The Australian Orienteer - March 2013

MARCH 2013

Oceania Champs Eventor made easy

RRP $8.50 inc GST

SILVA National Orienteering League Event Program 2010

Round 1:

South Australia

Event 1a:

Saturday March 9th, 2013

Sprint Qualifier

Event 1b:

Saturday March 9th, 2013

Sprint Final

Event 2:

Sunday March 10th, 2013

Mass Start (multi-loop)

Round 2:

Australian 3 Day Orienteering Championships, Victoria

Event 3:

Friday March 29th, 2013

Prologue (Sprint)

Event 4:

Saturday March 30th, 2013

Middle

Event 5:

Sunday March 31st, 2013

Long

Event 6:

Monday April 1st, 2013

Reverse Chasing Start

Round 3:

World Championships Selection Trials, ACT

Event 7:

Saturday May 4th, 2013

Sprint

Event 8:

Saturday May 4th, 2013

Middle

Event 9:

Sunday May 5th, 2013

Long

Round 4:

Australian Championships Carnival, ACT

Event 10:

Saturday September 28th, 2013

Sprint

Event 11:

Sunday September 29th, 2013

Long

Event 12:

Saturday October 5th, 2013

Individual Final, Long

Event 13:

Sunday October 6th, 2013

Team Final, Relay

All race details can be found at www.orienteering.asn.au www.silva.se

Silva is a FISKARS BRANDS company. australia@fiskarsbrands.com

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

The President’s Page

Blair Trewin

Blair at NT Long Champs.

Pic by Deb Holt

I

n normal years, summer is a reasonably quiet time in Australian Orienteering (at least in the bush). It has been anything but this year, with the World Cup returning to the Southern Hemisphere, on (almost) home ground, for the first time since 2000, and a substantial Australian contingent at the Oceania Championships, too.

The New Zealanders made an excellent job of the World Cup – no doubt there were one or two glitches behind the scenes, but to the outside observer it was a very successful series of events. Whilst we’re still waiting for the final go-ahead from the IOF, it seems very likely that we’ll be doing the same thing in Tasmania in early 2015. The Tasmanians have a lot of major-event organisation expertise, but they will still need plenty of support from the mainland and I am sure that there are plenty of mainland orienteers who will be able to provide it.

The New Zealand events provided a few innovations over and above what we’re used to – most notably using a number of TV screens for results which displayed not just total times, but radio and elapsed times too – there’s a lot to be said for being able to look at the results board knowing that you can go across to the finish chute once the person you want to see has gone through the second-last control. I understand negotiations are in place to bring this system to Easter, and perhaps to adopt it more widely in Australia.

One thing which will have pleased the organisers in New Zealand was the attendance – over 1000 (including a decent number from Europe), well in excess of their budgeted figure, and enough to make sure that the overall event made a profit – always a worry when staging an event at the level of the World Cup. This gives us a lot of encouragement that Tasmania can achieve something similar in 2015. We’ve always been reluctant to stage events in the summer holidays because of the weather (a lot of us were thankful that we sidestepped the Australian heatwave by being on the other side of the Tasman), but the summer holidays are a time when many people have time to do things, and the Christmas 5-Days is getting a steadily greater following – this year’s was the biggest yet, with a turnout in the 400s. (‘Holiday’ events are a major part of the European scene, too).

On the results side, the World Cup matched expectations for us at the front end without exceeding them – a number of top-

20 results, but none breaking through into the top-10. It was frustrating to miss out on the Australia-New Zealand Challenge after getting so close to becoming the first visiting team to win since 1994, but there were still plenty of encouraging signs.

I was particularly encouraged by some of the junior results; our expectations weren’t especially high, given how much the New Zealanders dominate when they come here, but while we didn’t win a lot of classes, after the first couple of days we were usually competitive, and a number of the team members made considerable advances during the week. We’ve seen how much the New Zealanders get out of sending their juniors to Australia every year, and there are plans afoot for an Australian junior trip to New Zealand to become an annual event, too.

Improving our high performance pathways was a major focus of the Orienteering Australia conference and will continue to be a priority over the next few months. We know there are two areas, in particular, where we are not as strong as we would like – firstly, that the number of juniors entering the sport is such that we have a small talent pool to work with; and secondly, that a lot of people struggle to make the transition from juniors to seniors – and we expect we will be reworking our squad and coaching structure to try to address at least the second issue. (For the first issue, growing participation is the most crucial step; as I said at the conference, one of my long-term goals for the sport is that by 2020, every junior class in every State championship has at least 10 entrants).

Reviewing our high performance plans was something which was on our agenda regardless, but urgency has been added to the task by the announcement of a new structure for government funding of high performance sport in Australia. While our participation programs are rated very highly by the Sports Commission, our non-Olympic status and recent lack of medals don’t help our cause in the high performance area and we will have to put a strong case if we want to retain or enhance our existing funding.

By the time you read this, the various summer series will just about be over, the bush programs in various States will be under way or about to get under way, and Easter will only be a few weeks away (for some of you, coming with a new age class to conquer). I look forward to seeing many of you there.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

Winning PartnershiP

The Australian Sports Commission proudly supports Orienteering Australia The Australian Sports Commission is the Australian Government agency that develops, manages and invests in sport at all levels in Australia.

Orienteering Australia has worked closely with the Australian Sports Commission to develop orienteering from community participation to high-level performance.

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION 4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Orienteering Australia is one of many national sporting organisations that has formed a winning partnership with the Australian Sports Commission to develop its sport in Australia.

www.ausport.gov.au

w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u Orienteering Australia President: Director High Performance: Director Finance: Director Technical: Director Special Projects: Director Communications: Director International IOF Council: Executive Officer: High Performance Manager: Badge Applications:

PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911 orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 Blair Trewin oa_president@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 Grant Bluett oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au Bruce Bowen oa_finance@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6288 8501 Robin Uppill oa_technical@netspeed.com.au h: 08 8278 3017 m: 0419 037 770 Robert Spry rbspry@gmail.com Craig Feuerherdt craigfeuerherdt@gmail.com 0438 050 074 Mike Dowling oa_international@netspeed.com.au John Harding orienteering@netspeed.com.au 02 6162 1200 m: 0427 107 033 Kay Haarsma kayhaarsma@hotmail.com 08 8337 0522 John Oliver 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

STATE ASSOCIATIONS Orienteering Queensland Inc: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Admin Officer: Melissa Bowman admin@oq.asn.au OA NSW: PO Box 3295, North Strathfield NSW 2137. Secretary: Anthony Darr, Ph. (02) 8116 9848 admin@onsw.asn.au Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402, Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Office: Ph. (02) 6162 3422 orienteering.act@webone.com.au Victorian OA: PO Box 1010 Templestowe 3106. Secretary: Don Fell, voa@netspace.net.au OA South Aust: State Association House, 105 King William St Kent Town SA 5067. Sec: Ken Thompson 08 8351 4757 secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au OA Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6094. Secretary: Ken Post Ph. (08) 9246 2552 kpost1@bigpond.com Orienteering Tasmania Inc.: PO Box 339, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005. Secretary: David Marshall, Ph. (03) 6260 4300 secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Zoe Radford topendorienteersNT@gmail.com

NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE

April 12. Time-sensitive: April 19

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 3/12 (no. 167) SEPTEMBER 2012

The national magazine of Orienteering Australia Inc. ABN 77 406 995 497 Published four times a year: First day of March, June, September, December. Print Post Approved PP 236080/00011 Editor: Michael Hubbert, P.O. Box 165, Warrandyte, Victoria 3113 mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au Phone (03) 9844 4878 Magazine Design & Assembly: Peter Cusworth, Ph. 0409 797 023 pcusworth@bigpond.com Magazine Treasurer: Bruce Bowen Printer: Ferntree Print Centre, 1154 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully.

Contribution deadline: April 12; Time-sensitive - April 19.

Deadline dates for contributions are the latest we can accept copy.

Publication is normally planned for the 1st of March, June, September & December. Copies are dispatched in bulk to State associations in the week prior to that date.

Regular Contributors: Competition - Blair Trewin; High Performance - Kay Haarsma; MTBO - Blake Gordon; Official News - John Harding; Nutrition Gillian Woodward; Training - Steve Bird; Coaching – Hanny Allston.

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 – Maggie Jones: communications@onsw.asn.au 0415 214 503 ACT – Philip Purcell philippurc@hotmail.com SA – Erica Diment: diment@adam.com.au ; tel (ah) 8379 2914 Vic, WA and Tas – vacant Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 pa. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A49, Rest of World $A58 pa.

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CONTENTS T H E P R E S I D E N T ’ S P A G E.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 O C E A N I A C H A M P I O N S H I P S & W O R L D C U P.. . . . . 6 S T R E S S & I T S E F F E C T S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 S P O O K S I N T H E PA R K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 GIANT PR COUP ................................... 17 T H E H A R D S E L L .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 G O AT R A C I N G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 D O N ’ T O V E R H E A T .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 N U T R I T I O N – T h e GI blu es. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 N S W J U N I O R C A M P.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 SPRINT O MAPS.................................... 31 5 DAY S I N I S TA N B U L.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 M T B O N E W S & R A N K I N G S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 EVENTOR – MAKING LIFE EASY................. 38 O - S P Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1 N A T I O N A L R A N K I N G S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 2 0 1 2 S I LVA M E DA L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 TOP EVENTS......................................... 47

Cover photo: 7-year-old Alyssia Wymer is 2013 Oceania W10 Champion in Sprint, Middle Distance and Long Distance. Her brother Kylian is 2013 Oceania M12 Middle Distance and Long Distance Champion. Alyssia is seen here waiting for a change-over at the 2012 AUS Relays. Photo: Michael Hubbert.

MARCH MARCH2013 2013THE THEAUSTRALIAN AUSTRALIANORIENTEER ORIENTEER 5

AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS & WORLD CUP

The Trewin Report Blair Trewin

Australian New Zealand Challenge and Oceania Championships

I

t was so near and yet so far for Australia, as they went agonisingly close to becoming the first visiting country to win an Australia-New Zealand Challenge event since 1994.

The closest result of all was in the Relay, where honours were shared with a 10-10 result. During the race it looked as if New Zealand had achieved a narrow win, and that two close Australian wins – Nicola Dalheim winning a sprint finish in W45, and Anna Hyslop holding off a fast-finishing Jenni Adams in W40 – were of only academic importance. However, it transpired that New Zealand’s winning M20 team had taken a wrong map on the second leg, and their consequent disqualification levelled the scores.

The Individual Challenge was won by New Zealand by the narrowest possible margin. For the first time, it encompassed all three individual Oceania Championships events. The close classes fell New Zealand’s way as they opened with a 13-7 win in the Middle Distance, but Australia reversed that result in the Sprint; the close classes fell the other way this time, and there were also unexpected bonuses such as Bryony Cox inflicting a rare defeat on Patricia Aspin in W65. That left everything to run for in the Long Distance. New Zealand jumped out to an early lead which Australia gradually pegged back. It ended up coming down to one of the last classes to be decided, W18, and New Zealand’s win there secured a 31-29 result – effectively won with the 15-second win they claimed in M50 early in the day.

In addition to the Challenge, there was also a Schools Test Match, the first for four years. This was contested during the first two days of the carnival and ended in a clean sweep to the home side. This may not have been a surprising result given New Zealand’s recent dominance in schools championships in Australia, but later in the week there were numerous encouraging Australian junior results; they didn’t win a lot of classes, but they were almost always competitive and drew from the experience.

Outside the World Cup, the elite classes at the Oceania Championships became a minor side attraction. The one race which did not form part of the World Cup was the Long Distance.

It was a tough, physical area (in the finest tradition of Oceania Long Distance championships), and most of the men decided to save themselves for the following weekend after doing part of the course – none of the Australian team finished and our lead runner was Lachlan Hallett in 9th, in a race won by Thomas Reynolds of New Zealand. It was a different story for the women, where Grace Crane took the Oceania title (against Lizzie Ingham, among others) and placed second outright behind the Swede, Linnea Gustafsson.

The age-group titles were fertile ground for many other Australians, with 49 gold medals claimed between the three races.

