In an exciting day for the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships Qld withheld a gallant fight from ACT to take out the 2009 title.  New Zealand was clearly dominant in the Southern Cross challenge to win again with QLD finishing second.

In the senior boys relay three teams battled it out up until the final sprint to the line with Josh Blatchford from NSW crossing the line first in what was a tight battle with NZ and ACT also in the finish chute at the same time.  Due to a mispunch by Josh Blatchford, NSW were Disqualified leaving  New Zealand winners and  ACT 2nd by only 4 secs. Lachlan Dow (ACT) posted the fastest split of the course but was unable to close the gap to Duncan Morrison of NZ .

Senior girls showed that New Zealand are clearly dominant with a strong win over ACT and Qld picking up third.  New Zealand won in a time of 109.15min with ACT a further 6min behind.

In the Junior Boys race WA headed into the relay clear favourites but after the first leg WA was fourth 1.10min behind Tasmanian Brodie Nankervis.  By the third leg NZ had developed an unassailable lead leaving TAS, NSW, WA and QLD  to battle it for the minor medals.  New Zealand won in a time of 83.14min whilst NSW held of a valiant charge from TAS to place second with TAS third and WA 19 secs behind in 4th.

QLD showed that their junior girls are a strong team as they proved that the win the previous day was not a fluke.  Rebecca Freese of QLD established a lead of 22secs after leg one from Michele Dawson (NSW) and that gap was only whittled down to 14secs by the end of the third leg.  Qld took the win in a time of 99.07mins with NSW second and New Zealand taking third.

After 2 days of competition New Zealand were clear winners in the Southern Cross Challenge ending up with 59pts ahead of QLD 46pts and ACT 40pts.

In the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships QLD took the win with 44 points ahead of ACT 40points and TAS third with 39 points.

Honour Team Announced

The 2009 Australian Schools Honour Team was announced at the schools presentation dinner.  This years team consists of:

Junior Girls

Rachel Austin      (WA)
Michele Dawson (NSW)
Jacqui Doyle       (QLD)
Rebecca Freese  (QLD)

Junior Boys

Matthew Hill       (NSW)
Bill Mann             (WA)
Oscar Mc Nulty   (WA)
Oliver Poland      (ACT)

Senior Girls

Lilian Burrill         (QLD)
Clare Butler         (TAS)
Belinda Lawford  (ACT)
Georgia Parsons  (ACT)

Senior Boys

Lachlan Dow      (ACT)
Ian Lawford       (ACT)
Max Neve          (VIC)
James Robertson (VIC)