OV 2020 Yearbook

yearbook Orienteering Victoria/ 2020

page 1

Aeon Greenhan at the Melbourne Sprint Weekend (photo Susan Guinane)

Contents 2

President’s Report

4

The Presidents Efforts Kept The Lights on at OV in 2020

5

Lauris Stirling - OV Service Award

6

Orienteering Victoria celebrates 50 years

7

Orienteering Victoria - A snapshot of our first 50 years

12

Bush training Some Bush Training opportunities during ‘lockdown’

15

‘Aussie-Jukola’

17

Vic MTBO

18

Junior Training Days

19

Bendigo Saturday Series

21

Melbourne Sprint weekend

29

The hunt for next September and October

31

Victorian Sprint Champs 2020

33

Fredo’s Coaching Corner

34

Coaching

35

A step into the future

37

Using Covid to Bring the States Together

39

MapLink

42

what a season!

43

Monash Mega Sprint

45

Park streetO

49

Virtual Easter Champs & Strava Art

51

Financial report

57

Officers

page 1

President’s Report Orienteering Victoria President Carl Dalheim

WO R DS CA R L DA LH E IM

PHOTOS MA RG I FR EE MA NT L E

Hi Folks, 2020 was a challenging year. The year started with fires continuing to burn up and down the east coast of the country, with tragic results for the environment and many communities. In Victoria, all significant fires were declared contained on February 27th. We all breathed a great sigh of relief, but little did we know that on January 25th Victoria had recorded their first COVID-19 case, and by March 25th, sadly, our first COVID-19 death. We had no idea of what lay ahead.

The year for myself and the board was vastly different to previous years. OV was extremely fortunate that the phenomenally successful Melbourne Sprint Weekend occurred in early March, by late March, our state calendar of events was a procession of cancellations. The national calendar was also impacted with the cancellation of the Easter Carnival and ultimately the Australian Orienteering Carnival. Additionally, in late March Rob Fell advised me of his intentions to move on to a different role outside the sport. As a board we decided to postpone replacing Rob; and I took on the tasks of dealing with various activities typically managed by Rob, including the pursuit of various government grants. The Victorian government provided several opportunities across the next 6

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months for associations and clubs to pursue grant funding; and we were successful at every opportunity.

process commenced and by late August we offered the role to Mel Kent. We had some great candidates, but the experience and knowledge demonstrated by Mel in the areas of business and finance made her an excellent choice. One of our grants included a project to reassess and adjust our financial systems, i.e. MYOB. Mel has proved to be fantastic in this area, and indeed all areas of the role, such that we now have simplicity and clarity of our financial position, and in partnership with Ruth Goddard and our treasurer, Stephen Collins, we are now on top of our finances and our general office activity. I meet weekly with Mel, and greatly appreciate her professionalism to the extent that is has made my role a lot easier. Mel, and her family, are very keen Park and Street Orienteers, and members of Yarra Valley. I am sure many of you know Mel from her Park and Street participation and given that Mel has indicated that she is keen to try some bush events hopefully more of you will get to know Mel and her family.

In parallel to the pursuit of grants, by the end of March, clubs and many individuals quickly responded to the challenge of lockdowns and restrictions. MapLink/DIY Orienteering had arrived on the website and across the course of many months this wonderful asset grew and provided the Orienteering community the perfect tonic for the soon to come ‘5km radius’.

During the months of April and May Orienteering competitions in Victoria had effectively ceased. As we moved into June, restrictions eased – slightly – and there was a certain amount of optimism to the extent that AWOC, Bayside, CHOC and DROC were hosting training events; and Bendigo hosted several Bush Classics. Unfortunately, by the end of June case numbers were climbing, and at the end of June the ‘long lockdown’ began.

Fortunately for those living outside of Melbourne, restrictions were frequently different. On September 19th Bendigo held Bush Classic 23 at Mt Korong, followed by events at Myers Creek, Ironstone Hill, and Marong Forests. The regional clubs were back out in the forest. On November 2nd, the Melbourne based Park and Street Summer Series returned – Orienteering was officially back for everyone in Victoria.

The reassessment of the Executive Officer position resulted in a second role – OV Schools Officer. The lockdown periods across Victoria had provided some space to re-define our Sporting Schools approach. David Jaffe and Brodie Nankervis represented Victoria on a national initiative to redefine the Sporting Schools offerings, including content for Secondary Schools. Brodie, along with Wendy Taverna and others were also working on a better approach to coaching for all participants from beginners to elites. Given this , it came as no surprise that Brodie successfully applied for the OV Schools Officer role; commencing in the role in October – just in time to assist schools in Term 4 and set things up for Term 1 of 2021 – phew, we were back on track with two great paid officers.

Unfortunately, our elites and our school teams missed out on several opportunities in 2020. The cancellation of the Australian Orienteering Carnival meant that our schools team did not travel to Tasmania. The cancellation of international calendars impacted our junior and senior elites in foot Orienteering and MTBO, and anyone keen on travelling to masters events in Europe.

Despite a year of lockdowns, restrictions, and a daily flow – particularly during winter - of depressing media advice, the Victorian Orienteering community responded in an incredibly positive and energetic manner. Many events were held, and fantastic resources were developed. The Yearbook reflects this response, and despite the many gaps in the publication in comparison to previous years I am confident you will enjoy it, cheers Carl.

Despite COVID we had an opportunity, utilising our grant funding, to make some important adjustments to the administration of our sport; the delivery of our Sporting Schools program; and the re-invigoration of coaching.

In July, the OV board had decided that the Executive Officer role was too broad, and that we needed to create a more specific role – OV Office Manager. In August, the recruitment

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The President’s Efforts Kept The Lights on at OV in 2020 Those of you poring over the accounts in this handbook should notice that OV had a far more positive financial year than we might have expected. With most sources of income drying up (event levies and the like) but many costs still incurred, one would expect that the state body would have eaten into reserves in a big way. The Victorian Government did offer various support grants but to get them OV needed to complete a mountain of paper work and form filling as well as attend varied meetings with Sports Victoria. These were just some of Carl Dalheim's behind the scenes acts in 2020. He did far more than we could have expected of a President, The grant applications were successful and produced over $56,000 in various support grants. He also raised the sports profile with Sports Victoria and show cased the great work Debbie Dodd and PASO team did with establishing MapLink (utilising MapRun) and building a map library to keep everyone active.

Now if that wasn't enough, Our president also stepped into the brief when our Schools and Executive Officer resigned in March just before Covid. He filled in the executive Officer role until we recruited Mel just as lockdown 2 started. He kept in contact with schools, kept the seat warm and then helped recruit Brodie N into the Schools role. He was also front and centre in producing the year book and put his hand up whenever things needed doing. The whole Orienteering community owes a deep vote of thanks to Carl for all his efforts in 2020. At times he put the rest of us to shame with the time and effort he invested. At a time when leadership seems to be about how often you tweet or blame others, Carl showed what true leadership is. He patiently answered hundreds of emails, he kept OV financial and did it all with a smile.

Thanks Carl for all you did in 2020.

Stephen, Margi , David and Aislinn

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Lauris Stirling - OV Service Award WOR DS DE B BI E DO DD

The absence of events, everything from local to national carnivals, meant that we lacked the activities to decide against our usual Honor Roll categories. The impact of COVID did however provide different opportunities for people to step up and be of service to our Orienteering community.

assisting newcomers and accompanying them on their first courses; and supporting many other NE and OV activities over a long period.

Lauris recently earned “Vintage” status of The Millennium Club, after completing her 2000th event during April 2021, a feat achieved by only 6 other individuals. She also won the Women’s Supervet Power Walking Gold Medal at the 2021 Park Street Championship.

Lauris is an “unsung hero” of orienteering in Victoria. When the MapRun phone app was first introduced to Park Street orienteering, Lauris quickly and enthusiastically took on the role of administrator for events in the northern, southern and eastern suburbs. She had to learn a number of new skills and technologies, but as ever, adapted easily. During 2020, when many other volunteers were able to step back while there was no orienteering, Lauris was kept extremely busy setting up well over 100 MapLink courses in MapRun, so that Melbourne orienteers would have a variety of courses to use during lockdowns. As the second lockdown went on for several months, Lauris spent a good deal of time converting most of these courses to “Start Anywhere” mode, so that we could continue to orienteer within the 5 km restrictions, and reuse the same maps from different starting points. This was a major contribution to the health, wellbeing and sanity of many orienteers.

Lauris has continued her unstinting and indispensable support of Park Street orienteering during its resumption, by ensuring that courses are loaded into MapRun before each event (usually 3 events each week), liaising with course setters and series coordinators, and going out herself to check control locations if necessary. Nothing is ever too much trouble; it just happens calmly and quietly. Put simply, without Lauris, there would have been no Park Street orienteering either during or after lockdowns.

Lauris has also made many other contributions to orienteering, including representing her club, Nillumbik Emus, on the Park Street Committee and fixtures group; championing the Thursday Summer Series; bringing equipment to many events and organizing Saturday Series catering; setting courses;

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Orienteering Victoria celebrates 50 years WORD S RO N F RE DE RIC K

2020 marks 50 years since the establishment of OV (originally known as the Victorian Orienteering Association).

meeting at the Melbourne University Sports Union offices on 21 April 1970 formally constituted both bodies. David Hogg was elected VOA President and Ron Frederick Treasurer. The logical choice for Secretary, Mike Hubbert, was about to depart for an extended period overseas, so that position was filled by Bruce Caldwell, who was a member of both Richmond Harriers (Tom and Mikes’ athletics club) and MUMC. Tom Andrews, at his own request, was co-opted as publicly officer. The initial VOA executive also formed the inaugural executive of the OFA (now OA).

David Hogg, a Victorian by birth, but now a resident of the ACT for many years, is in the process of writing a detailed history of Orienteering in Australia. The following information is taken from David’s draft.

Tom Andrews, Mike Hubbert, Ron Frederick and David Hogg formed a group to prepare a draft Victorian constitution. At the same time they took the advice of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF), for a proposed Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA). John Disley’s book, simply entitled Orienteering, first published in 1967, played a part, as it contained the constitution of the English Orienteering Association. Both the VOA and OFA constitutions were based on that of the English Orienteering Association. A public

An excellent summary of the first 50 years of Orienteering in Victoria, by Belinda Dale, can be found on the Orienteering Victoria website. It is located at the foot of the home page, in the section headed About Orienteering Victoria.

Happy half century Orienteering Victoria.

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Orienteering Victoria A snapshot of our first 50 years

WORD S ADAPTED FR OM BE L INDA DAL E ' S M O R E CO M PR EH EN S IVE ACCOUN T OF OV'S F IR ST 50 Y EA R S O N TH E W EB S IT E.

1969 – Orienteering Victoria came into being

Park Street Orienteering commenced, first with a night park event was held at Studley Park in 1970 and a street event at Blackburn Lake in 1974. Regular street events then commenced from 1976.

The first ‘real’ orienteering event was held in Victoria. A few facts from this event • The map was a black and white adaptation of a 1 inch to the mile army survey map, enlarged to ‘about’ 4 inches to the mile.

Clubs were formed • 1972: Red Kangaroos; Bayside; Yarra Valley Orienteering Club; Tuckonie; Super Turtles; St Leo’s Navigators; Peninsula Orienteers (absorbed into Bayside in the mid 70s)

• There were no magnetic north lines on the map • The controls were 4 gallon (4 kg) metal fuel bins painted with a red and white stripe

• 1973: Rockhoppers

• The event centre was at the Pine Grove Hotel in Upper Beaconsfield

• 1974: Navigators • 1975: Eltham College, Geelong, Warby, Eureka, AlburyWodonga, Active Ants

A program of events followed over the next three months – at Portsea Officers Training School, Bambara (Mt Disappointment Forest) and Healesville (Elliot Lodge Scotch College Scout Camp), culminating in the first Victorian Orienteering Championships at the You Yangs on 21 December 1969.

