Ocenia Orienteering Carnival. Australia-NZ Schools Test Match

New Zealand's School orienteers made a great start in the first of their two Test Matches against Australia, winning three classes to one in the Individual races held in the difficult gold-mining terrain of Naseby forest, Central Otago.

Laura Robertson (Hutt Valley) and Toby Scott (Auckland) were winners in the Junior Girls and Senior boys category, showing maturity and confidence in an area criss-crossed with eroded hillocks, canyons and streams and notoriously famous as New Zealand's toughest navigational challenge.

Great work by Robertson's team-mates Selena Metherall (Christchurch) and Jula McMillan (Hutt Valley) in 2nd and 5th gave them the point for the Junior Girls class; as did Duncan Morrison's (Hawkes Bay) 3rd and Scott McDonald's (Hawkes Bay) 4th for the Senior Boys.

The Australian Junior Boys swept the top three places in the Junior Boys for victory there and Australia were looking to win in the Senior Girls after first and second place went to Krystal Neumann (QLD) and Belinda Lawford (ACT).

But fast runs by Kate Morrison (Hawkes Bay), Rachel Goodwin (Hawkes Bay) and Angela Simpson (Rotorua) were instrumental in the Senior New Zealand Girls having the fastest total of the best three times and victory in the class.

Down three points to one, the Australian Schools orienteers are now on the back foot in the Relay races on Sunday 11 January; they need to win three classes for a draw, or all four classes for a win in the Test Match series.

In the post Oceania Orienteering Championships warm-down races, NZ number one and triple Oceania Champion Lizzie Ingham was an unsurprising winner in the Elite Women, as was Australian Simon Uppill (Oceania Middle and Long Distance Champion).

The last event of the Oceania Orienteering Championships carnival, attended by almost 600 orienteers from 17 countries, is the the Australia - NZ Schools Relay Test Match - to take place on Sunday 11 January in the challenging Naseby forest.

Results: Australia - NZ Schools Individual Test Match

Classes won by NZ: Junior Girls, Senior Girls, Senior Boys
Classes won by Australia: Junior Boys

Junior Girls (8) 2.8 km
1 Laura Roertson New Zealand 32:01
2 Selena Metherell New Zealand 35:04
3 Michele Dawson Australia 40:26
4 Rebekah Sunley Australia 41:35
5 Jula McMillan New Zealand 43:07
6 Jackie Doyle Australia 45:11
7 Katie Doyle Australia 48:28
8 Paige Heavey New Zealand 1:37:39
Junior Boys 3.1 km
1 Kurt Neumann Australia 26:23
2 Ian Lawford Australia 30:00
3 Oliver Poland Australia 30:09
4 Alistair Richardson New Zealand 32:42
5 Hamish Lewis New Zealand 34:01
6 Benjamin Reynolds New Zealand 34:10
7 Liam Paterson New Zealand 37:05
8 Max Neumann Australia 43:46
Senior Girls 3.6 km
1 Krystal Neumann Australia 41:21
2 Belinda Lawford Australia 41:28
3 Kate Morrison New Zealand 41:48
4 Rachel Goodwin New Zealand 45:44
5 Angela Simpson New Zealand 49:49
6 Nicola Peat New Zealand 52:14
7 Sarah Buckerfield Australia 57:37
8 Lilian Burrill Australia 1:06:39
Senior Boys 4.8 km
1 Toby Scott New Zealand 46:17
2 Lachlan Dow Australia 47:43
3 Duncan Morrison New Zealand 49:08
4 Scott McDonald New Zealand 51:21
5 Jourdan Harvey New Zealand 51:39
6 Joshua Blatchford Australia 56:05
7 Patrick Watts Australia 56:20
8 Joshua Neumann Australia 1:07:54