The Australian Orienteer - June 2004

President: Bob McCreddin Director (Administration): Dave Lotty, PO Box 740 Glebe NSW 2037 Ph. (02) 9660 2067 (w), (02) 9569 2380 (h) orienteering@dsr.nsw.gov.au Director (Finance): Kathy Liley, Phone (03) 9802 5834 Director (Development): Bob Mouatt, PO Box W49 Wanniassa ACT 2903 Phone (02) 6231 2463 Manager (Coaching Programs): Neville Bleakley, 30 Gledden Street Chifley ACT 2606 Ph (02) 6207 3723 Badge Applications: John Oliver, 68 Amaroo Street Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

STATE ASSOCIATIONS Queensland OA: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004 Secretary: Robin Spriggs (07) 3369 0880 (h) qoa@qoa.asn.au OA NSW: PO Box 740, Glebe NSW 2037 Secretary: Dave Lotty (02) 9660 2067 (w), 9569 2380 (h) orienteering@dsr.nsw.gov.au Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402, Jamison Centre ACT 2614 Secretary: Bill Jones (02) 6251 3885 actoa@austarmetro.com.au Victorian OA: 332 Banyule Rd, Viewbank VIC 3084 Secretary: Warwick Williams Ph. (03) 9459 0853 voa@netspace.net.au OA South Australia: State Association House, 73 Wakefield Street Adelaide SA 5000. Secretary: Phil Stoeckel OA Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6094 Secretary: Cath Chalmers (08) 9380 4049 (h) catheoin@ozemail.com.au Orienteering Tasmania Inc.: PO Box 339, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005 Secretary: Warwick Moore (03) 6248 6405 secretary.oti@trump.net.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821 Secretary: Susi Bertei (08) 8981 5841

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA website: www.orienteering.asn.au

CONTENTS ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 2/04 (no. 134) JUNE 2004

The national magazine of Orienteering Australia Inc. ABN 77 406 995 497 Published four times a year: First of March, June, September, December Editor and Advertising: Ian Baker, PO Box 294, Black Rock, Vic. 3193. ianb@netspace.net.au Phone/Fax (03) 9598 0215 Magazine Design & Assembly: Peter Cusworth, 8 View Street, Avonsleigh, Vic. 3782 Ph. (03) 5968 5254 cusworth@netspace.net.au Magazine Treasurer: Kathy Liley Printer: Priden Printing Services, 21 Century Drive, Braeside, Vic. 3195 Dates for 2004 Cover date Contribution deadline Despatch to states

September, Spring 23 July 27 August

December, Summer 22 October 26 November The date shown for contributions is not, repeat not, the desired date; it is the last date that matter will be received. Any non-topical matter should be presented as soon as it can be ready.

The policy on publication dates is that normally the magazine is dispatched in bulk from the printer in Melbourne in time for states to be able to have it in members’ hands at the very beginning of month of cover date. This policy was established by all states in conference.

Regular Contributors: Badge Awards: John Oliver; Coaching/Training: Nev Bleakley; Competition: Blair Trewin; Events/Results: Leigh Privett; High Performance: Mike Dowling; MTBO: Blake Gordon; Official News: Dave Lotty; Running the Business: Bob Mouatt; Ski-O: Ian Baker; Nutrition: Gillian Woodward.

Contributions are welcome, either directly or via State editorial contacts. Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions. Guidelines for Contributors are available from the editor or from state contacts.

State Editorial Contacts Qld. – Liz Bourne 07 4683 6374 (h) batmaps@halenet.com.au NSW – Ron Pallas 02 9526 6229 ronpallas@hotmail.com ACT – Matthew Purcell 02 6231 2121 mattpurc@webone.com.au Vic. – Pam King 03 5968 3076 (h) quincrick@bigpond.com SA – Heather Smith 08 8463 3889 (w) Heather.Smith@state.sa.gov.au WA – Nicole Davis 08 9388 6451 shiraz@fizzyred.com Tas. – Mary Hawthorne 03 6243 8616 (h) editor.oti@trump.net.au Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO Box 294, Black Rock, Vic. 3193. Within Australia: $36 inc GST. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $40, Rest of World $45. Delivery is airmail, there is no seamail option. Please send payment in Australian dollars by bank draft or international postal order, or pay direct by Visa or Mastercard. Quote full card number and expiry date.

Subscription renewals (direct subscriptions only). The number in the top right-hand corner of the address label indicates the final issue in your current subscription.

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

2 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

EDITORIAL....................................... 3 LETTERS.......................................... 5 NEWS............................................. 7 COMPETITION................................... 14 2004 Australian 3 Days, Ipswich, QLD

National Orienteering League

Melbourne 4 Days

DID YOU KNOW?................................ 23 R O U T E T O G O L D – Thierry Gueorgiou. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 U S I N G A H E A R T R AT E M O N I TO R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 A G R E A T S W E D I S H L E G .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 ENZED NEWS.................................... 29 H I G H P E R F O R M A N C E .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 KEEP’N IT REAL................................ 33 STRING COURSES............................... 34 A THOUGHT SPORT............................. 36 NUTRITION...................................... 37 OFFICIAL NEWS................................. 38 R U N N I N G T H E B U S I N E S S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 MTB-O NEWS.................................... 40 B U Y I N G A M O U N TA I N B I K E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 FROM FOOT-O TO MTB-O MAPS................ 44 MTB-O TRAINING............................... 46 F I X T U R E S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7 Front Cover: Susanne Casanova (SA) just after the start of the Galaxy Sprint at Ipswich at Easter in which she finished fifth.

Photo: Peter Cusworth

EDITORIAL

Where do most people orienteer?

acknowledged growing interest in park and street events (see front cover, Sept ’03). And in the chilly depths of a London winter street night events can be found.

Are we following the trend or are we leading it?

Effect on membership

Guest editorial Michael Hubbert (Vic.)

I

N Victoria, the answer to that question is, “In local parks and streets.”

The trend is similar in other states with growing participation in local park and street events in NSW, SA, WA and ACT. Clearly the demand for more local events is there: in Victoria summer series (weekday evenings during daylight-saving months) participation has risen from 7,154 in ’01-’02 to 8,154 in ’02-’03 and to 8,896 in ’03-’04, increases of 14% and 9% respectively. Last summer there were four separate series held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively.

Now, in mid-winter, Melbourne night owls are out twice a week with maps and headlamps, and there are Saturday afternoon events as well.

14000 12000 10000

No. of competitors

Local Park & Street

8000

Participation doesn’t automatically translate to membership. In Western Australia almost half the participants in local park and street events are not members of OAWA. In Victoria the picture is very similar. The challenge for state associations is to attract these nonmembers into the fold. As the nature of orienteering changes Orienteering Australia (OA) and the state associations must face this challenge to make membership relevant and more attractive to the many new participants who are, at present, opting not to become members.

OA was due to discuss these issues at the National Development Conference in May. The action plans coming from this conference should have a wide-ranging effect on the future of orienteering in this country. The recommendation to the state associations should be, “The trend is clear: take advantage of the opportunity to grow our sport and, in particular, make membership attractive to new participants.”

Mike Hubbert took part in the first Australian orienteering event in 1969. At press date he had 1810 orienteering event starts to his credit.

He has held many official positions including Secretary of the Orienteering Federation of Australia, now Orienteering Australia.

Also see the editorial in the March 2002 issue of this magazine.

This advocated reducing annual membership fees to $20 and increasing event entry fees to compensate; in Victoria the average event entry fee would increase by just 44 cents. The editorial also put forward proposals for automatic membership after say five events and for membership cards in states where they were not already issued.

Bush

6000 4000 2000 0 2001

2002

2003

The chart compares participation in local park and street events in Victoria with that in all other forms of orienteering (including MTBO and Ski-O, but excluding non-Victorian participants at recent major events such as Easter and World Masters).

Last calendar year 2003, 62% of participation was in local park and street events.

Power Walkers (a power walker is not allowed to jog or to run) made up much of the growth.

Why is this so?

In the words of the good Professor Sumner Miller, “Why is this so?”

Essentially, it seems that people don’t like having to drive a four or more hours round-trip from a big city like Melbourne for a 40-60 minute course in the forest.

Double-header weekends – events on both Saturday and Sunday - do help ease the driving but then the whole weekend is devoted to orienteering. Few families can do that and certainly not too often in the year.

Of course, there are those who will attend anything, but we do need to look beyond the super-committed if we are to grow the sport.

Those who have a life outside orienteering must be catered for also.

The solution

The area of growth in orienteering is local events in which the organising time commitment is measured in hours rather than days and in which people can take part near home.

By introducing the Sprint-O format, pioneered by the Park World Tour organisation, the International Orienteering Federation has

Orienteering is a spectator sport. At least for this lady in the streets of North Melbourne on Good Friday this year. Peter Dalwood was on Day One of the Melbourne Easter Four Days. Report page 22 Photo: Wally Cavill JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

EDITORIAL

LETTERS

Your magazine In the black in 2003

$317 THE Australian Orienteer traded at a small surplus of $822 for the Other $6,899 calendar year 2003.

Ads Income totalled $34,018, almost all sales to states (these are the copies supplied to members as part of annual subscriptions) and advertisements. $26,802 Production costs including editorial expenses were not covered by the sales to states; advertising bridged the gap. States and subscriptions $2,440 was paid to the editor as part of the editorial consultancy contract. The balance of the fees due, making $12,440 in total, was met from an Australian Sports Commission grant.

The Australian Orienteer welcomes letters from members. Preference will be given to letters which are concise and which make positive points. The editor reserves the right to edit letters, particularly ones which are longer than 300 words.

Victorinox letter of the month Noel Schoknecht (WA) for his letter on “O” for “orienteering”.

Noel receives a Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/ alarm/timer, retail value $109.95.

The price charged to states is reviewed annually at Easter for the following year. In 2005 the cost per copy supplied in bulk to states will be $4.00 an increase of 10c a copy on the 2004 price. This is plus 2.6%, the same as the Consumer Price Index change in the twelve months of 2003.

$6,899 Ads

$317 Other

$2,440 Editor contract

$1,292 Other

$26,802 States and subscriptions

$29,465 Production inc. editor expenses

Income

Expenditure

A new editor THERE comes a time when you need to give up a job you’ve enjoyed for quite a few years, to rest and to pursue other interests. For me, as editor of The Australian Orienteer the time has come after eight years this time round (and six years before that, from 1979 to 1985).

With the input of$1,292 a good team of regular contributors and Peter $2,440 Other Cusworth as art director, and the support of OA Finance Director Kathy Editor contract Liley in keeping the subscriptions and the accounts in order, it has been my aim to bring the magazine out on-time, to be financial and, above all, to be a good read for orienteers.

I know the magazine will continue to be eagerly awaited by readers. $29,465 Production inc. thrice, so I leave with just three wishes I A soufflé is unlikely to rise would like theeditor genieexpenses to grant orienteering in Australia.

First is a broad vision, the ability to see the whole forest and not just every leaf on every tree. This broad vision needs to be articulated and preached.

Second is the ability to prioritise; we cannot do everything, so we need to concentrate energy and resources on the most important and achievable matters. Outstanding among these, and not tackled, is promotional marketing to get more people orienteering in more places more often and to gain sponsor support.

Third is getting things done; we need to talk less and achieve more. Management systems are needed (they have been proposed but not adopted so far) to track and to manage projects on an active basis.

My best wishes to you all.

Ian Baker, Editor

When “O” is the right thing to say I’VE got this theory. It all started because family and friends outside of the orienteering fraternity continually asked, “How’s the rogaining?” or “What sport to you do again?” Well I did a fair bit of rogaining early on, but it’s not my main sport, and why don’t they remember that I have been orienteering for 27 years?

Well, it’s just like the nose on your face. The word orienteering is too long. And too hard to say. Five syllables are beyond the capacity of most memories these days – a bit like those ten digit mobile phone numbers I can never remember. Two syllables are ideal, three at a stretch. One syllable and you may miss the word. Unless you’re from Germany where they tend to string together impossibly long nouns, we like it short, sweet and simple.

Let’s look at the names of some of the most popular sports. Most have two syllables and start with a consonant, for example: Baseball, Diving, Cricket, Cycling, Fencing, Football, Hockey, Judo, Lacrosse, Netball, Riding, Rowing, Rugby, Running, Sailing, Soccer, Softball, Surfing, Swimming and Tennis. There are a few with ones (e.g. Golf) and threes (e.g. Basketball) and multiple word sports, but they’re in the minority. And try to name a few that start with a vowel!

So not only is our sport quirky – it’s hard to remember! That is why people keep shortening it to “O” despite the protestations of Bob Mouatt.

Simplifying long names is nothing new. Universities with long names are regularly shortened (e.g. ANU, UWA), whereas ones with short names (e.g. Monash, Curtin) retain the full name in general use.

Clearly orienteering will never gain this level of familiarity and therefore “O” will mean nothing to many, but at least it’s easier to say and remember!

It’s probably a little fanciful (and perhaps irresponsible) to suggest that we change the name of the sport, and hence we’re saddled with a name we love but that some find hard to remember, let alone know what it means. But having recognised the problem, we all need to make great efforts to explain our sport in simple terms and simple words, all under the big “O” (oops I meant Orienteering) banner.

Noel Schoknecht (WA) Noel Schoknecht is President of OAWA; this letter comes from the WA newsletter.

In English, the word ‘orienteering’ has five syllables. In German it’s ‘Orientierungslaufen’, seven syllables, but commonly abbreviated to ‘O-laufen’, three syllables. In Russian it’s ‘or-ee-ent-eer-o-van-ee-ye’ – eight syllables.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

LETTERS Orienteering is not cheap for a twenty year old We have heard many people ask the question, we have heard some people state possible reasons, yet the numbers of people that disappear from the sport at approximately age 20 still baffle us.

Essentially we have to look at the service that we are supplying to this age class, and what the age class actually requires.

Firstly let’s create an example of a 20-something orienteer: Steve is 21 years old, studies science at uni and has just moved out of home.

He works part time at his local pizza shop as a delivery boy. He enjoys orienteering but he finds that he has minimal time for training, so he competes in M21AS (A Short); sometimes however he finds that this can be a bit too far to go.

At the time that the first major competition comes around (Easter), he has some pretty hefty expenses. He owes student union fees, has to buy text books for all his subjects ; he manages to get most second hand, but there's always one that has to be bought brand spanking new for over $100! He obviously pays rent each week and somewhere he has to find money for food.

On the orienteering side he has to pay for a full senior membership to his state association. (He is no longer a junior, and therefore can no longer be a part of a family membership. Even if the association were to overlook this fact he has just moved out of home and because of this he cannot be part of the family membership).

This would seem on the surface to add only the one-off cost of membership, but it also means he must enter as an individual at each event. Since his family probably paid all these costs in the past, he has just found a hidden cost he was unaware of. Add up the cost of membership, entering the event and travelling to and from the event, chances are Steve might just throw his hands up in the air and say "Stuff it, I just can't afford it."

If Steve were to actually scrape together the money for it all and make it to Easter, he may come across another problem, how to get around? When the distance to Easter is great many people buy a plane ticket and hire a car at the other end. Steve is only 21 and trying to get a company to rent him a car is a lot more painful than your average root canal.

Thankfully Steve is a likeable guy and he can lean on his mate Robbo's parents for a lift. What happens if Robbo's parents aren't travelling? How do Steve and Robbo get around? Bumming a ride from orienteers thankfully isn't too hard - you just have to catch one, one that hasn't already been caught, that is! This task is relatively easy when there is an event centre with camping, but that isn't always the case.

So far I have only given you an example of problems that I can see. I haven't given you answers. I don't have them.

I do however have a suggestion, why doesn't someone ask! It's a novel concept, I know, but with the number of active members in this age group we have left, surely we might be able to come to some sort of solution.

David Bourne M21AS (SA) Common practice in marketing oriented organisations is to research people in key consumer/customer groups to determine their attitudes, intentions, perceived needs and so forth. Qualitative research can then be quantified. It’s not rocket science, just needs doing. Ed. THE sponsorship brochure you have prepared and included in the March magazine is possibly the most sophisticated piece of orienteering promotional material I have seen. Finally, orienteering is being portrayed as a competitive, high-class sport that has seen significant Australian success - something that has truly been lacking in most other forms of promotion available at the moment.

It is a shame that you are retiring as editor. I was just thinking recently about the fabulous job you do in preparing the magazine – it’s fresh and enjoyable reading all year. I don't know how you have

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

managed to keep it that way, but well done. Your replacement has a tough job ahead.

And finally, I'm guessing those who were offended by the nudie picture in the December edition of The Australian Orienteer don't look around them at an orienteering event. If they did, they'd know there's always a myriad of naked body parts on display!

Sheralee Bailey (NSW) OA has in hand an assessment of the use and success of the promotional brochure. Ed

Your magazine THE Australian Orienteer can best be summed up as that it has never been dull, you or the magazine - and that is meant in a complimentary way of course.

Janet and Phil Davill (SA) Thanks for the great magazine over the years.

Noel Schoknecht (President OAWA) Thank you for nice reading.

Karin Tibbelin (Sweden)

Free SNOWGUMCLUB membership 10% rebate on every purchase you make, including items that are on sale, paid annually in May as a gift voucher.

Benefits of membership include: Catalogues and sale flyers mailed regularly, Snowgum club newsletters three times a year, Member only offers, Online specials, Partner company deals.

Go into one of the stores listed and show your orienteering membership card and then receive your SNOWGUMCLUB card. It normally costs $11 but there is no charge for registered orienteers.

There are participating Snowgum stores in Vic: Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Hawthorn, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Malvern, Melbourne (City), Mitcham, Moorabbin, Wodonga; WA: Perth; Tas: Hobart; NSW: Sydney, Parramatta.

Check phone book for locations or www.snowgum.com.au Note: there are more Snowgum stores than the ones listed, however the ones not listed are franchises and do not participate in the SNOWGUMCLUB card.

If you need to obtain an orienteering membership card, just contact your state office.

NEWS

Australian teams named

World Cup

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA has named the teams for upcoming major events.

World Championships Sweden, 11-19 September

Four events: sprint, short, classic,

relay.

Women Jo Allison (ACT) Hanny Allston (Tas.) Allison Jones (ACT) Natasha Key (Vic.) Danielle Winslow (Tas.)

Bushrangers

Roskilde, Denmark, 10-17 July (includes European Championships)

New Zealand

The test match is scheduled for NZ QB111 weekend 5-7 June, Three races: 2 classic, 1 middle distance

Women Jo Allison (ACT) Hanny Allston (Tas.) Suzanne Casanova (SA) Orla Murray (NSW) Cassie Trewin (ACT) Danielle Winslow (Tas.)

Women Hanny Allston (Tas.) Kathryn Ewels (Vic.) Orla Murray (NSW) Anna Sheldon(Qld) Rachel West (WA) Danielle Winslow (Tas.)

Men Grant Bluett (ACT) David Brickhill-Jones (Tas.) Troy de Haas (Vic.) Julian Dent (NSW) Eric Morris (NSW) Tom Quayle (ACT) David Shepherd (ACT)

Men Grant Bluett (ACT) David Brickhill-Jones (Tas.) Troy de Haas (Vic.) Eric Morris (NSW) Tom Quayle (ACT) David Shepherd (ACT)

Men Bruce Arthur (Vic.) Craig Dufty (WA) Simon Goddard (Vic.) Ian Meyer (NSW) Robert Preston (NSW) Reuben Smith (SA)

Manager is Christine Brown (Tas.) and coach is Jim Russell (Vic.) Web site is www.woc2004.com

If you’re in it, you can WIN All you have to do is take part, and you are automatically in the draw to win: All Australian registered orienteers who take part in three or more official MTB-O events in Australia June 2004 – Queens Birthday weekend, June 2005.

KHS MBC 1500 Technical Features: Light weight 7005 Alloy frame, Shimano XT 27 speed, Hayes hydraulic disc brakes, Rockshox Judy SL travel adjustable suspension forks, double strength alloy wheels, all alloy components.

This is a MTB-O dream bike. It features the most powerful and low maintenance disc brakes available from Hayes, the premier brake supply brand. A must for those last minute navigation changes of direction.

The latest Shimano XT 27 speed gear offerings with full Shimano drivetrain with sealed bearings for long wear.

To improve the bike’s handling it is now equipped with the latest Rockshox suspension forks. One major bonus feature of the shockers is the "on the fly" ability to adjust the amount of travel available from 80 ml. to 100 ml at the turn of a dial. Brilliant for changing event conditions, from open or fire-road blasting to skilful single track control.

Top to bottom this bike is oozing with quality alloy parts and the attention to the little details is of particularly high standard.

The model is a special edition designed by Warren Key at Melbourne Bicycle Centre in conjunction with KHS USA for cross country racing and, of course, MTB Orienteering.

MELBOURNE CENTRE

see MBC catalogue

Special offer to orienteers, just $1000

RRP $

1799

including free freight to anywhere in Australia GEN UIN ELY L IMITED AVAIL ABIL ITY

All Australian registered orienteers M/W19 or older in 2005 who take part in both the Australian Individual Championships 2004 and in the Australian (Easter) Three Days 2005.

PLUS

Map Board RRP $139

4 back packs 5NL Turbo compass Competition baseplate model with quick needle dampening. Hand contoured baseplate with sure-grip rubber feet. Front end map scales, !:10000 and 1:15000. Valued at $68.

22 litre, padded harness, padded back, adjustable waist belt. Zippered opening, front pocket.

Promotion rules – 1. The promotion starts 1 June 2004 and runs until and including Queens Birthday Weekend 2005. 2. Prizes are as described on page 7 of The Australian Orienteer, June 2004. They must be taken as offered and are not exchangeable for cash. No person may win more than one prize. 3. The draw for prizes will be conducted by Orienteering Australia. Winners will be notified and names will be published in The Australian Orienteer, September 2005. 4. Eligibility for prizes is: mountain bike and MTB-O map board– all registered orienteers who take part in three or more official MTB-O events in the promotion period. Other prizes – all registered orienteers M/W19 or older in 2005 who take part in both the Australian Individual Championships 2004 and in the Australian (Easter) Three Days 2005.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

NEWS Record attendance at park orienteering

JWOC ‘04 team named

286 was the record turnout on the evening of Wednesday 25 February for the regular weekly twilight orienteering event in Melbourne suburbs, this time at Studley Park.

Organisers for the day were Camberwell Grammar School, who had many students take part as well as Scotch College and some scouts.

Ten year age classes UK is looking at introduction of ten year age classes (this is also being talked about in New Zealand) to reflect lack of competition in some of the classes and a reduction in the number of courses on offer.

Rather than impose a universal change, experiments will be carried out in selected areas so that the original proposal can be tweaked in the light of experience.

CompassSport UK

New relay race format MIDSUMMER O-Week in Finland will include a new relay format for teams of two men and one woman, each running two legs of about 10 minutes, giving a total time of about an hour.