• 1977: Bendigo • 1976: Brumby • 1979: Dandenong Ranges

1970’s - We were tough back then

In early 70s black and white photocopies of army survey / forest commission maps, “about” 1:25,000 scale, with 15 metre contours were used. Coloured pens / pencils were used to colour in the drainage lines, forest edges, tracks etc.

Later in the 70’s the first coloured hand drawn maps appeared, the first being Mt Egerton in 1973. Field work improved mapping accuracy and added features.

1980’s – the World Champs Era

Bush maps became 5 colour, fully field-worked and hand drawn, focusing on gold mining (e.g. Nerrina, Castlemaine Goldfields and Wattle Gully) and granite (e.g. Mt Kooyoora and Mt Alexander). More (and new) features were added, including native cherry trees (which are no longer included). page 7

More events offered more courses adapted to age classes. At most events, competitors still marked up their courses and added map corrections at master map areas.

Thumb compasses came into use and punch cards were used at all events.

This format has since been replaced by the Maxi and EndurOs. High O: Long distance team event held in the high plains.

Clubs continued to evolve:

In 1985 Orienteering Victoria hosted WOC85 and WOCARN (the world championships and an associated carnival), with events held in the Kooyoora granite and Castlemaine gold mining areas. Tom Andrews (BK) chaired the overall WOC administration.

Barry McCrae (YV), Alex Tarr (YV), David Hogg (PO), Peta Whitford (YV) and Peter Searle (BG) took key roles in WOC. Barry McCrae, Blake Gordon (EU), Sheila Colls and John Colls (then DROC), John Turner (Emu), Peter Searle (BG), and Kathy Liley (then Emu) led the WOCARN team.

Steve Key (DROC) and Alex Tarr (YV) were the main mappers.

Sue Sturges, VOA’s first employee, worked as the promotion and development officer.

•

Central Highland Orienteering Club was formed.

•

Eltham College changed to Nillumbik.

•

Emu was formed.

•

Clubs to dissolve were Brumby (some members joining YVOC) and St Leo’s Navigators (members joining Emu in 1988).

1990’s – OCAD, flatbed plotters and Casio watches OCAD (Orienteering Computer Aided Drawing) revolutionised mapmaking, particularly OCAD5 in 1995, which offered the ability to scan images as background maps and trace over them. Maps could be made and updated on the computer, negating the need for manual map corrections. Digital printing became available but the colour quality was poor.

Offset printing is still used for major events.

Although Bush O still dominated, along with Street O, new and different O variations were tried, and some have survived: Ski O: Several events held in the early 80s.

Tri O: Canoe, bike and run. Events were held at Ballarat and Lake Eppalock, but this format did not survive.

Blodslitet: Several events were held during the 80s and 90s.

Condes support for OCAD files was introduced. This revolutionised designing and plotting courses, calculating course lengths and printing controls descriptions on maps.

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Courses were plotted using flatbed plotters (an improvement over the over-printers) programmed with all the control circles and lines where they needed to be cut, and the course was drawn with a single plotting pen, with a more accurate finish but still time-consuming. International control descriptions became the norm.

2000’s – the rise of the digital age

In the 2000s the digital age set in and revolutionised the way we orienteered. Computers were used to make maps and manage all stages of most events.

In 2001, Condes support for OCAD files was introduced. This revolutionised designing and plotting courses, calculating course lengths and printing controls descriptions on maps.

Manual entry was still the norm, but computers were used at major events. Finish times were entered on the computer.

Some competitors recorded their splits on personal Casio watches for comparison with other competitors later.

SPORTident (developed in the late 1990s) became our new exciting tool. SPORTident meant that course setters could plan courses in smaller areas with loops and crossovers. Areas previously considered too small to use could now be mapped.

Maps could fit on an A4 sheet. No more manned controls.

With more pre-marked maps, there was no more tedious hand plotting for the course setters, and no more ‘bums in the air’ for the competitors.

Street O streaked ahead, with a Summer Series on Wednesdays (Eastern) and Tuesdays (Western). That’s twice a week!! MTBO also took off with regular events from the mid 90s.

Major events in Victoria included: •

1994: World Cup events and Southern Cross Junior Challenge – Ballarat.

For MTBO the 2000s was its best and biggest decade.

Participation rates grew.

•

1995: Australian Championships – Creswick Diggings

•

1995: First Australian Ski-O Championships – Lake Mountain.

•

1997: Inaugural MTBO State Champs – Lal Lal

•

1998: Easter – Castlemaine

Park / Street O surged into the new century on the wave of its rapid rise in the 1990s and participation continued to grow.

More maps were added. More events were offered on more nights in the Summer Series. To keep it simple, Park Street O continued to use punch cards. The Millennium Club started on 1 Jan 2000 recognising participants reaching 500,750 and 1000 events.

•

1998: Inaugural Australian MTBO Champs – Creswick.

Key events in the 21st century reflect the dominance of the Bendigo / Castlemaine area as the most progressive centre of bush orienteering in the state:

Clubs continued to merge and the VOA was renamed.

•

2001: Australian 3 days, Maldon area.

•

1993: Red Kangaroos merged with Bayside to become Bayside Kangaroos O Club.

2002: World Masters held in the Glenluce-Kooyoora area.

•

2003: Australian Champs, Bendigo and NE Victoria.

•

1995: Rockhoppers merged with Nillumbik Emus.

•

•

1997-8: The VOA became known as OV (Orienteering Victoria).

2004: World MTBO Championships in Central Victoria.

•

2004: 35th anniversary event at Bostock Reservoir.

•

2006: Australian 3 Days. Castlemaine area.

•

2009: Australian Champs, Bendigo and NE Victoria (Bushrangers Carnival).

•

1993: Emu and Nillumbik merged to become Nillumbik Emus.

•

A new club, Melbourne Forest Racers, was formed

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2010’s – OV goes online

Street O, MTBO and, increasingly over the last decade, MelBushO and Sprints.

Eventor arrived in 2012, providing for on-line membership, pre-entry and results for most events.

In 2017 Orienteering Victoria updated its online presence with a new website, modernising its online presence, logo and colours.

At most bush and MTBO events competitors no longer needed to register on the day (except for the EODs – Enter on the Days) or to select start times – just front up at the Start when ready, insert the SI etag into the Clear, Check and Start boxes, pick up a map and control description sheet and head out on the course. Results appearing on large screens in the arena, and result splits print outs handed out to competitors on finishing became a feature of events. SPORTident introduced SIAC etags with proximity recording rather than inserting the etag in the SI station.

Major events in Victoria included:

The Sprint distance format, with events typically held in universities, schools, parkland and other complex urban areas became increasingly popular through the Sprint into Spring series.

Park / Street O continued to grow, offering events most days of the week during the summer and regular winter night and day events. Six ‘legend members’ of the Millennium Club reached the 2000 event milestone. MTBO consolidated as a regular fixture. We could now orienteer (almost) every day of the year, in a range of events, including the traditional ‘Bush’ O, Park/

•

Easter 2013 (Bendigo area)

•

Australian Championships in 2015 (Ballarat / Creswick)

•

Oceania in 2011 and 2019 (NE Victoria)

•

Melbourne Sprint Weekends (MSW) held in 2016, 2018 and 2020

•

The 50th anniversary event at Cardinia Reservoir in August 2019

•

Australian MTBO Champs in 2010 (Castlemaine – Daylesford), 2011 (Beechworth), 2015 (Torquay – Anglesea) and 2019 (Maryborough – Dunolly).

A more comprehensive account of OV’s first 50 years written by Belinda Dale can be found on the Orienteering Victoria website / About Us / Orienteering Victoria

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Bush training Some Bush Training opportunities during ‘lockdown’

WORDS R UT H G O D DA RD

PHOTOS LI NCO L N PAT ER SO N

After Easter was cancelled, many bush events in Victoria and interstate were crossed off the calendar. For Melbournites there were plenty of park/street events with courses to be done in your own time using MapRun. How could the bush orienteers be catered for – a question on Debbie Dodd’s mind.

She started to promote the idea of ‘training events’ which were permitted under quarantine restrictions. Over the year three events were held in June, and four events in November.

Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club and Yarra Valley Orienteering Club were the chief organisers along with one event by the visiting coach, Frederic Tranchand and MFR’s Patrick Jaffe.

this (piece of bush) was here’ ‘Serious terrain’ ‘You had to be right at the control to see the yellow tape’ ‘I like the lack of competition’. There were some newcomers who had some training and parents helped their children, so the events lived up to their name. Training of new course setters and a mapper also took place.

In November there were two events with novice course setters under guidance. Daniel wanted to revisit Panton Hill and start from the opposite end of the map. From his “armchair” on the other side of Melbourne where the lockdown confined him, he learnt about the use of Condes and design of a hard and moderate course. He realised the difficulty of setting a moderate course – ‘Setting the moderate course made me muddled. Anything goes for the hard course, the easy course basically follows the paths, but the moderate course... it needs a fine balance between being challenging and achievable, while still being enjoyable.’ He also set an easy course which suited some of the younger participants. ‘An easy course was on offer for the children to grow their confidence and enjoyment in the bush’. He also gained an appreciation of visiting the map and seeing what ‘white’, and ‘pale green’ looked like in real life. Many areas near Melbourne are far less runnable than they appear on the map. In his words: ‘We all would’ve had a fight against the vegetation if I hadn’t visited the map the week before the training.’ And, speaking on the value of course setting he said, ‘If you want to improve your orienteering skills give course setting a go’.

Four low key COVID safe events were organised by YVOC during 2020.

The first event was in June after a month or so of quarantine.

The green wedge of four parks in Panton Hill offers real bush near Melbourne and furthermore it has a history of gold mining. Although an orienteering map had been made it had limited use with a small parking area. An event with less than 30 participants does not require a permit so it was possible to organise an event there at short notice. To be sure that numbers were controlled, entry was via Eventor with a morning session of 20 people, and afternoon of 20.

During the following months, a new function was programmed into Eventor to limit numbers entering an event.

The event was classified as ‘training’; no entry fee was required, and courses were self-timed. Two line courses (5km and 3km) were printed on the map with 20 controls on the map marked by paper tags. The result was a relaxed experience of bush orienteering. Some comments at the finish were: ‘can I still remember what to do?’ ‘I did not know

Lincoln lives near Jumping Creek Park in Warrandyte. He was interested in both mapping the area and setting courses there, and has an Apple Mac computer. He uses the free OpenOrienteering Mapper 0.9.3 software. Fieldwork was done page 12

in daily visits to the park during his permitted exercise time.

‘Building a map from scratch was an interesting learning exercise for me during lockdown. Jumping Creek is comfortably within my 5 km radius, but the one-hour time limit for exercise was initially a challenge for fieldwork. When the limit became two hours things became much easier.’

He relates “Georeferencing was obtained by reading in a contour map from https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/vicplan/ as a GeoTIFF. Nearmap images were also georeferenced, so they conveniently snapped into position. The courses were set using the map as a template and a different symbol set.” He became interested in the history: ‘Stane Brae was originally a grazing and farming property that was purchased by the government in 1982 and incorporated into the Warrandyte State Park in 1987. The homestead was burnt to the ground in 1983, but some stables and dairy outbuildings remain.’

The fourth event was course setting by Ted (a very experienced course planner) using the permanent controls in Brimbank Park. “We used the sprint version of the Brimbank Park map.

This is at 1:5,000 which stays in the developed part of the park southeast of the river. Therefore, to get the required distance for the “longer” course, there were many direction changes a bit like a sprint event. Also, there are some uncrossable areas that required route choice decisions. I would be more inclined to call it middle distance style. And the shorter course was more like “join the dots”. We also offered a score course which was simply a map showing all 33 permanent course controls.”

MapRun was used for this course so the map and course can be used again.

Lucas at Panton Hill. His hand was in a plaster cast and he used the plastic bag to protect it from the rain, rather than his map!

