Step one, as usual, was the qualification race. The fields were deep enough for qualification to be less than a formality, especially for the men, and there were some very tight contests there around the crucial eighth position; three seconds in one heat and six in the other. Troy de Haas, who had been considered a potential placegetter, was the most significant casualty of the heats, while there were dominant performances in heat 1 from Grant Bluett and Tom Quayle, leading to some mutterings about how much tougher heat 1 was. (As it turned out it would provide precisely none of the three placegetters, but more of that later). Amongst the women there were no real surprises, but Nicki Taws and Natasha Key impressed in their heat. The junior heats were effectively irrelevant, as all participants went through to the final if they finished, and many of the contenders only did as much as they had to, the best performance coming from someone not known to hold himself back under any circumstances, David Brickhill-Jones.
The two leaders in the womens' race were much as expected, but the margins were tighter than they had been in the morning. Emily Viner, another of the recent returnees from overseas, took the early lead to remind everyone that she was still on the scene, ending up in third place. Another to impress was Clare Hawthorne, placing fourth in her best performance at this level since she narrowly missed the WOC team as a 20-year-old in 1991, but in the end the day went with form. Natasha Key squeezed Viner out by half a minute, and Nicki Taws, in turn, got half a minute ahead of her to take the title.
There were more surprises amongst the men. Grant Bluett and Tom Quayle, as the dominant figures of Australian orienteering at international mens' level over the last two years, went in as hot favourites after their performances in the heats, but both made significant errors to put themselves out of contention for the places. This opened the way for Rob Walter. After having the second half of his 1998 season severely disrupted by injury, he had won his heat without being spectacular in doing so, but when it came to the afternoon he was the best man standing. Andy Hogg, with a very consistent run, was a narrow second, while Warren Key, now National Coach but still extremely competitive over the shorter distances, rounded out the placings.
David Brickhill-Jones had impressed over the summer, and while his performances in the M20 final was not on the level that he achieved in the heat, it was still more than enough to win. Andrew Hill, who had been caught two minutes by him, was second, while Jamie Potter took third after a rather bizarre finish in which Nick Hain and Damon Dickinson punched the wrong last control, went through the finish, then realised and went back out to the correct control, to no avail. Rebecca Minty had not gone out to impress in the heats; she saved her best for the final, and scored very comfortably. Orla Murray put in her bid for the log-jam of those going for JWOC places by squeezing out Kathryn Ewels for second.
The Championships also marked the first round of the Qantas National Orienteering League. Some added interest this year has come from the addition of two new teams; the Southern Arrows (South Australia) and Western Nomads (Western Australia) have separated from the Allies, who now only comprise Queensland and Tasmania. The Nomads were competitive, the Arrows were not - although, in fairness, they will have a formidable mens' team once all are fit and available, especially with the acquisition of Eric Morris. The Canberra Cockatoos, champions for five years' running, did nothing to suggest that they will not challenge seriosusly again, although Victoria, with their womens' depth - a severe problem for most of last year - back, challenged strongly on Saturday.
Return to Qantas National Orienteering League page.M21
Heats (first 8 from each race qualify)Heat 1
