Both courses had two short loops in complex mining detail, before a longer final loop which extended into the gully-spur section of the map. Flattish goldmining is prime terrain for small errors, ideal for a mass-start race with split controls, but packs were still expected to form at the start and persist, perhaps all the way to the finish. It was something of a surprise when Emily Viner, on her home ground, emerged from the forest to be the first home on the first loop, with no-one else in sight. Four minutes later, as the next finishers made it in, it had become apparent that she had blown the field apart in the first two kilometres of the race, or so it seemed. Battling for second place was a group of six, including Natasha Rowe, a clear pre-race favourite after Nicki Taws' withdrawal with illness, the two Allison sisters, rising junior Julia Minty and two former JWOC representatives making a return to elite orienteering, Clare Hawthorne and Cathy Liggins.
The leaders were reshuffled on the second loop. Viner retained her lead, although it was cut in half as Louise and Kirsten Fairfax surged through the field to move into second and third. Rowe and Minty were still within forty seconds of them, a steady two loops had seen Nicola Plunkett-Cole move into fourth, and Tracy Bluett looked ominous half a minute further back after charging from twenty-second to eighth with the fastest second loop after a poor start. Thirteen were still clustered within five minutes of the lead with the longest of the loops to come.
A kilometre into the final loop it became a four-way contest. After some small errors Viner was caught by her pursuers at the fifth control, with Rowe and the two Fairfaxes making up the two-minute deficit. For most of the remainder of the race it stayed a back of four; Louise Fairfax broke away briefly on the way to 7, but was caught again after a small error a control later. The race was not decided until the final split. Rowe had a different split to the other three, and it was a slightly shorter one, giving her the opportunity to make the decisive break less than a kilometre from home to take the Eureka Challenge, her fourth in succession. The other three had the same split, and it became a sprint finish, with Kirsten Fairfax just having the finishing speed to see off her mother and Viner at the end of a memorable contest. Behind them, Bluett made further ground in the placings but was unable to bridge the gap to the leading group, and there were some good battles further back in the field, none better than that between 1996 JWOC representatives Cassie Trewin and Jo Allison for seventh.
The men started more predictably; whereas no women came in within three minutes of the lead after one loop, twenty men were able to do so. It was no great surprise to see Warren Key and Jim Russell out in front, although some of those immediately following, such as Andrew Jones, David Shepherd and Gareth Prosser, were more unexpected. There were few big gaps and the only leading contender to put himself out of the running in the early stages was Rob Walter, who condemned himself to a long battle through the midfield after a five-minute error late in the loop.
The cream moved closer to the top on the second loop, with the group within a minute of the lead reduced to five, all authentic contenders. Russell had moved into the lead, with Quayle in hot pursuit sixteen seconds behind, and Andy Hogg, Key and Eric Morris all still close enough to challenge. Realistically, those behind were looking for middle-order honours, and even the battle for sixth was settled well before the finish. It was a different story out in front, with the Russell-Quayle contest getting hotter with every passing control. Russell had had the edge at the start of the final loop, and he proved to still have it eight kilometres later, scoring with fifty metres to spare. Key came home in third place, while Morris just edged out Hogg for fourth. The closest finish of the day came a few minutes later; Rob Walter recovered from his bad start to come in ninth, just ahead of an even closer sprint finish between Reuben Smith and Paul Liggins, tight enough that a photo-finish camera would have been of use.
Victoria won both teams' events, taking a comfortable lead in the League after its first round.
The splits were not in evidence on the first mens' leg as a pack of three developed with very similar courses. Warren Key and Jason McCrae, representing two of the four Victorian teams, had the lead at the spectator control along with Andy Hogg, the three being very closely bunched, with the Outer States a couple of minutes down and New South Wales already well off the back. McCrae also drifted off the back of the pack on the final section of the first leg, leaving Hogg to edge out Key one-third of the way through the battle between the two most favoured teams.
The decisive break was made on the second leg. Rob Walter was keen to make amends for the previous day, and with his opponent, Blair Trewin, hindered by a quadriceps injury, he was able to gain a substantial break of three minutes by the leg's halfway mark. That closed a little by the end, but the gap was still two and a half minutes, a difficult target on a 35-minute course. Jon McComb moved South Australia into third with a good second leg, but with their best two runners finished they posed little threat to the leading pair.