We learnt some points from these events: ● Any bit of bush (or land) once mapped, can be used for useful orienteering.

chance to learn, and provide some fun and enjoyment for cooped-up orienteers.

● Novice coursesetters and mappers require guidance so that it is a pleasant experience for all – the mapper and the participants.

Yarra Valley provided me with the Cardinia Reservoir permanent course map, and I “joined the dots” to create two line courses, for a June training session. I had my fingers crossed, not having been able to check the courses in person, but the feedback was all positive on the day.

● Key ingredients for these courses were up to date maps and thought about the course design and control placement. Line courses give the opportunity to consider difficulty and length.

It was a long wait until November, but Ruth and I put together a four week program of Sunday training. In addition to the three sessions described by Ruth, we decided to test out Police Paddocks, which has only previously been used for schools competitions. Ainslie Cummins offered to scout out control locations and do the field checking, as she could get there on her bike within travel restrictions, while I pulled together the line courses at home, using Condes. We added an extra long, challenging course. Ainslie takes up the story:

Training events organised by DROC – Debbie Dodd/Ainslie Cummins

When it became clear that most of our bush orienteering program was not going to happen during 2020, we started looking at other options. Even when restrictions were lifted, permits were impossible to obtain in time. However, if we could meet conditions for permit free events, we could make use of our permanent courses, give some new course setters a

“My setting of controls in Police Paddocks grew out of me setting a lot of Streeto courses, to get exercise with a purpose during lockdown. I had never been to a bush orienteering page 13

training day and previously set training courses for rogaining, where experienced trainers go out with novices. I tried to put controls on navigationally challenging natural features which had to be identified from reading contour lines, rather than obvious manmade objects. This proved to be difficult in Police Paddocks, as there is a large area of flat swampland, parallel uncrossable creeks, and hills with few definite spur gully features. This meant some controls were on very subtle features like a broad gully and a very small spur. When I did use manmade objects I tried to select things like concrete slabs and ruins which were not immediately evident in the field, so you had to accurately navigate to the feature. I discovered the subtle differences in course setting rules between orienteering and rogaining. I did not know that you could not set a control on a feature that is not represented on the map with an actual symbol, or understand the intricacies of control descriptions used in orienteering - but I have learnt.

It took quite a few weeks and many visits to the site. Due to the much greater use of mountain bikes during lockdown, there were quite a lot of unmapped tracks. The rapid growth of blackberries, especially in the two weeks immediately before the event, considerably changed the dense vegetation marked on the map. Debbie was unaware of this, and placed a couple of legs right through some very scratchy areas, resulting in some bloodied legs. I did not realize until I went out to hang the tapes, when it was too late to make changes, but I did take a pair of secateurs to prune the worst of them.

In hanging the tapes I wanted to make sure the competitors actually navigated right to the location marked on the map, so I did not use large pieces of tape and did not put them all at eye level. In retrospect this made it difficult to locate some of the controls, especially for the inexperienced competitors.

Overall it was a good learning experience for me and a good use of my time during Covid lockdown.”

Ainslie and I worked together well, but what we missed was having a third person able to physically check the course lengths, which were too long given the unanticipated seasonal vegetation. The limits placed on all of us by travel restrictions and lockdowns made the task of course planning, even for low key events, even more of a challenge – but the enthusiasm and excitement of the participants, who just couldn’t wait to get outside with a map and compass, made it all worthwhile. We were able to use some small areas with limited parking, which would otherwise never get used; and we promoted the permanent courses which clubs have worked so hard to establish and maintain. We have more people with course planning and mapping skills – and most importantly, we actually did some bush orienteering in metro Melbourne during 2020!

David and Lincoln (at Jumping Creek) decided that the combination of everyone’s rusty post-lockdown technical skills, a particularly vague spur-gully map and a cold, dark midwinter’s night probably wasn’t the best idea. So instead, a massstart loops course was offered during the day, with ten different variations offered to keep people on their toes. It was most people’s first time out orienteering in proper bush terrain for many months and ended up being a very memorable and enjoyable day out in the forest. page 14

‘Aussie-Jukola’ Relay down under

WORD S & PH OTO PATR ICK JA FF E

Orienteers from across the world usually make a pilgrimage to Finland each June for Jukola, the world’s largest orienteering relay. Normally, many Victorians would join them (or at least tune in to watch it online) but for obvious reasons, the 2020 event was postponed.

The planned date for Jukola coincided with the gap between Victorian lockdowns, and local orienteers were keen for any chance to get out in the bush again. So, Coach In Residence, Fredo Tranchand, along with Patrick Jaffe, put on an ‘AussieJukola’ instead. They teamed up with Central Highlands Orienteers to put on a training session on their Balt Camp map, conveniently located in between Melbourne and Bendigo, to make this session attractive to all.

Originally conceived as a night orienteering session (to simulate the night-legs that Jukola is famous for), it was decided that the combination of everyone’s rusty postlockdown technical skills, a particularly vague spur-gully map and a cold, dark mid-winter’s night probably wasn’t the best idea. So instead, a mass-start loops course was offered during the day, with ten different variations offered to keep people on their toes.

It was most people’s first time out orienteering in proper bush terrain for many months and ended up being a very memorable and enjoyable day out in the forest.

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Vic MTBO 2020 Victorian Mountain Bike Orienteering report

WORD S & P HOTO S P E TE R CUSW O RT H

Not much to report on this year as all events were cancelled or postponed due to COVID19, except for four summer BikeO-75 events.

starved competitors from Melbourne and other regions attended.

The planned events for the 2020 Victorian Championships were postponed until 2021. Let's hope for more to report on next year!

We started off with the BK event at Lysterfield on February 8th with an excellent 80 competitors taking part. Most of the MTB tracks in the park are now one direction, so making it more of a challenge for course setting and competitors alike.

Next up was the Eltham Lower Park event organised by Nillumbik. This was a newly combined map and included parts of Eltham Lower, Candlebark and Tikalara Parks all linked by the Yarra Main trail. Another great evening event and map organised by Rob Edmonds.

The You Yangs event organised by Eureka was next on 14 March. A not so good weather forecast plus the increasing shadow of the coming pandemic kept numbers down to 52, but the event went well all the same.

The final event in the series, and what turned out to be the final event for the year, was held at Silvan in the Dandenongs on Sunday morning 22 March with 41 attending. Later that day Victoria's first COVID19 lockdown was announced.

No other events were held in Victoria apart from some Albury Wodonga club events that weren't subject to the same harsh restrictions that Melbourne endured. An Albury Wodonga DuO event held in November was the only other event held after restrictions were eased late in the year and several eventpage 17

Junior Training Days WOR DS CA R O LY N L AY TO N

PHOTO S D EB BI E DO D D In January 2020 when bushfire smoke was our biggest challenge and we had the services of our international coaching scholar Frederic Tranchand we ran a targeted clinic for our youngest Victorian orienteers from 9am-1pm over 2 days.

The event was held at RMIT Bundoora West using the established sprint map and was attended by around 20-25 under 14 orienteers and a few over 14 juniors (siblings and friends) who all benefited from the expert technical coaching as well as the camaraderie and friendship that was built during the 2 days.

Day 2 of the clinic was postponed for 24 hours due to the likelihood of the air quality being significantly improved (those BOM contacts are very useful!) and it was great to see the participants able to get outside to practice some of the theory that they had been learning. A “follow the line” course with the aim of practicing the skills of matching the terrain to the map and keeping in contact with the map was a highlight.

The fun relay race was a great way to finish up the sessions.

Feedback for this clinic was very positive, both from participants and parents. It was rewarding to see how well the kids responded to Fredo’s engaging manner and enthusiasm for his subject. It was also wonderful to see how the participants responded in the few events they did get to participate in before COVID-19 interrupted the 2020 season and to see those friendships that had been formed over the 2 days carry onto other events. Hopefully as we transition back to a more normal program of events we can run more activities that focus on the youngest of our juniors and their families.

The above mentioned bushfire smoke did provide a challenge on Day 1 as it was too thick to hold the clinic outside and the group retreated to the RMIT gym where thanks to his European experiences Fredo had a full program of both practical exercises and theory questions and discussions throughout the morning. Being January it was evident that many of the participants were excited to see each other having not had much contact with other orienteers since September or that there were new friendships being made. As a parents it was a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the other parents and have time to chat that is often missing at events when trying to juggle the complexities of not losing children and getting a run yourself!

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Bendigo Saturday Series PHOTO S A NNE R O B IN SO N

Bendigo Orienteers were in the lucky position of still being able to run a shortened version of their Saturday Bush Series.

Orienteers from Melbourne were able to join in for the first two events before the ‘Ring of Steel’ came down and confined them to their own 5km backyard as per the Metro Melbourne Covid-19 rules. Six standard bush events were held and two Bendigo “Shorts”, with a period where some ‘Do It Yourself’ Bush MapRun courses were offered to those lucky enough to be able to travel.

Here is a small snapshot of the series.

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Melbourne Sprint weekend The one and only 2020 orienteering carnival

WORD S M ARG I FRE E MA NTL E & T ED VAN G ELD E R M AL SE N

PHOTOS E VALI NE MAE PHOTO S , SUSA N G UI NA NE & M A R G I F RE E MA NTL E

It is always a pretty intense time for the organisers leading up to a Melbourne Sprint Weekend (MSW) and this year was no different. We had arrived back from the January sprints in New Zealand and were hard at work to get the myriad of things in place ready for the weekend. In the background there was this rumbling of a new virus having emerged out of China, but it did not really register, except for the sudden shortage of toilet paper, in the frenzy to get everything ready.

Then suddenly it was time for the event. The organising team had pulled everything together and we were ready to roll.

After MSW 2018 we conducted a survey to find out what people liked and where we could improve. Suggestions for improvements included: larger scale maps e.g. 1:3000 for as many courses as possible, more spectator friendly arenas, shade, better commentary, having coffee and food vendors, more toilets, events closer together in time and distance, and improved administration and general organisation. We incorporated all these suggestions for MSW 2020.

We fine-tuned the running of the events by having an overall Start Manager, Anne Arthur, and Co-Manager, John Meeking, which enabled a more consistent approach to the starts and eliminated mistakes that might have occurred. Nicola Dalheim joined this team as Manager for the Knock-out sprint which certainly made life a lot easier.

all, and Asha Steer ran a special competition for Under-25 elite competitors (incorporating Days 1 & 2).

So how did it go? Well based on the feedback – pretty well. The weather behaved and somehow we managed to keep to schedule, although things got a bit shaky with the transition between races 5 & 6.

In addition, at Brodie Nankervis’s suggestion, a Knock-out Sprint competition was included on Day 3, with entry open to page 21

Day One, Race One – Overnewton College MSW Race 1, World Ranking Event (WRE), National Orienteering League (NOL) Format: Individual Race

woe. Bruce had made A3 laminated sheets showing a leg-byleg analysis of route choices for Courses 1 & 2, which he put up for view after the last starter, which proved to be very popular viewing.

Course Planner: Bruce Arthur Event Advisor: Blair Trewin Mapper: Fredrik Johansson On-The-Day Club: Melbourne Forest Racers

Day One, Race Two – Deakin University, Burwood MSW Race 2, NOL, Australian University Champs Format: Individual Race

Course Planner: Tim Hatley Event Advisor: Barry McCrae Mapper: Geoff Hudson; Peter Dalwood map updates & update to ISSprOM On-The-Day Club: Nillumbik Emus Orienteers

We had Philippa Lohmeyer-Collins to thank for securing yet another fantastic sprint venue that was worthy of a WRE, and with the college Principal getting right on board for the event.

