NSW orienteers who travelled to Adelaide this weekend enjoyed warm weather and clear skies for the National Orienteering
League opening races.
The Sprint race qualifier had Josh Blatchford well positioned for the final in 4th, with Andrew Brown of Big Foot 7th and Andrew Hill 10th. Josh's sister Nicola had a great early run with a 4th placing, as did Julia Prudhoe (4th) and Nick Dent (2nd). The afternoon's final was at Waite and there were problems for the W21E course which was declared void due to 'construction works blocking a mapped route choice and a number of early starters being given the wrong map' reports Orienteering Australia. Josh slipped to 5th in the final with Matt Parton of Goldseekers the next NSW runner in 8th. In the age classes NSW had some satisfying results with Lisa Grant (GO) in 2nd W21A, and Matt Hill (GO) also 2nd in M17-20E. NSW Head Coach Nick Dent managed a 4th in M55A with NSW Schools team manager Karen Blatchford sprinting to 2nd in W45A.
Sunday brought athletes to the Long Distance race in Belair National Park. The race posed some challenges for the junior elites in the NOL who were running the same course as the seniors, and with all elites setting off in a mass start. A physical and demanding set of courses got the better of some of the runners, with a number of withdrawals and mispunches across both elite and ages classes. Josh Blatchford had another great race coming second to Finnish runner Victor Manser (running for Victoria), with Andrew Hill, Matt Parton and Patrik Gunnarsson also joining him in the top 10. Other results of note: Course 4F Karen Blatchford 2nd, 4M Nick Dent 3rd, and course 5F Julia Prudhoe 1st, Hilary Wood 5th.
