Trevor Jacobs Carries Narrow Lead Into Series Break
Monday, 24 December 2007
Trevor Jacobs goes into the four week break in the Runners Shop Twilight Series with the narrowest possible margin. Trevor Jacobs, on 623 points from his best five scores, leads the Runners Shop Twilight Series at the half way point by just one point from Jo Allison. Jacobs has three firsts and two seconds and Allison has three firsts, a second and a third. The only others to score maximum points in the first nine rounds are Eric Morris (Rnd 1), Hermann Wehner (Rnd 2) and Hugh Moore (Rnd 4). Matt Crane is third on 618 points and Moore fourth on 615. The top three point scorers at Yarralumla Bays were Allison, Crane and Jacobs, and winners of the Oceania water bottles were Rob Walter, Grace Elson and Pauli Piiroinen, with the top three placegetters being ineligible.
With nine rounds to go when the competition resumes at the ANU on 16 January, theoretically around 20 people could win as the best 10 scores over the series will be counted. Progress points here.
Jacobs won last year, but Allison who is the 2007 SmokeFree Orienteer of the Year (Wehner Cup) has yet to win a series since the competition began in 1996-97. Julian Dent won the 2004 Wehner Cup and then went on to win the Twilight Series in 2004-05 with 1,000 points (thus far the only maximum possible score) and won the series again in 2005-06. Kate Fortune also won twice in 1996-97 and 1998-99. Report by Bob Mouatt
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Battle On For Young And Old
Saturday, 15 December 2007
The battle for supremacy in the 2007 Runners Shop Twilight Series is on for young and old, male and female. With eight of 18 rounds completed, Trevor Jacobs has a narrow lead in his attempt to win consecutive Twilight Series. Jacobs’ has amassed 499 points from his best four scores to lead Jo Allison by just two points. Visiting British orienteer and 2007 National Orienteering Series Champion, Matt Crane lies in third place on 494 just one point ahead of wily veteran Hugh Moore. Rob Walter is in fifth place on 487, while Grace Elson and Bob Allison share sixth on 485, just 14 points behind Jacobs. The top points scorers in round 8 were Jacobs 125, Crane 124 and Elson 123. The progress points table after round 8 is here.
The fast, open terrain of the next venue, Yarralumla Bays, (Round 9) is likely to favour the leaders, but anything could happen.
Story by Bob Mouatt
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Brindabella Challenge MTBO Results
Sunday, 9 December 2007
David Simpfendorfer and Julie Quinn were clear winners in the Mens and Womens Open class, 25km course of the Brindabella Challenge held in Kowen Forest today. John Shelton-Agar and Jean Douglass were the leaders in the 19km course and veteran Dennis Trewin and youngster Anna Pulford held off the challengers in the 11.5km course.
Results
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Twilight Series Competition Heating Up
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Trevor Jacob's dominance of the Runners Shop Twilight Series might be coming to an end with challenges coming from veteran war horse Hugh Moore and a quartet of elites, Jo Allison, Grace Elson, Matt Crane and Rob Walter. Jacobs still leads the series with his best three scores after five rounds totalling 373, two ahead of Moore, with a further five points to Walter, and Bob Allison and Elson sharing fourth on 362, but the young brigade are starting score top points.
Jo Allison took the honours on Wednesday evening scoring the maximum of 125, Matt Crane was second and Hugh Moore was third. All three will receive water bottles, but this will be Moore’s third and last award, as the limit is three per season.
Story by Bob Mouatt.
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Twilight No. 4 - Bluetts West
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Matt Crane won the long course (Orange 1) today by a minute from Kerrin Rattray and Rob Walter and in the Womens Open, Jo Allison finished 2 minutes ahead of Grace Elson.
After a fairly warm day and prospects of a tough run in the heat, the forecast showers dropped the temperature and threatened to make things very miserable for all runners during the afternoon. But there were only a few showers to make paper mache out of the maps. More experienced orienteers of course, brought a plastic bag with them to protect their map and punch card from the elements. (didn't they???)
Shannon Jones, pictured right, was the course setter and also spent most of the afternoon getting the results in to the computer.
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Valerie Barker Receives Mike Cassells Award
Monday, 19 November 2007
The Mike Cassells Award for Services to Orienteering was presented to Valerie Barker at the Orienteering ACT Awards evening on Sunday. Valerie was nominated by a number of people for her outstanding contribution over a number of years as Manager, Blue Lightning squad. She has also made a significant contribution as a course planner and organiser of events.
