After years of trying, Shannon Jones finally achieved her objective of winning one of the Orienteering ACT’s age/gender handicap series when she wrapped up the 2019-20 Runners Shop Twilight Series in the final event in the rain on Oakey Hill on Wednesday. Jones has been one of Canberra’s top orienteers for many years, being a key member of the Canberra Cockatoos for over a decade, being a member of the 2009 Australian Boomerangs team contesting the World Championships in Hungary and she collected two silver medals at the 2017 World Masters Championships.
David Stocks achieved one of the best wins of the series, in clocking 26 min 20 sec for the 4.5 km Moderate 1 course, just over five minutes faster than next best, Martin Dent. Jo Allison was fastest on the 2.8 km Moderate 2 course with a time of 23 min 54 seconds. The full results are here and the Winsplits are here.
As was expected, with such a blistering run David Stocks scored the maximum 125 points. The top six scores in the final event were:
- 125 David Stocks BS A
- 124 Shannon Jones AO A
- 123 Anthony Scott RR A
- 122 Kathie Dent RR A
- 121 Matthew Stocks BS A
- 120 Jo Allison RR A
The maps and photos of the Oakey Hill event are here and here
Stocks’ maximum points, coupled with Elin Erne not improving her position because she opted to join other young women in ‘formal’ training, ie orienteering in ball gowns, enabled him to increase his best seven scores to 863 points and tie with Erne for second place: The top ten best seven scores were:
- 870 Shannon Jones AO A
- 863 David Stocks BS A , Elin Erne PO A
- 857 Martin Dent RR A
- 855 Ella Cuthbert PO A
- 846 Anthony Scott RR A
- 834 Ryan Stocks BS A
- 819 Eoin Rothery RR A
- 813 Kathie Dent RR A
- 811 Paul de Jongh BS A
The final standings are here.
Apart from Street Orienteering and the Sprint Series, the next events will be Mongarlowe Map Madness, 28-29 March, which encompasses two days of outdoor activities including running, bike riding, and learning navigational skills. These activities will provide a good lead up to the forthcoming major events.