Kiwis Win Australian Sport

Kiwis Chris Forne and Dennis de Monchy have won the 2006 World Championship of the sport invented in Australia! And on Australian soil - how sweet is that!! The pair from Christchurch outsmarted, outbushed and outran 300 other teams in the largest world championship so far of the 24-hour endurance navigation sport. Their score of 2610 was 180 more than second-placed Rob Preston and Damon Goerke - it would have taken the Australians nearly two more hours to reach that score if the time had been available!

Preston and Goerke were comfortably ahead of top Europeans Petr Boranek/Miroslav Seidl (Czech) and Raimonds Lapins/Anita Liepina/Guntars Mankus from Latvia. But a mere 10 points (the smallest scoring increment) behind the Latvians came the Kiwi/Aussie duo of Greg Barbour and David Rowlands, who won in 2000 and 2002 and were second in 2004. Barbour belongs to Orienteering Taranaki but works for Shell in Moscow. A further 10 points back were Aucklanders Darren Ashmore and Phil Wood. And listed in the fourth Australian team in 10th place was former Hutt Valley orienteer Ted van Geldermalsen, one of the few to have contested every world rogaine championship. Barbour/Rowlands and van Geldermalsen/Morris were the top two veteran (40+) teams.

The event was a worthy championship. Those expecting easily passable forest were soon revising progress rates and modifying intended routes. Daytime temperatures got well into the 30's and teams had to take time out for sick members. Though not high in total, relentless climb in the tumbled volcanic terrain of the Warrambungle National Park took its toll on all teams. One team was even struck by snake-bite, in spite of its general rarity in mapsports. The park is situated in rural New South Wales, about 500km NW of Sydney, on the western edge of the coastal mountains. It's not far from Dubbo, scene of next years Junior Orienteering World Championship.

Other notable kiwi performances were: Neil Kerrison and Jamie Stewart (Auck/Chch) 11th; Chch's Vivienne Prince (with Australian Richard Robinson) 18th, 3rd Mixed, 3rd Vet and 1st Mixed Vet; Gisborne's Rachel Smith/Rhys Burns 21st and 4th Mixed; Emma and Guy de Lacey (Chch) 54th and 3rd Mixed Vet; "The Oldies" consisting of Pete Squires, Bill and Ann Kennedy narrowly retaining their Mixed SuperVet title in spite of heat sickness; and Nick Tippling and Emmah Ussher who were the second junior team.

The next world championship is likely to be in Estonia in 2008. New Zealand is preparing a bid for the 2010 championship.

Full results on the event website, and some reports on www.sleepmonsters.com.au

This page was written by and installed on 17 Oct 06.