Bruce and Fredrik had a bit bigger job than anticipated when it was found that some construction fences were going to be installed just before the event. Fredrik kept an eagle eye on the area and as soon as the fences went in, the map was updated and the bad news delivered to Bruce. The start location needed to be moved … and courses re-planned. The fencing emphasised an interesting characteristic of the map with it dividing the map in two with the lower part of the map being ‘rough open’ and even having some boggy sticky mud in places, and the upper part compromising of the main campus of buildings and quads. The start was in the upper part and led competitors straight into the main campus which included a central pentagon that provided some classic campus sprint legs, before heading to the lower half and finish / arena.

Getting from the intense network of buildings through the dividing un-crossable fences to the rough open saw some of the longest legs of the weekend, and provided many tales of

Deakin University is a classic Melbourne sprint map that although it has never been used for MSW before, has been used for several sprint events over time. However this campus is constantly changing, buildings being pulled down or moved and new ones popping up everywhere. With every use it is like a new area. This is mainly why we have never used it for MSW in the past – it has been impossible to know what will change on the map from one day to the next, literally! We owe a big thanks to Peter for bringing the map up to date for the event.

The Deakin campus is a dense complex mix of buildings, paths, uncrossable gardens and dare I say it, walkways and stairs. Tim used all to great effect, whizzing people around and even creating some manmade barriers to further complicate route choices. Few will forget the legs where “the bridge”, an area where there were two running levels, was a route choice.

Things got somewhat tense for the organisers in the lead up to the first starts. When we arrived to set up the courses we found an important route choice taped closed and blocked with a large compressor. We had liaised very closely with the university in planning the event but somehow this had slipped through. The workers were not very sympathetic and, for safety reasons, weren’t prepared to allow runners through until they were finished. Ten minutes before the first start time they were still there working. Barry headed back to postpone the event start. With five minutes to go the workers emerged from the building and turned off the compressor. Ted kept Barry updated by phone. A ute was backed up and connected to the compressor. We decided to let the starts go ahead. The workers removed the tapes, got into the ute and started driving off. Within a minute or two the first competitors were running through the previously closed route. Phew!

Experiences like this are not uncommon for sprint orienteering organisers but that was a particularly close one.

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Day Two, Race Three – Granite Hills Park MSW Race 3, NOL

race at Royal Park in 2018. The map covers a spur which rises about 70 metres above the surrounding residential areas featuring scattered bush and boulders and irregular land forms due to surface quarrying. The start at the top of the hill provided fantastic views, both of greater Melbourne and of competitors huffing and puffing their way up to the finish. The best viewing was out on the map though where people were going in all directions on their loops. A comment was made that it looked like the Monty Python ‘Marathon for Incontinents’ skit. Keeping focused on the map and ignoring everyone around you were crucial for this race, as was hill climbing ability in the later part of the course.

Course Planner: Ted van Geldermalsen Event Advisor: Alex Tarr Mapper: Alex Tarr On-The-Day Club: Yarra Valley Orienteers Format: Pairs head-to-head race with loops This was a fun race to watch and the area really suited the Pairs head-to-head racing format. This was the second time we have used a “bush” sprint map in MSW, the first one being the pairs

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Day Two, Race Four – La Trobe University, Bundoora MSW Race 4, NOL

Day Three, Race Six – Penola College, Broadmeadows MSW Race 6; Knockout Sprint

Course Planner: Ian Dodd Event Advisor: Geoff Adams Mapper: Ted van Geldermalsen On-The-Day Club: Dandenong Ranges Orienteers Format: NOL – Sprint relay; MSW – Individual

Course Planner: Brodie Nankervis Event Advisor: Warwick Williams Mapper: Geoff Adams On-The-Day Club: Bayside Kangaroos Orienteers & Tuckonie Orienteers Format: Elite KO sprint Semi-finals and Finals; MSW – Individual

La Trobe is another classic Melbourne sprint map and was the venue of the very first OV Sprint Champs in 2004. The map has changed a lot since then and recent events have featured a new multi-level version of the map though we decided to spare people the increased complexity /confusion that map generates. Our university liaison person headed us to the big open lawn for our arena, and although initially we took some convincing, it proved to be a fantastic place to view the relay and relax in the sun. The campus is not as complex as Deakin and key to a good run was to keep in contact, tick off all the buildings and paths as you go and keep your speed up. From the look of the results, competitors varying fitness levels were starting to show by now with some time gaps opening up.

Penola College was originally mapped for a Sprint into Spring event, and even then I think some people didn’t realise just how complex this small campus is. This was the event that we were approaching with some trepidation, given the format of the Knock out sprint semi-final starts where each competitor gets to choose one of three variations of the course, based on a quick view of a snippet of the map. We need not have worried though. Nicola had it all perfectly organised with a start crew well briefed. I defer to the words from Ross Barr to give a participant view of this Race.

“Arriving here one’s hopes sagged a bit. An open field, no real spectating opportunities and a spread out assembly that was the antithesis of the atmosphere at most of the other events.

Even the coffee cart seemed lonely. However, what runners found as they began, and as they raced into the small and complex catholic college buildings, pathways and gardens (and statues), was hey, ”they’ve saved the best till last”. Truly Penola was a cracker. The hexagonal central garden pathways with OOB hedges were well exploited by our elite course planner Brodie Nankervis, with many being caught in the olive jaws. If you went over a minute on any leg here you’d make a blunder. Many did.

Day Three, Race Five – Victoria University, St Albans MSW Race 5; Knockout Sprint Qualifying and Quarterfinals

Course Planner: Frédéric Tranchand Event Advisor: Warwick Williams Mapper: Geoff Adams On-The-Day Club: Bayside Kangaroos Orienteers & Tuckonie Orienteers Format: Elite KO Sprint Qualifying and Quarterfinals; MSW – Individual Victoria University had been earmarked as our back-up venue in case we weren’t able to get approval for one of our original choices. Well I suppose we should be happy that we managed five out of six of our original choices, but it would have been nice… VU St Albans has always been open to holding events on the campus, including holding them when the campus has classes on. The students moving around meant extra care was required when running and I’m sure we provided great entertainment for them as well. Fredo had set fairly open fast running courses for this race, a fact a number of people commented on. Little did they know he was just lulling them into a feeling of false security before the afternoon race. This race saw a bit more complexity for the organisers with the sprint KO quarterfinals start groupings needing to be calculated in a short space of time after the qualifying races.

But the best aspect of Penola was the Semi Final and then the Final of the elite knockout challenge. After all other races had completed, you were invited to spectate anywhere on the campus, with many gathering around the hex. When the finalists began (what turned out to be a long cross campus leg), the speed with which they flew up the hex was completely enthralling. A screamer. They then appeared, reappeared, disappeared, and appeared again – with split options being taken as the crowd yelled encouragement. And in the final warp speed run-in Aston and Frédéric coming from different directions and almost colliding in the chute with Aston pretty happy to just edge the French champion (though Fredo was n/c).

Fantastic. Amazing. Sensational. A great final race, a great final venue – the size reminding those from MSW 2016 of that small college in Geelong (Kardinia) from that series. You don’t need to be big to work a screamer in Sprint O.”

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The Great Puzzler Leg

And then MSW was all over. Little did we realise on that late afternoon that effectively MSW was to be the one and only orienteering carnival for the year. That fact only started to sink in when we rocked up to each school venue on the following Wednesday with a thank you cake to find the Principals were all attending a crisis meeting on managing the developing COVID-19 situation. Oh and also when we snagged one of the last packets of toilet paper in the Supermarket. If the event had been scheduled one week later, we doubt it would have been run.

Race 2 Melbourne Sprint Weekend

Content sourced from an article by Ross Barr in the OA magazine where Ross looked closely at a ‘great’ leg in Race 2, Deakin University, Burwood.

And onto the roll call - these are the people who, in addition to our planners, advisors and mappers, really made MSW a success.

Technical Director: Event Organiser: Entries: OE setup, start lists: On-the-day IT/Results:

Map Printing: Equipment: elbourne Registration: Sprint eekend Start Managers: 2020 KO Start Manager: Commentary:

2

First Aid: Social Media: Design: Under 25 competition: Prizes:

Ted van Geldermalsen Margi Freemantle Margi Freemantle Simon Rouse Ian Dodd, Debbie Dodd & Jim Russell Jim Russell (Stay in Control) Carl Dalheim Pam King, Ilze Yeates Anne Arthur, John Meeking Nicola Dalheim Brody McCarthy, Carl Dalheim, Lizzie Ingham & friends Glen White, Lyn Green, Anne Arthur Patrick Jaffe Stuart McWilliam (stuartconcepts) Asha Steer Anne Robinson

Race 2 was at the large and complex campus at Deakin University in Burwood. ‘The Hat’ the planner. This map was the first one to use the new ISSOM symbol for showing two running levels, and deployed here to devastating effect. The start was from an underground carpark, and runners (bursting forth into the light) hardly had time to think before being confronted by the bridge and its attendant double level.

Classic material, and course setting intensity across the rest that never let up (stunning in its detail, including magenta pathway blocks), and that hardly saw a leg over a minute long.

Unless you were caught on the bridge that is.

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

The best of the double height running bridge legs was from Course 3, where the #3 - #4 leg generated pause and (maybe) panic. You had been intense going #1 - #2 - #3 and were then faced with a complex building dodge in exiting #3 to what seemed a straightforward drop west to #4 – a canopy, but one on another level you began to slowly comprehend. If the accelerator had been pushed too hard before you saw the danger you were in trouble, with many tales of woe here. You needed early wide left or wide right commitment to shine – and the right option was where you encountered the bridge.

Ahhh.

Plus all the on-the-day club volunteer helpers.

Henry du Toit won the leg in 1:17, the ultimate course winner (Cathy McComb at 1:49) losing half a minute in ‘The Hat’s’ cunning trap. Many were well over two minutes.

What makes this such a great leg is the complex building and canopy material immediately south after leaving #3 that helps mask (but leads to) the narrow step pathway between the OOB hatching in the wide left option. Possibly the fastest route, and maybe Henry went here? Great Sprint O.

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Melbourne Sprint Weekend

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next

The Hunt for Red r e b m e t (Sepnd) October a WORD S WA R W ICK W IL LI A MS

Anyone who has set courses knows that setting a great course is vastly easier if you are setting on a great map. If you want to win course setter of the year, you start by putting your hand up to set on one of our better maps. Likewise, if you want to run a truly memorable Australian Championships carnival, the place to start is in assembling a series of maps that is going to give Victoria’s best course setters a chance to showcase their art.

From the earliest planning for the 2022 Aussies, that is what we have had in mind.

area offers all that is great in Victorian orienteering on a single map. Granite, spur/gully and gold mining all occur on the Nuggety Range at Maldon, and the willing cooperation of a local land owner with a paddock full of granite has only made it better. This map will test orienteers adaptability, and will be a test of strength on the longer courses too. A great venue for the Australian Long Distance Championships.

The next discovery was out of the blue. Patrick Jaffe and Frédéric Tranchand came back from Blackwood talking about a small but intense area of gold mining country. The area has a different character to other Victorian gold mining. Maybe the geology is different? I don’t know, but this is not just another mining map. And at the bottom of the slope is the beautiful Lerderderg River. This spot is truly new and truly challenging.

But, and there is always a but, isn’t there? - in this case there were several buts! Firstly, Melbourne was behind a “ring of steel”. We needed to get our Technical Director on-site to make sure that he was convinced. It took 5 or six weeks before we could get Warren and Loki up to Blackwood to sniff the place out.

There are other criteria to bear in mind too. It was decided early that the Central Highlands region offered the best combination of accessibility, accommodation and great orienteering. But it is hardly undiscovered! Going to the traditional heartland of forest orienteering in Victoria is a sound decision, but for a memorable carnival you want a bit of novelty too.

Time for a bit of exploration … Neil Barr and Ted van Geldermalsen took up the challenge of finding some new terrain.

Others joined the hunt, poking their noses into obscure corners of central Victoria, and we gradually flushed out some top quality new areas, as well as realising the merit of some of the long established maps in the area. Explore the new, rediscover the classics.

