Six of the top seven women were also under 25, which was no great surprise given the composition of last year's WOC team, but the name at the top was one which a lot has been seen of: Nicki Taws, a member of three WOC teams and twice an Australian champion at elite level. She missed much of the 1995 season, and went into Easter seen as a possible placegetter rather than a likely winner, but two consistent opening days led into a win on the technical last day, which enabled her to overturn a seven-minute deficit to win by three.
The competition opened at Ophir Diggings, the first genuine gold-mining area unearthed in New South Wales (the half-dozen pits in the middle of an expanse of bland, steep gully-spur at Wyangala doesn't count). It was a steep area, and it was the short day in the elite and 20 classes. In the three years that this format has been in effect, Easter has not been won on the opening day, but it has certainly been lost then. 1996 was no exception amongst the elites, with seven within one and a half minutes of the M21 lead and seven within two and a half minutes of the W21 lead. At the top it was a Bluett double, Grant and Tracy both leading by just under a minute. The bunches behind were mostly the expected, with Tom Quayle and Jo Allison both confirming their reputations from junior ranks and Andy Hogg establishing himself early. The two most significant early casualties were two 1995 WOC representatives, Jim Russell and Eddie Wymer, although both had extenuating circumstances; Russell through an illness which would keep him from running altogether the next day, and Wymer through going most of the way from 10 to 12 before realising that he hadn't got 11 yet.
The battle for JWOC places was on in earnest in the 20s. The form in the female junior classes was a bit hard to read, as many of the big names ran up a class; Rebecca Minty and Ruth Schulz went up from W16 to W18, Julia Minty, Kirsten Fairfax and Emma Prime went from W18 to W20, and Jo Allison and Cassie Trewin went from W20 to W21E. (One consequence of this was that there was no repeat of the epic W16 contest at the 5-Days, with Kathryn Ewels left on her own to record one of the biggest margins of any class, 19 minutes over fellow Victorian Jenny Prime). Allison Jones, as expected, won W20 on the first day, and it was also no surprise to see Kirsten Fairfax (who came through despite a foot injury) and Julia Minty in second and third, confirming the feelings of many that they would fill five of the six JWOC places (with Allison and Trewin). The results also made it clear that there was a four-way race for the last place, featuring Prime, Cathy Hogg, Suzanne Casanova and Kerrie Lesko. Elsewhere in junior ranks, despite running up a grade, Rebecca Minty was a clear favourite for W18 (probably a clearer favourite than she would have been in her own grade), but was surprised on day 1 by Claire Davill, who led by 20 seconds.
The two most significant runs amongst the junior men came from two already established as rising stars. Troy de Haas is still only 16, but his recent record against those several years his senior is such that it was no real surprise to see him make sure of his 1996 JWOC place. A couple of age groups down, Jamie Potter was doing his best to demonstrate that he might be only a year away from JWOC himself: the M16 course (which was of normal length) was almost identical to the M21E course and his time would have been far from disgraced at that level. Injury would claim both before the next day was out, but that was in the future. Elsewhere in M20, Nino Calabro was the only one to come close to de Haas, and the bunch behind was so close that the six in the team could have been drawn from ten or eleven contenders.
The veteran classes saw some close races on the first day, some of which were expected and some of which weren't. It was no surprise whatsoever to see Carolyn Jackson and Jenny Bourne, two outstanding competitors at national elite level in the late 70s and 80s and at the international veteran level in the 90s, separated by only 20 seconds; a prelude to three days on which they would never be more than 77 seconds apart. Nor was the close battle in the large M50 class-there were 71 seconds between Howard Smith in second and Dave Lotty in sixth-a surprise. Two clear favourites, Geoff Lawford in M40 and Geoff Peck in M45, managed to win the first day, but only with four and seven seconds in hand over Toby Imhoff and Hugh Moore respectively.
Day 2
The first day is when Easter can be lost; the second day is when it is often won. This applies particularly in the elite classes, for whom it is the longest of the three days: many a dream has died in the last quarter of a day 2 course. There was no repeat of the two-kilometre uphill leg to the third-last control that was a feature of 1995, and the courses were a little shorter-perhaps shorter than they should have been in M21E. The navigational problems arose mainly from the rock; it was an area riddled with small boulders which are a mapper's nightmare- do you map all or none?-and hard to see, which made it difficult to locate controls precisely. Unfortunately, the potential of the area for long route-choice legs was not realised, with no legs longer than a kilometre on a 13.3 km course.
It was the day when the leaders took control. Natasha Rowe won the day in W21E convincingly, thereby setting up a six-minute lead to take into the final race. Jo Allison and Nicki Taws fought a close contest for second, as they had the previous day, and established a handy break over the rest of the field after Tracy Bluett crashed from her overnight lead. Grant Bluett didn't build quite as good a position, but was still four minutes in front once the dust had settled, with Rob Walter and Blair Trewin the others to emerge from the pack over the second half of the course, ahead of Tom Quayle and Jock Davis.
