AO-Sept25

THE AUSTRALIAN

SEPTEMBER 2025

WINNING PARTNERSHIP

The Australian Sports Commission proudly supports Orienteering Australia

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) develops, supports and invests in sport at all levels in Australia.

Orienteering Australia has worked closely with ASC to develop orienteering from community participation to high-level performance. Each year Orienteering Australia receivesfunding to support participation in orienteering across Australia.

• The ASC has continued to fund orienteering participation for the 2025-26 financial year. The $180,000 Play Well Investment will support the delivery of objectives in the Participation Plan.

• Partof this funding will be directed to the recently appointed Participation Coordinator in each state/territory. It will assist them to increase local participation by implementing the resources and guides developed at the OA level. As part of the Participation Committee, they will work together to create the next Participation Plan for 2026-29.

We thank the ASC for their ongoing support of orienteering in Australia.

Cover: Rachel Baker from New Zealand, and Nea Shingler from Australia at the front in the mass start of forest relay at Junior World Orienteering Championships 2025 in Italy. Photo by Eszter Kocsik.

Photo

The Chair’s column

As I sit down to write this column for this September issue of The Australian Orienteer we are in the midst of the major competition season for our various national teams. We saw our national teams competing with distinction at the Junior World Orienteering Championships and World Orienteering Championships. Congratulations to all our national teams' members for the way you represented your country at these respective championships. You did your sport and nation proud with your efforts. In addition, we had a group of our junior orienteers compete at the European Youth Orienteering Championships. It is great to see a growing interest in this competition among our juniors. It is important to recognise that in taking part in such championships we rely on the volunteer efforts of our team officials who support our competitors. On behalf of the board, I extend a profound thank you and appreciation to all our team officials for your support and encouragement of our competitors. I hope that our World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships and World Games teams have great events, and that team members achieve their personal goals.

On the local front, as this edition hits your inbox or mailbox the Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Western Australia will be kicking off. In addition, we are getting close to the Australian Orienteering Championships Carnival week in Brisbane, Queensland. The organising teams of these major domestic orienteering carnivals have been working very hard to put on high-quality orienteering events. As always, if you are competing in these championships, or enjoy other events for that matter, please make the effort to say thank you to the many people who put in many volunteer hours to make our sport possible.

Within the OA office and board, a major focus of work is the process of developing the ‘whole of sport’ high-level strategy for Australian orienteering over the period 2026–2029. A strategic-plan working group has been formed that includes

2026

board, office and member representatives. You may have noticed that in early August we asked, through a survey, your opinion as to what the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your sport are. We hope you took the opportunity to express your opinion to help inform us of what our high-level strategy for our sport will look like going forward.

On the governance front, the board, in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission, recently completed a board evaluation process to identify where the board is working well and to identify which areas of the work of your board can be improved upon, in alignment with the Australian Sports Governance Standards. The board will consider the outcome of this evaluation process when it next meets.

In addition, the board is completing a review of its Gender Equity Policy, and I anticipate the board will agree to an updated policy framework when it next meets. This is part of the board’s wider goal of supporting our sport to be as inclusive, equitable and diverse as possible. Connected to these principles, we are close to the finalisation of our Reconciliation Action Plan. On behalf of the board, I extend a profound thank you to the commitment of the members of our orienteering community who have collaborated to develop this important plan. Through our Participation Committee we have commenced an update to our ‘whole of sport’ Participation Plan as part of our sport’s funding through the Australian Sports Commission Play Well Investment program. We are also collaborating with Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia) to examine ways to improve access to our sport for neurodivergent people. We have now received a report of experiences and learning from initial engagement with orienteering. This provides many great ideas that will benefit all members of the Australian community who are seeking to engage with orienteering. Year Aus 3Days Aus Champs ASOC Aus MTBO Champs Oceania Champs

Round 1 24 - 27 January Palmerston North, NZ sprint, middle, long

Round 2 8 - 9 March Perth, WA middle, sprint x 2, sprint relay

Round 3 18 - 21 April LODDON VALLEY, VIC (Aus 3-Days) sprint, middle, long, relay-distance

Round 4 10 -11 May Central Coast, NSW middle, long

Round 5 28 September5 October Brisbane, QLD, NOL team-only final (Aus Champs) middle, long, sprint & relay

MIKE DOWLING – CHAIR OA BOARD

From school orienteering to lifetime activity

HANIA LADA

Over 21,000 students across Australia participated in the coach- or teacher-delivered Sporting Schools orienteering programs in 2024 (OA Annual Report 2024). Many students also experienced orienteering at school championships, and at incursions and excursions organised by the state associations. There is a huge potential to transfer from school to community orienteering but it hasn’t been realised as much as we would like it to, yet. Given the nature of our sport in Australia, urban sprawl on one hand, and remoteness of regional communities on the other, combined with dismal public transport outside of metropolitan areas, the best outcome is likely when whole families are involved. Some initiatives seem relatively successful. Tasmania has a popular midweek sprint orienteering series at schools, with a start window between 3:30/4pm and 6 pm for students and adults, with clubs offering ‘junior club scholarships’ to new kids. In South Australia free after-school training, for four weeks before the schools championships in seven different orienteering areas, appears successful. Similarly, in ACT, an after-school orienteering training has been run at one school for years.

There are a few orienteering clubs based at Australian schools, for example the Falcon O Club in Sydney, but such clubs are not as prevalent as in Europe. In Poland, highly competitive student orienteering clubs are based in primary and secondary schools. For example, the JWOC 2025 silver

medallist in sprint, Tomasz Rzeńca, belongs to the student orienteering club UKS Orientuś Łódź. The same club has just organised the European Universities Orienteering Championships. In

Australia we have so many facilities in schools build with taxpayers’ money but often in fear of vandalism they are not accessible to the local community, making it challenging to use for after-school orienteering.

The annual Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC), staged together with the Australian or Oceania Championships, are the orienteering highlight for our juniors, with the added bonus of competing against and making friends with orienteers from New Zealand. Parents and friends can spectate, and then compete on the same maps. It was helpful in previous years when the states who didn’t have enough athletes in one class were allowed to bring more than six athletes in another class, within the team total of 20. This helped with the sport’s development in the relevant states. School orienteering is important for increasing awareness of our sport. Riccardo Rancan of Switzerland, the gold medallist in orienteering in the middle distance at the World Games 2025, has said in his interview on 8 August 2025 in Cambodian Times (vol 0205/16): ‘Orienteering is a small sport compared to communities like athletics, but many Swiss people know it because we do it a lot in schools’.

Australian WOC, JWOC, MTBO, WUOC and World Cup teams are outfitted by

Photo Tero Marjamäki.

Photo FISU WUOC 2024.

Photo IOF / Erling Thisted.

Photo by Eszter Kocsik.

Photo IOF / Kristina Lindgren.

Photo by Ryszard Chadurski.

ORIENTEERING

AUSTRALIA BOARD

www.orienteering.asn.au

17 Gooraway Place, Berowra Heights, NSW 2082

Chair & Director – International (IOF) MikeDowling

Director – Finance

PaulLiggins

Director – Technical AnnaSheldon

Director – Performance & Coaching, IOF Foot O Commissioner

BrettWeihart

Director GayleQuantock

Director Media & Communications TroydeHaas

Director – Ex Officio, IOF Council Member BlairTrewin

Director AndreaHarris

Secretary RobertSpry

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA STAFF AND OFFICERS

General Manager

Head Coach

High Performance Administrator, IOF Map Commissioner

Participation Manager

Manager of Coaching & Officiating Administration,

Manager of National Sporting Schools Program

Manager of National Awards

Chief Medical Officer

Editor of The Australian Orienteer

Manager of E-News Bulletin

Badge Scheme Secretary

Eventor Project Manager

National Integrity Manager, Complaint Manager

Manager of MTBO Development, IOF MTBO Commissioner

Communications & Marketing Manager

Ranking Officer (General)

Ranking Officer (Elite)

ASOC Coordinator

STATE ASSOCIATIONS

Orienteering Queensland: secretary@oq.asn.au

Orienteering NSW: secretary@onsw.asn.au

Orienteering ACT: office@act.orienteering.asn.au

ÁrpádKocsik

NatashaKey

FredrikJohansson

DanielStott

JimMackay

DavidHogg

MarkFreeman

Hania Lada

LindaBurridge

JohnOliver

PaulPrudhoe

AndrewShipton

CraigSteffens

LizLeung

DarrylErbacher

Bruce Arthur

Toni Brown

Orienteering Victoria: secretary@vicorienteering.asn.au

Orienteering South Australia: secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au

THEAUSTRALIAN

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 3/25 (no. 218) SEPTEMBER 2025

The national magazine of Orienteering Australia Inc. ABN 77 406 995 497

Published four times a year: 1 March, June, September, December. Copies are dispatched in bulk to state associations in the week prior to that date. Print Post Approved PP 236080/00011, (100023602 for NSW).

Editor, magazine design & assembly: Hania Lada, P.O. Box 200, Ringwood East, Victoria 3135

magazine@orienteering.asn.au Phone 0493 615 203

Printer: Razer Graphix, Factory 6/15 Stud Road, Bayswater.

Contributions welcome! Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions. Guidelines available from the editor and the website https://orienteering.asn.au/index.php/magazine/ Orienteering Australia website > magazine

Regular Contributors: Blair Trewin, David Hogg, Marina Iskhakova

Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: refer to the OA website https://orienteering.asn.au/index.php/magazine/ Orienteering Australia website > magazine, or contact the editor.

Opinions expressed in The Australian Orienteer are not necessarily those of Orienteering Australia.

Orienteering Tasmania: secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (NT): topendorienteersNT@gmail.com Orienteering Western Australia: oawa.secretary@gmail.com

John Oliver9

Anna Sheldon¹¹

Andrea Harris³

Fredrik Johansson Paul Liggins Blair Trewin

Mark Freeman* Toni Brown³ Árpád Kocsik Natasha Key*

Jim Mackay²

Mike Dowling4

Linda Burridge³

Liz Leung¹

Bruce Arthur5 Hania Lada Daniel Stott6

Brett Weihart7

Craig Steffens8

Gayle Quantock

Photos by quentinjlang.com except by *Tony Hill, 1Ewan Barnett, 2OA website, 3anon, 4AO 2021-4, 5Frankie Shin, 6AO 2023-3, 7JWOC23, 8Hania Lada, 9Kath Oliver, 10Terry Cooke, 11Mike Dowling.

World Orienteering Championships 2025 Kuopio, Finland

The World Orienteering Championships (WOC) took place in early July around Kuopio in central Finland. Physically tough forests, rocky underfoot and with significant vegetation, made it a tough environment, especially for those unused to the terrain, and track routes were more of a proposition than is often the case in Nordic terrain for competitors at this level. It was an environment where the established stars mostly came to the fore, with three of the four individual medals being successful title defences. For Australia, it was a week with no breakout performances but numerous solid and encouraging ones, while the New Zealand men had an excellent week, building on good junior performances in recent years.

The week started with the middle qualification, which was on the slopes of Tahko, a ski resort 60 km of Kuopio (the finals were all very close to Kuopio). The first part of the course was very technical with lots of detail and low visibility, and brought many unstuck before a more straightforward finish. Australia got one through from each event. Matt Doyle was ninth in his heat, a bit over 3 min off the lead, while Caitlin Young also made it inside the top 15, finishing in 13th place. Henry McNulty, and WOC debutant Kylian Wymer, both had reasonable runs but each missed out by around a minute, while Grace Crane and Justine Hobson both struck major trouble on the first control and were never in contention to

qualify thereafter. Zefa Fa’avae provided the first but not the last New Zealand highlight of the week, placing third in his heat.

Tove Alexandersson led a Swedish sweep in the middle distance final, in the process taking the middle gold medal for the sixth time in succession. Sanna Fast was close to her through the first half of the course but Alexandersson pulled away over the second half, while Hanna Lundberg completed the medals. The most likely non-Swedish challenger, Simone Aebersold, lost 2 min on #4 and was never really in the hunt after that, ultimately placing fifth. Caitlin Young was 43rd after losing significant time at the second control.

The men’s middle was a Norwegian double, fought out between Eirik Langedal Breivik and Kasper Harlem Fosser. Breivik, the 2024 European champion at the distance but making his forest WOC debut, put a lead on the board and while his teammate was always in touch, he never quite got to the lead and finished 34 s short. Swede Anton Johansson, who led the race early on, dropped away over the second half but still held off Matthias Kyburz by a single second to win his first WOC medal. Matt Doyle, running his first WOC in six years, had a solid run with only minor errors, and was rewarded with a career-best 35th place.

Matt Doyle approaching the control in the middle final.

Photo by Pekka Vartiainen.

Zefa Fa’avae (NZ) exiting the control in the middle final.

Photo by Pekka Vartiainen.

Pia Young Vik (NOR) in the middle final.

Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Justine Hobson in the middle qualification. Photo by Jari Partanen.

WOMEN (55 starters) - MIDDLE 5.0 km

1 Tove Alexandersson (SWE) 33:17

2 Sanna Fast (SWE) 34:19

3 Hanna Lundberg (SWE) 35:43

38 Rachel Baker (NZL) 47:02

43 Caitlin Young (AUS) 50:54

MEN (58 starters) - MIDDLE 5.8 km

1 Eirik Langedal Breivik (NOR) 33:42

2 Kasper Harlem Fosser (NOR) 34:16

3 Anton Johansson (SWE) 34:49

24 Tim Robertson (NZL) 39:50

30 Zefa Fa’avae (NZL) 41:39

35 Matt Doyle (AUS) 42:45

Kylian Wymer in the middle qualification. Photo by IOF/Kristina Lindgren.