O-sport

World’s best orienteer In a poll for readers of O-sport Simone Niggli-Luder was voted the world’s best orienteer of 2003. Voting was: 1. Simone Niggli-Luder Sui

85%

2. Thierry Gueorgiou FR

11%

3. Emil Wingsted SWE

3%

4. Jamie Stevenson GB

2%

Thierry Gueorgiou’s “Route to Gold”, see page 24

Numbers up in Sweden

THE Australian team to contest the Junior World Championships in Poland in July was named at the Presentation Ceremony For the Australian 3 Days at Ipswich.

Front row, left to right: Julia Davies (Qld.), Felicity Brown (NSW), Hanny Allston (Tas.), Jasmine Neve (Vic.) Sophie Barker (ACT), Erin Post (WA). Back row: Hayden Lebbink (Vic.), Julian Dent (NSW), Lachlan Hallett (SA), Conrad Elson (Tas.), Lee Andrewartha (Tas.), absent – David Meyer (NSW). Manager is Allison Jones (ACT) and coach is Paul Pacqué (Tas.). Photo: Peter Cusworth.

JWOC 2007 launched in Dubbo A DELEGATION of John Brammall (President OA), Ron Pallas (President OANSW), Hugh Cameron (IOF Vice President), Dave Lotty (Director Administration OA and Secretary OANSW) and Bob Mouatt (Director Development OA) visited Dubbo in December to make an official media announcement of the success of the Australian application to conduct the Junior World Championships (JWOC) 2007 based on Dubbo.

This was a successful occasion and the Dubbo media newspapers, radio and television - were very excited about the prospect and the Dubbo community council, tourism and commerce - promised to provide support. The delegation also visited possible accommodation and ceremonial facilities and approved these for the Championships.

Gilgandra

DUBBO Maitland Newcastle Parkes

West Wyalong

Orange

Bathurst

Lithgow

SYDNEY

Cowra

Wollongong Yass Goulburn Wagga Wagga

Nowra

CANBERRA

OANSW is establishing an organising committee with Batemans Bay Ron Pallas as Chairman and this is expected to be in operation by June to undertake the detailed planning.

A number of expressions of interest have been received to provide assistance at the Carnival and Ron (ronpallas@hotmail.com) would be happy to receive further offers from anyone with particular expertise.

IN the last two years, numbers in junior classes up to age 16 at events in Sweden have increased by almost 30%.

Areas to be selected and mapping arranged

It’s “cool” to be an orienteer and the sport is regarded positively by young people.

Alex Tarr and Eric Andrews have already agreed to be the fieldworkers for the maps – this work will be done in 2005 and 2006.

A number of very suitable areas have been identified and further inspections will be carried out later this year to finalise the areas – at least six will be required to conduct the four JWOC events and five public events including the Australian Championships. The 2008 Australian 3 Days will also be held on the maps.

Zweihundertsiebentausendneunhundertneunundsiebzig SWISS magazine OL had a headline “Zweihundertsiebentausendneunhundertneunundsiebzig” That’s how you spell out the number 207,979, the official count for the Guinness Book of Records of the number of participants in the Swiss sCOOL orienteering promotional day on 23 May 2003.

8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

NEWS AUDUN FRISTAD, a respected and well-liked athlete in Canberra orienteering, running, and cross-country skiing circles, died in Milton-Ulladulla hospital on Saturday 20 March 2003.

Audun was just short of his 82nd birthday, and for many years he was a keen athlete and very actively involved in promoting juniors in orienteering.

IRENA and DEXTER PALMER, members of Albury-Wodonga Orienteering Club, were tragically killed in a road accident in north-east Victoria on Sunday 28 March. They were driving from orienteering in the Bendigo area to their home at Myrtleford.

They had moved there just over a year ago from South Australia where they were recently made life members of the Yalanga club in recognition of their extensive services to orienteering.

Dexter was a former President of OASA and Yalanga. Irena was a former schools coordinator and juniors coach and a prolific mapper, producing some of the best orienteering maps in Australia.

Our sympathy goes to their daughters Miriam and Heather and their families.

Arctic midnight orienteering GREENLAND’S Three Days in June last year included a midnight run.

Despite being mid-summer the weather was cloudy, windy and only three degrees, meaning gloves and hats for the participants.

Arctic Midnight Orienteering started promptly at midnight and was a mass start event, with the course having several loops. The terrain comprises nearly deserted but grandiose scenery with no trees but lots of rocks. Headlamps are not needed due to the midnight sun.

80 runners took part. The longest course was 20 kilometres, won by local Bernhardt Olsen in 3.12.24.

Greenland has one orienteering club and is increasing the amount of mapped areas. Danish orienteers give support

is scheduled for 23 June with five courses from five to twenty kilometres. www.balslev. anet O-sport

Not the Gotthard Tunnel in the European Alps after a breakdown of the warming ventilation, but the ski tunnel in Voukatti, used for training.

Photo: Mirjam Eggspühler in OL.

Training in ‘embargoed’ area LAST northern winter at the Junior World Ski-O Championships in Finland, training was possible in the “embargoed” area. But only underground, in the Vuokatti ski tunnel. Participants took the opportunity to get out of the gnawing above-ground cold and to train in the relatively warm tunnel.

Two east European skiers were caught in the above-ground embargoed area by the International Orienteering Association (IOF) controller and banned from further races.

Swiss magazine OL says maps of embargoed areas in the future may need to be in three dimensions.

OL, Switzerland

World Ski Orienteering Championships Fatal loss for Norwegian women THE Norwegian women’s team was disqualified at the World Ski Orienteering Championships the last northern winter in Sweden. First leg skier Marte Renaas lost her Emit (electronic control) card in the final portion of the first leg and was unable to find it again.

This underlines the advice given in this magazine. Always have a safety cord on your SportIdent card/stick/finger/doover.

One visiting Dane left his shoes out to dry and a couple of sledge dogs lunched on them, meaning new shoes had to be bought for the next run.

Problems for 2006

The 2004 event

Welcome to orientering.se

THE International Orienteering Association faces the problem that no country has applied to host the World Ski Orienteering Championships in 2006. Reportedly the main problem is the fee of 20,000 Euros (about $A33,000) to be paid to the IOF for assignment of the rights.

For full account of the 2003 Ski-O WOC see O-zine, advertisement on page 35.

O-sport 1/2004 has 18 pages on Ski-O, including Ski-O WOC and a report on snow-shoe orienteering in Italy. Advertisement page 13.

THE Swedish Orienteering Federation (SOFT) has launched a web site in English at www.orientering.se SOFT says you can follow Swedish orienteering including the big national competitions such as the Elite Series, Tiomila, O-Ringen and Swedish Championships in Sweden, as well as big events around the world, for example World Championships, World Cup, World Games and the Jukola-Relay.

Text and pictures are available within minutes or hours of the event.

Orientering.se is most often the first place to find results and comments from big orienteering events all over the world.

We checked the link for the free training diary, but it seems to be in Swedish only at this stage JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

NEWS Oceania Orienteering Championships 2007 ORIENTEERING Australia proposes that the 2007 Oceania Orienteering Championships be conducted in conjunction with the Australian Schools and Sprint Championships in ACT in the September/October school holidays.

World Championships 2008/2009 CZECH Republic, Hungary and France have applied for WOC in both 2008 and 2009. Norway has applied for 2009 only.

Decisions are due later this year.

World Masters Games 2009 NEW SOUTH WALES is applying for the World Masters Games (WMG) in 2009. If successful, the International Orienteering Federation would require the World Masters Orienteering Championships to be run in conjunction.

Decision on allocation of the WMG will be made in 2005.

Running the country TO celebrate their jubilee, members of the Swiss “Bucheggberger” club traversed Switzerland on foot, bike and inline-skates, on 40 orienteering maps. The trip was in 27 stages over three days and is claimed as the longest ever orienteering relay. Time was 41 hours, 15 minutes, 27 seconds.

Running training programmes LOOKING for a structured running training programme to ensure you perform at your best in the coming months?

There are ten week programmes on http://www.ausrun.com.au/ events/runtog/training.htm This site is the Runners World magazine training link. The programmes come in two versions, one for beginners and one described as 'Challenging".

10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Swiss sport award for Simi MULTIPLE World Orienteering Champion Simone Niggli-Luder was elected Switzerland’s female athlete of the year 2003 with 57% of votes cast. Cyclist Nicole Brändli was second with 14%.

Men’s award went to tennis star Roger Federer on 48% ahead of skier Michael von Grönigen.

Trainer of the year was Swiss women’s national orienteering team coach Irene Müller-Bucher with 60%. This award covered both male and female categories. Second was football’s Christian Gross on 29%.

Success opens doors. Simi was engaged as a photographic model for clothing by fashion house Spenler. And she is also appearing in advertising for a health food. www.simattu.ch is the home page for Simone Niggli-Luder and husband Matthias Niggli. It’s in German; Simi says it already takes a lot of work to maintain and they cannot find time to translate it into English.

They have a fan club. Members receive a newsletter several times a year. At WOC ’03 members received a special fan-shirt.

Members with some German may care to log in.

ACT aiming to “Get it right” RE-ELECTED Orienteering ACT President John Sutton says it has become apparent that great attention needs to be given to event organisation and to course planning. Inefficient procedures can disillusion newcomers to the extent they do not come back. Summer season twilight events have been drawing over 180 participants.

The ACT Board has decided to give priority to event management in 2004; one likely step is the appointment of a controller for every event.

Throw away your nylon orienteering suit WHAT can you do to help attract younger people to orienteering?

Throw away your nylon orienteering suits, says Adrian Zissos in Orienteering North America.

Zissos says orienteering suits create an awful image for the sport. They are so incredibly uncool that no self-respecting youngster would voluntarily wear one or want to be associated with people who wear them.

Modern materials such as DriFit or CoolMax in modern technical shirts survive orienteering through tough bush, wick sweat away, they’re comfortable and are available in a range of styles at reasonable prices. (We checked Rebel Sport in Melbourne: Nike DriFit was $48, Adidas and New Balance were $50). And best of all, they’re cool. You may still need a pair of nylon pants, but tights or leggings are a pretty good alternative (males, not too tight please).

it again and again until we get it right.”

The suggestion was published in some email orienteering lists and verbal responses were also received.

Award to Tasmania

Category and per cent of category that agree

Sutton says, “We have been down this path before, but we need to do

FOR the second year in a row, Orienteering Tasmania has won a major award at the state’s Annual Sporting Industry Awards for Excellence for 2003, winning the category “Premier’s Physical Activity Council Award”.

The judges acknowledged work in the areas of schools orienteering, the Corporate Challenge and the park series in making orienteering appealing to participants of all ages and both sexes and increasing participation by people not previously involved in any sport.

Under 30 years old

100%

Over 30 years old New to orienteering

50% 100%

Three or more years experience 50% Wearing more modern clothing is a part of updating the image of orienteering, says Zissos.

For 2004 a State Development Grant of $13,100 is being made. To secure the grant, Orienteering Tasmania is targeting to increase membership numbers by 2% a year and participation by 5%, for the years 2004-2006. In fact there has been a 4 - 4.5% p.a. membership increase over the last three years.

Support our sponsors and support your sport

NEWS Nicki Taws wins ACTAS Women’s High Performance Coaching Scholarship

Czech event cancelled due to administrative lapse THIS year's Prague (Czech Republic) Easter-3 Days was cancelled on the day before Day One. Apparently,permission had not been obtained to conduct the event in an environmentally sensitive area.

NICKI TAWS has won an ACT Academy of Sport Women’s High Performance coaching scholarship for 2004-05, extendable for another two years.

Nearly 900 competitors from 17 countries had entered. The event organisers now have the onerous task of refunding entry fees, and deciding how to recover large financial losses from expenses already incurred.

The chronology of events can be read on http://www. orienteering.cz/zavody/dkp/ pe2004/index.php

The program’s objectives include new high performance coaching opportunities for women, pathways for women coaches and development that will lead to more women coaches being employed in full or part-time high performance coaching positions.

Nick Dytlewski (ACT) at NF Wien, Austria

POCKET PROFILE BOB McCREDDIN, M60 WA Elected as President of Orienteering Australia at the Annual General Meeting in April in Queensland.

I

WAS introduced to orienteering in 1987 and became a regular participant in 1988 – after I had already been roped into organising a junior orienteering camp! Because of my background in education, I quickly became involved in chairing the Schools Orienteering Committee of the Orienteering Association of Western Australia and in the conduct of orienteering activities for juniors, subsequently becoming manager of the WA teams to the Schools Championships in 1990 to 1993.

I was President of the OAWA from 1993 to 1999, claiming a number of successes in the role, the most physical being the acquisition of a large, centrally-situated shed in which all of the association’s equipment, maps and records are stored.

It was a period for questioning where orienteering was headed in WA and for restructuring financial planning according to the association’s priorities. This included seeing OAWA participate to its fullest extent in the affairs of Orienteering Australia and from the earliest days assisting WA elites to field a complete team in the National Orienteering League.

During this period I was a representative of OAWA to the OA Council and the (WA) Sports Federation and gained a great insight into the structure and operation of sport administration at state and national levels, particularly as it applied to orienteering.

Next issue 1 September 2004 Contributions deadlines Time-sensitive 23 July All other contributions 16 July

Recent additions to the OA website: •A HIGH PERFORMANCE section has been added to the website main menu, and has proved to be a useful way of providing news and information to our elite orienteers – especially those overseas.

• T he 2004 version of the COMPETITION RULES is available for download, including a new section Appendix 9 (Event Format) added in April, 2004.

www.orienteering.asn.au

w e b s i t e

• L inks to the JWOC 2005 and 2005 SWISS 5 DAYS websites available on the calendars and Events page.

•B ulletin 1 & 2 for the 2004 WORLD MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS is available from the MTBO page.

More recently I was the organiser for the very successful Golden Pipeline Orienteering Carnival (Australian Easter Three Days and other events) in Western Australian in April 2003.

Despite my best endeavours, I remain a Silver standard competitor – but I do a very competent job as a setter and a controller and I have become a successful rogainer!

Professionally I started my career as a teacher of secondary mathematics and then spent over twenty years as a superintendent and director in the Education Department followed by five years as a senior education consultant with the Association of Independent Schools. Consequently, I have an excellent background in policy formulation and Commonwealth Government funding programs.

One additional credential I bring to my recent appointment of President of Orienteering Australia is previous experience as president of a national association, the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, where many of that Association’s issues relating to journals, state/national relationships and the lack of a centralised membership database have their parallels within orienteering.

In terms of my beliefs about orienteering in Australia for the future, I commit to the following: • t he maintenance of the extremely high quality of The Australian Orienteer, with some increase in its role as a unifying link between OA, the state associations, clubs and the members; • t he completion of the internal review of orienteering in Australia that the OA Council has commenced during John Brammall’s presidency; and • a hope that in the not too distant future, the OA President will be an orienteer who is a product of our junior ranks, having experienced the elite ranks and undertaken administrative roles within our sport.

I greatly respect those members currently providing leadership to orienteering at club, state and national levels across Australia and commit to working tirelessly and collaboratively with them to both maintain and enhance the quality of the sport for all who wish to compete and to increasing the level of public knowledge about Australian orienteering.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

NEWS

John Brammall, Silva Award for Services to Orienteering Australia JOHN BRAMMALL (Tasmania) is the recipient of the Silva Award for

•R eshaping of the disciplinary procedures to allow a fairer process including appeals.

At International Orienteering Federation Congresses, OA has taken a leading position representing the “out of Europe” orienteering nations, especially with regard to the introduction of new formats for World Championship events. John was recently appointed to a small group to make recommendations on the future of world orienteering events.

• S ome direct involvement with issues relating to WMOC 2002 – especially negotiations with WMG, and finalising contract details with the IOF for MTBWOC 2004 in Australia.

• Involved in “winning” JWOC for Australia in 2007.

John has attended a number of congresses: Leibnitz, Austria, in 2000, Quebec, Canada and Fontainebleau, France in 2002, and the IOF Presidents’ Conference in Rapperswill, Switzerland in 2003.

As well as taking on the myriad of roles with OT and OA, John has kept in touch with grass roots orienteering. Each year he takes on more than the average number of events to organise and plan. He has been very proactive within the Esk Valley Club to increase membership and make the sport more visible. Technically John is a Level 3 Controller, a Level 1 Sports Administrator and a Level 1 Coach.

John believes in doing, he enjoys helping people solve problems and endeavours to give people ownership of their problems and their solutions.

John is typical of many volunteers involved in our sport – he loves orienteering. It is this love that has given John the impetus to take on all the roles and tasks that he has. It is appropriate to give John this award as he steps down as OA President. One can only wait to see what turn he takes next.

From the nomination to OA, prepared by Christine Brown for Orienteering Tasmania. Edited.

Services to Orienteering Australia.

John trained as a psychologist and taught in a variety of colleges and universities. In 1986, while at the University of Tasmania, a colleague introduced John to orienteering. Since then he has been very heavily involved in many aspects of the sport, including administration.

In 1988 John shared the role of newsletter editor for Orienteering Tasmania with his wife Valerie. They did this for three years after which John went on to become Director of Publicity and Promotion.

By the early nineties he also took on the role of President of the Esk Valley Orienteering Club. John also did a stint as secretary from 1999 to 2000. He is currently the club’s Project Officer has been extremely successful in applying for and attracting grants.

John was President of Orienteering Tasmania in 1993 and 1994 and then Vice President for the next two years. As a member of the OT board John began to attend Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA) board meetings either as delegate or Councillor. In 1998 he became the OFA Vice President (Development), which he continued until 2000 when he became President of the OFA. In his role as President John has achieved a number of milestones, including: The implementation of constitutional changes that followed a review of the structure and processes of the OFA. The constitutional changes came into effect at the 2002 AGM for implementation in 2002-3. The main changes: •A new name, Orienteering Australia (OA) and image in line with corporate trends; • S eparation of High Performance areas of administration (i.e. key focus from Australian Sports Commission) with a new Director’s position; •D irect representation of Elites at the OA Council (Elites previously had observer status only);

12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Subscribe now in Australia Dramatic top-event stories World-class instructions Independent investigations 2-year experience 7 x 52 pages (36 in COLOUR) $98 for seven issues Contact: The Australian Orienteer PO Box 294, Black Rock, Vic. 3193

NEWS

Debbie Gale, Silva Award for Services to Orienteering Coaching DEBBIE GALE (Tasmania) is the recipient of the Silva Award for

areas used very gradually and only when proficiency at the previous level has been attained. She likes to shadow her athletes as much as possible, but without interference, letting them make mistakes and encouraging them to work through their mistakes by themselves (something which is not always appreciated by juniors). She believes that one of the most important orienteering skills is understanding contours and her five point plan for successful navigation is: direction, distance, attack point, control feature, catching feature.

For a long time Debbie had no formal coaching education but learned most of her coaching skills on the job. Upon her return to Australia from Canada, with more than 20 years coaching experience behind her, she finally attended a coaching course at the AIS in Canberra and attained Level 2 accreditation. Debbie’s involvement has never been limited to just coaching; she has also contributed in a major way as a coach educator. Her coaching skills are highly regarded and because she is always more than happy to generously share her knowledge and experience, her advice is much sought after. She has produced several orienteering booklets for use in schools and she wrote the “Elementary Orienteering Instructors Handbook”, which was adopted

by OA as the Level O coaching manual. She has been involved in several Level One coaching courses for aspiring coaches.

After almost 40 years of coaching Debbie’s enthusiasm is still strong.

She never hesitates to volunteer and is a regular coach at club training, Tasmanian junior squad training camps and women’s weekends. She is also one of the coaches of the new Tasmanian Talent Search Development Squad. Debbie’s contribution to both orienteering in Tasmania and the wider orienteering community has been outstanding and she doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet.

From the nomination to OA, prepared by Christine Brown for Orienteering Tasmania. Edited.

Services to Orienteering Coaching.

Debbie has been an orienteering coach from before orienteering came to Australia. She started coaching before she started orienteering herself. At uni in Britain the 60s while doing a “Games” option for her Diploma in Education, one of the requirements was to go into a school and help them set up a “new” sport. One school had requested orienteering and, being a geographer and runner, Debbie was sent.

She drew a map of the school, read a few books, and her coaching career began.

In the mid seventies Debbie migrated to Australia to teach in Queensland. There she met Rob Simson and Helen Sheriff when accompanying students to Maroon Outdoor Education Centre and became involved again with orienteering. She coached at Sunnybank and Beaudesert High Schools and at the Toohey Forest Orienteering Club (including the Simson boys).

In 1983 she spent a year in Ontario, Canada, doing orienteering work with local primary schools and running corporate seminars (paid for by state lottery profits).

In 1988 Debbie moved to Tasmania to teach at Launceston Church Grammar School (LCGS) where she succeeded in introducing orienteering as one of the school’s extra-curricular sports. It didn’t take long before the schools team became very successful, winning numerous Tasmanian School Championships. At least one, and often several LCGS students have been selected in the Tasmanian School Team every year since it was started. Several of Debbie’s students became Tasmanian Institute of Sport scholarship holders and went on to perform exceptionally well at the national and international level.

Kirsten Fairfax and Georgie Statham represented Australia several times at JWOC and David Brickhill-Jones represented Australia at both JWOC and WOC. Debbie managed and coached the Tasmanian School’s team several times in the early 90’s. She has been the Esk Valley Orienteering Club coach for many years now and is particularly interested and extremely skilful in working with novices. The basis of her success is that she provides her athletes with a structured programme based on the “Step-by-Step” method. This means increasing the level of navigational difficulty, the length of exercises and the complexity of

EQUIPMENT Australian made ski bags VICTORIAN orienteer Len Budge is the producer of a range of high quality, wellpadded ski bags.

The bags are made from Cordura with 6mm polyfoam inner walls and are lined with ripstop water proof nylon.

Features include heavy duty padlockable zip, internal zip close pockets and tie straps.

Options are available such as padded shoulder strap, adjustable dividers and stock stowage.

Small bags comfortably take one or two pairs of skis and poles and large bags easily hold several pairs. Small bags cost from $120 and large from $171 inc GST. Contact: Len Budge 0417 352 845 xcbudge@bigpond.com

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

COMPETITION

AU S T R A L I A N 3 D AY S – I P S W I C H Q L D

Easter 2004 Shepherd and Allison come home to take titles

Below: Jo Allison and Anna Sheldon start the second loop of the Galaxy Sprint.

Blair Trewin PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

D

AVE Shepherd and Jo Allison took out the open classes at Easter, held in Queensland for the first time since 1995. Both had only just returned from Sweden, but adjusting to the warm conditions seemed to cause them little difficulty as both pulled away from the field over the last two days.

For the first time at a major Queensland event, it did not take place in the Darling Downs or Granite Belt, but rather on the gullyspur terrain at Old Hidden Vale, south-west of Ipswich. When first selected for the event the area was very fast indeed, but good summer rains led to the growth of long grass in many areas, and made the going physically tough at time. The main challenges were physical, although the detail in the watercourses made for some interesting fine navigation from time to time.

