2022 AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS CARNIVAL

THE TREWIN REPORT

TEXT: BLAIR TREWIN; PHOTOS: TOM DE JONGH

For the first time in three years, an Australian Championships week went ahead in 2022. Whilst Easter events had taken place in 2021 and 2022, this week in Victoria marked a return to something resembling normality for the Australian orienteering program, despite the best attempts of the weather to periodically throw spanners in the works (it was fortunate the events were not a fortnight later). The week brought new areas and revivals of old areas, and a resumption of normal service in some classes and the emergence of new leaders in others. It also marked the welcome return of a significant New Zealand presence, who made themselves visible in the junior classes in particular. While nearby areas in Victoria’s central highlands continued to be drenched the Sun Gods shone on most event arenas during the Australian Championships and ASOC though the terrain underfoot was decidedly mushy in places. The week got under way with the Victorian Middle Distance Championships and a new event, the Orienteering Grand Prix, on the opening Saturday, but it was on the Sunday that things started to get serious.

Blair Trewin (VIC) at AUS Middle Distance - Blackwood. Australian Middle Distance Championships – Blackwood

Blackwood promised a goldmining orienteering experience unlike anything we had seen before, with a relatively small area of intensive surface mining – other areas have small pockets like it but not enough for a full course. It was expected to be technical, and was, and the valley location survived relatively unscathed from the storms last year which flattened some of the forests on higher ground nearby. The density of controls in a small area added another technical element to the mix, with M70 and M80 two classes in which the fastest finisher mispunched. Both senior classes were decided by less than a minute, with one expected result and one unexpected one. Aston Key’s fifth place in the WOC Sprint had shown the progress he had made over the last three years, and results earlier in the year suggested his forest skills were on an upward trajectory too. This time, he was pushed all the way by another member of an exciting younger generation, Alastair George, who had several National League and major event placings to his name in his first two senior years without quite breaking through for a win. For much of the course it looked like this might be the day as he held a narrow lead through the first two-thirds of the course, but Key was just a bit too good at the end and finished 30 seconds clear. Simon Uppill, always consistent in technical terrain, was best of the rest. In W21E the two protagonists were an experienced Australian and a young New Zealander. Kaia Joergensen is still young enough for the Schools team but was stepping up a level here; Grace Crane has spent the last 18 months re-establishing herself as the leading Australian woman in the forest events. Both were slightly off the pace at the start but had emerged as the two leaders by halfway. At that stage Crane was in the lead and looked likely to go on for the win, but Joergensen had other ideas and came over the top with a fast finish.

This was only one of several triumphs for junior New Zealanders on the day, none more impressive than in W16 where Anna Babington led a sweep of the top six (and eight of the top nine). They took both junior elite grades by comfortable margins. Rachel Baker avoided disaster in W20 on a day when there were several disasters to be had, finishing over two minutes ahead of Mikayla Cooper, while Zefa Fa’avae’s margin in M20 was even more impressive, winning half the splits on the way to a 3:42 win over Alvin Craig. Sam Carryer in M16 completed their list of victories with the day’s closest result, in which he, Cooper Horley and James Wright were separated by 26 seconds; Wright looked the likely winner before losing a minute at the fourth-last, which left Carryer far enough ahead to be able to survive a mistake of his own at the second-last. There were several classes where one person, and one person only, managed to get through the technical parts relatively cleanly, and that made for some margins which were very large by Middle Distance standards. Alistair Cory-Wright started an excellent week for him by putting nine minutes between himself and the rest of the M55 field, Cathy McComb was almost as far in front in the usually competitive W50, and Marina Iskhakova’s margin in W40 was also not far short of double figures. Craig Dufty achieved his first national title of a long career in M50 in a race where the top three were within a minute; Carsten Joergensen and Steve Craig both finished fast but were unable to quite close the gap. Ricky Thackray might have made it a second breakthrough for those of Western Australian origins when he led M45 for most of the way, but a late mistake opened the door for Rob Walter and Bruce Arthur. In the last decade, M35 has not been the place to look for competitive races, but this time there were three evenly matched at the front, with 49 seconds covering Andrew Slattery, Eric Smyth and Daniel Stott – not the last time in the week where they would be facing off against each other. The remaining sub-30 second margin was in one of the oldest classes, W80, where Dale Ann Gordon just edged out Ann Ingwersen. Rod Gray, one of eight in the week’s field to have run in the Australian Championships 50 years ago, marked the occasion by taking out M65.

ASOC Relays - Senior Boys.