Medallists in women’s WOC 2025 Middle. Photo by Hannu Keränen.

Caitin Young in the middle final. Photo by Joni Solonen.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) in the middle qualification. Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Matt Doyle.

Photo by Hannu Keränen.

Top three in the men’s WOC 2025 Middle. Photo by Jari Partanen.

Rachel Baker (NZ).

Photo by Markku Riihinen.

WOC 2025 Middle-distance women’s map fragment. Mappers: Timo Joensuu & Janne Weckman Planner: Marko Uotila

It was back to the western edge of Kuopio the next day for the long final, on a map where an extensive network of (mostly) small tracks and the tough physical terrain created plenty of route choice opportunities. The women’s race quickly settled into a familiar duel between Tove Alexandersson and Simone Aebersold. The Swiss led early after getting the better of the route choice on #2, the first long leg, but dropped 1:30 with a mistake on #6, and for much of the rest of the course it looked like Alexandersson would prevail as she opened up a gap of 1:43 at #18, with less than 2 km to go. That gap quickly disappeared as she overshot #19, and when she had a small miss on the next control as well, she was left to play catch-up over the final few hundred metres. The gap, though, was too big to bridge, and Aebersold defended her 2023 title by a 9-s margin. Andrine Benjaminsen was a bit over 2 min back in bronze. Caitlin Young was in the top 30 at two-thirds distance but time losses over the closing controls dropped

her to 38th, still her best individual WOC result to date, while Emily Sorensen was 48th in her first forest WOC race. Kasper Harlem Fosser may have fallen short in the middle distance but went in as a strong favourite in the long, where he had won the last two gold medals, and lived up to that expectation. He had only minor time losses on the course, the most significant where he took a straight route which did not pay off. Matthias Kyburz was his closest challenger for much of the way and was still within a minute at #15, but drifted back thereafter and ended up being overtaken by Martin Regborn for silver as Fosser cruised to a 3-min win. Next in line were Emil and Viktor Svensk, making a mark in the forest WOC after years of leading Stora Tuna to major relay triumphs. It was a very encouraging debut for Leith Soden, with a late miss on the uphill #22 the only blemish on a solid 43rd place, while Brodie Nankervis was a place and 15 s further back, a decent result coming off an injury-interrupted year.

WOC 2025 Middle gold medallists. Kasper Harlem Fosser and Simona Aebersold. Photo by Markku Riihinen.

WOC 2025 Long. Leith Soden. Photo by Pekka Vartiainen.

Mar SerrallongaRosell (ESP). Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR) and Yevheniia Veremeienko (UKR) in the middle qualification. Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Medallists in women’s WOC 2025 Long. Photo by Hannu Keränen.

Brodie Nankervis.

Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Priscilla VieiraGoncalves (BRA). Photo by Jari Partanen.

The week concluded with the relay, on one of Kuopio’s hills (featuring a ski jump). Despite the constraints of the hill and a halfway arena passage there was still room for some routechoice legs, notably on a long leg coming out of the arena passage, and some technical controls.

The Swedish women went in as red-hot favourites after their dominant individual performances, especially in the middle.

Pia Young Vik, daughter of past Australian WOC representative Alix, gave Norway a good start and came in

Medallists in men’s WOC long.

MEN (77 starters) - LONG 16.0 km

1 Kasper Harlem Fosser (NOR) 1:37:50

2 Martin Regborn (SWE) 1:40:47

3 Matthias Kyburz (SUI) 1:41:30

21 Joseph Lynch (NZL) 1:59:41

22 Zefa Fa’avae (NZL) 1:59:50

26 Toby Scott (NZL) 2:02:43

43 Leith Soden (AUS) 2:09:57

44 Brodie Nankervis (AUS) 2:10:12

WOC 2025 Long-distance men’s

Mappers: Timo Joensuu & Janne Weckman Planner: Jarmo Puttonen

WOMEN (70 starters) - LONG 13.3 km

1 Simona Aebersold (SUI) 1:34:51

2 Tove Alexandersson (SWE) 1:35:00

3 Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR) 1:37:16

38 Caitlin Young (AUS) 2:15:36

47 Lara Molloy (NZL) 2:26:12

48 Emily Sorensen (AUS) 2:29:11 Kaia Joergensen (NZL) mp

10 s ahead of Hanne Lundberg (with no-one else within 90 s), but Sanne Fast gave Sweden the lead early on the next leg and it never really looked in doubt from there, with Tove Alexandersson taking over 2:28 in front and maintaining that, exactly, to win her 23rd gold medal and equal Simone Niggli’s record. Switzerland had been in sixth after the first leg and still fifth after two. Simone Aebersold’s last-leg charge, despite a brief interruption at the arena passage when she confused the map flip for a map exchange, brought her team into the medals, but they were unable to catch Norway for silver, while

Emily Sorensen.

Photo by Markku Riihinen.

Photo by Pekka Vartiainen.

Men’s WOC relay mass start. Boyan Ivandjikov (BUL), Topi Syrjalainen (FIN), Valters Reneslacis (LAT), Jorgen Baklid (NOR), Martin Regborn (SWE), Zoltan Bujdoso (HUN), Daniel Hubmann (SUI), Vilius Aleliunas (LTU). Photo by Joni Solonen.

Simona Aebersold (SUI). Photo by Pekka Vartiainen.

Zhanbolat Dauit (KAZ). Photo by Hannu Keränen.

YingYau Chu (HKG) in the middle final. Photo by Markku Riihinen.

map fragment.

the Czechs outsprinted Finland for fourth. Australia were never on the pace but were consistent, and after Grace Crane came back in 20th place, Emily Sorensen and Justine Hobson pulled back two places each, Hobson recovering well after her disappointment in the middle qualification. Sixteenth was a significant improvement on recent years.

The men’s relay was closer than the women’s early on, with France’s Mathieu Perrin leading six within 12 s after the first leg. As long as they were in touch at that point Norway looked to be favourites with the two individual gold medallists to come, and so it proved. Eirik Langedal Breivik made what proved to be the decisive break on the route choice out of the arena passage on the second leg and gave his team a 32-s break on the Swiss going into the last leg. With Matthias Kyburz chasing Kasper Harlem Fosser that wasn’t a foregone conclusion, but Fosser pulled away and gave his team a 2-min win. The drama proved to be in the battle for bronze; Sweden looked to be in the box seat after the final arena passage, but the wheels fell off after that as Max Peter Bejmer punched a wrong control (and then, starting the next leg from a different place to where he thought he was, lost significant time on the next control too). Finland then looked like they might have lost their chance of bronze with a late mistake at the own and

were together with France with two controls to go, but Mikka Kirmula had the speed to give the hosts their first medal of the week.

Henry McNulty was in the lead group for much of the first leg and came in 2 min down in 11th, but Matt Doyle and Leith Soden were unable to stay on that pace and Australia ended up in a midfield battle, ultimately placing 22nd. New Zealand, though, had a great day, with Tim Robertson running particularly well on the second leg, and at times looked in with a chance of a podium position before settling for what was still a best-ever ninth, completing an excellent WOC where they also had five individual top-30 results (Robertson in the middle, Joseph Lynch and Toby Scott in the long and Zefa Fa’avae in both). Another notable non-European result was Canada’s 11th.

Australia’s greatest strength at present may be in the sprint formats, but there was still plenty to take home from this year’s WOC week. With more neutral terrain in prospect in Hungary in 2027, there are likely to be opportunities to advance further on this year’s results, but in the meantime the sprint WOC in Italy next year is the next chance to shine.

Mass start of women’s relay. Ida Agervig Kristiansson (DEN), Jo Shepherd (GBR), Florence Hanauer (FRA), Viktoria Mag (HUN), Amy Nymalm (FIN), Pia Young Vik (NOR), Hanna Mueller (GER), Paula Gross (SUI), Hanna Lundberg (SWE), Annika Rihma (EST), Ylvi Kastner (AUT), Yevheniia Veremeienko (UKR). Photo by Joni Solonen.

Henry McNulty in the relay.

Photo by Joni Solonen. Tim Robertson (NZ). Photo by Joni Solonen.

Grace Crane. Photo by Joni Solonen.

Japanese women’s relay team at the changeover. Kana Higuchi and Aoi Yamasaki. Photo by Joni Solonen.

World Masters Orienteering Championships 2025 Girona, Spain. Part 1

COURTESY OF ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA FACEBOOK (EDITED)

Australia was represented by 38 competitors. [They] were treated to an intense challenge for the final of the World Masters Orienteering Championships [WMOC] sprint in Girona, Spain. Temperatures soared to 36° C around the cathedral and walls of the old town. The course made great use of the narrow lanes and city walls. Stairs were always a consideration on every route choice. It was a day for the technical sprint orienteers who often prevailed over the fastest runners. [Paula Shingler won silver in W60]. For the last day of WMOC, the [long final] was held in Cassà de la Selva, town marked by the manufacture of cork. It was another hot day, [so organisers tried to] get everyone in the forest early. The terrain was steep with lots of green and many track options. The key skill was route choice. Ultimately it was a test of physical conditioning and the ability to handle the hot conditions. Ted van Geldermalsen won a silver medal in M70 with a superb performance, matching his previous best in the long distance in 2009.

[Celine Dodin (FRA, W45), Anna Górnicka Antonowicz (POL, W55) and Sole Nieminen (FIN, W95) won all the three finals, in sprint, middle and long.]

2 Ted van Geldermalsen (Vic) M70 Long +2:48

2 Paula Shingler (NSW) W60 Sprint +0:39

4 Bruce Arthur (Vic) M50 Sprint +0:07

4 Jennifer Enderby (NSW) W55 Sprint +1:08

5 Ted van Geldermalsen (Vic) M70 Sprint +0:50

Ruhi Afnan. Photo: Romy Wendy.

Photo by Romy Wendy.

Paula Shingler. Silver medallist in WMOC 2025 Sprint. Photo by Bruce Arthur.

Girona’s walkways. Photo by Bruce Arthur. Jennifer Enderby. Photo by Joana Beruzo.

Ted van Geldermalsen. Silver medallist in WMOC 2025 Long.

Photo by Bruce Arthur.

Kwok Woi Choi (HKG) in sprint. Photo by Paula Padilla.

Photo by Paula Padilla.

WMOC 2025 Sprint final W60 map fragment.

Mapper: Pau Llorens Planner: Pau Llorens

WMOC 2025 Long final M70 map fragment.

Mapper: Tommy Juahni Tölkkö Planner: Marc Serrallonga

World Cup 2025 Round 1 Idre Fjäll, Sweden

COURTESY OF WORLD OF O

World Cup Middle. Idre Fjäll proved to be a perfect area for a tricky middle distance race. Tove Alexandersson and Max Peter Bejmer won the World Cup Middle distance on home ground in the Swedish mountains in a race where we saw a lot of big mistakes by top runners. Bejmer won ahead of three (!) other Swedish runners, Anton Johansson, Gustav Bergman and Emil Svensk, while Swiss Simona Aebersold took the second spot in the women’s race ahead of French Cecile Calandry. The highlight for the viewers, but probably not for the runners, was the eighth control on both the men’s and women’s courses where many runners really struggled: a medium long leg in slight uphill terrain in white forest with very few details. The problem was that the forest is quite dense with low visibility, and that even if the forest looks completely featureless on the map, there is something happening there from around twothirds into the leg, which made many runners turn around and start searching. The safe choice, which some of the most successful runners of the day made, was to run slightly higher up to a good attack point.

World Cup Long. The course featured typical Nordic terrain with detailed contours, marsh areas, and mixed forest that required careful navigation. Quite a few mistakes were made by top runners. Kasper Harlem Fosser won in 1:28:13, building his lead gradually through the course. The Norwegian was consistent through the technical sections, and pulled away from the start. Tove Alexandersson won in 1:29:18, taking the lead early and extending it throughout the race. The Swede was strong both technically and physically over the demanding course. Both Alexandersson and Fosser had company from other top runners

along the way; Fosser caught up with second-placed Matthias Kyburz at the eighth control, while the top three in the women’s class were mostly together from the eighth control.

World Cup Relay. Women. Norway 2 (Pia Young Vik) and Norway 1 (Ingrid Lundanes) handled the first leg well and came in first and second, with Vik 11 s ahead. Switzerland, Finland and Czechia were within a minute, while Sweden 1, without Alexandersson and Hagström, was never in contention and lost nearly 4 min on the first leg. On leg 2, Victoria Hæstad Bjørnstad (Norway 1) opened a gap early and ran solo to the changeover, around 45 s ahead of Switzerland, Finland and Czechia. The lead could have been even bigger, but Hæstad Bjørnstad lost some time towards the end. It turned out that the lead was not large enough for Norway’s last leg runner Andrine Benjaminsen to keep Switzerland’s Simona Aebersold away. On the last leg, Aebersold caught Benjaminsen, early and opened a small gap that Benjaminsen never managed to close. Aebersold had the best leg time and secured the win for Switzerland. Norway held on to second. Finland, with a steady final leg by Lotta Karhola, finished third.

