Leading Competitors Locked in Close Contest at Series Break
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Matt
Crane has a narrow lead in the Runners Shop Twilight
Series as the competition pauses for the Christmas break. Crane has 497 points
from his best four scores for the first eight events and enjoys a narrow lead
of just one point over four-times winner Trevor Jacobs, who scored his first maximum points
for this Series for his time of 30 min 46 sec for the 5.5 km Orange 1 course at
Weston Park. Crane was third on ‘corrected time’. Dave Shepherd was second on ‘corrected’
time, but with having competed only three times this Series he is well down in the
progress points table.
Rob
Walter, sixth on ‘corrected’ time, holds down third place on 490 points, one
clear of Joshua Blatchford, with the ever green Pauli Piiroinen (pictured top
right) making the top five on 488 points. The rest of the top ten are Grace
Crane and Jim Oeystein Nybraaten equal on 487, Chris Helliwell 482, Jo Allison
479 and Geoff Stacey 473.
 The
evenness of the competition is highlighted by the number of competitors who
have won a race on ‘corrected’ time, Crane two, Shepherd two and Jacobs,
Blatchford, Oeystein Nybraaten, and Walter one each. Graham Fifield is
currently the most consistent with a standard deviation of just 0.8%. Hugh
Moore went close with a second placing at Bruce Ridge. Ann Ingwersen (pictured
below left) in 15th place on current standings is the leading women
masters competitor.
The
Orange 2, Green and Blue courses continue to attract good numbers in the Teams
classes, with over a quarter of the competitors in those classes.
The
progress points, the best four scores from eight events, are here.
The
Series will resume with event nine at the Australian National University on Wednesday
11 January 2012
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Weston Park Twilight Finalises the Runners Shop Series for 2011
Thursday, 15 December 2011
The
final Runners Shop Twilight Series Event for 2011 was run and won on Wednesday evening.
The map has been well used and is quite a ‘tame’ area. So Abominable Jenny
Lawford, with input from the devilish Geoff Lawford of Oceania Sprint fame, set
the courses. The courses were very well received, with many people especially
commenting on the dizzying Orange 1 with its record breaking 33 controls. And no
the last segment of controls was not set up to be viewed by the fiendish spectators
at the registration area, although the antics of some competitors was
enlightening.
 The photo
(top right) shows Kiwi and Abominable Lizzie Ingham either auditioning for an AAMI TV
advertisement or trying to explain the finer points of the course to our all
black visitor, Sedric the Swan. Needless
to say Sedric enjoyed the bread and the company at the rego area so much he
missed the last start cut off at 1830 despite arriving very early.
 An
occasional Abominable meeting was held after the event. Patron Marjorie Gilby
(with consort Ross Gilby) presided over the presentation of the Abominable
Athlete Mug award. The outgoing titleholder, Geoff, was absent as the award was
presented to Lizzie Ingham for her efforts at WOC 2011 in France; see photo of
the formal proceedings (bottom right).
The
results are here.
The
progress points and a wrap of the first eight events will be available shortly.
Story
and photos by Ann and John Scown
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Top Six Covered By 12 Points
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Only 12 points cover the top sixcompetitors from their best four scores around seven rounds in the Runners Shop
Twilight Series. Perennial favourite
T revor Jacobs leads the Series ladder with 494 points from a possible 500
points by just four points from Rob Walter with Josh Blatchford just a point
behind Walter. Pauli Piiroinen is next best on 488, a point ahead of Grace
Crane (pictured right) with Chris Helliwell a further five points adrift of Crane.
This Series has been the most competitive
with five different winners on corrected times of the first seven races. Matt
Crane won races one and two finished second behind Walter in race three Stromlo
West. Blatchford triumphed at Bruce Ridge, while David Shepherd won the next
two. And visiting Norwegian orienteer Jim Oeystein Nybraaten was a clear winner
at Mt Ainslie North, clocking 29min 55sec for the 5.3 km Orange 1 course, being
the only competitor to break 30 minutes.
Ann Ingwersen and Bob Allison, who share 14th
place on 452 points, are the top competitors who regularly compete on the
Orange 2 course.