2022 ASOC Relay start - Milla Key. ASOC Relays - Junior Girls.

Australian Schools Championships

Like the other Australian Championships events, the Australian Schools Championships were making a comeback after a threeyear break. Three years is longer in the lifetime of a junior than a senior. The team results may have been much the same as they were three years ago, with New South Wales comfortably the leading State and the two New Zealand teams dominating the Southern Cross Junior Challenge, but many of the personnel had changed, particularly in the junior classes where all but a handful were first-timers at this event. Proceedings got under way with the Sprint at Kyneton, with a mix of gardens early, school buildings later, and reasonable quantities of mud. Nea Shingler is the first Australian participant in this event to have run a senior World Championship while still at school (Tim Robertson did it in 2012 for New Zealand) and it was no real surprise to see her dominate the Sprint, her favoured event, winning by over a minute. Kaia Joergensen, coming off her impressive result the previous day, was the closest challenger for most of the way, but successive mistakes on #19 and #20 dropped her to third behind her fellow New Zealander Zara Stewart. There was also a comfortable margin in the senior boys, with Alvin Craig making a fine return after some time out with a 36-second win. The result was set up with a flying start, winning the first seven splits, and he was not seriously challenged from there. As with the girls, New Zealanders contested the minor placings, with Zefa Fa’avae edging out Sam Carryer by two seconds in a race in which they were not separated by more than five at any point in the second half. The junior girls had the closest race of the day. Even more so than usual this year, it was a place for new names to emerge and Liana Stubbs was the main one to do so, taking the honours with a consistent run – she only won one split - and a fast finish. Juliet Freeman started well, getting out to a 23-second lead at #12, but was unable to hold on and was overhauled at the second-last in a fivesecond margin. New Zealanders filled the next two places too, with Greta Prince’s fourth the best result for someone not in an official team since Brodie Nankervis’s third in 2010. It was a Tasmanian double as Euan Best, one of the few juniors to have previous experience in this company, was on top all the way in a 31-second win over Elye Dent. Illustrating their depth, the next nine places went across the Tasman. Next day the Carnival moved to the sodden slopes of Mount Alexander, with steep slopes and granite boulders (although neither of them on the scale of some other parts of this map). The New Zealand depth had not translated into any individual wins on the Sprint day but Zefa Fa’avae changed that in the Long Distance, swapping places with Alvin Craig as he got on top over the closing downhill controls. The other three Long Distance winners all did the double from the Sprint, although for Nea Shingler it was a very close-run thing; she and Kaia Joergensen were never more than 31 seconds apart, with both taking turns in the lead, but the Australian was eight seconds clear at the Finish line. A fast finish saw Zara Stewart pip Erika Enderby for third. The junior boys once again featured a reasonably comfortable win for Euan Best against a Dent, but this time it was Hayden in second place, becoming the youngest medallist in the event’s history – a consistent run, where others often weren’t, bringing an impressive result for someone still eligible for M12. Whilst the top two were three minutes apart, Matthew Greenwood led a group of five separated by only 40 seconds between third and seventh. The junior girls’ Long Distance was the only individual event during the week with little New Zealand presence – their best result was fifth. Liana Stubbs led most of the way and finished a bit over a minute ahead of Lilja Lehtonen, whilst another breakthrough result was achieved by Sanda Halpin, who set a benchmark time early in the day which only two others were able to beat. As always, ASOC finished with the Relays. The State title was not in serious doubt this time, with New South Wales going in with a big lead; the closest contest was between the two New Zealand teams, with Harua ultimately getting on top of Karahiwi. New South Wales’s one outright win came in the senior boys. Five were within three minutes of the lead on the first leg, but most crucial was that Oskar Mella came back with the lead for NSW with their two strongest runners still to come. Alvin Craig made that clear on the second leg

Schools Sprint - Kyneton - Nea Shingler (NSW).

ASOC Long Distance at Mt Alexander - Josh Newnes (QLD). Long Distance - Junior Girls.

Schools Sprint, Kyneton, Erika Enderby (NSW). Schools Sprint, Kyneton, Oskar Mella (NSW) ASOC Long Distance at Mt Alexander, Eric Lovell (QLD).