Men. Sweden 1 (Viktor Svensk) and Sweden 2 (Martin Regborn) led together after the first leg. Norway 1 (Liland) was 47 s behind. Kasper Fosser (Norway 1) had the fastest time on leg 2 and passed both Swedish teams, giving Eirik Langedal Breivik a lead going into the last leg. But Breivik couldn’t hold it. Max Peter Bejmer (Sweden 1) and Emil Svensk (Sweden 2) both passed him early and stayed ahead. Bejmer was slightly faster in the end and secured the win for Sweden 1. Sweden 2 was second, and Norway 1 finished third.

Leith Soden. Photo by Tero Marjamäki.

World Cup 2025 Round 1. Women’s relay. Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Sweden, Denmark. Photo by Tero Marjamäki.

Toby Wilson. Photo by Erling Thisted / IOF.

Kasper Harlem Fosser. Photo by Tero Marjamäki.

Justine Hobson with other athletes. Photo by Erling Thisted / IOF.

WOMEN (61 starters) - LONG 13.4 km

1 Tove Alexandersson (SWE) 1:29:18

2 Simona Aebersold (SUI) 1:32:30

3 Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR) 1:35:30

52 Caitlin Young (AUS) 2:17:50

MEN (58 starters) - LONG 16.2 km

1 Kasper Harlem Fosser (NOR) 1:28:13

2 Matthias Kyburz (SUI) 1:32:17

3 Viktor Svensk (SWE) 1:33:12

37 Henry McNulty (AUS)

B-final long. Results.

Australian women: Justine Hobson (14), Emily Sorensen (36).

Australian men: Kylian Wymer (15), Matt Doyle (18), Brodie Nankervis (27), Alastair George (41), Toby Wilson (59).

B-final middle. Results.

Australian women: Emily Sorensen (16), Justine Hobson (27), Mary Flaming (30).

Australian men: Matt Doyle (7), Kylian Wymer (16), Brodie Nankervis (27), Leith Soden (42), Alastair George (45), Toby Wilson (64), Jensen Key (94).

Results of World Cup 2025 Round 1 Relay

In men’s relay, New Zealand (Joseph Lynch, Toby Smith, Tim Robertson) came ninth, Australia (Henry McNulty, Matt Doyle, Kylian Wymer) was 12th. In women’s relay, New Zealand (Kaia Joergensen, Renee Beveridge, Lara Molloy) was 13th, and Australia mispunched (Caitlin Young mp, Emily Sorensen, Justine Hobson).

Relay. Kaya Joergensen and Caitlin Young. Photo by Tero Marjamäki.

WOMEN (72 starters) - MIDDLE 5.0 km

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) 34:35

Emily Sorensen.

Photo by Erling Thisted / IOF.

World Cup 2025 Round 1 qualification.

Photo by Alexander Neimert.

Matt Doyle. Photo by Johan Trygg.

Marjamäki.

World Cup 2025 Round One, men’s relay. Photo by Tero Marjamäki.

WC 2025 Round 1 Middle maps. Leg 8 route choices. Mapper: Kenneth Kaisajuntti Planner: Mattias Karlsson Kylian Wymer. Photo by Tilda Andersson.

The World Games 2025 Chengdu, China

Swiss Riccardo Rancan and Simona Aebersold received the very first golds among the 256 medal events at the Games in China. Intense heat and high humidity characterised the middle distance in and around the village of Gaota, south of Chengdu. The courses were in the fields and a dense, asynchronous network of narrow, muddy paths with dense vegetation. Riccardo Rancan solved that task the fastest, even though he had small time losses at the beginning. (…) The Swiss [had] a winning margin of over 2 min. Francesco Mariani took silver, Italy’s

Yannick Michiels (BEL) in the middle-distance race where he came eighth. The next day he won the sprint.

first ever World Games medal in orienteering, while Vegard Jarvis Westergård achieved the same feat for Canada by claiming the bronze 5 s later. The margin was even greater for the women, with Simona Aebersold defending her World Games title by almost 4 min. Tereza Šmelíková (SVK) had a strong performance in the heat and claimed the silver medal, while Sweden’s Alva Sonesson was a few minutes behind and took bronze. Ice cubes and cold water were in high demand at the finish line, as athletes needed to cool down after their exertions in the heat.

It was rainy and cooler when the athletes started the technically challenging sprint on Sunday morning. The courses were in the Jiangxi River Ecological Greenway Park, which had many small, intricate gardens and, combined with constant route-choice challenges, it was almost impossible to avoid losses of time. Simona Aebersold lived up to her reputation as the favourite and won her second gold medal in Chengdu with a margin of 53 s over compatriot Natalia Gemperle, who ran a particularly strong second half. The biggest surprise of the day was Maria Prieto (ESP), who delivered an impressive performance and took the bronze medal, 1:25 behind Aebersold. Hungary’s Rita Maramarosi was in the running for a medal for a long time, but lost time on the final legs and had to settle for sixth place behind Sandra Grosberga (LAT) and Tereza Rauturier (CZE). In the men’s event, Yannick Michiels won his first gold medal at a championship after a strong performance without any major time loss. Tomáš Křivda (CZE), who had won World Games bronze three years ago, was completely level with Michiels after 10 min of running, but a small mistake to #17 meant that the Czech ended up with silver. Zoltán Bujdosó

Haines (AUS) 17:45

Simona Aebersold (SUI) cooling down after race.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Qiong Luo (CHN) finishing the middle.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Angus Haines. Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Caitlin Young.

Photo: IOF / Klement Kelén.

World Games 2025 Middle medallists.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Tim Robertson (NZ) among crops during the middle-distance race where he placed fourth.

Photo: IOF / Klement Kelén.

Milla Key in the sprint relay

Photo: IOF / Klement Kelén.

World Games 2025 Middle medallists. Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Photo by IOF / Klement Kelén.

The Australian team in Chengdu

Middle terrain.

Photo by Ben Rattray.

was 8 s behind Křivda and took a historic bronze medal for Hungary. He was followed by three Swiss athletes, Riccardo Rancan, Fabian Aebersold and Tino Polsini. The latter had a great start, but lost precious time to control 13, and was eliminated from the medal race there.

On Monday morning Maria Prieto made a strong start [in the mixed relay] for Spain and passed the arena in front, but before the exchange Natalia Gemperle had taken the lead for Switzerland, with New Zealand (Laura Robertson) and Hungary (Csilla Gardonyi) on her heels. On the second leg, the standings were shaken up, as New Zealand with Tim Robertson quickly got to the front and led at the exchange, while Sweden (Jonatan Gustafsson) and Czechia (Jakub Glonek) also passed Switzerland’s Riccardo Rancan. Sweden’s August Mollén had a great race on the third leg and took the lead at the eighth control, and created a gap of over 20 s to Czechia (Tomáš Křivda). New Zealand (Joseph Lynch) was in third position, while Switzerland (Tino Polsini) was more than 40 s behind before the final leg. The double-gold medalist from the previous days, Simona Aebersold, showed that she is in top form, and already caught up with the other teams before the arena passage. At the finish she was 5 s ahead of Sweden’s Alva Sonesson, and a further 10 s later Tereza Rauturier of Czechia ran in for bronze. This is Simona’s sixth gold medal in total at the World Games, and thus she now has the most World Games gold medals of all orienteers.

It’s been a really challenging, but interesting event. The weather, the culture, food, multi-games experience, and unique orienteering challenges have combined to make it a really rewarding experience. The team has put some good performances together, and some of the preparation the team has put in ahead of time has shown some benefit (eg heat training ahead of time). I think the middle was the most interesting. The terrain was just so unusual for us. The team topped off the World Games with an awesome team effort, Caitlin anchoring the team to move us up to a top six performance. Just 3 s behind our Kiwi rivals. Smiles all round, and a great way to finish off the competition before experiencing some local ‘intangible culture’.

World Games sprint map fragment. Mappers: Yang Minghong, Zdenek Janu & Zdenek Rajnošek

Joseph Lynch in sprint.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Alastair George in the relay.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Milla Key in sprint. Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Photo: Ben Rattray.

BEN RATTRAY, THE WORLD GAMES 2025 AUSTRALIAN TEAM MANAGER

Zara Stewart (NZ) in the relay. Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

Caitlin Young in sprint relay.

Photo: IOF / Erling Thisted.

World Games 2025. Middle-distance map. Mappers: Xian Jiatu, Zdenek Janu & Zdenek Rajnošek

JWOC 2025 Sprint Relay photo finish. Rita M (HUN) and Alva B (SWE).

JWOC Sprint Relay. Owen R and Tomasz R (POL) finishing.

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA FACEBOOK POSTS

JWOMEN (160 starters) - SPRINT 2.6 km

1 Seline Sannwald (SUI) 12:00

2 Kati Hotz (SUI) 12:03 +0:03

3 Lucie Dittrichova (CZE) 12:05 +0:05

4 Fanny Delahaye (FRA) 12:22 +0:22

5 Viktorie Skachova (CZE) 12:32 +0:32

5 Henriette Radzikowski (SUI) 12:32 +0:32

AUS WOMEN - SPRINT

7 Nea Shingler 12:37 +0:37

47 Erika Enderby 14:03 +2:03

62 Liana Stubbs 14:24 +2:24

135 Gemma Burley 17:52 +5:52

145 Kate Braid 20:24 +8:24 Milla Key mp

WOMEN - SPRINT

MEN - SPRINT

WOC 2025 in Trentino, Italy got off to a fantastic start for the Australian junior team. Australia 1 relay team, our first team, finished in sixth place (55:38.00, +1:14), and this is the first ever time that we have placed on the podium in the JWOC Sprint Relay championship race!

Leg 1: Milla Key got the team off to an awesome start and was at one stage in the lead of the race. Milla placed sixth, and more importantly was only 21 s off the lead setting up Cooper Horley perfectly for the second leg.

Leg 2: Cooper, like Milla, had a superb run threatening the Swedes and the Czechs for the lead and came into the changeover in fourth position, only 19 s down on Sweden.

Leg 3: Next up welcomed Elye Dent to the international stage, and not only did Elye take in 19 s early in the race he was clear leader at one stage. At the final changeover Elye was in eighth and 41 s down.

Leg 4: On last leg our team captain Nea Shingler shone through with her experience and cool head and ran brilliantly to bring us home into a sixth and first ever podium finish, and something neither our team, coaches or supporters will ever forget. Congratulations to all involved.

Australia 2 (59:27.20, +5:03) & Australia 3 (1:03:49.50, +9:25), our second and third teams also did very well placing 28th and 49th [respectively] in the complete team list.

Brett Weihart, Director Performance and Coaching on the sprint relays:

The sixth place comes on the back of an eighth place at the previous two JWOCs in Czechia and Romania, and so it was a fantastic reward for the athletes in the team. Both Milla Key and Nea Shingler have run in the first team at those two JWOCs, and it was so pleasing to see them make it to the podium for Nea's final JWOC. It was also fantastic for Cooper who came down with pneumonia on arriving at JWOC last year and wasn't able to be part of the team. And finally our debutant Elye in his first ever JWOC race makes it onto the podium.

Day 2 of JWOC in Italy continued on where it finished off on day 1, with team captain Nea Shingler, placing seventh in the individual sprint championships race, and a cruel 5 s from a second podium performance. Nea's performance was the best individual performance in the sprint race by an Australian junior woman since Hanny Allston way back in 2006 when Hanny won the silver medal.

Medallists of JWOC 2025 Sprint.

JWOC 2025 Sprint Relay. Elye D.

JWOC 2025 Sprint Relay. Milla K, Cooper H, Elye D and Nea S.

JWOC 2025 Sprint M map. Mapper: Marco Bezzi Planner: Aaron Gaio

Nea Shingler: As expected today's race was hot and hilly, but I tried not to think about that, thinking about staying focussed and in control instead. For my final JWOC sprint I'm stoked with a top ten, and a top six in the relay makes it even better There were many good results once again for our team with Owen Radajewski placing top 30 coming in 28th in the men's race, followed closely by Cooper Horley in 37th, and Elye Dent in 39th. Erika Enderby also managed a terrific top 50 result. For many of our athletes this is their first ever JWOC, and the learning experience is going to be the key take-away in some of the races so that they can come back in the following years and be more and more competitive.

Well done to Kiwis Jake McLellan (seventh) and Felix Hunt (12th) on their races!

Once again, it was a very good day of racing for our juniors in the gruelling long-distance race, in warm conditions. The terrain at around 1000 m above sea level was physical in the steeper areas, and technical in the areas of former silver mining. Long legs with plenty of route choice were instrumental in some of the great performances during the race.

Medallists of JWOC 2025 Long.

Gold medallists of JWOC 2025 Middle .

Silver and gold medallists of JWOC 2025 Sprint.

JWOC 2025 Middle. Jamie W.

JWOC 2025 Middle W map. Mappers: Viktor Kirianov, Vadym Prokopchuk & Oleksandr Mykhaylov Planner: Simone Grassi

Team Score

Out of 41 teams at JWOC 2025, Australia was 13th overall (one point ahead of Latvia), and New Zealand ninth, an excellent result for both countries. Czechia placed at the top, followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, France and Norway.

