Orienteers enjoyed great success in various running and O events in the Australian Alps over the past three weeks.
At Thredbo Fun & Fitness Week,
* Big Foot elite Alastair George was third in the brutal 2km Crackenback Challenge (won by Victorian Aston Key, with 600m of climb up the chairlift route)
* Bennelong's Ryan Armstrong set an Armstrong Alpine Adventure team score course won by Queensland's Read brothers
* ACT pair Martin Dent and Grant Bluett were 1-2 in the 5km Kosciuszko Classic (run in apparent temp of 4C)
At High O at Dinner Plain, there was three days of orienteering in the Victorian high country with a mix of sprint, bush and MTBO.
* Ewan Shingler (BF) won the opening sprint, then teamed up with sister Nea to win the Long pairs event and the Relay.
* in the absence of a bike, Virpi Kormulainen (BN) did the MTBO course on roller skis (see pic)!
A big thanks to Albury Wodonga's Leigh Privett for reviving this once iconic event. Results can be found here.
It was then on to the Bright Alpine Climb - 4 Peaks event now run by former WOC reps Rob and Kathryn Preston.
Each day participants tackle a new peak with distances varying from 10.6km to 15km. Each climb is timed and on the final day the results are added together to get your overall time.
Big Foot's rogaining star Gill Fowler and former NSW junior squad coach Rob Bennett (Goldseekers) were third overall. The men's event was won by Aston Key, with Brodie Nankervis (Vic) second and Alastair George fourth. You can see the results here.
As if that wasn't enough, January finished with an OA elite training camp around Beechworth. There was a mix of mining terrain and sprints. Safe to say everyone slept very well over the weekend. Well done to all the organisers and participants.
