2012 Australian MTBO Championships at Taree

Monday, 29 October 2012

NSW won the State Shield at the 2012 Australian MTBO Championships, held at Taree last weekend.  Points are earned for the Shield by the first three riders in each class for each event, which has previously been won by Victoria in 13 of the 14 years since 1998.  Western Australia, in 2006 when the Championships were held in WA, were the first state other than Victoria to win the shield.  Congratulations to the NSW riders who helped us win this trophy for the first time.

Visit the 2012 Australian MTBO Championships website for more details of the events, including results and reports.  RouteGadget should be up in the next day or so, and we're keen to get photos and links to videos if you have them (thanks to Steven Todkill for his videos of his Sprint and Long Distance rides which we screened at the dinner on Saturday night).

The reactions from competitors were overwhelmingly positive, with special enthusiasm in particular for the single track areas in Kiwarrak State Forest, constructed and maintained by the Manning Great Lakes Tip Riders.  Competitors were champing at the bit for the last rider to return on Sunday afternoon so that they could head back out and sample the singletrack again.  And again.  And again.

Thanks to all the riders who volunteered during the event - especially those from other states.  Big kudos to Steve Richardson and his wife Elly, who were instrumental in arranging for so many things, accommodated all the visitors from Sydney during preparations for the event (and planned the dinner on Saturday night, right down to table decorations); Denis Lyons, who put out all the controls for the Sprint and Middle Distance events (and would have collected them all too if we hadn't organised helpers for him); Patrik Gunnarsson, the IOF Event Advisor and Controller for the Championships and World Ranking Events; Michael Roylance, who programmed the SI events and RouteGadget; Andrew Slattery, who produced the maps; Craig Steffens from Queensland, who recorded the start audio files and lent us the MTBO Club speaker; and all the Newcastle Orienteering Club members who helped out in so many ways.

More detailed reports will appear on the Championships website over the coming days.