 Geoff Stacey, Ewan Barnett, Bryce Anderson,
Oliver Mill (pictured left, Jonathan Miller, Janet Street, and Alexandra McAndrew, are among
those who have made a significant improvement this Series.
The Progress Points table is here.
The complete results for race seven are
here.
The next event in the Series and final for
this year will be at Weston Park (UBD58:H8) and will be followed by a BYO
picnic/BBQ.
Photos by Tom de Jongh
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NSW Wildfires enjoy exciting weekend with the ACT Blue Sparks
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Monday, 5 December 2011
  The
Brown/Poland family were the hosts for the ACT Blue Sparks weekend and
every member of that family at the weekend was put to work. Oliver
Poland (2011 JWOC competitor and Australian Schools Honor Squad) set a
relocation exercise on local map Timberlight which was testing for both
adults and children. He also ended up looking after a baby wallaby
which Jane McKenna rescued from a fence out on the course - the wallaby
was instantly named Olle after his new dad. Whilst Toni Brown
masterminded the logistics of bringing together a group of 40
enthusiastic parents and children to camp in a clearing on the
Polands' beautiful bush block near Braidwood, David Poland was king of
the orienteering games which included a timed map orientation dash and a
thrilling night orienteering course. Noah Poland led the rest of the
children Pied Piper-like to the crystal clean waterholes for a swim and
some gold panning, and then later chilled everyone with ghost stories
around the camp fire.
Many thanks to the Brown Poland family who have set 24/25 November
2012 for the next ACT Blue Sparks weekend to which all NSW Wildfires
will be welcome. Thanks also to Ted Mulherin and WHO for permission to
use the Timberlight map, and particularly to Ken and Francis Knights
for allowing access to their property.
  
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2011 Awards Recognises and Rewards Significant Achievements
Sunday, 27 November 2011
 Presentations
were made at the 2011 Orienteering ACT Annual Awards to the folowing people in
recognition of the significant contributions and achievements:
-
Bill Jones - The
Mike Cassells Award for Services to Orienteering. There is little that Bill has not done at the local or national level. He has been an organiser, course planner, and controller of events for individual and relay events ranging from local events to regional championships. He has also been involved in providing computing support for all activities and served on the local and national boards. He has been a willing servant to Orienteering for many years.
-
Norm Johnston - The
Jim Sawkins Award for Services to Event Management. Norm exemplifies more than any other orienteer the qualities in terms of attention to detail and timliness that was the trademark of Jim Sawkins. Over recent years he has contributed significantly to event management in researching and documenting procedures, processing on-line entries and posting results on websites. He continued to make a contribution while battling to recover from a debilitating illness.
-
John Harding (pictured top right) - Services
to Coaching Award. While John has not been the coach of an official squad or team he has probably done more than anybody else in recent times to introduce more people to the sport and to look after novice orienteers. He is always ready to help newcomers and to encourage them when they have had a bad day.
-
Oliver
Poland (pictured bottom left)– Wehner Cup and Orienteer of the Year
The Para wanga club
won the Southern Cross Inter-Club Shield for the third consecutive year.
The complete list
of award recipients is here
The table of final
points for the ACT League-Orienteer of the Year is here
The table of final
points for the Southern Cross Inter-Club Shield is here
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David Shepherd Returns to Form at Farrer Ridge
Saturday, 26 November 2011
David Shepherd (pictured right) made a successful return to
competition in race 5 of the 2011-12 Runners Shop Twilight Series at Farrer
Ridge on Wednesday after an over six-weeks absence while recovering from
illness. Despite the layoff, Shep
clocked 25 min 17 sec for the 5.1 km course and scored the maximum 125 competition
points. After missing last week because
he was the organiser, the ever-competitive, Trevor Jacobs scored his first
124-pointer for the Series, with another returning to competition, Darryl
Erbacher, picking up 123 points.