The open classes

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

As is now the norm, the open classes started with a sprint prologue, which this year was also the ASC Galaxy. This was contested at the event centre at the Ipswich Showgrounds, starting and finishing on a greyhound track (minus the mechanical rabbits and the questionable betting transactions). The results were always likely to have little impact on the overall standings as long as disaster was avoided, but there were still full National League points at stake. Tom Quayle, with a relatively early start, set the time to beat early in the day. Times at the spectator control suggested that Dave Shepherd was the only one with a chance of beating him; he stayed in touch all the

way, but fell three seconds short. Allison Jones looked good for much of the way, but lost time at the end, which opened the way for Natasha Key to overhaul her, with Hanny Allston and Jo Allison both still in touch.

Jo Allison took control on the Saturday when she won by nearly three minutes, ahead of Nicki Taws. Susanne Casanova was a solid

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

10:18 starters day 2.

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Above: Hanny Allston wearing the new Tassie Foresters’ Sprint uniform. Left: Eventual winner Tom Quayle leads Jim Russell during the Galaxy Sprint.

third in that event, one of her best results at this level, and then went one better in the long race on Sunday. Allison won that day again, stretching her overall lead to six minutes, and unless she stumbled badly on the final day, her position looked secure. That was how it turned out at the front, but Casanova had spent all she had on the first three days, and her twelfth on the final day opened the way for the rest of the field.

Taws and Allison Jones were separated by a second going into the last day, but it was Taws who was the stronger on that day to take second place, nine minutes behind Allison, who made it three race wins in a row. Jones was third, whilst Natasha Key, who had had two disappointing days, surged into fourth place with a second on the final day.

Eric Morris, with what was (surprisingly) only his second

COMPETITION

AU S T R A L I A N 3 D AY S – I P S W I C H Q L D

National League win of a long career, was a slightly unexpected leader after Saturday. These days, though, the long race on Sunday is where Easter is often won and lost. Dave Shepherd asserted his authority that day over the 15.4km course, but he still went into the last day with only just over a minute in hand over Tom Quayle, and several others still in contention for the placings. It was a reverse order start on Monday, and, as happened last year, a significant pack developed at the lead. As part of that, Shepherd had caught two minutes on Quayle by half-way, and never looked like losing from there. Morris was third, another three minutes in arrears.

The battle for JWOC places

with some of the more fancied contenders falling away on the last day.

Like Davies, Conrad Elson won all three days, although Lachlan Hallett ran him close on each of the first two before Elson pulled away on the Monday. Simon Uppill, who won M18 (18s and 20s ran on the same course), was the next best, but he did not nominate for selection. This left the remaining places to be filled by Hayden Lebbink and Lee Andrewartha, both of whom put together three solid days to be comfortably clear of the rest of the field.

The rest of the juniors

The younger junior classes at Easter are often the place where we get our first sight of promising talent from the home state, and 2004 was no exception. Six Neumanns (siblings or cousins) have started orienteering in the last year, and some of them are clearly learning very fast, as Krystal (W14) and Kurt (M12) both won their classes by huge margins of twenty minutes or more. One suspects they are a family of whom more will be heard.

Slightly further up the age range, W16 looked to be a very competitive class, with most of the main players from the epic contests at last year’s Oceania and Australian Championships still in the class. It wasn’t that close this time, with Heather Harding never seriously threatened after she won the first day by four minutes, and eventually stretching that to twelve. M16 demonstrated the depth of Tasmanian junior men’s talent, as they took the quinella (on top of the four they had as either members or reserves of the JWOC team).

Nick Andrewartha set up his win on the first day, and had just enough in hand to hold off Seb Woof despite Woof winning the last two days.

Julia Davies won W20 and a place in the 2004 Rob Vincent (NSW), first in M45A at Easter.

Australian JWOC team.

Another traditional highlight of Easter is the contest for places in the Australian team for the Junior World Championships, for which Easter is the selection trial. A little strength was lost at the front end of the fields with Julian Dent and Hanny Allston running against the seniors, and David Meyer overseas, but that made it no less desperate at the margins.

Julia Davies had already shown in the early-season races in 2004 that she had jumped to a new level of consistency, after a couple of years where occasional brilliant runs were punctuated with more erratic ones. She carried that form through Easter and won all three days in W20 to secure her place easily. The real tension was behind her. Sophie Barker, the best of the W18s, had a slow start on the short first day but placed on both of the last two days to secure her place comfortably. Erin Post, Felicity Brown and Jasmine Neve were all consistent enough across the three days to make the cut, as a very closely-bunched field after two days sorted itself out on the last day, Dave Shepherd back from Sweden to take out the Australian 3 Days title again.

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

COMPETITION

AU S T R A L I A N 3 D AY S – I P S W I C H Q L D

Some close finishes in the veteran classes

As might have been expected in the relatively non-technical terrain, there were many close finishes in the veteran classes, some of them expected and some of them not expected. We are used to seeing tight contests in the likes of M55, but M80 and W70 were less predictable locations for tense finishes.

Five classes were decided by less than a minute.

Wide-open battle in M55

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

Perhaps the most wide-open battle was in M55. Steve Flick led by two minutes after two days but disappeared from contention on the last day when he lost twelve minutes on 2, opening up a race when just over a minute covered the placings, Hugh Moore just winning over Terry Bluett and Paul Hoopmann.

The class which changed hands at the last gasp, though, was W55. Kathy Liley led by two minutes into the last day and still led by two minutes at the second-last control, but time lost at the last control let Judith Hay in to take the class by 37 seconds.

flatten the long grass (he was otherwise engaged as the chief finish official).

Robin Uppill came from behind to beat Lynda Rapkins in W50, winning the last day by five minutes, whilst Kevin Paine also overcame a last-day deficit to take M75 by just over a minute from Ray Kelly, and Lyn Stichbury came from four minutes behind to win W45 by eight. Two other classes to see big changes on the final day were W40 and M65; both were close going into the last day, but Sue Hancock ran away from Chris Brown to win W40 easily, whilst Clive Pope turned a ten second deficit into a 25 minute win after John Hodsdon punched a wrong control and John Lyon lost large amounts of time at the first control.

At the other end of the scale, Rob Vincent dominated M45 to an extent rarely seen in a field of any size at Easter, winning every day by at least six minutes and having an overall margin of half an hour. M50 was closer than that, but Paul Pacque still won comprehensively, although his run of six successive day wins at Easter was broken by Ted van Geldermalsen on the final day.

M21 Sledge

M80 was competitive

No report on Easter would be complete M80, a small but highly competitive class, without a mention of M21 Sledge. This was, was won by John Bourne by 29 seconds, after as usual, run with much enthusiasm he overcame Gordon Clarke’s one-minute lead (sometimes more enthusiasm than ability). on the last day. W70 was also close, but Peter Garran (NSW) attempting to record the Shane Trotter, returning to the sport in the Maureen Ogilvie held on after being pushed fastest final split on Day 3 for M21 Sledge. last year after being largely absent since his hard by Jennifer Brett and Jeffa Lyon.

He missed by one second. junior days in the 1980’s, was the fastest of Other very close classes were M60, where the group. The Sledge tradition of a last-day Jim Sawkins achieved his best result by 26 lead change (this year the unlucky secondseconds over Tim Dent after a see-sawing day leader was Jason McCrae) continued, although by all accounts battle, and M40, where Tim McIntyre and Simon George fought it out this was, for once, not because of the second-day leader being plied between them, McIntyre scoring by just under a minute despite the with large quantities of intoxicating liquor by his fellow competitors disadvantage of having a very early start on all days and having to on the Sunday night.

16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

Peter Cusworth (Vic), Art Director for The Australian Orienteer, was 3rd in M45AS.

Tash’s dramatic finish in the National League THE individual competition in the National League, billed this year as the Grand Prix Series, had the most dramatic finish of its twelve year history, as Natasha Key won a last-gasp victory in a contest where only a single point separated the first three.

Nicki Taws had led the way for most of the series, after getting off to an excellent start on the first weekend in Tasmania. Both Key and Jo Allison missed those rounds, but strung together some good results during the Easter week to leave themselves in contention going into the final round, on the last day of the Easter carnival.

Nevertheless, Key looked in a difficult position, needing to win herself and have Allison come third or lower, and Taws fifth or lower, to take the title.

She did everything that was within her power by winning the race herself. When she finished, as one of the final pair to start, Allison was the only one remaining to come in who could have an impact, and Taws was in fourth place. With a minute remaining in the season, there were still three possible winners – Allison if she got into second place (66.36), Taws if Allison was behind her (67.19), and Key if it was somewhere in between. That 43 second window may have made a Key victory seem very improbable, but it was exactly where Allison ended up, falling a single second short of second-placed Kathryn Ewels. (One might also look back to the desperately fought sprint for fourth between Key and Anna Sheldon at Kooyoora in Round 4). Key

COMPETITION

AU S T R A L I A N 3 D AY S – I P S W I C H Q L D

Easter 2004 results

M10: 1 B McComb OHS,2 K Bertei TE NT, 3 M Hill GON. M12, 1 K Neumann ENQ, 2 K Gregory NTN, 3 S Lawrie ALT. M14, 1 L Barker-Smith NTN, 2 J Taylor UGQ, 3 M Smith WRT. M16, 1 N Andrewartha ALT, 2 S Woof EVT, 3 L Parton GSN. M18, 1 S Uppill OHS, 2 L Elson ALT, 3 M Scown AOA. M20A 1, C Elson ALT, 2 L Hallett YAS, 3 L Andrewartha ALT. M21Sledge, 1 S Trotter NCN, J Bazorak RRA, 3 G Turner RRA. M21A, 1 A Prytz TTQ, 2 D Jay SHN, 3 A Fletcher. M21E, 1 D Sheppard RRA, 2 T Quayle RRA, 3 E Morris BNN, 4 R Preston NCN, 5 J Dent CCN, 6 C Dufty BOW. M35-44AS, 1 C Osborne BFN, 2 W Bajenof AWV, 3 A McDonald BFN. M35, 1 T Hatley BKV, 2 R Domonish ENQ, 3 M Neumann ENQ. M40, 1 T McIntyre UGQ, 2 S George BFN, 3 P Charlton NCN. M45-54AS, 1 R Preston NCN, 2 A Whitfield SWW, 3 P Cusworth BKV. M45, 1 R Vincent NCN, 2 M Roberts NCN, 3 D Smith WRT. M50, 1 P Pacque EVT, 2 T V Geldermalson YVV, 3 C Norwood EUV. M55+AS, 1 K Williams WHN, 2 M Hodge ENQ, 3 B McCrae YVV. M55, 1 H Moore RRA, 2 T Bluett BFN, P Hoopman TJS. M60, 1 J Sawkins RRA, 2 T Dent YVV, 3 D Ogilvie URN. M65, 1 C Pope UGQ, 2 J Lyon TTS, 3 P Piirionen BSA. M70, 1 I Hassell IKN, 2 G Howitt SOQ, 3 T Mount ALT. M75, 1 K Paine BSA, 2 R Kelley UGQ, 3 H Wehner WEA. M80, 1 J Bourne BBQ, 2 G Clarke YVV, 3 P Adrian NEV. W10, 1 L Schults-Rand UGQ, 2 F Barker- Smith NTN, 3 A Burrill BBQ . W12, 1 B Stewart SHN, 2 K Radstaak WEA, 3 L Burrill BBQ. W14, 1 K Neumann ENQ, 2 L Stoekel WAS, 3 M Monsour UGQ. W16, 1 H Harding BSA, 2 I Booth BSA, 3 S Dunnage WOW. W18, 1 S Barker BSA, 2 J Neve MFV, 3 K Whitfield SWW. W20, 1 J Davies UGQ, 2 E Post WOW, 3 F Brown BNN. W21, 1 J Elson ALT, 2 H Makelainen MFV, 3 C Murphy URN. W21AS, 1 R Morris YAS, 2 T Dougall TFQ, 3 N Thomas RRQ. W21E, 1 J Allison RRA, 2 N Taws RRA, 3 A Jones RRA, 4 N Key MFV, 5 O Murray URN, 6 K Ewels CHV . W35-44AS, 1 K Haarsma TTS, 2 A Darvodelsky BFN, 3 M Wilmott URN. W35, 1 L Sesta URN, 2 M Enter BKV, 3 M Peel NCN. W40, 1 S Hancock WRT, 2 C Brown EVT,3 J Parr BFN. W45+AS, 1 L Cavanagh TFQ, 2 T McComb OHS, 3 M Whitfield SWW. W45, 1 LStichbury SOQ, 2 H Edmonds NEV, 3 J Allston ALT. W50, 1 R Uppill OHS, 2 L Rapkins ENQ, 3 S Neve MFV. W55+AS, 1 M Arthur TTS, 2 R Campbell TTQ, 3 J Sheldon YVV. W55, 1 J Hay BNN, 2 K Liley YVV, 3 M Sauer ENQ. W60, 1 D Gordon EUV, 2 R Cameron AWV, 3 A Ingwerson POA. W65, 1 D Adrian NEV, 2 S Mount ALT, 3 B Brunner TFQ. W70, 1 M Ogilvie URN, 2 J Brett TFQ, 3 J Lyon TTS. W75, 1 E Baxter UGQ.

Natasha Key (Vic) mid-race in the ASC Galaxy Sprint which she went on to win. She also won the final Grand Prix series race and the series overall.

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

and Taws were tied on points (with Allison one point behind), but Key won on a countback with three race wins to Taws’ one.

Dave Shepherd wins Men’s

PHOTO: BOB MOUATT

Compared with that the men’s competition was fairly tame. Four went into the final round with a chance of victory, but it looked like a two-way race between Dave Shepherd and Rob Preston, with the highest-placed of the two certain to win unless both missed the top four. As it turned out, Shepherd, who started four minutes behind Preston, had caught him (and more) by the third control, and the result was never in serious doubt from there. Julian Dent completed the placings in a very promising jump to the senior level.

ACT in the lead

The team competition continues into the spring. The Canberra Cockatoos look in a very strong position after 11 of 17 rounds, leading the Victorian Nuggets by 22 points, but they will remember that the Victorians came from 20 points down at an equivalent stage of last season. (Canberra look likely to have several of their stars back from Europe this spring, though). The NSW Stingers, spearheaded by the rise of Preston and Dent, are six points behind Victoria and may well challenge them for second.

The Junior National League teams are neck and neck with three rounds to go.

Blair Trewin (Vic), 12th M21E, leaves the final control on Day 3 in the Australian 3 days.

The team competition in the Junior National League, being contested for the first time (the 2003 competition was for individuals only) is in the balance after nine of the twelve rounds. Tasmania and Queensland are level, with Victoria a single point behind them. With each team’s best six rounds to count (unlike the senior competition where all rounds count), it is likely to come down to the final round at the Australian Relays in October.

Julia Davies, who won five of the first six rounds on her way to JWOC selection, has wrapped up the women’s individual title, but only nine points separate the next seven; Erin Post is currently second but Hanny Allston, who has only run five junior races so far, is in the box seat to take that position. Conrad Elson leads Julian Dent by 18 points at present, but if Dent (who has won the five rounds he has contested) can get another score on the board he should take the title.

Australian Middle Distance Champs JULIAN Dent became the youngest winner of a senior national title with a storming run at the Australian Middle Distance Championships on the complex granite of the Cascades on the Friday after Easter. He started very aggressively in terrain where aggressive navigation is often punished, but pulled it off so well that he was already 90 seconds up on the field by the fifth control. Dave Shepherd, who had dropped a minute at 3, came back at him over the closing stages, but was unable to get closer than 20 seconds and had to settle for being runner-up. They were more than four minutes clear of the field, with Stewart Fishwick leading a closely matched bunch to take his best placing in a major Australian event.

Natasha Key had had a disappointing Easter (apart from the last day), but she came out strongly to win the women’s event by a minute from Nicki Taws. The key leg was the third, in which she and Jo Allison (who lost her chances with a three-minute error at 2 and ultimately came fourth) were nearly a minute ahead of the field.

After that she held her gap over Taws to the end. Danielle Winslow, who ran an excellent middle section of the course, took third place.

M/W20

The two junior classes were depleted somewhat because many of them ran in 21E, but it didn’t matter in W20, where Zebedy Hallett ran a great race and was considerably faster than any of those running up (who were on the same course), as was Jasmine Neve in second. Hayden Lebbink narrowly held off Lachlan Hallett in a small M20 field.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

EASTER LEGS Day One, Old Hidden Vale Central THIS leg split the M55 field, half going left and half right.

The direct route was not popular.

Considering competitors’ normal running speeds and that Dave Lotty lost a minute at difficult creek crossings, all three routes look pretty equal.

Later in the day, the old guys were somewhat chastened to learn that the same leg had been on the W21E course: Jo Allison ran the left route in 12.04.

Trevor Sauer

------- Hugh Moore 14.34 - - - - Paul Hoopman 14.38 ------- Terry Bluett 15.17 ------- Dennis Lyons 15.21 - - - - Dave Lotty 16.04 Map scale is 1:10,000

18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Dave Lotty

COMPETITION

N AT I O N A L O R I E N T E E R I N G L E A G U E

National Orienteering League Report: Blair Trewin. Photos: Bob Mouatt

Swiss visitor, Michael Oswald, competing in the NOL race at St Helens, Tasmania.

Above: Hanny Allston (Tas) won the women’s race 3 in St Helens, Tasmania.

Left: Cinderella’s slipper? No, Hanny’s shoe fell off as she left the last control.

Rounds 1-3, St. Helens, 6-7 March ROB Preston and Nicki Taws got the season off to a good start, each taking a win and a second home from two races on the opening weekend at St. Helens in Tasmania. Each won the middle distance event on the Saturday afternoon in the complex tin mining terrain (the earlier sprint was declared a no-race because of a Sportident system failure), and then went on to be runner-up in the massstart event on Sunday morning.

Bruce Arthur (Vic) showing off the new Victorian Nuggets uniform.

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

For the second year in a row the season-opening mass-start long race was won by Hanny Allston, this time on home ground, whilst there was a major upset in the men’s event when Gareth Candy had his first major senior victory, and his first major result for years, after leading pair Eric Morris and Julian Dent both lost time at the death. Others to impress on the first weekend included Adrian Jackson and Anna Sheldon, both of whom were second in the middledistance event and followed up with solid Sunday runs.

Round 4-5, Bendigo, 27-28 March FOR the second time in the season a round disappeared into the ether; this time it was the much-anticipated Sunday relay at Eppalock, called off because of extreme fire danger. Even one day at Kooyoora, though, is well worth coming a long way for. It was particularly worthwhile for Orla Murray, who scored her first National League win after breaking away from the lead group on the final loop. Nicki Taws followed with her third top-two placing in three races.

The NSW men have had a good season, but Kooyoora was their high point as they filled the first four places. Julian Dent took out a very impressive victory, with Rob Preston, Eric Morris and Ian Meyer filling the placings behind him.

Rounds 6-11 were contested during the Easter week.

Right: Orla Murray (NSW) won race 4 at Mt Kooyoora, Victoria.

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COMPETITION Melbourne’s Easter 4-Day Park and Street Orienteering Festival, April 9-12 2004 Debbie Dodd

M E L B O U R N E 4 D AY S – V I C T O R I A

Day 4, LaTrobe University The final day at LaTrobe University was a test of brainpower, with 25 controls scattered around the buildings, bridges, lakes, ovals and ring roads that make up the campus. Those that best mastered the complexities of the map improved their overall positions and won the much-coveted contents of our Easter hamper.

Competitors loved the variety of maps and formats, the creative course setting, the venues, and the opportunity to get to know other orienteers from all over Melbourne. They enjoyed small extras like the daily newsletter and colour photo display. An overwhelmingly positive response suggests that the Festival will have a place on future orienteering fixtures.

Top places, Morning Series – Female, Senior: Rachel Johnson, Emma Prime. Veteran: Prue Dobbin, Louise Hall. Legend: Denise Pike, Dale Howe, Pam King. Walkers: Debbie Dodd, Judy Hopkins, Ilze Yeates. Male, Senior: Duncan McAllister. Veteran: Ian Dodd, Vic Sedunary, Brett Sparkes. Legend: Graham Wallis, Peter Dalwood, Barry Hart.

Walkers: Len Budge, Bernard Shuttleworth, Stan Gurman.

SCOTTY’S TIP The start/finish area at Royal Park. Photo: Pam King

P

ARK and street orienteering is popular with Melbourne orienteers, so the inaugural Melbourne 4-Day (M4D) Festival was conceived to provide some activity for those not travelling north for the Easter 3-Days.

Our aim was to mix serious competition that tested both skill and stamina with family-friendly social events, using parkland venues around Melbourne that would encourage people to stay for the day.

We also wanted to give park and street orienteers new experiences on detailed colour maps, instead of the standard 1:10,000 black and white street maps they are accustomed to. The program included a Morning Series over sprint, middle and longer distances, with a final short event on a complex map. The afternoons offered relays, map memory, radio direction finding and a “mystery” event. Walkers were fully catered for. Participants could enter as few or as many events as they chose, or they could purchase a Festival Pass entitling them to discount entry to all events.

Day 1, Royal Park Day 1 was held in Royal Park, home to the Royal Children’s Hospital to whom we donated a part of the proceeds. It was an ideal venue for a fast-paced Park Sprint (line) course, with the Melbourne skyline providing a backdrop from the spectator hill behind the start.

The Mystery event was revealed as an elimination race, the “Survivor Challenge”. Colour-coded control numbers on the map and hints from the organisers kept competitors speculating and strategising between rounds while the course setter discreetly removed controls. The scramble to be first across the line in the final produced some amazing bursts of speed, and was also great fun to watch.

Day 2, Darebin Darebin Parklands was the venue for Day 2, with the morning’s Classic Scatter/Score in the usual street orienteering format. This was followed by Park Relays on a very detailed 1:3,500 colour map that fully tested competitors’ map reading ability, and gave spectators plenty of action to enjoy.

Day 3, Jells Park Suburban Jells Park on Easter Sunday was the perfect location for the long distance Score event, using two adjoining maps. Competitors now into their third day greatly appreciated the relaxed atmosphere afterwards - complete with ice cream van - while our flags, banners, information boards and bunting attracted interest from passers-by.

Hundreds of park-goers watched bemused as we attempted “come and try” radio direction finding and map memory events, while the Easter Egg string course was popular with the kids (and the adults!)

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Approaching controls by the ‘back door’ IT was a dark and stormy night as Stewed Fishfood and Vicki Taws approached the second control at Kahli’s Rocks near Bathurst.

Stew punched first and took a quick look at his map: the next leg was through a maze of complex granite boulders. But this did not deter Stew and in the spirit of his English ancestors, he decided to use the true and trusty “lottery technique”. He took a compass bearing and headed straight through the rocks, checking for the control behind each boulder.

Vicki made a different route choice and headed down the hill out of the rock detail. Stew glimpsed her heading down the hill, “She’s gone the wrong way, stupid Aussie!” he yelled in joy.