Clean sweeps were achieved by Alyssia Wymer (W10), Cathy Hogg (W35), Ann Ingwersen (W70) and Maureen Ogilvie (W80).

Alex Tarr fell six seconds short of a sweep when Graham Fortune edged him out in the Long Distance in M70, while Heather Muir had two wins and a third in W20 and Geoff Lawford (M55) and Kylian Wymer (M12) also took out two titles.

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

World Cup in New Zealand

T

he World Cup came to New Zealand in the opening days of 2013. It was the first time since 2005 that the IOF had staged a senior international event outside Europe, and the first time since 2000 that one has come to the Southern Hemisphere. The results were dominated by the Swedes and the Swiss. The young Swede Tove Alexandersson emerged as the week’s leading performer with wins in the last two races, whilst her compatriots Helena Jansson and Jerker Lysell also finished on top of the podium; the remaining winners were the two Swiss, Fabian Hertner and Matthias Kyburz.

The leading Australian results were decent, without anyone making the sort of breakthrough which was achieved by Lizzie Ingham when she became the second New Zealander (after Alastair Landels, who won on home ground in 1994) to be a medallist at this level. Three Australians achieved placings in the teens; Grace Crane reached the top-20 in all three races with a 16th and two 18ths, while Julian Dent was 13th and Simon Uppill 17th in the Sprint. World Cup fields do not have the size that World Championships fields do, but the big countries can send larger teams – eight instead of three – so places in the top half of the field are harder to earn than they are at the World Championships, because most of the people to be found in the bottom half of a World Championships aren’t there.

Round 1: 6th January (Middle Distance) The week started with the Oceania Middle Distance Championships, on a complex and mostly open sand-dune area on the coast north of Wellington. Fabian Hertner didn’t burst out of the blocks, but by halfway he had worked his way into third place with a consistent run, which meant he was in a position to take over the lead when both those ahead of him crashed – first Olav Lundanes (NOR), leader through the first half, who punched a wrong control at #16, and then Matthias Kyburz lost three minutes on #18, just before the spectator control. In the end Hertner was a comfortable winner, by World Cup standards, just under a minute ahead of Johan Runesson (SWE) and Jerker Lysell.

(Winning through someone else’s mispunch was a turning of the tables for Hertner, after he lost a WOC podium place through one last year). Julian Dent was on the edge of the top ten through the first half, but lost time at four successive controls and drifted back to 27th, with Simon Uppill 36th.

There was less suspense in the women’s race, in which Helena Jansson took the lead by the fourth control and was a minute in front by halfway. She never looked like losing, eventually finishing a bit over a minute ahead of Denmark’s Ida Bobach.

Tatyana Riabkina of Russia, who was caught by Jansson at #8 after losing time there, ended up finishing just before the Swede and took third place. Apart from going astray (like plenty of others) on the spectator leg, Grace Crane ran a consistent race in her return to international competition after a year out, and finished in 16th place, the leading Oceania performer on the day. She was the only Australian to reach the top-30.

Round 2: 8th January (Sprint) Competition moved into Wellington for the Sprint, a qualifier at Parliament House and surrounds, followed by a final at Government House and two adjacent schools. The qualifier was a reasonably conventional urban Sprint, but the final added some extra elements, like hills, the odd bit of thick bush (avoidable if you wanted to), and some epic you-can’t-go-there-from-here route-choice legs. Eight of the Australian women got through the qualifier, but it was a different story with the men, a race which was an eye-opener as to how tough qualifying can be at this level;

M21E course

Oliver Poland was 1:41 down and didn’t make it, leaving us with only two representatives.

The women’s Final was a race in three, and to the delight of the home crowd, one of the three was a local. Annika Billstam had taken the lead with the last few runners to come, but it was apparent from the splits that Lizzie Ingham was going to seriously challenge her time. She did seriously challenge it, but couldn’t quite surpass it, falling nine seconds short. Tove Alexandersson was still out there, though, with a chance to win; she was 1sec down at the pre-warning control, but found something on the second-last leg to push her Swedish teammate into second, with Ingham in third. Grace Crane and Rachel Effeney were 18th and 21st respectively, while Felicity Brown, running for Australia for the first time, could also be happy with her efforts with a 29th place.

The Swiss dominated last year’s WOC men’s Sprint final by taking all three medals. All three were in the top four in Wellington – broken up only by second-placed Jerker Lysell – and the larger teams available at World Cup extended their domination to seven of the top ten. At the top of the list, as he had been in Lausanne, was Matthias Kyburz. He made the decisive break on the field on the major route-choice leg, #7, and he ended up 35 seconds clear, a very large margin in a Sprint at this level (even if the course was a bit longer than usual). Matthias Merz came in behind Lysell to complete the placings. Both Australian finalists finished in the top-20. While Julian Dent could not quite match his top-ten finish from qualifying or the result that seemed possible when he was fifth in the middle part of the course, 13th was still a careerbest result for him at this level, as was 17th for Simon Uppill.

Round 3: 13th January (prologue/chase) After a few days, variously devoted to training, tourism and contesting (mostly incompletely) the Oceania Long Distance Championships (which wasn’t a World Cup event), World Cup competition resumed with an event in the Hawke’s Bay district, west of Napier – a largely open area with lots of irregular small, steep hills which was a tough place to run on a hot day.

Sweden’s Jerker Lysell, winner of the chasing start.

This event had an experimental format – a prologue (with time bonuses for the best placegetters) in the morning, followed by a chasing start in the afternoon. (This format was originally mooted as part of the post-2014 WOC programme, but in the end has not been included). It was also a good race for spectators, with significant parts of the course visible from the top of a nearby hill, and that hill drew a decent crowd (including a group of Amber Morrison’s local friends who provided some extra entertainment when their well-stocked ‘chilly bin’ slid down the side of the hill with them in hot pursuit).

Tove Alexandersson made it two wins out of two. Her win was set up in the prologue, when the only person to get within a minute of her was Minna Kauppi (FIN), making her return after missing the first two rounds through illness. Time bonuses gave the Swede a break of two minutes over third, and with Kauppi unable to quite reproduce her morning form in the afternoon, she never looked seriously threatened. Kauppi gradually drifted back towards the pursuing pack of six and was eventually swallowed by its leaders, but held on to third place, only being overhauled

by Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg of Norway. Grace Crane ended in 18th place, getting in front of her bunch with a gutsy route choice into the last control, while Lizzie Ingham achieved another top-ten result with eighth.

The men’s race took a different course. Peter Öberg (SWE) won the prologue, by a second from Fabian Hertner, but both wobbled early and a lead pack of three emerged, containing Öberg, Jerker Lysell and Olav Lundanes. They were together through most of the course. As long as they stayed together, Lysell, the best sprinter of the trio, was in the box seat, and so it proved; Lundanes led into the approach to the last control, but was blown away in the final 200 metres. Öberg dropped away over the final controls to finish half a minute down in third place. It was a disappointing day for the Australian men, with Julian Dent’s 36th the highest placing and Simon Uppill (38th) the only other one outside the bottom ten.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

WORLD CUP / OCEANIA CHAMPS

International elites delighted with New Zealand’s World Cup efforts The recent Oceania Carnival also hosted three World Cup events, drawing a crowd of international elites. The start list read like a ‘Who’s Who’ of top class orienteers, with only Simone Niggli-Luder and Thierry Gueorgiou most obviously missing. ONSW Communications Officer Maggie Jones took the chance to catch up with some of the international visitors at the first event near Palmerston North, to ask them how they were finding the competition and get some of their thoughts about approaching major events like these.

What do you think of this New Zealand terrain?

Helena Jansson (SWE): The Middle Distance race on the sand dune areas was amazing. It didn’t look that tricky at first as there was a lot of open running, but it was physically tough and technically it turned out to be really tricky.

Signe Klinting (DEN): We Danes nearly had a home terrain advantage as we have lots of sand dune areas in Denmark.

Signe Klinting (left) and Ida Bobach (right) from Denmark.

Daniel Hubmann (SUI): This was my first comeback race since injury at the European Championships last year and I had some difficulty with the terrain but was able to relocate really well so was pleased with that. With no model map to practice on, going out was a real adventure and I found the open sand quite tough to run. My learning from the first race is that I have to spend more time practising my map reading.

Grace Crane (AUS): We have some terrain like this in Pittwater in Tasmania, and I have also run in the UK on Penhale Sands, so I felt comfortable going out.

Daniel Hubmann (SUI)

Fabian Hertner (SUI): I managed to catch Baptiste Rollier (SUI) out on the course, but I was going too fast for the technical difficulty of the terrain and made some small mistakes which slowed me down. It was great terrain – not something we get a lot of in Switzerland and I really enjoyed it. The last loop of the course didn’t give you much room for mistakes!

Fabian Hertner (SUI).

8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Erik Rost (SWE): This is my first trip to NZ and I am enjoying it. I found this sand dune terrain demanding and liked it a lot.

It is great to come to a new country, and race in terrain which is quite distinctly special for that region. Keeping calm in this terrain was the key for me.

Erik Rost (SWE)

These World Cup races are somewhat out of your racing season. How does fitting in an important race like this affect your normal training regime?

Erik Rost: I don’t really have an ‘off season’ as I compete in Ski ‘O’ in the winter anyway. Running in snow as we do in the winter isn’t that different to running in the sand over here.

Tue Lassen (DEN): Although I feel in good shape I do think this race is a bit tricky in terms of timing. My goal races are the World Cup Sprint and Middle Distance in Turku, Finland in June which is quite a way off yet.

Graham Gristwood (GBR): This race is out of our usual season of racing and falls in the middle of our winter training block. I think you can see that some of the key competitors are not in their top shape but I don’t think that matters too much. You can’t be race ready all year round.

Tue Lassen (DEN)

The competition in the elite category is very tight.

How are you keeping yourself relaxed and focussed in the start box?

Fabian Hertner: I have a routine. Take your time into the first 5 controls and don’t let yourself get distracted by the other runners out there. Also when I get the start list I cut off the list of all the runners starting after me – it’s only the ones in front of me that I have to worry about.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE): I smile in the start box. Smiling puts me in a good mood and helps me focus. I like to smile at the finish line too!

Ida Bobach (DEN): Actually it is a great motivator during the long dark of the winter. Although it does split up the base training period during the winter, I don’t think that a short period of faster training in the middle of that really does any harm.

Signe Klinting: I agree, however the Danish team were told to regard this as every bit as important as the other goal races in the calendar, and not as a holiday to New Zealand so I think maybe some of us might have gone a bit over the top with the training to make sure we got on the team!

Helena Jansson (SWE)

Helena Jansson: I really struggle with nerves in the start box.

I try to get the race into perspective by asking myself ‘If I don’t win this race, will my parents still call me? Will my boyfriend dump me?’ I try to remind myself that I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Peter Öberg (SWE): I find it easy to focus because for me, orienteering is really just fun.

Athlete

Country

World Ranking @ 15 Jan 2013

Best results in New Zealand

Best career results

Helena Jansson

Sweden

3

1st Middle Distance 11th Sprint 7th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 2 Gold, 5 Silver, 5 Bronze

Daniel Hubmann

Switzerland

17

18th Middle Distance 9th Sprint 29th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 4 Gold, 4 Silver, 5 Bronze

Fabian Hertner

Switzerland

5

1st Middle Distance 10th Sprint 5th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 2 Silver, 1 Bronze

Signe Klinting

Denmark

55

25th Middle Distance 22nd Sprint 34th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 12th Sprint 2012 JWOC: 1 Bronze at age 16

Grace Crane

Australia

59

16th Middle Distance 18th Sprint 18th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 4th place Relay

Erik Rost

Sweden

56

15th Middle Distance 15th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 28th place Long 2012

Ida Bobach

Denmark

11

2nd Middle Distance 8th Sprint 6th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 1 Silver Queen of JWOC with 7 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze

Tue Lassen

Denmark

26

10th Middle Distance 6th Sprint 12th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 6th place Relay 2012

Graham Gristwood

Great Britain

77

19th Middle Distance 28th Sprint 13th Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 1 Gold , 4th Sprint 2011

Tove Alexandersson

Sweden

6

11th Middle Distance 1st Sprint 1st Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 2 Silver,1 Bronze JWOC: 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze

Peter Öberg

Sweden

15

11th Middle Distance 19th Sprint 3rd Middle Chasing Start

WOC: 3 Silver, 1 Bronze

Statistics taken from www.worldofo.com MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

COACHING

Stress and its Effects on the Unprepared Athlete Hanny Allston

The following article is my second in a series of papers discussing the significance of stress and its impact on injuries and illness amongst orienteers.