But (“but” no. 2), the land is in the Lerderderg State Park, and the management plan for the park (from way back in the 20th century) says no orienteering. David Jaffe and I hunted down the senior ranger for the area and set up a Zoom meeting.

With assurances as to the nature of our activities, he was brought on board, but (that word again), he still had to bring his policy people from head office along. Fortunately he did,

The first new area was not a new discovery, rather it took the enthusiasm and experience of Warren Key to point out that the page 29

and we were able to add this special area to the program for 2022.

The Australian Sprint Championships venue was not a “discovery” at all, but somewhere that we had hoped to go orienteering for years. Salesian College at Sunbury occupies the old Rupertswood mansion and grounds, although there are many more buildings there now. The property is famous for the presentation in 1883 of “the ashes of Australian cricket” to English captain Ivo Bligh, and is known as the birthplace of the Ashes. The campus has a farm attached with many farm buildings, and will make a challenging and beautiful venue for the sprint.

Coaching sub committee launch

So each of the three main championships will be on an enticing new map. So much for the new. What about rediscovering the classics?

The first Orienteering Victoria coaching subcommittee was formed in September 2020, with the broad aim to improve the provision, quality, and effectiveness of coaching across for not only high-performance orienteers but also beginners and regulars.

We have selected a group of the finest existing maps in central Victoria to show off the best of Victorian orienteering and the lovely historic towns in the area. Focussing in turn on Daylesford, Kyneton and Castlemaine, and with an eye to maximising the spectator potential for each event, we will be revisiting the Musk Vale map, Mt Alexander, Wattle Gully (twice!) and joining the existing sprint maps of Kyneton Community Gardens and Sacred Heart College together. Mt Alexander was a bit of a challenge to find a good assembly area, but after a couple of false starts, we have landed the most spectacular arena you could want.

Led by Brodie Nankervis, the Orienteering Victoria Coaching Coordinator, this committee has already; provided feedback on two national coaching development projects, developed a draft participation framework for orienteering in Victoria, accredited and reaccredited several orienteering coaches, ran an education session for coaches on the use of Purple Pen for course setting and more!

In May 2021, members of the coaching subcommittee will be piloting a new “Learn to Orienteer” coaching program, a consecutive five-week orienteering program designed for beginners. Participants will learn about an orienteering map, skills for navigating, how to use a compass and the different types of orienteering courses.

It will use small, scaled maps and SI electronic timing, partly in conjunction with Saturday Park and Street.

Which left us thinking that perhaps we needed to bulk out the first weekend a little bit. We had the Victorian Middle Distance Championships at Musk Vale on Saturday, and the Australian Middle Distance Championships at Blackwood on the Sunday.

What to do? Well, we have slipped in an extra short course event on the Saturday afternoon in Daylesford on yet another new map. Starting in the bush, passing around the famous Lake Daylesford and finishing in central Daylesford. Another of Warren’s lateral thinking masterstrokes, this will bring our traditionally reclusive sport into full view.

The aim of running this pilot program will be to turn it into a package that can be replicated by coaches/clubs around the state, and even the nation! Looking forward to the rest of 2021, the coaching subcommittee plan to run the new “Session Coach” accreditation (previously Level 1), organise a group to attend the national junior development camp, run a development/schools camp in Victoria, publish the Victorian Participant Pathway and develop more coaching resources that can be used across Australia.

Words by Brodie Nankervis

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Victorian Sprint Champs 2020 WOR DS PAT RIC K JA F F E

Just when it looked like most of the 2020 orienteering season was lost, we managed to sneak the Vic Sprint Champs into the calendar, on Sunday 13 December. The weather was warm but the competition across the age classes was even hotter, with many tight finishes.

longer, given the hot weather). Some notable wins went to Sophie Taverna in W16, Heather O’Donnell in W35, Judi Herkes in W75, Chris Millard in M35 and a rapid Tim Hatley in M60. It was a double win for the Key family in the M/W20 classes with Jensen about a minute clear of a tightly bunched Junior Men’s field and Milla running up an age class to take the victory in W20.

We didn’t want any Victorians to miss out on their one chance to properly race in the second half of the year, so we brought in a guest course setter from Denmark, Mikkel Kaae-Nielsen.

Mikkel delivered some challenging courses that caught many out – especially given the long break since the last sprint event in Victoria, which left many competitors feeling a bit rusty.

The family dominance continued in W21 with Natasha Key taking another Cavill Cup title by 18 seconds from Liis Johanson. It wasn’t quite to be a clean sweep for the Keys though – in M21, Aston Key and Patrick Jaffe were tied for the lead at the last control, but Jaffe took a single second out of Key in the finish chute to win the Men’s Cavill Cup. The muchhyped return to orienteering from Troy de Haas didn’t quite end up as predicted, with Troy’s old coach, Jim Russell, proudly getting bragging rights over the former Australian WOC star.

There were tricky decision to be made as soon as we turned over our maps and we were soon plunged into a series of short, technical controls amongst the maze of old fences, with constant changes of direction. The longer courses then had to face some longer legs in the hillier part of the map, before returning to the irregular network of laneways for the final part of the race.

The overall feedback from the event was that people loved the feeling of fast-paced racing, after a disrupted year of events.

Thank you to Melbourne Forest Racers for putting on the championships and a particular thanks to Mikkel, Blair Trewin (Event Controller) and Ian Lawford (control placement) for going above and beyond in their roles.

There were plenty of outstanding performances, some of which even caught the course setter by surprise by beating the expected winning times (although most agreed that it was a good thing that the courses were slightly shorter rather than

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Fredo’s Coaching Corner In the lead up to the Melbourne Sprint Weekend, Fredo put on some Sprint training sessions to get Victorians ready for the big event. Fredo also provided some advice on preparing for a sprint race, plus outlined the Sprint Golden Rules.

2) PLAN ahead all the time - Where I want to go - What I want to see - Simplify (use big features, buildings…)

In the week leading up to your sprint event remember to look at your maps from previous events; ideally recent events, ~3 very successful ones and ~3 races that didn’t go as well as expected. You can try to look at what you did well or not and why that was the case. You could pick 3 good things + 3 bad things. For your upcoming event, try to visualize yourself doing the right things and being successful, accepting all kind of situation and disturbances…

(The idea is to always keep orienteering in front, then RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN ORIENTEER) 3) Look up - And see what’s coming next, the next turn…

- Thumb & orientate the map - To keep contact - Read map efficiently - Go to the right control, places

And a reminder of some of the “Sprint Golden rules”:

By Fredo Tranchand

1) Read the entire leg - To see all the passages - Avoid any potential obstacles

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Coaching Coaching of all orienteers highlighted in new coaching accreditation structure WORD S B RO DI E NA NK E RVI S

In 2020, Orienteering Australia sought expressions of interest in updating the current orienteering coaching accreditation syllabus documents. Orienteering Victoria’s Brodie Nankervis was appointed to complete the project, gathering a group of keen orienteering coaches from each state to develop a brandnew coaching accreditation structure.

and are able to incorporate all aspects of orienteering. They may lead several session coaches to deliver this program.

Coordinate Coaches (previously Level 3): can coordinate a group of orienteering participants and/or coaches. This could be on a training camp, competition tour or by coordinating a coaching committee.

Influenced by the direction of Sport Australia to acknowledge the need to develop coaches working with participants at all levels of sport, not just high performance, the new structure highlights pathways through coaching in orienteering as a matrix.

Within each of these accreditation programs there will be 3 streams, depending on the level of participant that a coach plans to work with: Learn and Play: Work with beginner orienteers, providing opportunities to develop basic orienteering skills, and supporting social participation for health and wellbeing.

This matrix shows the progression of coaching practice on a horizontal axis and the experience domain of participants a coach is working with on a vertical axis. Note that the coaching practice axis is progressive in nature, as orienteering coaches may progress their coaching practice over time. In contrast the vertical axis is multidirectional, reflecting the fact that coaches may decide to apply their skills to different participants at different times in their career.

Compete: Work with orienteers who participate regularly, at any level, helping participants to develop competition skills with the key objective of doing their personal best.

Perform: Work in high performance, supporting athletes of all ages in the Orienteering Australia talent pathway to develop and compete at a state, national and international level.

This change in the coaching accreditation structure has led to 4 new “levels” of coaching practice which will be the backbone of accreditation programs:

More information on how the new coaching accreditation structure will be rolled out will be coming soon! If you are interested in being involved with coaching in the future and/or keen to become an accredited coach, please contact the Victorian Coaching coordinator at coaching@vicorienteering.asn.au

Support/Level 0 Coaches: can both (1) support other coaches in their activities and (2) support participants to have a positive experience with orienteering (i.e., by debriefing after an event) Session Coaches (previously Level 1): can deliver individual training sessions focusing on the physical, technical, tactical and/or psychological aspect/ s of orienteering.

Lead Coaches (previously Level 2): can lead a series of training sessions for an individual or group page 34

A step into the future Remote delivery of school orienteering programs

WORDS B RO DI E N AN KE R V I S

A step into the future, remote delivery of school orienteering programs

prior to 2020. However, the outstanding new school orienteering materials developed on a national level made this process much easier. Utilizing video conferencing and the ability to screenshare, Brodie Nankervis, the OV Schools Officer at the time, was able to provide an overview of orienteering, describe and teach the orienteering activities used in schools and demonstrate how to use Purple Pen software with great success.

2020 was a year like no other and with schools orienteering taking a hiatus for most of the year it made a swift (if not overwhelming) return in Term 4. Many schools who had secured Sporting Schools funding were very keen to use it, while other schools were looking to offer their students an interesting and exciting experience to end what could be summed up as a bit of a dull year!

The great work pioneered in Term 4 2020 paves the way for remote delivery of orienteering programs into the future, helping OV support orienteering programs across our entire state and spreading the orienteering word far and wide!

Thanks to all of those who contributed to school orienteering in 2020, OV is looking forward to working with you all and others in 2021 😊

However, with the slowly easing restrictions in Victoria and strict school policies, the need for an innovative approach through remote mapping and teacher delivered, coach supported programs was required. This approach not only allowed OV to navigate the new “Covid normal” but allowed us to service remote schools where we did not have mappers or coaches on the ground.

So what is a remote map? This is an orienteering map of the school made with no on the ground “fieldwork” at all. Not the easiest task, but with high quality satellite imagery, school diagrams and evacuation plans, and videos/photos of the school, it is possible to still produce a high-quality map.

Several skilled young mappers embraced this challenge with great enthusiasm, with the attention to detail these mappers used complimented on and appreciated by school teachers.

Black Hill Primary School, Mapped by Sophie Taverna

Promoting and facilitating teacher delivered programs had been relatively uncharted territory for Orienteering Victoria page 35

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Using Covid to Bring the States Together Using Covid to Bring the States Together to Create a Great Asset

WOR DS DAV ID JA FF E

Lots of things stopped in the Orienteering World in 2020 but while we in Victoria were locking down, OA commissioned some work using grant funding to develop a common Orienteering curriculum for schools. Brodie Nankervis and David Jaffe got to participate and thought everyone should know how the states came together to create some amazing materials.

had to offer. At times he was amazed at how many materials we had and the impact we could have on a school compared to other sports.

How was the cat herding?

Mike did an amazing job to get all states to share materials.

We all got to see how every other state tackled schools and then Mike and his company synthesised it while aligning with the Australian curriculum. He got us to share, review and collaborate, quite an achievement in its self, as we worked to a tight time frame through a pandemic.

What was the Goal?

Create a common and accredited national curriculum for years three to six and extend this to years 7 and 8. The work also wanted to start to create pathways from school to more active Orienteering. In other words, end all this “we do it this way here” stuff and create something that all states could use and benefit from. This was advanced cat herding…getting six Orienteering nations to work together!

What’s come out of it?