As Vicki reached the bottom of the hill and was out of the rocks, she turned left and ran along the base of the hill into open farmland, which allowed rapid progress. Up in the rocks our Pommie friend was leaping and bounding from boulder to boulder, carefully checking behind each for the elusive orange and white flag. Finally he stopped and looked around, wondering whether or not he might have gone past the correct boulder. Every boulder looked the same; he’d lost contact with his map and didn’t know where he was. He switched onto the ‘Hope and pray’ technique and slowly went further, hoping the control would magically pop up in front of him.

Vicki now turned back up the hill on a small path which took her just past the control. She veered off at a slight bend and headed back along the hillside to a large rock surface which made a good attack point and was only just past the control. Vicki was attacking via the ‘back door’: as she got to the end of the rock surface, she saw the marker. As usual the control was hung on the further side and by coming from the opposite direction, she could see it easily.

Vicki had finished the whole course before Stew eventually fell over the control by accident. Vicki won a cloth badge which is now proudly displayed in an old shoe box under her bed.

In complex rock detail or in thick, low visibility vegetation, it is usually worthwhile taking a slightly longer route if it provides faster running and easier navigation.

And if you can approach a control from the ‘back door’, it makes spotting the control flag much easier and can save time in the control circle. Another advantage is that competitors leaving the control will often lead you in. The technique is especially applicable for controls below rock faces and cliffs (approach from the lower side, not from above) or behind large boulders (approach from the far side).

Anthony Scott, ACT newsletter

DID YOU KNOW?

compiled by Ian Baker feminine forms of nouns.

The distinctive feminine form of the German word for “orienteer” was used.

suggested to the leader that it would be a good idea if participants were given name badges, prepared off the guest booking list, to wear for the first few days; I’m very bad at learning names quickly.

“We can’t do that,” I was told.

“Sometimes as many as half the people here are under different names to the ones they used for the

booking form!”

Anyway, they were all nice people. Each evening we had a pre-dinner meeting and the leaders explained the next day’s options – two grades of ski tour and a winter walk on the groomed tracks, wearing ‘spikies’ on your boots to prevent sliding on icy sections.

Before the start of the holiday I had a couple of nights in Innsbruck to recover from the jet lag. I stayed at the Weisses Kreuz (White Cross) in the old town, influenced by the fact a former guest was no less than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The place has been modernised since his time.

“Clean Up Australia Day” is a great idea, up to a point anyway. A group of busy volunteers was hard at work in Melbourne’s Fairfield Park as we arrived for Sprint Orienteering in March on Melbourne Forest Racers’ new map.

This was the sign at the side of a dirt road leading in to the event area at Glenluce in central Victoria in early March.

Despite driving carefully, I was unable to collect a chook!

Organiser Bruce Arthur did a quick education job on the cleaner-uppers before replacing the control.

In the northern winter, I went on a cross-country ski holiday in Austria with a UK-based adventure holiday company, Waymark. There were about 30 of us in all, so I

Injury of the Month LAST summer, a series of "Adventure Sprint" races took place in Canberra - involving pursuits such as paddling, mountain biking and running, with each leg requiring some simple navigation.

Darwin’s Top End Orienteers’ newsletter for April includes under “Tips of the month” for April, “Make sure you wear your crocodile repellent”!

A race in February saw Graham "Turbo" Turner leading a team of Cathy Talbot (née Hogg) and Duncan Gow into the fray. The orienteering trio was well-placed coming into the latter stages of the event when, during a short orienteering section on Black Mountain, Cathy managed to step on the end of a sharp stick. The stick pierced her shoe, soft orthotic and sock before lodging itself firmly into her foot and snapping off.

Advertisement in the Swiss magazine OL seeks votes for two candidates in the Bern Canton in the national election.

Unable to walk, she was carried to the transition area, and driven to a nearby hospital. Medical treatment took place in four stages. Cut the shoe into small pieces so it could be removed and we could all see the stick (see photo). Yank the stick out (under anaesthetic).

Surgery to remove bits of dirt from the foot. Spend three days in hospital on intravenous antibiotics to prevent infection.

“Orienteers vote for orienteers: “Fast legs, clear head and always in the right direction: in orienteering as in politics.”

A later edition reports that two women orienteers were elected to the national parliament, Evi Allemann and Ruth Humbel.

Specialists estimated that the stick was buried three centimetres into the foot.

The ad is clearly targeted at women. The German language has different masculine and

IS it something to do with 40 years of cohabitation, or is just retired Orienteering Australia President John Brammall just being canny? Wife Valerie underwent a hip operation last November, and made a great recovery to be able to walk her courses at the Australian Three Day at Easter.

The hotel prices for grog were fairly appalling. Fortunately I had a stock of duty-free whisky and vodka and went down to the supermarket for a stock of cheap and horrible local vino which I stored in a snow drift on the room balcony. I had a lot of droppers-in each evening!

Incidentally, once I forgot my backpack when going to the supermarket and had to pay the equivalent of thirty cents for a plastic bag to carry my bottles incognito into the hotel. And you have to do all your own packing at the check-out too.

Why not here in Oz?

However the scheduled start had to be delayed since a control was found to have gone

absent. A few minutes investigation found it, complete with chain and padlock, in the collection of rubbish of one perhaps over-enthusiastic volunteer.

John was due to undergo the same operation (opposite hip) at the end of April and hopes to be back in the bush well before the 2004 Australian Championships Carnival in late September October.

Editor Ian Baker snow-shoeing in the Alps.

He denies he persuaded Valerie to have the first operation so that he could se how well she survived it!

Valerie Brammall making a comeback after a hip operation.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

The route to Gold Thierry Gueorgiou’s Legs Having won a Bronze – France’s first ever WOC medal – in the sprint race, Thierry Gueorgiou started his favoured distance as one of the pre-race favourites. The outcome astounded the orienteering world. Thierry won with a 2 minute 37 second margin over second place in a race that lasted only 30 minutes.

SkogsSport (Sweden) said that, if world records were kept in orienteering, this huge margin would now be one of them. Thierry led from the first checkpoint and was never headed.

Reprinted from the French orienteering magazine, Thierry describes this incredible run step by step.

World Orienteering Championships 2003 Trin, Switzerland. Middle Distance Final This is the analysis of my course: how I approached each control and what thoughts were going through my head at each moment.

1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 2.17 2. Davidik (SVK)

+0.05 3. Peltola (FIN)

+0.08

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 2.17 2. Davidik (SVK)

+0.05 3. Peltola (FIN)

+0.08

S > 1

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 20/+0.20 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 25/+0.22 Gueorgiou Leg place 1 Time 2.17 Best time +0.00

Start to 1: Before the start, I concentrated extremely hard on what I had to do: read my map accurately and simplify. I was confident and knew exactly what to do to have a good run. The announcer said, “And now, ready to start, is probably the big favourite for the race…” There were then a few hesitant seconds before reminding myself just to concentrate on reading the map. I’m ready to go. Then it’s the moment to pick up the map. Turning it over, I realized this really would be a technical challenge.

Something that one rarely experiences in competition. Something I’d been dreaming about for a long time. I tell myself “This is your day.”

Those few seconds running through the spectators from pre-start to the start proper were an unforgettable moment. Then, in a moment I tell myself, “If it’s going to be you, you’ve got to read your map.” It is the last time I think about anything other than reading the map.

Once in the forest, I concentrate on the first control, knowing the importance of maintaining good speed right from the start.

I use the large knolls that I can see well ahead to guide me and which allow me to keep up a good speed in spite of the technical nature of the area. I find this first control without a problem.

1 > 2

1. Terkelsen (DEN) 0.58 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.01 2. De Haas (AUS)

+0.01

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 3.16 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.11 3. Domonyik (HUN) +0.17 Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 45/+1.21 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 17/+0.33 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 0.59 Best time +0.01

1 to 2: For the second control, I try to simplify the orienteering as much as possible. I use the depression mid-leg as a check feature. I also know that the control is to be found at the foot of the slope that is visible from this depression. I don’t bother looking at the 10 metres in front of my feet, but instead try to find distinctive features to save me time in map-reading.

24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

2.23 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.03 3. Davidik (SVK)

+0.05

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 5.51 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.02 3. Davidik (SVK)

+0.13

2 > 3

1. Gavrilov (RUS)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 39/+1.22 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 11/+0.45 Gueorgiou Leg place 6 Time 2.35 Best time +0.12

2 to 3: My first error. I use the track in an effort to save myself physically as the forest running is energy sapping. I benefit by using this ‘free time’ to prepare some upcoming legs. In my mind, the approach to the control is simplified by using the knoll directly behind the control. I wait for the knoll to give away the control. By doing this I avoid having to read all the detail immediately before the control on the hillside.

However, things don’t go as planned. I can’t see the hilltop directly behind the control (certainly hidden by the knoll just before the control, the area being flatter than on first appearances), I search for the control on the preceding knoll. I understand the problem immediately: five seconds lost.

0.16 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.01 2. Valstad (NOR)

+0.01

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 6.08 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.04 3. Davidik (SVK)

+0.14

3 > 4

1. Rostrup (NOR)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 36/+1.22 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 13/+0.52 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 0.17 Best time +0.01

3 to 4: A short leg: I had planned what to do running along the track on the previous leg. I just have to stay on top of the hill.

Once I spot the two knolls in the circle, the orienteering is over.

attention. The problem with this type of control is to be sure to slow the tempo in the final approach.

I know at exactly what level I am when I enter the forest. I control the distance between myself and the knoll on my left. The control is located in a shallow gully. I stay on-line using the slope to guide me though the rather dense vegetation which complicates the process.

6 > 7

1. Novikov V. (RUS) 1.00 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.01 2. Salmi (FIN)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 9.42 2. Olsson (SWE)

+0.35 3. Novikov V. (RUS)

+0.01 +0.37

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 22/+1.48 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 29/+2.03 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.01 Best time +0.01

6 to 7: Contouring out of the control I see the first paddock after a few metres. The area mid-leg is quite difficult to understand. I figure out how things are represented and determine my exact location. The field and the hill behind the control give away the control from a distance. For the first time during the course I feel that I am running fast.

1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1.04 2. Rostrup (NOR) +0.02 2. Wallner (SVK)

+0.02

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 10.46 2. Novikov V. (RUS) +0.45 3. Olsson (SWE)

+0.47

7 > 8

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 17/+1.57 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 23/+2.09 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.01 Best time +0.01 PHOTO: REMY STEINEGGER

+0.00 3. Olsson (SWE)

+0.02

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 6.53 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.10 3. Davidik (SVK)

+0.22

4 > 5

1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 0.45 1. Renard (FRA)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 30/+1.29 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 12/+1.07 Gueorgiou Leg place 1 Time 0.45 Best time +0.00

4 to 5: Again I attempt to navigate by using the features that stand out in the terrain. Exiting the control I see the zone of knolls before me and skirt around them to the left. Next, I stay in line with the hilltop, looking for the control on my left. I also noted that the control was located at the foot of the steep slope.

5 > 6

1. Sirmais (LAT)

1.46 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.02 3. Novikov V. (RUS)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 8.41 2. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.16 3. Olsson (SWE)

+0.04 +0.31

7 to 8: On leaving the control I glimpse the Russian who started two minutes before me. I try to ignore him and just concentrate on my map. The first part of the leg is rather complicated, lots of detail.

However, the most important thing is to run at high speed until the “plateau�, even if unsure of exactly where I am.

As is often the case, it is more important to know where you are going than where you are. Once on top of the plateau I see the knoll on the edge of the control circle. From there it is just a matter of watching my height on the slope before finding the control behind the spur.

+0.01 3. Banach (POL)

+0.02

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 11.36 2. Novikov V. (RUS) +0.40 3. Davidik (SVK)

+0.50

8 > 9

1. Peltola (FIN)

0.39 2. Renard (FRA)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 15/+1.53 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 21/+2.10 Gueorgiou Leg place 23 Time 0.50 Best time +0.11

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 30/+1.29 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 12/+1.07 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.48 Best time +0.02

8 to 9: My second error. I believe I simply have to follow the line of the spur on exiting the control, go down the slope and look for the knolls behind the control.

In fact, I exit too far to the right (my drawn route is not exactly what I did). Instead of passing the small knoll before the slope, I pass the knoll located on the auxiliary contour line to the south. No problem, five seconds lost.

5 to 6: As was often the case during the course, the course-setter would follow a transitional part of the course, where the orienteering was relatively simple, with a control demanding a great deal of

continued on page 30 JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

COACHING

Measuring orienteering performance with a heart rate monitor Nigel Davies

S

TRIP away all the complications and the objective of the orienteer is to complete courses: 1. By the most efficient route, and 2. At the maximum pace that can be sustained for the distance, without hesitations or errors.

The novice orienteer tends to consider each control as a separate challenge –navigate to the control, locate it, punch and then stop and consider how best to navigate to the next control. The goal of the more experienced orienteer is to achieve a smooth run, where controls are waypoints, rather than independent destinations.

To achieve this goal, imagine a ribbon of tape stretching around the orienteering course identifying the perfect route. The orienteer may then follow the tape at maximum pace, taking each control without slowing.

Of course in the real world the tape does not exist, but the purpose of this article is to encourage the orienteer to run as if it did, and to show how a heart rate monitor can be used to assess performance.

Maintaining maximum effort

Everyone has a maximum level of effort that can be maintained for a given distance, regardless of their level of fitness. It can be expressed accurately as a percentage of maximum heart rate.

Maximum heart rate The maximum heart rate for a young person is about 220 beats per minute (bpm). On average this deteriorates by one bpm for every year of age, so an orienteer at age 30 may have a maximum heart rate of 190 bpm, at age 50 170 bpm and so on. There is evidence that the rate of deterioration in maximum heart rate is slower for physically active individuals.

Figure 1

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Average heart rate The longer the duration of a race, the lower the average heart rate an individual is able to maintain for the distance.

While a runner may maintain an average heart rate at 95% of maximum over a 5km race, this may drop to 90% of maximum over a half-marathon. Better trained and fitter individuals can usually maintain a higher percentage of maximum heart rate over a given distance.

Measuring heart rate during an orienteering event Wrist watch-style heart rate monitors can record the orienteer’s heart rate during an event. Some models also record altitude.

Downloading the stored results from the heart rate monitor to a computer enables a graph to be displayed showing heart rate throughout an event, an altitude profile of the route taken and the time for each control. Figure 1 shows the author’s run in the M50A class at the 2003 Australian Championships at Barambogie, Victoria (with apologies for including my own performance but I am able to analyse this in more detail than the performance of any other competitor.) The data was recorded on a Polar S710 heart rate monitor and downloaded to the Polar training diary software using the monitor’s infra red link.

Comments on Figure 1 The horizontal axis shows time for the duration of the run, the vertical axis on the left shows heart rate in beats per minute and the vertical axis on the right shows altitude in metres. Heart rate for the run is represented by the upper line and the course profile (the ups and downs) by the lower line. The controls are marked 1 through 14 on the horizontal axis.

The chart enables us to measure whether or not the orienteer has expended maximum effort throughout the run. It also helps us measure where and why time was lost and how much was lost.

COACHING The heart rate graph of a perfect run would be a smooth horizontal line at the highest bpm that the athlete can maintain for the duration of the event. Every dip in the line indicates lost time when the athlete is not exerting maximum sustainable effort. This may be due to slowing as a result of a navigational error, laziness or environmental factors such as a steep downhill slope, loose rock or dense vegetation. Conversely, any sudden rise in the heart rate line is also to be avoided as an increase in effort beyond the sustainable level may lead to oxygen debt and subsequent time loss. During postevent analysis the orienteer can compare the heart rate graph with the course map and identify the causes of lost time.

The following comments apply to the marked features in Figure 1.

The author’s current resting heart rate (HR) is 40 bpm and maximum HR is 181.

Orienteering techniques that aid in maintaining maximum effort

A) A HR of 95 bpm at the start indicates a healthy level of interest in proceedings. Too low (lack of interest) or too high (excessive nervous tension) is to be avoided.

B) G ood start – fast rise in HR to race pace.

C) a nd D) Slight drops in HR due to the steep descents shown on the altitude profile.

E) T he drop in HR here records 25 seconds taken for a water stop.

The runner lost the event by 18 seconds. Would it have been better to miss the water stop or would this have resulted in a loss of more than 25 seconds due to dehydration and subsequent drop in performance?

F) U p to this point the runner has performed well with no errors, despite running at maximum effort. The HR leading in to each control is either flat or rising, indicating an aggressive approach to controls. From this point onwards the HR shows a slight but noticeable decline as the runner becomes fatigued. Remedy: more long slow distance training and more speed endurance training.

G) T he runner lost contact in a vague area between controls 7 and 8 but the HR shows maximum effort was maintained. This was done on a compass bearing to a catching feature where map contact was regained. Thirty seconds lost in deviating from the optimum line.

H) T he spike in HR is possibly due to a sudden adrenalin rush when control 12 was missed.

I) T he subsequent peaks and troughs show 4 minutes 30 seconds were lost searching for control 12. Remedy: more work on relocation technique.

J) A strong finish over the last three controls.

Average HR for the event was 163 bpm, or 90% of maximum HR, indicating a satisfactory physical performance. Time lost by two errors was five minutes. Total recorded climb was 440 metres against an advertised 265 metres on the control sheet. I do not believe the route choice was inefficient and query the discrepancy of 175 metres between the two figures.

In the next issue of The Australian Orienteer we will discuss how a heart rate monitor can be used to track training performance and avoid overtraining.

Nigel Davies lives in Launceston, Tasmania, where he is a member of Esk Valley Orienteering Club.

When not running in the bush he runs an IT training and consulting company. He has represented Australia at orienteering and duathlon and the United Kingdom at gymnastics.

His ambition is to beat Hugh Moore (ACT) in the M100 class at the Australian Championships of 2050.

Maintaining maximum effort throughout an orienteering event requires confidence in one’s navigational skills and the application of good orienteering technique. The following points are particularly relevant.

1. To avoid hesitations, at any given time the runner has to know a) Where am I now? b) What should I see next? and c) Where will I go after that? This has to be done on both a macro scale (“I am running to control 2, on reaching the control I will exit slightly uphill and run to control 3 on a line to the right of straight”) and on a micro scale (“In 150 metres there should be a 4 metre rock on this contour, on reaching the rock I will drop down the spur for 200 metres to a saddle”).

This information has to be constantly updated so features never appear as a surprise to the runner and the next destination is always known. We can measure our success by a post-race analysis of the course to see how many significant map features we failed to anticipate on the run.

2. On approaching a control the only adjustment we need to make to the technique outlined above is to check control code, type and size of the control feature and the location of the control in relation to the feature. We can then run aggressively into and through the control without loss of pace.

3. Many orienteers lose time by not maintaining maximum effort on downhills. It requires a conscious increase in effort and pace to maintain a high heart rate on downhill sections. To facilitate this, a route for the downhill should be selected on the previous uphill.

4. When running at pace there is a temptation to fix the eyes on the ground to avoid tripping. The runner should train a ‘head up’ running style (or ‘heads up’ as we like to say in Tasmania) and constantly scan the terrain to left and right for features that may aid location. Use peripheral vision and the occasional glance at the ground to maintain footing. Tape the ankles or wear ankle braces.

5. You cannot expect to race fast if you don’t train fast. At least one training session a week should include some speed work.

This is particularly important for masters competitors as power (which gives speed and hill climbing ability) seems to deteriorate faster with age than other qualities, such as endurance.

Confidence is everything. How many times have you slowed and lost time due to a lack of confidence when you were bang on line? The runner needs to maintain contact with the map and have the confidence to back his ability and run hard.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

SWEDISH LEGS

Great Swedish Legs

by Gunilla Svård

1. The first checkpoint Nordic Orienteering Championships 1999, Short Distance The first control can be dangerous. You are maybe a little too “hot to trot” at the start, feeling energetic but you don’t quite know what awaits you.

You don’t know how the vegetation is, you don’t know how the cartographer thinks and there are many people around you, running fast and in different directions. It is difficult to stay cool in these conditions.

rocky and scrubby I didn’t read the map as well as I should have. I lost map contact but I was thinking, “Not long left, concentrate to the end”. 14 looked easy but then I’d have to hold things together for 15. Only three controls left.

I veered down after the hill towards the control but unfortunately I didn’t see the gully as it was obscured on the map by the control circle. Things didn’t appear as I’d anticipated. I stopped to read the map and thought I’d read correctly. I ran up the hill and searched around, becoming stressed. Where is the control? I decided to return to the track and begin again. I have climbed three contours too high!

I ran down the track and began again. I lost three and a half minutes and tried to think calmly about the next. It didn’t happen. I was fatigued in both mind and legs. I lost another three and a half minutes before the finish. I lost seven minutes in 800 metres and finished 22nd, 7min. 57sec. behind the winner.

If you have had a long stretch where you have been able to rest your mind, it is important that you can turn it back on. Never become nonchalant about a control that looks easy. You are at particular risk of making an error if the terrain and technical simplicity has allowed you to increase your tempo, with your heart rate rising and your thinking becoming clouded. As soon as you get the feeling that things don’t seem right, stop and be extra precise so that you run in the right direction. Going into a panic and getting stressed doesn’t gain you any time.

3. Concentrate until the end

World Championships, Finland 2001, Relay, Last Leg, 17-18

This was a really difficult control, which caused problems for many runners. In a short distance race, 30 seconds is a lot. The leg is slightly uphill, a little light green, with a small knoll before the control, which according to the map, should be obvious.

I stopped at the start point and measured how far it was and then got moving. I had a good look at what I passed. I made a short stop, checking my position at the boulder and looked up to number one. I was 9 seconds slower than the fastest on the leg but had a good and balanced start.

In different phases of my orienteering career I have often blown the first control. After analysing many events, I realised that I was in too much of a hurry so I keep in mind that I should stroll to the first control. Despite this, I am often amongst the fastest times to the first. If there is a possibility to take a non-direct route choice to the first I will usually take it. I want a good start to my race.

I believe the feeling I have when I run to my first is the feeling which affects the whole race. If I make a safe beginning I work my way into the map and the orienteering. Dare to stop at the start point if you need to.

2. The easy leg trap World Championships, Scotland 1999, Classic Distance, 13 to 14

I have had a great run up to 13 and I feel good. Between 12-13 I came together with a male runner. The terrain was easy and clear and all you needed to do was run. It was also easy from 13. I hung onto the bloke who was running fast. When the terrain became a little 28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

I went out in second place 2.25 after Finland and 2.28 in front of Norway. I have taken things easily and methodically for the whole course. At 16 I heard that I was only 1.15 behind. On the way to 17 I started to think, “Now I must take a chance if I am to catch up,” “I wonder how far ahead of the Norwegian I am,” “How boring if I don’t make a spurt.”

I didn’t have a proper plan when heading to 18 but to run fast on a compass bearing and take a chance to catch the Finn. I knew that others had missed 18 and hoped that the Finn had as well. The thought that I could miss it didn’t occur. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened. The consolation was that I ended up head-tohead with the Norwegian, Hanne Staff, down the finish chute and out-sprinted her.