In my last article I discussed the science behind stress as a risk factor for athletic injuries, and how long-term stress can lead to a chronic pattern of physical and hormonal changes in the body. In this paper, I will discuss my personal account of how stress affected me as an athlete and how the science explains my experiences. Further to this, I will discuss the importance of having well trained coaching staff to support the long-term involvement of healthy, happy athletes who have potential to achieve at an elite level in our sport if they wish. As a coach and athlete I believe it is important for us to understand the science of stress if we are to continue to assist our developing orienteers to achieve on the international stage.

Life as an unprepared World Champion

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hirteen minutes and six seconds was all it took to change my life. One minute a young aspiring athlete with stars in my eyes and the world under my feet. Thirteen minutes and six seconds later…

Following a year of injuries and family turmoil, aspiring to achieve in the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Lithuania had been part of my grand plan to overcome adversity. In addition to Orienteering I was striving to find independence, complete a medical degree, work to finance my orienteering, maintain friendships, and even fit in some coaching on the sidelines. I had found myself involved in athletic competitions, and was guided by the old-school coaching methods of my beloved mentor, Max Cherry. The juggling act felt accomplishable as the route was still clearly stamped out – a route that would one day, hopefully, lead to a World 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Championship medal. However, little did I know that I was living in a state of elevated stress. Hormonal patterns out of whack and a feeling of running from one thing to another – young and naïve, it was an achievable way of life at 20 years of age. However, 13 minutes and six seconds of Sprint Orienteering during the Danish World Championships threw another huge stressor into the mix – being a World Champion.

Thirteen minutes and six seconds was all it took to change my life Contrary to what I imagined, living as a World Champion in Tasmania did change things. Suddenly those social Orienteering events I used to attend felt like a pressure. It was harder just to ‘rock-up’, head out for a trot and then duck off to get your homework done. Mistakes felt unjustified. Days feeling average felt like a weakness. The athletics world and its shark-like coaches suddenly saw ‘potential’ and a Tasmanian Sports Star of the Year.

Eight weeks behind at university, friends hadn’t been contacted for months, Swedish journalists tailing me around Tasmania for two week, media interviews, family, and trying to ward off the fear that now you were the one everyone wanted to beat next year. To say I felt stressed was an understatement.

I held the balls in the air for around five months before they all came crashing down. I stopped sleeping deeply, became more reclusive, lost my appetite, dropped weight, backed out of university, clamped down on my lifestyle, and experienced sensations of panic. At the time I felt like a failure with many unexplained niggling injuries. I now realize it was stress talking to me, and the risk of being a self-coached athlete.

Implications of stress for coaches and athletes Cumulative pressures and a high allostatic load is inevitable in most high level sports. It is reasonable to assume that the capacity to respond appropriately to acute, superimposed physical and psychological stressors that add to the training and competition load will be limited in athletes.

However, as I experienced during 2006, sometimes the stress scales can tip too far and an athlete can lean towards burnout.

Hanny suddenly realises that she has won.

With research pointing towards a link between stress and injuries or illness, monitoring athletes’ levels of physical and psychological expenditure would appear

to be critical. As psychological stressor effects are mediated through the same pathways as physical stressors, athletes subjected to recent stressful life events have a higher cumulative allostatic load and an even more diminished threshold for mounting situational-appropriate ‘emergency’ responses. School, employment, transportation, social and emotional pressures must be taken into account when planning out training blocks. Further to this, the problem that many coaches and athletes face is that the boundaries between normal daily tensions, acute stress and chronic stress are difficult to distinguish. This is particularly true for the self-coached athlete.

The normal physical stress response in athletes Acute physical exercise, a potent physical stressor, activates the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands and in turn, the normal stress response. When adequate recovery is allowed to follow bouts of physical activity, the athlete’s hormonal levels, including their cortisol levels, should return to normal. This would mean that the athlete returns to feeling calm with clear thoughts, normal appetite, insignificant muscle soreness and an ordinary sleep pattern. An athlete in this situation should be able to cope with a slow, aggregated and periodised training program.

When the normal stress response becomes abnormal in athletes Prolonged aerobic exercise, competition schedules and endurance training induces the stress response pathway to release abundant cortisol and there is a linear relationship between training volume and cortisol levels. Therefore, as an athlete’s training mileage and intensity increases, cortisol levels can increase indicating an amplified stress response. This puts the athlete at greater risk of injury and a constant state of arousal.

When I returned from the World Championships in 2006, the driving pressure of being a World Champion meant that I felt an internal pressure to continue training. The break that I had originally planned to take was thrown overboard and instead I embarked on another high volume training time. Self-coached and with no trained professional helping to apply the brakes, I continued to drive myself faster and faster. My ability to recover from training began to diminish and performances were affected.

Evidence indicates that in severe circumstances, increased cortisol levels may predispose distance athletes to a number of diseases including immune suppression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, depression, acute myocardial infarction and upper respiratory tract infections.

Indicators of a disruption to the normal stress response in athletes would be: disturbed sleep patterns; continual musculoskeletal aches or pains; a loss of appetite and gastrointestinal troubles; weight loss and muscle dystrophy; restlessness and irritability; decreased bone density measures; and an inability to concentrate on mental tasks. This combination of factors is often described as athlete burnout. Without understanding it, by the end of 2006 this is what I was experiencing.

Avoiding athlete burnout Often overlooked, rest is a critical component to any training program. There are two forms of rest, active and complete cessation of physical activity. Gentle forms of exercise such as easy jogging or cross-training can be a great way for athletes to unwind whilst still completing mileage. However, without adequate sleep, nutrition and time away from the running shoes, athletes will put themselves at risk of chronically over-reaching.

The most at-risk athletes are those that are self-coached. As a selfcoached athlete, it becomes hard to look in from the outside at yourself and your training, and to see when the normal has shifted

towards abnormal. It becomes difficult to distinguish between natural fatigue and feelings of stress, and those that are atypical.

A coach can be the person to assist you to avoid overloading by keeping your sport and life in perspective. Nevertheless, at some stage all athletes will find themselves in an over-reaching phase of training or intense competition. During these times, athletes are particularly vulnerable to allostatic loading and burnout. Ideally, when athletes are faced with times of increased mental demands, such as university exams, the training load will be decreased to compensate. As coach Max Cherry used to say, ‘when we are in a state of physical rest, the conscious and subconscious activities of the brain use 90% of the body’s energy’. Whether scientifically true or not, the concept is relevant. For elite athletes, the potential to eliminate physical stressors is limited so a potential avenue for decreasing allostatic load is to control or eliminate unnecessary psychological stressors.

There are many psychological interventions utilized in sport.

Notably, sports psychology has taken on an important role in preventing injury, illness and burnout. Psychologists introduce athletes to techniques such as breathing control, muscular relaxation, imagery, self-talk and cognitive reprograming. Using training planners to indicate when high-intensity activities are going to occur, such as competitions and examinations, will help to stave off chronically elevated stress levels. Further to this, integrating psychology and other remedial disciplines such as massage, chiropractics and physiotherapy into the training program can also help athletes to ensure that rest is actively incorporated into their weekly routines.

Away from the training arena, there are many services offered to assist in alleviating stress. Many universities, schools and workplaces provide links to counsellors or life coaches to help individuals find an adequate balance between responsibilities and play.

Conclusion It took me many years to understand the significance that stress played in my body and the impact this had on my mind. Whilst I saw my emotions as a weakness, I later came to realize that they were an overload of my physical and mental self. Being a selfcoached athlete meant that my brakes had failed and rather than backing off, I sped up. It took a long break from formal sport and training, and a gentle return to ‘missioning’ and ‘playing’ in the bush to help find a calmer state of being. Learning to love myself and taking strength from friends and family helped me rediscover my feet again. However, the biggest thing that has assisted me is to help others through Find Your Feet. Initially Life Coaching and later branching back into the sporting world has helped me realize the power of coaching and the significance of smart preparation to accomplish goals.

In summary, athletes with a high allostatic load, caused by increasing physical and psychological pressures with no associated rest, are at the highest risk of causing chronic, physical changes to the body and its systems. The best prevention for athlete burnout is for an athlete to enlist the support of a coach to oversee their training and lifestyle. Coaches play a critical role in monitoring the stress loads of their athletes and compensating with moderations to their training and competition programs.

Irrespective of whether we are coaching world-class athletes, juniors or adult beginners, coaching excellence can help to ensure that all orienteers remain healthy and injury free.

I encourage you to share your thoughts by writing to the editor or to me personally at hanny@findyourfeet.com.au.

(Hanny Allston, 503/9 Watkin Street, Bruce, ACT 2617; m: 0409 176 967; www.hannyallston.com.au) MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

ADVERTORIAL

Find Your Feet

F

or those readers who live in or close to Canberra, Hanny Allston is hosting training sessions every Monday evening at Clinic 88. Runners of all abilities will gain some benefit from these sessions. Hanny will tailor the program to suit your ability and soon you will be running better than you could have imagined. “50 minutes of pure enjoyment” is how Hanny describes the sessions.

For those who live elsewhere Hanny offers training programs and advice, as well as mentoring coaches in other States. If you would like to join her growing network go to her website www. findyourfeet.com. au Picturesque ‘ice bath’

Join the Centenary of Canberra Celebrations

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n one of its busiest years since 2000, Orienteering ACT will be staging two major carnivals to celebrate the Centenary of Canberra: 2013 Centenary of Canberra Autumn Classics

Canberra Autumn Classics 2013 Centenary of Canberra ACT Championships May 4 – Sprint Distance (am) CSIRO Black Mtn (Acton) May 4 - Middle Distance (pm) Orroral Tracking Station (Namadgi) May 5 - Long Distance Boboyan (Namadgi) BOOK ACCOMMODATION NOW!

http://act.orienteering.asn.au/events/major-events/

Silva National League events 7-9 Full range of Age Classes

• ACT Sprint Championships at CSIRO Black Mtn (am 4 May). National League #7. Many buildings of various shapes and sizes, with stairs and underpasses.

• ACT Middle Distance Championships at Orroral Tracking Station (pm 4 May).

National League #8. New area, typical Namadgi National Park granite; • ACT Long Distance Championships at Boboyan Divide (5 May). National League #9. Typical Namadgi National Park granite area at the southern end of the Park.

Only used previously for the 2007 Oceania Long Distance Championships and 2008 ACT Long Distance Championships; a world class granite venue.

2013 Centenary of Canberra Australian Championships • Australian Sprint Championships at Canberra Grammar School (28 Sept).

National League #10. New venue, typical large private school with many buildings of various shapes and sizes. Orienteering ACT has been seeking to gain access for many years.

• Australian Long Distance Championships at Slap Up Creek, near Jerangle south-east of Canberra (29 Sept). National League #11. A new venue - granite plateau 1200m - 1300m elevation. Farmland is very runnable though steep in parts. The forest is almost flat with pleasant running through scattered granite boulders, knolls, minor streams and gullies.

• Capital O in the Parliamentary Triangle (30 Sept).

• Australian Schools Orienteering Championships at The Sandhills, east of Bungendore (1-2 Oct). The area is a mixture of eucalypt, gully spur terrain combined with large tracts of erosion gullies, first used 30 years ago, but has been rested for a number of years. Public events follow the schools events.

• Centenary of Canberra Flashback at Mt Majura (4 Oct). An orienteering event with the same maps used when the sport began in Canberra in 1971.

• Australian Middle Distance Championships at Gibraltar Hill (5 Oct). National League #12. Gibraltar Hill is the large, boulder-strewn hill adjacent to Bungendore that orienteers have yearned to see mapped, and now it has been.

• Australian Relay Championships at Gibraltar Hill (6 Oct). National League #13.

A second opportunity to conquer Gibraltar Hill.

Very important! Book your accommodation now.