WOMEN (162 starters) - MIDDLE 3.8 km

1 Viktorie Skachova (CZE) 25:22

2 Rita Maramarosi (HUN) 25:53 +0:31

3 Lucie Dittrichova (CZE) 26:09 +0:47

4 Eeva Liina Ojanaho (FIN) 26:20 +0:58

5 Seline Sannwald (SUI) 26:22 +1:00

6 Kati Hotz (SUI) 26:59 +1:37

AUS WOMEN - MIDDLE

24 Milla Key 30:24 +5:02

25 Nea Shingler 30:30 +5:08

91 Erika Enderby 38:06 +12:44

MEN (180 starters) - MIDDLE 4.4 km

1 Marton Csoboth (HUN) 25:52

2 Loic Berger (SUI) 27:07 +1:15

3 Rasmus Toyryla (FIN) 28:02 +2:10

4 David Baumberger (SUI) 28:32 +2:40

5 Corsin Mueller (SUI) 28:46 +2:54

6 Daniel Bolehovsky (CZE) 28:57 +3:05

NZ MEN - MIDDLE

39 Rachel Baker 32:39 +7:17 52 Katherine Babington 33:45 +8:23

52 Anna Babington 3:45 +8:23

68 Phoebe Hunt 35:32 +10:10

100 Tide Fa’avae 39:34 +14:12 107 Georgia Lindroos 41:09 +15:47

37 Felix Hunt 32:35 +6:43 75 Jake McLellan 34:53 +9:01

Jakob Knoef 35:25 +9:33

Sam Carryer 41:27 +15:35

Riley Croxford 48:49 +22:57

Our top performer of the day was Milla Key with a very impressive 27th place in the women's race - our best result in the women’s race since 2018. Nea Shingler was 2 min back in 36th, and Erika Enderby another 4 min further back in 46th. In the men's race Cooper Horley ran very well placing 39th and was our best male performance in the long since 2019 when current JWOC coach Aston Key took the bronze medal. 3 min down on Cooper was Owen Radajewski in 54th.

What was most impressive was the large improvement in our placings compared to many of the previous years. We haven't had any women in the top 50 since 2018 when Tara Melhuish also placed in 27th place, and here we had three women in the top 50, and of course all with significant PBs. Our six women had an average placing of 70 which is the best average result since JWOC 2008! The men also did extremely well with an average place of 76 and this the best result since JWOC 2017.

A key take-away is also the fact that our top three men and women on the results list all have run at least one JWOC previously and they all ran PBs. The long is the toughest race and the experience of running these sorts of international races cannot be underestimated in moving up the learning

curve. (..) The long race saw Spain win its first ever medal at JWOC.

After a well deserved day off, our junior team was once again on song in the middle distance race with two women in the top 30, and two men in the top 50. These are exceptionally good performances. Milla and Nea were just 6 s apart in 24th and 25th place, and could have easily placed in the top 20 had a couple of errors not crept into their runs. Cooper ran well into a 39th spot, and Euan in 45th, which is a great result in his first JWOC middle race. Our other juniors also ran well in but the fields are so big and the competition so tough that just a couple of small mistakes see your results drop off quickly. One of the big take aways is seeing first-hand not just how technically strong a lot of the top runners are but also their ability to execute their race at high speed.

Our two women's and two men's relay teams gave it their all in the final race. Our women's first team had the same lineup as last year and was just 7 s off equalising their awesome 12th position from JWOC 2024. Well done to all four of our teams. Next year JWOC returns to the country of the inaugural JWOC from 1990 in Sweden but this time in the far south-east of the country in the very technical terrain of Karlskrona.

JWOC 2025 Middle. Henri dT.

The Australian team at JWOC 2025.

JWOC 2025 Middle. Kate B.

Gemma B.

Photo by Jenny Enderby.

The winning formula from distraction to discipline

RACHEL COLLINS, PSYCHOLOGY COACH

Mental Skill 1: Focus State

Do any of the following statements sound familiar?

• I lost concentration …

• I wasn’t focused enough …

• I didn’t pay enough attention …

• I lost contact with the map …

If any of the above statements sound familiar, then the following article will help you to overcome the challenge of losing focus during an orienteering race. We will explore how to create and maintain a focus state during a race, enabling us to become more disciplined.

A reminder of what a state is

Our state is made up of everything we are experiencing externally (e.g. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic), the way that we then interpret those external cues alters our internal experience (physiology) and how that then impacts our behaviour.

External experience (external cues) > internal experience (physiology) > behaviour

What external cues influence our state?

1. Visual (seeing) – what do we see in the world around us? What images/ movies do we create internally?

2. Auditory (hearing) – what do we hear externally? What do we hear internally, our inner thoughts / voice?

3. Kinaesthetic (feeling) – what do we feel in the environment around us? What sensations may we feel in our bodies as a result of that?

4. Olfactory and gustatory – what can we smell and taste in the environment? What memories of smell and taste can we remember?

How do we interpret those external cues?

Our interpretation is mainly based on past experience, and often happens habitually. All individuals will have their own way of interpreting external cues, it is about getting to know your own.

Internal experience

Depending on how we have interpreted the external cues impacts our internal physiological experience. Internal physiological experience includes heart rate, breath rate, muscle tension, emotions, negative or positive thoughts, etc.

Behaviour / action

The end result is the behaviour or action that is carried out once all this external and internal information has been processed, interpreted, and a signal is sent to the brain to perform a certain behaviour.

An example

Two people are sitting and watching TV when an advert for a job-seeking website comes on. Each person receives and interprets these external cues (e.g. the visual of the advert, the auditory commentary of the advert). Depending on ones’ past experience at job interviews, one may interpret this information as stressful and anxiety inducing, and another person may view this as positive and confidence enriching. The behaviour of the first person may be to switch the channel over and the behaviour of the second may be to smile whilst watching the advert till the end. Two different states have been experienced from the same external cues.

So, how do we create a focus state?

Firstly, it is important to make clear here that we can induce external cues in our mind’s eye, that will ultimately give our brain the signal to perform a certain behaviour. We need to identify the external cues that make up our focus state, i.e (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and gustatory).

A personal example of my external cues when I am focused are:

• Picturing the colour red (visual)

• Imagining the sharp point of a triangle (visual)

• Saying out loud a short phrase ‘now focus’ (auditory)

• Creating a slight charge energetically in the body (kinaesthetic)

• Clearness in the mind (auditory)

Secondly, we need to practice getting into to our focus state by using these cues, this can simply be done at home / during training runs / at the start line of a race. We can learn what our cues are and embody them. This will help strengthen the neural pathways in our brain so that our focus state can be accessed quickly. This leads to our physiology changing, for example, our heart and breathing rate increases, we release more adrenaline, and tension builds in the muscles. As a result, our behaviour changes, in this example, we will become more focused.

Thirdly, we need to become more aware of the differences of how we feel when we are distracted and when we are focused. When we can become aware, it is easier to recognise when we have ‘dropped out’ of our focus state and that we need to embody those elements again to regain that focus.

What is the result?

The body and mind are working in tandem for you to stay focused on the current task. The more we understand our own cues, the quicker we can get into state and maintain it. This is a key skill needed in orienteering to become focused before a race, and maintain focus during a race. The more we recognise the feeling of our focused state, the quicker we will be able to pick up on the fact that we have lost focus (during a race) and switch our focus back on.

Top tip

Give your focus state one word or a short phrase that encompasses all your key elements, for example, FOCUS, PAY ATTENTION, SLOW DOWN, FIRE ENERGY – this will not only help you to elicit your focus state but access it again if you get distracted during your race!

Services

If you’d be interested in purchasing this webinar miniseries, please email me at hello@rachel-coach.com

If you are interested in working 1-1 then please take a look at my website: www.rachel-coach.com Instagram:

LinkedIn: Rachel Collins (founder of Rachel-Coach)

Photo by Hugo Lilleström, Monki Media in Falun, Sweden.

World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships 2025

Fragment of Men’s WMTBOC 2025 Sprint map. Mapper: Jarosław Bartczak

Planner: Remigiusz Nowak

MIRIAM PALMER, TEAM MANAGER

MEN (79 starters) SPRINT 6.6 km

1 Krystof Bogar (CZE) 22:55

2 Miika Nurmi (FIN) 24:09

3 Andre Haga (FIN) 24:18

57 James Robertson (AUS) 32:37

Will Palmer Whittington (AUS) mp

WOMEN 20 (41) SPRINT 5.2 km

1 Adela Ryglova (CZE) 23:42

2 Kaisla Hakkinen (FIN) 23:45

3 Malin Lara Roehrl (SUI) 23:59

[On Tuesday August 12], in what has been labeled ‘one of the most technical sprints ever’, James [Robertson] enjoyed his world champs debut finishing in 57th position with a relatively clean ride. Will [Plamer Whittington] inadvertently missed an early control, but was otherwise satisfied with his race. Maya [Bennette] unfortunately picked up a women’s elite map at the start, and rode that course. Although this ruled her out of contention for her correct junior competition, Maya rode [well]. In [Wednesday’s] middle, our Aussie trio raced strongly over what were again technically difficult courses. The Finnish team was dominating given their experience with hard navigation. But even the top end of

Maya Bennette (AUS) dnf

The Australian team at WMTBOC25. Photo by Miriam Palmer.

Will. Photo by MoonLine Media.

Hannes Hnilica (AUT). Sprint at the army exercise area.

WOMEN (45) SPRINT 5.6 km

Ruska Saarela (FIN) 24:01

Celine Wellenreiter

MEN 20 (49 starters) SPRINT 6.2 km

1 Augustin Leclere (FRA) 24:28

2 Akseli Pesu (FIN) 25:16

3 Antoine Lesquer (FRA) 25:20

Maya in relay changeover. Photo by Galvin Bennette.

Medallists of WMTBOC 2025 Sprint. Photos by Arkadiusz Jaskóła (Wilcze Oko).

Hiro Ayano (JPN). Photo by MoonLine Media.

James Robertson in sprint. Photo by Arkadiusz Jaskóła.

Warsaw, Poland

Middle 13th August 2025

the field were making mistakes and losing time. The heat (lowmid 30s) was also adding to the challenge. James had a clean race, only losing seconds at the very end of the course, which with 37 controls was difficult until the end. Maya and Will both lost a bit of time on some legs, but overall raced well. All three were thriving in the conditions. [Next they] competed in the chaotic and gruelling mass start race on a day where accidents and mechanical incidents impacted many riders in the field. Then to continue the drama, after most competitors had finished, a mini tornado came from nowhere, ripping through the event arena, launching three marquees 5 m above the ground in an impressive spiral, and sending two giant TV screens crashing to the ground. This seemed suitably apt given the race started and ended at an old military air base, straight off the set of a Bond movie. The mass start courses were characterised by an extremely long first leg through sand, multiple butterfly loops and [forkings], and enough technical challenges to break up pack riding from early on. It was a day when strength, stamina, and a clear head were needed. [Pierre Martinez, Jeremi Pourre, Jiri Hradil, Krystof Bogar and

MEN (78 starters) MIDDLE 17.2 km

1 Andre Haga (FIN) 1:00:02

2 Jussi Laurila (FIN) 1:01:00

2 Miika Nurmi (FIN) 1:01:00

48 James Robertson (AUS) 1:15:38

59 Will Palmer Whittington (AUS) 1:24:16

WOMEN 20 (41) MIDDLE 10.0 km

1 Adela Ryglova (CZE) 45:43

2 Miri Brunstedt Noergaard (DEN) 49:03

3 Emma Riikka Laamanen (FIN) 50:04

19 Maya Bennette (AUS) 59:30

1:46:59

1 Vojtech Ludvik (CZE) 1:48:51

2 Krystof Bogar (CZE 1:51:59

3 Bartosz Niebielski (POL) 1:52:45

57 James Robertson (AUS) 2:37:40

61 Will Palmer Whittington (AUS) 2:53:43

1:38:58

Malin Lara Roehrl (SUI) 1:38:58

3 Aino Kankaanpaa (FIN) 1:42:41

Maya Bennette (AUS) 1:56:26 MEN (73) LONG 38.5 km

Number: 2025-052-3105-MAZ

Cartography: Grzegorz Marcinkiewicz

Course Planner: Remigiusz Nowak

Andre Haga had abandoned their course to help an injured French athlete, Laurane Meyers, and were thanked by the organisers with flowers, gifts and a long post including ‘you showed how beautiful sport can be’].

W20

The gruelling long champs [were on Saturday in conditions described by the Polish organisers as] ‘African heat’. Maya placed [16th] in W20, her best result at these champs. She lost a bit of time in the second half of the course but was overall pleased with her race. In the men’s, James again pulled off another well-executed race without any significant mistakes to finish in 57th. Will Whittington unfortunately blew out the first two controls but regained composure to ride solidly as the race unfolded, and he finished 61st. The depth of competition at these world championships has been eye opening, and the high professionalism of the European teams something to aspire towards for Australian MTBO.

The relay capped off a successful WMTBOC for our team, including no mechanicals or (significant) crashes. Partnering with Denmark to form both a men’s team and W20 team, our riders made the most of the experience. James and Will rode the first two legs, and Maya brought home the W20 team as the third-leg rider. Although unofficial, [riding in] mixed teams provides invaluable opportunities for the smaller nations to experience elite relay racing. This year the relay was based in a military equestrian centre, which made a spectacular setting for everyone. Poland really did a fantastic job in hosting such a technical, spectator-friendly champs.

