2022 MELBOURNE SPRINT WEEKEND

MICHAEL HUBBERT

KO Sprint start. Photo: Mike Dowling

MSW 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.

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.

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. 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.

Arabella Phillips. Photo: Mike Dowling Patrick Jaffe. Photo: Mike Dowling

Ewan Shingler. Photo: Lincoln Paterson Mikayla Cooper. Photo: Mike Dowling

The second day opened with Race 3 at Manor Lakes College. In 20E a pattern was emerging – Ewan Shingler won again, but Nea dropped 36sec in finishing 2nd to Mikayla Cooper. Caitlin Young won W21E by 46sec from Emily Sorensen, and Aston Key had another win by 48sec from Angus Haines with Patrick Jaffe a further 28sec back. Race 4 moved to Gellibrand Hill near Melbourne Airport where the Elites did battle in a forest relay. In M20E Ewan led the NSW Stingers team to a 3:13 win over the Stingers #2 team, with the VIC Vikings a further minute back. Nea’s Stingers team mispunched while in a good position allowing the QLD Cyclones to win comprehensively over the SA Arrows and VIC Vikings. In W21E the Canberra Cockatoos won by 3:02 over the SA Arrows with the Cockatoos #2 in third. The VIC Vikings got their revenge in M21E winning a close fought race with the TAS Foresters where the winning margin was just 19sec. Canberra Cockatoos were running head-to-head with the Foresters with just 4sec in it until the last leg when Brodie Nankervis increased the gap to nearly 9 minutes. Aston Key had the fastest time of the day with 22:01 for the last leg, with Patrick Jaffe recording 22:02 for the second leg. Day 3 started very early for organisers at Yarra Valley Grammar who needed to set up for Race 5 of the MSW as well as qualifying races and quarter finals of the NOL Knock Out Sprint. In M20E Ewan won again from Sam Woolford

with Ethan Penck in third. In W20E Nea also won again while Sophie Taverna shot to prominence for 2nd just 29sec behind Nea and 21sec ahead of Mikayla Cooper in 3rd. Emily Sorensen had been hovering behind the W21E placegetters and Race 5 was her turn for a win over Aislinn Prendergast and Liis Johanson, while Patrick Jaffe had a 15sec victory over Aston Key in M21E with Alastair George just one second further back. Race 6 took place at nearby Whitefriars College set on a steep sloping spur likely to sap the energy from most runners. Many of the Knock Out Sprint finalists elected not to run the MSW race allowing others to gain valuable places, though Knock Out Sprint points also counted. Ana Penck won W20E from Tara Powell and Maya Bennette while M20E saw victory for Cooper Horley from Ethan Penck and Max Grivell. Liis Johanson won W21E from Clare Brownridge and Anna Sheldon while Martin Dent had a one minute win over Kerrin Rattray with Ricky Thackray a few seconds further back. Overall, the “magic 500” score was achieved by Ewan Shingler (M20E), Elye Dent (Junior Boys), Alice Radajewski (Junior Girls), Sophie Best (Senior Girls), Kathie Dent (W40), Paula Shingler (W50), Victoria Greenhan (W Open); with near misses on 499 by Nea

Shingler (W20E), Connor Dent (M12), Gavin Bennette (M40), Matthew Stocks (M50), and Andrew Slattery (M Open). One aspect from the 11 events over 3 days, and about 275 competitors each day, is that there were 83 mispunches listed in the results – that’s a worry for athletes and coaches alike.

Callum White. Photo: Mike Dowling

M21E 12/3 12/3 13/3 14/3 14/3 Total

1 Patrick Jaffe 95 99 98 100 98 490 2 Aston Key 82 100 100 99 100 481 3 Martin Dent 100 97 94 93 91 475 4 Angus Haines 83 96 99 97 99 474 5 Joseph Dickinson 98 92 92 94 96 472 6 Grant Bluett 94 89 89 90 97 459 7 Ricky Thackray 90 100 90 88 89 457 8 Kerrin Rattray 100 88 88 89 90 455 9 Bruce Arthur 89 84 100 86 86 445 10 Toby Wilson 88 86 82 92 94 442