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013 12

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

PROMOTION

Maggie Jones – ONSW Communications

Barbara Dawson and Maggie Jones, who manage the fundraising for the NSW Junior Squad, are always on the lookout for opportunities to bring funds in from outside the Orienteering community. A small event notice from juniors in a club in the UK, a friend with a flair for Halloween parties, and a glass of wine over dinner resulted in an elaborate, ambitious junior orienteer event – Spooks in the Park!

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pooks in the Park was a Halloween themed Orienteering course aimed at 6-14year olds, attended by some 400 children and run by a group of 70 volunteers over six event hours. Armed with only a map against the forces of spookiness the young participants (accompanied by their parents) tackled a 2km course around Sydney’s Centennial Park. At every control was a game which ranged from the faintly ridiculous skull coconut shy, to the tricky giant spider’s web to the frankly alarming zombie run.

Designing the concept Having come up with the idea of running a novelty event, the first thing to do was design a concept board. This was an outline map, with draft game designs, which could be used to talk the idea through in more detail with Barbara Hill, ONSW Promotions Director, and Sam Crosby, Education Ranger at Centennial Park, which was picked on as a first choice venue. Initially the event was designed as a small 2-hour affair to be run and managed entirely by the ONSW team, but Sam Crosby had experience of this kind of event in the UK and was very enthusiastic about the idea of making a partnership event with Centennial Park. A supplier agreement was drawn up – ONSW would deliver the event, and in addition to Sam’s expertise, Centennial Park would 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

field additional facilities in the form of the Education Centre to use as a base, and a marketing team with an extensive database of potential participants. The project was off!

Do not drink shampoo.

It doesn’t taste as good as it smells.

Working out exactly how the games were going to come to life was enormous fun, as props were designed and redesigned so that they were entertaining, robust and, above all, safe. Some games had to be worked over several times such as the giant spider’s web which ended up being made of industrial grade elastics, constructed using a glade of trees and drilled poles, conveniently sited near a live colony of bats. Even after the web design was finished there were spooky eye protection goggles to be included for the children to wear whilst negotiating the web.

Ensuring the event was run in a light-hearted manner without any real ‘magic’ or occult overtones which could cause offense or really frighten the children was an important consideration.

Volunteers on the Zombie run were told to fall over dead if a child tried to tackle them or seemed alarmed. The soothsayer told no fortunes but handed out pithy one-liners and advice such as ‘The road to success is paved with homework’ and ‘Do not drink shampoo. It does not taste as good as it smells’ or ‘Never trust a dog to watch your food’.

Whilst making money was important Maggie and Barbara also wanted to deliver a really top quality experience, and so Ghastly Goody Bags were sourced from Royal Easter Show showbag suppliers, Bensons Trading. These went down really well with the children. One enterprising mother decided that if there was an hour of entertainment and a goody bag for $15/child then if she brought a cake she had a ready-made birthday party, and proceeded to bring a group of 30 children along.

1. Skull cocnut shy 8. Tombstone riddles 2. Start of Zombie run

7. Which witch?

3. End of Zombie run

4. Splat the bat

6. Test of terror 5. Giant Spiders web

Dear volunteer – you are invited to a Zombie workshop

Sponsors in unlikely places Sourcing the materials from local businesses gained a new sponsor in The Remnant Warehouse, Alexandria. Not normally a business ONSW might have thought of approaching for support, they had helped design a blue witch costume for the marketing photos and were very willing to help with more for the event.

They provided materials for costumes including that for the road crossing marshals who were, appropriately enough, dressed as Death in long black robes. Some of the local businesses approached were willing but their submission deadlines were past; others didn’t understand the event enough to see if it would fit their sponsorship portfolio. Next year we will definitely have a more compelling story for those potential sponsors.

An event this large needs a huge number of volunteers, and not just any volunteers. At this point Helen Murphy from Uringa was co-opted onto the team to help manage the volunteers. The volunteers we needed had to be good dealing with the general public, willing to work long hours often dressed in bizarre costumes, and have a sense of fun. The team started small, with requests to the families of the Junior Squad who would benefit from the fundraising, and then those who said ‘that sounds like fun’ when they started talking about the project. Ascham School in Sydney allowed ONSW to publicise the event to the senior school students, supporting the event by allowing their students to claim hours towards their Duke of Edinburgh award schemes.

About a month out from the event the team ran a ‘Zombie Workshop’ for the volunteers to show them how to move and dress like a Zombie, choose which stations they wanted to work on, and have fun testing out some of the games. The Test of Terror with blindfolded volunteers guessing the contents of a cauldron was a favourite.

Marketing by carpet bombing Setting up the pre-entry booking system was tricky to ensure that the children started in groups of 4 every two minutes.

Anthony Darr, ONSW Administrator, designed a way of using the TryBooking systems which dealt with all these, as well as selling the event T-shirts and making sure everyone signed the event disclaimer before payment. An early design for the event logo was done in clipart, which clearly was not suitable for commercial use. Nerise McQuillan, of Garingal Orienteers, had admitted, somewhat rashly, to Maggie at an event, that she was a graphic designer and so the amateur attempt was sent to Nerise.

In the space of two hours Nerise had turned that early idea into a fantastic and thoroughly professional design which was used MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

PROMOTION

mercilessly in all the advertising materials; on flyers, on the Centennial Park website, in email briefings to newspapers and radio stations. As it was a pure black and white logo it also lent itself to being used on T-shirts as the screen printing costs were minimal.

An after-school photo shoot in the park provided the pictures of little witches for brochures and websites across Sydney. Between the work of the Centennial Park team and the ONSW team we counted twelve commercial websites promoting our event on their calendars of ‘What to do’ in Sydney. Centennial Park also trialled a new marketing approach in engaging a radio station, SmoothFM, to promote the event by providing free family passes.

This was less successful as the radio station left the promotion until the three days preceding the event, which diminished any impact it might have had. Leafleting worked well with one family coming along because they spotted the leaflets being printed at the local Officeworks.

One disappointment was with the Daily Telegraph where a journalist asked the team to field a number of children for a photoshoot and a story. The resulting article certainly had our lovely children featured, but outside of a small note on their website no mention of the event in the paper at all! Clearly they wanted to write an article on Halloween and needed some photos, and thought we would provide an easy mark. When asked for copies of the photos of our own children for our own event promotional efforts, they directed us to a website where we could purchase one. Not a mistake we will be making again.

Volunteers shine The day of the event could not have gone more smoothly. A long day with perfect weather started at 9am with a focus on getting the difficult games erected quickly. The spider’s web alone required five people to set it up. The rest of the legion of 16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

volunteers arrived around 11am to get dressed, and help finalise the course, which included setting up the photo opportunity skeleton and coffin, and putting out waymarking pumpkins in case any of the participants couldn’t read their map.

Managing the volunteers was a major effort with 8 stations, over 70 volunteers and an event that lasted over 7 hours. The Zombie run was the most tiring and volunteer intensive with at least 11 volunteers out on the course, a course marshal to ensure everyone’s safety (and that included looking after the Zombies) and start and finish marshals maintaining a smooth flow through the run. The volunteer group were outstanding – professional and fun-loving - making sure everyone had an enjoyable experience whilst having a great time themselves.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating There was plenty of fun on the day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. But did they really? An on-line survey of the participants the week after the event provided astonishing results.

With a 40% response rate in the first few days the support for the event was overwhelming. 97.5% surveyed would recommend the event to their friends, 97.5% rated the event as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ with 90% thinking it represented ‘Extremely good’, or ‘Good’ value for money. There were lots of suggestions for next year although the one that suggested the theme for the event of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ will probably not be adopted anytime soon. Some of the participants offered their help as volunteers next year and all of the volunteers who did work on it were enthusiastic with new ideas and offers of help for 2013. A dinner in early February will bring together a core team of enthusiasts for planning the next Spooks in the Park, and there is the suggestion of including a night ‘O’ event for the older age groups called ‘Spooks after Dark’. Watch this space!

MARKETING

Giant PR Coup for ONSW Ian Jessup, ONSW Marketing Officer

A

s part of our efforts to publicise Orienteering more widely and try to show its benefits to other sports, at the onset of spring 2012 ONSW invited the Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants (AFL), the NSW Waratahs (rugby union), and NRL clubs South Sydney, Sydney Roosters, St George Illawarra, ManlyWarringah and Wests Tigers to participate in a Sydney Summer Series event. We emphasised the decision making under pressure required in O and its parallels in the major football codes.

While most of the clubs politely declined the offer, some did not even bother to reply. Then came the phone call. I was having a brief mid-afternoon nap on the couch at home when John Quinn, head of sports science at the GWS Giants, rang to say the AFL’s newest club was interested. (It turns out that John had done some Park & Street O when he was based in Melbourne). But there were caveats – it had to be on a Saturday morning, it had to be overwhelmingly off-road, and it had to be somewhere the Giants could have a 90-minute fitness session immediately beforehand.

Scale 1:7500.

Map reproduced at 70%.

Ian Jessup from ONSW briefs the Giants on their orienteering challenge.

Talk about the planets aligning – in 10 days’ time we were due to have our annual presentation evening at Castle Hill Showground, preceded by a team score course in the adjoining Fred Caterson Reserve with its myriad bush tracks and playing fields. We could use the same map and course for the Giants!

I met John a week later to go over part of the course. Satisfied it was safe enough (with a salary cap of more than $6m, AFL teams can’t afford to lose players to foreseeable injuries/accidents). John then had to ring around the local council and cricket clubs to see if he could use one of their fields for the fitness session. It looked dire as they were all booked out from 7.30am, so when John rang at midday the day before the proposed event, I expected the worst – but he had somehow arranged field access. We were on!

I also roped in WHO elites Andrew Hill and Lee Coady to have a run. I hoped the Giants would see our boys in action and marvel at the speed at which our sport can be conducted.

So at 9.30am on Saturday November 10 the Giants finished an arduous training block and sat down to be briefed on their O task. They were to go in teams of 3 and had 45 minutes to get to as many of the 35 controls as possible. They had just 5 minutes planning time. The controls were Q-&-A based. The injured players were told to walk while the fit ones were to run.

Suffice to say there were some interesting results, with captain Callan Ward’s trio back 22 minutes late – as John Quinn’s palms and brow (and mine!) grew ever sweatier. The winning group managed 26 controls, while Andy (all 35) and Lee (34) were each back a minute late. Quite a few players were engaged in animated discussion afterwards – which controls did the other groups do?

Which way did they go? How did you get from #8 to #10?

The Giants also brought their media team to the event and posted a nice little 3-minute video package of their Orienteering experience on their website. It captured nicely the essence of our sport. It also revealed one group of players fearing they were actually in out-of-bounds territory.

The video can be viewed at www.onsw.asn.au/images/stories/ press/GWS_Orienteering_video.mp4 or at http://tinyurl.com/ bzv4ypp (downloading caution: file is 62MB) ONSW Communications Officer Maggie Jones also took some lovely video of the exercise as well. This was shown at the presentation night amid great excitement from our attendees.

WHO elites Andrew Hill (L) and Lee Coady (R) flank the GWS winners.

Photo: Maggie Jones.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

MARKETING

The Hard Sell Ian Jessup, ONSW Marketing Officer marketing@onsw.asn.au

I

f you were interested in rock climbing, would you comb the big, heavy white or yellow pages looking for rock climbing clubs, and then for a street or PO Box address, then write a letter to the local club or head office? Of course not.

This is the 21st century. We live in the internet era, and the first place people go to look up something – especially something new or interesting - is the web.

In the old days (pre-internet) you would make a phone call or just rock up, and your experience on the day would determine whether you tried that activity again. Nowadays, how we present ourselves to the public EVEN BEFORE they make contact is crucial. There are three main ways to do so: • Media • promotional material • websites My previous article (AO-December 2012) dealt with the mainstream media, which is large and potentially very promising but – as outlined - not always fruitful. The aim is to publicise your events as widely as possible for minimum cost.

A flying start Flyers (A5, A4 or tri-fold leaflet) for individual events or series and booklets (for a season or year, see section below) should be distributed at sports stores, running shops, gyms, outdoor stores, council libraries, schools, vacation care centres etc, as well as to your sponsors/suppliers.

Black-and-white flyers are very cheap to produce, but colour ones look better.