The lesson here is not to ease off your concentration on the map before you have crossed the finish. Don’t be distracted from the main task of orienteering as cleanly and quickly as possible.

You can never catch up a minute through just running fast, but one who finds the control cleanly can easily gain a minute on someone who misses a control.

Gunilla Svård

Occupation: Professional orienteer.

Age: 34 years old.

Championship Record: WOC: One gold (relay 1997), two silver and two bronze. One European Championship gold (Middle Distance 2002). Six gold, six silver and eleven bronze medals in Swedish Championships.

ENZED NEWS

by Rob Crawford (NZ)

Carsten Jorgensen and Tania Robinson dominate NZ Champs

A

S expected, Carsten Jorgensen and Tania Robinson dominated the NZ Championships held during Easter weekend, although neither managed to clean sweep the three titles on offer. Robinson had an uncharacteristically bad run in the opening sprint before showing her true class during the weekend, while Jorgensen got pipped in the middle distance on the last day by Karl Dravitzki for his first national elite title.

NZ Sprint Champs, Women 1 Sara Wallen 17.56 2 Rachel Smith 18.25 3 Claire Paterson 19.21 4 Tania Robinson 19.26 5 Rebecca Smith 19.27

NZ Classic Champs, Men 1 Carsten Jorgensen 111.00 2 Chris Forne 113.35 3 Rob Jessop 116.07 4 Darren Ashmore 117.29 5 Al Cory-Wright 123.00

NZ Sprint Champs, Men 1 Carsten Jorgensen 13.52 2 Stu Barr 14.11 3 Chris Forne 14.17 4 Karl Dravitzki 14.41 5 Rob Jessop 14.44

NZ Middle Champs, Women 1 Tania Robinson 29.10 2 Marquita Gelderman 31.52 3 Rachel Smith 32.19 4 Penny Kane 32.49 5 Sara Wallen 32.58

NZ Classic Champs, Women 1 Tania Robinson 86.21 2 Sara Wallen 93.43 3 Rachel Smith 94.04 4 Penny Kane 94.37 5 Rebecca Smith 94.54

NZ Middle Champs, Men 1 Karl Dravitzki 29.05 2 Carsten Jorgensen 29.25 3 Stu Barr 30.15 4 Mark Lawson 31.34 5 Chris Forne 32.25

Full results can be found at the following website: http://nationals. orienteering.org.nz/

Sprint

The weekend started with a sprint race held in a bush-clad reserve on a bed and breakfast property currently leased by former NZOF President Graham Teahan. No problems with permission, and the grounds made a delightful setting for this opening race. Like the WOC sprint race last year, the course featured a rather long leg with a wide and ultimately quicker route choice option that was missed by all bar the women’s race winner Sara Wallen. Her decision probably accounted for most of the 29 second margin she had over runner-up Rachel Smith, while NZ’s top junior Claire Paterson kept Robinson out of the placings. Short distance specialist Stu Barr kept Jorgensen’s win to 19 seconds, while NZ’s best performer of 2003 Chris Forne rounded out the top three.

Interestingly, both sprint winners are from overseas and in NZ due to romance. European elites who read this column should note that there are plenty of eligible elite bachelors and bachelorettes remaining in NZ, although there is no truth to the rumour that this is a long-term strategy to improve NZ’s competitive standing in elite orienteering. NZ’s chances for WOC 2025 have been dealt a savage blow with the news that expectant parents Jorgensen and Jenni Adams’ baby will be born in Denmark sometime in August.

Classic race

The classic race on Easter Saturday was held on a remap of the northern part of Waitarere Forest (north of Wellington) – classic sand dune terrain and in a welcome change mapped at 1:15000 for the elite grades. Jorgensen held off Forne by over two minutes over a testing 15.5 km course with last year’s winner Rob Jessop five minutes behind the winner in third place. Robinson’s winning margin was a massive seven minutes over Wallen, with Smith edging just ahead of last year’s champion Penny Kane for third. Further down the field watch out in the future for 17 year-old Amber Morrison of Hawkes Bay. Morrison had the misfortune to lose her e-card and the 10 minutes searching for it possibly cost her a placing. She remains eligible for JWOC until 2007 and judging by her performances in elite company to date, has the potential to surprise in Australia in a few year’s time.

Middle distance

Karl Dravitzki broke through for his maiden national elite title at the recent NZ Championships. Photo: Rob Crawford

The final race, the middle distance, was held on the WMOC 2000 finals area. Dravitzki’s win was perhaps an overdue realisation of the potential he has shown since a junior, made more commendable by the fact he has battled back from injury problems that have hampered him over the last year. Robinson put in another impressive performance, hammering her opposition by nearly three minutes in a 29-minute race.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

R O U T E T O G O L D continued from page 25 9 > 10

1. Nielsen (DEN)

1.10 2. Bentz (SUI)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 12.50 2. Davidik (SVK)

+0.01 3. Muukkonen (FIN) +0.02 +0.55 3. Novikov V. (RUS)

+0.58

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 13/+1.56 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 17/+2.12 Gueorgiou Leg place 6 Time 1.14 Best time +0.04

9 to 10: A leg I did not have time to plan in advance. I make my route choice in the 10 metres after punching number 9. Only one exit was possible- between the knolls. I stay in contact with the slope until the gully at 70% of the leg, and then I use the knoll to guide me into the control.

10 > 11 1. Olsson (SWE)

1.13 2. Rostrup (NOR) +0.02 3. Valstad (NOR)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 14.12 2. Davidik (SVK)

+0.56 3. Novikov V. (RUS)

+0.03

12 to 13: Certainly the most testing part of the course without a doubt. One never sees the end of the tunnel. Nearly 300 metres with 80 metres of climb. One bend after another and each time you think, “Great, that was the last,” and then before you is more climb. I try to keep up the same high tempo throughout the climb, yet feel as if I am in slow motion. The split times, however, show everyone else must have felt the same way.

At the top of the climb, I am not thinking as clearly, fail to use my compass properly and take the wrong track at 90 degrees to the one I should have taken. I recognise the problem quickly and adapt my approach accordingly. A control in more detailed terrain would have seen a great deal more damage done.

13 > 14 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 2.18 1. Novikov V. (RUS) +0.07 3. Valstad (NOR)

+0.10

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 21.40 2. Ikonen (FIN)

+2.18

+2.00 3. Valstad (NOR)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 3/+2.18 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 9/+2.40 Gueorgiou Leg place 1 Time 2.18 Best time +0.00

+0.59

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 11/+1.50 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 17/+2.12 Gueorgiou Leg place 15 Time 1.22 Best time +0.09

10 to 11: The track allows me to relax a little mentally, for things are beginning to heat up. Even so, I continue to push the tempo. The approach to number 11 is not evident, the contours being rather vaguer than up to now.

The knoll in the circle gives away the control.

11 > 12 1. Ikonen (FIN)

1.25 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.01 2. Rostrup (NOR)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 15.38 2. Davidik (SVK)

+1.02 3. Novikov V. (RUS)

+0.01

11 to 12: I attempt to up my tempo on leaving the control and expect a big descent leading into 12, an opportunity to recuperate somewhat.

What a surprise when I see an almost vertical climb in front of me! A misinterpretation of the map- definitely the first signs of mental fatigue. The climb up to the control is physically very difficult but is nothing compared to what is to follow.

12 > 13 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 3.44 1. Kristiansen (NOR) +0.00 3. Ikonen (FIN)

+0.06

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 19.22 2. Davidik (SVK)

+1.48

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 7/+2.08 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 9/+2.26 Gueorgiou Leg place 1 Time 3.44 Best time +0.00

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

I have a good understanding of the area; I simply use the spur to guide me down into the control. On approach, I keep up the speed making out the features near the control well ahead.

+1.07

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 9/+1.55 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 15/+2.26 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.26 Best time +0.01

+1.15 3. Ikonen (FIN)

13 to 14: After the exhausting climb, it is important not to spend the first part of the following leg recovering. Therefore, I try to be aggressive on the first descent. I take advantage of the track to study more closely the approach to the control.

14 > 15 1. Valstad (NOR)

0.39 1. Rostrup (NOR) +0.01 3. Bentz (SUI)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 22.32 2. Ikonen (FIN)

+1.52 3. Valstad (NOR)

+0.02 +2.05

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 3/+2.05 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 8/+2.34 Gueorgiou Leg place 30 Time 0.52 Best time +0.13

14 to 15: My big error- 10 seconds lost. The one moment of real doubt throughout the course. I pass through the depression, but I am not high enough on the hillside: I fail to make out the upper part of the gully that should lead me into the control. I scan the terrain in the distance and see the knoll where it seems the control should be. A few metres before reaching it I notice a track in front of me. I stop dead. I had not planned to cross a track.

Don’t panic, I try to relocate as quickly as possible. I look around, immediately making out the land-form where the control is situated.

I go there. Only 10 seconds or so blown, my reaction and relocation were swift. During the few seconds getting to the control, I kick myself- I am really disappointed. The feeling of making one mistake too many. However, I concentrate on the next control and forget the error immediately.

ROUTE TO GOLD 15 > 16 1. De Haas (AUS)

1.22 2. Bentz (SUI)

+0.01 3. Sirmais (LAT)

+0.02

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 23.57 2. Ikonen (FIN)

+1.52 3. Valstad (NOR)

+2.18

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 3/+2.18 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 6/+2.35 Gueorgiou Leg place 4 Time 1.25 Best time +0.03

15 to 16: The type of control where you can lose the course. You find yourself, for the first time on the course, near the finish. You hear the announcer as if he was next to you. All the same, you must not change your way of doing things.

leaving the control, which accordingly gives me the necessary direction for the following control. The next moment I spot the knoll the control is located just behind. I decide to attack the control from the left; this approach seems faster, the approach from the right being much steeper.

19 > 20 1. Olsson (SWE)

0.45 2. Bentz (SUI)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 24.45 2. Ikonen (FIN)

+0.02 3. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.03 +1.54 3. Valstad (NOR)

+2.15

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 3/+2.15 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 5/+2.37 Gueorgiou Leg place 3 Time 0.48 Best time +0.03

16 to 17: Definitely the easiest leg of the course. Nothing special to do to find the control – a bulldozer! I benefit by preparing all the route choices on the final loop. This is done quite quickly, seeing, without problem, the features upon which to rely. I spent a few seconds at the finish line of the qualification to study this zone in detail.

I do not know my placing. I try to listen to the announcer, understanding something like, “He lost the lead a few controls earlier….” I do not pay much attention. I just try to give it my all in this last section of the course.

17 > 18 1. Kristiansen (NOR) 1.54 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.03 3. Valstad (NOR)

+0.11

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 26.42 2. Ikonen (FIN)

+2.23

+2.10 3. Valstad (NOR)

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 3/+2.23 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 4/+2.34 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.57 Best time +0.03

17 to 18: Last climb of the course. I push as hard as possible. The risk in this type of situation is to blow the approach after such an effort, but I am confident that I have well interpreted the area in my head.

18 > 19 1. Nielsen (DEN)

0.58 2. Steinemann (SUI) +0.01 2. Gavrilov (RUS)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 27.43 2. Valstad (NOR)

+0.01

+2.36 2. Kristiansen (NOR) +2.36

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 2/+2.36 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 2/+2.36 Gueorgiou Leg place 4 Time 1.01 Best time +0.03

18 to 19: The decisive moment of the course. In spite of the fatigue, you must try to combine aggressive, yet safe orienteering. I try to stick to the slope on

+0.03

+2.36 3. Kristiansen (NOR) +2.56

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 2/+2.36 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 3/+2.56 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 0.41 Best time +0.03

Once the gully near the control is reached, I take care as to my height on the hillside using the vegetation. I stop too early on the subtle detail 10 metres before the control. I check my map, going forward a few metres until I see the control.

16 > 17 1. Valstad (NOR)

0.38 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.03 2. Valstad (NOR)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 28.24 2. Valstad (NOR)

19 to 20: Here I chose the correct features enabling good orienteering and the control was found easily. I keep an eye on the hilltop to the right.

From there I see the knoll, the control is at the foot.

At this moment I am on a high.

In a few moments there will be the finish and the spectators. I am very happy to have orienteered well from start to finish.

20 > 21 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 0.37 2. Valstad (NOR)

+0.01 2. Sirmais (LAT)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 29.01 2. Valstad (NOR)

+2.37 3. Kristiansen (NOR) +3.00

+0.02

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 2/+2.37 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 3/+3.00 Gueorgiou Leg place 1 Time 0.37 Best time +0.00

20 to 21: Technically the course is over. I change to autopilot and let the slope and spectators do the rest. During the drop to the finish area, this time I hear the commentator announce that I will be World Champion. I hear it but do not take it in, being too tired.

The last control provides the final moment of concentration – I listen for the beep.

21 > F

1. Stevenson (GBR) 1.06 2. Gueorgiou (FRA) +0.01 2. Valstad (NOR)

Overall 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 30.08 2. Valstad (NOR)

+0.01

+2.37 3. Kristiansen (NOR) +3.00

Medalists 1. Gueorgiou (FRA) 1/0.00 2. Valstad (NOR) 2/+2.37 3. Kristiansen (NOR) 3/+3.00 Gueorgiou Leg place 2 Time 1.07 Best time +0.01

21 to Finish: The finish chute is painful for the legs but great for the spirit. Stride after stride, I now know what awaits me at the finish line: the Gold medal. Those final metres are etched in my memory; the cheers of the crowd, the fatigue, the satisfaction – a mix of emotions….

My first thought on crossing the finish line was “Objective achieved, you have orienteered the way you had to on the day that counts, D-Day.” Thierry Gueorgiou was also 2003 Park World Tour Champion with 53 points ahead of Australia’s Grant Bluett, second with 45 points.

Michael Mamleev (Russia but resident in Sweden) was third with 32.

Article from the French orienteering magazine. Translated by Eddie Wymer, checked and minor editing by Ian Baker and Rob Lewis.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

HIGH PERFORMANCE Our progress Mike Dowling, Director, High Performance

O

UR High Performance Strategic Plan governs the direction of our high performance programmes. The Plan was originally prepared in January 2001 and has been reviewed and revised as necessary to take account the advent of mountain bike orienteering as an elite sport and the changes in elite foot orienteering international competitions.

Performance aims

The end date for the Plan remains the end of 2005, as that will be the end of a cycle which has the objective of top six in the relay competitions and for individuals to win a medal at the World Championships in Japan in 2005.

Similar objectives apply to the 2004 World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships to be staged in Victoria.

It is timely to review how we are progressing in relation to our stated original objectives given the 2004 World Mountain Bike Championships will be occurring later this year and the end goal of the 2005 World Championships in foot orienteering is fast approaching.

Strategic Plan purpose

To provide Australian elite orienteers with the best opportunity to realise their potential and win medals at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Victoria in 2004 and the [foot] World Orienteering Championships in Japan in 2005.

The Vision

The Australian Orienteering High Performance Program will be well managed and will provide the best opportunities for all elite orienteers, who are prepared to make the commitment to form men’s and women’s teams that will finish in the top six in relay competitions at the 2004 World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships and the 2005 [foot] World Championships and for individuals to win medals at each of those Championships, if not before.

Key areas of the Strategic Plan

National Teams: as above.

National Orienteering League: To have a National Orienteering League that offers the best competitors from all States and New Zealand well organised and technically demanding races against quality fields.

National training network: To have a network of national and regional training centres through Australia that serves the needs of elite orienteering nationally and in each state. These will provide the opportunity for elite orienteers to have ready access to high quality areas for training, as well as the opportunity to study and/or develop a career. The program will be co-ordinated by a National Training Centre at the ACT Academy of Sport, Canberra.

Elite coaching network: To have a well-established and effective elite coaching network that serves the needs of elite orienteering nationally and in each state.

Support staff: To have a pool of support staff who excel in their field of expertise and provide value to elite programs.

Video and technology: To use video and other high technology to identify areas for improving athlete performance.

Media: To raise the profile of Australian elite orienteering through increased promotion and media coverage and have a pool of athletes with well-developed media skills.

Resources: To have sufficient resources to execute the program.

32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

National teams: We have made good progress here. Our national foot and MTBO teams had athletes achieved top ten placings last year.

We have a well-structured training and preparation pathway in place with pre-championship training camps planned for this year and 2005. We have a well-established presence in the foot Junior World Championships that serves as a nursery for our future elite athletes.

We have appointed high calibre management and coaching teams to support our athletes.

The areas we need to look at is to develop a strategic partnership with a European club/association to improve the support structures for our athletes competing and living in Europe, to gain better physiological/psychological data to support athletes and their coaches who are not in Academy of Sport/Institute of Sport programmes, and to provide better financial support/assistance for our very best high performers.

National Orienteering League: The NOL for foot orienteering is now well established as an integral part of the domestic high performance calendar. All states are now participating to the best of their abilities with the reaffirmation of the importance of team image and profile. We have established a national junior league in 2003 and further developed this with the adoption of a junior teams competition this year.

Despite our best efforts, problems still regularly crop up with the conduct of some events in the league calendar. To that end the High Performance Management Group is conducting a comprehensive review on the underlying guidelines and processes of the National League to further reduce the chances for problems to potentially diminish this essential and vital component of our high performance programmes.

National training network: We have a de-facto national centre of excellence in the ACT Academy of Sport orienteering program that attracts a lot of our best athletes to live and train in Canberra. We now have an excellent Manager, High Performance, in Jason McCrae who was appointed in November last year to oversee the activities of our high performance programmes resulting in improved communication/support structures for both athletes and coaches.

We have seen the development of regional training groups in all states and territories to some extent and have individual athletes gaining support and assistance through state sport institute programmes. Tasmania has successfully implemented a talent identification model in partnership with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport that could be used as a model for other states/territories to adopt as a way of identifying future potential elite athletes.

We have established a training squad for our best mountain bike orienteering athletes. We do need to work hard in establishing another orienteering programme as a part of a state/regional sports institute and work toward better supporting athletes not in such programmes.

Elite Coaching Network: A strong elite coaching network has always been one of the challenges facing orienteering. Thanks to the work of Neville Bleakley (Manager National Coaching Programmes) and Jason McCrae we are seeing an emergence of more high quality coaches with the skills and willingness to work with our best athletes. All states have training squads in place supported by improved coaching structures and a growing acceptance of athletes of the need to have a coach/athlete partnership. We have an increasing number of high-level accredited coaches.

We do need to encourage a new generation of coaches who are ready and willing to work with athletes in a mutually beneficial partnership. To that end the High Performance Management Group in partnership with the Board of Orienteering Australia is exploring ways in which we can better support states in further improving their local coaching structures.

Support staff: Access to a comprehensive group support staff for our high performance programmes such as physiotherapists, sport psychologists, masseurs etc is hindered by our lack of sufficient financial resources. Athletes who are in sports institute programmes

POSTCARD FROM FINLAND •D avid Brickhill-Jones and Troy de Haas: we were in Italy for the Park World Tour in March. It was primarily a training camp with lots of great new terrains and pizza loading. My 14th was our best performance during the week with BJ unfortunately missing qualifying to both the finals.

keep’n it real Troy de Haas aokeepnitreal@hotmail.com Australian national team member, Troy de Haas, brings us the latest news, gossip, escapades and pictures from the elite orienteering world in Europe. Find out from behind the scenes just what our Aussie best have been up to? Or maybe should have not been up to?

Terevetuloa!

WELCOME to another year of orienteering. The last snow has finally melted away and I am happy to report to you that racing is already in full swing across Scandinavia. It was just a few days ago I excitedly rang my parents back home in Australia to tell them how warm it was, until I was reminded that +9 degrees is not really anything to get too excited about (maybe so in Australia).

As in most years the elite orienteering year is usually centred on Scandinavia, with many of the big clubs, relays and various elite competitions based here. This is certainly the case in 2004 with both European Championships (Denmark) and World Championships (Sweden), the

two biggest events of the year being hosted in Scandinavia.

The season is very long and demanding lasting from early March till late October, it is therefore very important as an elite orienteer to carefully plan competitions and training to be best-prepared at the most important times. In preparation for the season ahead many of Australia’s elite orienteers have been indulging on training camps and competing in all parts of the world: •B en Rattray opened his world ranking account for 2004 competing at the Portugal O-meeting (11th) in Evora.

The best orienteering nation in the world in 2004, Switzerland, were also there with a full team using the week as part of their preseason training camp.

continued from page 32 benefit from such services while athletes outside such programs have limited access from a system level. In addition, the availability of such services is limited for our national teams. We need to work hard to obtain resources to improve access to these important support personnel to assist in taking our international performances to the next level.

Video and technology: The most interesting aspect of the implementation of video and technology to support our athletes ahs been the recent work with GPS technologies to monitor athlete performance in training and competition in a more detailed way.

Orienteering like all other sports must and needs to use technological advances to gain that competitive edge if we are to build our international competitiveness. Again, resourcing is the single largest issue facing us in this area.

Media: As a minor player in the Australian sporting scene orienteering struggles to gain a profile for our high level performers.

Thanks to the work of Bob Mouatt we do get coverage of our high performance activities at various levels nationally depending on the relative profile of our sport in different media markets.

Our elite do need to be aware of the need to constantly present a positive, professional image at all times and we are working at a

•G rant Bluett, despite being a missing name from the Park World Tour in Italy, was still in the country a few weeks earlier with girlfriend Shannon Jones. He has also spent a week in France training; it will be interesting to see what 2004 holds for him as WOC (Swedish) terrain has been his home for the past eight years.

•D avid Shepherd and Jo Allison spent February soaking up the sun of Costa Blanca (Spain). They also competed at Trofeo Villa de Tibi (World Ranking Event), Jo was 10th and David 28th, but it was more the training opportunities that interested them both.

• T om Quayle, trying to escape the winter conditions of Sweden headed south to Croatia with his team Sundsvall OK. To his disappointment a snow storm hit the area at the time, luckily the Lipica Open still went ahead and Tom was 7th overall.

Scandinavia via Hong Kong. I competed at the Hong Kong 10km, a road race with 17,000 runners (I was second). www. hkmarathon.com I also made a presentation to the Hong Kong orienteering squad about orienteering in Australia and my training. It always amazes me orienteering in new countries, I learnt a lot from them. Look out WOC2005/Japan, Hong Kong are serious.

What’s Hot? •O rienteering jigsaws: Swiss national team reveal they use jigsaw maps to help familiarise themselves with important competition terrains. www. ol-fachschrift.ch • Hong

Kong orienteers: thanks for your hospitality. www.oahk. org.hk • I taly cave terrains: amazing ruins also used for the movie The Passion of the Christ. www.pwt.org

What’s Not?: •D imsim free Scandinavia: they do not know what they are missing. www. masterfoods.com • S eptember World Champs: 30 degrees last year in Switzerland: it could be as low as 10 degrees this year in Sweden. www.woc2004.com

• T roy de Haas: after spending two months in Australia over summer I returned to

system level to entrench these notions as a key aspect of our high performance programmes.