Those who remembered the 1996 Australian Relays, when the ACT had twice the lead over Victoria with one leg to go and lost, would have known that it was unwise to take anything for granted, but after that disappointment and a loss the previous day Tom Quayle was in no mood to let the race slip this time. The gap was still two and a half minutes when they reached the spectator control, a gap too large to be bridged by anything other than a major error, which was not forthcoming. Ten minutes later it was all over, with the ACT, as it turned out, extending their lead-just-on all three legs. A strong run from Eddie Wymer got the Victorian second team into the minor placings, while Bruce Arthur just pipped Damian Dawson in the battle of the South Australians.
The women were not so close initially, with Natasha Rowe making a clear break of two minutes in the first half of the first leg and holding it to the finish, ahead of Tracy Bluett for New South Wales and Cathy Liggins for an unofficial team. Tasmania were considered strong contenders after the Fairfax heroics of the previous day, but it was apparent by the end of the first leg that there would be no repetition, and Cassie Trewin, despite stumbling on the later hurdles, kept the ACT in touch.
Just as it had the previous day, the leader came back to the field, and this time it had happened by the end of the second leg. With three teams separated by a few metres, an epic was in prospect, with New South Wales and Victoria set to fight it out with the unofficial team, and two high placegetters from the previous day, Emily Viner and Nicola Plunkett-Cole, set to run the final leg against Nicki Taws, running in the unofficial team because of doubts about her fitness.
In the end it was a no-contest. Taws answered all doubts about her fitness in the most emphatic style possible, running away from the field to lead her team home by nearly five minutes and demonstrating why she has been amongst Australia's top-ranked orienteers for most of the nineties. That still left the O-League open, and Plunkett-Cole was the one who held her nerve best, holding off a late charge by Jo Allison for the ACT, with Victoria slipping to third. It represented a lost opportunity for Victoria to establish a commanding early lead in the League, but they are still in front after two rounds, just clear of the ACT.
Round 1 (mass start, multiple loops), Chinamans Flat, 8 March 1997
Results
Men (14.3 km, 43 controls: loops 2.9-3.0, 2.9-3.0, 8.3-8.5 km)
Loop 1 Loop 2 Loop 3 Final
1 Jim Russell VIC 16.47 17.31 47.45 82.03
2 Tom Quayle ACT 17.10 17.24 47.36 82.10
3 Warren Key VIC 16.46 18.26 49.59 85.11
4 Eric Morris NSW 17.18 17.59 51.26 86.43
5 Andy Hogg ACT 17.46 17.09 51.57 86.52
6 Blair Trewin VIC 18.09 18.11 53.41 90.01
7 Scott Simson QLD/OS 17.52 18.00 55.58 91.50
8 Eddie Wymer VIC 17.08 20.47 54.14 92.09
9 Rob Walter ACT 21.38 19.10 51.42 92.30
10 Reuben Smith SA/OS 19.33 17.21 55.40 92.34
11 Paul Liggins VIC 18.59 18.05 55.30 92.34
12 David Shepherd NSW 16.55 19.24 58.22 94.41
13 Gareth Prosser NSW 17.07 19.39 59.24 96.10
14 Bruce Arthur SA/OS 17.50 19.11 59.56 96.57
15 Jason McCrae VIC 21.19 19.32 56.28 97.19
16 Jon McComb SA/OS 21.33 20.53 57.31 99.57
17 Michael Derlacki ACT 19.36 18.26 62.09 100.11
18 Anthony Scott ACT 19.03 19.04 62.11 100.18
19 Troy de Haas VIC 18.49 24.38 60.45 104.12
20 Wolfgang Waldhausl AUT 22.10 22.09 61.17 105.36
21 Tom Walter ACT 19.05 20.42 65.54 105.41
22 David Colls VIC 18.04 21.05 69.43 108.52
23 Rob Preston NSW 28.10 18.49 64.50 111.49
24 Damian Dawson SA/OS 23.43 20.14 73.47 117.44