Include photos that show Orienteering in the best possible light (pardon the pun) – running, walking, people of all ages, great scenery, etc. Again, emphasise our USPs (unique selling points).

Always include your club and State website addresses, along with email and mobile phone contacts, and display the crucial details (where, when, how much, what it is) prominently on the brochure. Your website should also have a link to the flyer so people can download their own copy.

Orienteering NSW’s Wednesday Sydney Summer Series (SSS) is pretty much at capacity and does not need to be ‘sold’ as such, but for the expansion into newer areas of western and southern Sydney on Mondays separate flyers were produced for organisers to distribute.

Book me in For many years ONSW’s quarterly mailout of The Australian Orienteer magazine also included: • The ‘yellow sheet’ - a 3- or 4-page, double-sided list containing (hopefully all) details of each event for the next three months; • The ‘blue card’ - a wallet-sized foldable card summarising the entire calendar year of major events and minor series; • Separate A4 entry forms for each coming major club or state event.

ONSW wanted to modernise this long-standing but rather quaint method of distributing hard copies of event data and found the Melbourne Park & Street O brochure to be an excellent template.

18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

It was A5-sized (great for handbag, sports bag, glove box, etc) and had everything for that 6-monthly period (winter=bush, summer=park & street), crucially including a phone number (mobile preferred) for each event organiser.

Now, if you are out and about and don’t have internet access, you simply have to look in the booklet for the event info. Most importantly, it covers the whole State.

It was very timeconsuming but equally rewarding to ultimately produce a document that has been very well received and continues to evolve. We mail this out with the September AO magazine, so we need details of all summer events by late August. There is little time to rest as the winter booklet usually goes out with the December AO magazine.

This means clubs must be organised 12 months in advance when it comes to their winter calendar. The booklet is also on the ONSW website events page as a downloadable pdf.

Incentives There are many ways to offer people an incentive to come along and try Orienteering: • BOGOF (buy one get one free, 2-for-1 on the day, etc); • First run in a Series is free; • A subsequent run in the Series is free (ONSW does this with West and South SSS, and WHO does it with their winter Cunning Running series); • Give children free entry; • Offer a discount for large groups (ONSW does this with vacation care groups of 30-40 kids at Space Racing in the school holidays); • For our fledgling DuO series, a new sponsor offered a mountain bike as a lucky door prize across the four-event Series.

Sign of the times Another left-field avenue for promotion is your local service station noticeboard (these can be hired very cheaply): they are high-visibility and seen by thousands of motorists each day.

I was going to suggest one of those always-witty church noticeboards (Lacking direction in life? Try Orienteering!). It’s certainly in the right spirit (ha ha).

Chalk it up to experience Just prior to their Callan Park event in July 2012, young Uringa couple Chris Brown and Alison Pearce came up with a novel way of telling people about it. Along the parkways and pavements of the park in inner-western Sydney messages to the general dogwalking, bay-running, child-minding public began to appear in chalk. ‘Can you think and run? Come on Sunday 22 July at 10am for some Orienteering?’

The ploy drew a few newbies.

material. In fact, it can be counterproductive, as an unanswered phone call could be one convert we miss out on. At least 95% of ONSW enquiries are via email – these should be answered (if initially only to acknowledge) within 24 hours. If your State office is only staffed part-time, it’s better to include a mobile number.

Immediate friendly verbal contact with someone who can ‘sell’ our sport makes a great impact on outsiders. And word of mouth is valuable.

ONSW also posts event details on various external websites (Sydney Summer Series on Cool Running), MTB and DuO on adventure racing websites.

We have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed, and are looking at experimenting with Facebook and Google advertising.

At the event Celebrities

What do you mean by “marketing at the event”?

This summer we invited some well-known people to events in their area (GWS Giants to a western Sydney Summer Series, the Swans to a southern SSS, some NRL teams, federal opposition leader and fitness fanatic Tony Abbott to an event near his home on Sydney’s northern beaches, etc). We offered them a complementary entry and asked in return that we may use their attendance as a marketing tool for our sport.

Arrival:

We were understandably delighted when the GWS Giants contacted us and we were able to host them at very short notice.

• Are organisers / helpers clearly visible (in fluoro vests or club uniform) to newcomers? Do you offer introductory coaching to help them?

And we may have NSW Sports Minister Graham Annesley attend our SSS finale in late March, possibly as a competitor as well as handing out prizes. Having your local member at an event is a good way to alert them to our great sport, general land access issues and just how low-impact it is on the environment.

• Are there directional O signs in neighbouring streets to direct everyone to the location? (Newcomers may not be good at reading maps – any help they get in reaching the event will be gratefully received!); • Is there a clearly visible club banner denoting the assembly area?

• Is the registration process easy? Do you collect their email address?

• Are there toilets / shelter / taps on hand?

Summer Series events in particular are simple, great off-season or pre-season activities for winter sport clubs (think footy, hockey, netball etc).

First contact Okay – so potential newcomers have picked up a flyer or booklet and gone to your website. But, oh dear me, it looks like it hasn’t been updated for weeks. All that hard work ruined – your club / State Association now looks more like a stamp collecting group than the portal for an adventure sport.

Your website must be fresh – full details of your next event (preferably with a map showing the assembly location) should be posted at least 2-3 weeks in advance. Likewise, results, photos, maps, reports, etc should be posted ASAP after the event. And please, do not post photos of people sitting around the organising table. We are not playing cards! Send a member out to the nearest control or two to get some action shots on their mobile phone.

First impressions linger longest You are no doubt familiar with the Orienteering club websites in your State. Once you have finished reading this magazine, take the time to look around club websites in another State. What is your first impression of each club, based on its website? Does it come across as energetic, welcoming, exciting, fresh? Or as maudlin, with the bare minimum done and looking mostly like it’s for internal consumption only?

(NOTE: I counted 59 clubs under the OA umbrella, but only 28 have their own website.)

There is so much competition for the consumer recreation dollar.

Orienteering clubs must think much more about marketing themselves to the world beyond their small membership. How else will they survive, let alone grow?

From a State perspective, unless your office is staffed Mon-Fri 9-5, I am not convinced of the need to display a landline number on MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER

19

MARKETING

On the course:

The total package

• Is the Start in a clear and safe location?

All the above sounds like a lot, and it is if you are not organised.

• Is the map correct? (There have been major blunders lately with map scales);

When someone rocks up new to a soccer club, they know what to expect – they will do rego, have some chit-chat, then on the field they will pass the ball among team-mates and try to put it into the net at the other end.

• Are the controls in the exact locations? Are they easy to ‘read’ on beginner courses (ie they avoid map sections in which too much detail obscures the features near the control)? Are the control descriptions accurate and easily understood?

• Does the course ‘show off’ the best bits of the area (parks, reserves, bush tracks, waterfalls, etc) or is it mainly boring road running? Has it been vetted? Is it fair in length and difficulty?

Finishing: • Is the Finish in a clear and safe location? Or 5m from the edge of a car park, at the bottom of a 1m drop, or up against a tennis court fence and with host club members standing directly in front of it? All the above happened at a Sydney Summer Series event in November. It was not a good look.

• Is it close to the download desk? Even 30m away from the desk, at a street event, may be enough for some people to forget to then download (I was guilty of this on Boxing Day as I wanted to ensure the Finish area was not crowded).

• Do you debrief newcomers? For someone who found their first Orienteering event a bit ‘tricky’, as is often the case, this process is crucial in tempting them to give it another go. Go over mistakes they made, or difficulties they had, and outline simple steps to improve next time.

But when someone is trying Orienteering, they often have no idea what will confront them. They suspect they’ll be doing some treasure hunting, like at sport & rec camps (take a bearing of X degrees, and walk Y paces… what do you find?). They are often a little hesitant (“I’m no good at navigating/reading maps”). And occasionally they might be a bit cocky (“I usually do 5k in about X minutes”).

Regardless of who they are and their ability level, we have to make sure their event experience is an enjoyable and inquisitive one – from the moment they see your flyer or website, through the event itself, and to the wash-up.

Remember how the Bathurst newspaper described Orienteering: “this obscure but intriguing sport”.

We ARE obscure, by any dictionary definition, compared to most Australian sports – but if we can convincingly “market” - and just as importantly “sell” - the intrigue, then we will continue to attract newcomers… and keep them.

You can no doubt think of more little things that will create a good impression AT an event. Feel free to let me know, and include them in your club’s checklist.

One point that I must make is that your marketing effort goes on well after the actual participation phase is over.

What next?

While regulars are not necessarily in a rush to see the results, a newcomer can be just as impressed or put off with the aftermath of an event, especially if they have done well. So let them bask in the warm afterglow of their efforts straight away. How? • Update your website within 24 hours with results, splits, a report, photos and the map as a pdf or on Routegadget. It’s always nice to mention newcomers by name in the report. The fact that you have noticed them will earn big brownie points.

• Send results and a brief report to local media. For State League events (and MetrOLeague if you have something similar), send the results to AAP (email me for the correct format for these results).

• If a new person has joined, send their details to your club secretary and State head office ASAP so they can receive a welcome pack. Even casual members should be added to the weekly email bulletin. In NSW, Maggie Jones compiles the email (using MailChimp) that goes to members and casuals, (who can easily unsubscribe if they wish). It keeps them in the loop.

Now here’s something that has me constantly stumped - why do so few clubs post their courses online (either on their website or on Routegadget if it’s a major event)? What are they trying to hide? If I miss an event I’d like to see what course(s) was offered.

On this topic, I was astonished that the website of the recent Australian Championships did not show one single course on Routegadget during the event. There are many more orienteers who did NOT travel to Tasmania; they would love to see (ideally later that day/night) the courses set at our premier national event.

Orienteering Service of Australia is pleased to have supported the school events at the Auschamps in Tasmania 2012. We see our support as a chance to give something back to orienteering in Australia.

At OSoA we realise the importance of encouraging all the orienteers of tomorrow. Some of the schoolchildren, who participated in Tasmania this year may grow, develop and prosper into enthusiastic orienteers and even champions of tomorrow. Hopefully this year’s young athletes will persist with the sport and bring their enthusiasm and vitality to clubs and associations all around Australia.

For orienteering to continue to grow as a sport in Australia, it needs the participation and retention of young people. We recognise the wonderful, dedicated job that all the state - based and federal Orienteering Associations do in promoting and developing our sport when so many other sports and activities are clamouring for the attention of young people. That is why when an opportunity comes to give a little back to our chosen sport we are glad to take it.

PH OSoA (03) 9017 4835, FX OSoA (03) 9388 1916 Email info@osoa.com.au

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

MARKETING

Goat Racing Comes to Sydney –

I also wanted runners to be faced with a lot more choice than in a standard goat race, which might contain only two forks and the option to drop just one control. (The GOanna ended up being so complex to program that the SI computer crashed midweek trying to calculate the number of permutations!)

the GOanna, DraGOn & GeckO

Now, what to call it? Goat has the same first two letters as the code for my club, Garingal - but my event should have an Australian flavour. Hang on… the Garingal emblem is a GOANNA! Okay, so the long course (9km) is the GOanna, the medium course (6km) is the DraGOn, and the short course (4km) is the GeckO – dropping the tail off the longer courses (in fright, perhaps?)!

Ian Jessup – ONSW Marketing

For a few years now I have been searching for ideas for a different kind of Orienteering event – something with a bit more fun/appeal/brainwork/rat cunning than your standard line or score course.

S

o, when I stumbled across references to ‘goat orienteering’ on Attackpoint I was naturally intrigued. The more I read the more I wanted to put on a goat race: Permission to follow someone else? Exciting AND annoying.

Tick.

Permission to skip a control or two? Who wouldn’t like that concept!

Some forked controls? Even more decisions to make on the run.

Mass start? Would make organisation easier and add a nice distraction to competitors.

Throw in a Thomass box? A change of format mid-course could scramble a few minds.

And to keep logistics on the day to a minimum I made it preentry only, and had a sweeper picking up controls behind the last person.

Tactics would have to be made up on the run, along with switching modes and trying to work out which control(s) to skip. The comfort zone of a standard score or line course would hopefully be thrown out the window as runners were confronted with much mental arithmetic as well as keeping an eye on their rivals.