WOMEN (46 starters) MIDDLE 13.3 km

1 Martina Tichovska (CZE) 55:41

2 Gabriella Gustafsson (SWE) 57:33

3 Ruska Saarela (FIN) 57:43

MEN 20 (49) MIDDLE 13.8 km

1 Eemil Koskinen (FIN) 51:56

2 Augustin Leclere (FRA) 53:36

3 Jakub Racansky (CZE) 55:18

WOMEN (46) MASS START 20.4 km

1 Nikoline Splittorff (DEN) 1:24:03

2 Camilla Soegaard (DEN) 1:27:24

3 Gabriella Gustafsson (SWE) 1:27:36

MEN 20 (49) MASS START 22.9 km

1 Augustin Leclere (FRA) 1:17:46

2 Akseli Pesu (FIN) 1:17:56

3 Jakub Racansky (CZE) 1:17:59

WOMEN (44) LONG 28.2 km

1 Ruska Saarela (FIN) 1:33:21

2 Nikoline Splittorff (DEN) 1:33:39

3 Ursina Jaeggi (SUI) 1:36:07

MEN 20 (46) LONG 33.2 km

1 Jakub Racansky (CZE) 1:39:57

2 Eemil Koskinen (FIN) 1:44:09

3 Matteo Traversi Montani (ITA) 1:44:28

Kamila Klaus (POL) & Linda Brandt (GER).

Map fragment of Women 20 WMTBOC 2025 Middle-distance. Mapper: Grzegorz Marcinkiewicz. Planner: Remigiusz Nowak.

TszYau Lee (HKG) in Women 20. Photo by MoonLine Media.

Melbourne’s unmissable urban summer!

DEBBIE DODD

All eyes will be firmly on urban racing this summer, with the Oceania Sprint Championships in NSW next January, and a Sprint World Orienteering Championships coming up in mid 2026. After a super successful, expanded Summer Shorts and Sprints program last year, Melbourne’s orienteering clubs are once again joining forces to put some sizzle into everyone’s Saturdays and Sundays. We have some brand new and extended maps, and some old favourites with new life breathed into them. There’s a great mix of parkland and campus, offering plenty of variety, complexity, and fun! Experienced orienteers will find themselves suitably challenged, while kids and newcomers will enjoy their first orienteering adventures in a family-friendly setting.

The story so far …

Melbourne’s very own Sprint Into Spring series (2013-2019) was a major success story. Some of today’s Victorian sprinting superstars, like Callum White and Milla Key, learned the ropes on our Usain Bolt junior course, progressing through the ranks and ultimately representing Australia in World Championships! In 2023, a new four-event program of Summer Shorts, followed by a three-event series of sprints, brought urban racing back to Melbourne. Last year we combined both formats into a single program, featuring a free family day, two park shorts, three campus sprints, and an amazing indoor-outdoor race. These were followed by the fifth Melbourne City Race – memorable for some wild beachside weather, and the Victorian Sprint Champs at Tarneit College – memorable for some clever use of artificial barriers and a mid-course maze.

Summer Shorts and Sprints (SSAS) 2025

The following are our plans, with some venues/dates still subject to confirmation at time of writing.

Our SSAS 2025 program will provide perfect preparation for bigger things to come! Excitement is already building for the highly anticipated Melbourne City Race 6 on Sunday 23 November, and the culmination of the series, the Victorian Sprint Champs on Sunday November 30.

Sunday October 19, Burnley Campus Sprint, a brand new map of University of Melbourne’s riverside campus, a long wishedfor venue that offers a bit of everything, and a lot of confusion!

Sunday October 26, Tarralla Wetlands Short, Croydon, a return to this popular map, extended this year to include Swinburne TAFE, adding even more variety and some extra challenge.

Saturday November 1, Victoria University St Albans Sprint, an oldie but a goodie, last used for the first knockout sprint at Melbourne Sprint Weekend. Relive the memories!

Sunday November 9, Stamford Lakes Short, Rowville, another newly developed park, begging to be mapped and sprinted on.

Saturday November 15, Pipemakers Park Sprint, Maribyrnong, a blast from the past! This map was one of the originals from the first series of Sprint Into Spring; completely updated for this race.

Kids run free!

Juniors under 13 will receive free entry to each of the Summer Shorts and Sprints races. We are also planning free coaching and other activities. Maps will be full colour, and Sportident timing will be used. Each event will offer three courses of varying lengths and difficulty, so there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

Melbourne City Race 6, November 23

Melbourne City Race 6 will once again bring you the best of city racing. Our venue is Williamstown Seaport, on Sunday November 23. Your indoor race hub is right on the eastern foreshore, in the heart of the historic seaport precinct of Melbourne’s favourite maritime village. You’ll be in prime position to take in the famous heritage landmarks along The Strand and the Point Gellibrand coast; and enjoy the vibrancy of Nelson Place’s shops, pubs and cafes. Look up from your map long enough to soak up stunning views of the city skyline, and watch the shipping traffic making its way up and down the bay. You can choose any one of the five courses, from 3 km to 10 km, and start any time between 11 am and 12 pm. As always, we will have fantastic prizes and a random draw. We’re excited to announce that this year’s course planner is Andrew Turner. Andrew received the Victorian 2024 Course Setter of the Year award for his amazing, Hallowe’en themed Eye of Newt-own course at Geelong. He has a great eye for the fun, quirky and downright weird; and already has some great ideas to make the most of the Seaport location.

Visit www.melbournecityrace.com.au to keep up with all the news.

Victorian Sprint Champs, November 30

The venue for this highlight of the orienteering calendar is yet to be decided at time of writing, but rest assured it will be a fantastic way to conclude, and celebrate, the 2025 season. Traditionally, the champs feature a complex, challenging individual race in the morning, designed to put all your sprint skills to the test. This is followed by a fun, social event in the afternoon, like 2023’s head-to-head mini mass-start races, or 2024’s two-person relay.

It all adds up to an unmissable summer in Melbourne!

Photo by Frankie Shin.

Photo by Frankie Shin.

Everyone is warmly welcomed to the 2025 ACT MTBO Championships!

The 2025 ACT Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships will be held over 2 days in the beautiful surroundings of Canberra! Events will provide competitors with some great network of beautiful tracks and fire road riding in fantastic locations of Jerrabomberra (Sprint Champs), and with excitement of a newly updated map of flowing single tracks and fire roads of East Kowen by Hamish Mackie (Middle and Long Championships). It will be the next big MTBO event in ACT, after a recent 2024 Australian MTBO Carnival hosted by OACT in Canberra. Entries are open on Eventor. Lock the dates, book accommodation and start your intense MTBO training and preparations:)! CANBERRA IS CALLING!

SPRINT CHAMPS – Jerrabomberra - Saturday, 18 October (9am)

MIDDLE CHAMPS – East Kowen - Saturday, 18 October (2pm)

LONG CHAMPS – East Kowen – Sunday, 19 October (9am)

Full details and entries are here:

https://act.orienteering.asn.au/event-series/mountain-bike-orienteering/

Ride Navigate Conquer

2025 Australian MTBO Championships

Come to Collie, Western Australia

From 5–7 September, Collie plays host to the 2025 Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) Championships, bringing top riders from across the country (and outside the country) to Western Australia for a fast-paced fusion of endurance, strategy, and navigation. Across four events—Mass Start, Middle Distance, Sprint, and Long—competitors will race through the forests and trails surrounding Collie, choosing their own routes with only a map, compass, and quick decision-making to guide them. It’s a sport where brainpower meets pedal power and every second counts. Spectators are welcome! If you’re in the area, come and watch Australia’s best tackle high-speed navigation on two wheels.

Entries close 30 August, but if you’re keen to ride, very limited Entry on the Day (EOD)is available for recreation courses, at selected events. Check the website for details: ausmtbochamps2025.orienteering.asn.au

Don’t miss the Presentations Dinner on Saturday evening at Collie Ridge Resort—a fun night to connect, share stories, and celebrate the sport. Spots are limited, so be sure to book via Eventor while places are still available.

New to MTBO? Local orienteering clubs run events year-round across WA for all ages and skill levels. Just bring a bike and a sense of adventure.

https://wa.orienteering.asn.au/events/event-guide/ mountain-bike-mtbo

Big thanks to our volunteers, sponsors, and the Collie community for supporting this national event!

Spot the difference

Find five differences between the two maps. The map directly below is from WOC 2025 Middle Distance women’s final. Mappers: Janne Weckman and Timo Joensuu.

Quiz

1. On the map above which lake is at a lower altitude?

A. The lake in the north east corner.

B. The lake in the south west corner.

C. Both lakes are at the same altitude.

2. What do the two black triangles in the control circle 4 depict?

A. Two large boulders.

B. Two cairns.

C. Two boulder clusters.

D. Boulder field.

E. Rocky ground.

HANIA LADA

Polish your skills

How would you go from 6 to 7? What do you expect to see in the control circle?

3. Who won the WOC 2025 Middle Distance women’s final?

A. Simona Aebersold from Switzerland.

B. Tove Alexandersson from Sweden.

C. Andrine Benjaminsen from Norway.

D. Marika Teini from Finland.

E. Sanna Fast from Sweden.

F. Viktorie Skachova from Czechia.

The answers are on page 46.

Link to post-print corrections/quiz/survey

Follow this link to post-print corrections, quiz and survey on one form. Check out what mistakes in the current edition have been discovered too late, feel free to attempt some or all quiz questions, and provide data by completing the survey.

European Youth Orienteering Championships 2025 Brno, Czechia

MARINA ISKHAKOVA

The Aussie team of 14 athletes and four team leaders assembled in Brno, Czechia’s second-largest city, for the 2025 European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC25), held 17–20 July. Over 400 athletes from 35 countries gathered to chase medals and podiums, making EYOC25 the biggest in its history! What’s EYOC all about? It is the world’s biggest orienteering event for 15–18-year-olds. The first EYOC was held in Poland in 2002, and since then it has toured 16 different European countries over 23 years. What makes EYOC unique is its typically tough, non-Scandinavian, continental terrain, perfect for challenging up-and-coming talent. It’s often the first big international event for many young orienteers, and this is the event where many bright orienteering talents were revealed. While it’s definitely competitive, it’s not as cut-throat as JWOC. The EYOC vibe is all about shared passion, friendship, joy and fun, and it’s truly unforgettable.

A tradition of dreaming big. Thanks to orienteering legends Warren and Tash Key, Aussie youth started chasing dreams at EYOC since 2016. Warren and Tash paved the way for our juniors to experience the thrill of international racing early in their careers. Previous standouts include Aston Key (first in M16 in 2016 and first in M18 in 2018 in sprint) and Milla Key (second in W18 sprint in 2024).

Meet the EYOC 2025 Aussie Team. This year’s team included 15–18-year-old athletes from NSW, ACT, Queensland, and Tasmania: Liana Stubbs, Savanna Sweeney, Alexandra Edwards and Maggie Mackay (W18); Elye Dent, Euan Best, William Barnes and Aoife Rothery (M18); Ariadna Iskhakova and Shari Gilbert (W16); Hayden Dent, Alton Freeman, Rory Shedden and Matthew Slater (M16).

The team was led by coach Marina Iskhakova, who stepped into her first international role after earning her Australian High Performance Coach accreditation in 2024 and relied on her elite orienteer’s international experience. Fedor Iskhakov stepped into a team manager’s role. Team officials Vanessa and Mark Freeman supported the athletes with medicine, nutrition, logistics and everything else.

The format of the EYOC is typically very intense, as goes on three consecutive racing days with no breaks and qualifications, and every participant has to run all three events. This year the format was long; sprint; relay.

Day 1, the long. Set in the steep and brutal terrain near Babice nad Svitavou, this was a true test of endurance. Two long, gruelling legs made all the difference. Some climbs were so steep that, as Hayden Dent put it, ‘I had to power-walk—it was impossible to run that hill!’ Route choice was everything, and many athletes spent serious time figuring out how to dodge the worst climbs, though flatter options were almost non-existent. Three Aussies made impressive top-25 debuts: Hayden Dent 18th (M16); Euan Best 19th (M18); Liana Stubbs 22nd (W18). The day wrapped up with a lively opening ceremony and an unforgettable friendship party where orienteers from 35 countries celebrated together.

Day 2, the sprint. Held in Brno’s northern suburb of Kocianka, this urban sprint was fast, technical, and full of twists. With a 12min winning time, the pace was intense. Hayden Dent delivered a standout performance in M16, finishing fourth, just 12 s off the podium and 23 s behind the winner. He held second place for much of the race before two late runners nudged him to fourth. More Aussie top-25 performances came from: Euan Best 16th (M18); Liana Stubbs 22nd (W18); Alton Freeman 25th (M16).

Day 3, the relay. Back near Babice nad Svitavou, the relay featured vague, wild terrain full of thick greenery, tricky navigation, and punishing climbs. It demanded total focus, smart route choice, top physical form, and flawless navigation. Hardly any of the 400 athletes escaped without mistakes. Australia fielded three full relay teams and five athletes in mixed international teams. Top Aussie relay performance: M16 team (Hayden, Rory, Alton) 12th out of 33 teams; W18 team (Liana, Alexandra, Maggie) top 20; M18 team (Euan, Elye, Will) 21st. What’s Next? EYOC2026 will take place on 25–27 June 2026 in Slovenia, right on the Italian border. Get ready for some epic karst terrain in the heart of Europe. Stay tuned and keep training, Australia can’t wait to see who’ll represent Australian Youth Orienteers at the EYOC next year!

KOCSIK

Control punching - method 2.

Savanna S in W18 long.

Photo by Petr Kaderavek.

Liana S in W18 long. Control punching on a hill with fallen timber - method 1.

The Australian team at the EYOC 2025 opening ceremony.

Fragment of EYOC 2025 Long W18 map. Mapper: Zdenek Janu & Zdenek Rajnošek. Map owner: SK Brno Žabovresky. Planner: Miloš Nykodym.

