing three minutes at #10 on the last. Lisa Richards in W12 and Tessa Radajewski in W10 also turned narrow deficits after two days into narrow wins after three, but perhaps the biggest reshuffle came in W55; after two days the top four were separated by 78 seconds, and it was the fourth of those, Nicola Dalheim, who came through on Monday for the overall victory. At the other end of the scale, ten competitors won all three days in contested A classes. Perhaps the most impressive of them was Grant Bluett, who dominated a strong M50 field, winning every day by at least five minutes in kilometre rates which would have brought top-five results in M21E. Less expected clean sweeps in competitive classes came from David Marshall in M70 and Debbie Davey – who left Jenny Bourne and Sue Key in her wake – in W65. Lilja Lehtonen showed considerable potential in a convincing W16 win, and Jenny Hawkins was equally dominant in W75. Sledge also saw a clean sweep by Jock Davis, although only by seconds on the first two days; it was a year for the older end of the field, as the results of Greg Barbour and Tony Woolford meant all three placegetters were over 55. The event was a great success overall, and looks set to be an introduction to a much more normal season than the last two years. Victoria will host the next major national carnival in the spring, followed by the rescheduled Oceania Championships in Tasmania next January.

Day 2 - M21E - Alastair George - Aston Key - Brodie Nankervis.