And so it proved, with O luminaries Michael Burton and Glenn Horrocks among the casualties to DNF. They were among nine of the 26 GOanna entries to unwittingly spike the wrong control midway through their course. This was perhaps a sneaky piece of course setting, but they paid the price for not checking their clue sheet.

Winner Eric Morris of Bennelong Northside showed a clean pair of heels and an astute mind: not only did he run 8.1km in a tad over 40 minutes in testing terrain, but he had a strong feeling upon coming out of what he thought was #10a at a track junction (and actually was #1 from the GeckO) that the control was too close to the main track. He went back to check and sure enough found it was the wrong control. 20m farther up the track indeed was #10a. Great orienteering and great presence of mind. With minimal fuss Eric completed his course and took home the Xmas pudding kindly donated by the NSW Junior Squad, beating by three minutes his brother Richard.

On the 6km DraGOn course, all 9 entrants completed the course. First home was Ken Jacobson of Garingal in 45m38s. Only 15secs separated second from fourth, with WHO’s Ian Miller deadheating with Garingal’s Tim Cox for third - bringing back memories of Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star !

Yep – let’s do it.

But unlike most other goat races, I wanted to stage it in an urban environment - albeit one with a fair chunk of bush - to try to capture some of our recent Summer Series converts as well as our winter regulars. The Browns Waterhole map at South Turramurra looked ideal – a central park for the start and finish, surrounding streets to stretch the legs a bit, and a ring of fire trails and bush tracks in Lane Cove National Park running right around the bottom of the map like a giant smile.

GOanna winner Eric Morris with organiser Ian Jessup.

Pic: Ross Duker

Start of the GOanna. Everyone is quietly wondering what the map will reveal.

Pic: Ross Duker 22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

And on the 4km GeckO, it was a different Cox - Mel from Bennelong Northside - who got the pudding in a time of 28m40s. All that time spent on Letters and Numbers clearly paid off as Mel pipped GO’s NSW rookie junior Alex Kennedy by 1m20s.

With a staggered start for the 3 courses, the idea was

that all the runners would converge near where the GeckO entered the bush.

The event was an experiment to (1) see if there is scope for an annual event unlike any other on the ONSW calendar, (2) keep the runners under constant decision-making pressure and (3) have a bit more ‘fun’ than might be evident in our usual events.

There was much animated discussion and post-race analysis, all of it curious and good-natured. “Which controls did you skip?”, “In which order did you do the box?”, “How did you go from the box to #8?”, “That was great, a lot of fun.”

The results, splits and courses are available on the Garingal results page. The courses are also on Routegadget. Which way would you have gone?

Planning is underway for the 2013 GOanna.

GOANNA INSTRUCTIONS Event date: Sunday December 2, 2012

DraGOn 6km (mass start 10.15am)

These courses are a type of goat racing, a rarely used format in Orienteering. Each course will be a mass start and a line course, except for the clearly marked boxed section.

Following is allowed. SportIdent electronic timing will be used. Controls will also have an orange-and-white flag attached (ignore the number on the flag). Navigation standard is between easy (green) and moderate (orange), but each course has physically demanding sections. The distances are actual distances.

There are 21 controls in total, but: • on two occasions you must choose between control ‘a’ and control ‘b’ – you are not allowed to skip a forked control entirely, • in the clearly marked ‘Thomass box’ you must visit three of the five controls - in any order, • addition to the above, you may skip one control (but not a forked control).

GOanna 9km (mass start 10am) There are 31 controls in total, but: • you must visit control #1, • on five occasions you must choose between control ‘a’ and control ‘b’ – you are not allowed to skip a forked control entirely, • in the clearly marked ‘Thomass box’ you must visit four of the five controls - in any order, • in addition to the above, you may skip two other controls as long as they are not consecutive ones or forked controls.

If you satisfy all of the above you will visit 23 controls in completing your course.

If you satisfy all of the above you will visit 16 controls in completing your course.

GeckO 4km (mass start 10.30am) There are 15 controls in total, but: • on two occasions you must choose between control ‘a’ and control ‘b’ – you are not allowed to skip a forked control entirely, • in the clearly marked ‘Thomass box’ you must visit three of the four controls - in any order, • addition to the above, you may skip one control (but not a forked control).

If you satisfy all of the above you will visit 11 controls in completing your course.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

TRAINING

Don’t overheat Steve Bird (BKV) Professor Steve Bird is at RMIT University, Melbourne. Steve worked with the Great Britain National Orienteering Squad for over 10 years and is now assisting the Victorian Junior Squad.

as this will cool the skin directly, and any that remains in contact with the skin (including that which soaks into light clothing) will have a further cooling effect when it evaporates. Some runners find that wearing a wet neckerchief helps in this respect as it cools the neck and the skin adjacent to major blood vessels.

So on hot days sweating is vital and the key to retaining your ability to sweat is to maintain your level of body fluid.

Conversely, if your body fluids decline and you become dehydrated, your sweating rate becomes impaired, and as a consequence your capacity to lose heat is restricted, and your risk of overheating increases dramatically.

Introduction

Exercise and heat loss on hot, humid days

n order for the human body to function effectively it must maintain its temperature within a narrow range: particularly the body core of essential organs and muscles, which cannot fluctuate by more than a few degrees from 37 ºC. The skin and tissues just below the surface can withstand a wider temperature range, and the temperature of these can be adjusted to either promote heat loss or retain heat depending upon the needs of the body core. If the temperature of the core drops below 34 ºC the body becomes hypothermic, whereas if it increases above 40 º C it becomes hyperthermic, a condition that is often accompanied by dehydration.

As indicated above, on a hot day, you are almost entirely dependent on the evaporation of sweat (and exogenously applied liquids that you may pour over your head) to prevent you from overheating. On humid days this essential process becomes constrained and heat loss becomes even more problematic.

This is because the rate of evaporation, and hence heat loss is dependent on the humidity of the surrounding air. The humidity of the air relates to how much water vapour the air contains. This can range from air that is relatively dry, with a low % humidity (0 – 20%), to air that is almost fully saturated with water vapour (80 – 100%) and therefore has little or no capacity to carry any more water vapour. This means that in humid conditions, the sweat on your skin will remain as a liquid and not evaporate into water vapour, and because it remains as a liquid it has no cooling effect. This is why exercising in a hot humid environment is more problematic than exercising in a warm dry environment, where you at least retain the ability to lose heat via the evaporation of sweat, and other applied water.

I

Maintaining body temperature The maintenance of a permissible body temperature is achieved through the balance between heat gained from metabolism and heat lost to the environment through the processes of conduction, convection, radiation and the evaporation of sweat. The rate of heat loss via conduction, convection and radiation is dependent upon the temperature gradient between the surface of the body and the environment. Such that the rate of heat loss is greatest on cold days when the temperature difference is greatest and the rate of heat loss is slowest when the environmental temperature approaches that of the skin. This means that on hot days heat loss via these processes becomes minimal, and if the environment is hotter than the skin, the body will gain heat via these processes rather than lose it.

Under more moderate conditions we have the ability to adjust the rate of heat loss by altering this gradient, through wearing suitable clothing (more on cold days and less on hot days), and by altering the temperature of the skin, either through increasing blood flow to the skin thereby warming it and increasing heat loss, or by reducing blood flow to the skin thereby letting the skin cool and reducing the temperature gradient and heat loss.

Heat production through exercise When we exercise strenuously our rate of metabolism can increase by 10-fold. This means that we produce 10 times as much heat as we do at rest. We need to lose this excess heat to the environment or our body temperature would rise rapidly - by about 1 degree every 10 minutes. On cold days when we’re able to lose heat via convection, conduction, radiation as well as the evaporation of sweat this is not a problem. But in warm conditions, our only means of heat loss is through the evaporation of sweat off of the skin. Note that it is the evaporation process that has the cooling effect not sweating per se, since sweat itself is at body temperature and if it just remains as liquid on the skin or drips to the ground it has no cooling effect.

Exercise and heat loss on hot days So on hot days the process of sweating is essential. Some additional heat loss may be achieved by pouring cold water over the body 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Tips for exercising in the heat Preventing hyperthermia and dehydration in the heat is about maintaining your capacity to lose the excess heat that you generate during exercise. The following tips will help: •W ear suitable clothing that protects you from the sun, but also enables the evaporation of sweat.

•E nsure that you are fully hydrated. This means drinking throughout the day, not just when you are exercising. On hot days you can lose substantial amounts of fluid insidiously, and are at risk of being dehydrated even before you start exercising.

• Seek shade and avoid being in the heat unnecessarily.

•T hink carefully about when and how you exercise. Exercising in the heat can have some advantages as it helps you to acclimatise, but you need to do it safely. If possible introduce yourself to exercising in the heat gradually.

• Take fluids with you when you exercise.

•E nsure that you follow the sunsmart rules. Note that sunscreens have a use by date, and after a year, they may not be as effective as they should be. So purchase a fresh set for your car, the home and your sports bags each year.

•P rotect your head, wear a hat, and soak it with water before you exercise.

Photo: Troy Merchant

volume and enhancing your sweating response (which means that you produce more sweat and are thereby better able to lose heat). But your performance (sustainable running speed when orienteering) will still be less than when running in a cool environment, and you must continue to follow the tips on exercising in the heat. Acclimatisation does not mean immunity to the affects of a hot environment.

If possible, when you first arrive in a hot environment exercise at a more moderate level, and build up gradually during the first few days as you acclimatise.

In cool environments sedentary individuals typically drink 1 – 2 L/day, and active individuals around 2 – 4 L/day, the extra being in order to replenish the fluid lost through sweating. In hot environments the fluid intake of athletes may need to increase to over 10 litres a day to accommodate for the increased rates of sweating that occurs during the activities of general living as well as exercise.

The optimum temperature for endurance running events is probably around 10 – 15 º C. Commencing an event with a fluid deficit of 1.5 – 2.0% can reduce your running speed by around 5%. So you need to ensure that you’re fully hydrated before you start.

Drink little and often throughout the day. The ingested fluid is of little value sat in your stomach, it has to be absorbed into the blood stream and distributed around the body. So drinking a litre in one go, does not mean that you’ve immediately rehydrated by 1 litre – it’ll be an hour or more before all the liquid is fully absorbed and gets to where it’s needed. You’ll also lose some of it as urine, so you may need to drink 1.5 litres to rehydrate by 1 litre.

Acclimatisation to a hot environment takes 7 – 14 days of living and exercising in the hot conditions. At the end of this time, your body will have made the feasible adjustments to its thermoregulatory responses, such as increasing your plasma

To maintain a hydrated state you need to consider the merits and demerits of water, sports drinks and other beverages. If you’re utilising a lot of energy during exercise then some sports drink may be beneficial, but this will depend upon your activity and any consideration of your body composition. It’s not uncommon to observe someone cycling at a moderate intensity in the gym, and for them to consume a bottle of sports drink whilst doing so. However, what they may not be aware of is that by the end of the session they may well have consumed more calories from the drink than they ‘burnt off’ from the exercise. Sports drinks are designed to assist with prolonged strenuous exercise bouts, and are largely superfluous in most other situations when water would suffice. So use sports drinks as appropriate.

Another consideration is the loss of electrolytes that are contained within sweat. Again, for most exercise bouts these are easily restored through our normal dietary intake, but if exercise is very prolonged, sweating very copious, and fluid replenishment via plain water only, then the concentration of these electrolytes can occasionally fall in some individuals and result in low levels of sodium (hyponatraemia). However, this situation would only normally become an issue in multi-day events or repeated hard training sessions, accompanied by a low sodium intake. Many sports drinks contain electrolytes that would ameliorate these potential declines.

Recommended readings Maughan RJ Distance running in hot environments: a thermal challenge to the elite runner. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2010; 20(Suppl 3):95-102.

Maughan RJ and Shirreffs S. Exercise in the heat: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Sports Sciences 2004;22:917-27.

Wendt D, van Loon LJC, van Marken Lichtenbelt WD. Thermoregulation during exercise in the heat. Sports Medicine 2007;37:669-82.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

NUTRITION

The G I blues Gillian Woodward

Avoiding gastrointestinal problems during/after competition

T

here can be many pit-falls with fluid and/or food intake in relation to exercise. These can be avoided if appropriate strategies have been worked out in training sessions. It is important to find out exactly what food and fluid requirements suit your individual needs – everyone is different. However, there are some general rules to obey which will be discussed.

