Latest ONSW News
Goldseekers hosted one of their largest club events at the weekend, attracting 89 runners from all over to Macquarie Woods near Orange.
Those attending included several locals returning from University and a group of NSW Juniors who enjoyed a long weekend training camp at Kahli’s Rocks and Gumble. Ian Meyer showed the locals a clean pair of heels with an impressive time of 35:26 in the Mens Hard Long, while Melburnian Peter Baldwin took out the Mens Hard Short with 35:36 ahead of his father Basil Baldwin 39:18.
Goldseekers had more success in the Womens Hard Long with Anna Fitzgerald 57:34 beating Bridget Bennett 58:49. In the Short Elaine Bennett 48:30 just beat Western Plains' Karen Hagan 49:54.
On the moderate course, rising juniors Alastair George 37:20, Duncan Currie 46:31 and Callum Davis 47:57 all came in before locals.
Thanks to Richard Carter for this report.
Central Coast's Felicity Brown was the leading Australian in the WOC sprint final overnight. After the 'Groundhog Day' feel of the qualification races through a holiday park with many identical cabins, the final was run through the town of Sotkamo with the start and finish in the local baseball stadium. The crowd? A mere 5,000 !
Felicity finished 31st in 16m53.8s, one place ahead of fellow Aussie Vanessa Round. The winner was hot favourite Simone Niggli of Switzerland who covered the 3.4km in 14m10.6s !
Tonight it's the long (and we mean very long) finals. Read more on the Boomerangs' team blog and follow the results online.
For the second time in its brief history WHO's Turkey Trot had a dead-heat. Big Foot's Richard Mountstephens (a much decorated endurance athlete) and perennial winner Glenn Horrocks from Garingal both finished the 19.6km, 5-map monstrosity in 89m22s. Richard was declared the winner as he punched the finish a split second (and it had to be!) ahead of Glenn. Newcastle's Alex Massey took third, nine seconds ahead of GO's Steve Ryan.
In the women's long distance, NSW Stinger Lisa Grant (GO, 110m51s) held off rogaining champ Gill Fowler (BF) by 3 minutes in a small field. Paul Shingler was third, just inside the two-hour mark.
Angus Lloyd enjoyed a close win in the men's middle distance over 12.1km, while second-placed David Topham, also a fellow O rookie, just held off the Povah brothers (BN) who were no doubt enjoying the warm afterglow of the Lions' rugby win the previous night. Kathy Topham comfortably won the women's middle by 5 minutes from GO pair Brook Martin and Rochelle Cox.
Newcastle duo Malcolm Roberts and Carolyn Matthews took out the short (8.3km) divisions.
Read more on the TT website where you can also see the results and photo gallery.
NSW's representatives at JWOC, Michele Dawson (GO) and Nicola Blatchford (NC), are enjoying a rest day after competing in the C final of the Middle distance overnight. Nicola placed 12th in 22.48, just 4m25s behind the winner. "I lost about three and a half minutes on two controls but am reasonably happy, a lot happier than yesterday and it was a bit more technical today and I thought I navigated well."
Nicola is making her first appearance at JWOC and follows in the footsteps of older brother Josh, who is now based in Sweden and will be a reserve for Australia at WOC in Finland next week.
Denmark's Miri Thrane Odum took out the A final, covering the 3km in 25.05.
Michele, who is at her 2nd JWOC, came in 21st in the C final in 28.45.
"I was really happy with my run except for number 6 where I lost concentration because of other competitors and then doubted my navigation," she said.
Some of the Australian boys commented that they were distracted by the presence of TV cameras in the forest, and lost time as a result.
In the boys A final it was a Swedish trifecta, with Emil Svensk (a very Swedish-sounding name) winning by 1 second.
A fantastic feature of the JWOC website is a sort-of 3D representation of the maps showing spurs, gullies and even shade ! Wouldn't that make life easier !
