After two days of tough competition in forest 80km east of Perth the Tasmanian Schools Orienteering Team won the Australian Schools Championships for the third time in four years. The individual competition was held yesterday and whilst many competitors found the heat and the terrain tough Tasmanian orienteers went about their business steadily. At the end of the day Tasmania was equal first with Queensland and Victoria, all on 20 points. In the individual competition, Tasmania won the senior girls class when Hobart’s Junior World Championships representative, Anna Dowling, posted a strong time early in the race and had to wait nervously to see her time stand up. In the senior boys competition, Jarrah Day, also of Hobart, had an early lead but saw his time beaten by a strong performance from Victoria’s Matt Doyle. Also in second place was Rachel Allen in the junior girls class.
The second day of competition was relay day. Teams of three runners had to finish to earn points for the interstate competition. It was a tight competition throughout and it came down to the last class, the juniors girls, to decide which state would win the title. Jarrah Day and Anna Dowling started first for the senior boys and senior girls respectively. Both came back in the lead putting pressure on the second and third leg runners. In the senior boys, Launceston’s Junior World Championships representative, Ashley Nankervis, had a steady run to maintain first place and was ably followed by Oisin Stronach, who held off some fast finishing states. In the senior girls, Launceston’s Celsey Adams ran the second leg, holding the team position and handed over to Hannah Goddard, also of Launceston. Hannah was only 90 seconds in front a short distance from the end of the race but she held it together and the senior girls enjoyed their victory. With two sets of maximum points gained it was left to the junior teams to score enough points to give Tasmania the victory. The junior boys held on for 6th position and it was down to Arabella Phillips on the final leg for the junior girls to give Tasmania the win by finishing 5th and earning Tasmania enough points to take the 2014 title. Final points were Tasmania first with 39 points, Queensland second with 38 points and ACT overhauled Victoria from day 1 to take third place overall with 37 points.
... article by Christine Brown
... photos by Ian Rathbone
