Hanny Allston

World Champion Hanny Allston won her second Australian 3-Days  at Burra,  South Australia, with a total time of 2h 24m 55s, 15 minutes ahead of fellow Tasmanian Grace Elson, with a further minute to ACT’s Jo Allison. Allston started the day with a seemingly unassailable lead, but there was no thought that she would run conservatively. She hit the lead by the third control, and was never headed. By the 7th control she had caught Grace Elson by 2 minutes in the reverse chasing start, but Elson was unable to hang on to her. Allston finished the winner of the day by 3 minutes to top off a clean sweep of the 3-Days. It’s a promising sign for Australia’s World Champion in the lead-up to this year’s championships in Ukraine.

The real battle of the day was between Jo Allison and Grace Elson. Allison was second on the day, catching a minute on Elson, but not quite enough to make up for the time she lost in the first two stages. Kathryn Ewels topped off a fantastic weekend with fourth place, a hopeful sign that she may return to the National Team later in the year. Tracy Bluett has run herself into form, coming 5th on the day, but still 7th overall behind Anna Sheldon and Susanne Casanova.

Julian Dent (NSW) won the men’s event in 2h 53m 2s by nearly seven minutes from visiting British rep Matt Crane. ACT’ s David Shepherd was third, 13 minutes adrift of Crane. The men’s field was weakened by Troy de Haas’ departure for a race in Shanghai, giving Dent a clear run at the title. But, like Allston, Dent didn’t back off, and lead for the entire race bar one control to beat Crane by 25 seconds on the day.

Simon Uppill

South Australian junior Simon Uppill was the surprise as he was only seconds behind Shepherd in fourth place. Uppill’s result is even more impressive considering he lost over 2 minutes on the 4th control, allowing Shepherd to pass him in the forest. Undeterred he caught and passed Shepherd, and  blitzed the last 3 controls in  a desperate attempt to reach 3rd place. In the end he beat Shepherd on the day, and closed to within a  minute of  him  in the overall placings. The signs  are good for Uppill, who will start JWOC in Dubbo as a strong favourite, and may even be promoted to run the World Championships in the Ukraine.

In the junior classes, Rhys Challen (WA) held onto his overnight lead, but Morten Neve lost his second place to stage winner Nick Andrewartha. Heather Harding won the stage and the 3-Days in the junior women, with Rachel Effeney 2nd and Jessica Davis 3rd.

In other classes, Cathy & Jon McComb (Tas) did the family double, both taking out their 35A classes. The tightest classes were M60A, where Tony Simpkins (WA) caught 4 minutes on Rob Tucker (SA) to win by only 23 seconds, and W75A where Sue Healy (Vic) made 14 minutes on Joyce Rowlands (Vic) to win by 90 seconds.
Full results for the 3-Days and today’s splits now available.