Event report: Australian Orienteering Championships

Brisbane, Queensland

Forty three WA orienteers travelled to Queensland to participate in the Australian Orienteering Championships. The event reports for each of the events are presented below.

Sprint Distance

The Australian Sprint Championships were held on Saturday Sept 27 around the University of Queensland. Just under 800 participants took to the campus to wend their way in and around the many navigation challenges. 

WA orienteers had some excellent results, with 11 of the 43 gaining top 5 places:
1st - Ricky Thackray (M40A), Sten Claessens (M45A), Anthea Feaver (W65A), Ken Brownlie (M80A)
2nd - Ruben Claessens (M14A)
4th - Archie Brownlie (M14A), Craig Dufty (M50A)
5th - Carol Brownlie (W70A), Ruth Toomey (W12A), Rohan Braid (M16A), Rachel West (W45A)

Results can be found in Eventor.

Long Distance

The Australian Long Distance Champs took place on Sunday September 28 in steep, grassy, spur gully terrain on a hot day. Many succumbed to the heat and the hills. Congratulations to those who strived and succeeded - awesome effort to all who finished.

Top five place getters from WA were:

1st - Carol Brownlie (W70A), Ken Post (M65AS), Anthea Feaver (W65A)
2nd - Craig Dufty (M50A)
4th - Heike Behrbohm (W65AS), Matt Coleman (Open B)

Results can be found in Eventor.

Australian Schools Championships

OWA's Schools Team, backed by coaches Sten, Tom and Sarah, competed with incredible determination in the three Schools events.

First, on 30th September, was the Schools sprint event, held at Forest Lake State High School. The top 10 places in each age class showed Ruben Claessens gaining a podium place, coming 3rd in the Junior Boys class, while Rohan Braid was 4th.

Next, on 1st October, was the Schools long championships on the Old Hidden Vale map. By all accounts, it was challenging, but OWA's team soldiered on. Rohan Braid came 6th in Junior Boys.

The final Schools event was the Relays on the Deebing Creek map on 2nd October. Amy Dufty's combined senior girls team came 7th.

Congratulations go to Rohan Braid for his selection in the Australian Honour team. Very well deserved after strong performances.

Full ASOC results are on Eventor for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

Run the River

Run the River comprised 3 events, held over 3 days, 30th September to 2nd October, in conjunction with the 3 ASOC events.

Results are available on Eventor - from this page you can also access results for individual days.

Looking at the top ten placegetters overall in each class showed Graham Braid coming in at 8th place in Men B, with Tom Brownlie immediately behind him in 9th place. Ceri Pass was 8th in Women B. Vanessa Smith came in at 10th place in Women C. Fraser Brownlie took out 4th place in Men F.

Australian Relay Championships

After a well-deserved rest day on Friday 3rd October, orienteers were back for the Australian Relay Championships on Saturday 4th. This event took place on the Logan Inlet map near Wivenhoe.

In W21AS, the team of Amy Dufty, Neve Lommers and Sarah Richards came in at 3rd place, while the team of Janet Fletcher, Rosemary Kullman and Vicki Brownlie was 8th. OWA's W45 team comprising Rachel West, Ceri Pass and Vanessa Smith took 2nd place. Quinn Lommers, Ruben Claessens and Eli Goodchild came in at 5th place in M14. In M16 Rohan Braid, Archie Brownlie and Christopher Drury took 2nd place. Liam Dufty, Joseph Coleman and Hadrien Devillepoix finished in 9th place in M21E. OWA was well-represented in M45 with Ricky Thackray, Steve Fletcher and Craig Dufty at 2nd, Sten Claessens, Graham Braid and John Toomey at 5th place, and the incomplete team of Mark Lommers and Tom Brownlie also had some fun. M55AS had Ken Brownlie, Robert Graieg and Ian Fletcher come in 4th.

A full list of results is on Eventor.

There was an added twist to the relays - Elite classes (21E, 20E and 21 Sport) started later, while it was still light but then had to run in the dark! This provided them with some extra challenges!

Australian Middle Distance Championships

This, the concluding event for the 2025 Australian Orienteering Championships, was based on the White Rock map, in the Ipswich area. 

Looking at the top 10 placegetters showed several OWA members. Sarah Richards came in 4th in the W21Sport class. Rosemary Kullman finished in 4th place in W75A, while Janet Fletcher came in 8th. In W70A Carol Brownlie was 5th and Helen Post came 7th. Heike Behrbohm was 7th in W65A, Vanessa Smith was 6th in W60A, and Ceri Pass was 6th in W45A, followed by Rachel West at 9th. Fraser Brownlie came 8th in M12A while Ruben Claessens was 9th in M14A. In M16A Christopher Drury was 9th and in M70A Ken Post finished 10th. Craig Dufty took out 3rd place in M50A, and Tom Brownlie was 10th, while Ricky Thackray came 3rd in M40A.

Full results are on Eventor.

Photos: Members of OWA Schools team; Full OWA Schools team with coaches Tom, Sten, Sarah; Australian Honour team; Ceri, Rachel and Vanessa, 2nd in W45A.

More photos can be found on various Facebook pages, including Orienteering WA, Bibbulmun Orienteers, and Australian Orienteering Carnival pages.