Resources: This aspect of the strategic plan presents the greatest challenge as it underpins the activities of all other areas of the plan.

We rely almost totally on the resources of our orienteering community and that of the Australian Sports Commission for our high performance programmes.

As we are perceived as a bit player in Australian sport, and being a non-Olympic sport to boot, do we accept we will always struggle to achieve any tangible corporate support or access high level government funding? I personally don’t believe it.

We all know our sport is a fantastic one. It fosters and develops a marvellous sense of community; it is environmentally friendly, promotes the perfect blend of physical and mental effort and is inclusive of people at all levels. What we all collectively need to do is communicate these messages at all times in a confident, sure manner, for athletes, coaches and administrators to work hard to improve our international competitive standing and constantly explore ways in which we can be smarter at using our valuable resources.

We owe it to our sport and to everyone who enjoys the intrinsic benefits that we derive from it to have orienteering growing as a vibrant sport within the Australian community.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

String courses The Moray 2003 Dalaschyle String Course or “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing to excess” Dave and Ann Robertson (UK)

A

long time ago, we accepted the task of creating the string course for Day One of the 2003Scottish 6-Day. Soon afterwards the String Course Manual and supplementary instructions appeared in the post. Among the many useful bit of information were the expected numbers of participants: we should cater for “up to 350 string and 180 off-string competitors”. Clearly this was a string course on a BIG scale (sorry, couldn’t resist). Note for the uninitiated: on an offstring course the competitors have a map with the string marked on it but the controls are a little way off the string although still visible from it. The idea is to introduce the idea of looking at the map.

How should they be done?

Having experienced many string courses we have strong views on how they should be done. Ideally they should have a real map, be on interesting terrain, have fun controls and be close to assembly, and there must be prizes. We were lucky in that one of the areas available to us was a great little area of knolls, hills, boulders, crags and marshes in dappled shade right next to the assembly area. It was even bounded by a wall and a minor road so we should have no chance of loosing anyone who strayed. On a visit up north to see Granda Seagull (Ann’s dad), we took the kids for a walk around the area while Dave made some sketches and took some photos. Once home he drew it up in OCAD. John Colls, the controller for the grown-ups’ event, generously added to his workload by offering to visit the area and refine both the map and the line of the string.

The controls

With the map now well in hand we turned our attention to the controls. We started with a lot of outrageous ideas and then slowly edited out the silliest. Mostly we listened to the kids and remembered all the string courses they had really enjoyed. (Those of fundamentalist religious views might want to skip the rest of the paragraph).

We decided on a loosely interpreted fairy/spooky/supernatural theme for the widest appeal. At each control there was the usual picture to match up with that on the map but to add some fun we added some extra features. Some of these were shamelessly borrowed from previous string courses we have known. The controls were as follows.

The “Witch’s Hat” and “Snake” controls on the Dalaschyle string course.

Snake

Book of Spells a sparkly folder with the subtitle “can only be read by real witches” and full of coloured blank pages.

Fairy Fairy Nuff (the old ones are the best), a doll in a pink tutu with tinsel decorations and a similarly decorated helper mouse.

Cauldron “White Witches Cauldron” a large pot on a small pretend fire with a copy of Delia’s Summer Collection cookbook beside it. This obviously looked like a lucky dip to some children who couldn’t resist having a rake through the shredded newspaper and streamers we filled it with.

Witch’s Hat a dead traffic cone painted black with crepe paper and a purple ribbon.

Bat’s Lair lots of black cardboard bats hanging from the trees and fluttering in the breeze.

Broomstick “flying” above the control (also gets you strange looks when tied to the roof of the car).

Magic Dust a small bag of glitter to “sprinkle a pinch and make a wish”.

Spider’s Lair Ann wove two webs with wool between three trees and we borrowed Dave’s parent’s excellent “Spider of Doom”. Make a loud sound and the spider suddenly drops and then slowly climbs back to its web with much waving of its legs.

Preparing the course

The day before the event we spent a few hours with some helpers hacking paths through the bracken, “gardening” the course to make it suitable for small legs with Lindsay, 3, and Catriona, 6, acting as quality controllers. We also set out the string (which, much to our relief, was long enough to go all the way round, if a little bit weedy to see). It was teatime before the stile-builders arrived so we had to leave them to it and hope it went in the right place (it did, thanks guys).

On the day

Surprise and delight as the “Spider of Doom” claims another victim at the Dalaschyle string course.

34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

a two metre long cuddly snake.

On the day the weather was perfect: glorious sunshine, warm and just enough of a breeze to keep the midges away. Children were queuing up before we were supposed to open and soon disappearing into the forest. Shortly afterwards screams from near the Spider of Doom heralded the first finishers.

Our brilliant band of helpers was almost overwhelmed as over the next three and a half hours we had around 300 string and 150 offstring runs.

Each finisher got a certificate and prizes. Lindsay also got into one of her fairy outfits complete with pink tutu, wings and sawn-off wand but didn’t want to swap places with Fairy Nuff. Catriona meanwhile guarded the magic dust and ensured no one went without a wish. Many went round more than once and some children even

Swiss magazine OL (Orienteering) at the end of 2003 looked at how orienteering meets changed and changing needs in society. There are ten points: 1. Sport is getting away from sweat.

People like exercise to be easy.

Orienteering may not seem to meet this requirement, but there are possibilities. Orienteering – walking without time competition, especially in town-O (Australia: street/park).

2. Sport is meeting people and making friends.

Patrick Strasser, 6, was a keen runner each day in the Melbourne 4 Days at Easter. Dad, Andreas, carried the map. Photo: Pam King.

Social aspects are more and more important. Many people take part in sport to meet and to make friends. We need to make new people welcome. Let’s get rid of incomprehensible abbreviations, special language, complicated entry procedures.

We need to present a sport without mental and organisational hurdles.

appeared back with their second parent, still sweaty from their run, so that they too could enjoy the course. There is even a rumour that several of the Scottish Junior Squad were seen out on the course.

3. Sport is fun, enjoyment and having a chat.

It had to be special

4. Sport is an adventure, a tingle.

Clearly we went to more trouble than we would have for a smaller event but for the first day of the six we felt that it had to be special.

We had a great time and we heard lots of positive comments all week.

Several adults were seen heading round with cameras in hand to photograph a “real” string course and a few adults even went round without a child in tow, having heard others talking about it.

However, the real seal of approval was the number of bright-faced little people dying to tell us about the things they had found on the course.

Reproduced from the October 2003 issue of Clyde-O-Scope. Thanks to Sheila Colls (Vic.) for passing it to The Australian Orienteer.

People take part in sport for pleasure, not just to excel over others.

We can present orienteering as a modern outdoor adventure sport.

5. Sport makes you fit, helps you look good and keeps you healthy.

Orienteering meets this criterion perfectly. No need to go to an air-conditioned fitness centre.

6. Sport is one of our leisure activities.

ORIENTEERING

Orienteering, a trendy sport.

Seize the day!

Orienteering can do more to promote that there is more to it than reading a map, running and punching a control. The total experience is important – being with friends, seeing new places, having a meal…

7. Sport is a way of having fun and getting out.

Only a few skiers spend the whole day on the slopes and then go straight to their home or lodgings. Skiers go to a bar with music and a lively atmosphere.

Have you already registered f

O-zine?

O-zine is an international on-line/e-mail orienteering magazine published 4-6 times a year.

You can now receive an e-mail notification whenever a new issue of O-zine is released.

To register, just fill in the form at http://www.orienteering.org/headline.htm and press the 'Subscribe' button.

Enjoy reading your O-zine!

International Orienteering Federation Radiokatu 20, FIN-00093 SLU, FINLAND

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Let’s be realistic. Only a few orienteering events offer a real party atmosphere.

8. Sport creates a sense of belonging.

Orienteering is strong here. An orienteer can quickly make friends in Oslo, New York or Tokyo. A stronger culture than one built on brands, music and fashion.

9. Sport is lifestyle.

Orienteering is lifestyle – see points 3, 4, 6 and 8. And we’re improving in our clothing. The best example was the outfits worn by the Swiss women as they ran through the streets at WOC Sprint-O in 2003.

10.

Sport has potential.

There are two mega-trends with vast opportunities. The “Young Old” (people who want to keep from ageing) and “The Future is Female”.

So Carpe Diem (Seize the day) Orienteering meets eight or nine of the points listed. So it does have real potential. Let’s seize the day!

This article is summarised from and based on a much longer and more detailed presentation by Daniel von Arx in the Swiss magazine OL, where it was published in both German and in French. The lead points in the Swiss article came from Kurt Meister of market research institute IHA-GFK. This article is published with permission from OL. The full texts have been sent to Orienteering Australia.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

A THOUGHT SPORT

Second Savers “Take care of the seconds and the minutes take care of themselves,” says Hally Hardie.

YOU might think that talk of saving seconds is just nonsense. But just consider that it is very easy to waste 30 seconds or more at each control without actually making mistakes, and if you have 20 controls on your course, well, that’s 10 minutes thrown away. For instance, do you stop at each control to plan your next leg when you could have worked it out on the run before? Do you take precise bearings when a rough one will do? Do you approach the control not knowing the code and then fumble for your control card/SportIdent (SI) stick and drop your map? Do you circle the control site not knowing how to read the forest signs? Do you stop to look at your map half a dozen times between controls to confirm what you already know? Need I go on?

control? SI sticks make it much easier, but listen out for the beep, and reinsert your SI stick if there is any doubt. The system will cope with any double entry.

• Don’t try to save seconds by not checking the code! And know what your control description and code are well before you reach it.

• S I stick control needs to be practised. It can be surprisingly difficult to hit that hole when you’re tired and sweat is in your eyes or your glasses are all misted up and covered with rain.

•A fter punching, don’t just stand there showing everyone where the control is. Get out fast! It may prevent someone else saving seconds from your presence. But know where you’re going. Either pre-set your compass for a rough exit, or use the sun or shadows.

Indeed, it’s better to know what your exit direction will be well before you actually punch at the control. You could be assessing the route out as you finalise your route in.

All these individually are, or can be, minor points, but together they can add up to several minutes wasted. Not only that, but the accumulation of frustration caused can adversely affect your mental attitude. I contend that if you have a clear system to work to, practiced and perfected, so that it becomes instinctive, then you can sharpen your performance, move up the results list, or tackle a more difficult course with confidence.

•O bserve fellow orienteers. If they’re quiet and moving positively, have they found the control or a good track through the forest – where are they coming from? – or do they know where the control is and where they are going? If they’re standing still scratching their heads, don’t join them, they’re no use to you. But just because they haven’t found it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And their ‘it’ of course, might not be the same ‘it’ as you want.

Saving seconds in the forest

• S topping is very good for your opponents so don’t do it.

Remember the old saying A Walk Is As Good As A Rest. And if all your bits are safely attached, you can put your map in your mouth and use your hands for steep hills. Deep breathing helps too, don’t be embarrassed about the noise, but it could give your location away if you’re trying to be discreet. And if you need some competition to make you move faster, then pick on someone to race – but don’t forget to orienteer as well. Even the best of orienteers sometimes go the wrong way, or could even be running up, or down, a course.

•A fter punching, leave each control fast – and know in which direction to run.

• T ry to remember as many control codes and descriptions as you can but don’t waste time forever checking if you haven’t that good a memory. Fatigue can change your abilities in this respect during the course of the competition.

• T ry to plan your route as far ahead as you can, if possible finding easy running at some point where you can study the map on the move. Be prepared to change your plan if the terrain proves different from what you expected but beware of indecision – one of the orienteer’s worst enemies.

• F old your map as small as is feasible so that you don’t have to search all over it for information.

•K eep your thumb on your place and shift it along as you pass major features.

• C an you feel the punch marks on your control card so that you can put your thumb on the next blank space when approaching the

POCKET PROFILE

• F ollowing others on your course is discouraged. However, all too many mistakes are made and time is lost by trying to avoid others on your course. Trying to find a different route from what you’d planned just because someone else is using it could lead you astray.

Try to avoid this. And, of course, the person you’re following might be making an almighty great booboo. Keep concentrating.

• C oming into the finish keep up your speed until you hear that reassuring “Now” or until you plug your SI stick into that final hole.

Then relax.

CompassSport (UK), minor editing for Australian readers.

LEE and SUE MERCHANT M/W 50, TROY M18, BRETT M16, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Lee started in 1987 doing easy 5km courses in about three hours. He figured he could only get better at this so he stuck with it! Has since won several state titles, 12 orienteer of the year awards and until last October’s win, his best at OzChamps was a third placing. In response to an exciting win at Beechworth last October, Lee told everyone, “It’s amazing what happens if you stick around long enough.”

Lee has course set the OzChamps at Cantara Dunes and controlled and set several State/ Badge and other events.

Troy has won several state titles, an Australian MTBO title, five times state schools rep and twice placed on the honour team while captaining the 2002 SA team.

Brett made the SA school team the last three years and boasts over 40 badge placings which includes every Oz state.

Sue competes socially in foot and bike-O after a hip replacement in 1998.

Other family interests: fishing and diving from our boat, enjoying our 10 acre scrub block in the Adelaide foothills, the boys playing in a jazz band, digital photography and operating our laundry business.

“We would like to see more fun O-events like sprint-O, park-O and large team relays.

Ambitions - Lee: 2004 World MTBO. Troy: JWOC. Brett: Get fitness back after breaking leg. Sue: Keep travelling to great places.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

NUTRITION

Break your fast in style Gillian Woodward

T

OO many people skip breakfast or eat far too little to get their bodies on the road for a busy day. Many a time I take a diet history of someone (who is often trying to lose weight) only to find that they have a meagre cup of coffee or tea and call this breakfast!

What happens nine times out of ten is that later in the day they start to get tired and hungry - often around mid afternoon (if not by mid -morning). This is when they reach for the high fat or high sugar snack foods like chips, pastries or soft drinks and chocolates to give them a boost. They end up eating more energy (calories or kilojoules) and far less nutrients than they would have done with a decent breakfast.

The lists of excuses are monotonous and weak – no time, don’t feel hungry, can’t face milk early in the day etc. All of these can be easily remedied or accommodated with a few small changes in habits.

Make time for breakfast

Getting out of bed earlier, preparing something the night before, or eating less on the previous evening, are just some of the strategies that can be used to encourage an appetite in the morning. Many a client has returned to me after making the change, saying they don’t know how they ever went without breakfast before. It may take a little time to adjust, but in the end the benefits are obviously worth it.

For athletes who do early morning training, some benefit from a light snack before they go out - at least a drink of milk or juice, or maybe a quick slice of toast with a sweet spread could do the trick.

After the session, it is absolutely imperative that breakfast is eaten/ drunk, to ensure replacement of muscle glycogen stores before the next training session that evening or the following morning.

Rebuild your stores promptly

The sooner muscle fuel stores are rebuilt, the more energy there will be available for the next workout. Good recovery nutrition practice is to have at least one gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of your body weight, beginning within the first 20-30 minutes of finishing your training.

So if you weight 70 kg, this means you need to consume 70 grams of carbohydrate. This is much more than a slice of toast and a cup of tea. However, it can be easily achieved by drinking a glass of juice, eating a bowl of cereal with milk and finishing off with toast and honey or jam. Or it might also be obtained by eating a whole split muffin with a sweet spread and drinking a fruit smoothie.

For those who love a big bowl of high-energy cereal, top it with 2/3 cup of fruit (fresh or canned), a good dollop of yoghurt and plenty of milk.

This will fulfil most of those 70

grams of carbohydrates, especially if a drink is added. If time is the issue, a breakfast bar (30grams carbohydrate) and a large flavoured milk will do.

Hot breakfasts can also be rich in carbohydrates (but not if you only eat bacon and eggs - typical Aussie hot fare). Two slices of toast will provide about 30 grams of carbs. Top this with baked beans or creamed corn or spaghetti and you’ve added at least another 20 grams. All you need now is a piece of fruit or glass of juice or milk, and you have again reached your 70 grams. A good big bowl of porridge with honey or sugar (or dried fruit to sweeten) teamed up with toast or a hot milk drink is another hot alternative.

In these days of microwave ovens, none of these alternatives is really difficult to prepare in minimal time. Get out the tinned ingredients the night before. Soak your porridge overnight in the microwave bowl and just add more milk in the morning. While the kettle boils or the toast cooks you will have it ready.

Fuel your brain too

Research has shown that attention spans in students who have not eaten breakfast are poorer than their breakfast-eating counterparts. It makes sense to fuel not only your body but also your brain, which depends on glucose for thought processes. It has also been shown that those who eat a decent breakfast are much more likely to achieve the recommended dietary allowances of all nutrients for their whole day, especially calcium, iron and fibre. A good wholegrain cereal with milk will not only provide carbohydrate, but also protein, iron, zinc, calcium and fibre, so it certainly gives you a good start. If you add some fruit, then vitamin C and possibly A will almost certainly be added.

Research also tells us that 97% of overweight people do not eat breakfast! What does this imply? That not eating breakfast makes you fatter. And it can. Because although you start the day with a small or negligible kilojoule intake, you soon surpass your requirements by grasping for inappropriately high energy snacks when hunger attacks later in the day. Perhaps those sweet or savoury treats that often occur after dinner would no longer be required if you had started your day with a proper breakfast.

So get the breakfast habit now and enjoy what can become your favourite meal of the day!

Books on orienteering There are a great number of books on all aspects of orienteering. For a list and prices contact: Orienteering Services of Australia 44 Alexandra Parade, Clifton Hill VIC 3068 Phone (03) 9489 9766 Email info@macson.com.au

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Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 740, Glebe, NSW 2037, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@dsr.nsw.gov.au JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

Official News

Australia – New Zealand Challenge 2005 Dave Lotty, Director (Administration)

Annual General Meeting The AGM of Orienteering Australia was held in Ipswich QLD on 11 April during the Easter Carnival. Representatives of all states and a number of observers attended the meeting where the main business was the adoption of the Annual Report and Annual Financial Report for 2003 and the election and appointment of officers of OA for 2004.

OA

Board President Director (Administration) Director (Finance) Director (Development) Director (Technical) Director (High Performance)

Bob McCreddin WA Dave Lotty NSW Kathy Liley VIC Bob Mouatt ACT Andy Hogg ACT Michael Dowling TAS

Committee Chairpersons Coaching Development & Participation Events High Tech Mapping Media & Sponsorship MTB Orienteering Publications Ski Orienteering Technical

Nev Bleakley ACT vacant Hugh Cameron VIC Ron Pallas NSW Noel Schocknecht WA Bob Mouatt ACT Blake Gordon VIC David Hogg ACT vacant Dick Ogilvie NSW

Other Appointments Auditor Badge Scheme Secretary Public Officer Schools Liaison Statistician

Colin Morgans VIC John Oliver NSW Bob Allison ACT Wendy Read QLD Darryl Erbacher ACT

Other items of interest included: • Adoption of the 2004-07 OA Operational Plan.

•A doption of the 2005 subscription rate for The Australian Orienteer at $4.00 per copy ($16.00 per year). This is a 10c per copy increase over 2004.

•A doption of Emails Guidelines, a policy paper on the correct use of emails within OA (to be added to the OA Operational Manual).

•A draft Member Protection Policy was tabled for consideration by states. There will be further consideration of this at the Annual Conference in December.

• T he Council recorded their thanks to retiring Board members John Brammall and Bob Allison for their efforts on behalf of OA over a number of years and to Ian Baker as a very successful Editor of The Australian Orienteer.

Silva Orienteering Awards Each year OA awards three trophies made available by Silva. The trophies were presented at the Australian 3 Days to: •D arryl Erbacher ACT for the Silva Medal (Orienteer of the year) for 2003 (see March issue).

• J ohn Brammall TAS for services to Australian Orienteering (see page 12) •D ebbie Gale TAS for services to Australian Orienteering Coaching. (see page 13)

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

This will be held in conjunction with the Oceania Championships in January 2005 near Auckland, New Zealand. As the travelling nation, Australia determines the classes to be contested and these are expected to be all the Oceania Championships classes (M and W -16, -18, -20, 21, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and M70).

The Australian Team will be selected following the Australian Championships in October with the selection trials being the Australian 3 Days 2004 and Australian Championships 2004. You must nominate by advising Blair Trewin in writing by 15 September (2/53 Darebin Street, Heidelberg, Vic 3084 b.trewin@bom.gov.au).

The Team Manager is still to be appointed and OA is seeking applications for the position. Contact Dave Lotty (Orienteering Australia, PO Box 740, Glebe, NSW 2037 orienteering@dsr.nsw.gov.au) by 15 September if you are interested. The Board hopes to make an appointment by 1 October.

Junior World Championships 2005 These will be held in Tenero, Switzerland between 10 and 17 July.

The Team Coach is Paul Pacque but the Team Manager is still to be appointed. OA is seeking applications for the position.

Contact Dave Lotty, address above, by 15 September if you are interested. The Board hopes to make an appointment by 1 October.

Running the Business

Bob Mouatt, Director (Development)

Orienteering Australia Annual Awards

On Easter Sunday evening I, along with another 170 or more, attended the inaugural Orienteering Australia Annual Awards presentation hosted at Ipswich by Queensland Orienteering Association. From my perspective it was a great night and all objectives were met.

The genesis for the Awards Dinner came from very different angles: • the opportunity to dine and thank sponsors, and • to reduce the number of awards made on the final day of the Australian 3-Days.

Many of the guides to obtaining and maintaining sponsorships highlight using annual awards presentations as a means of involving and thanking sponsors. Until this year Orienteering Australia did not have an awards presentation as such.

Anybody who has been to an Australian 3-Days will know just how protracted the awards ceremony can be, and that some of the important ones do not receive appropriate attention.

Easter Sunday evening was chosen for a number of reasons including: • prestigious awards such as the Silva Services to Orienteering and Silva Services to Coaching award are not formally decided until the Annual General Meeting on Easter Sunday afternoon, and • there is a potentially a large number of people looking for something to do on Easter Sunday evening.

Apart from the timing and interest in the awards, a key element is that the venue must be suitable and the meal must be good value for money. Many who did not attend, said they had been to too many poorly organised orienteering dinners and they wouldn’t be going to any more. I must admit to having been involved both as an attendee and as organiser in dinners that were not so good. The problem with the one unsatisfactory dinner that I organised was that I placed too much trust in the catering organisation. A mistake I will never repeat.

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA I consider that the Ipswich dinner was at about the right standard in terms of price and quality and quantity of food.

The one thing that had the potential to ruin the evening was the time taken to get proceedings underway – firstly the drinks and secondly the main course. Being alert to the potential problems, the Queenslanders rescheduled the awards to after the mains and before dessert. This worked well and that is the way future awards evening should be planned.

The awards process itself worked well, with plenty of time to thank the guest of honour, Mr Paul Pisasale, Mayor of Ipswich, who was involved in the presentations, and to present: • the Family and Open Relay awards, • the Champion Club trophy to the Red Roos, • Orienteering Australia certificates of appreciation to key officials, • the Silva Medal (Australian Orienteer of the Year) to Darryl Erbacher, • the Silva Services to Coaching award to Debbie Gale, and • the Silva Award for Services to Orienteering to John Brammall, the retiring President of Orienteering Australia.

