BATTLEY WINS BACK TITLE

Three members of the New Zealand orienteering team which contested the recent World championships, C.W. Battley (Pupuke), Mrs Val Robinson (South Auckland), and J. Davies (Pinelands) profited from their oversea's experience by winning national titles yesterday.

Battley won his second elite championship he previously won in 1974 covering the gruelling, 13.5km course of 16 controls in 1h 48m 59s after a brilliant run during which he made few mistakes.

Mrs Robinson won the women's title in a close contest from the defending champion Mrs Unni Lewis (South Auckland), while Davies, in a splendid display, beat A. Nicbolls (Bay of Plenty) by the narrow margin of 1m 53s in the M35 class.

The major surprise of the Rothmans sponsored meeting in the Woodhill State Forest was the fine run of M. Kerrison (Pinelands) who finished second in the senior elite event thus relegating the defending champion, B. Walker (Bay of Plenty) to third.

In an upset, Miss Trudy Laan (Bay of Plenty) defeated the highly ranked Jane Wood (Bay of Plenty) to win the junior women's title, and L. Diamond (Pupuke) won the junior men's championship.

The father and son combination, R. and M. Murphy, won two titles. R. Murphy the M43 class and M. Murphy the M12-15 class.

Results:
M21A: C. W. Battley (Pupuke), 1h 48m 59s, 1; M. Kerrison (Pinelands), 1h 55m 54s, 2; B. Walker (Bay of Plenty), 1h 57m 44s, 3; J. Robinson (South Auckland), 1h 59m 12s, 4; J. Rix (Central), 2h 17m 29s, 5; K. Walker (Bay of Plenty), 2h 21m 21s, 6.
M19B: L. Shuker (South Auckland), 1h 16m 37s, 1; R. Brighouse (South Auckland), 1h 29m 46s, 2; N. Lewis (South Auckland), 1h 35m 24s, 3.
M35A: J. Davies (Pinelands), 1h 21m 32s, 1; A. Nicholls (Bay of Plenty), 1h 23m 25s, 2; A. Brown (Taupo), 1h 26m 5s, 3.
M19C: R. Forrest (Hamilton), 2h 3m 6s, 1; J. K. Bradley (North Shore), 3h 44m, 2.
M43A: R. Murphy (Central), 1h 31m 28s, 1; H. Munro-Scott (Pinelands), 1h 51m 34s, 2; P. W. Mellsop (South Auckland), 2h 10m 28s, 3.
M16-18: L. Diamond (Pupuke), 1h 13m 32s, 1; P. Denyer (Central), 1h 31m 50s 2; S. Cantwell (Pinelands), 1h 34m 40s, 3.
M50: E. Stallard (Pinelands), 4h 11m 35s, 1.
M12-15: M. Murphy (Central), 1h 29m 24s, 1; V. Ball (North Shore), 2h 27m 8s, 2; T. Garnett (Pinelands), 2h 38m 45s, 3.
M19-20: J. Mellsop (South Auckland), 2h 36m 34s, 1; N. Scott (Pinelands), 2h 43m 53s, 2; S. Aitchison (South Auckland), 2h 52m 27s, 3.
W19A: V. Robinson (South Auckland), 1h 34m 32s, 1; U. Lewis (South Auckland), 1h 39m 7s, 2; R. Davies (Pinelands), 1h 43m 31s, 3.
W16-18: T. Loan (Bay of Plenty), 1h 28m 24s, 1; J. Wood (Bay of Plenty), 1h 32m 11s, 2; P. Hanna (Bay of Plenty), 1h 48m, 3.
W43: D. Oldfield (South Auckland), 2h 19m 10s, 1; J. Scott (Pinelands), 2h 46m, 2; G. Burwell (Pinelands), 2h 54m 3.
W12-15: H. Denyer (Central), 1h 42m 22s, 1; G. Ball (North Shore), 2h 17m 26s, 2.
W35: L. Feder (North Shore), 1h 39m 36s, 1; M. Nicholls (Bay of Plenty), 1h 50m 34s, 2; J. Cathcart (North Shore), 2h 45m 26s, 3.
W19B: J. Thompson (Bay of Plenty), 2h 2m 39s, 1; C. Apps (Pinelands), 2h 2m 56s, 2.

Saturday relay: South Auckland No 1 and North Shore No 1, 2h 22m 5s, equal; South Auciland No 3, 2h 25m 20s, 3.