Beechworth Day 9

Monday, 7 October 2019

The final day of our 'holiday' featured the Oceania Middle Distance championships.  With no more events left this was definitely my best chance to finally get a win and I was really keen to do so!   My plan was to use the fail-proof 3 step strategy.  Step 1. Start as fast as possible, Step 2. accellerate through the middle part of the race,  Step 3. Sprint to the finish.   And all without making any mistakes of course.    With tired legs and a sleepless night due to drunken wedding guests keeping everyone in my section of the hotel awake until 5am, what could go wrong?? 

As it turns out I did manage to start well - the splits tell me I  was fastest to the first control and I was ahead of Clare by a whopping 4 seconds at the 5th control.  For the next 7 controls I was just slightly behind as the lead changed hands between Clare and our other major competitor  - Martina (who won the Oceania sprint championships this year and pipped me for first by a few seconds in two races the easter carnival in WA).  

 

Clare's route is in red, mine is in blue. 

At the 12th control I regained the lead again - this time I was ahead of Clare by 36 seconds (due to a 1 minute mistake of hers), and just ahead of Martina by 7 seconds. Unfortunately that turned out to be the last time, as I lost 30 seconds at the very next control by misreading (ok, failing to read) the control descriptions.   Despite finishing as strongly as I could (including being fastest in the finish chute by 5 seconds), I ended up 3rd - 11 seconds behind Clare who was just too good all carnival and who won despite her one minute mistake,  and 3 seconds behind Martina.  On the one hand it was heartbreaking, but on the other it's actually really really fun to have such great competition!   By Australian standards we had a large field in our age group at this carnival - over 20 runners in our class - over half of them from NZ, and it turned out that with the exception of the Sprint there was at least 2 of the three of us on the podium in each race - proving that even though we are normally a small field when the NZers aren't here, we are a very strong one.  

This is Clare on the podium with her parole officer:

 

(actually part of the land we ran on was owned by the Correctional Department - so the presenter was the boss).   

Both Jett and Jon had good races today as well - Jett nabbed third place in a big field so it was great to see him up on the podium, and Jon was 2nd despite his injury from yesterday.  Zali's run was ok but not one of her best.

 

Our Australian team beat the NZ team overall in the ANZ Challenge which was nice (and made wearing our dorky yellow tops worthwhile) . Most of the team members were on their way home by the time we took this photo but it's nice to have a record of our efforts!

 

After the event we made our way to the airport, where I was finally reunited with Jon, Zali and Jett, and we had an uneventful flight home. Overall the carnival was really good fun. I had a lovely time staying with Clare and her parents, and it was great to catch up with friends from everywhere, including some new ones we made overseas this year.

 

