Crowded dais-Senior Girls relay.
Angus Haines (SA).
Patrick Jaffe (VIC).
Schools Relays start.
went in as clear favourite after a long string of good national Sprint results, and never seriously looked like losing, 20 seconds clear by halfway and 21 at the end. Three New Zealanders filled the places behind her, with Jenna Tidswell the best of them. The action then moved to Cotswold, a hilly map with some interesting cliff and rock lines, for the forest events. Like the Sprint, the Long Distance also saw the emergence of one significant name from the bunch, and this time it was a local. The word beforehand was that Caroline Pigerre was in excellent form, but with two national Junior team members in the field few picked her for more than a minor placing. Her start was a little uncertain, dropping a minute at #2 and another at #4 to be 2:30 down on early leader Briana Steven, but she settled down and gradually hauled that gap in. By the third-last control she had taken the lead for the first time, and ended up 28 seconds ahead of the New Zealander. Both the JWOC team members, Zoe Dowling and Tara Melhuish, crashed in the first few controls, although Dowling ran a great second half, and her recovery was
Emily Sorensen (SA)
enough for her to edge her Tasmanian teammate Rachel Allen out of third after the latter lost time at the second-last. After a number of near-misses, Patrick Jaffe (VIC) took his last chance for a first Schools individual title, and did it with ease. He was already 2:30 in front of the field after the first 15 minutes and eventually stretched his gap to more than five minutes. Angus Haines could not match his heroics from the previous race, but still impressed by being best of the rest after an uncertain start, ahead of the consistent Tasmanian Joseph Dickinson. The Junior Boys brought together three of the remaining key players from last year. This time, Tristan Miller (ACT) turned the tables on Dante Afnan from the Sprint, taking the lead at #5 and holding it all the way to the Finish, although a wobble at the second-last cut the gap to a minute. Noah Poland (ACT) completed the placings after a tight battle with the New Zealanders Tom Harding and Isaac Egan. New Zealand’s one individual Long Distance title came in the Junior Girls, where Sofie Safkova, a relatively recent arrival from the Czech Republic, ran a consistent race, edging ahead of Zoe Melhuish at halfway DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25