W21E 12/3 12/3 13/3 14/3 14/3 Total

1 Caitlin Young 100 95 100 88 100 483 2 Emily Sorensen 91 94 99 100 97 481 3 Shannon Jones 98 98 96 95 94 481 4 Lanita Steer 96 92 91 96 99 474 5 Aislinn Prendergast 100 87 89 99 95 470 6 Arabella Phillips 90 89 92 94 90 455 7 Anna Sheldon 86 88 88 90 91 443 8 Clare Brownridge 83 85 83 93 92 436 9 Anna Dowling 84 81 84 89 89 427 10 Evalin Brautigam 87 100 5 97 98 387

M20E 12/3 12/3 13/3 14/3 14/3 Total

1 Ewan Shingler 100 100 100 100 100 500 2 David Stocks 96 98 98 95 99 486 3 Ethan Penck 95 95 95 98 95 478 4 Torren Arthur 92 91 91 97 91 462 5 Cooper Horley 97 94 87 87 96 461 6 Max Grivell 93 88 85 92 94 452 7 Niko Stoner 94 86 94 88 86 448 8 Toby Lang 89 84 86 83 98 440 9 Euan Best 87 79 84 91 93 434 10 Owen Radajewski 82 83 78 84 97 424

W20E 12/3 12/3 13/3 14/3 14/3 Total

1 Nea Shingler 100 100 99 100 100 499 2 Mikayla Cooper 99 99 100 98 99 495 3 Sophie Taverna 95 97 95 99 95 481 4 Julia Gannon 93 94 93 97 96 473 5 Mikaela Gray 90 96 96 84 97 463 6 Justine Hobson 92 96 92 89 92 461 7 Serena Doyle 89 91 88 96 94 458 8 Natalie Miller 85 88 89 95 93 450 9 Maya Bennette 91 85 84 92 89 441 10 Tara Powell 86 86 85 88 90 435

Ingrid Shelton-Agar. Photo: Mike Dowling Milla Key leads Caitlin Young. Photo: Lincoln Paterson

Other class winners

M12 Connor Dent W12 Layla Dent Junior Boys Elye Dent Junior Girls Alice Radajewski

Senior Girls Sophie Best M40 Gavin Bennette W40 Kathie Dent M50 Matthew Stocks W50 Paula Shingler M60 David Poland W60 Hilary Wood M70 Ross Barr W70 Denise Pike M Open Andrew Slattery W Open Victoria Greenhan M/W Novice Rui Bluett-Jones For a full results list go to - eventor.orienteering.asn.au/ Standings/View/Series/176

The Knock Out Sprint Finals created great interest for the watching spectators, many of whom had already run their courses. Broadcast commentary by Asha Steer and Warren Key added to the atmosphere and excitement as the runners came through spectator controls then disappeared back into the school complex to then burst onto the oval, punching their last control at “Warnie’s” stumps on the way to the Finish.

Torren Arthur. Photo: Evalin Brautigam

Top results for the Knockout Sprint were:

MEN (2.0km) 1 Aston Key 07:59:00 2 Angus Haines 08:11:00 3 Patrick Jaffe 08:12:00 4 Ewan Shingler 08:40:00 5 David Stocks 08:47:00 6 Grant Bluett 08:55:00 WOMEN (1.6km) 1 Nea Shingler 07:55:00 2 Mikayla Cooper 08:08:00 3 Milla Key 08:17:00 4 Caitlin Young 08:19:00 5 Lanita Steer 08:33:00 6 Evalin Brautigam 08:37:00

For a full list of Event 6 and Knock Out Sprint results go to: eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=16747& groupBy=EventClass

Congratulations must go to all the organizers, course setters, technical crew and the general helpers who arrived early and left late to ensure all the equipment was erected and later packed up. What a great group of volunteers we have.

National League Event WOC & JWOC Selection Trial Course 1

Course Planner: Bruce Arthur Mapper: Ted van Geldermalsen Event Advisor: Chris Norwood 1Part 1 Scale 1:4000 Contour Interval 2m

1Part 2