End of an era

John Brammall’s retirement brings to end an era for Orienteering Australia and for me, as John has been the person to whom I have reported during my seven years as a contracted officer of the Federation. We had a very good working relationship as we held common views on many items. I shall miss him but expect that he will continue to make a significant contribution to orienteering in Australia, and I also look forward to working successfully with our new president, Bob McCreddin from Western Australia.

Finally it’s time to say Auf Wiedersehen to my fellow contracted officer, Ian Baker. While we have not always agreed on everything, I am sure everybody would agree that Ian has made The Australian Orienteer an outstanding magazine, which is recognised as among the best, if not the best, official magazine of any national sporting organisation in Australia and on a par with any national orienteering magazine in the world.

Orienteering Australia Badge Scheme Scoring system simplified CHANGES made to the calculations for the Badge Scheme credits will make it easier for competitors and organisers alike.

Calculations will simply be based on the winner’s time in each age class. No more messing around with ratios of distances or averages of placegetter’s times. Calculations should be possible at events and could even be posted on results boards. Visit the What’s New section of the OA website for more information.

303 badges In further good Badge Scheme news, during 2003 a total of 303 OA Badges were claimed (149 Gold, 63 Silver, 91 Bronze). This was the best effort for seven years and largely due to the twenty clubs who purchased badges for their members. Congratulations to AW.V, EN.Q, EV.T,GO.N, IK.N, NC.N, NE.V, OH.S, RR.Q, SH.N, TF.Q, TJ.S, TT.S, UG.Q, UR.N, WA.S, WH.N, WR.N, WR.T and YA.S. While four more clubs in total accepted the opportunity to purchase badges for their members than in 2002, in fact nine clubs did so in 2003 that had not done so in 2002.

Proceeds from the OA Badge Scheme help support Australian teams attending World Orienteering Championships.

For further information contact John Oliver, 68 Amaroo St, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650. Ph 069 226 208 (AH) email oliver.family@bigpond.com.au

Badges awarded November 2003 - April 2004 ACT Glenn Bridgart BS.A M40 Gold Queensland Bridget Anderson UG.Q W14 Gold Ian Anderson UG.Q M20 Gold Emily Cantwell UG.Q W10 Gold Julia Davies UG.Q W20 Silver Nathan Lawley UG.Q M20 Gold Rosa Mansour UG.Q W16 Bronze Mathieu McGuire UG.Q M16 Bronze Morgan McIntyre UG.Q W10 Gold Thomas McIntyre UG.Q M12 Gold Oliver Mitchell UG.Q M16 Silver Lisette Rand_Schultz UG.Q W10 Silver James Sheldon UG.Q M16 Gold Peter Sheldon UG.Q M18 Gold Jacqueline Wood UG.Q W18 Silver Stephanie Wood UG.Q W20 Bronze Ainsley Cavanagh TF.Q W18 Gold Dane Cavanagh TF.Q M20 Silver Jamie Dougall TF.Q M18 Silver Kelsie Dougall TF.Q M14 Bronze Gary Flynn TF.Q M14 Bronze April Freese TF.Q W18 Silver Ben Freese TF.Q M14 Silver Simon Mee TF.Q M14 Gold Amy Russell TF.Q W18 Silver Erin Wallace TF.Q W14 Bronze Aaron Woods TF.Q M16 Gold Victoria Woolf TF.Q W14 Silver Fiona Calabro TF.Q W50 Gold Pam Cox TF.Q W60 Gold Alitia Dougall TF.Q W21 Silver Jim Dougall TF.Q M45 Bronze Tara Dougall TF.Q W21 Bronze Neil Simson TF.Q M35 Gold Joanne Tavner-Corner TF.Q W45 Bronze Tony Tavner-Corner TF.Q M45 Bronze Jenny Woods TF.Q W45 Bronze Calvin Deacon RR.Q M16 Gold David Dowling RR.Q M55 Silver Amy Gibbens RR.Q W16 Gold Claire Hawkins RR.Q W16 Silver Glennie Nottle RR.Q W12 Gold Richard Nottle RR.Q M45 Bronze Stacy Nottle RR.Q W40 Bronze Barbara Roberts RR.Q W45 Bronze Nicola Roberts RR.Q W12 Gold Tony Roberts RR.Q M45 Gold Lyn Thomas RR.Q W45 Bronze NSW Alex Davey WR.N M45 Gold Briohny Davey WR.N W20 Gold Debbie Davey WR.N W45 Gold Rachel Dickinson WR.N W20 Silver Deirdre Macken WR.N W55 Silver John Macken WR.N M70 Bronze Janelle McGarva WR.N W50 Bronze Lucy McGarva WR.N W20 Silver Pauline Moore WR.N W55 Bronze John Oliver WR.N M50 Gold John Anderson GO.N M55 Bronze Chris Baker GO.N M21 Silver Ross Barr GO.N M55 Gold Ian Cameron GO.N M50 Gold Bryony Cox GO.N W55 Bronze Tim Cox GO.N M60 Bronze Margaret Craig GO.N W60 Bronze Stephen Darby GO.N M35 Bronze Karin Hefftner GO.N W45 Bronze Barbara Hill GO.N W35 Bronze Matthew Hill GO.N M10 Gold Tony Hill GO.N M21 Bronze Carol Jacobson GO.N W50 Silver Ken Jacobson GO.N M55 Bronze Beverley Johnson GO.N W65 Silver Brian Johnson GO.N M70 Gold Barbara Junghans GO.N W50 Silver Ron Junghans GO.N M60 Gold Susan Kurrle GO.N W50 Silver James Lithgow GO.N M45 Gold Jim Merchant GO.N M55 Silver Christa Schafer GO.N W60 Gold Neil Schafer GO.N M75 Gold Anne Stewart GO.N W70 Gold Malcolm Stewart GO.N M70 Gold Larry Weiss GO.N M45 Bronze Mike Weller GO.N M50 Silver Antonia Coyle UR.N W45 Bronze Ross Coyle UR.N M45 Gold Sarah Garnett UR.N W45 Gold

Lisa Lampe UR.N W40 Silver Dave Lotty UR.N M55 Gold Catherine Murphy UR.N W20 Gold Clare Murphy UR.N W18 Silver Patrick Murphy UR.N M18 Bronze Orla Murray UR.N W21 Gold Angela Murray UR.N W55 Bronze Dick Ogilvie UR.N M55 Gold Maureen Ogilvie UR.N W65 Gold Thea Richardson UR.N W14 Gold Jan Sargood UR.N W45 Gold Linda Sesta UR.N W35 Gold Gayle Shepherd UR.N W35 Silver Bronwyn Steele UR.N W14 Gold Rick Steele UR.N M50 Silver Margaret Wilmott UR.N W45 Silver Nick Wilmott UR.N M45 Gold Keith Caldwell SH.N M55 Bronze Paul Davis SH.N M45 Bronze Claire Dawson SH.N W18 Silver Jenny Dawson SH.N W45 Bronze Les Dawson SH.N M45 Bronze Tim Dawson SH.N M16 Silver Sarah Denham SH.N W14 Bronze Tim Denham SH.N M16 Gold Neville Fathers SH.N M65 Bronze John Hodsdon SH.N M60 Gold Val Hodsdon SH.N W50 Gold Doug Jay SH.N M21 Silver Emily Livingstone SH.N W12 Silver Jayde Livingstone SH.N W16 Gold Krystal Livingstone SH.N W12 Silver Vicki Livingstone SH.N W35 Bronze Lyn Malmgron SH.N W45 Silver David Meyer SH.N M20 Gold Glenn Meyer SH.N M21 Gold Ian Meyer SH.N M21 Gold Peter Meyer SH.N M55 Silver Robert Prentice SH.N M45 Gold Brianne Stewart SH.N W12 Gold Lauren Stewart SH.N W14 Silver Sandra Stewart SH.N W45 Silver Merran Warlters SH.N W60 Bronze Kathryn Cox BN.N W35 Silver SA Michael Ashforth WA.S M18 Gold Jenny Casanova WA.S W21 Gold Susanne Casanova WA.S W21 Gold Miguel Clark WA.S M21 Gold Peter Cutten WA.S M65 Gold Robyn Cutten WA.S W65 Gold Rae Harris WA.S W75 Gold Peter Kreminski WA.S M60 Gold Jim Rathjen WA.S M60 Gold David Simmons WA.S M40 Gold Phil Stoeckel WA.S M50 Gold Lisa Stoeckel WA.S W14 Gold Rebecca Hembrow WA.S W16 Gold Rebecca Hembrow WA.S W16 Gold Roy Bierton OH.S M75 Gold Jennie Bourne OH.S W55 Silver Michelle Chamalaun OH.S W40 Gold Wendy Deegan OH.S W40 Bronze Colin Dodd OH.S M50 Bronze Rebecca Hembrow OH.S W16 Gold Robert Hembrow OH.S M14 Bronze Mallory Hughes OH.S W16 Gold Stuart Lane OH.S M60 Gold Heinz Leuenberger OH.S M50 Bronze Catherine Loye OH.S W21 Gold Rachel Loye OH.S W10 Gold Vincent Loye OH.S M50 Gold Andrew McComb OH.S M45 Gold Bryn McComb OH.S M10 Gold Rory McComb OH.S M12 Gold Teri McComb OH.S W45 Bronze Nicole Such OH.S W18 Gold David Tilbrook OH.S M55 Gold Adrian Uppill OH.S M50 Gold Robin Uppill OH.S W45 Gold Simon Uppill OH.S M16 Gold Catherine Way OH.S W35 Bronze Antony White OH.S M55 Bronze Ian Wynn OH.S M45 Silver Trystan Bennett TT.S M16 Bronze Benjamin Diment TT.S M12 Silver Thomas Diment TT.S M14 Bronze Riordan Dose TT.S M12 Gold Tom Dose TT.S M14 Silver Wesley Dose TT.S M16 Silver Henry Hazell TT.S M12 Silver

Luke Hazell TT.S M10 Gold Vanessa Round TT.S W16 Gold Rachel Scott TT.S W16 Bronze Victoria Ian Dodd DR.V M45 Bronze Pamela King DR.V W50 Bronze Gary Rook DR.V M60 Bronze Ilze Yeates DR.V W35 Bronze Peter Yeates DR.V M55 Bronze Rick Armstrong AW.V M50 Bronze Irena Palmer AW.V W60 Gold Leigh Privett AW.V M55 Gold Rob Simmons AW.V M55 Bronze Daniel Worsley AW.V M14 Bronze Bill Davis TK.V M80 Silver Paul Elam TK.V M55 Silver Anne Garvey TK.V W45 Bronze Mandy Hennessy TK.V W45 Bronze Jan Moore TK.V W50 Bronze Ken Moore TK.V M60 Bronze Pam Prime TK.V W55 Silver Peter Prime TK.V M60 Gold Peter Taylor TK.V M45 Gold Jan Thomas TK.V W60 Bronze Kathryn Barker EU.V W20 Silver Hayden Lebbink EU.V M20 Gold Aislynn Prendergast EU.V W14 Gold Lian Prendergast EU.V W21 Bronze Ceira Barr BG.V W14 Gold Evan Barr BG.V M18 Bronze Ilka Barr BG.V W20 Gold Clare Brownridge BG.V W16 Gold David Brownridge BG.V M20 Gold Brendan Creely BG.V M10 Bronze Daniel Creely BG.V M14 Gold MeGold Creely BG.V W16 Silver Christopher Naunton BG.V M18 Gold David Reaburn BG.V M16 Gold Matthew Schepisi BG.V M20 Gold Andrea Slater BG.V W18 Gold Graeme Cadman YV.V M70 Gold Sheila Colls YV.V W50 Gold Belinda Dale YV.V W55 Bronze Margi Freemantle YV.V W45 Silver Moira Goddard YV.V W20 Gold Simon Goddard YV.V M21 Gold Barry Hart YV.V M55 Silver Hania Lada YV.V W21 Gold John Meeking YV.V M55 Silver Libby Meeking YV.V W55 Gold Ray Sheldon YV.V M55 Gold Christine Sinickas YV.V W50 Gold Vincent Sinickas YV.V M50 Gold Andreas Strasser YV.V M45 Silver Susi Strasser YV.V W40 Bronze Thomas Top YV.V M14 Bronze Ted VanGeldermalsen YV.V M45 Gold Tasmania John Brammall EV.T M60 Gold Valerie Brammall EV.T W60 Gold Ron Briggs EV.T M55 Silver Anthony Brown EV.T M14 Silver Christine Brown EV.T W40 Gold Clayton Brown EV.T M12 Bronze Danielle Button EV.T W12 Silver Nigel Davies EV.T M50 Gold Debbie Gale EV.T W55 Silver Roger Harlow EV.T M50 Silver Bob Healey EV.T M55 Bronze Daniel James EV.T M18 Silver Hannah James EV.T W16 Silver Maureen Lefevre EV.T W45 Bronze Paul Lefevre EV.T M50 Silver Shelagh O'brien EV.T W45 Gold Paul Pacque EV.T M45 Gold Helen Statham EV.T W50 Gold Tom Statham EV.T M18 Gold Ciara Turner EV.T W18 Bronze Caryl Woof EV.T W65 Bronze Sebastian Woof EV.T M16 Silver Ray Wright EV.T M50 Gold

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

MTB-O Blake Gordon

MTB-O Queensland style!

THE National MTB-O titles came to Queensland at Easter after six years in the continuous evolution of the wheel-O sport.

This was the first time the Nationals were held as part of an Easter 3-Days Carnival and record numbers (148 at the Australian Championships) proved the success of the experiment.

Two interesting maps were used as Eric Andrews applied some of his famous “bush art” to the granite terrain of the Amiens area north of Stanthorpe. And the results pleased not only the

Stanthorpe local, David Bright, purchased this BMX bike for $5 at a garage sale and that was all he needed to have a go at the MTB-O champs. locals but the top riders from Australia and a good contingent from New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

Adrian Jackson defeated favourite, Alex Randall, to take out the Open Men’s title for the first time. The Men’s course was amassive 48km (optimum route) which Adrian completed in 2 hours 6 minutes and 54 seconds.

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

Above: Emily Viner won another national title in Queensland and looks to be in good form for the World’s later in the year.

It was the first time many of us had ever ridden on rock where tracks crossed the granite slabs characteristic of the area. The “high-flying” controls on Tuesday proved a challenge for the smaller riders to reach, while the sandy tracks on Wednesday caused some interesting spin outs and fish tails. But the beautiful terrain was lost on some who were challenged by the long hills (pushing the bikes up the sandy tracks) and the unseasonable heat (even for Queensland!). Even the trophies were impressive – thanks to controller Gordon Howitt’s wood craft - and the colourful badges topped off a good event.

Jackson and Viner win

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

ADRIAN Jackson (Melbourne Forest Racers) caused a big upset by beating 2003 National Champion Alex Randall by two minutes 19 seconds. Jackson’s good form on the long 48 km course, coupled with Tom

Walters (Red Roos) strong third place (1.42 behind Randall) augurs well for a strong men’s relay team in October’s world championships.

Emily Viner’s victory in just under two hours, but with only 13 minutes separating the top four women, indicates a potentially strong women’s team that will make the most of the 4 month gap between selection trials to raise the standard even higher.

The “finds” of the first selection trial would have to be the Northey’s – Elsie and Tim – a pair of fit Cairns-based triathletes who finished 7th and 8th respectively in only their second MTB-O race.

Queenslanders Novak Thompson, Narelle Ash, Andrew Rowe, Adam Fletcher, Gary Sutherland and ironman Guy Andrews gave promise of better rides to come as they rode well on home ground.

The MTB-O pages supported

by Warren and Tash Key from

MTB-O

MELBOURNE

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

Australian MTB-O Squads announced SELECTOR Ann Scown (ACT) announced an A and B squad following the two selection races in Queensland.

CENTRE CLIFTON HILL 03 9489 3555

www.melbournebikes.com the bush or over fences are permitted.

Women A Belinda Allison, Narelle Ash, Carolyn Jackson, Julie Quinn, Anna Sheldon, Emily Viner.

Men A David Baldwin, Tony Clark, Anthony Darr, Paul Darvodelsky, Adrian Jackson, Grant Lebbink, Tim Northey, Alex Randall, David Searle, Tom Walter.

Women B Mary Fein, Elsie Northey, Melissa Thomas.

The Open Women’s podium for the 2004 Australian Champs – Emily Viner (1st) struggling with the massive Gordon Howett made trophy, Julie Quinn (2nd), Belinda Allison (3rd).

Men B Guy Andrews, Steven Cusworth, Richard Mountstephens, Andrew Rowe, Gary Sutherland, Novak Thompson.

2004 Australian Long Distance MTB-O Championships, Amiens, Qld. Wednesday, 14 April 2004 Open Men (48 km) 1. Adrian Jackson MFV 126:54; 2. Alex Randall YVV 129:13; 3. Tom Walter RRA 130:55; 4. Anthony Darr BFN 140:53; 5. Novak Thompson –Q 143:41; 6. David Searle RRA 145.25.

Open Women (33 km) 1. Emily Viner EUV 119:52; 2. Julie Quinn AOA 123:26; 3. Belinda Allison RRA 129:31; 4. Carolyn Jackson MFV 133:17; 5. Nicole Ash –Q 138:50; 6. Marquita Gelderman NWNZ 145:12. Men-16 (13.5 km) 1. James Sheldon UGQ 57:25; 2. Leon Petrie BUQ 59:02; 3. Brock Campbell SOQ 64:49. Women -16 (13.5 km) 1. Emily Prudhoe CCN 77.07. Men -18 (33 km) 1. Peter Sheldon UGQ 173:28. Women –18 (20 km) 1. Vanessa Round TTS 125:25. Men 40-49 (33 km) 1. Rob Garden NWNZ 132:39; 2. James Lithgow GON 144:50; 3. Eoin Rothery LOW 147:28. Women 40-49 (26 km) 1. Salme Fuller PLQ 114.50; 2. Jo Wilson SOCNZ 120:43. Men 50-59 (26 km) 1. Peter Cusworth BKV 89:02; 2.

Robert Prentice SHN 89:49; 3. Paul Haynes MDN 90.35. Women 50-59 (20 km) 1. Helen Edmonds NEV 104:22; 2. Kathy Liley YVV 109.28; 3. Lynn Dabbs WHN 116:05. Men 60+ (20 km) 1. Andrew Campbell TTQ 76:37; Tim Dent YVV 80:27; 3. Blake Gordon EUV 92:19. Women 60+ (13.5km) 1. Joan Whyte TTQ 72:24; Dianne Searle BGV 101:53; 3. Joyce Rowlands NEV 103:29.

The final two selection races will be held in early September in the Bendigo area with the Australian WOC team to be announced following those trials.

2004 Australian State Champion Plaque, Victoria (VIC 34, QLD 24, NSW 15, ACT 11, SA 5, WA 3) 2004 Women’s National Champion Trophy, Emily Viner, Eureka Orienteers, Victoria 2004 Men’s National Champion Trophy, Adrian Jackson, Melbourne Forest Racers, Victoria

Orienteering Australia’s Rules and Guidelines

Tony Clark (Vic), selected in the Men’s A squad.

Considerable discussion has occurred since the 2003 Nationals (ACT) about yellow areas on the map and fences on courses throughout the country. With increasing use of fences in WA, VIC, SA and ACT to keep the public out of forest and plantation areas, the problem of what is the fair rule to apply confronted the committee if a rider encounters a fence on the course. The

The riding in bright yellow areas, which is permitted overseas, is another possible area of rider confusion. The rule in bright yellow areas where several tracks meet in a small clearing is easy enough to interpret – you can ride across the clearing to the track on the other side. But as far as riding across footy ovals or large paddocks, these areas should be marked out of bounds (vertical purple stripe) on the competition map and explained by the organiser at the start and in the handout to competitors.

These interpretations (crossing fences and yellow areas) of what is the “fair rule” will be reviewed after further discussion and practice in the state MTB-O competitions during 2004.

2005-2008 Australian MTB-O Championships

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

PHOTO: PETER CUSWORTH

Following a year of drafting and consideration the MTB-O committee accepted the Rules and Guidelines for the Conduct of Mountain Bike Orienteering Events in Australia at the Easter meeting in Ipswich, Queensland.

The document will be reviewed during 2004 and submitted to Orienteering Australia’s December Congress.

committee agreed that no fence should be crossed by a rider and bike unless specifically written in the instructions by the organiser on the day, marked on the competition map and marked in the terrain with appropriate tapes and padding of the wires.

No off-track short cuts through

Another part of the adopted protocols was highlighted during the National titles in Queensland when three top riders disqualified themselves when they inadvertently rode down an indistinct track not marked on the competition map and then continued cross-country to the nearest track (short cutting through the bush). Their sense of fairness is to be applauded and serves notice to other riders. If you inadvertently take an indistinct track which disappears in the terrain you should retrace your route to the previously known point and continue the course. That is the fair rule in our sport.

The OA committee selected the states responsible for the Nationals: 2005 Victoria; 2006 WA (as part of Australian Foot-O Championships Carnival); 2007 NSW; 2008 SA. A determined Joan Whyte came all the way from Cairns and won W60+.

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

MTB-O

Buying your first bike for Mountain Bike Orienteering compiled by Ken Dowling

Some essential terms mtb – mountain bike mtb-o – mountain bike orienteering hardtail – an mtb with front suspension forks. The tail of the bike has no suspension, therefore is ‘hard’. dually – a bike with suspension front and rear. A dual suspension bike is more expensive and heavier than a hardtail assuming the same quality parts.

Dual suspension bike with disc brake similar to Alex’s bike.

groupset – gears (front and rear derailleurs and thumb shifters), brakes, crank-arms, hubs. geometry – the ‘shape’ of the frame, it determines where/how it handles best. Basic mtbs, primarily designed for commuting/riding with the family, are more upright and handle easily for slow riding on smooth bike tracks.

Above $1000 most brands will start to include their race geometry. Longer wheelbases and more relaxed fork angles give high speed stability and confidence going downhill. Frame sizes are designed for average proportion people. A medium frame would suit a 173cm (5’8”) height rider.

Introduction

FIVE years ago my wife Anitra and I researched criteria for our first mountain bikes for this new sport. Then I became an expert at sussing out knowledgeable bike shops from posers and rip-off merchants. Our effort paid off as our bikes are still going strong. Now you can get the inside running on how to find a bike that fits you, your new sport and your budget. To complement Ken’s middle of the road approach to mtb-o and Anitra’s sporting approach, we enlisted elites Emily Viner and Alex Randall.

Entry range

Unless you can afford top of the range, there are many trade-offs to be made against cost. Let’s take a no frills non-suspension mtb as a starting point. Ruts, corrugations and bumps will fairly certainly leave you with very sore wrists above slow speeds if you do not have front suspension.

