 Lesley
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Posted: 3 October 2009, 2:59 PM
Photos at
http://photoworx.com.au/
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Michael
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Posted: 4 October 2009, 3:10 AM
Some excellent results from the Oz Champs Sprint and Long, specially with vet fields bolstered by international competitors ahead of the world masters.
A selection with a Wgtn bias. Lauren Turner 1st W14 sprint; Tim Robertson 1st M16 sprint (NZ 1-3-4); Nick Hann 2nd M16 long; Selena Metherell 1st W16 sprint; Jula McMillan 2nd and 1st W16; Anna Robertson 2nd W40 sprint; Hamish Goodwin 1st and 2nd M45; Trish Aspin 1st and 1st W60; Robbie 2nd and 2nd M70.
Results seem to be going up on the Orienteering Australia website earlier than the event website: http://orienteering.asn.au
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Michael
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Posted: 6 October 2009, 7:24 AM
And the best results from Sunday's relays were in the 16's. Kiwi girls 1st and 3rd, boys 3rd and 8th in a very close race.
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GeneO
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Posted: 6 October 2009, 1:29 PM
our whole team was great but a lot of us fell appart in the rocks on the last 2 days.
one thing I hadnt seen before was the use of radio controls. they were really cool!
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Paul I
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Posted: 8 October 2009, 9:03 PM
a bit late now but just a little more about the oz champs last week... for those of you who never went and thought you were missing out on a tanning opportunity, I managed to get my shorts and pasty white legs out for 1/2 a day, most of the time the bags were empty as every bit of clothing we took was needed to stay warm in cool victorian spring weather.
I suspect others, like myself, found it too hard to find convenient internet access to report back, some of the town libraries had cheap or free machines to jump on if you happened to be near one midweek before closing - which we generally weren't, and with 8 map runs plus travel in 8 days the schedual was a bit on the tight side.
Weather aside it was a great trip on some nice maps.
The Oz middle champs on 'Chewton Diggings' threw us straight in to the gold mining terrain, although not as tricky as Naseby it still managed to trip up lots of us as the open forest enabled you to run faster than you could navigate, well that's my excuse anyhow as I destroyed what should have been a great race by a very dodgy middle section riddled with shamefull errors. I deserved the faceplant into the freezing stream at the finish which incidentally according to the farmer hadn't flowed in many years.
Next up was the Vic Long Champs on 'Choke'em Gully', another wooly hat and thermals day. Nice open gully spur stuff, a bit steeper making route choice important. By all accounts everyone loved the area and for many it was a first time on a 1:15000 map! We had a numer of good results here, personally I managed a 3rd, swapping places a few times with liggo (who won our grade) until I reeeeeeally choked on one control, what a drongo 
Not everyone managed to, but some of us visited the 'Mt Kooyoora' of WOC 1985 & WM 2002 infamey, that place really 'rocks'. Unfortunately for Amber one of her ankles was just about big enough to map after she went over on it.
The schools ind & relays were on the same 'Browns Reef' map at Bendigo, this is where I broke out the shorts briefly as it finally warmed up. For the rest of the runners we had a head to head loop race against one other opponent, km rates were fast and furious in the amazing open open forest and gentle hills, it was no holiday for Hamish and I as at the 5km half way mark he was just a few seconds ahead of me so we both gave it death for the second 1/2, lucky for me I think I had the ever so slightly longer course on the first loop so I just managed to grab a narrow win.
The following day on the same quick map was an odd score event where you had to get you goal (500 pts for course A). Strangely I seemed to pick to same beginning as Hamish and a very quick Mark Nemmeth, so again it was no easy rest event, things were going sweet until I decided to stop and add my points up and discovered that I had gone way further than I needed to and so linked together the straightest route to the finish to get the points :S
The Oz Sprint Champs on 'Benella Islands' was more of a park event with some very wet and grassy bush,(drought - yeah right) ahh, dammed foreigners beaten by two swiss and a frog. It could have been worse I suppose - I could have been Austraian! I chose one bad route and couldn't get over the fence and ended up losing a minute in some green, the frenchman who won, hot on my heals for the last km finally ran me down in the finish chute - depressingly I just couldn't run that fast. Some of us went out to the Warby's for the long model, but the late sprints and control placing timing on the model map didn't allow much time to check out the terrain, but from what we did experience it was not going to be a walk in the park. A sort of semi open in many places with a lot of fallen timber to hinder straight line running, not big granite like Kooyoora, but smaller orange rock, and lots of it. Throw in plenty of denser regrowth and some grunty hills. Quite rough really. Perfect long distance stuff.
Out to Warby Range for the Oz Long at last, it might as well be wet and cold again since we were getting used to it.
My mission started off great, lots of long legs going fairly straight picking off the bigger grey rock and broad but accurate contour shapes, until #6 in some mean green stuff, Liggo caught and passed me hear and said he thought I'd punched it as I was beside it. ... alas I didn't and continued the hunt. Most courses had at least one very long leg, our's a 2km stint was a choice between climbing early to the left or climbing later to the right. The right route looked a bit further but half of it was fast running down a valley, so that looked good to me. And it probably would have been had I not encountered what Dave Sheppard described as the bermuda triangle. One minute I was heading up through a large saddle, full of green undergrowth I might add so you can get a better picture, expecting to come to a track, next thing I'm standing face to face with a steep 50 meter gully. What the..! I'd somehow done quite a bender, and it took a lot of imagination to relocate. Good run apart from those two mistakes.
I don't know about anyone else but by the time the relays came around early the following day I was completely exhausted, the mid week runs were taking their toll and for me a severe lack of sleep from over a week in a tent with a sore back isn't exactly conducive to any records unless they involves the guiness book of world records for sleeping while standing up. The relays were on the same tough hills, rock and greenery... we kiwis need to toughen up our relay courses if we want to compete over in oz.
I started in the mass start, it was total mayhem with trains all directions through the initial detailed rocky area, I usually start well but not today, even at #2, I was (again) right beside the lil sucker but some how missed it... aghrrrrr. I lost so much time all the 70's were coming through! Don't ask how but I caught first the swiss dude, then one aussie, then another, passing them all, then along comes the bermuder triangle once again. The swiss guy and I both fall into it's spell, seriously, it was exactly the same spot that got me on the privious day! I didn't know what direction I was facing half the time as the compass was playing sorded games with my brain. Eventually I got out of there and had to play catch up, passing one aussie near the end, but 1/2 min down on another aussie team but 3 mins adrift of the swiss. Hamish ran our next leg but the bermuda triangle got him too, 3rd leg for us was Owen who came in relitively unscathed thankfully.
Some much needed rest days to recharge has been fairly universal for most of us who travelled I presume judging by how quite everyone's been. But once again, all enjoyed a trip to oz for some different terrain experiences.
There were some outstanding results, but also I would say that my personal brief tales of good runs ruined by lapses of concentration in unfamiliar and tough terrain would be fairly typical of many other of the kiwi contingent.
Hopefully those who are going on to the masters can nail it.
Looking at the mid week in Canberra it certainly looks like some of the dudes are on fire. Cher.
http://www.vicorienteering.asn.au/
http://www.act.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/results/Canberra2daysD1.txt
http://www.act.orienteering.asn.au/gfolder/results/Canberra2daysD2.txt
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