Although he missed the last two races, Matt
Crane still heads the table with 374 points from his best three scores for the
five races so far, with Jacobs next best on 370. The other two 125-pointers for the year, Rob
Walter and Joshua Blatchford, who has just moved to Canberra to study, share
equal third place on 368 points.
The next six in the top 10 are Grace Crane
365, Chris Helliwell 363, Jo Allison 362, Pauli Piiroinen 361 and Phil Walker
357 and Geoff Stacey 353.
Apart from David Shepherd and those in the
top t en, the honours in all the age classes on Orange 1 were, O1MJ Andrew
Barnett 33m 16s, O1WO Melanie Simpson 33m 13s, O1WM Carol Harding 45m 24s,
O1Teams Allison Inglis and Peter Miller 46m 51s (pictured left)
The top placings on the demanding 4.0 km
Orange 2 course were, O2MO Kevin Miller 39m 25s, O2MJ Adam Powell 54m 17s, O2MM
Tate Needham 33m 15s, O2WO Janet Street 42m 15s, O2MJ Rebecca Powell 59m 16s,
O2WM Jane Saye 42m 54s, O2Teams Lizzie Ingham and Mo Davies 51m 57s.
The highly competitive 2.4 km Green course
saw the following competitors record the best times GRMJThomas Agnew 18m 44s, GRWO
Leah Bach 27m 28s, GRWJ Alysha McNee-Darrach 21m 45s, GRWM Rhonda Faragher 31m
19s and GRTeams Simon and Xander Tuan 20m 10s
And winners on the 2.0 km course were BLMJ Xavier
Borgia 18m 16s, BLWJ Riley Lane 16m 19s and BLTeams Alonso and Dominic Fuentes
Davies and Sophie Davies 17m 49s.
The complete results are here.
The progress points table for the best three
scores after five races is here
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2011 ACT Primary School Orienteering Championships
Sunday, 20 November 2011
On Thursday 17 November around 250 Primary School students from eleven schools gathered in Weston Park to test their navigation and endurance in the 2011 ACT Primary School Orienteering Championships. This years’ event demonstrated the versatility of the sport. Courses set by JWOC representative, Olle Poland, saw students venturing around Weston Park. Experienced orienteers were seen running alongside kids fresh to the sport, all running, walking, concentrating and succeeding at various speeds and with differing levels of determination.  Weston Park put on quite a show with perfect overcast weather and while overshadowed only slightly by the other “O”(bama) event of the day, the Orienteers were able to stay completely on task despite aircraft hovering, and traffic jams en-route. In Boys 9 years and Girls 9 years, the winners Andrew Kerr (Radford Cge) and Riley Lane (Macquarie PS) finished 2 minutes clear of their nearest rivals. Thomas Hyslop (Red Hill PS) and Zoe Melhuish (CGGS) were 2nd while Matthew Birch (CGS Junior) and Teagan Guinness (Campbell PS) were 3rd. Similar stories emerge for the Boys 10 years and Girls 10 years. Tristan Miller (Majura PS) and Caitlin Young (Lyneham PS) winning each class convincingly however only 7 seconds separated 2nd and 3rd in both classes – Corey Goodberg (Kaleen PS) beating Simon Yung (Lyneham PS) and Rose Zhang(Kaleen PS) finishing ahead of Clare Alder (Jerrabomberra PS).  The largest field of the day was the Boys 11 with 13 competitors. Patrick Miller (Majura PS) comfortably won with Noah Poland (Radford Cge) and Duncan Miller (CGS Junior) finishing 5 seconds apart for 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Girls 11 years saw the closest finish of the day with Heather Lane (Macquarie PS) sneaking infront of Annabelle Mill (Kaleen PS) by 9 seconds with Campbell PS student Sonya McNee- Darach in 3rd.
