Australian Rachel Effeney wins Sprint the Bay in New Zealand

A record number of competitors contested the Sprint the Bay orienteering series in Hawkes Bay New Zealand last weekend with Australians Rachel Effeney and Matthew Parton taking out 1^st and 3^rd respectively in the elite categories. The series took place over the Waitangi long weekend with 2 sprint races each day (6 in total) with the winners determined through cumulative time for the series.

Stage 1 was a mass start race that took place around a school, a cemetery and some parkland and would determine the pecking order for the weekend. The racing was fierce as it soon became apparent that some levels of ‘physicality’ were acceptable in getting to a punch first and those runners at the front of each field were able to put valuable seconds between themselves and those further down in the train by getting in early on the first few controls. Rachel Effeney was one of those to punch first early and in a sprint finish managed to shade Lizzie Ingham by 2 seconds to gain the yellow leaders singlet for the first race. In the elite men’s race Tim Robertson won on the line to get hold of the leaders jersey which he would hold until Stage 5. Bryan Keely was the best of the Australian men in the Stage placing 5^th, 4 seconds behind the leaders with Hanny Allston scraping into the top 6 in the women’s elite race.

Winners of the various jerseys

Stages 2-4 were all urban sprints with reverse chasing starts (leaders starting last) and the competition through these races was super tight. Oscar McNulty scored 2 impressive stage victories at Napier Central in Stage 2 and Frimley in Stage 4 to move into second overall at this point, just 11 seconds behind Tim Robertson in the competition for the outright series lead. Stage 4 also saw the only Australian trifecta of the weekend with Matthew Parton and Lachlan Dow rounding out the top three which enabled them to move up into 6^th and 7^th overall, with Bryan Keely also running well into 5^th place for the stage. Rachel Effeney was dominant through these races placing 1^st in every one and with some big winning margins was able to take her lead to 1 minute 41 seconds by the end of Stage 4.

Bryan Keely gets air

Stage 5 was the only forest sprint of the series and as expected had a huge impact on the overall result. For the first time Rachel and Tim both lost their leaders jerseys dropping back to 2^nd and 4^th overall. Toby Scott won the elite men’s race by a massive 35 seconds to leapfrog from 5^th into 1^st overall and Angela Simpson moved from 2^nd into 1^st overall with her stage win. Of the Australians, Matthew Parton was fortunately placed in the start list to take advantage of Toby’s phenomenal run and after being caught 1 minute midway through the course managed to hold on for the 3^rd fastest time of the day. Lachlan Dow’s 6^th place enabled him to hold onto 6^th overall.

Stage 6 took place on the Arataki map which comprised two schools separated by an oval with every course having two loops each with each loop running through both schools. To make more interesting head-to-head racing, starts were in pairs for this race with each competitor completing one loop first and their starting partner completing the other, before swapping. As a result of this Rachel Effeney and Angela Simpson were the last pair to start in the women’s race and since only 9 seconds separated them the winner of this race could well win the series. Rachel, who needed to catch the 9 seconds, had a good race and came into the finish chute a few seconds ahead and with a big crowd screaming it was clear it was going to be a nail-biter. Unfortunately, as the dust settled it became apparent that Angela had missed a control and so was marked as a miss-punch, although Rachel had done enough to take the lead away from her anyway. 

Aislinn Prendergast

The final standings for the elite women were: 1^st Rachel Effeney, 2^nd Lizzie Ingham, 3^rd Kate Morrison. The men’s race was less wide open with big gaps separating the top 6 which meant that a mix-up in the results was unlikely based on Stage 6 racing. Despite this Matthew Parton appeared to do his best to cede his 3^rd position and after starting the race with a 35 second buffer to Tim Robertson in 4^th only held on by a meagre 6 seconds at the end of what he described as a sloppy race on tired legs. Lachlan Dow was the best placed of the Australian men on the stage in 5^th which meant that he retained 6^th place in a super competitive field. The overall results in the elite men’s division were: 1^st Toby Scott, 2^nd Tom Reynolds, 3^rd Matthew Parton.

Women's podium- First Rachel Effeney (AUS, Queensland Cyclones), 2nd Lizzie Ingham, (NZ and Canberra Cockatoos), 3rd Kate Morrison (NZ)

Men's podium- 1st Toby Scott (NZ), 2nd Tom Reynolds (NZ), 3rd Matt Parton (AUS and NSW Stingers)

A great video teaser of what Sprint the bay is all about.