Cheap suspension forks will do the job and are fitted to some basic mtbs under $600. As Ken proved when he speared his bike into the ground from a jump, cheap forks won’t survive a big stack (another technical term, meaning crash) but those are rare in mtb-o. These basic mtbs will range from steel frame, basic thumb-shift gears and no suspension to alloy-framed steeds with 24 speed rapid fire gears (easier and faster shifting), adjustable elastomer suspension forks and all alloy parts. The weight will vary a little, but the major differences are in component quality.

Next best option is clipless pedals. They can increase pedalling efficiency by 30%, stick you to the bike during rough stuff and descents, and are easier to get out of than toe clips (once you have the knack). These pedals come with or without platforms and need special shoes and fittings. Ken’s high ankle leather shoes are comfortable for recreational riding and give adequate performance in a race. But if you are Alex or Emily you will wear stiffer lightweight racing shoes for racing and training. Shimano SPD or compatible is the standard clipless pedal fitting but top line is the Eggbeater with four-way clip-in and better mud-shedding capability.

Next selection of Ken is based on reliability. Shimano gears are on most mtbs and the eight models start with Altus. Ease of use, 42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

Hardtail bike with V-brakes similar to Emily’s bike. reliability and robustness improve up the range to XTR. Mtb-o is hard on rear derailleurs due to debris on tracks. New riders can also be hard on gears and chains. Deore LX on the rear and Deore on the front will offer the combination of lowest cost with good performance and reliability for mtb-o. Anitra and Ken get good service from their 8 and 9-speed Deore LX groupsets while Alex opts for top of the range XTR.

Sport range

The Deores moved us into the sport price range which Alex categorises as $600 to $1,500 being the lower end of the race market.

Bikes below $1000 will be better equipped basic mtbs with upgradeable gear system. The name brand low-end hardtails start above $1000. As Anitra and Ken’s bikes prove, these can perform surprisingly well and be quite durable.

Frames are principally aluminium (Anitra), but better refining of the material and adjustment of tube wall thickness (butting) makes the frames stiffer, lighter and more responsive in this price range.

Ken’s steel frame is noticeably heavier. But he prefers that more forgiving ride for day trips and anyway reckons that reducing his own weight will improve mtb-o performance more than reducing the bike weight.

Suspension forks can be better adjusted to react to your weight and riding style. The groupset is engineered for smoother running and better protection against mud and water. They get lighter and more durable. Wheels start to become an important part of the package. Strong rims and spokes will mean fewer trips to the bike shop to have them straightened.

This brings us to V-brakes vs disc brakes as the latter start appearing in this sport price range. Not being involved in mtb racing and less aggressive than Alex and Emily, Ken and Anitra rarely feel the need for disc brakes.

melbournebikes.com

MTB-O

SPD clipless pedal

SPD clipless pedal with platform

Emily’s V-brakes contribute to a light and racey feel that she likes.

Alex now uses hydraulic disc brakes as they are stronger than V-brakes, are unaffected by wet or buckled wheels, and rim pads don’t need to be replaced after wet gritty conditions. An advanced disc brake like Alex’s is only 100g heavier than a V-brake. Emily may follow – if the right sponsorship comes along as these disc brakes move you into the serious price bracket.

Serious range

The $1500 - $2500 price range is for the serious rider who will probably do cross-country (XC) racing as well as mtb-o. This being the entry level XC race price bracket, there is a wide range of bikes from every top end manufacturer. Clipless pedals will be standard and hydraulic disc brakes and tubeless wheel sets feature.

Frames get even lighter and stiffer. Air sprung or oil damped forks will weigh up to 1kg less which makes getting the front wheel over obstacles much easier. For noticeably more $$$, components incrementally improve smoothness and durability while shedding just grams. Wheels are designed for hard riding, with some having sealed bearings. Tubeless wheels are another improvement – these eliminate the ‘pinch-flat’ where an obstacle compresses the tyre all the way to the rim and punctures.

Over $2000 will get you a realistic weight/performance dually you can efficiently ride up hills as well as down. Anitra and Ken’s bikes are hardtails as is Emily’s 2000 model year Bontrager. But do take advice from a bike shop professional if considering dual suspension.

Even a top line rear suspension like Alex’s adds at least 1.2kg to a bike. Only recently have some rear suspensions evolved that enhance rather than detract from uphill and flat going. Alex made the right choice and tells us “Even a year ago this sort of bike would have been too heavy for XC use…a dually allows you to pedal through rough sections...you can also remain seated for longer on climbs [and that] uses less energy”.

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Top line

Above $2,500 is for the keen. Alex says an elite mtb-o or XC racer probably has a bike that is $5000 and above – if she/he can afford it or has the right sponsorship. Alex’s Scott Genius RC-10 XC fits in here.

MBC SUPPORTING MTB ORIENTEERING

Accessories

The only accessory specific to mtb-o is the map board. The popular Miry as used by Anitra has just been joined by the Australian made Windchill. Alex contributed to design of the Windchill and likes its stiffness and price. If Ken breaks the remaining bracket of his venerable Silva he can fit his Silva map platform to the sturdier Windchill bracket.

The purchase

Armed with the above information, ask around mtb orienteers to firm up on what you want and can afford. Don’t forget the cost of necessary extras like helmet, pump, gloves, shoes, clothes. Then find a reputable and mtb knowledgeable dealer. Look for advice on this in your state’s bike advocacy web site such as www.bv.com.au.

To save a lot of $$$ wait until the latter third of the year. Current year models are heavily discounted as ‘next year’ models are released.

And yes, you can still get discounts on the extras but be reasonable – you do want your great bike shop to survive!

See you at the start line.

MELBOURNE CENTRE

37 QUEENS PDE CLIFTON HILL

03 9489 3555

Ring Warren or Natasha for a special deal

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MTB-O

Transforming foot-o maps to mtb-o maps The seeming ease of producing mtb-o maps from digital foot-o maps has spawned a new generation of cartographers. The cartography software for orienteering, OCAD, has been a key enabler. Unfortunately, many of us found that our newly acquired licence to drive a mouse in OCAD should have been accompanied by a P-plate.

Accidents and near misses are rife in mtb-o maps.

Sticking a P-plate on our screen might remind us that we lack the skills of an orienteering mapper, though no doubt some would hoon on regardless. Time to buckle up because we are off on an advanced OCAD driving course.

T

HE most significant issue in transforming foot-o maps to mtb-o is achieving clarity, both visual and interpretive. A simple conversion of a foot-o map of great clarity is unlikely to be acceptable as an mtb-o map because; • the scale of say 1:20,000 vs 1:15,000 can cram unscaled symbols together; • the map is at a fairly fixed distance from the rider’s eyes (unless she stops); • the bike-mounted map board does not soak up terrain unevenness like our arms/brains do; • speed on a bike limits riders to brief glances at a map compared to foot-o; • terrain relief interpretation is arguably more critical in route choice for mtb-o.

In the text below, numbers in bold such as 306 refer to symbol numbers in ISOM, the International Standard for Orienteering Mapping produced by the International Orienteering Federation (updated to Feb 2004). ISOM does not provide all the answers so some experimentation is necessary. Alternative viewpoints are given below where the jury is still out.

Scale

Victorian mtb orienteer and mapper Peter Jackson, got our rescaling back on track and the immediate improvement in clarity of contours while riding was stunning. Simply rescale using OCAD’s Extras| Change scale function and to comply with ISOM ensure you leave the Enlarge/reduce symbols box unchecked.

Now that ISOM’s first preference is 1:20,000, should we rescale our 1:25,000 mtb-o maps that currently fit map boards? Probably – at the 2003 ANZ Challenge those elite riders questioned on map size preferred 1:20,000 scale even if it means they refold a map during the event. Older riders will also generally prefer 1:20,000.

Black

The ISOM track classification offers excellent legibility . But the width of the symbols makes it difficult to properly represent dense portions of track networks. Rob Plowright, arguably Australia’s most experienced mtb-o mapper, suggests reducing track line weights (thickness) and gaps up to 20% to resolve this issue. Used judiciously this is in accord with the ISOM principle of graphic generalisation.

Remove redundant foot tracks. Rock and building symbols close to tracks could be greyed or removed. Keith Wade and Ken Dowling at an early Victorian event headed down a ‘track’ that turned out to be a series of rock ledges! Visually separate any fence lines parallel to tracks and have fence tags facing inwards.

Blue

Peter Jackson suggests removing dashed blue lines. I prefer to convert them to solid as they are an indicator of relief. I also change 0.14 line weight water to 0.18 as in symbol 313. Convert 601 north 44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

lines from 0.14 black to alternative 0.18 blue for best legibility. The black edge on water symbols 301, 304, 309 should be removed or changed to solid blue.

Brown

Remove form lines and dry ditches as they are read as contours and thus give a false impression of relief. If a dry ditch is a useful navigational feature and if it cannot be confused with contours, then it could remain. Consider removing tags in gullies if they obscure contours and water features.

Green

Green is relevant only to visibility as seen from the bike in mtb-o, unlike foot-o where the orienteer needs to know how easy it is to get through the forest. The only two greens used are 30% green for low visibility and dark green for very low visibility.

Recent ISOM mtb-o amendments (see Orienteering Australia mapping web page) mention a green version of purple 714 for significant passable obstacles on tracks. In Victoria we tend to show passable obstacles only if they pose a risk such as being on a slope or around a blind bend.

Yellow

A contentious colour. The draft Orienteering Australia mtb-o Guidelines state that riders may ride on tracks “or open areas designated as permissible riding areas”. This is usually translated as being able to ride on yellow. Lack of definition of which yellow has led to some unfortunate incidents and will eventually result in trespassing.

On the bike, the only yellow distinct from any other yellow is the solid yellow symbol, 401 Open land. Given that for riders the only useful distinction between the various open land symbols is whether or not each can be ridden, then I propose that we use 401 to indicate rideable open land. Other yellow symbols (there need only be one other for mtb-o) then indicate open land that may not be ridden on.

Without this distinction we will be forced to either use the legibility destroying out of bounds (OOB) symbol or leave possible both cheating and landholder issues.

Purple

Use bar symbol 714 for a crossable barrier and the cross symbol 711 for an uncrossable or OOB barrier on a track. Multiple 711 indicates an OOB track. For legibility, do not reduce the size of these symbols.

OOB stripe symbols detract significantly from map clarity. For the 2003 Brandy Hot and Rodoni maps in Victoria we did not use the OOB symbol if there was no route choice through a private property. We also shortened tracks into private property to just two or three dashes to remove any possibility of a route choice. This technique would have avoided multi trespassing at a recent Victorian event.

If you must use an OOB symbol then avoid black. Use purple 709 at 1mm spacing to improve legibility of contours and other symbols underneath.

The darker appearance of symbols, especially contours, on a correctly rescaled mtb-o map means that some purples do not show up well.

After some experimentation we settled on 43% cyan and 91% magenta for the above maps.

Symbols

At the Easter mtb-o events in Queensland tracks crossing bare rock were not mapped over the bare rock. This is appropriate because no track is visible on the rock. But riders observing the rules avoided those tracks and were disadvantaged. Both Australia and NZ had requested a symbol to show ‘rideable routes’ that are not definite tracks. The IOF agreed in principle but declined the request for an ISOM symbol. Thus a local symbol could be developed. Given that NZ has for some years used the green of ski-o’s ‘skiable track’ symbols for a ‘rideable route’ then it seems sensible for us to adopt that until a formal decision is made. Green stands out well on the bare rock symbol. A ‘rideable route’ also helps riders locate the track exiting a large expanse of bare rock.

MTB-O location and inspection of symbols as well as removal of redundant symbols to improve legibility.

Ken Dowling, with welcome advice from Peter Jackson, Rob Plowright and Michael Wood (New Zealand), managed the preparation of the 2003 ANZ Challenge Brandy Hot map and the 2003 Victorian Championships Rodoni map.

Foot-o 1:25000

Peter Jackson’s Guidelines for Making and Drawing Mtb-o Maps are on www. ozmtbo.com He includes a brief section on the conversion of foot-o maps but covers the rescaling in detail.

Mtb-o 1:25000

Check that remaining symbols are valid for mtb-o. Don Scarrot’s OCAD utilities at http://members.aol.com/dsutil6/ enable easy

Ken Dowling orienteer@bigpond.com has guidelines on achieving consistent ISOM track classification.

2004 Australian MTB-O Champs, Stanthorpe QLD Alex Randall won the short course event in Queensland but was just beaten by Adrian Jackson in the Long Championships.

Carolyn Jackson (Vic) fourth in both the Short and Long races.

Photo: Peter Cusworth

Photo: Peter Cusworth

Belinda Allison (ACT) won the Women’s Short course and was 3rd in the Long.

Photo: Peter Cusworth

Tom Walter (ACT) a close 3rd to Adrian and Alex in the Long.

Photo: Mary Fien

Good recent rains produced some very grassy tracks. Here Melissa Thomas negotiates the worst near the start of the Short race.

Photo: Mary Fien

JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

The MTB-O pages supported

by Warren and Tash Key from

MTB-O

Mountain Bike Orienteering training

Here is the first of a series of articles on mountain bike orienteering training.

James Lithgow and Paul Darvodelsky

I

N early March, 2004 the Garingal Orienteering Club (Sydney, NSW) organised a training weekend at Belanglo State Forest. While I (James) am relatively inexperienced in mountain bike orienteering, I have been riding since before buying my first custom-built bike in 1972 and one of the few Garingal members who has competed in this discipline. So I was asked to provide an introduction to some of the skills required. With thanks to national mountain-bike orienteering assistant coach Paul Darvodelsky (Big Foot), who provided much of the introductory material in this article, I put together a simple training programme.

Essentially mountain bike orienteering has two parts, riding and navigating. Riding skills are quite important with fitness and strength essential in order to compete at an elite level. In cycling there is no substitute for hours in the saddle!

Riding

Descending and cornering require lot of skill on a mountain bike.

For mtb-o, especially for less experienced and/or fit riders, cornering is probably the main issue. When cornering you should have as much weight as possible on the outside foot, leaning the bike into the corner and not the body. When you first try this it can feel quite strange but with practice the impact on stability and speed through the corner is significant. Of course it's inevitable that you will lean your body a bit as you go around the corner but try and keep your body as straight as possible with the top tube on your inside leg.

Leaning the bike will turn it, so you do not need to turn the wheel much. In fact during aggressive cornering you push with the inside arm and turn the front wheel outwards a little!

Cornering makes you lose speed so in making a route choice (figuring 30 seconds per stop and 15 seconds per corner without taking any stopping time to read the map) having fewer turns can have a significant impact on the time for a leg. Route choices with 46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2004

fewer corners and clean riding will be faster. Remember it can be well worthwhile to go a long way extra if it is faster riding.

Navigation

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Mountain bike navigation is deceptively simple compared to foot orienteering. In my first event it seemed like going back to doing the simple courses following linear features my daughters did before they were teenagers. But you can make more mistakes! This is probably because the route choices are tricky and at speed the map bounces up and down. The basics of route choice are: 1. Pick the shortest route - unless there are hills or faster alternatives i.e. good tracks or roads.

2. Look at all the possible route choices for each leg well before you get there and try to pick the best one. Try to make your route choice as early as possible in the leg, and re-check through the middle part of the leg. Try to stick to your chosen route to the end of the leg and keep gutsing it out! It is most important to make your choice before you get to the control flag.

3. Generally try and avoid, where practical, turning around at the control. Flow through the control is just as crucial as it is in foot orienteering. If you know where you are going, you will go faster; your head (thinking) must be ahead of your bike (pedalling) and any time that it is not you will either slow down (this happens both consciously and unconsciously) or be at high risk of making a mistake.

4. It does not take most people many events before they realise that you can go a long way on a bike before you realise you have made a mistake. Which raises another golden rule, always check your map before you go down a hill. Thirty seconds of downhill can take five minutes to get back up!

Training exercise

In our training exercises I wanted to provide a quantitative measure of the difference between route choices so in a competition we would know just how much shorter a more difficult riding route choice needed to be before choosing it. In other words in route choice, rule one above, “When is the longer route the best choice?”

We did two exercises. The first was a simple single track course on flat ground, created using control stands to form “gates” that wound its way for 150 metres through the trees with 8 or 10 tight turns, followed by a 150 metre loop around two trees with only two turns.

Each rider with a flying start negotiated the course and was timed for each loop.

The second was a course along the four tracks shown here on the map. The section from the start to (1) was steep but good riding with a small, rideable ledge to negotiate coming out of the creek. The track from (1) to (2) to (3) and back to the start was rougher but almost flat. We compared times for each rider from the start to (1) along the steep and direct route with the almost flat but three times longer route via (2) and (3) Both exercises made people realise just how much further you can go in the same time if the route is flat or straight compared with what may seem like a shorter and therefore faster, route.

The group ranged from novice cyclists to an experienced crosscountry mountain bike rider.

For the first exercise the twisting route choice took between two to two and half times as long as going the same distance with only two turns.

For the second exercise I completed both legs in times that varied by only a few seconds – 58 compared with 65 seconds. For most people the flat route choice took about 25% longer. So the next time you see a sweet piece of single-track route choice in a race, save it for afterwards unless it is much shorter.

Edited by Blake Gordon

FIXTURES Ski orienteering THERE is a ski-O event scheduled on Saturday 7 August at Lake Mountain, north-east of Melbourne.

Diary Deadlines in New Zealand and will attract a large international contingent.

Register on the database to be updated as further information on the carnival becomes available at www.geocities.com/ nwocnz/Oceania.htm

No details of any other ski-O events have been received.

More information on New Zealand www.purenz.com/

Victorian Rogaining Association says there will not be a Snogaine this year in Victoria.

See advertisement page 19

Oceania 2005 Orienteering Carnival, January, New Zealand NORTH West Orienteering Club (New Zealand) invites participants to the Oceania 2005 Orienteering Carnival, 6 - 16 January 2005 in Auckland. The carnival will include one score event, six days of traditional orienteering (incorporating, on two days, the Australia/New Zealand Challenge - Individual and Relay) and one day of Mountain Bike Orienteering (incorporating the Australia/New Zealand MTBO Challenge).

There will be a mix of terrain types: two days on a new map of detailed sand dune type pine forest terrain on a sloped area, three days of detailed gully/spur pine forest and fern covered terrain, two days of technically demanding forest and coastal strip sand dunes and one day on intricate farmland with NZ native bush.

All levels of orienteers will be catered for including elites, juniors and veterans. Five of the days will count towards the overall Oceania Five Day results with the four best results counting. SportIdent will be used for all days of competition.

This promises to be one of the biggest carnivals of orienteering

Northern Territory Carnival, July 2005 TOP END Orienteers, based in Darwin, plan a mini-O Carnival, to include a National Badge event, for July 2005.

Mike Morffew (Tas) looks likely to be engaged to undertake mapping work.

Swiss O Week 2006 FOLLOWING the very successful 2003 Swiss O Week, just before the World Championships, an organising committee was formed to plan an international multi-day event in 2006. Work is in hand on event centres and competition areas.

Further details are yet to be announced.

Swiss magazine OL

World Masters 2006

Date 24 Jul 25 Jul

1 Aug 14 Aug 21-22 Aug 22 Aug 5 Sept 5 Sept 18 Sept 25 Sept to 3 Oct

Event Nearest town Entries close State League 8 Mittagong NSW 2 Jul State League 9 (inc NSW Schools Champs) Marulan NSW 2 Jul Northern Classic (badge), SL 1 Launceston TAS 23 Jul State League 10 Tarago NSW 23 Jul Queensland Champs Ipswich QLD 19 July State League 2 (badge) Hobart TAS 13 Aug State League 11 Marulan NSW 13 Aug Tas Sprint and MD Champs Hobart TAS 30 Aug Tas Champs, SL 4 Launceston TAS normal 31 Aug Aus Championships Rylstone/Orange/ Carnival Cowra NSW 20 Aug

No dates were received from ACT, VIC, SA or WA.

allowing for organisers and accompanying persons. The spend in the area would be about two million Euros ($A3.2 million).

Classes will be M/W35 up to M/ W85. Two qualifying races on 4 and 5 July decide which of up to four graded finals you compete on 7 July; all participants do run a final.

There will also be a series of open races for “non-masters”.

Lonely Planet guidebook to Austria says the city was first known simply as Neustadt (new city) or Nova Civitas, and was

built in 1194. Population is 40,000. Only 18 homes escaped bombing in World War II. Historic buildings have been restored.

Trains run two or four times an hour from Vienna to Wiener Neustadt and journey time is just 35 minutes.

As lead-up for visitors to Austria, there will be a series of events including three in Salzburg, about 300 km west of Vienna.

More on www.WMOC06.com

2005 National Orienteering League and National Junior Orienteering League ORGANISERS WANTED Orienteering clubs throughout Australia are invited to express interest in organising National Orienteering League (NOL) and National Junior Orienteering League (NJOL) events in 2005.

As well as being a prestigious event for a club to organise, any club could expect between 60 and 120 elites/juniors to attend, providing financial rewards for organising.

AUSTRIA will host the 2006 World Masters Orienteering Championships at Wiener Neustadt, about 50 km south of Vienna (Wien), 1-8 July.

Target is to attract 3,000 entries, which would bring in 4,000-5,000 attendance,

Organising a NOL/JNOL race in conjunction with an already organised Badge/Championship event is welcomed.

Details of requirements of clubs organising NOL/JNOL events can be found on the Orienteering Australia High Performance website in the Postings section - http://www.orienteering.asn.au/Highp/index.html Expressions of Interest are invited to be submitted to Orienteering Australia’s High Performance Manager Jason McCrae by June 30, 2004.

All enquiries to jason.mccrae@act.gov.au

2004 Australian Championships Carnival THE GRAPES OF ROCK TOUR 2 5 T H

S E P T E M B E R

T O

3 R D

O C T O B E R

travelling from Mudgee to Orange, NSW

An action-packed carnival with 13 competition events and great social activities See our website for all the details: www.auschamps2004.nsw.orienteering.asn.au/ JUNE 2004 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

I T ’ S E A S Y T O F I N D Y O U R WAY T O T H E B E S T I N S U R A N C E !

EIG-Ansvar • Annual premium income over $80 million • Established in Australia since 1961 • Part of the world-wide Ecclesiastical Insurance Group

EIG-Ansvar and Orienteering • Every policy sold helps Orienteering Australia to fund official teams • Reduces levies on states and members • Be sure to identify yourself as an orienteer when contacting us Ask about our hassle-free monthly payment scheme

Call your State office on 1300 650 540* E-mail: insure@eigansvar.com.au *Be sure to tell our customer service officer that any policy effected is to be entered on the Orienteering Australia account number 03 31 These insurance products are issued by EIG-Ansvar Limited ABN 21 007 216 506 AFS Licence No.237826. You can obtain a Product Disclosure Statement for Household and Motor Vehicle insurance from EIG-Ansvar Limited by calling 1300 650 540.

You should consider the Product Disclosure Statement in deciding to acquire or continue to hold these insurance products.