25 Andrew Jones VIC 16.47 26.52 91.52 135.31
26 Dean Pepplinkhouse VIC 33.07 22.28 99.30 155.05
David Searle VIC 18.00 24.34 DNF
Steven Jones VIC 28.07 18.55 DNF
Ben Rattray SA/OS 19.37 25.03 DNF
Teams:
1 Victoria 257.15 (Russell, Key, Trewin)
2 ACT 262.32 (Quayle, Hogg, R.Walter)
3 New South Wales 277.34 (Morris, Shepherd, Prosser)
4 Outer States 281.21 (Simson, Smith, Arthur)
Women (9.4 km, 34 controls: loops 2.2-2.3, 2.2-2.3, 4.8-5.0 km)
1 Natasha Rowe VIC 18.52 20.19 34.20 73.31
2 Kirsten Fairfax TAS/OS 21.10 17.25 35.37 74.12
3 Louise Fairfax TAS/OS 21.05 17.29 35.41 74.15
4 Emily Viner VIC 15.08 21.24 37.47 74.19
5 Tracy Bluett NSW 23.15 16.33 37.57 77.45
6 Nicola Plunkett-Cole NSW 20.40 18.19 39.22 78.21
7 Cassie Trewin ACT 20.39 19.30 38.53 79.02
8 Jo Allison ACT 19.06 22.19 37.42 79.08
9 Belinda Allison ACT 19.09 20.12 40.46 80.07
10 Julie Calder NSW 23.08 18.15 41.19 82.56
11 Rebecca Minty ACT 21.03 19.02 45.48 85.53
12 Susanne Casanova SA/OS 21.07 19.51 45.08 86.06
13 Clare Hawthorne VIC 19.00 27.11 41.57 88.08
14 Julia Minty ACT 18.59 20.18 49.07 88.24
15 Emma Prime VIC 22.57 19.45 51.53 94.35
16 Amber Tomas SA/OS 22.54 23.37 49.06 95.37
17 Cathy Liggins NSW 19.02 30.33 48.04 97.39
18 Allison Jones NSW 22.59 23.24 53.44 100.07
19 Jo Mitchell TAS/OS 28.10 25.55 49.57 104.02
20 Shannon Jones NSW 23.13 19.57 61.39 104.49
21 Kathryn Ewels VIC 31.56 31.25 47.57 111.18
22 Kerryn Searle VIC 22.52 31.21 59.59 114.12
23 Anna Jenkins SA/OS 22.53 31.30 59.50 114.13
24 Julie Schofield SA/OS 34.59 27.51 53.09 115.59
25 Heather Smith SA/OS 28.57 32.16 58.26 119.36
26 Jane Ewels VIC 33.04 38.08 81.25 152.37
Carolyn Jackson VIC 21.28 21.34 DNF
Claire Davill SA/OS 29.58 29.54 DNF
Teams:
1 Victoria 147.50 (Rowe, Viner)
2 Outer States 148.27 (K.Fairfax, L.Fairfax)
3 New South Wales 156.06 (Bluett, Plunkett-Cole)
4 ACT 158.10 (Trewin, J.Allison)
Round 2 (relay), Nerrina, 9 March 1997
Men (3 x 5.5 km)
(O League placings in brackets for leading eligible teams from
each O League team)
1 (1) ACT 1 106.20 Andy Hogg 34.12
Rob Walter 36.30
Tom Quayle 35.38
2 (2) Victoria 1 108.47 Warren Key 34.22
Blair Trewin 38.45
Jim Russell 35.40
3 Victoria 2 113.00 Jason McCrae 35.48
Paul Liggins 41.16
Eddie Wymer 35.56
4 (3) Outer States 115.08 Reuben Smith 38.39
Scott Simson 37.43
Bruce Arthur 38.46
5 South Australia 115.21 Ben Rattray 38.08
Jon McComb 36.31
Damian Dawson 40.42
6 (4) New South Wales 119.57 Rob Preston 41.15
David Shepherd 42.54
Eric Morris 35.48
7 ACT 2 131.35 Anthony Scott 44.35
Michael Derlacki 40.58
Tom Walter 46.02
8 Victoria 3 164.28 Steven Jones 59.24
Andrew Jones 53.02
David Searle 52.00
Victoria 4 DNF Dean Pepplinkhouse 66.07
David Colls 42.51
Troy de Haas DNF
Women (3 x 4.3 km)
1 ACT/New South Wales 111.45 Cathy Liggins 36.07
Allison Jones 39.38
Nicki Taws 36.00
2 (1) New South Wales 116.20 Tracy Bluett 35.55
Julie Calder 39.54
Nicola Plunkett-Cole 40.31
3 (2) ACT 117.30 Cassie Trewin 39.19
Belinda Allison 40.46
Jo Allison 36.25
4 (3) Victoria 118.21 Natasha Rowe 34.21
Clare Hawthorne 41.28
Emily Viner 42.33
5 (4) South Australia 140.48 Susanne Casanova 44.34
(Outer States) Amber Tomas 43.51
Heather Smith 51.53
6 Tasmania 141.34 Louise Fairfax 41.42
Kirsten Fairfax 48.31
Jo Mitchell 51.21
7 ACT/New South Wales 143.15 Rebecca Minty 42.44
Shannon Jones 54.51
Julia Minty 45.40
8 Victoria 2 149.19 Kerryn Searle 54.08
Kathryn Ewels 46.47
Emma Prime 48.24
9 South Australia 2 179.40 Julie Schofield 48.18
Anna Jenkins 76.08
Claire Davill 55.14
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