Jo Allison was the SmokeFree Orienteer of the Year scoring 726 points from her best six scores. This was Jo’s third victory in the Wehner Cup competition having previously won in 1991 and 1992. Next best this year were Hermann Wehner on 658 points and Liz Abbott (2006 winner) on 652. Full OY results
The Services to Coaching Award was made to Grant Bluett and the Jim Sawkins Award for Services to Event Management was made to Bill Jones.
Story by Bob Mouatt
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Twilight Series after 4 Events
Sunday, 18 November 2007
TREVOR JACOBS LEADS THE PACK
After four rounds of the Runners Shop Twilight Series Trevor Jacobs leads the way with the best two scores totalling 249, one point clear of Hugh Moore and three clear of Rob Walter who is relishing being back in Canberra. The top three point scorers at Bruce Ridge were Hugh Moore (125), Rob Walter (124) and Trevor Jacobs (123), but as Trevor is ineligible to win more water bottles the next best points scorer, Grace Elson (122) wins the third bottle for the week.
PS. An error occurred in the progress points after round 3 table because a leading point scorer was inadvertently entered in the competition database as female instead of male and thus the points allocated were incorrect. A full audit of the competition database will be conducted during the Christmas-New Year break to rectify any other errors that might exist.
The progress points table is here.
Report by Bob Mouatt
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2007 End of Year Celebrations
Monday, 12 November 2007
Please join us for the OACT 2007 End of Year Celebrations.
The features of the night will include:-
- Awards to recognise our star althletes and dedicated volunteers.
- Awards to recognise . . umm. . . "innovative methods" to complete orienteering events. (The pink pine cones).
- Video footage from JWOC and Oceania Championships.
- Dinner with my extended orienteering family.
Please fill out this form to reserve your seats. Note - It needs to be handed in to the office or at the twilight event by this Wed 14th November.
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Colleges and High Schools Challenge, and latest Twilight Results
Friday, 9 November 2007
Canberra Grammar Dominates Colleges & High Schools Challenge
Through weight of numbers Canberra Grammar dominated the Colleges & High Schools Challenge. Its team won the College Team Trophy with 48 points from Radford on 10, Hawker 9 and St Edmunds 7 and it won the High Schools Team Trophy with 87 points from Belconnen on 18, Radford 17, St Edmunds 9 and Telopea 7.
Dickson’s won the Girl’s College Team Trophy and Canberra Girls Grammar and Lyneham tied with 19 points each for the Girl’s High School Team Trophy.
Results are here
Magne Knudsen and Trevor Jacobs Top the Twilight Series
After three rounds of the 2007-08 Runners Shop Twilight Series, Magne Knudsen heads the table of the best two scores, with two perfect scores of 125 to have a total of 250. Trevor Jacobs is next best with 248, but he has the best three scores through finishing in top three in each race. Hugh Moore and Anna Booth share third place with 243 points.
The winners of the Oceania Championships water bottles (Blue, Red, Yellow) for the first three rounds are:
· Round 1: Magne Knudsen, Eric Morris, Trevor Jacobs
· Round 2: Hermann Wehner, Trevor Jacobs, Hugh Moore
· . Round 3: Magne Knudsen, Trevor Jacobs, Anna Booth
Trevor Jacobs has won his quota of three and is no longer eligible for further awards of water bottles.
The progress points table is here
Reports by Bob Mouatt
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2007 ACT Primary Schools Challenge
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Canberra Grammar prevented Lyneham from achieving a third clean sweep of both the Boys’ and Girls’ team titles at the 2007 ACT Primary Schools Orienteering Challenge conducted at Weston Park. Lyneham was a clear winner of the Girls’ Challenge amassing 63 points to finish well clear of Campbell on 28 and Cook on 19. In the Boys’ Challenge Canberra Grammar with 95 points edged out Lyneham on 93 points with Campbell third on 26.
Over 100 students participated in the Challenge, with most in years 3 to 6. The exception was a pair from Year 1 at Campbell, Noah Poland and Sonya Darrach, who finished a remarkable second in a field of four groups in the Boys 3/4 Groups.
Report by Bob Mouatt.
Results
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Atkinson's Trig - 23 September 2007
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Event Organiser Valerie Barker at her very neatly prepared
registration desk, being ably assisted by Carol Harding.
The pine logs in the background give an indication of things
to come. Photo by John Harding
Grace Elson was clearly able to leap tall pine thinnings better than any one else at Atkinson's Trig today. She was well in front in the speed stakes with a 6.7 minutes /kilometre rate on the 5.2km red 3 course. Next best, but running nearly twice the distance was Geoff Stacey with 7.3 m/km on the 8.6km Red 1 course, closely followed by Lachlan Dow and Hugh Moore on 7.6.
Course planner Ross Stewart looped the courses around through sections of pine plantations of various stages of growth, and therefore varying levels of visibility and runability. Frequently the route choice was to take the direct line through the bush or the longer, but faster running out on the tracks.