My EYOC2025 highlight was:

Hayden Dent Representing Australia for the first time in Europe.

Alexandra Edwards Getting to experience the atmosphere of a big international event, and making some new amazing friends!

Elye Dent Mispunching the sprint as it showed me that I have ability to hold my ground among the best guys (through looking at split times) at the sprints, and knowing I just need to do some final things to near ace it.

Alton Freeman Experiencing tough and tricky courses, high quality competition and understanding the standard required to be good in Europe.

Ariadna Iskhakova Swapping O-tops with everyone at the end of the competition and also making a bunch of new friends from different countries.

Euan Best Gaining more experience from international events and learning what and where to improve my orienteering in the future.

Rory Shedden Experiencing my first international carnival and meeting so many new people.

Shari Gilbert Meeting new people from all over the world and I loved orienteering in the amazing countryside.

Matthew Slater Experiencing new terrains and meeting new people.

Will Barnes Getting my first taste of European orienteering and experience in those competitions.

Alton F in M16 relay.

Aoife R M18 long.

Control punchingmethod 4.

Rory S in M16 long.

Control punching - method 3.

Ariadna I in W16 sprint. Murray L’s (NZ) control approach. Will B in M18 sprint.

Kubilay K’s (TUR) control approach.

Alex & Liana at the opening ceremony.

Miriam P’s (EST) control approach. Maggie M in W18 sprint.

WOMEN 16 LONG

1 Carla Castelli SUI 41:35

2 Ela Lostakova CZE 41:56

3 Matilda Tomaskova CZE 42:16

39 Ariadna Iskhakova AUS 53:19

97 Shari Gilbert AUS 80:31

WOMEN 16 SPRINT

1 Anni Jantunen FIN 10:50

2 Seraina Baer SUI 11:20

3 Venla Mennala FIN 11:26

54 Ariadna Iskhakova AUS 14:13

70 Shari Gilbert AUS 14:41

TOP 3 COUNTRIES IN RELAY

1 Finland M16 1:28:34

2 Switzerland M16 1:28:52

3 Czechia M16 1:29:00

1 Czechia W16 1:26:44

2 Hungary W16 1:40:32

3 France W16 1:42:37

1 Czechia W18 1:38:47

2 France W18 1:41:35

3 Sweden W18 1:43:50

1 Czechia M18 1:48:54

2 Finland M18 1:50:22

3 Hungary M18 1:59:26

WOMEN 18 LONG

1 Lotta Marit Luethi SUI 44:35

2 Marketa Hanusova CZE 45:17

3 Fanny Delahaye FRA 45:47 22 Liana Stubbs AUS 53:38

Alexandra Edwards AUS 71:02

Maggie Mackay AUS 75:13

Savanna Sweeney AUS 77:40

WOMEN 18 SPRINT

1 Ofri Yacobi ISR 13:14

2 Lenia Grimm SUI 13:19

2 Ilze Jumike LAT 13:19

24 Liana Stubbs AUS 14:54

60 Alexandra Edwards AUS 16:12

70 Maggie Mackay AUS 16:50

84 Savanna Sweeney AUS 18:07

MEN 18 LONG

1 Mihaly Csoboth HUN 49:46 2 Lavio Mueller SUI 50:17 3 Martin Bulicka CZE 50:36

Euan Best AUS 55:17

Elye Dent AUS 70:57

William Barnes AUS 78:05

Aoife Rothery AUS 108:47

MEN 18 SPRINT

1 Tomasz Rzeńca POL 12:03

2 Rasmus Toyryla FIN 12:43

3 Magnus Sigurdsson NOR 12:52

16 Euan Best AUS 13:27

89 William Barnes AUS 15:46

105 Aoife Rothery AUS 19:50 Elye Dent AUS mp

1 Ekain FernandezGarcia

40:53 2 Joakim Savinainen FIN 42:32

3 Erik Marten Zernant EST 42:47

Hayden Dent AUS 45:38

Alton Freeman AUS 57:29 74 Rory Shedden AUS 58:19 101 Matthew Slater AUS 73:08

MEN 16 SPRINT

1 Erik Marten Zernant EST 12:04

2 Ekain FernandezGarcia ESP 12:14

3 Matous Dittrich CZE 12:15

4 Hayden Dent AUS 12:27

25 Alton Freeman AUS 13:20

39 Rory Shedden AUS 13:48

90 Matthew Slater AUS 17:18

EYOC 2025 M18 relay map with leg variations. Mappers: Zdenek Janu, Zdenek Rajnošek. Map owner: SK Brno Žabovresky Planners: Adéla Finstrlová, Pavel Ptáček

EYOC 2025 M18 sprint map. Mapper: Zdenek Rajnošek. Map owner: SK Brno Žabovresky. Planner: Jakub Zimmermann.

The winning EYOC 2025 W16 relay team from Czechia, Matilda T, Carolina M and Ela L. Photo by Petr Kaderávek.

EYOC 2025 M16 sprint podium. From left: Ekain FG, Eric MZ, Matous D, Hayden D, Antoni P, Julian D, Veeti V.

Shari G in the sprint.

Euan B in the relay.

Matthew S. Photo by Pavlína Pecoldová. Hayden D.

Elye D. Photo by Fedor Iskhakov.

Alexandra E. Photo by Fedor Iskhakov.

Queuing starts at major events

Dear Event Organisers,

I would respectfully like to ask organisers to reconsider whether a queuing start at a major event is the best solution. There are many occasions where queueing starts are the option - in particular when there are significantly more available start times than there are entrants. They also work better when the queue is visible from the arena, so participants can check the size of the line before warming up and joining the queue. They work much less well when it is a remote start, when the weather is hot or cold or wet or crucially, when the size of the start list means that most of the start slots will be used. It is for this reason that I (as a midlength-course runner) despise queueing starts and the uncertainty that accompanies them. Will I be waiting 30 minutes? Will I get cold?

Of course not everyone feels this way about queueing starts. Ask anyone on the longest or shortest course with much fewer participants, and they likely will not mind them at all as there are plenty more start spots than competitors, and they will have sailed through the queue. The thing that they will most likely mind will be having to listen to their friends on more popular courses complaining endlessly about wait times. To these people I would say please consider the experience of someone on the most popular course. A typical Australian 3-Days prologue medium course has an 80-min start window which is 160 potential start times at 30-second

intervals. If 160+ people have entered (as they did at a recent event), and we assume that when the course opens there are already 30 keen people in the queue, and 40 new keen beans arrive in the next 10 minutes, then 30 arrive every 10 min after that. According to a chatGPT the average wait time will be around 20 min. That’s 20 min of standing in the cold or rain or the blistering heat or even if the weather is perfect, it’s 20 min of standing still before the start of a race. That pretty much reflects my queueing start experience when it’s employed at large events, and it’s almost impossible to avoid it.

I appreciate that it might save someone generating start times, and possibly some volunteers at the start (but probably not), but I believe it makes for a worse experience for a large number of competitors. Alternatives worth considering could be: regular assigned start times, sign-up sheets or start tickets, a wider start window together with a queue that is visible from the arena, or where possible, split the popular courses into an A and B variation - instantly the wait times are halved if the start window remains the same.

I think it’s a logistical achievement to run a single orienteering event, let alone a whole carnival and organisers of orienteering at all levels have my utmost respect and gratitude.

Thank you organisers for your consideration.

Cathy McComb

In response to Grant's letter on live tracking in the last magazine

Grant makes a very good assertion that it is pointless having live tracking if it isn't used at the time. Everyone runs with GPS watches these days and routes can be uploaded instantaneously to Livelox, for example, when it connects with your phone. Or upload your gpx file to Routegadget. What is the value added of live tracking on the way home from an event? For international races, often combined with TV coverage, it is a clear necessity. But for national events or smaller? When was the last time any of us saw a 'proper' spectator at a NOL!? People go to O events to compete, spectating is 'an aside' and if they aren't competing at all, it will probably be some relative who is looking after kids while their parents are running or an orienteer with a broken leg with nothing else to do. They are probably not spectating much but socialising. Which is why you only see bleachers and the like at major internationals like World Orienteering Championships and some World Cups. But even at these events, the vast majority of spectators there will also be doing the spectator races too.

Its a no-brainer to me to give later starts to your 'red group' of elites, thus making the gps tracking live after everyone else has started. This also means you'll have some orienteers in the finish field, post their race, who might actually want to follow the race live. I don't see why any class should have their own raw O challenge of seeing a map and course at the long beep of the start compromised.

Assuming GPS trackers are limited, why not shake up who gets the trackers? Should it always be the 21Es? The juniors would no doubt benefit from the experience, and some veteran classes are highly competitive. You may well end up getting much more 'buy in' for tracking from the O masses rather than it being just the preserve of the 18 - 21Es. And who is to say that watching the dots go round M50 or W65 is any more exciting or duller than watching the 21s trying to get near their 90 min longdistance winning time?

Nick Barrable CompassSport Magazine Editor

Helping the police in the search for missing people

COURTESY OF SWISS ORIENTEERING MAGAZINE 03-2025

TRANSLATED BY SUSI STRASSER

In recent years, the number of rescue operations related to missing persons in and around Stockholm has increased. For operations in forests and difficult terrain, the Stockholm police are now seeking support from professionals off the beaten track: orienteers. What was previously an occasional collaboration through sporadic personal contacts between the police and orienteers is now to be systematised and expanded. Members from eight orienteering clubs have already participated in a police training event, where basic

search techniques and expectations were discussed. The idea is that the trained individuals will then pass on their know-how within their orienteering clubs, allowing many people to quickly search a large area. In addition to off-road capability, the ability to move quickly in the dark thanks to good headlamps is a major advantage, Thomas Rasch, a regional missing persons investigation coordinator for the Stockholm police, explained to the newspaper Mitt i. This way, in an emergency, the work can be divided, the police take over the search in urban areas, while the orienteers search the forests.

Technology for orienteering: Sportident

Exploring the intriguing technology behind orienteering so you can use it too!

COACH TECH-0

Afew years back, a teenager started beating me by 15 s in every sprint race. I figured, if you can't outrun them, upgrade! So I got myself an SI Air. You might be wondering, ’What even is an SI Air, and how does it help?’ Let’s dive into the tech that’s revolutionising orienteering.

Technology development

The last two decades has seen a rapid development in the way orienteers register that they have been to a control. Orienteering events, even championships, relied on a piece of card pinned to your shirt or tied around your wrist to record punch patterns from each control visited. Then the digital age hit orienteering with the introduction of microchips on every participant’s finger. Sportident is used in Australia, emit is used in some countries. This allows instant results and more creative courses, like the inclusion of butterfly loops.

But the biggest change for how the participant approaches a control came with the introduction of SI Air (SPORTident Air+ or SPORTident ActiveCard or SIAC). It is still a microchip on your finger, but the inclusion of a battery, and some cool technology, allows contactless punching. The participant doesn't need to stop at the control now, they can run straight past with a swipe of their hand over the control, saving seconds every time. So my investment in an SI Air should deliver me a faster time!

How it works

Sportident works with the same principle as an old control card. Rather than collecting a bunch of punch patterns, the SI collects

control codes as well as the time. Rather than humans needing to check the patterns, the computer checks the codes against the course you entered. You are supplied with a list of the time taken between each control. This opens up a world of more thorough route analysis and frees up volunteers’ time. Essentially, there are three components: SI-Cards (the small micro-chip for a participant); SI-Stations (electronic boxes at the start, controls and finish); SPORTIdent Config+ (software used by organisers to set up and check everything).

The future

MeshO is being designed in Australia. It is reversing the way a SI-Card communicates so a participant can be tracked at every control, and possibly along their route too. I'm looking forward to these developments to improve the spectator and safety aspects of orienteering!

Final punch

By the way, I haven’t beaten the teenager again. They got faster, not even my SI Air could save me! But I’ve gained something better, an appreciation for how smart tech can improve orienteering, making it faster, fairer, and more fun.

More info

https://act.orienteering.asn.au/2019/12/everything-you-need-toknow-about-sportident-air/ https://www.sportident.com/company/how-it-works

Onalyst: The future of orienteering analysis

NATHAN BORTON

As great as Winsplits is, I’m sure I’m not the first person to desire something a bit more. Like being able to search by person instead of by event, to easily view and analyse past results, or going one step further and being able to compare a head-to-head race by race comparison or even control by control analysis of two athletes. At the end of last year as a data science student with a passion for orienteering who was fast approaching the end of their degree with limited project experience to show for it, I decided to take this on myself, enter onalyst.io

With all Australian Winsplits results in the database (with all events worldwide being ingested daily), this and more is now all possible, with features being constantly developed and implemented monthly. Using Onalyst, orienteers can easily go back and relive their greatest (and not so great) races, as well as viewing data that as far as I know, doesn’t exist anywhere else, such as their total wins, podiums, and even mispunches. There is a global leaderboard where users can see who ranks highest on a variety of metrics including even finish sprints, so some extra incentive to push hard right until the end!

To continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with readily available orienteering data, users who create an

account can opt to receive emails with a preliminary analysis as soon as their results are live and automatically updated descriptions on their Strava activities. For those more competitively inclined, there are also some highly prototyped tools to identify areas of improvement as seen in the screen grab below, which I hope to further develop for the betterment of coaching and athlete performance alike. So go check it out and follow the Instagram @onalyst.io to stay up to date with everything new being added!