For full results and splits go to http://www.sprintthebay.org/results/2012/overall.html

(Aussies in Red)

Men's Elite (61)

1	Toby Scott	1:34:35
2	Thomas Reynolds	1:35:53
3	Matthew Parton	1:36:36
4	Tim Robertson	1:36:42
5	Chris Forne	1:37:00
6	Lachlan Dow	1:37:31
7	Carsten Joergensen	1:39:30
8	Ian Lawford	1:40:00
9	Tane Cambridge	1:40:23
10	James Bradshaw	1:40:41
11	Bryan Keely	1:40:58
12	Oscar McNulty	1:41:34
13	Nick Hann	1:41:45
14	Beat Zimmermann	1:42:16
15	Bruce Arthur	1:42:25
16	Jourdan Harvey	1:43:49
17	Murray Scown	1:44:26
18	Eugene Campbell	1:47:57
19	Stefan Zingg	1:48:56
20	Alistair Richardson	1:50:22
21	Kasimir Gregory	1:50:56
22	Greg Flynn	1:51:10
23	Al Cory-Wright	1:55:29
24	Michael Smithson	1:56:21
25	Oliver Mitchell	1:59:19
26	David Hunhammar	2:02:12
27	Liam Paterson	2:02:45
28	Mathieu McGuire	2:06:44
29	Kieran Woods	2:07:57
30	Thomas Eatson	2:11:46
31	Luis Slyfield	2:17:57
32	Mikko Ruokolainen	2:24:27
33	Cairn Coghill	2:25:19
34	Bradley Ivory	2:29:12
35	Gergo Verhas	2:29:29

Women's Elite (37)

1	Rachel Effeney	1:32:56
2	Lizzie Ingham	1:34:11
3	Kate Morrison	1:38:04
4	Georgia Whitla	1:38:26
5	Laura Robertson	1:40:06
6	Hanny Allston	1:41:34
7	Aislinn Prendergast	1:42:58
8	Tessa Ramsden	1:48:23
9	Lisa Grant	1:50:28
10	Mace Neve	1:50:43
11	Cosette Saville	1:52:19
12	Belinda Lawford	1:54:11
12	Selena Metherell	1:54:11
14	Ilka Barr	1:58:29
15	Shannon Jones	2:00:27
16	Katelyn Effeney	2:00:30
17	Anna Gray	2:02:15
18	Renee Beveridge	2:03:00
19	Sara Bailey	2:03:49
20	Jula McMillan	2:04:31
21	Karin Geissbuehler	2:05:21
22	Heather Muir	2:06:42
23	Emily Cantwell	2:11:05
24	Katie Bolt	2:11:31
25	Sarah Gray	2:13:11
26	Miina Ruokolainen	2:15:12
27	Emily Dinsdale	2:20:04
28	Sarah Davidson	2:31:40
29	Katalla Kramer	2:55:28

Thanks to Sprint the Bay organisers for the photos, and Matt Parton for words of wisdom

Beechworth 2012 elite training camp

The first elite training camp for 2012 was held around Beechworth in Victoria last week. Sessions were attended by up to 18 people which was a great turn out. The Beechworth region is famous for gold-mining history, a bakery, and plenty of good orienteering terrains. The Christmas 5-days will be held around this region this year from December 27-31 and will be a great lead up for any international orienteers heading down-under  for the World Cup races in New Zealand.

		Beechworth 2012 photos VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Monday evening- Sprint training at Beechworth's Latrobe University Campus.
This was a rerun of the 2003 Australian Sprint Distance Championships (prior to IOSSM)

Tuesday morning- Kangaroo Crossing

Tuesday evening- Beechworth

4 x 1km intervals, run as a variety of chasing starts.

Wednesday morning- Barambogie North

Relay training with 6km course and some splitting. Really nice forest and some good competition.

Wednesday evening- easy cycle for some, running intervals for some, or getting two stitches in your leg puncture if your name is Bridget.

Thursday morning- Barambogie South

Tough session with 4x 1km courses. First leg was a brutal uphill leg to be run at max effort, followed by 6 or 7 downhill diagonal legs and a good break in between each course.

Thursday evening- Beechworth

Short 3km hagaby around the best parts of the local beechworth map.

Friday morning- Warby Ranges

Route choice exercise run in pairs.

Friday evening- Warby Ranges

Relay training exercise

Saturday morning- Rowdy Flat

Started with a map work over the first part of the men's Oceania Middle Distance course.

First course 2.4km, followed by 2.1km chasing start.

Bruce Arthur's GPS route

Saturday afternoon- for some a relaxing afternoon at the Dederang Picnic races, followed by a 1650m foot race around the track. Congrats to Jasmine Neve and Vanessa Round for placing 1st and 2nd in the women's, and Ratsky for 2nd place in the mens race.

It was a great start to 2012 for the squad, and finished off a tough two weeks a training for those who attended the National Altitude training camp at Falls Creek the prior week. The next event on the national squad list is the Sprint the Bay event in New Zealand which is also followed by a training camp.

Thanks to Jim Russell for his help with the camp, and to Albury Wodonga Orienteering Club and VOA for access to the orienteering maps. The Rowdy Flat and Kangaroo Crossing maps are now embargoed until the Victorian Championships later in 2012.

Australian Elite squad training camp- internationals welcome

Orienteering Australia is holding an Elite Squad training camp being held from Jan 2-9 based at Beechworth, Victoria. This period is a popular time for European visitors to Australia so if any international orienteers are interested in attending they can contact the organiser below.