A great handbook of activities and materials that we can used with schools. Its even designed so that staff could run their own programs. It’s a flexible set of resources than can work with a schools coach or with some remote support help a school do their own program. In addition the new curriculum and resources have allowed orienteering to become a sporting school provider for secondary schools, in addition to the work we were already doing in primary schools.

Who led the work and who was involved?

OA selected a company called McLaughlin Sports Consultancy led by Mike McLaughlin who has done work with many sports.

Mike knew nothing about Orienteering but knows how to run a project, knows all about schools’ sports curriculums, has a proven process and had a great track record with other sports.

Most of the states had their schools officer join the program so the gurus of school O program were on the case.

Unfortunately, our Schools Officer had quit earlier in the year so David filled the breach and Brodie was involved in his national coaching role. What was great was seeing Mike, an o novice, get familiar with what Orienteering was and what we

What did schools say?

In October/November Mike got states to run pilots with experienced coaches and novice teaches and then got feedback and amended the materials.

They loved it. In fact some of the feedback was some of the most interesting Mike had ever seen. Two schools commented page 37

that students not only enjoyed it but some students who didn’t normally get active, excelled at orienteering. They were amazed by these outcomes, as was Mike. We forget sometimes how different our sport is and the impacts it can produced. We didn’t get to pilot in Victoria as we were in the tail end of lock down but we got to see everyone else’s results.

What Does Victoria Get? 1. Great materials to use with schools 2. Greater knowledge and connection to the organisers in other states 3. Further opportunities to expand orienteering being delivered in secondary schools

What did we learn?

Through this program we got to see the different mechanisms other state use. In South Australia, if they get approached by a regional school, they get that school to ring nearby schools to form a cohesive cluster that makes sending a coach worthwhile. ACT leads the way in converting school participation into active families. They do this with pre and post school mini leagues and inviting parents to come have a go and then join a weekend event.

Secret Sauce?

The combination of an expert in a process with our subject matter experts was an interesting one. Mike’s a great facilitator and it was hard not to have faith that he’d get to the outcome.

It may have helped that zoom familiarity meant we could have all of us talking and sharing in ways we wouldn’t have in 2019.

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MapLink MapLink Keeps Orienteering Alive During Melbourne’s Long Lockdown

WORDS DE B BI E DO DD

The call went out, and within no time, course setters were creating brand new courses; our MapRun team were setting up kml/kmz files at warp speed; we had a MapLink facebook page, an online virtual scoring system, and a Google docs library, which rapidly started filling up with maps. We were quickly spoilt for choice. People could use the MapRun smartphone app with their MapLink course, then share and discuss the best (or worst) routes, and sledge each other from a social distance, in fine Melbourne StreetO tradition.

People took to MapLink with great enthusiasm, and it was good fun and very convenient. Without the need for large parking areas, we could start from previously unused locations in unfamiliar sections of some maps, giving a completely new feel to places we’d been many times. MapRun stats tell us that 2000 people used the app in Melbourne between April and September, and we estimate the same number again used MapLink without MapRun – that’s 20 people a day that otherwise would not have been orienteering.

The new Winter fixture was fresh from the printers, and we were putting the finishing touches on our annual summer Awards Night, when the first Victorian lockdown was announced. It was hard to believe we’d just hosted hundreds of orienteers from all over Australia for the Melbourne Sprint Weekend – soon to become a fond memory of better times.

Knowing we’d need to get maps online quickly for people to exercise with, a small group sprang into action faster than you can say “vaccine”; and within 24 hours, MapLink was born.

“Oh, that’s just another collection of old maps” you say. In fact, MapLink is so much more than a DIY Library (we rapidly built one of those, too – it now has over 700 maps from previous bush, park-street, sprint and MTBO events). Maps of previous events are all well and good, but, well, we’ve done them already. We have short attention spans! We want something new!!

Of course we were all desperate to get back together for real events as soon as possible. Our wish was granted in late May, when “training” was allowed for groups of 20. Online preentry and staggered starts quickly became our norm, replacing StreetO’s famously casual “rock up and chuck $5 in the bucket, and mass start at 7pm” approach. MapRun allowed us to have contactless punching. We wondered if anyone would want to come; after the first week we had to offer overflow daytime sessions to accommodate the numbers, and events were page 39

regularly over-subscribed (a first for orienteering!)

Competition was not permitted for community sport, so these were free practice sessions with no results produced.

But new MapLink courses kept coming through. Mappers used them to learn new skills; novice course setters had time to learn at their own pace, and some turned into regular contributors – three of those have since set bush courses as well, which we used for some free Sunday Training Sessions. In all, we received over 130 contributions, covering most of metropolitan Melbourne. “Maps Near Me” became our slogan, as we tried to make sure everyone in metro Melbourne had at least one MapLink within reach. We kept a master map, colour coded, and challenged course setters to fill in the gaps.

Melbourne crawled agonizingly slowly along its first Roadmap out of restrictions. We had 6 wonderful weeks of some sort of freedom, when the news came through in early July; we were all going back into another “6 week” lockdown. MapLink came out of hibernation the next day as we dusted ourselves off for Iso 2.0.

It’s history now that 6 weeks turned into nearly 4 months. Our world grew increasingly smaller with curfews, border closures, rings of steel, and 5 km radii. Some people were lucky – I had 12 different maps within the red circle that contained my universe; others had only a couple, or worse, none at all. We all knew exactly where our boundaries were; how many kilometres we could eke out by running every single street in our neighbourhood; how far we could drive our cars or ride our bikes if we followed the perimeter whilst gazing wistfully across an invisible barrier; and who we could meet up with when 2 people from different households were allowed to spend time together as long as their bubbles overlapped. We wanted to scream, sob, or curl up in a corner with a blanket over our heads. It seemed as if it would never end. Just writing these words is like revisiting a dystopian alternate world.

We also put MapRun’s “Start Anywhere” function to great use so that people had as much flexibility as possible. People mapped and set courses in their own neighbourhoods, and on any maps they could get to in under an hour (often on their bikes). All courses had a time limit of 45 minutes, to ensure compliance with the strict exercise rules of 1 hour once per day.

We were amazed at how many people continued using MapLink for all those long, tough weeks and months. Without it, our return to events would undoubtedly have been nowhere near as successful as it’s been. We worked hard at making sure orienteering didn’t drop off everyone’s radar, by constantly pushing out new MapLinks on an almost daily basis. This was invaluable as an engagement tool; it gave us a welcome

page 40

distraction, something different to talk about, and a reason to get outside for a regular run or walk.

backwards, it’s reassuring to know that there’s a bunch of MapLink courses that I didn’t get around to doing last time.

We hung on every word of every government announcement, waiting for the magic day when community sport could resume, the groups could be bigger than 5, and the distance we could travel was increased to 25 km. We suddenly had a whole world to reconnect with! It was exciting and overwhelming all at once.

MapLink has been selected one of four Finalists in the VicSport 2020 Awards, in the Sport Initiative of the Year category. This award recognises the work of individuals, clubs, teams, groups or organisations who have succeeded in enabling more people to participate in sport activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new award for 2020 highlights the innovative work that sport has promoted to keep people active and connect with members. The winner will be announced on June 3, 2021 at a ceremony at Marvel Stadium.

Finally on November 2nd, after weeks of planning and hoping, we held the first Summer Series Park Street event; and the first event of any kind in Melbourne since July 6. Armed with a new QR code check-in system, a gratifyingly long preentry list, our covid kits of sanitizer and paper towel, our new credit card reader, and our new Covid safe plan, we swung into action. QR codes were unfamiliar to most; many were using MapRunF or MapRunG for the first time; and others had simply forgotten what to do, it had been so long! We had to readjust to being social, albeit in groups of no more than 10 at once. We didn’t recognize old friends behind masks and with Lockdown Hair (queues at hairdressers were still insanely long those first couple of weeks). We were scared to touch anything that wasn’t ours, or to spend time talking to anyone for more than a few minutes. But we had maps in our hands, they were glorious summer evenings, and it was wonderful.

We completed our Summer program with only 3 events lost to a snap lockdown in February. We’ve held Park Street Championships, and enjoyed the return of our Schools competitors. We had 8 different series up and running successfully. Despite all the limits and constraints, our participation numbers were close to normal. It’s not the same as it was … but when you look at the rest of the world, we are so incredibly lucky.

As you read this, the first rounds of vaccinations are happening, many Victorians were able to compete at the Australian Easter 3 Day (deferred from 2020), and New Zealand has just opened its border to us. But if things go page 41

What a season!

Bendigo orienteers

WORDS CRA I G F EUE R H E R DT

What a season! Coronavirus threw a spanner in the works for events across the state but early planning by Bendigo Orienteers and our excellent relationship with land managers ensured we were able to run many of our events albeit with some modification.

Several club members including Nigel McGuckian, Jim Russell and Jimmy Cameron worked together to produce MapRun events on maps affected by COVID cancellations and while there were not many official results, plenty of people took the time to wander around the courses at a leisurely pace admiring the wildflowers.

Once again, the Fowl and Fizz event kicked off our season at the start of February with the Crusoe Heights maps providing an easy start to the season with 27 participants. The AGM followed with Julie Flynn bowing out as President after several years and Craig Feuerherdt taking on the role of President with Jim Russell nominating as Vice.

Proper orienteering returned on 19 September with the final Bush Classic event at Mt Korong set by Daryl Fleay. 55 participants enjoyed the warm, windy afternoon ahead of the change. The courses combined detailed navigation and route choice to ensure all skills were tested.

The weekend of 21 March saw our first formal event at Mt Kooyoora set by Julie Flynn with a training event on Mt Korong on the Sunday. Coronavirus was just starting to take hold in Australia, and these turned out to be the last official orienteering events in Victoria until the end of June!

There were a few short events held prior to the clubs final multi-hour event held on maps adjacent to Maiden Gully.

Twilight events have never been well attended in the past something about the dark, or the time of day, or that we are all tired from the orienteering season. However this year’s event arrived with fine clear weather and saw 38 participants.

Frederic Tranchand (OV scholar) visited Bendigo to assist with Sporting Schools activities at Castlemaine, Maldon & Eppalock Primary Schools. Due to COVID he ended up staying in Bendigo until 21 May before moving back to Melbourne and eventually flying home on 2 July. The club made good use of his mapping skills to create and revise several maps including Weeroona College, White Hills Primary School, Epsom Primary School, and the area around the old Golden Square Secondary School.

Bendigo events started back at Smith’s Reef with COVID-19 restricting gatherings to no more than 10 at a time as the bush was not a Prescribed Sports Arena. This meant all entries moved online - no EOD. We had a separate event in 1 hour slots and then divided it into 2 groups of 10 people to start on the half hour. This worked well.

It was a cold wintery day that greeted us to the next event on Birds Reef. Lorraine organised the event making good use of the best gold mining gully in Bendigo. Once again, a good contingent of participants from Melbourne were present pushing the numbers over 70.

As club president I would like to thank all orienteers for supporting our events throughout the season, especially the club members who organised and ran the events despite the real possibility of them not going ahead. We look forward to seeing a more normal fixture in 2021 and hope to see more orienteers from other clubs.

The re-introduction of Stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions across the Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Mitchell Shire from midnight Wednesday 7 July saw a flurry of activity to cancel entries and refund payments to those who had entered the event at Crusoe. 61 individuals from outside Melbourne metro area participated and enjoyed the beautiful bush from the recent rain. page 42

Monash Mega Sprint WORD S & P HOTO S DE B BI E D O D D

Last year’s Monash Indoor Outdoor Sprint was so much fun, we did it all over again! This time we invited Victoria’s coach in residence, world class orienteer and all-around good guy Frederic Tranchard (Fredo) to plan the courses. Many of us had great fun and great benefit from attending Fredo’s training sessions, and I especially enjoyed the chance to see how well he related to juniors when helping at the RMIT workshop. I knew he would make the most of the unique combination of indoors and outdoors to create something both challenging and fun for all age groups.

were the speediest juniors, and Belinda Lawford was fastest female and 8th overall.