Brodie Nankervis with SI Air. Photo by John Cherry.

To follow the rules, you must first be aware of the rules… Part 1

ALASDAIR PEDLEY. THE MAPPER’S CORNER. COURTESY OF COMPASSSPORT

Most orienteers know that there are standardised sets of symbols and so, as the President of Finland recently said, ‘The map speaks a common language, whatever your background’. There are two specifications which define these symbols: ISOM for forest maps, and ISSprOM for sprint maps. However, they do so much more than just define the symbols. In fact, they tell you pretty much everything you need to know to make good maps. They specify a whole host of rules so that maps are readable, even at 1:15,000: minimum gaps between objects, minimum lengths of lines, minimum widths and total sizes of areas, even minimum widths and depths of reentrants [called ‘gullies’ in Australia]. However, there is a fallacy here: The specifications say that many of these rules must be obeyed on all orienteering maps, but I would estimate less than 5% of orienteering maps meet this. ISSprOM is very strict on this. In ISOM, some of the rules are worded ‘should’ rather than ‘must’, and can occasionally be broken, with the caveat ‘the full implications must be understood and carefully weighed’. Including these ‘should’ rules, I am yet to see a map of any remotely technical area that fully conforms, and that includes all of my own maps and all the WOC24 maps. I'll openly admit that. It's hard, very hard, to fully comply. It's difficult to measure how good or bad a map is. OCAD has a tool which tries to quantify the number of deviations from the specification, but it doesn't work particularly well. Clubs often ask for maps ‘to ISOM’ or ‘to ISSprOM’ but sometimes with little idea of what this actually entails and

whether the map they receive meets it. I think it would be a good thing if more people were aware of what the specs say and this could significantly improve the average quality of the maps we run on. In particular, it would help clubs hold mappers accountable for bad maps. As a professional mapper, saying this is perhaps seemingly against my own interests. Though I do my utmost to stick to the specs, there are occasional deviations. However, since a) I draw everything manually, and b) I know what the spec says, I usually know if and when I'm breaking it. Some breaks are worse than others. The 0.4 mm gap between uncrossable symbols on an ISSprOM map is probably the strongest rule - you move heaven and earth (shrink buildings, bend walls etc) not to break that one. But an area of scattered trees with only seven white dots? The minimum size is eight dots, but it's unlikely to ruin anyone's race.

National Junior Training Camp

Start late afternoon of Friday 12 December 2025

Finish at lunchtime on Tuesday 16 December

Cataract Scout Camp, Southern Highlands NSW

We apologise to those still at school that time of year. We tried to book for a week later but were unable to do so.

Events during WOW 2025 in Australia

3025+ participations

ACT 577+ participations

Eight events including ACT Metro Series The Pinnacle 139, Mt Taylor 169, ACT League #4 Tidbinbilla 113

NSW 788+

Thirteen events including SOS Northside Balgowlah 213, 2025 Metro League #3 Kentlyn 174

NT 38

NT 2025 Casuarina Beach 38

Queensland 480+

Fourteen events including Toowoomba SHS sprint 72, MTBO State Series 3 Narangba 74

South Australia 137+

Five events including Tatachilla College (OY) 78

Tasmania 282

Three events including Risdon Brook Middle OST 7 117, UTAS Sandy Bay Sprint OST 6 129

Victoria 608

Eleven events including MelBushO 4 Macedon 116, Vic Series 3 Spring Gully 114, Western Australia 115+

Three events including Bush 2 John Forrest National Park 90

National Junior Training Camp in 2024 in ACT.

Photo by Hania Lada.

Orienteering clubs in Queensland

Thank you to OQ and the contributors from Queensland clubs

Bullecourt Boulder Bounders

LIZ BOURNE

The Bullecourt Boulder Bounders Club covers the Southern Downs region of Queensland, centred on the towns of Warwick and Stanthorpe. It was formed in 1983 after local interest was generated by the Australian Orienteering Championships which were held in the Passchendaele State Forest, west of Stanthorpe, in 1982. The club name is derived from a locality in the forest which was named after one of the soldier settlements established on the Granite Belt after World War One. The logo of a southern log runner on a boulder was created by one of the founding club members, Christine Gregg. The Granite Belt region contains some of the best orienteering terrain in Queensland and the club has hosted many state and national championships as well as the Asia Pacific Championships in 2000.

Far North Orienteering

ORIENTEERING QUEENSLAND WEBSITE

Orienteering is conducted in Cairns as part of Adventure Sport NQ's activities. The club conducts six Park O events in winter each year on a Thursday evening, and several bush O events on the Tablelands during the year.

Paradise Lost Orienteers

ORIENTEERING QUEENSLAND WEBSITE

Paradise Lost Orienteers Inc. (PLQ) is the orienteering club for the Gold Coast and nearby. PLQ primarily engages in mounting traditional foot orienteering events as a community service.

Sunshine Orienteers Club

BRENDAN HENRY

Sunshine Orienteers was established in 1998. Gordon Howitt was inaugural president, John Earls was vice president, Cath Howitt secretary, and Allison Swan treasurer. The first meeting was attended by 25 people. Current membership is about 75. The Club's logo colours are blue and yellow (gold) with yellow representing the sun and blue representing the ocean and points of the compass. The Sunshine Orienteers Club area takes in from Caboolture to Gympie and west to Maleny and Woodford.In the early years, there were few bush maps on the Sunshine Coast, and fairly low event attendances.Since 2003, club members and others have created many MTBO maps in pine forest plantations, especially in the Glasshouse area.Event attendance grew with this focus. And the club organises multiple MTBO events each year. In more recent years, the club has organised more foot-O events (park events and also some OY events). In the last five years, we organised multiple series of Night Nav events using the MapRun App, which have proved to be quite popular.

Totally Tropical Orienteering Club

ORIENTEERING QUEENSLAND WEBSITE

Totally Tropical Orienteering Club (TTOC) is Townsville's Orienteering and Rogaining Club.

A small group of enthusiastic orienteers plan and conduct events in and around Townsville and compete throughout North Queensland and Australia. TTOC is also involved in planning and conducting events for the scouts, council holiday programs and the army, as well as providing assistance with school programs.

Enoggeroos

LUCY PELJO

Enoggeroos began in 1979 when Brisbane Orienteering Association (BOA) became the umbrella organisation for several smaller Brisbane clubs. It was Enoggeroos’ responsibility to organise the north side events on the event calendar created by the central administration in BOA. The Brisbane suburb of Enoggera is geographically the middle of our catchment, so a club name based on that name was adopted. Our club name was suggested by Graham Buckley, and the famous Enoggeroo symbol combining a compass and kangaroo was suggested by Mike Keane.

Multi Terrain Bike Orienteers

CRAIG STEFFENS

The Multi Terrain Bike Orienteers (MTBO) Club, established in 2007, is Queensland's first dedicated mountain bike orienteering organisation. Based in Brisbane, the club promotes the sport of cross-country cycling combined with navigation, and organising events across urban and natural areas throughout the state. In mountain bike orienteering, participants use specially produced maps to navigate roads, tracks, and trails, aiming to reach control markers in the shortest time. Courses vary from 5 km to over 40 km, accommodating riders of all abilities.

In recent years, the Multi Terrain Bike Orienteers (MTBO) Club has continued to foster mountain bike orienteering in Queensland through a series of notable events and achievements. In September 2023, the club successfully hosted the Australian MTBO Championships in Brisbane, featuring four stages within the greater Brisbane area. This event also included the AUS/NZ MTBO Challenge, the Queensland Championships, and a round of the National MTBO Series. Throughout 2024, the MTBO Club organised several key events as part of the Queensland MTBO State Series. Notable among these were the Woodford MTBO in May and the Ivory's Rock MTBO at Peak Crossing in July. These events attracted participants from across the state, contributing to the growth and visibility of mountain bike orienteering in the region.

Australian Championships carnival weather

BLAIR TREWIN

Ewan K

William H

TAS Schools Team

Senior Girls

Katie Clauson, Sophie Hartmann, Margot Marcant, Liana Stubbs

Senior Boys

Sam Barker, Euan Best, Isaac Butler, Callum Degenaar, Edwin Rapley

Junior Girls

Aria Butler, Ella Clauson, Beatrix Louis, Ivy Rapley

Junior Boys

Huon Armstrong, Archie Blake, Angus Hewitt, Henry Jordan

Pierre Marcant, Felix Ward

Team officials are

Klaas Hartmann (manager)

Imojen Pearce (assistant manager)

Alison Stubbs (coach)

Orienteering Tasmania is pleased to announce that following the selection trials, the following students have been selected for the Tasmanian Schools Orienteering Team 2025 to compete in the Australian Championships Carnival in Brisbane, Queensland, which includes the 3-day Australian Schools Orienteering Championships.

Katie C

Orienteering New Zealand (ONZ) is pleased to be able to confirm that the full Southern Cross Team has been finalised.

NZ Karahiwi Schools Team

Senior Girls: Anna Batcheler, Ami McGowan, Morag McLellan, Amy Nicoll (subject to fitness), Greta Prince

Senior Boys: Oscar Burns, Arya Chebbi, Jake McLellan, Solomon Randerson, William Wood (subject to fitness)

Junior Girls: Sophie Bacchus, Elena Burns, Sophie Herde, Lara Nicoll, Christine Symons

Junior Boys: Aiden Barrett-Hamilton, James Diprose, James Keir, Alex Maxwell, Xavier White

are Managers: Susy Carryer, Lara Malloy, Kathryn Chrystal; Coaches: Tane Cambridge, Michael Croxford, Nathan Borton.

NZ Harua Schools Team

Senior Girls: Niamh Hoare, Orla Hoare, Kate Robinson, Zara Toes, Anna Wright

Senior Boys: Tahi Harris, Blake McKinnon, Zack Meads,Leo Croxford (subject to fitness), Leo O’Neill

Junior Girls: Maggie Bauzon, Jemima Hoskin, Ianthe MacMillan Armstrong, Emily Reeves, Victoria Underwood

Junior Boys: Alfie Cochrane, Tristan Jayasuriya, Kade McLoughlan, Daniel Porteous, Jacob Williams

Leo C

Kate R

Victoria U

Tahi H

Orla H

Zara T

Tristan J

Ianthe M

Niamh H

Blake M

NZ Team officials

Emily R

Anna W

Kade M

Alfie C

Leo O

Jemima H

Daniel P Maggie B Jacob W

Zack M

Sophie H

Oscar B

Lara N

Ami M

Amy N Morag M

Anna B

James D

Solomon R

Elena B Sophie B

Alex M Xavier W

Aiden B-H

Jake M

James K

Greta P

William W Arya C

Christine S

Anzac Weekend 25 to 27 April, 2026

• Three multi-day length events on the best maps in Woodhill Forest

• Chasing starts for most classes on Day 3.

• Camping available close to the event centres on a beautiful deer farm, ideal for those picking up a small camper van or who are willing to stay in a tent.

• 20 minutes drive to the Parakai hot pools and food places.

All event information plus a link to where to enter will be posted here www.nwoc.org.nz/events

AMTBO 5 Days in Czechia

ustralian mountain bike orienteering (MTBO) riders performed strongly at the recent MTBO 5 Days carnival in Czechia, with outstanding performances by the W70 riders, Heather Leslie and Carolyn Cusworth from Bayside Kangaroos (BK). Over 800 riders gathered for the biannual carnival of multiformat events including ‘hornets nest’, sprint, middle, long and ‘semi-free-order chasing start’. Based out of Ejpovice, the weather was warm/hot and the forests amazing, as was the organisation of the Plzen club. In W70, Heather Leslie won all five events showing great speed and navigational accuracy. She went into the chasing start event with over a 60 min lead. Carolyn Cusworth was consistent with three second, and two third places to make it an Australian quinella. In M70, Peter Cusworth (BK) was in the mix for a podium finish going into the ‘chasing start’. In this event, riders are required to ride a line course in order but along the way collect a given number of other controls in any order. Unfortunately, Peter missed a control to drop out of contention. Other Australian riders were Ricky Thackray (Bibbulmun, M40),

Marina

Iskhakova interviews Kris Kleeman

Marina: Kris, what did you feel at your first start of your first World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Champs (WMMTBOC) when you were standing at the start line?

Kris: Whilst standing at the start line of the middle course at Ricote, there was a mixture of feelings and emotions. Firstly, really excited to finally be here after all the travel and preparation. Looking around and seeing all the other racers sporting their national colours I became trepid with anticipation, this is the moment I had been working, training and planning towards, and my mind started to stray and ponder several questions. Am I ready? Am I fit enough? Have I done enough pre-race training? Should I have done more hill interval training? Have I studied the course maps and can I now identify the major landmarks? Is my bike tuned and in good working order? Will I get horribly lost in a foreign land? The answer to all these questions bouncing around in my head was a resounding ‘Yes’. All the while I was immensely proud to be there wearing the green and gold for the first time in competition, carrying the support of my family, friends and fellow MTBO community. Overall, it felt surreal, until I received the map and then 60 s later I hit the first single track whilst dodging lemon trees and an overzealous photographer, it was game on.

Marina: Please tell a little bit about yourself, your profession, main outdoor activities, some unique things about you.

