Australian Three Days and NOL Sprints – Qld
South Australians travelled to QLD to participate in the Prologue and Australian Three Day events near Kingaroy in Queensland, followed by the NOL and Public sprints at various locations on the Gold Coast.
The results of the Prologue are here and the overall results for the 3 Days here. The prologue was a bush sprint, in open terrain with granite outcrops. Days 1 and 2 were in relatively friendly open forest (as at the last control below) with granite outcrop and low to moderate climb. Day 3 by contrast was in physically more demanding terrain.
As an introduction to the Gold Coast, an event was held in sand dunes of the Southport Spit, with courses of Middle Distance Format through the dunes and on the beach. For courses see here
The sprints began with a night relay at Coomera Anglican College, adding to the challenge of being at night was heavy rain before the event and near the end. The senior team of Evalin Brautigam, Angus Haines, Simon Uppill and Emily Sorensen (below) lead for the whole race with consistent runs by all 4. The junior team was fourth.
Saturday sprints for the elites were a morning qualifier followed by the final at Griffith University Campus. Juniors and Seniors ran the same event. Angus Haines (finished 3rd), Ethan Penck, Simon Uppill and Leith Soden made the men’s’ final. Evalin Brautigam, Zoe Carter, Bridget Uppill, and Joanna and Abigail George made the women’s final. Results are here. Non elites ran a selection of shorter hard to easy courses.
Sunday was a knockout sprint for the elites, with 4 rounds for the men and 3 for the women, with short races from 5 to 8 mins in duration. For some rounds competitor had to choose a map option for part of the course (as in the example - the start shown was a control during the course and not the actual start). These events saw many sprint finishes, with Angus, Ethan Simon in the men’s semis, with Angus who was then 2nd , and Ethan 5th going to the final. In the women, Bridget, Joanna and Zoe ran in the semis. Zoe went on to win the final, leading the whole race after making a better route choice to the first control. A fanatastic result for Zoe still being a junior.
Non-elites also participated in knockout races, or standard shorter sprint courses.
For all the final results see here
For photos see the OSA Facebook page and Evalin’s photography page.
The final results for the Natioanl League season are here - the best was a seond by the senior women. For individuals, Angus Haines and Emily Sorensen were both 4th, Joanna George 5th, and Ethan Penck, Bridget Uppill and Simon Uppill all 6th.