Thomas Hyslop just edged out sister Rebecca on the Blue course, Trish Batchelor was easily fastest on the Green and Derryn McGarva just got past Richard Hyslop on the Orange course.
Results are here and Splits here.
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Oceania 2007
Sunday, 16 September 2007
The third major carnival of orienteering in Australia for 2007 is less than 2 weeks away. The
2007 Oceania carnival begins with a warm up event at Tharwa on September 29, with full competition
beginning the following day east of Canberra with the ACT Championships.
Full details of all events will be available on the Oceania web site soon.
THINGS DO DO IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
Remember there is a lot more to the ACT than orienteering. While you are here for the carnival
why not visit Floriade or the National War Memorial exhibitions. There are also exhibitions on at
the National Archives and Old Parliament House. Not to mention the fun you can have at the National
Science Centre and serious stuff to be found in the National Library.
MTBO
The final national carnival for 2007 will of course be the MTBO Championships in Newcastle in
November. This event, like the Oceania carnival is an Australia/New Zealand challenge event. Final
selection for the Australian team has been extended until October 15, so give it some thought. The
classes to be contested will be M21/W21Elite, M40, W40, M50, W50 and M60. All OACT members are
encouraged to email Peta Whitford (Chair of selectors) at voa@netspeed.net.au if they are interested in selection. Three
riders per class plus a reserve will be selected.
Regardless of the selection decision, you are all encouraged to participate in what promises
to be a terrific weekend of mtb-o at it's finest at this year's nationals.
Especially riders in the M-16, W-16, M20, W20 age classes should have a go at the nationals - as
the selectors are keen to have a look at our juniors — for the upcoming 2008 MTB
JWOC in Poland in late August, 2008.
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2007 Junior League Competition - Results
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Future World Champions? The medal winners
of the Junior League, 2007
Photos by Bob Mouatt
After 16 events the Junior League competition for 2007 has finished. Two orienteers, Robert D'Ascenzo and Alex Snowdon competed in all 16 events and thus were the winners of the Participation Award.
Category winners, based on the 12 best scores out of a possible 16 events, were:
W18 - Snowy Haiblen, W16 - Georgia Parsons, W14 - Hannah Sawkins, W12 - Erin Prince, W10 - Annabelle Mill.
M20 - Geoff Stacey, M18 - Robert D'Ascenzo, M16 - Dane Broughton, M14 - Ben Thompson, M12 - Hugh McCarthy, M10 - Ciaran Lane.
The points score results are here.
The Blue Sparks - Future Blue Lightning?
Note - The Treeathlon Event (15 Sept) details have been updated.
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Mt Majura East - Saturday #16 - 25th August 2007
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Georgia Parsons in full flight
(note both feet off the ground)
as she races into the finish.
A burst of spring weather greeted the 167 orienteers as they turned out today for the last of this years 16 Saturday Series events.
Liam Saillard and Annabelle Mill took the honours in the Mens and Womens Junior Classes on the Blue course, whilst Ciaran Lane and Erin Prince were the Junior winners of the Green course. Geoff Stacey, Mens Junior, won the 4.9km Orange 1 course in 36.17just 20 seconds ahead of Richard Pywell, with another 3.08 min to Oliver Poland. Geoff's time was only beaten in the senior ranks by Eric Morris and Leigh Dickie in Mens Open.
The Mens Junior class in the 3.5km Orange 2 course was the most popular of the day with 28 runners. James Bornholt got up by the smallest of margins, one second, to defeat Dane Broughton, with Michael Brassington another 10 seconds away in third. The Womens Junior class in this course was convincingly won by Georgia Parsons in a quick 31.11min.
Results of the Saturday Series will appear tomorrow.
Full results are here.
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2007 TREEATHLON IN COTTER ON 15 SEPTEMBER
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
OACT Secretary, Shannon Jones
takes part in last years Treeathlon
Team up with the ACT Government, Greening Australia and Orienteering ACT to plant 1,500 native trees and shrubs on Condor Hill, overlooking the Cotter River. The 2007 Treeathlon will be staged in the Cotter catchment area on the morning of Saturday 15 September, with a mass start at 9.00 am.
Tree-athletes will run and ride around Condor Hill and plant 30 trees each. Those without bikes may run the 3.9 km leg. Medals will be presented to the fastest three men and fastest three women to finish their course.
For those who don’t want to compete they can consider volunteering to water and place guards around the plants. The 2007 Treeathlon is an Orienteering ACT/Canberra Cockatoos community project.
Free lunch for all participants from around 12.00 pm.
Full details - OACT Event details and Greening Australia flyer.
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