The courses, on the remapped Glendale, were long and hard, with a particularly tough climb in the first part of the course - the third leg for the men and the first for the women. The early part of the race did little to sort the mens' field out, and after ten of the sixteen kilometres there were six within two minutes of the lead. It was no surprise that that pack sorted itself out over the second half of the course, when endurance took over as the dominant factor. Walter, whose endurance has never been in question, took control of the race and was three minutes faster than anyone else in the field over the final section. Eddie Wymer, the halfway leader, held on well enough to retain second place, which proved to be enough to get him to Scotland. Anthony Scott achieved the biggest upset of the day when a strong finish saw him climb from seventh to third over the final controls, while Troy de Haas recovered from his wobbles of the previous day to cement the place in the team that he looked to have assured himself of at Easter, and Michael Derlacki showed that his win on Saturday was no fluke; he will be one to watch over the remainder of the season.
Like Derlacki, Clare Hawthorne peaked at the right time, running impressively on the previous weekend and again for fourth place on Saturday. She looked to have gone one step further when she took the lead at half-distance, narrowly ahead of the previous day's winner, Cassie Trewin. Trewin found the going hard in the later stages and slipped to fourth, but Hawthorne finished strongly enough to come in with the lead. Jo Allison had been in a close sixth the previous day, her most competitive performance for some time at this level. Her halfway split, three minutes down, left her still in some sort of contention for a place at least, but she was the one who stood up when the course got beyond 60 minutes and one's reserves counted for a lot. It wasn't enough to get her to Scotland, but it might well be the result which restarts a career which seemed in danger of stalling. Hawthorne was second, surviving a scare when it took a detailed forensic examination to detect something resembling a punch for the last control on her card, and Emily Viner completed a solid weekend by coming third. Natasha Key got to the start line this time, despite a broken rib, and finished well for a steady fifth place.
The result ensured that Rob Walter will win the mens' National League title for the third successive year; to stay in contention Troy de Haas, who moved into second place with his fourth, would have had to have been at least third. This leaves de Haas, Tom Quayle (if he returns) and Andy Hogg to fight out second place over the final two rounds in September and October. Neither Natasha Key nor Nicki Taws added to their scores on the weekend, maintaining the status quo of Key's one-point lead, which will ensure a classic battle for the individual title later in the year. Five others retain a theoretical chance of victory, although Tracy Bluett's is probably the only one that is realistic; a placing by either Key or Taws in the Australian Championships would put the other four out of contention, irrespective of other results. The Canberra Cockatoos look well positioned for their sixth consecutive teams win; although the existence of double points for the last two rounds allows for the possibility of a dramatic shift, their enormous depth - they contributed four men and two women (plus a reserve) to the WOC team - makes their fourteen-point lead hard to overcome, to say the least. Victoria, with their best women available through the season - and bolstered by Clare Hawthorne's improvement - have shown that their 1998 wooden spoon was something of an aberration, occupying a comfortable second.
Return to Qantas National Orienteering League home page.Men (16.0km)
9.6km Final 1 Rob Walter ACT 71.13 115.12 2 Eddie Wymer VIC 70.30 118.34 3 Anthony Scott ACT 73.34 120.02 4 Troy de Haas ACT 72.26 121.48 5 Michael Derlacki ACT 72.22 122.05 6 Scott Simson ALL/Q 71.27 122.14 7 Andy Hogg WA 72.19 124.07 8 Ben Rattray SA 75.36 126.40 9 Paul Liggins VIC 79.40 127.52 10 David Shepherd NSW 74.27 128.33 11 Jim Russell VIC 78.25 132.34 12 Tom Walter ACT 76.52 132.35 13 Craig Dufty WA 80.00 132.38 14 Warren Key VIC 133.26 15 John Toomey WA 76.25 133.29 16 Martin Groth NSW 79.28 133.35 17 Eric Morris SA 80.25 133.58 18 Reuben Smith SA 84.26 137.50 19 Graham Turner NSW 85.09 141.13 20 Glenn Meyer NSW 89.27 144.02 21 Alex Randall VIC 79.31 145.14 22 Jon McComb NSW 81.54 146.41 23 Bruce Arthur SA 84.49 159.42 24 David Brickhill-Jones ALL/T 88.36 163.01 Terry Farrell WA 80.19 DNF Jason McCrae ACT DNF Rob Preston NSW 84.43 DNF Gareth Candy WA DNF Blair Trewin VIC DNFTeams
1 Canberra Cockatoos 357.02 (R.Walter, Scott, de Haas) 2 Victorian Nuggets 379.00 (Wymer, Liggins, Russell) 3 Western Nomads 390.14 (Hogg, Dufty, Toomey) 4 Southern Arrows 398.21 (Rattray, Morris, Smith) 5 NSW Stingers 403.21 (Shepherd, Groth, Turner)Women (10.3km)
4.7km Final 1 Jo Allison ACT 46.41 87.19 2 Clare Hawthorne VIC 44.00 88.39 3 Emily Viner VIC 47.56 90.16 4 Cassie Trewin ACT 44.43 92.34 5 Natasha Key VIC 50.33 93.41 6 Anthea Feaver WA 52.16 96.42 7 Alix Young WA 51.42 97.55 8 Rebecca Minty ACT 54.51 101.44 9 Louise Fairfax ALL/T 52.52 105.28 10 Cathy Liggins NSW 53.20 106.09 11 Karen Staudte VIC 56.28 106.16 12 Julie Calder NSW 61.12 109.55 13 Allison Jones NSW 52.55 110.25 14 Kirsten Fairfax ALL/T 64.48 117.31 15 Orla Murray NSW 68.21 118.59 16 Sarah Campbell NSW 57.55 120.00 17 Jenny Casanova SA 62.53 125.46 18 Rachel West WA 67.57 127.40 19 Cath Chalmers WA 65.14 139.24 Sheralee Bailey NSW 80.44 DNFTeams
1 Victorian Nuggets 178.55 (Hawthorne, Viner) 2 Canberra Cockatoos 179.53 (Allison, Trewin) 3 Western Nomads 194.37 (Feaver, Young) 4 NSW Stingers 216.04 (Liggins, Calder) 5 Allies 222.59 (L.Fairfax, K.Fairfax)
Return to Blair Trewin's orienteering page.