Vics at the AusChamps – Four Victorians Clean Sweep the Golds

Victorians are out in force at the biggest orienteering event in the country, the annual Australian Champs. Being held in the granite terrain of Armidale, northern NSW, championships will be decided in Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay distances.  In addition, the Australian Schools Orienteering Champs take place midweek, in Sprint, Long and Relays.

Follow the Victorian results day by day:

Day 1 – Australian Middle Distance Champs, Glenburnie.  Results and Livelox

• First place:  Judi Herkes, Bruce Arthur, Matthew Layton, Alex Tarr, Ted van Geldermalsen
• Second place:  Tim Hatley, Adisa Kozma
• Third place:   Julie Flynn, Roch Prendergast, Ruth Goddard, Matthew King

Day 2 – Australian Relay Championships, Glenburnie.  Results and Livelox

• First place:  Ted Van Geldermalsen / Tim Hatley / Warren Key – a huge 18 minute margin!
• Second place:  Tim Pope / Alan Kuffer / Russell Blatchford
• Third place:  Milla Key / Aislinn Prendergast / Natasha Key; Corin Pope / David Goddard / Frankie Shin

Day 3 – Australian Schools Sprint Champs / Thunderbolts Day 1, The Armidale School

• Schools – Second place: Milla Key (Senior Girls).  Matthew Layton (Junior Boys) had a top 10 finish with 8th place  Results and Livelox
• Thunderbolts – First place:  Bruce Arthur; Second place: Natasha Key.  Torren Arthur and Jensen Key finished in the top 10 in the hotly contested Mens A class.   Results and Livelox

Day 4 – Australian Schools Long Distance Champs / Thunderbolts Day 2, The Pines

• Schools – Third place: Milla Key (Senior Girls).  Matthew Layton had another excellent day with 5th place in Junior Boys, as did Keely Williams with 12th place in Junior Girls.  Results and Livelox
• Thunderbolts – First place: Matthias Preston;  Second place: Bruce Arthur; Third place: Jensen Key, Natasha Key.  Results and Livelox

Day 5 – Australian Schools Relay Champs / Thunderbolts Day 3, The Pines

In a great result for Victoria, the Junior Boys 1 team of Matthew Layton, Xander Greenhalgh and Jayden Styk, were the first Australian Schools team (and third across the line after two NZ teams).  With over half the JB teams knocking themselves out with mispunches, it just took three cool heads to produce a great result.  This capped off a brilliant carnival for Matthew, who was deservedly named in the Honours Team.

In other results, our Junior Girls team of Keely Williams, Angelina Kozma and Ella Maja Lang had three very clean and consistent runs to finish 5th Australian Schools team and 8th overall.  We did not have a Senior Girls team, and our Senior Boys had an unfortunate mispunch.  Results and Livelox

• Thunderbolts – Second place: Bruce Arthur; Third place: Matthias Preston.   Results and Livelox

Day 6 – Australian Long Distance Championships   Results and Livelox

The Blue Ribbon event of the carnival has been decided!

• First Place:  Mason Arthur, Bruce Arthur, Ted van Geldermalsen, Alex Tarr, Natasha Key, Judi Herkes
• Second Place:  Matthias Preston, Tim Hatley, Helen Alexander, Adisa Kozma
• Third Place: Alan Kuffer,  Carolyn Jackson, Sue Key, Charlotte Preston

Day 7 – Australian Sprint Championships   Results and Livelox

And that’s it – the carnival is over for another year.  Huge congratulations to the four Victorians who clean swept the three Championships – Bruce Arthur, Ted van Geldermalsen, Judi Herkes and Alex Tarr, with Ted adding Relay gold as well to make it four from four.

• First Place:  Bruce Arthur, Ted van Geldermalsen, Tony Radford, Alex Tarr, Judi Herkes
• Second Place:  Milla Key, Patrick Jaffe, Tim Hatley, Sue Key, Helen Alexander, Frankie Shin, Adisa Kozma
• Third Place:  Matthias Preston, Warren Key, Carolyn Jackson, Geoff Armstrong

For all AusChamps news and photos, head here:  https://www.facebook.com/OrienteeringAustralia/

Below: Victorian Schools Team in action; Victorians on the podium at the Aus Long Champs