A true sprint, a genuine long distance event and a great middle distance: that sums up a terrific QBIII carnival at the Southern Highlands over the long weekend. Almost 350 participants from five states enjoyed lovely weather and interesting courses. As well as being a State League triple header, they were also excellent practice for the elites off to JWOC and WOC very soon.
Well over 300 participants were on hand at QB III as SHOO, Illawarra Kareelah and Uringa provided a wonderful variety of courses and the Southern Highlands turned on some sensational winter weather and beautiful scenery. As if to highlight the serenity of the weekend, a koala high up in a gum tree watched over the assembly throughout the last day.
All up there were 340 participants (307 pre-entered plus another 33 EODs). Representatives from seven interstate clubs attended, and we had 202 people compete on all 3 days.
And what competition there was!
The weekend began with fantastic sprint courses around Chevalier College: tight clusters of buildings with underpasses and uncrossable garden beds, a section of farmland... and controls everywhere. It was a bit like Trail-O - you had to read the map carefully to make sure you went to the correct one. As such there were a few casualties of the ‘mp’, courtesy of people rushing and not checking control numbers.
Sunday we moved into the far north of Belanglo State Forest for the long distance, set among pine plantations and hilly native eucalypts. There was a fair bit of up-and-down and enough rock to test your mental skills as much as your physical stamina.
Monday’s middle distance was on a mainly flattish area, with some steep sections on the fringe for the longer courses. Rather lush undergrowth meant the many termite mounds used as control locations were often hard to spot from a distance, so accurate compass bearings saved valuable seconds on otherwise fast courses.
Rob Bennett from Goldseekers comfortably won M21A by 17 minutes over WHO’s Lee Coady. Lachlan Dow from ACT blitzed the field in the forest but did not compete in the sprint. Big Foot’s Jock Davis was leading heading into Day 3 but mispunched on leg 7.
In W20A, JWOC team-mates Nicola Blatchford and Michele Dawson continued their friendly rivalry, with Australian rookie Blatchford triumphing by 15 minutes overall thanks to a 14-minute win on day 2. Alinta Merrotsy from Northern Tablelands was only 4 minutes behind Michele in 3rd place.
Garingal’s Lisa Grant cleaned up W21A in a small field thanks to a convincing win in the sprint.
There were some very close contests in the final wash-up.
The Melhuish siblings from Parawanga (ACT) had hard luck stories in the W16A and M16A classes: Georgia Jones of Uringa pipped Tara by just 30 seconds, while Newcastle’s Scott Charlton shaded Stephen by 52 seconds. Also in M16A, Garingal pair Toby Wilson and Daniel Hill took third and fourth. Less than five minutes separated the top four. But the youngest Melhuish, Zoe, won W12A by 1:20 over GO’s Joanna Hill to ensure some smiles on the trip back down the Hume.
There were many classes decided by slim margins across the 3 days. Peter May (NTN) edged SHOO’s Stephan Wagner by 1:16 in M45AS, Peter Yeates from Dandenong Ranges (Vic) was 1:17 clear of Graham Galbraith of Bennelong in M55AS, and in M65A Steve Flick (Bennelong) edged out Newcastle’s Jim Lee by 1:21.
And it’s not stretching the imagination too far to say we may have witnessed the shortest split in the history of orienteering. Stephen Melhuish’s last leg of the sprint at Chevalier College was 1 second. Yes, 1 second. It was about 10 metres from the last control to the finish - and while most people recorded 3 seconds (and a couple of them 2 seconds), Stephen’s mad dash to the line is surely a world record!