2022 ASOC Honours Team.

as he opened up a six-minute lead, and although Felix Hunt made a small impression on Sam Woolford (and pulled away from Zefa Fa’avae to give Harua second over Karahiwi), the win was never in doubt. New Zealand dominated the senior girls, with the two teams 13 minutes clear of any State and not seriously challenged after the first leg, which Milla Key narrowly led for Victoria. Zara Stewart went from a minute down to two minutes ahead against Anna Babington on the second leg, and Kaia Joergensen pulled Karahiwi away further on the last. New South Wales were a distant third but always looked like being the leading State from the second leg onwards. The two New Zealand teams came out on top in the junior boys too, this time with Harua ahead, although this was a closer contest with five teams within 3:39 after two legs. It looked to be a very open race amongst the State teams – in the Long Distance the top seven Australians had come from seven different States – and so it proved. Euan Best had given Tasmania a four-minute lead on the first leg but they had dropped back into the pack by the end of the second, and in the end three consistent runs gave South Australia the honours. Harua were in charge most of the way in the junior girls after a fast first leg from Juliet Freeman, although Sanda Halpin’s fine second leg brought the ACT back to within 1:30 before the margin grew again. A fast final leg from Lilja Lehtonen lifted New South Wales into third. New South Wales’s eventual margin was 10 points over the ACT, who did well to get second given their lack of a full senior boys team. After the individual events it looked like a race between Tasmania and Queensland for third, but two Relay mispunches for Queensland settled that, dropping them to sixth with Victoria fourth and South Australia fifth.

2022 ASOC winners State

New South Wales Senior Girls Sprint Nea Shingler (NSW) Long Distance Nea Shingler (NSW) Relay New South Wales Senior Boys Sprint Alvin Craig (NSW) Long Distance Alvin Craig (NSW) Relay New South Wales Junior Girls Sprint Liana Stubbs (TAS) Long Distance Liana Stubbs (TAS) Relay ACT Junior Boys Sprint Euan Best (TAS) Long Distance Euan Best (TAS) Relay South Australia

ASOC Honours Team

The full team announced is: Junior girls: Lilja Lehtonen (NSW), Liana Stubbs (TAS), Ruby Phillips (WA), Savanna Sweeney (NSW). Junior boys: Euan Best (TAS), Eckart Bosman (WA), Miles Bryant(QLD), Hayden Dent (ACT). Senior girls: Erika Enderby (NSW), Justine Hobson (ACT), Eszter Kocsik (NSW), Nea Shingler (NSW). Senior boys: Alvin Craig (NSW), Cooper Horley (NSW), Callum White (VIC), Sam Woolford (NSW).

Australian Sprint Championships – Sunbury

The competition moved to the outer fringes of Melbourne for the Sprint Championships at Salesian College in Sunbury, a small and detailed but reasonably typical school area. The course setting required looking for some very wide route choices at times, something not always seen by the participants. After his World Championship performances, Aston Key was a redhot favourite and so it proved. Patrick Jaffe did enough to keep him honest but gradually dropped back to be 24 seconds in arrears at the end, while Angus Haines recovered from an early error to get into third. Reflecting the quality at the top end of the field, only four got within two minutes of the lead, an unusual spread for a Sprint event. In contrast to the men, the women’s event had no obvious favourite, and in the end it was an international visitor who took the honours. Although she had missed the 2022 Final, Spaniard Maria Prieto has a WOC 21st place (and a JWOC 7th) to her name, and had shown in the first half of the Middle Distance that she was not out of place in this company. In the Sprint, her best event, she opened up a lead early on and was out in front for the remainder. Asha Steer was her closest challenger early, but Caitlin Young got on top in the second half to be the lead Australian. One of the biggest turnarounds was in W20, where Nea Shingler looked to be cruising to victory before losing a minute on the fourthlast and dropping to fifth. That opened the door for a New Zealand sweep, with Zara Stewart edging away from Molly McGowan and Kaia Joergensen over the closing stages. The locals had a better time of it in M20, when Alvin Craig held a narrow lead over Ewan Shingler most of the way, and held on by eight seconds despite a small wobble at the second-last. Several other junior classes saw late turnarounds. In M16 it was the last control which was decisive, with Cooper Horley taking the lead there after Euan Best had led by 13 seconds at the secondlast. In M18 Daniel Wood overtook Lochlann Hogan at the second-last, while in W18, Zoe Carter was over a minute down on Kelly McKinnon at halfway but hauled it in over the closing stages, continuing an impressive year of Sprint performances. Anna Babington led another New Zealand sweep in W16, while they were one second away from doing likewise in W14, won by Zara Toes. The most interesting of the masters races was W45, in which the top four were only separated by 17 seconds, and eventual winner Rachel West was in sixth place with four controls to go. Allison Jones, Ceri Pass and Heather O’Donnell all led at different stages, but second place for O’Donnell was still a career best. The three leading M35s turned on an even closer race than they had the preceding Sunday; this time Daniel Stott and Eric Smyth could not be separated after a fast finish from the Queenslander, with Andrew Slattery only just behind. Mispunches were again significant in a few classes, including M60 where Tim Hatley’s win culminated a good year for him; he did not enter the top three until the fourth-last control but finished with a 51-second lead. Alex Tarr came from behind in M80 to overhaul Trevor Simpson by 11 seconds, making him the second of the “1972ers” for the week to take a title, and Ana Herceg also overcame an early deficit to take W60. At the other end of the scale, there were several classes where the margin was more than a minute; Kathie Dent showed her speed to turn the tables on Marina Iskhakova in W40, whilst others with large wins included Jenny Bourne (W65), Alison Radford (W70), Jenny Hawkins (W75) and Eoin Rothery (M65).