On the Paris-Roubaix course, Torren Arthur smashed out a time of 23:32, 5 minutes clear of sibling Sophie in second, while Bruce Paterson took out third. On the Velodrome course, Chris Kent was another who won by a 5 minute margin, from Elliott Trone and Oliver Trone.

Thanks again to Monash Clayton, who continue to provide us with fantastic support and enthusiasm. While Covid restrictions keep us away from indoor events for now, we hope they will make a return in the not too distant future.

Fredo cleverly combined both elements into a single race, with a map change at the transition point between indoor and outdoor.

Competitors had a 1:1000 scale map covering the two lower floors of the Learning and Teaching Building, then after emerging outside, they had to immediately switch mode to a 1:4000 outdoor section, with every trick in the book thrown at them, and every corner of the campus covered. It was high speed, high focus, high intensity, and highly enjoyable!

Fredo chose a cycle racing theme, with the longest course (4.5 km) billed as “Tour de France”; the medium course (3.5 km) the “Paris Roubaix” and the easier course (3 km) the “Velodrome”. The Tour de France course was the most popular. Brodie Nankervis was fastest in a sizzling 21:47, ahead of Bruce Arthur and James Robertson.

Callum White and Mason Arthur page 43

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Park streetO WORD S & P H OTO S DE BB I E D O DD

The 2019 Park Street report was written as Covid was really making its presence felt, with the end of the Summer Series cut short, and no idea what the 2020 year would hold in store.

While Victoria, and particularly Melbourne, experienced one of the world’s harshest lockdowns and our Winter Series consisted of only a few weeks, we came out the other side of it in good shape, and able to hold most of our Summer Series events, albeit with a slightly different approach.

Winter Series (April-September 2020)

The first lockdown saw the series put on hold until late May; we resumed with six weeks of free “training” events (as permitted under Victorian government directives). These gave us an opportunity to become familiar with online signup, staggered start times, virtual controls and MapRun. Demand exceeded available places, and we offered extra daytime sessions on Tuesday mornings.

page 45

In July, community sport was permitted to resume competitively, and we fitted in two official events, before the so-called second wave hit, and we were back to individual exercise again. As we know all too well, this dragged on until October, and no more Winter events took place.

Ranges, and the Surf Coast. A new Sunday morning series was held on the Mornington Peninsula, with a small but enthusiastic team of mappers, course planners and organisers, giving us a great excuse to head to this popular destination and enjoy Park Street orienteering in new locations. Our thanks to Mel Smith, Mike Hubbert, and Bayside Kangaroos for creating and running this series, which expands in 2021.

Summer Series (October 2020-March 2021)

Sport was finally given the go-ahead to resume in late October, four weeks after the planned beginning of Summer Series. We quickly swung into action, introducing some new measures which kept us safe and compliant with the OV Covid Safe Plan.

Initially, all participants had to pre-enter online. We offered numerous timeslots for groups of 10 (many oversubscribed, with enough demand to fill extra sessions on Thursdays). QR codes were used to check in. A new “MultiPass” was offered to allow people to pay upfront for 10 events; we sold 208 MultiPasses during summer; about triple our expectations!

This was in addition to over 250 Season Passes sold; as a result, very few people were paying with cash.

By December, things were in full swing. Numbers were increasing as gathering restrictions eased. In January, we could accept 100 people at one time, and online signup was no longer needed. In March, that was doubled to 200 people.

Our current mode of operation is to offer anytime starts within a 30 minute window; QR code checkin is mandatory for all attendees; and MapRun is used at all events, with maps posted online for anytime use after each event concludes.

In February, our Schools competitions resumed and numbers were swelled by 30-40 students on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

We also held the Park Street Championships, with many challenges overcome to ensure all finalists could take part in a mass start, without maps, courses or results being available for “sneak peeks”, and whilst complying with covid safe requirements.

We held our usual Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday series in Melbourne, and regional series in Geelong, Macedon

The 2021 Winter Series has resumed, with expectations high for a full season. Only time will tell, but we will take every opportunity to continue Park Street orienteering in Melbourne.

Measures introduced for Summer Series will continue throughout Winter.

Participation: Despite an understandably slow start, numbers grew steadily, and removing the online signup requirement gave participation a boost. All Melbourne series attendance numbers were only slightly lower than the previous year.

Macedon Ranges had a good season with a lot of local promotion boosting the numbers to record levels. The Surf Coast series goes from strength to strength. The Mornington Peninsula series had mixed results, as some events clashed with others, but local support was generally quite good. The Geelong series allowed participants to complete courses up to three days after each event, which resulted on numbers on the night being low, but good takeup of the “anytime” offer.

6087 participants competed in 101 events. 22 events were cancelled due to Covid restrictions.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Macedon

Geelong

Surf Coast

Mornington

1266

1094

1979

837

165

386

240

100

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Park Street Championships

Series) and Ainslie Cummins (Yarraman, Monday Summer Series). Course setting was generally of a really high standard this year.

The Championship Final was held in Wantirna on the Cavills Corner map. The course planner was Pamela King (DRV) with advice and support from Peter Dalwood (DRV). Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club hosted the event, which was attended by 57 Finalists from nearly every series. It was a true test of decision making and a great challenge for all participants. With Melbourne’s “snap lockdown” causing cancellation of several Qualifying events, Finalists were instead able to nominate themselves online, and the Final was an exciting occasion for all.

MEFTY (Most Events for the Year) – Stuart McWillam (DRV), 98 events.

The Millennium Club There was one new Legend member, with Josie Yeatman achieving 1000 events. Other milestone achievements during Summer 2020-21 were Robert Hudson and Philippa Lohmeyer-Collins (750 events), and Rosie Salvaris (500 events).

Champions: Mens Open

Bruce Arthur (MFV)

Mens Senior

Paul Monks (YVV)

Mens Veteran

Tim Hatley (BKV)

Mens Supervet

Ian Dodd (DRV)

Mens Ultravet

Vic Sedunary (BKV)

Womens Open

Helen Walpole (DRV)

Womens Veteran

Louise Lambert (BKV)

Womens Supervet

Carolyn Jackson (BKV)

Junior Boy

Mason Arthur (MFV)

Junior Girl

No finalist

Mens PW Open

Dave Stillwell (NEV)

Mens PW Supervet

Ian Greenwood (DRV)

Mens PW Ultravet

Len Budge (BKV)

Womens PW Open

Melanie Kent (YVV)

Womens PW Supervet

Lauris Stirling (NEV)

Womens PW Ultravet

Rosie Salvaris (BKV)

Thanks

Particular thanks to the following people in a challenging and constantly changing situation.

Robert Hudson, Ken Moore, Ewen Templeton, Alan Cooke, Jenny Sheahan, John Ewels/Wendy Taverna, Mel Smith, Mike Hubbert, Sylvia Murphy, Jenelle Templeton, Rod Phillips, John Gavens, Heather Leslie, Edward Bucknall, Mark Besley, Geoff Hudson, Lauris Stirling, Warwick Davis, David Knight, Vic Sedunary, Ian Dodd, Ray Howe.

I would like to make special mention of several people in particular, who went well above and beyond, and without whom there would have been no Park Street orienteering: Lauris Stirling: took on the huge job of uploading Monday and Wednesday events to MapRun. Always organised, cheerful, and nothing ever too much trouble. Lauris is absolutely indispensable.

Mark Besley: took on the task of coordinating scoring and results. This proved to be quite a challenge, which Mark was always up for, complicated by MapRun/cards/staggered starts.

There would have been no series competition without Mark’s input and determination.

Warwick Davis: besides his invaluable role with MapRun technical support, Warwick was usually on hand to assist with QR codes, Square payments, helping newcomers, and being a great sounding board, especially when it came to the Park Street Champs.

Award Winners

Course Setter of the Year – Suzanne O’Callaghan (ARV), Glenhuntly Gallop

Ian Dodd: finances became very complicated as we introduced MultiPasses, dealt with cancelled events, and many other money issues behind the scenes. Keeping track of all things financial was an almost daily task, but Ian was able to automate a number of processes to make the job easier in the future.

David Prentice commended Suzanne for creating a great course on a map with lots of parallel streets – traditionally not easy to set interesting and varied courses on. MapRun analysis showed a huge diversity of routes taken, demonstrating how many options Suzanne managed to create. Honourable mentions went to Helen Alexander (Albert Park, Tuesday Summer Series), Zoe Fleming (Jen’s Place, Geelong Summer Series), Sofie van Gunsteren (Bayside Bliss, Geelong Summer

On behalf of the Park Street Committee, I’d like to thank everyone for continuing to support us, for setting fantastic courses, dealing with the constant changes, and turning out to make orienteering so enjoyable this Summer. page 47

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Virtual Easter Champs & Strava Art WORD S & PHOTOS J IM R USSE L L & B RO D I E NA NK E R V I S

The conception:

100m separating the top 3 girls, with the best being a 5.04 km.

It was Easter 2020 and Australia (and the world) was in the midst of our first lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a brand new and frankly quite scary experience for us all and we had the added disappointment of Easter 2020 being cancelled. After Jim Russell (OA head coach) saw a social media post of a friend in NZ doing a beep test challenge with his wife and daughters, he decided to join forces with Brodie to brainstorm 4 challenges to do over the Easter Weekend, and hence the OA Easter Challenge was born.

Challenge 3, Strava Art. After having 2 days of intense exercise, this session allowed athletes to take it a little easier, and do it riding or running.

There was no doubt about the winner today, with the visiting Frenchman Frederic Tranchard and his flatmate going ‘Around the world’ in 28 km.

The Stages:

Challenge 4, Hill Climb. How much climb (elevation) can you do in 40mins? We kept the hardest one till last.

Challenge 1, Beep Test. Shuttle run between 2 markers over a 20 m course. A short, or Sprint one to start with, most athletes would do this in 10 mins or there abouts.

The hills in SA must be measured ‘short’ as the best results of 627m and 569 m climb were recorded over there, with 527m coming in from that NZ’er on the other side of the Tasman.

The aftermath:

There was a clear winner for both the Boys and Girls from Qld, until they remeasured their backyard to find it was a metre short. Not to worry, another Qld’er came through with a 16.2, with our ‘local’ NZ’er doing a 14.1 was best of the Girls

The overall winners of were Lizzie Ingham (NZL) and Dante Afnan (OSA) and they were awarded a “Training in Isolation Survival kit” curated by Brodie and Jim. The competition was thoroughly enjoyed by those who participated and there were even a number of ‘outsiders’ keenly waiting for the results to appear each day.

Challenge 2, Mona Fartlek. This was Marathon runners, Steve Moneghetti bread and butter. Against the clock, aim is to cover as much distance as you can in 20 mins, starting with 90 secs reps, and finishing with 15 sec ones.

For Frederic Tranchard the OA Easter Challenge became the springboard for his Strava Art career. He was soon thinking up many wonderful and amazing strava art routes and nearly went pro because of it, with some individuals approaching to offer payment for the secret to a perfect “Strava Art”.

