The excitement felt by the Australian Junior World Orienteering (JWOC) team will be not just for their successful opening of the Australian campaign but for New Zealander Tim Robinson who took gold in the Sprint Championship in Bulgaria on Tuesday. The New Zealand and Australian teams are training together under Rob Jessop (NZ) and Hanny Allston ( Aust.).
With a mixture of experienced and new team members, all 12 Australians successfully completed their courses with no mishaps.
The men faired the best with three Australians in the top 30 of the 160 men, finishing within a minute of the winning time for the 3 km course with 20 controls. Oscar McNulty competing in his 4th JWOC was 17th and 53 secs behind, followed by team captain Launceston’s Brodie Nankervis in 19th place (+54 secs). Brother Ashley Nankervis, in his debut at JWOC, finished 3mins and 4 secs behind the winner.
The first Australian woman to finish, Asha Steer was in 79 place half way through the field followed only 15 seconds behind by Anna Dowling of Hobart, the third Tasmanian member of the Australian team, in 86th place in the field of 134 . Both Steer and Dowling are representing Australia at JWOC for the first time.
The competition continues tomorrow (Wednesday) with the Long Distance final event in hilly pine forest at altitudes between 1300 and 1750 m.
Follow the results on the Orienteering Australia website with links to JWOC at www.orienteering.asn.au/news
Media Contact: Valerie Brammall 0488190 955
Photo: Courtesy Nick Dent, OA website