2016summary
KI Day 2 Saturday, 28 December 2019
KI Day 1 Friday, 27 December 2019
Sourdough Monday, 23 December 2019
Unstoppable Sunday, 22 December 2019
Zali's Christmas Craft Saturday, 21 December 2019
Farwell Taroona High Thursday, 19 December 2019
Underwater Cake Sunday, 15 December 2019
Sadness Sunday, 15 December 2019
Final Days of High School Saturday, 14 December 2019
Schools Relay Saturday, 7 December 2019
St Helens is Awesome Saturday, 7 December 2019
Adelaide Wedding Saturday, 7 December 2019
2019 Australasian Rogaining Championships Monday, 11 November 2019
Two Cats Friday, 1 November 2019
Fat birds Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Adventures in Peter Murrell Reserve Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Painterly Mornings Friday, 25 October 2019
Sunny Afternoons Friday, 25 October 2019
Arm End Sunday, 20 October 2019
Cat Hats Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Back to the 60s Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Creepy Cakes Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Beechworth Day 9 Monday, 7 October 2019
Beechworth - Day 8 Saturday, 5 October 2019
Wagga to Beechworth - Day 7 Friday, 4 October 2019
Wagga Day 6 Friday, 4 October 2019
Wagga Day 5 Thursday, 3 October 2019
Wagga Day 4 Tuesday, 1 October 2019
Wagga Day 3 Monday, 30 September 2019
Wagga by TripAdvisor (5) Sunday, 29 September 2019
Wagga by TripAdvisor (1 & 8) Sunday, 29 September 2019
Wagga Day 2 Sunday, 29 September 2019
Wagga Day 1 Saturday, 28 September 2019
Snow Hats Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Sudden Rain Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Sunny Days & Hellish Hills Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Pittwater Sunshine Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Happy Birthday Jett! Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Settling In Thursday, 29 August 2019
Euro Day 55 - Noooooo! Sunday, 18 August 2019
Euro Day 54 - Not a rest day Friday, 16 August 2019
Euro Day 52 & 53 Thursday, 15 August 2019
Euro Day 51 - Drammen & WOC Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Euro Day 50 - Hello Norway! Monday, 12 August 2019
Euro Day 49 - SOW Day 6 Sunday, 11 August 2019
Euro Day 48 - SOW Day 5 Saturday, 10 August 2019
Guest Blog: Today's tip for aspiring young uncles Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 47 - SOW Day 4 Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 46 - SOW Rest(ish) Day Thursday, 8 August 2019
Guest blog by Paul the favourite uncle Thursday, 8 August 2019
Euro Day 45 - SOW Day 3 Wednesday, 7 August 2019
Euro Day 44 - SOW Day 2 Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Euro Day 43 - SOW Day 1 Monday, 5 August 2019
Euro Day 42 - Switzerland to France to Switzerland to France.. Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 41 - Sweden to Switzerland Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 40 - Island Idle - Part 2 Friday, 2 August 2019
Euro Day 39 - Island Idle - Part 1 Thursday, 1 August 2019
Euro Day 38 - If it's easy, it's not worth doing Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 37 - What Next? Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 36 - Back into the forest Monday, 29 July 2019
Euro Day 35 - O-Ringen - Race Day 3 Sunday, 28 July 2019
Euro Day 34 - O-Ringen, Race Day 2 Saturday, 27 July 2019
Euro Day 33 - O-Ringen - Race Day 1 Friday, 26 July 2019
Euro Day 32 - O-Ringen Thursday, 25 July 2019
Euro Day 31 - Hello Stockholm! Wednesday, 24 July 2019
End of Part 1 Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Euro Day 30 - Salzburg! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 29 - Hello Austria! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 28 - Even more Bohinj Sunday, 21 July 2019
Euro Day 27 - More Bohinj! Saturday, 20 July 2019
Euro Day 26 - Bohinj Friday, 19 July 2019
Euro Day 25 - Bled Thursday, 18 July 2019
Euro Day 24 - Hello Slovenia! Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Euro Day 23 - Plitvice Lakes National Park Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Euro Day 22 - Hello Croatia! Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 21 - Dolomites to Trieste Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 20 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 2 Saturday, 13 July 2019
Euro Day 19 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 1 Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 18 - Venice to Predazza, Sea to Mountains Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 16 & 17 - Part 2 - Venice Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Part 1 - O-Nerding in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Thunder and Lightning in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 15 - Thunder and Lightning in Florence Monday, 8 July 2019
Euro Day 14 - Pisa and San Gimignano Sunday, 7 July 2019
Euro Day 13 - Cinque Terre Saturday, 6 July 2019
Euro Day 12 - Transition Day Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 4 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 3 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 2 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 1 Thursday, 4 July 2019
Euro Day 7 - Annecy to Les Houches Sunday, 30 June 2019
Euro Day 6 - From St Etienne to Annecy Saturday, 29 June 2019
Euro Day 5 - Heading towards Lyon Friday, 28 June 2019
Euro Day 4 - Castles Castles Castles Thursday, 27 June 2019
Euro Day 3 - Goodbye Paris hello Loire Valley Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Euro Day 2 - Sore Feet! Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Euro Day 1 - Paris - so French!! Monday, 24 June 2019
Beautiful Hobart Sunday, 16 June 2019
Tacos anyone? Sunday, 16 June 2019
Masterchef Challenge Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Melbourne Weekend Monday, 27 May 2019
Devonport weekend Sunday, 26 May 2019
Australopers Cake Sunday, 26 May 2019
Happy Mothers Day to Me Sunday, 26 May 2019
WA Easter - Days 8 & 9 Monday, 29 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 7 Monday, 29 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 6 Monday, 29 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 5 Monday, 29 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 4 Monday, 29 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 3 Tuesday, 23 April 2019
WA Easter - Days 2 & 3 Sunday, 21 April 2019
WA Easter - Day 1 Friday, 19 April 2019
Experience is nothing. Sunday, 31 March 2019
Kelvedon Orienteering Events Monday, 25 March 2019
Croquet Season Monday, 25 March 2019
Autumn Sunshine Monday, 25 March 2019
Heavy supervision.. Monday, 18 February 2019
Cathedral Rock Monday, 18 February 2019
Blackberry Picking Monday, 18 February 2019
Huon Show 2018 Saturday, 16 February 2019
Birdwatch Saturday, 16 February 2019
Mini Gingerbread Houses Saturday, 16 February 2019
More haste, less speed Saturday, 16 February 2019
It's been a while! Saturday, 16 February 2019
Before and After #44 - Jett's room take 2 Tuesday, 22 January 2019
The Rest of Sydney Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Ok, I'm pretty sure it's Friday.. Friday, 4 January 2019
Is today Thursday already? Thursday, 3 January 2019