Jacobs, Bourne and Dent Head Twilight Series Table
Sunday, 21 December 2008
The field of possible winners of the 2008-09 Runners Shop Twilight Series has narrowed to seven, with the winner likely to come from the leading top three, Trevor Jacobs (pictured) on 625 points from his best five scores after 10 rounds, Jenny Bourne on 622 and Julian Dent on 621. They are the only three who have managed to score the maximum of 125 points in the ten events. Jacobs is seeking a treble having won in 2006-07 and 2007-08, while Dent won the previous two in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Nobody has won more than two series since the competition began in 1996. Dent is also the only competitor to have scored the maximum points in a season (2004-05). Although Bourne has never won a Twilight series, she has won a record five Wehner Cups, the competition based around the Classic Program. The only other competitors with a theoretical possibility of winning are Geoff Lawford (616 points), Hugh Moore (615), Oliver Poland (607), and Belinda Lawford (592).
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Fast finishes at Goorooyarroo
Thursday, 18 December 2008
200m downhill run through the paddock provided many fast finishes to the otherwise very hilly and testing courses set by Jack Palmer around the Gecko Hills in Goorooyarroo nature reserve. The most interesting finishes were by Geoff and Jenny Lawford. Geoff was completing the Orange 1 6.2 km course from one direction and Jenny the Orange 2 3.5 km from a point 200m to the south. Both converged on the finish in helter skelter sprints and arrived simultaneously. Geoff clocked an outstanding 40:08 but was not the fastest Master; that honour went to a rejuvenated Anthony Scott in 35:48. The sprint in meant Jenny edged out daughter Belinda by 17 seconds to be fastest overall on Orange 2 in 26:22.
The title of most grass scorching finish sprint went to Mark Gregson and JWOC representative Geoffrey Stacey who had an all out, neck and neck duel (pictured), with Gregson narrowly prevailing. His 35:35 temporarily placed him first on the Orange 1 leader board, until he was superceded first by Ben Rattray in 32:05 and then by Julian Dent who made short work of the 260m climb and large sections of stony ground by clocking 28:25.
Shannon Jones continued her impressive form as fastest female in 41:14, with Alice Moore next in 46:26 and veteran Bush Flyer Carol Harding third in 52:06. There were races within races in the Masters ranks. World veteran mountain running champion Trevor Jacobs pipped Geoff Lawford in M55, Hugh Moore was too strong for Bob Allison in M60, and after two victories over Darryl Erbacher in the previous two outings in M65, Arthur Watson went down by 5 minutes to Darryl and was unable to rejoice in a trifecta.
On the Orange 2 course, Michael Burt clocked 33:01 to be fastest male, from Alan Sargeant on 34:33 and Dennis Trewin on 36:42. Over the 2.8 km Green course, youngster Oliver Mill ran strongly all the way to clock an impressive 25:35.
Story and Photo by John Harding.
Results can be found here.
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Testing courses on Farrer Ridge!
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Hugh Moore (pictured) set excellent courses that really tested our navigation skills at Farrer Ridge. Numerous controls, lots of direction change and controls in the green provided the scene for some great orienteering this Wednesday evening.
In the Men's Masters class, Michael Burt ran an impressive 35:39 mins on the 3.8 km Short Orange to come in almost 6 minutes clear of Alan Sargent (41:21) and Dennis Trewin (42:15). Similarly, on the Orange 2 Women's Masters course, Kris Nash (40:32) was 9 minutes clear of Helen way (49:46). On the longer 5.5 km Orange 1 Course, Jenny Bourne blitzed around in 41:52 to win the Women's Masters, while Trevor Jacobs kept up his great form to win his Men's Masters class in 35:19. Julian Dent again completed the Men's Open class in under 30 minutes, while Anna Quayle on vacation from a wintery Sweden took out the Women's Open class.
Results can be found here.
Photo by John Harding.
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Canberra Cockatoos’ Christmas Long Run
Monday, 8 December 2008
On Sunday our local National League team, the Canberra Cockatoos, added a Christmas theme to their traditional long weekend run. The cockatoos also invited other elite orienteers to celebrate the end of an action packed domestic orienteering season, and the start of summer training.
The group ascended three of Canberra’s landmarks – Mt Majura, Mt Ainslie and Black Mountain in a run which took approximately 3 hours.
Story by Shannon Jones. Photo by Allison Jones.
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Super Speedy Dent
Thursday, 4 December 2008
The Canberra Cockatoos organised this week’s event at Black Mountain North with Geoff Stacey setting the courses. I’m not sure what the cause was but Cockatoos (both current & ex) came out of the woodwork (or should that be tree hollows). Some rarely seen local members appearing to help and even run a course. Then there was the Mexican visitor home for a week and even some refugees from Sweden’s winter.