Sophie Best (TAS). Sandra Tarr (VIC) & Justine Hobson (ACT). AUS Sprint - Patrick Jaffe (VIC). AUS Sprint - David Stocks (ACT).

AUS Sprint - M & W 12A winners. AUS Sprint - M & W 21E winners. AUS Sprint - M & W 14A winners.

Australian Long Distance Championships – Maldon

The final individual event was the Long Distance Championships at Maldon, featuring a mix of terrain, with granite to start and goldmining to finish. As befits a Long Distance race, it was a hard day’s work on the longer courses, particularly for the women whose winning time was close to the men (something which will be becoming the norm soon, at least internationally). Aston Key was out to make it a clean sweep of individual titles and that result was never really in doubt. Patrick Jaffe was his closest challenger, but was already behind by the time he dropped two minutes at #14, and from there the only question was the margin, seven minutes in the end. Angus Haines had some significant time losses too, but a good finish saw him through into the placings. Grace Crane has been clearly the pick of the Long Distance runners over the last two years, and on a particularly long day, she was in front most of the way. Caitlin Young did have a good second half, and cut the gap from four minutes to two over the closing controls without ever really looking like winning. Aislinn Prendergast is another who does well over the longer distances – she had finished ahead of Crane on the long day at Easter – and completed the placings. M20 had a number of twists along the way. Zefa Fa’Avae and Alvin Craig both held the lead at points during the first half of the course. Ewan Shingler got to the lead for the first time at #12, lost three minutes at #20 to fall behind Sam Woolford, but was back in front by #24, before holding out his NSW teammate over the technical closing controls to win by 44 seconds. It was a Shingler double when Nea won a somewhat more straightforward W20 race, pulling away from Mikayla Cooper in the second half after a close opening. Apart from Aston Key, six others did the clean sweep, three juniors and three masters. Elye and Hayden Dent made it three out of three in M14 and M12 respectively, with Elye especially dominant with a six-minute margin on a relatively short course. Also completing a sweep with margins on the day beyond six minutes were Jenny Bourne in W65, and Alison Radford in W70; Bourne is no stranger to national titles, but for Radford it was her first Long Distance A class title since 2003. Anna Babington was comfortably clear of the W16 field – once again dominated by New Zealand with eight of the top nine – despite an up-and-down run, whilst Alistair CoryWright was pushed closer in M55 than he had been in the previous two events, thanks to a good run on a rare Australian appearance by Sweden-based Donald Staudte (a past Australian WOC representative), but still finished two minutes ahead. The technical final section was crucial in many classes; even the last control was not a giveaway, as demonstrated in W75 where it was critical to Jenny Hawkins taking the lead over Libby Meeking. W60 had five different leaders, a top four with 1:45 and a top six within 3:34, with Lisa Mead ending up on top when the music stopped

to take another title across the Tasman. W55 also saw the top four separated by less than two minutes, but there most of the reshuffling took place in the first half of the course, with Alison Inglis taking the lead on the long leg – most courses had one – and staying there. There were some closely bunched finishes in junior classes too. Consistency saw Amy Dufty through at the head of a bunch of five within two minutes in W14 despite not winning a split, while the New Zealand pair of Jake McLellan and Eddie Swan were separated by less than a minute in M16. Two older classes which had been close all week and were again on this day were M35, where Daniel Stott took over in the last 20 minutes of a long race to edge Andrew Slattery out by 54 seconds, whilst Rob Walter edged out Bruce Arthur for the second day in a row in M45. At the other end of the margin scale, Grant Bluett dropped back into his M50 class and put five minutes between himself and the field. Greg Barbour (M60), Steve Flick (M75) and Alex Tarr (M80) were all likely winners regardless, but time losses by others turned potentially close races into blowouts, while Eszter Kocsik blew the W18 field away early, already five minutes clear by the 20-minute mark and nine at the end.

AUS Relay start.

