Day 2 of the 2010 Xmas 5 Days saw competitors head south of Armidale to the complex granite area of Banalasta, with courses set by the mapper - Eric Andrews.
Adjusting from the complex buildings of UNE to the complex granite of Banalasta proved to be a little difficult for some with tales of legs of 20 ~ 30 minutes being recounted by some. To make matters worse, for a few competitors their problems occurred on the first leg!
On the Men's elite (MA) course it was "situation normal" with Julian Dent again winning the 6.9Km course in 46 minutes from Sweden's Mats Troeng (in 48.03). Current M20 Australian Champion Josh Blatchford showed that he also has not lost anything since winning the national championship by coming third in 55.29.
In the womens elite (WA) course, ACT's Jo Allison won the 5.8Km course in 49.35 with Queensland's Anna Sheldon just pipping NSW's Tracy Bluett for second place. Anna completed the course in 54.24, with Tracy just 30 seconds further behind.
In the Mens C course Queensland's Oliver Crosato was too fast for NSW's Andy Simpson winning the 5.0Km course in 48.22, with Andy finishing in 52.31. NSW's Malcolm Roberts finished third in 53.35.
In the Mens D course local orienteer Maurice Anker was too good for recently retired OANSW Executive Officer Dave Lotty winning the 4.0Km course in 45.13, with Dave just 27 seconds behind.
Sweden's Julia Davidsson won the the Women's 4.0km C course in 45.30 from NSW's Nicola Blatchford.
Day 2 results can be found here, and the Day 2 splits can be found here.
Tomorrow sees the competitors head east of Armidale to Sawmill Creek for Day 3 for some "simple" spur gully orienteering