Interestingly there was a larger than normal flock of cockatoo chicks & fledglings in attendance too.
Highlight of the night was Julian Dent’s unbelievable run on O1 that had the pundits scratching their heads for an explanation as to how come he had beaten them by so much! The attached photo shows some of the current & past elites discussing their courses.
Results can be found here.
Story and Results by John and Ann Scown. Photo by John Harding
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Would you like to contribute to the OACT website??
Sunday, 30 November 2008
We always welcome new content on the OACT website. If you have a story or photo that you would like published on the website, you can email me these files and i will publish them for you. Alternatively, you can follow the directions provided here (or click on the contributions link on the left hand side) and learn to do it yourself! allisonjones (at) me.com
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Bluetts West 26 Nov 08
Friday, 28 November 2008
Novice organiser Belinda Lawford defied the
Bureau of Meteorology last night & provided outstanding weather for her
event. Even the grass seeds came
along! Control collection was
completed in far less abominable weather than the previous week at Bruce Ridge. When collecting the northern controls
the atmosphere and colours of the scenery after the sun had gone off the
Molonglo Valley was something special.
Brother Ian took up the course designing pen
for the 1st time too and was confident enough to show his face on
registration (see photo). He
appears to have inherited his father’s genes in this field with the courses
having many direction changes and different leg lengths. This kept competitors in some of the
more technical areas of the map but did minimise the exposure to the grass
seeds.
Mother Jenny was the controller for the
event and had little to do other than take the entry money & drive the
children around.
Although total entries were down slightly
on some of the earlier events in the series, the Mens Masters field saw a near
record entry of 36. Over the last
few weeks it has been entertaining to watch the increasing rivalry between
various individuals & teams even to the extent of being offered a bribe to reduce
one person’s time. Needless to say
the results are a true & accurate reflection of people’s e-card times ie
the amount offered wasn’t sufficient! Results can be found here.
Story by John Scown
Photo by Ann Scown
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2008 Orienteering ACT Awards
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Orienteering ACT President, Geoff Wood, opened the night, stating the standard for the evening would be a blue level and therefore everyone should have no trouble completeing their course! The event was held in the Australian National Botanic Gardens and was intended to be outside, but a change in the weather forced everyone inside. Many comments were received after the dinner giving a thumbs up for the choice of the venue.
The major awards were as follows:
Mike Cassells Award for Services to Orienteering - Norm Johnston (pictured receiving his award from Geoff Wood)
Services to Coaching - Chris Mill and David Poland
Jim Sawkins Award for Services to Event Management - Ann and John Scown
Orienteer of the Year - Jenny Bourne
The recipients of the Orienteer-of-the-year Age Class Awards, the Audun Fristad Encouragement Awards, and the Wehner Cup can be found here.
And has Norm already been honoured in other ways?
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Bruce Ridge - Twilight Event No. 6
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Despite the cool and damp conditions, and the threat of thunderstorms there was a good turn out at the Bruce Ridge event.
A group of scouts and their leaders joined us for the first time, (see photo) and after a quick lesson from John Scown set off in groups on the Green course. They all finished and appeared to really enjoy themselves.
Congratulations to Noah Poland who persisted with his solo effort on the fairly challenging Green course, and won the Mens Junior class. Also on the Green course was the Sawkins' family challenge, with Hannah and Rebekah teaming up to defeat their grandmother Anne.
As usual at the Twilight event there were many people participating in team groups on all courses. This is a great way to build confidence, have a chat, and enjoy the outdoors while also getting some exercise.
Photo by John Harding
Report by Mary McDonald
The full results can be found here.
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LAST CHANCE! Buy your tickets NOW!
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
ITS TIME TO BUY YOUR TICKETS!!!!
and enjoy the OACT end of year celebrations
when Sunday 23rd November @ 5 pm
where Hudsons in the Gardens, Australian National Botanic Gardens
featuring - presentation of the annual perpetual awards, great company and a gourmet summer bbq all in the tranquil surrounds of the garden cafe
Please fill out THIS FORM to reserve your place.
PLEASE NOTE: return your payment and form before 19th November to the OACT office or at a twilgiht event
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Twilight Event – Mt Taylor
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Conditions were hot at yesterday’s Twilight event on the south side but this did not deter the competition in the Men’s Masters class on the Orange 1 course. Less than a minute separated the top four, with Philip Walker the eventual victor in 41:21. Magnus Knudsen claimed second and Hugh Moore rounded out the placings.