For this camp the new “Rowdy Flat” map (used for the Oceania Middle Distance Championships) and the very old “Kangaroo Crossing” area will be amongst the maps utilised. To do so the organisers have been given special permission by Orienteering Victoria, as these areas are being used in September 2012 for Victorian Championship middle and long distance events.

Thus there will be an embargo on both maps mentioned above, which will take place from January 10th 2012. This gives any orienteer the chance to run on these areas until that date.

Additionally, other orienteers are invited to participate at the January camp, especially keen juniors.

For more information on this please contact Rob Preston – rob_preston AT hotmail.com

Sprint the Bay

Also, in February, after the Sprint the Bay carnival (4-6th) in NZ there will be a senior squad training camp from Feb 7-12th. Other keen orienteers, juniors or seniors are also invited to participate in this. For more details contact tour leader Jim Russell - jymbo@dodo.com.au

Event details at www.sprintthebay.org

Crane and Round in Middle Final

Australian team runners Grace Crane and Vanessa Round had their individual day of reckoning in the forests of La Feclaz today with the 2011 Middle distance final.

After a solid qualification last Sunday they were expecting a tough technical challenge. Grace started early and was the leader through the early TV controls. With a trademark safe start Grace looked set for a top 20 result but mistakes on the tricky 6th and 7th controls cost dearly in a competitive WOC Final with Grace finishing up in an excellent 27th place.

With a strong qualifying position Vanessa started amongst some favoured runners. After a solid start Vanessa was caught by World champion Dana Brozkova and they missed the troublesome 8th control together. But Vanessa stormed home in the hot and tough conditions to finish in 35th place.

Results

Map and GPS Tracks

Relay

Both ladies will be backing up for the Relay tomorrow and they will be joined by Jasmine Neve.

In the men Simon Uppill will lead out, Julian Dent 2nd and Rob Preston will bring the team home.

The Relay is final race of WOC 2011 and is expected to be very technical and could produce some surprising results.

Watch live at:

live.woc2011.fr

Julian Dent 24th in Long Distance Final

The Long Distance final of the 2011 WOC was the longest in history, with a handful of athletes breaking 2hrs. French favourite Thierry Gueorgiou was a class above the rest of the field, winning by 4mins from Pasi Ikonen (FIN) and Francois Gonon (FRA).

Julian Dent lost time early in the course, on controls 2 and 3, but gathered momentum for the last half of the course to move through the field to finish a credible 24th place in his first Long Distance Final. Below is a copy of Julian’s GPS route, and some photos of the day.

 

 

WOC 2011 Sprint Final

 

Congrats to our finalists and their great results- Simon 37th, Grace 24th, Rachel 35th.

The final results can be found here- http://live.woc2011.fr/data/uploads/result/rl_woc2011_sprint.pdf

but we are still waiting for the qualification results…..

Below are some photos and video from the final.

Tomorrow is the Long Distance Final at Le Feclaz, where we will all be supporting Julian Dent in his first Long final. Most of the team is heading up early for a crack at the spectator races, a great chance for some relay training.

Sprint Qualification Debacle!!

This morning’s WOC Sprint Qualifications in Aix-Les-Bains has been shrouded in controversy with large numbers of athletes disqualified for crossing forbidden features.

Simon Uppill had a great run to qualify in his very competitive heat and is the only Aussie man to make the final. Julian Dent and Rob Preston lost a little time and finished outside the top 15. There is some controversy about the final results as Jules and Rob were also listed as disqualified despite not being aware of crossing any forbidden features. Hopefully this will be cleared up later on…

Grace Elson had a pretty clean run and qualified well for the women’s final. Rachel Effeney also had a pretty good run and was originally placed in equal 16th with a Chinese girl, but was reinstated to 14th place after a nail biting wait for Wendy and Rob to come out of the team leaders meeting with final start lists. A great result for Rach at her first WOC, she is excited and relieved to be running the final this afternoon! Mace run well in the first part of the course and was feeling good, but unfortunately lost too much time on a tricky leg towards the end to qualify.

There were 3 areas of infringements;
1. Jumping down an impassable cliff near men’s #5/women’s #4
2. Running through cafeteria’s in the town centre (marked as purple hash)
3. Running through olive green areas near the finish

Apparently 54 women and 41 men crossed the wall, but their results were allowed to stand due to it being  unclear where the wall ended. Nor were any people DSQ for crossing an uncrossable crag at no. 3 on the women's.

Starts have supposedly been delayed by 45minutes, and hopefully online coverage can be followed at the WOC2011 live website. It should be an exciting race once things get moving after this mornings kerfuffle! The rest of the team is getting ready to cheer our qualifiers on… GO SIMON, RACH AND GRACE!!!

And here are some pictures of our team from the opening ceremony and parade which was held last night, to a great local turnout!