Photo: L to R: Shannon Jones, Ewan Shingler, Martin Dent
Only 1.08 seconds covers the top four placings in event #14 Runners Shop Twilight Series on Red Hill on Wednesday. All the top scoring competitors ran the 5.0 km Moderate 1 course. Ryan Stocks was fastest in 31 min 02sec, followed in quick order by Ewan Shingler in 31 min 36sec, Matt Crane in 31 min 39sec, Paul de Jongh in 31 min 42 sec and Martin Dent in 32 min 20 sec.
Elise Palethorpe, who moves into the open classes this year, confirmed her emergence as a competitive orienteer to be the fastest woman in 39 min 13 sec, over a minute faster than Grace Crane on 40 min 16sec, with a further two seconds to Shannon Jones. The full results are here and the Winsplits are here. The maps and John Harding’s photos are here, and some extra photos are here.
After the age/gender handicap factors were applied the top ten competitors were:
Competitor | Handicap | Corrected times |
Shannon Jones | 0.736 | 5 min 55.93 sec |
Ewan Shingler | 0.940 | 5 min 56.43 sec |
Martin Dent | 0.920 | 5 min 56.96 sec |
Matthew Crane | 0.940 | 5 min 57.01 sec |
Anthony Scott | 0.750 | 6 min 07.65 sec |
Matthew Stocks | 0.840 | 6 min 08.93 sec |
Andy Hogg | 0.860 | 6 min 09.28 sec |
Grace Crane | 0.768 | 6 min 11.10 sec |
Ryan Stocks | 1.000 | 6 min 12.40 sec |
Elise Palethorpe | 0.800 | 6 min 45.88 sec |
The margin of 5/100ths of a second between Martin Dent and Matthew Crane was one of the closest results this series.
After the scores from event # 14 were applied, Dent had the best possible score, with eight wins and is now unbeatable. The top five eight best scores in the standings are:
- Martin Dent RR A 1,000
- Shannon Jones AO A 988
- David Stocks BS A 980
- Ryan Stocks BS A 974
- Paul de Jongh BS A 959
David Stocks has dropped back to third place now that eight events count. He has a very slender opportunity to regain second by winning the final race and by Shannon Jones finishing no better than fifth in that race. The full standings are here.
The final event will be at Aranda Snowgums on Wednesday 3 March.