Australian Relays – Campbells Creek

The week finished with the Australian Relays, which has often closed the championship week, although not since 2017. Campbells Creek offered a mix of typical Victorian goldmining terrain, and some steeper gully-spur which the longer courses made it to. M21 opened with four teams within two minutes after the first leg. Although Martin Dent had the lead for the ACT, the most critical part of this equation was that James Robertson was in the lead group for Victoria. With Patrick Jaffe and Aston Key to come, this made them clear favourites. The ACT hung in for longer than might have been expected, with Matt Doyle managing to finish with Jaffe despite the Victorian doing the day’s fastest time, and Andrew Barnett only falling back slowly from Key on the last, but the Victorians did what they needed to do and finished three minutes ahead. NSW and South Australia were both in the hunt for two legs but dropped away later, although NSW did managed to hang onto third. The women started with a race in two on the opening leg, with Aislinn Prendergast and Krystal Neumann four minutes clear of the field. Queensland dropped away from there, and Natasha Key put Victoria in a strong position, but Caitlin Young lifted the ACT through the field to close the gap to a couple of minutes, putting Grace Crane within striking distance – or would have done but for a mispunch. With the ACT out of the picture, Victoria were untroubled to take the win, with Asha Steer stretching the margin further over her sister Lanita (running for South Australia); a strong last leg by Justine Hobson brought the ACT’s second team into third. Both junior elite classes ended up in battles between NSW and New Zealand, and in both cases it was NSW who won. It didn’t look like it would be that way in M20 when Zefa Fa’avae gave New Zealand a four-minute lead on the first leg, but Alvin Craig emerged from a group of four within two minutes to bring NSW alongside them at the start of the last leg. That left it a head-to-head between Ewan Shingler and Felix Hunt on the last leg, and Shingler just edged away to win by a minute. W20 was a similar story after two legs except that NSW were up against two New Zealand teams rather than one. Nea Shingler ran the day’s fastest time on the last leg and was first across the line; of the two New Zealand runners, Zara Stewart pushed Shingler close but mispunched, while Molly McGowan dropped back but held second anyway. New Zealand’s depth saw them sweep most of the younger junior classes, most spectacularly in W16 where they filled the first four places. Only in M16 were they pushed; Euan Best gave Tasmania a six-minute lead on the opening leg but the visitors ran that down over the next two to win by two. The youngest age group provided the day’s closest finish, when Hayden Dent completed an excellent week by coming from third for the ACT to squeeze out Western Australia by six seconds. Western Australia were also on the wrong end of the day’s secondclosest finish, when Steve Flick closed down a seven-minute gap on the last leg in M75 to bring NSW home by 15 seconds, but they did not go home completely empty-handed after taking the inaugural W75 title. Also decided by less than a minute was M55, but there the winning State was not in doubt – the two teams separated by 27 seconds were both from NSW, with the nominal second team triumphant. M65 and W65 both saw big turnarounds. Victoria were 12 minutes down in eighth place after the first leg in M65, but Chris Norwood brought them up to third on the second leg, then Ted van Geldermalsen overran the ACT on the last, turning a seven-minute deficit into a three-minute win. In W65, NSW and Tasmania were the two leaders after two legs, but NSW dropped to fourth and Tasmania were disqualified after taking the wrong map, leaving the ACT to come through from third. M45, W45 and W55 were all close for two legs before blowing out on the third. NSW took out M45 when Jock Davis pulled away from Ben Goonan, whilst fast final legs from Allison Jones and Jenny Bourne gave the ACT wins in W45 and W55 respectively. Despite those results it was only enough to make a dent in NSW’s winning margin for overall State points. It will not be long before major competition resumes; with the Oceania Championships in Tasmania in January, a drought of major events is turning into a feast. This year’s events were successful and the turnout was pleasingly good, hopefully a sign of things to come.

Kaia Joergensen in the tunnel at Wattle Gully.

Creek fording at Blackwood Middle Distance Championships.

Number Twins

Long-time orienteers (now both M75) Peter Searle (Bendigo) and David Hogg (Canberra) found they had identical bib numbers if you turned one upside down.

2022 Goldfields - Chewton - Zaf Bluett-Jones shows how he won all legs on Course F. Photo: Warren Key.

Hermann Wehner

– M98 years young

Hermann is well known in Orienteering circles around the world having competed with distinction for many years. At the 2022 AUS Sprint Championships a special M98A class was created just for Hermann. And he won it! Hermann was a popular attraction amongst the crowd in the Sprint arena where many were keen to have a chat with the legend.

Abbie Lane, Ingrid Young & Eve Tague chat with Hermann.