1 Grant Bluett ACT 21.54 2 Tom Quayle ACT 22.10 3 Scott Simson Q/ALL 24.21 4 Jim Russell VIC 25.13 5 Blair Trewin VIC 25.16 6 Ian Prosser ACT 25.30 7 Michael Derlacki ACT 25.31 8 Alex Randall VIC 26.19 9 John Toomey WA 26.22 10 Reuben Smith SA 26.32 11 Anthony Scott ACT 26.59 12 Bruce Arthur SA 28.22 13 Gordon Riemersma GBR 28.51 14 Jon McComb NSW 29.00 15 Glenn Meyer NSW 29.28Heat 2
1 Rob Walter ACT 24.18 2 Warren Key VIC 25.36 3 Tom Walter ACT 25.49 4 Andy Hogg WA 26.04 5 Jason McCrae ACT 26.18 6 Gareth Candy WA 27.07 7 David Shepherd NSW 27.10 8 Ben Rattray SA 27.40 9 Troy de Haas ACT 27.46 10 Craig Dufty WA 27.51 11 Rob Vincent NSW 28.49 12 Rob Preston NSW 29.29 13 Lars-Ivar Aarseth NOR 30.01 14 Paul Marsh NSW 31.14 15 Neil Simson Q/ALL 36.29W21
Heats (first 7 from each heat qualify)Heat 1
1 Nicki Taws ACT 22.40 2 Natasha Key VIC 24.02 3 Clare Hawthorne VIC 26.05 4 Louise Fairfax T/ALL 26.40 5 Julie Calder NSW 27.53 6 Allison Jones NSW 30.36 7 Cathy Liggins NSW 30.55 8 Amber Tomas SA 33.47 9 Kirsty Bruce NSW 35.03 10 Susannah King VIC 35.31 11 Georgina Macken NSW 36.34 12 Kerryn Thomas Q/ALL 38.17Heat 2
1 Kirsten Fairfax T/ALL 26.04 2 Tracy Bluett NSW 26.19 3 Jo Allison ACT 26.37 4 Karen Staudte VIC 30.20 5 Emily Viner VIC 30.21 6 Natalie Smith WA 32.10 7 Cath Chalmers WA 33.31 8 Jenny Casanova SA 35.07 9 Rachel West WA 37.27 10 Belinda Allison ACT 40.48 Cathy Hogg ACT DNFM20
Heat (all finishers qualify) 1 David Brickhill-Jones TAS 21.51 2 Andrew Hill NSW 25.49 3 Kerrin Rattray SA 26.53 4 Michael White SA 30.52 5 Jamie Potter SA 31.30 6 Nick Hain ACT 32.03 7 Damon Dickinson NSW 32.15 8 John Nieuwenhoven SA 45.35 9 Lachlan Hallett SA 48.36W20
Heat (all finishers qualify) 1 Kathryn Ewels VIC 25.00 2 Clemmie Thompson VIC 29.26 3 Orla Murray NSW 31.47 4 Zoe Radford SA 32.44 5 Catherine Loye SA 35.14 6 Rebecca Minty ACT 36.15 7 Kerryn Searle VIC 39.03 8 Naomi Francis SA 41.17Finals
Men A
1 Rob Walter ACT 23.43 2 Andy Hogg WA 24.00 3 Warren Key VIC 24.46 4 Scott Simson Q/ALL 25.34 5 Grant Bluett ACT 25.55 6 Jim Russell VIC 26.01 7= Alex Randall VIC 26.49 7= Michael Derlacki ACT 26.49 9 Tom Quayle ACT 26.55 10 Gareth Candy WA 27.00 11 David Shepherd NSW 27.26 12 Blair Trewin VIC 27.51 13 Jason McCrae ACT 28.20 14 Tom Walter ACT 28.49 15 Ian Prosser ACT 29.15 Ben Rattray SA DNFMen B
1 Reuben Smith SA 23.55 2 Rob Preston NSW 24.09 3 Gordon Riemersma GBR 25.09 4 Rob Vincent NSW 25.53 5 Craig Dufty WA 26.00 6 Bruce Arthur SA 26.12 7 Anthony Scott ACT 28.14 8 Lars-Ivar Aarseth NOR 28.21 9 Glenn Meyer NSW 28.28 10 Jon McComb NSW 28.39 11 Neil Simson Q/ALL 31.10 Troy de Haas VIC DNF John Toomey WA DNFTeams
1 Canberra Cockatoos 13.5 (R.Walter, Bluett, Derlacki) 2 Victorian Nuggets 16.5 (Key, Russell, Randall) 3 Western Nomads 31 (Hogg, Candy, Dufty) 4 NSW Stingers 46 (Shepherd, Preston, Vincent)Women A
1 Nicki Taws ACT 23.54 2 Natasha Key VIC 24.22 3 Emily Viner VIC 24.55 4 Clare Hawthorne VIC 25.53 5 Jo Allison ACT 26.33 6 Tracy Bluett NSW 27.16 7 Kirsten Fairfax T/ALL 27.56 8 Allison Jones NSW 28.13 9 Louise Fairfax T/ALL 29.56 10 Cathy Liggins NSW 30.03 11 Julie Calder NSW 30.17 12 Natalie Smith WA 30.59 13 Karen Staudte VIC 31.54 14 Cath Chalmers WA 37.58Women B
1 Amber Tomas SA 27.04 2 Georgina Macken NSW 30.14 3 Rachel West WA 30.38 4 Belinda Allison ACT 32.14 5 Kirsty Bruce NSW 34.15 6 Susannah King VIC 36.48 7 Kerryn Thomas Q/ALL 39.43 8 Jenny Casanova SA 40.58Teams
1 Victorian Nuggets 5 (Key, Viner) 2 Canberra Cockatoos 6 (Taws, J.Allison) 3 NSW Stingers 14 (Bluett, Jones) 4 Allies 16 (K.Fairfax, L.Fairfax) 5 Western Nomads 26 (Smith, Chalmers) 6 Southern Arrows 33 (Tomas, Casanova)M20 Final
1 David Brickhill-Jones TAS 26.12 2 Andrew Hill NSW 28.19 3 Jamie Potter SA 29.33 4 Kerrin Rattray SA 30.16 5 Michael White SA 32.24 6 Lachlan Hallett SA 42.24 7 John Nieuwenhoven SA 45.51 Nick Hain ACT DNF Damon Dickinson NSW DNFW20 Final
1 Rebecca Minty ACT 27.06 2 Orla Murray NSW 30.14 3 Kathryn Ewels VIC 31.17 4 Zoe Radford SA 33.16 5 Clemmie Thompson VIC 36.14 6 Kerryn Searle VIC 41.38 7 Catherine Loye SA 42.25 8 Naomi Francis SA 43.29
Return to Blair Trewin's orienteering page.