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MTB-O NEWS
What did we learn in Finland?
Blake Gordon
A
NOTHER World Championships has come and gone – what have we learned? The riders’ preparation and lead up races to the Finland WMTBOC was all that could have been expected. Our team was arguably fitter and better equipped than in previous years. Carolyn’s unfortunate accident scarcely a week before leaving negated all the excellent recovery from injury and build up racing she had done and Adrian and Alex Randall’s performances in the Finland and Czech WREs gave hope of medals in Joensuu. The glacial terrain in Finland would be the test – and it found us out! The complexity of the track network, coupled with probably riding too fast, led to mistakes and lower placings than expected. The basic orienteering technique – always check the control number before punching – was one of our problems, as was our unfamiliarity with the Emit punching. With so many DNF’s recorded – particularly in the men’s relay where 10 teams out of 38 failed to finish – perhaps the pressure of seeing several controls before reaching the correct one may have been a factor (see map insert, page 43). Hard lessons to learn at this level as we watched the excellent blogspot reports from the team. But the team will assess the experiences and improve our technique and performance in preparation for Czech Republic in 2007. Adrian’s ranking at Number 1 and Alex at number 10 in the World MTB-O Ranking after the championships in Finland are examples of the quality of our top riders (see Paul’s article for complete ranking).
2007 Czech Republic WOC in early August The dates of 2007 MTB-O World Champs in Czech Republic have been changed. New dates are 5 - 12 August 2007. This change has been made due to a date clash with the 2007 foot-O World Champs in Ukraine.
First Sprint MTB-O in WA Australia has been a trendsetter in the foot-O Sprint (and Park-O) discipline with Grant Bluett, David Brickhill-Jones, Troy de Haas, and Natasha Key regularly finishing in the top 10 in Park-O events over the past 5 years. Now Hanny Allston’s gold in the WOC Sprint in Denmark has broken through the European domination of WOC titles. Now it is the turn of MTB-O. At the meeting in Bendigo last November it was decided to substitute a Sprint for the relay in Western Australia in 2006. The extended time span to ride three legs in a relay, difficulty in forming teams, relatively small numbers involved and suitable map near Perth made it an easy solution. Sprint MTB-O in WA will let Duncan Sullivan, the course setter, employ several innovations. A map scale of 1:10 000 will show the real maze of tracks; purple will be used for the rock detail so that tracks will show better; grey will be used for settlements/houses to set them off from pine forest/thick forest. With experimentation being encouraged by the IOF MTBO Commission, the Sprint MTB-O races for all classes will have a 20-25 minute winning time. Then in 2007 Victoria will stage a sprint event in Ballarat’s Victoria Park, while Albury will hold the first Oceania Sprint near Nail Can Hill. So give the new format a go and see how it compliments the Middle and Long-distance disciplines.
First Oceania MTB-O Championships in Australia The IOF has approved the staging of the inaugural Oceania MTBO Championships on 23-25 March in the Albury (NSW) area. With the full support of OA and O Victoria, the active Albury Wodonga Orienteering Club will host the 3-event weekend. With a sprint event in Albury followed by long and middle distance
races in the Shelley area, a great weekend early in the 2007 season is promised. More details, including a website with an online entry form, will be in the next The Australian Orienteer.
2006 Australian Ranking Events With the ink just dry on the 2005 ranking, 2006 is now in the “championship season”. Below are listed the events that will be used to calculate the ranking for MTB-O riders in Australia (excluding the elite men and women). In 2005 I used two results as the minimum to get a ranking. In 2006 riders will require 3 results to be nationally ranked, encouraging competitors to travel. This will give an advantage to those who attend the Australian Championships in WA of course, but Victorians had that advantage in 2005, and NSW riders will have the bonus in 2007 when they stage the nationals. With the introduction of the Sprint discipline to MTB-O in 2006, there will be more events in the future that may be considered for ARE (Australian Ranking Events). Feb 26 Vic Middle Champs; June 5 WA Long Champs; Sept 10 Tas Long Champs; Sept 10 Qld Long Champs; Oct 10 Aust Middle Champs; Oct 11 Aust Long Champs; Oct 12 Aust Sprint Champs; Oct 29 NSW Long Champs; Nov 5 ACT Long Champs; Nov 12 Vic Long Champs; Nov 19 SA Long Champs.
Elite MTB-O Ranking System Paul and Mark Darvodelsky helped devise the present elite ranking system in late 2005. Anthony Darr has taken the data and now has a “rolling ranking” that is up to date (WOC in Finland). Firstly a competitor’s final ranking is the average of their best 3 scores in the previous 12 months. That means that if a competitor has less than 3 scores they do not get an elite ranking. The events used in the current ranking include 2005 WOC Slovakia, State and Aust Champs, Selection races and WOC Finland. The second thing is that an event will not be considered for ranking points unless there are at least 3 starters in the starting field that have previously scored points. This is because the “best time” that is calculated Elite Men Ranking for the event is derived using 3 races in last 12 months the top 3 times and the (Elite Women Ranking not available yet) ranking of the top 3 riders in Name State RP the field. Without 3 starters 1 Adrian Jackson VIC 0.00 that have previously scored 2 Alex Randall VIC 10.73 points the calculation will 3 Anthony Darr NSW 20.21 4 Tony Clark VIC 20.31 not work and the event will 5 Grant Lebbink VIC 25.19 not be considered. Eventually 6 David Simpfendorfer ACT 25.27 there will be enough riders 7 Paul Darvodelsky NSW 26.89 with scores in this system to 8 Steven Cusworth VIC 27.21 9 Jim Russell VIC 29.10 make all eligible events count. 10 Matthew Schepisi VIC 31.84 Remember that the system will 11 Adam Hunter ACT 33.42 produce better scores in strong 12 Paul Liggins VIC 36.35 fields. Also, for World Champs events, if there are not 3 AUS starters then the event is discarded.
MTB-O Happenings around Australia • Braemar College (Macedon) Wins 2nd Victorian MTB-O Schools Championships (August 18th) –“You Yangs” was the venue; 130 keen schoolgirls and boys were the participants; 2 hours score course. • Queensland runs their first State MTB-O Champs using a new area for mountain bike orienteering - part of an extensive hoop pine plantation and eucalypt forest with a good track system. Within 10 minutes of Blackbutt and 15 minutes from Yarraman approximately 2 hours from Brisbane. • More than 1.1 million new bikes are sold each year – average price $2000; cycling is the fourth most popular activity for adults according to the Cycling Promotion Fund. OCTOBER 2006 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41