The main gastrointestinal issues experienced by athletes in competition or training are diarrhoea from intestinal malabsorption or nausea and discomfort from stomach overfilling.

Gastrointestinal (GI) issues will be most important when exercising in hot weather – with greater fluid needs both in training and competition. GI disturbances are also more likely to occur in a sport like Orienteering where the stomach contents is joggled around a great deal as compared with cycling for instance, where it is easier to consume food like fruit or bars without upset as the stomach remains relatively still while pedalling.

form a strategy to meet your expected fluid needs during events Dehydration itself can cause GI disturbances. Many athletes abstain from taking in much fluid during exercise until they think they really need it – by which time they are already dehydrated.

Then they blame their GI upset on the food or fluid they eventually had rather than the fact that it was consumed too late to be of any use. Diarrhoea is often the unwanted result.

The best idea is to form a strategy to meet your expected fluid needs during events. Base this on your past experience in competition and/or training and fit it to the arrangements that are provided by the event organisers. Firstly, make sure you start the event fully hydrated. This is usually best achieved by regularly drinking 150-200mls of water every 15-20 minutes in the hour or so prior to the event.

Theoretical fluid requirements during endurance events (those lasting 60-90 minutes) are 500-800ml per hour (if aiming to replace about 80% of sweat losses).

Depending on your body size, the pace you run and the environmental heat, most people usually sweat between 800ml and 1.5 litres per hour. However, individuals vary greatly, with males generally producing more sweat than females. This is why it is important to test in training how much you actually lose in sweat per hour. Of course under extremely hot or humid conditions a gradual fluid deficit may still eventuate even though you drink 800ml to 1 litre per hour. The aim would be to keep this total loss under 2kg (2 litres) for the event. A fluid loss of 2% of body weight can cause severe depletion in concentration and increase fatigue dramatically.

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

I agree with Stephen Bird (Don’t Overheat – this issue) that water is the best fluid to drink. However, as he indicates, there are times when sports drinks may be more appropriate. As long as they contain a sugar concentration between 5-7%, they will empty quickly from the stomach and reach the muscles where they are most needed.

One example of appropriate use would be the following: On a very hot day, you don’t feel hungry at lunch and have had nothing to eat or drink (except water) since breakfast and you start your event at 2pm. By this stage your blood glucose level would be dropping and need a top up so that there is an energy supply readily available in the blood to get you through your run.

A good idea would be to start drinking some sports drink from about 12.30 or 1pm. Gradually sip your way through at least 600-800 mls of a 5-7% sugar solution drink in this last 1.5 hours.

This will provide you with not only fluid but carbohydrate – somewhere between 30 and 56 grams of it. This is the amount of carbohydrate you would get from eating between 2 -4 slices of bread or 2-4 pieces of fruit. Just about what you would have

normally eaten for lunch perhaps on a cooler day (at least 1-2 hours before 2pm.) Your electrolyte levels will also be boosted (sodium and potassium) before they are about to be lost again when you sweat.

In the case of longer events (like a Rogaine) where you need to consume carbohydrate during the exercise there are two rules which must be met: • The carbs should not delay stomach emptying, thus interfering with fluid delivery. Examples would be high fat or high fibre carbohydrate foods like crisps or dried fruits.

• Carbs should not cause a gastrointestinal (GI) problem such as over filling of the stomach, creating nausea.

Whether due to climate change or not, we seem to be in for some warmer weather, so practice, preparation and planning is the key to beating the GI blues.

GOanna

Gillian Woodward is an Accredited Practising Dietician and has been providing advice in the field for over 25 years. She has been an orienteer since 1984.

Orienteering Service of Australia has updated its website!

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Remember too that the stomach empties fastest when it is fullest.

In extremely hot conditions it is best to start the event with the most fluid you can hold in your stomach comfortably. Top up every 20 minutes as it empties maximising the gastric emptying rate. Either carry your own water supply (in a camel back) or otherwise rely on water stations provided on the course (check these out before you set out).

In memory of Rex Saye, the orienteering software which he designed and wrote (OTrack and Corpse version 7 with new features) is now available free of charge at

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MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS

NSW Junior Camp Aiming high The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim low and achieving our mark (Michelangelo).

M

embers of the NSW Junior Squad were invited to set their aims high at the latest Christmas training camp in Tocal. Normally the camp is mostly about fun and introducing the new members onto the squad and this year was no exception with plenty of enjoyable activities arranged around the core training sessions. However the difference this time was that the squad was joined by Swedish Internationals Lena Eliasson, currently 3rd in the World Rankings, and David Andersson, a bronze medallist in the 2011 WOC Relays. Over the three days of training team members were encouraged to watch, listen and learn from these highly experienced orienteers – and question and challenge too. Seeing the internationals in action was eye opening for many of the squad. David Andersson’s comment ‘it is nice to come on holiday and only run twice a day for a change’ was a revelation.

The camp was run around the Newcastle area. The temperatures were high and although none of the squad wilted, it added an extra dimension to the exercises. ‘Coming from a Swedish winter, it is great to be able to catch up on a little sun,’ said Lena. For some northern hemisphere types 38 degrees might seem like a little too much sun but the Swedes soaked up the heat without any problem.

NSW Head Coach Nick Dent (now also Orienteering Australia High Performance Operations Manager) set several exercises to sharpen up the squad’s orienteering ahead of the Victorian Xmas 5 Days. Squad members Michele Dawson, Nicola Blatchford, Daniel Hill, Georgia Jones and Lawrence Jones had all been selected to represent Australia at the Oceania Carnival in New Zealand, for the 28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Australian Schools Team or specific age groups and they were particularly keen to get as much preparation and help as possible before these important races.

The camp started off with a fast paced Sprint at Ourimbah University, complete with mass start, swift map reading and tricky route choices. The Sprint exercise was two mass starts with teams of four, two females and two males (which is the new format for WOC mixed Relay). Nick set up the team so there was a junior girl, junior boy, senior girl and senior boy in each one. There was no twenty minute run and then a rest at this Sprint however; each person ran two courses with a mass start for each.

After the Sprint the squad members returned to their base at Tocal for showers and a tussle to get the beds underneath the

Nicola Blatchford with Lena Eliasson.

Alistair George receives trophy from David Andersson.

ceiling fans. Over pizza the team quizzed the Swedish Elites.

Georgia Jones says ’it makes sense to look over model maps to get an idea of the terrain but we don’t always remember to. The tips about focussing on running around the course in the right order after a spectator control came from David’s personal experience!’ (at WOC 2006 – Ed.) Day 2 started early with training at Pelaw Main. Nick had set three options for the squad depending on the experience of the runners. A moderate course was set with many short legs to introduce 13/14 year olds to fine compass orienteering. The slightly older ones had a similar course set as a ‘No Tracks’ O exercise designed to help them to focus on map contact, fine compass and map reading. A Corridor Course exercise was set for the senior squad members and young elites. This exercise requires the runners to stay inside the corridor and run the straight line at all times. Whilst not designed to be too difficult at this stage, this exercise does ensure that the runners maximise the use of the compass.

Lena Eliasson at the Junior Camp.

Cricket. This last was fiercely played with brilliant fielding from newbie Alastair George, and Hilary Wood, and some solid batting from Lena Eliasson, showing her skill is not all in the forest.

The Camp Champs are the highlight of the Christmas Camp with the trophies coveted by the whole squad. Courses ranged from 5km for the junior course to 12.8km for the seniors. The courses, set by Russell Blatchford and inspired by 2011 Christmas 5 Days on the Central Coast, had two people on the same course starting together but splitting off after the first two controls. This encouraged fast early speed, with a need to concentrate and focus as the other competitor headed off on their different course. Winners this year were Nicola Blatchford, Daniel Hill, Georgia Jones and Alastair George.

Pelaw is a very runnable map that was used for 2012 WOC Middle Distance trials so the squad were heartily glad to get back to lunch and a shower before manager Karen Blatchford took them all out on a mystery adventure. With some apprehension (Karen is known for her magical mystery tours!) the team was led to Stockton Beach where they were piled into 4WD trucks and taken to the highest sand dunes for board skimming down the steepest faces. Seemed like fun – until Coach Nick set races up the dunes – a fantastic soft sand strength exercise. The descending rushes to the winning line resulted in a few memorable face plants. Back at camp there were more games – Bull Rush, Opposite Game and Aboriginal

Dune racing at the Xmas camp MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

SPOT the DIFFERENCE

The Waubadebar - Bicheno map used for the 2012 AUS Sprint Championships offered arguably the most unique terrain ever mapped for a Sprint Orienteering event. Waves crashing onto the rocks all around created another dimension to the concentration needed by participants to navigate successfully.

Here, in two otherwise identical map sections, we have created 25 differences. CAN YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

MAPPING

Sprint Orienteering Maps: a Challenge for Map Maker as well as Athletes Fig 1 – Snapping

Fig 2a

Fig 2b

Thomas Gloor – OCAD AG, Switzerland

It appears so easy to draft a Sprint Orienteering map.

However, it is very time-consuming to draw steps with exactly the same spaces in-between or a treelined alley in perfect alignment. For that purpose, the newest OCAD version offers lots of new functions to greatly simplify the drafting of such objects in Sprint Orienteering maps.

S

ince 11 years, Sprint Orienteering has become a permanent feature in the WOC program. Sprints are also established in the Swiss competition season (and the Australian calendar) with many Sprint Orienteering meets.

This may also be a reason why Swiss athletes have been able to win regularly in international Sprint competitions as happened at WOC 2012 in Lausanne. They have successfully learned to decide in split seconds on route choice problems while running at a very high pace.

Surveying a Sprint Orienteering map is equally a big challenge. The greater map scale 1:4,000 requires a lot more precision while drafting and also allows to depict lots more details than maps with a 1:15,000 scale. Most digital data from base maps can be used thus eliminating the re-drafting of buildings and streets. However, only at this point the timeintensive detailed work is starting. Alleyways that are narrow and passageways have to be widened so they can easily be perceived during fast running. Fences, walls and hedges have to be added to show their passability. Trees, awnings and sidewalk edges are depicted to alleviate navigation. Doing all this work requires lots of patience. It is very difficult to read the map when steps are drawn in unequal spaces, tree-lined alleys that are not placed in perfect alignment or sidewalk edges that are not parallel to each other, not to mention the unaesthetic impression the map conveys.

OCAD 11 with specific functions for Sprint Orienteering maps New functions for OCAD 11 were prioritized to simplify the drawing of Sprint Orienteering maps besides the development of evaluating features for digital elevation models. Basically, symbol and editing functions were provided with dialogue windows. They serve to enter distances such as spaces, diameters or length either in metres or millimetres (paper coordinates). With the function: “parallel shifting with a space“ one can very simply construct sidewalk edges exactly 2.5 metres parallel to the existing property boundary.

Another basic innovation is the drafting and editing option <snapping>. If one approaches an existing line with the cursor, then the closest base will automatically be shown.

Releasing the mouse button at this point, that base is going to “snap“ to the end of the new line (see fig.1) and the new

line fits exactly onto the existing line. This “snapping“ can be applied not only for lines but also for surface areas as new but also existing objects such as fences, walls and awnings are simply and very exactly added (or snapped) onto existing objects.

Drafting of stairs, the cartographical challenge!

It is easy to judge the mastery of a draftsman by looking at the drafted stairs. One of the most elaborate tasks in cartography is to draft stairs parallel in exactly the same intervals. For simplification, OCAD 11 offers two new functions!

Using the drawing mode “Stairs“, one presses down the mouse button and the length of the step, then the width and finally the depth of the first step can be drawn. If one then releases the mouse button the remaining number of steps is calculated and automatically displayed. This function is especially useful for staircases in a right angle with varying width. However, if the stairs have curved steps or corners (see fig 2a and 2b), the second function “interpolate“ is used.

With this feature a random number of steps between the highest and the lowest step can be interpolated.