In the Men’s Open it was Dave Meyer back on top, closely followed by adventure racing guru Tom Landon Smith. In the Women’s, Jenny Bourne stamped her authority on the field with a massive victory – over 7 minutes clear of the next best. In other results, Michael Burt had a victorious run on the Orange 2 course, and the Sawkins sisters had excellent runs on the Green with Hannah just pipping Rebecca for first place.
Remember to submit your end-of-year celebration form by next Wednesday 19 November! Everyone’s invited.
(Photo courtesy of John Harding)
Shannon Jones
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OACT end-of-year celebration
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
ITS TIME TO BUY YOUR TICKETS!!!!
and enjoy the OACT end of year celebrations
when Sunday 23rd November @ 5 pm
where Hudsons in the Gardens, Australian National Botanic Gardens
featuring - presentation of the annual perpetual awards, great company and a gourmet summer bbq all in the tranquil surrounds of the garden cafe
Please fill out THIS FORM to reserve your place.
PLEASE NOTE: return your payment and form before 19th November to the OACT office or at a twilgiht event
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Red Hill Twilight No. 4
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Julian Dent celebrated his return to Australia, after the last 7 months in Sweden, with a convincing win in the Mens Open, Orange 1 course yesterday. Dent was a clear 5 minutes ahead of Rob Walter, followed in short succession by Murray Scown, Tom Landon–Smith, and Dave Meyer. So that is more points to Scown this week, in case you are not aware, there is a not so private contest (bet??) on between Scown and Meyer. The Orange 1 Mens Junior was very close with just 69 seconds separating the first three, Ian Lawford, Geoff Stacey and Oliver Poland.
Fastest woman on the Orange 1 course was Shannon Jones in 33.54, followed by Belinda Lawford then Allison Jones who in turn just pipped Felicity Brown by 1 second. Catherine Murphy was another 4 minutes away, possibly on the recovery from Tuesdays racing! The Orange 1 Womens Masters class was convincingly won with an almost 8 minute lead by Jenny Bourne, but the next 7 placings were within 7 minutes of each other.
The Lawford / Bourne household would have had to draw straws (for the cook) or go for take-away dinner as Geoff, Jenny, Belinda and Ian all won their respective classes.
Pictured (by John Harding) are Parissa Poulis (left) and Margaret Harrap discussing the weather, with Ann Ingwerson checking the results in the background.
Results
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ACT MTBO Long Championships 2008
Sunday, 2 November 2008
After
yesterday’s Sprint races the distances, temperatures and the hills all went up
for today’s Long Distance Championships and the final race of the MTB National
Orienteering League at East Kowen. Bike
problems and punctures were issues for some of yesterday’s placegetters including
Timothy Jackson and Jim Anderson. In
several classes the results from yesterday were reversed such as M16 where
Oliver Poland beat Ian Lawford and in M70 where Eino Meuronen took 1st
with Kevin Paine failing to punch a control when closing a gate for his
opposition! In M21E David Simpfendorfer
again took 1st place but Joshua Roberts turned the tables on Luke
Poland. In W21E Julie Quinn slotted
into 1st place pushing yesterday’s top 3 down a place with some
close times. Many of the other age
groups had the same winners such as Steve Truscott, Robert Prentice, Wayne
Gregson and Jean Douglass. Some
competitors didn’t get enough in their races and helped with control collection
even taking their spring trailer “Bob” out for a spin. More adventures of “Bob” will appear in the
OACT newsletter at a later date. Photo - Sandra Hogg on her way to the first control, oblivious to the historical aspects of the area.
Results Report by Ann Scown
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ACT MTBO Sprint Championships
Saturday, 1 November 2008
The Championships and the final round of the MTB National Orienteering League Sprint were run in near perfect weather at Sparrow Hill this afternoon. A small turnout saw some close racing especially in M16 where Ian Lawford had a narrow 14 second win over fellow Blue Lightning team member Oliver Poland. Elder brother Luke Poland managed 2nd place riding up in the M21E class won by David Simpfendorfer with Joshua Roberts taking 3rd. Current & past World MTBO riders dominated the biggest field of the day in the W21E class with West Australian Cath Chalmers taking 1st place followed by Melanie Simpson & Carolyn Jackson. Timothy Jackson (pictured) outclassed his mother, Carolyn, and finished first in M14. The M50 class was a trifecta for NSW riders with Rob Prentice avenging his defeat by Jim Anderson at the NSW champs earlier in the year. Sunday will see a return to East Kowen for the Long Distance races. Courses are sure to challenge today's place getters.
Results
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