Canberra Grammar School (Junior) dominated the Boys 12 with Thomas Agnew and Ryan Turner finishing 1st and 2nd while Ben Theakston (Radford Cge) took out the minor place. ACT Orienteering School Representative, Tara Melhuish (CGGS) demonstrated why she was chosen to compete at the 2011 National Orienteering School Championships in Wagga Wagga, easily winning the Girls 12 years from Kaleen PS students, Celia Wylie and Alex Williams. I n the 10 year Pairs divisions, Lyneham PS took a hat-trick with Ruby-Rose Johnson and Sian Dyer 1st; Jordan Bonetz and Alice Cossetto 2nd; and Angus Bailey and Maka-Moi Pickette 3rd. A close tussle in the Pairs 12 years between pairs Will Davies and Jasper Mazurkiewicz (Radford Cge) and Clare Yung and Clare Roche (Lyneham PS) saw the boys just pip the girls for 1st place with Campbell Miller and Hugh Lamont (Radford PS) finishing 3rd. The competition for the 2011 ACT Champion Primary School was calculated on points awarded to the first five places in each category, with the school accumulating the highest tally winning. The 2011 ACT Champion School was Lyneham PS by 10 pts ahead of Canberra Grammar School – Junior (52pts) with Kaleen PS and Radford College (42pts) tying for 3rd; Majura PS ( 22pts) 5th; Canberra Girls Grammar School and Macquarie PS (20pts) =6th; Campbell PS (14pts) 8th; Red Hill PS (8pts) 9th; Jerrabomberra PS (6pts) 10th and Maribynong PS (4pts) 11th. All students received a certificate with a free entry to be used at any Twilight Orienteering Event so we hope to see some new faces soon! The Carnival concluded with a Q&A session with JWOC representatives Lachlan Dow, Belinda Lawford, Josh Blatchford and WOC Representative Lizzie Ingham all providing inspiration and helpful tips to our young hopefuls. These elite orienteers also went head to head running the courses the students had just completed showing them how it really was done! Apart from the Oceania Championships, this is the biggest orienteering event on the ACT calendar so special thanks to the following people who devoted their time and effort to ensure this event ran smoothly: Chris Mill, Olle Poland, Ann & John Scown, Frank & Ann Ingwersen, Anna Booth, Ana Herceg, Jenny Hawkins, Alan Thompson, Ann Baylis, Pat Meithke, Jill Walker, Belinda, Ian & Jenny Lawford, Lachy Dow, Josh Blatchford, Lizzie Ingham, Jono Lineen, Ken Young, Kevin Paine & Ross Kerr. Full Results here
Toni Brown & Natalie Smith Organisers
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2011 ACT MTBO Championships Enjoyed by All
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
A total of 50 riders, ranging in age from 10 to over 70 (10 were under
18) enjoyed a very successful day at the 2011 ACT
MTBO Championships on Sunday. They were held at the beautiful Kowen Forest just
north east of Queanbeyan. The weather
and tracks were perfect and competitors couldn’t have asked for better
conditions for an MTBO event. There
were six challenging courses in this Long Distance event, all of which were
designed to test riders’ endurance and navigation. Towards the end of each course, just when
riders were fatiguing and ready to coast home, the final few controls were
quite technically challenging and required riders to focus on their map reading
whilst maintaining their endurance.
Thanks to Kathy Liley and Jim
Russell who both made the trek up from Melbourne and subsequently won their
respective courses.
I would also like to thank Kathy Liley who assisted
with the results and Pat Miethke who not only assisted at the start, came third
on her course and then collected controls afterwards. Many thanks Pat and
Kathy.
The results of the 2011 ACT MTBO
Championships are here
and the splits are here.
Julie Sunley
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Matt Crane Early Leader in Twilight Series
Saturday, 12 November 2011
 Recent arrival in Canberra, Matt Crane (pictured) has demonstrated that he will be a force in the 2011-12 Runners Shop Twilight Series competition after winning the first two events on corrected time and finishing second in the third. He has 250 points from his best two scores and leads Rob Walter (see PS below)and Trevor Jacobs (the winner of four series, 2007-10) by four points with a further two points to Jo Allison and Grace Crane.
Pauli Piiroinen, 10th on 231 points, and Bob Allison, 16th on 222 points, are the best placed of Orange 2 course regulars, while Kris Nash, 43rd on 180 points, is the best placed woman from the Orange 2 regulars.
