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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