Tara Murray
The Australian Orienteering Championships are coming to Sunbury.
One of the four Australian Championship events will be held at Salesian College on Friday.
This event is the Australian sprint championship with the winners targeting a time of about 13 minutes to claim the win.
Orienteering is an endurance sport where competitors run around a prescribed course on maps made especially for the events.
The sprint distance format is equivalent to a 5000 metre race on the track and involves running at speed through complex urban landscapes such as schools or universities taking rapid decisions at all times on the best route.
The Australian Sprint Championship has an entry of more than 800 competitors including more than 100 from New Zealand and 550 from interstate.
The event favourite is Melbourne based Aston Key who has just returned from a best ever fifth place at the World Championships in this discipline.
He also finished in the top 10 in the recent World Games.
Others in contention are South Australian Angus Haines, Alistair George from Sydney, another Melbournian Patrick Jaffe and former Australian marathon champion Marty Dent.
The women’s race is more open, with Krystal Neumann, Caitlin Young, Tash Key and Emily Sorensen among the favourites.
Orienteering Victoria vice-president David Jaffe said the Central Highlands region of Victoria was a good location for the championships.
Nine races in nine days will be held from September 24 through to October 2 with more than 1000 orienteers set to compete across a number of different events.
“The area has some particularly good maps because of the complex landscapes left behind by the gold diggers,” Jaffe said.
“In addition, there are granite covered hills such as Mt Alexander and Mt Tarrengower. that makes for a world class map.
The Australian Championship races cover 18 different age classes from 10 year-olds up to an 95-year-old entrant who is the sole competitor in his age class.
Sunbury locals can give orienteering a go on the day with a beginner friendly event that can be entered free on the day.
All events are free for spectators.