The first three events have averaged 213 competitors, ranging from 242 at Campbell Park to 180 at Stromlo West, with attendance at the latter event probably adversely impacted by the possibility of a thunderstorm during the event. Fortunately for all concerned, the storm did not happen.
The Map Mates team competition, organised by David Poland, has again proved to be very popular.
The results for Stromlo West are here
The Progress Points are here
If you are new to the Series your YOB might not be in the database, in which case your age will be assumed to be 21-34. If your age is missing from the database, the letters UNK will be in a column against your name and if you want your times to be adjusted correctly, email the details to oact.online@work.netspeed.com.au
The venue for next Wednesday’s event will be Bruce Ridge, with the assembly area off Dryandra Street, O'Connor (at Wattle Street end - UBD map 49:C3, Whereis 16:C3).
PS. Congratulations to Allison Jones and Rob Walter on the birth of a sister for Max and Mira, Alma Matilda. Allison and Alma doing well.
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OACT End of Year Dinner - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Friday, 28 October 2011
Date:
Sunday 27th November 2011
Time: 6pm
Venue:Hudson's Cafe (Australian National Botanic Gardens)
Cost:
Adults $35
Juniors (12-20 years) $15
Children (8-11 years) $10
Kiddies under 8 - free
Family Maximum: $90
How do you buy your tickets?
Fill in your entry form (download below or pick up one at the twilight series) and send to the OACT office or return at the twilight event.
Download the Entry Form Here NOTE: If paying by credit card, remember to include month/year of expiry. Include cardholder's name if different from contact person. John
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Runners Shop Twilight Series Begins Wednesday
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
The very popular Runners Shop Twilight Series begins on Wednesday at The Pinnacle, with the starts between 5.00 pm and 6.30 pm. Courses close at 7.30 pm, so please be on time. The program for the Series and the Street Orienteering events for 2011 is here.
In response to demand from orienteers the Runners Shop is pleased to announce the arrival of the internationally popular Inov-8. The Inov-8 shoes are popular among trail runners, orienteers as well as cross fit athletes. The Inov-8 design is lightweight and flexible, with incredible tread. The Runners Shop is stocking the following models:
· X-Talon 190 (pictured)- the most popular of the Inov-8 range, the X-Talon is ideal as an off road racing shoe. Lightweight, protective upper and sticky rubber outsole. Minimalist design to encourage a natural footstrike. Price: $139
· F-lite 195 - super lightweight and versatile shoe suitable for trail running as well as in the gym. Used by cross fit athletes as well as orienteers and trail runners. Price: $129
Want to go faster? Go the Runners Shop and purchase a pair of Inov-8 shoes.
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OACT End of Year Dinner - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Friday, 21 October 2011
Date:
Sunday 27th November 2011
Time:
6pm
Venue:
Hudson's Cafe (Australian National Botanic Gardens)
Cost:
Adults $35
Juniors (12-20 years) $15
Children (8-11 years) $10
Kiddies under 8 - free
Family Maximum: $90
How do you buy your tickets?
Fill in your entry form (download below or pick up one at the twilight series) and send to the OACT office or return at the twilight event.
Download the Entry Form Here
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OACT End of Year Dinner - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Date:
Sunday 27th November 2011
Time:
6pm
Venue:
Hudson's Cafe (Australian National Botanic Gardens)
Cost:
Adults $35
Juniors (12-20 years) $15
Children (8-11 years) $10
Kiddies under 8 - free
Family Maximum: $90
How do you buy your tickets?
Fill in your entry form (download below or pick up one at the twilight series) and send to the OACT office or return at the twilight event.
Download the Entry Form Here
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2011 ACT Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships
Friday, 14 October 2011
Online entries are now open - See the Major Events page or the MTBO page for more details. On-line entries can be made now at Register Now
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Photos and Media Coverage of Badja Events
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Journalist Elena Guarracino of the Cooma Monaro Express covered the Oceania Sprint Distance Championships and her photographs and story were published in the Tuesday edition of the paper, starting on page 16 and continuing on page 15.
Also Tom de Jongh took nearly 1,000 photos which may be view here
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