Reuben Smith also took control of M20, winning the day by four minutes and assisted in his overall position by the effective demise of both Troy de Haas and Nino Calabro. Tom Walter and Peter Lowndes were also movers on the day, further complicating the JWOC selection situation. While that was becoming complicated, the W20 picture was becoming clearer; the top three from the preceding day all had good runs, and Suzanne Casanova, with a second place on the day, broke clear of the group battling for the last spot.
Several other classes also saw large leads open out, the leaders combining good runs of their own with poor ones by their rivals. This happened most dramatically in W18, where Rebecca Minty suddenly found herself sixteen minutes clear; only Julie Schofield got anywhere near her, and she was already completely out of contention after day 1. Others who consolidated their position were Lorenzo Calabro, who won by six minutes to take charge of a congested M18 field, and Graham Fortune, six minutes clear in M55. The Jackson-Bourne battle was still on in earnest in W35, Shirley Viner was being pushed unexpectedly hard in W50 by Heather Bice and Margaret Duguid, and Damon Dickinson got himself into the contest in M16 by winning the day by six minutes as most of the rest of the field was troubled by the first control.
Day 3
All else on the final day was dwarfed by an outstanding performance from Grant Bluett. Four minutes up at the start of the day, a victory was probable but not certain, although it was clear that he would have to make mistakes if those behind were to catch him. He didn't. By the second last control he had caught eight minutes on Eric Morris, and that was as close as anyone got to him. The three-day result was thus turned into a whitewash, thirteen minutes clear. The minor placings remained unchanged, with Rob Walter-still a junior-and Blair Trewin both recording their best results at this level. There were considerable changes behind that, with Tom Quayle and Jock Davis both falling away and Morris stepping into the breach, well clear of Warren Key who had gone into the last day a second ahead of him.
Bluett may not have faltered, but Natasha Rowe did, somewhat unexpectedly. Being first starter made it hard to get her time into a proper perspective, but as soon as others came in it was clear that the opportunity was open for either Jo Allison or Nicki Taws if they were good enough. It was Taws who grasped the chance, winning the day convincingly and therefore overturning a seven-minute deficit. Rowe held second, with Allison not quite able to make the most of the situation, but third was still a respectable result for someone who will still be at JWOC this year.
W20 held no surprises and was very much a repeat of the second day. Allison Jones had her third successive win, all by small margins; Suzanne Casanova made sure of her JWOC place with another second place which lifted her into second overall, and Kirsten Fairfax and Julia Minty consolidated their positions as well. The gap between the top four and the rest was eight minutes, quite substantial in the context of the race. In M20, while Reuben Smith remained without serious challenge in front, the field was rearranging itself completely behind him. Tom Walter, Nino Calabro, David Shepherd and Peter Lowndes, all of whom went into the final day with a reasonable chance of selection, plunged out of contention to greater or lesser degrees. Darren Meeking's technical skills on a difficult area saw him win the day and take second overall, while Ben Rattray and Damian Dawson were the best of the rest, and were selected in the team along with Troy de Haas (second on day 3 after his non-finish on day 2) and Rob Walter (otherwise engaged in M21E).
Taws was not the only competitor to come from behind, although she was the most prominent. The most remarkable result was in M55. Frank Anderson, whose appearances in recent years have been few and far between, was fourth at the start of the day, ten minutes down on leader Graham Fortune. Thirty-nine minutes later he had come through to win. Other significant comebacks occurred in W65 and W70, not normally classes which have much in the way of excitement and close finishes; Joan Bourne came from three minutes down and Sue Healy from eleven. Tim Dent came through in a fiercely competitive M50 class which proved that old elites never disappear (he, along with placegetters Alex Tarr and Dave Lotty, were in the 1974 Australian WOC team), while the two-minute advantage that Gordon Howitt held from the first day proved just enough to hold off Tony Mount in M65. Charges which fell short of victory included those of Lee Coady (ninth to third in M18), Ruth Schulz (ninth to third in W18), Kathy Liley (seventh to third in W45) and Dale Ann Gordon (eighth to third in W50). In the latter class, Shirley Viner ran away with the win in the end, but only 78 seconds separated second and sixth, Ann Baylis prevailing for second once the dust had settled.
Not all the day 2 leaders struggled. Geoff Lawford, Mike Billinghurst (in a competitive M35 field), Geoff Peck, Clive Pope, Sue Johnston and Dawn Beck were amongst those who built considerably on their positions. Very close finishes were actually few and far between in the A classes (except for M21A, won by Ant Burnett by three seconds from Martin Wehner); one which was on offer, in M16, was blown completely out of the water when Damon Dickinson won the last day by ten minutes over a half-fit Jamie Potter. The result was a significant breakthrough for Dickinson, as the M18 result was for Lorenzo Calabro.
The JWOC and World Cup teams were named at the presentations. I'm not absolutely sure who was picked for series 1 of the World Cup (series 2 and 3 will be named in May). The JWOC team has been posted elsewhere, but I'll post it again here:
Rob Walter Jo Allison Reuben Smith Cassie Trewin Darren Meeking Allison Jones Troy de Haas Kirsten Fairfax Ben Rattray Julia Minty Damian Dawson Suzanne CasanovaClick here for full results.
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