Kris: I sponsor my MTBO travel and activities as an environmental scientist primarily as an aquatic ecologist. I’m currently project managing a major project exploring plausible future hydroclimates in the nation's biggest river system. This is a challenging role as water security in the future is one of the biggest threats to all living entities. I bought my first mountain bike in

1984, which I saved for by doing a paper round in the CBD of Frankston Victoria. It was the first mountain bike in the bike shed at school, and I’ve had at least one ever since. I have always loved exploring new places and new riding destinations sometimes with a trusty map. It always gives me a real buzz to ride new trails for the first time with likeminded comrades. Generally, I find serenity by bush walking, fishing, bird watching, whale spotting and always have a pair of binoculars at the ready. Water sports are a great source of relaxation for me, such as body boarding, swimming and kayaking. So I do love packing the toys in the car for our regular trips to the coast, and of course there is always a bike on there as well. A keen pastime whilst travelling is that I enjoy analysing landscapes and pondering how they were formed. This always fascinates me, and we are so lucky in Australia to have so many diverse landscapes.

Marina: When did you first try MTBO? What was the motivation?

Kris: My first foray into the world of MTBO was at my local tracks in Bruce Ridge, Canberra. Initially as a ‘come and try for beginners’ session, and then my first race in February 2022. Had someone said that in three years I would be representing Australia at the WMMTBO in Spain, I just would have laughed with a quick ‘Yeah Nah’. Post-Covid where I did a lot of solo riding, I was looking for a new challenge and to reconnect with like-minded people who enjoy MTB competitions. Previously I had raced in downhill, cross country and in 24 h competitions and was looking for a new challenge and MTBO appeared to be a good fit.

Marina: Please tell a little bit about your MTBO development and why this sport attracted you so much?

Kris: I first ventured into foot orienteering whilst in primary school (early 80’s) and placed second in my age group in the Victorian Schools Championships. During my teenage years I spent many a weekend during my scouting career navigating my way through the many wonderful national parks in Victoria. I was comfortable with a map and compass, however reading the map and navigating at high speed was a new skill which I

JOHN GAVENS

Carolyn Jackson (BK, W50), Bill Vandendool (BK, M70) and John Gavens (BK, M70). All four completed all five events and finished halfway or better in their classes.

Carolyn Jackson.

Photo by Petr Hap.

John Gavens. Photo by Petr Hap.

Peter Cusworth.

Photo by Jan Racek.

Carolyn Cusworth.

Photo by Jan Racek.

Bill Vandendool.

Photo by Jan Racek.

Local wildlife.

Photo by Jan Racek.

Ricky Thackray.

Photo by Petr Hap.

Heather Leslie. Photo by Petr Hap.

Kris Kleeman.

Photo by Eloisa Tapia.

relished. Combining these skills with my love of riding unexplored trails was a natural fit for me and I’ve been hooked ever since. I progressed from local races where I was familiar with the terrain and trails to the national circuit. This was a giant leap in complexity of course and I really enjoyed the challenge. It was not a smooth transition, and I have made mistakes, such as the NSW MTBO Championships in 2023 at Jacks Ridge in Nambucca Heads, where I picked up the wrong map and only realised halfway through the course when I unfolded the map and saw the class list and course number. It was a long drive from Canberra to the Coffs Coast to be disqualified. Although the trails at Jacks Ridge I highly rate and they are worth visiting if you are in the region.

Marina: What were your highlights of your first WMMTBOC25?

Zealand competitors is something I will carry forward in my future endeavours.

Marina: We know you had the best support crew with you, your family. How was WMMTBOC for them?

Kris: A big part of this trip was spending time with family that we had not seen since before COVID. We saw this competition as a great opportunity to get together, have a cerveza (or two), eat great local produce, laugh a lot and be merry, and that’s exactly what we did. My support crew consisted of representatives from Australia, Spain, Portugal, England, America and Ireland, 17 in all. My three children Ruairi, Darragh, and Niamh were so supportive and very proud of their old man. I was very grateful to have them there to share the experience. My long-suffering wife who arranged the logistics for this trip has sworn to never travel with a bike bag and three adolescents again. It was also her first time attending a MTBO event, and found the world MTBO community to be a great bunch of people. She is looking forward to the next major event, but I will be doing the logistics.

Kris: My family and I have been fortunate to travel to Spain a couple of times as we have family who live in Madrid, but we had never travelled to the Murcia region. I love the Spanish emphasis on family, so my first highlight was meeting the other Aussies and introducing them to my family at the opening ceremony. Whilst taking a few quick pics, one of the race officials approached my daughter and whisked her away to get kitted up, and she became the new Australian flag bearer, much to my surprise and hers. The middle course in Ricote was my favourite. Set beside the small village with a population of 1500, the course was a combination of navigating small lemon and olive plantations, ancient irrigation trenches, narrow access tracks and finishing in the town centre. I’m not sure all the locals got the memo that there will be 400 odd dusty mountain bikers rolling through the orchard access tracks and the narrow town streets, however they welcomed the spectacle. Another highlight were the landscapes, although challenging to navigate, they were intriguing because they intertwined with villages full of interesting histories, each unique in their stories and fascinating to uncover.

Marina: Tell us about your mass course. It took you several hours, but you never gave up and fought till the end and found the most difficult controls and completed the course. How was it? What was the most terrifying and challenging experience?

Kris: This course was in Las Salinas on the outskirts of Molina De Segura, and yes, I got lost on a number of checkpoints, losing a lot of time, so after 4 h 20 min in 30+ degrees I persisted to the end, however there were times I questioned my life choices. My key motivation was knowing that I had the support of my family, friends, colleagues and the MTBO community and that was all the drive I needed. I had not come this far to quit just because it got a bit hard. The course was set in barren arid quarry-like landscape with very loose shale, tricky terrain to ride with some fantastic single track ridgeline descents that tested the agility of all riders and bikes. I had done some research on the geology of this region and had changed my tyres accordingly, this paid off as many a rider came off with minor injuries. Mostly minor, thankfully. The area had sparse tall vegetation, mostly thick shrubs in the lower areas so landmarks were not visible and the navigation between checkpoints was tricky. By far the toughest course I had ever completed with a fair number of competitors mispunching or not finishing. It was great to be greeted by my support crew and the other Aussies at the finish line, even though I was a bit later than anticipated. Special thanks to the Aussie contingent of Peter, Carloyn, John, Heather and Kay for sticking around. It was also great to see the bling that you had acquired that day, congrats. It was great to meet awesome people who share a passion for getting lost on their bike. The camaraderie with the Australian and New

Marina: What do you think about the future of MTBO?

Kris: There is great potential for MTBO to expand in Australia. I’m constantly hearing about new trails and networks coming online and being developed, with the support of local riders, local businesses and all levels of government. There are so many destinations that now have the facilities to host MTBO events, with more to come. This is an exciting time to be a mountain biker as regional communities embrace biking tourism with an added boost to local economies that wasn’t there five years ago. MTBO events can really capitalise on these new trail networks. Places such as Mogo, Eden, Narooma, Tumbarumba, Omeo and Warburton are few that spring to mind that would be great places where MTBO events could be held. All these destinations are less than three years old. Participating in the WMMTBOC event opened my eyes as to how Australia now has the destinations to host world class events and promote MTBO as another version of competition, aside from the traditional downhill, enduro and cross-country disciplines, to a new generation of riders.

Marina: How did WMMTBOC change your worldview? What is your next big goal/dream?

Kris: It certainly was a steep learning curve, but it has certainly reinvigorated my love for this discipline. Now knowing how competitive it is in Europe I would like to see that level of competitiveness combined with challenging navigation on technical courses here. We have the destinations, the varied terrain and climate here in Australia to host these events. I’m now aiming to compete at the WMMTBOC in Latvia 2027. Please don’t tell my wife yet, it’s a surprise.

Marina: What would you recommend to other people, who are reading this interview, who wanted to try WMOC or WMMTBOC, but have not dared yet.

Kris: Get amongst it and give it a go! The broader world MTBO community is a fantastic bunch of people who love getting dirty and lost on their bikes as much as I do, and sharing this passion is a great experience to meet new people. MTBO is such a multi-skilled discipline of competition that allows all riders to build on their skills. I figure that if you don’t challenge yourself, you don’t grow and learn. The WMMTBOC courses were difficult but exhilarating at the same time and I am a better orienteer for challenging myself and I am really looking forward to my next campaign.

Opening ceremony Australian flag bearer, Niamh, with Kris. Photo by Caitriona Dowd.

Typical trails, the middle course.

Some of the support crew waiting patiently at the finish. Photo by Eloisa Tapia.

The Australian and New Zealand contingents after finishing the sprint course. Photo by Caitriona Dowd.

How do you correctly set up a control point in the field?

FROM SPORTIDENT.COM NEWS

MICDT answers

Quiz answers: 1B, 2D, 3B.

any of you who organise events yourselves will know the scenario: Who will place the controls? How do I get the control stands quickly and securely into the ground – and what tools do I need? Especially when things need to move quickly, serious mistakes can happen: the control stand is fully assembled with the station already attached and then driven into the hard ground with force. A hammer might even be used. Blow by blow, the stand sinks deeper into the ground. Sounds good? Unfortunately not. Every strike of the hammer is transferred directly to the electronic device. The station, already mounted on the stand, absorbs every impact – and this can cause serious damage, in the worst case even leading to the station catching fire. Our clear recommendation: First set up the control stand – and only then attach the station. This way, you’re on the safe side and can ensure a smooth event that everyone enjoys.

Keep on running

JOHN GAVENS

An article, entitled 'I’m 81 and winning comps’ featuring orienteer Judi Herkes, appeared in the Herald Sun Weekend magazine. It includes details of the surgery (double hip replacement with robotics) that enabled her to comeback and win orienteering events at the national level. The main message is about overcoming hurdles to continue to compete and achieve.

National participation committee meets for the first time

DANIEL STOTT

ASpot the difference answers

Glossary of acronyms

ANZ Australia-New Zealand

AO The Australian Orienteer

AOC Australian Orienteering Championships

Herkes

ASC Australian Sports Commission

ASOC Australian Schools Orienteering Championships

DNF / DNS Did Not Finish / Did Not Start

EOC European Orienteering Championships

EOD Enter On the Day

EYOC European Youth Orienteering Championships

IOF International Orienteering Federation

JWMTBOC Junior World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships

JWOC Junior World Orienteering Championships

MTBO Mountain Bike Orienteering

NOL National Orienteering League

OA Orienteering Australia

the

SCJC Southern Cross Junior Challenge

WMTBOC World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships

WOC World Orienteering Championships

WRE World Ranking Event

strategic step has been achieved within orienteering participation through the creation of a participation committee. It comprises of a participation coordinator from each state/territory and lead by the OA manager, participation. The purpose is to create effective communication channels from OA to the grassroots and vice-versa. The committee will also be responsible for creating the participation plan which guides future projects and funding. Please engage with your local participation coordinator to help grow the sport we love.

Judi

on the podium at

Australian Orienteering Championships 2024 with her gold medal. Photo by Terry Cooke.

Top Events

Sep 5-7

AUS MTBO Championships 2025 WA

Sep 18-21 U23 WMTBO Championships Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

Sep 25-29

Orienteering World Cup Final Uster, Switzerland

Sep 27 - Oct 5 AUS Champs Carnival 2025 Brisbane, Queensland

Dec 27-31

Jan 24-26

Preliminary dates

March 1-6

Xmas 5 Days 2025 Lake Macquarie, NSW

Oceania Champs 2026, Sprint Central Coast, NSW

World Ski-O Champs 2025 Japan

Apr 3-6 Australian 3 Days & Australian O Championships 2026 Tasmania

Apr 3-6 New Zealand O Championships 2026

Apr 24-26

May 27-31

June 25-27

June 29 - July 4

July 6-11

July 19-25

July 27 - Aug 2

Aug 5-9

Aug 7-14

Aug 25-30

Sept 9-13

Preliminary dates

Sep 23-27

Sep 26 - Oct 4

Oct 8-11

Preliminary datesPreliminary dates

Nov 12-15

Orienteering World Cup Round 1 Switzerland

Orienteering World Cup Round 2

Sweden

European Youth Orienteering Championships Slovenia

JWOC 2026

Karlskrona, Sweden

WOC Sprint 2026 Genova, Italy

O-RINGEN 2026 Göteborg, Sweden

FISU World Uni Orienteering Champs 2026, Portugal

Orienteering World Cup Round 3 Czechia

WMOC 2026

Rzeszów, Poland

WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Mora, Sweden

WMMTBOC 2026 Forres, Scotland, UK

Orienteering World Cup Final & EOC 2026, Lithuania

Oceania O Championships 2027, ASOC & SCJC 2026, ACT

AUS MTBO Championships 2026 Ballarat, Vic

South American Orienteering Championships 2026, Chile

2027

May 21-29

Preliminary dates

June 2-6

June 10-16

June 25-28

July 2-7

July 11-17

WMOC 2027

Japan

Orienteering World Cup Round 1

Sweden

WMTBOC & JWMTBOC

Latvia

European Youth Orienteering Championships Latvia

Orienteering World Cup Round 2 Czechia

JWOC 2027

Kłodzko Valley, Poland

Aug 9-14 WOC 2027

Veszprém, Hungary

Sep 29 - Oct 3

Nov 4-5

Nov 9-14

Preliminary dates

2028

April 26-30

Preliminary dates

Nov 1-5

Preliminary dates

Orienteering World Cup Round 3 & EOC 2027, Switzerland

Orienteering World Cup Final

Spain

World Trail O Championships 2027 United States

WOC Sprint 2028

Spain

Orienteering World Cup Final & EOC 2028, Portugal