Some close competition in the boys saw 4 athletes do better than 5.84 km, but no one able to get to 6km. There was only page 49

With no competition being allowed, following the ‘Easter Champs’ Strava Art became one of the ways to practice navigation – and it was not as easy as it may seem. Here are some Strava Art maps produced during this period. page 50

Victorian Orienteering Association

Financial report for the year ended 31 December 2020

page 51

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

2020 $

2019 $

Income Event Entry Fees Member Subscriptions Club Affiliation Fees Government Grants Events Levies Promotion & Development Sundry Receipts Interest Received Other Event Receipts Total Income

16,336 15,037 6,273 35,238 22,802 28,565 20,000 4,527 148,778

9,092 19,011 6,273 46,159 67,453 24,017 (300) 4,856 590 177,151

Less: Cost of Sales State Team Uniforms Events Costs Promotion & Development Total Cost of Sales Gross Surplus (Deficit)

2,184 10,141 12,325 136,453

1,075 18,683 21,472 41,230 135,921

Expenditure Audit Fees Bank/Merchant Fees & Charges Coaching Control Card Printing Depreciation of Equipment Equipment Maintenance Fixture Printing General Equipment Grant Disbursement Insurance Levies & Affiliation Fees - OA Meeting & Board Reimbursements Membership Fees - Non OA Office Other Expenses Periodical - "Australian Orienteer" Periodical - "Orienteer Victoria" Periodical Postage Promotion & Development Software Licences & Maintenance Superannuation Wages - Casual Staff Wages - Permanent Staff Websites WorkCover Premiums Total Expenditure Net Operating Surplus

2,400 408 1,159 30 761 84 3,442 448 4,422 37,749 1,947 5,750 1,577 9,537 1,270 666 964 1,840 2,444 12,179 1,568 1,518 92,163 44,290

2,400 628 1,981 120 1,016 124 4,545 1,310 441 605 39,059 108 382 6,169 2,268 8,796 2,744 997 11,399 2,656 7,180 13,295 57,804 1,500 1,666 169,193 (33,272)

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

Page 3

page 52

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2020

Note

2020 $

Current Assets Cash Term Deposits Trade Debtors Deposits Paid Total Current Assets

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

2019 $

66,769 180,000 3,451 14,705 264,925

49,861 168,772 401 5,000 224,034

2

975 975 265,900

1,737 1,737 225,771

3

10,912 10,912

15,073 15,073

Total Liabilities Net Assets

10,912 254,988

15,073 210,698

Members' Fund Retained Surplus Currrent Year Surplus/(Deficit) Total Members' Fund

210,698 44,290 254,988

243,970 (33,272) 210,698

Non-Current Assets Plant and Equipment Total Assets Current Liabilities Other Payables Total Current Liabilities

$

Retained Surplus: Balance at 1 January 2019 Currrent Year Surplus/(Deficit) Balance at 31 December 2019 Currrent Year Surplus/(Deficit) Balance at 31 December 2020

243,970 (33,272) 210,698 44,290 254,988

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

Page 4

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

Page 5

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Cash flows from operating activities Receipts from Operating Activities Payments to Suppliers & Employees Interest Received Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

2020 $

2019 $

144,250 (120,641) 4,527 28,136

172,696 (215,077) 4,856 (37,525)

Cash flows from investing activities Payments for Plant & Equipment Proceeds received from sale of Plant & Equipment Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities Cash flows from financing activities Repayment of the loan Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

-

-

Reconciliation of Cash Flow from Operations with Profit from Ordinary Activities after Income Tax Profit from Ordinary Activities Add (Less) : Non-Cash Flows in Profit (Loss) from ordinary Activities Depreciation Expense

-

Add (Less) : Changes in Assets & Liabilities (Increase)/Decrease in Other Current Assets (Increase)/Decrease in Inventories Increase/(Decrease) in Other Payables Cash flow from operating activities

-

Net increase (decrease) in cash held

28,136

(37,525)

Cash at beginning of financial year Cash at end of financial year

218,633 246,769

256,158 218,633

66,769 180,000 246,769

49,861 168,772 218,633

Reconciliation of Cash For the purposes of the cash flow statement, cash includes cash and cash equivalents.

Cash at the end of the financial year as shown in the cash flow statement is reconciled to the related items in the balance sheet as follows: Cash Term Deposits

2019 $

2020 $

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

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The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

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44,290

(33,272)

761

1,016

(12,754) (4,161) 28,136

(3,165) (2,104) (37,525)

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Note 1: Statement of Significant Accounting Policies The financial statements are special purpose financial statements prepared in order to satisfy the financial reporting requirements of the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 VIC. The committee has determined that the association is not a reporting entity.

Note 1: Statement of Significant Accounting Policies (Cont.)

The assets residual values and useful lives are reviewed, and adjusted if appropriate, at each balance date.

An assets carrying amount is written down immediately to its recoverable amount if the asset's carrying amount is greater than its estimated recoverable amount.

The following significant accounting policies, which are consistent with the previous period unless stated otherwise, have been adopted in the preparation of these financial statements.

Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing proceeds with the carrying amount. These gains and losses are included in the income statement. When revalued assets are sold, amounts included in the revaluation reserve relating to that asset are transferred to retained earnings.

(A) Basis of Preparation Reporting Basis and Conventions The financial report has been prepared on an cash basis and does not take into account changing money values or, except where specifically stated, current valuations of non-current assets. Cost is based on the fair values of the consideration given in exchange for assets.

Leases & Hire Purchases Leases of fixed assets, where substantially all the risks and benefits incidental to the ownership of the asset, but not legal ownership, are transferred to the association are classified as finance leases.

(B) Accounting Policies Income tax The association is exempt from income tax.

Finance leases are capitalised by recording an asset and a liability at the lower of the amount equal to the fair value of the leased property or the present value of the minimum lease payments, including any guaranteed residual values.

Lease payments are allocated between the reduction of the lease liability and the lease interest expense for the period.

Hire purchases are treated in the same way.

Plant and Equipment Each class of plant and equipment is carried at cost less, where applicable, any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses.

Leased assets are depreciated on a straight line basis over their estimated useful lives where it is likely that the association will obtain ownership of the asset or ownership over the term of the lease.

Lease payments under operating leases, where substantially all the risks and benefits remain with the leaser, are charged as expenses in the periods in which they are incurred.

The carrying amount of each class of plant and equipment is reviewed annually to ensure it is not in excess of the recoverable amount from those assets. The recoverable amount is assessed on the basis of the expected net cash flows that will be received from the assets' employment and subsequent disposal. The expected net cash flows have not been discounted to present values in determining the recoverable amounts.

Lease incentives under operating leases are recognised as a liability and amortised on a straight - line basis over the life of the lease term.

Impairment of Assets At each reporting date, the Board of Management reviews the carrying values of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have been impaired. If such an indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, being the higher of the asset's fair value less costs to sell and value-in-use, is compared to the asset's carrying value. Any excess of the asset's carrying value over its recoverable amount is expensed to the income statement.

Subsequent costs are included in the asset's carrying amount recognised as a separate asset, as appropriate, only when it is probable that the future economic benefits associated with the item will flow to the association and the cost of the item can be measured reliably. All other repairs and maintenance are charged to the income statement during the financial period in which they are incurred.

Depreciation The depreciable amount of all plant & equipment including buildings and capitalised leased assets, is depreciated on a straight-line basis over their useful lives to the association commencing from the time the asset is held ready for use.

Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the shorter of either the unexpired period of the lease or the estimated useful lives of the improvements.

Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, the association estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.

Employee Benefits

The depreciation rates used for each class of depreciable assets are: Class of Asset Plant and Equipment Furniture & Fittings

Provision is made for the liability for employee benefits arising from services rendered by employees to balance date.

Employee benefits that are expected to be settled within one year have been measured at the amount expected to be paid when the liability is settled, plus related on-costs. Employee entitlements payable later than one year have been measured at the present value of the estimated future cash out flows to be made for those benefits.

Depreciation Rate % 5.00 to 40.00% 6.67 to 10.00%

Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and Cash Equivalents include cash on hand, deposits held at call with banks or financial institutions, other short term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within short term borrowings in current liabilities on the balance sheet.

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VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Note 1: Statement of Significant Accounting Policies (Cont.)

Revenue All items of revenue, excluding funding revenue and interest revenue is recognised in full in the income year in which it is invoiced or received, which ever is the earlier.

2020 $ Note 2: Plant and Equipment Office Equipment Less: Accumulated depreciation

1,445 (1,445) -

1,445 (1,445) -

SI Equipment Less: Accumulated depreciation

28,074 (27,098) 976

28,074 (26,337) 1,737

Photographic Equipment Less: Accumulated depreciation

1,435 (1,435) 976

1,435 (1,435) 1,737

(197) 2,420 (94) 6,081 2,071 632 10,913

2,424 4,525 (94) 5,884 (139) 2,473 15,073

-

-

Funding revenue is recognised when the right to receive the funding has been established.

Interest revenue is recognised on a proportional basis taking into account the interest rates applicable to the financial assets.

2019 $

All revenue is stated net of the amount of goods and services tax (GST).

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Revenues, expenses and assets are recognised net of the amount of GST, except where the amount of GST incurred is not recoverable from the Australian Tax Office. In these circumstances, the GST is recognised as part of the cost of acquisition of the asset or as part of an item of the expense. Receivables and payables in the balance sheet are shown inclusive of GST.

Note 3: Other payables GST PAYG Superannuation Schools Teams Funds Held on Trust Owing to Clubs Others

Cash flows are presented in the cash flow statement on a gross basis, except for the GST component of investing and financing activities, which are disclosed as operating cash flows.

Comparative Figures When required by Accounting Standards comparative figures have been adjusted to conform to changes in presentation for the current financial year.

(C) Critical Accounting Estimates and Judgements The Board of Management evaluates estimates and judgments incorporated into the financial report based on historical knowledge and best available current information. Estimates assume a reasonable expectation of future events and are based on current trends and economic data, obtained both externally and within the association.

Note 4: Capital and Leasing Commitments Operating lease contracted for but not capitalised in the financial statements is payable as follows; Not later than one year Later than one year but no later than five year

Key estimates - Impairment: The association assesses impairment at each reporting date by evaluating conditions specific to the group that may lead to impairment of assets. Where an impairment trigger exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is determined. Value-in-use calculations performed in assessing recoverable amounts incorporate a number of key estimates.

Note 5: Events After the Statements of Financial Position Date There were no events subsequent to balance sheet date which had a material impact on the financial position as at 31 December 2020 and performance and cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Key judgments - Doubtful debts provision: No doubtful dept provision has been made at 31 December 2020, as there are only $3,451 accounts receivable as at 31 December 2020.

Note 6: Related Party Transactions There was no related party transactions during the year.

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VICTORIAN ORIENTEERING ASSOCIATION ABN 85 554 483 914 CERTIFICATE BY MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE

Carl Dalheim I, …………………………………………... of Victorian Orienteering Association certify that: 28th of May (a) I attended the annual general meeting of the association held on .................................

2021. (b) This annual statement was submitted to the members of the association at its annual general meeting.

28th of May Date: ...............................

2021.

Carl Dalheim President Date:

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Officers The Board

President Vice-President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer

Carl Dalheim Margi Freemantle David Jaffe Aislinn Prendergast Stephen Collins

Staff

Executive Officer Officer Manager Media and Publicity Schools Officer

Rob Fell (resigned March 2020) Mel Kent (commenced August) Patrick Jaffe Brodie Nankervis (commenced October)

Other Officers

Support to Treasurer Bush Program & Permits Park & Street sub-committee Co-chairs Athlete Rep & Female Participation Officer MTBO Coordinator Sprint Coordinators MelBushO Coordinators Coaching Coordinator Junior Squad Coordinator Membership Protection Officer Membership Officer/Eventor Administrator Vic National League Manager Statistician Vic Relay Selector Yearbook Editor Sportident and Timing Systems Coordinator Website Editors Park & Street Results Webpages Park & Street Statistician School Team Manager School Team Coaches School Team Selection Panel

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Ruth Goddard Laurie Niven Debbie Dodd, Margi Freemantle Asha Steer Peter Cusworth Margi Freemantle, Ted van Geldermalsen Ruth Goddard, Debbie Dodd Brodie Nankervis Bruce Arthur Laurie Niven Debbie Dodd, Rob Edmonds (to end of March) Bruce Arthur vacant Martin Steer Dion Keech Ian Dodd Margi Freemantle, Debbie Dodd Finlay Stuart Ray Howe Bruce Arthur Peter Hobbs, Bruce Arthur, Clare Brownridge Peter Hobbs, Bruce Arthur, Clare Brownridge

Orienteering Victoria would like to thank the following sponsors for their support

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