Swiss, Beat Imhof, one of the most experienced surveyors of Sprint Orienteering maps, loves this feature. “This is my feature“, he says, “I use it very often and it is also useful for many other objects such as tree-lined alleys, hedges or contour lines“. He also adds that “this feature alleviated the drawing of the Sprint Orienteering map for WOC 2012 in Lausanne significantly and I would not want to miss it anymore“.

At a first glance, drafting Sprint Orienteering maps seems a simple task. “However, experience shows that for both surveying and drafting the effort is much more involved that when drafting a traditional “forest“ Orienteering map“ says Fritz Rufer, head map consultant with Swiss Orienteering.

“Those are cartographical masterpieces and OCAD 11 offers numerous features to reduce the effort.”

OR IE N TE ER IN G SER IE S Economy Starter edition Frequent user Standard edition High capability Professional edition • Buy in A$/NZ$ • Rapid delivery • AUS/NZL orientation Australia & NZ OCAD reseller

PO Box 625 Daylesford VIC 3460. 03 5348 3792, 0410 481 677 info@ocad.com.au MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

TRAVEL

I’m just going out into the forest; I may be some time

Five Days in Istanbul Debbie Dodd – Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club Photos by Debbie Dodd, Ian Dodd, Ilze Yeates and Peter Yeates

There are two events right at the top of my Orienteering bucket list – O-Ringen, and the Venice Street Race. The time was right for an overseas trip, but O-Ringen is mid-year, and Venice is in November, so I had to make a choice. As street-O is dear to my heart, Venice got the nod. But two days of racing in a month-long holiday was not enough, so I started scouring websites to see what else was on offer. Most European countries have wound up their seasons before October, but I did find a 5-day carnival in Istanbul, Turkey. Finishing a week before Venice, the timing was perfect, and the lure of visiting an exotic sounding place that I knew little about, sealed the deal.

S

o Ian and I, together with good friends, clubmates and regular travel companions Peter and Ilze, duly booked our tickets and accommodation, paid our entries, and signed up for our souvenir running tops. The program consisted of four days of forest races, and a campus sprint on the final day. A bonus was the opportunity to orienteer on two continents – Europe and Asia – as Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus, which is the dividing line.

Of course we also planned plenty of local sightseeing, and some overnight trips to the Gallipoli Peninsula, and the dramatic ruins of Ephesus.

The entire carnival was very well organised by the young, energetic and cheerful members of the Istanbul Orienteering Club (IOG).

First run in 2004 with 90 participants, today it attracts around 600 competitors from about 25 countries, and is the biggest Orienteering event in Turkey. Istanbul’s weather in late October can be anything from snow to 30 degrees (fortunately we had 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

closer to the latter). The city itself is a drawcard with its incredible history and cultural heritage.

However, problems such as heavy traffic, pollution and neverending crowds have to be overcome. Non-locals are encouraged to stay in the old town of Sultanahmet, which is where all the main sights are, along with a plethora of shops, hotels and restaurants.

It’s also an excellent place Debbie thinks this “turtle” sign expresses exactly how she felt. to practice navigation by guesswork, as the narrow cobbled streets often have no signs, and there are two separate house numbering systems!

The event centre was in a hotel right in the centre of town.

Registration was smooth and quick. There was a map on the wall showing all the places people had come from – we Aussies had definitely travelled the furthest!

Transport to each event was by tourist coach, departing from the Hippodrome, right outside the famous Hagia Sofia and just up the road from the Blue Mosque. Each day we travelled for 45-60 minutes (depending on traffic congestion) into the Belgrade Forest, north of the city and the equivalent of Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges. On Day 1, the driver was lost after our offramp was blocked for roadworks. You’d think 48 orienteers armed with maps and GPS units would have solved the problem in record time, but no-one spoke Turkish.

We would alight at a different picnic spot in the heart of the forest. The assembly areas featured the usual assortment of O-shops, catering, and a way-too-enthusiastic Red Bull DJ

pumping out decibels with little regard for our eardrums.

Quiet contemplation of the forest was not an option.

Never having orienteered in Europe, we didn’t really know what to expect from the terrain. Some people have expressed surprise that it wasn’t a desert! Quite the opposite – the Belgrade Forest is a tangle of leafy beech and oak with masses of undergrowth, and some steep hills.

The area is dotted with ancient stone Byzantine aqueducts which carried water for about 25 kilometres to the city.

Here’s a quote from the program guide: “This area offers runnable but hilly terrain with lots of various depressions, small streams and fallen trees. In some places thorny undergrowth may slow down your pace. This is basically a beech forest with some pine areas as well. Dangerous places: steep slopes and strong thorny bushes, small streams at the bottom of deep gullies and numbers of pits remaining after local treasure hunting.”

Other notable forest features were wild crocus flowers, the source of the mounds of deep yellow saffron we saw in the spice markets; and a small snake.

Pete and I had to be at the event site by 9am to take our Byzantine aqueducts are an easily places in the Opening Ceremony, representing Australia, as recognisable feature of the Belgrade forest the oldest and youngest members of our team! Apologies to the many far more qualified Australian orienteers back home – it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. We donned our DROC polo tops and I borrowed Ian’s All our courses on Day 1 were lengthier than what we usually do Australian team jacket and pinned a kangaroo to it. We carried at home, in my case about 1.5 kms longer, so we all anticipated small Aussie flags and looked the part. We were called forward in being out for a long time. I found my first control easily after alphabetical order and were asked to stand behind our national a very steep climb. I decided to use tracks to get to my second flag. Australia was first, then we were joined by Austria, and so control, not liking the look of the thick undergrowth, and on down the line to Ukraine. We felt like minor celebrities when thinking I would play it safe in the early stages. Lesson 1 – the other competitors lined up to take our photos, excitedly telling us minor tracks were close to invisible, being buried in leaf litter. I they’d been to Sydney for the World Masters. spent a long time aimlessly circling the control before I realised I After the excitement of the ceremony, it was down to business. was actually standing on the “track”, with the flag just off to the The start ran like clockwork with very clear instructions from the left, hidden in the vegetation. volunteers. It differed from ours only in that each age group had The next couple of legs were fine and I was starting to think I was its own separate map and course, there were only four start boxes, getting the hang of it. Then it all went horribly wrong. I was only and the maps were rolled up into what I can only describe as large half way and I’d been out for about 90 minutes! Gulp. The rest plastic “pipe trees” (see picture). We decided these were not such really isn’t worth mentioning, suffice to say I was very tired and it a good idea as you often grabbed several maps at once, and they wasn’t pretty. I dropped my map over a high vertical embankment must have been difficult to pack and transport. at one point and nearly cried. Eventually I staggered up the Finish chute, exhausted but happy to complete the course. The entire Australian contingent managed to get around in much the same manner. What we had failed to glean from the terrain notes was that the “thorny undergrowth” was almost Belgrade Forest undergrowth. everywhere – long prickly tangles of vines covered the ground in many places, grabbing at your legs and feet with every step. It made for really hard work, along with the other challenge of hard-to-read contours. Any delusions of beating the locals/Europeans on their own turf were thrown out of the window!

Day 2 was in Asia, starting from a local primary school, but the oak forest looked almost identical to Day 1’s beech. The profusion of undergrowth was still waiting to pounce with every step. The small tracks on the map were simply indicative of areas of forest where the vegetation was just discernable as slightly less ferocious. They were no use to navigate by. Near the end I did a “180” by following a gully north instead of south and misplacing myself by several hundred metres. However all four of us finished our courses once again.

The third day saw us back in Europe, in very humid conditions after overnight rain. It was a true Middle MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

TRAVEL

Sporting my colourful new Istanbul 5-Days running top, I started out well, thinking “this is all familiar stuff”. I could tell the runners who weren’t used to Sprint orienteering, they weren’t picking up the short cuts and were over-running the controls. After a small error on leg 7, I concentrated on running steadily through the long middle legs. Another mistake right at the end saw me on top of a high embankment that I should have been at the bottom of, but I finished close to mid-field, and without bleeding!

Overall impressions – despite the physical challenges of the forest, the event was really enjoyable and we could not fault the organization, course setting or mapping. The Start team did an excellent job every day. The Finish tent ran on minimal equipment and staff, but there were never any queues and no apparent problems. They used OE2010 which allowed live internet updates. We were surprised that no maps were collected at any stage, even for the WRE event. Infrastructure was much the same as ours, with the exception of the strange map holders. As at any Orienteering event, everyone was very friendly. The demographic was younger, with a more even spread across age groups. It was also truly international - my W50 class had ten different countries represented across the 25 or so competitors, only one of whom was Turkish.

Opening Ceremony – that’s us at the far end

Distance course – I had 20 controls in 3.6 km, in more technical terrain, so really had to keep focused. To my surprise, the going was easier underfoot and the tracks were a lot easier to see – or maybe I was just getting used to them now. I rattled through the first half dozen controls in good time and realised I was having fun! I made it all the way to #16 before brain fade kicked in and I went in off the wrong track bend. Lots of fruitless circling later, I found the flag and duly completed the course. Hooray – I was actually faster than a couple of other people! Pete and Ian moved up the placings too and we all agreed this was the best day so far.

That afternoon, Ian and I visited a small mosque across the road from our apartment, possibly to ask for divine intervention prior to Day 4’s World Ranking Event. It didn’t work in my case. Here is my blog entry: “Two hours. Four controls found. Bailed after failing to find #5. DNFed.” I certainly wasn’t alone – many people found today’s course very difficult both physically and navigationally. In fact, Ian was now the sole survivor of the Australian team. On the plus side, the assembly area featured a wonderful Byzantine aqueduct, and camels. Just your average day out in the forest of Istanbul …

Our final day of competition was very warm. We were looking forward to leaving the rigours of the forest behind, and running in a more user friendly environment at the Istanbul Technical University campus. The arena was a kind of rectangular amphitheatre with bench seats all along one side for spectators. Oddly, we started here, with the Finish a couple of hundred metres away out of sight on a grass lawn, rather than the other way round as you would expect. The campus was very much what we are used to, featuring the usual assortment of buildings, gardens, a bit of pine forest and quite a lot of contours. And a large fighter aircraft which made a good control site. The courses were about 4kms, longer than a normal Sprint, so we got our money’s worth. We noticed the Red Bull DJ was playing very mellow music this morning – the previous night there’d been a party on a Bosphorus cruise boat, and obviously some competitors (and organisers) were feeling a bit delicate.

34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Istanbul was a fascinating city to visit, with challenges and rewards of its own. We made the most of our free time in the afternoons to visit the excellent Archaeological Museum ($5 entry fee, no queues, and full of amazing Egyptian sarcophagi and other artefacts from the ancient world); the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar (the most colourful and fragrant place I’ve ever been); the beautiful Blue Mosque; the eerie underground Cistern; the Galata Tower with its expansive views; and the awe-inspiring Hagia Sophia, a vast, history-steeped cathedral turned mosque turned museum, with an atmosphere all its own. I also recommend taking a cruise on the Bosphorus for a relaxing day out, returning to the Golden Horn at sunset; and strolling the length of the Hippodrome at night, when the illuminated minarets make the city look like Disneyland.

As for Venice – well that was a completely different experience, especially when the street race coincided with the 6th highest “acqua alta” (high water) on record! Truly memorable and enormous fun – read the December 2012 issue of “O-Vic” magazine, or visit http://dipidydoo.wordpress.com if you want to know more!

Peter at the Sprint start with map “tree”

MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING

MTBO News

2012 AUSTRALIAN MTBO SERIES ELITE STATE TEAMS Top 2 Individuals TOTAL

2013 Australian MTBO Series Announced

M21-Elite

VIC Nuggets WA Nomads QLD Storm NSW Stingers TAS Foresters SA Arrows

39 35 34 27 16 13

1 2 3 4 5 6

W21-Elite

NSW Stingers VIC Nuggets QLD Storm

62 48 18

1 2 3

M-20Elite

QLD Storm VIC Nuggets TAS Foresters

66 54 23

1 2 3

W-20Elite

NSW Stingers

27

1

O

rienteering Australia announces the 2013 Australian MTBO Series program. The 2013 Australian MTBO Series will consist of eight races conducted over three rounds.

The Series rolls away in late April in Victoria, followed by Round 2 for the Australian MTBO Championships in Queensland. In October the MTBO Series heads to Canberra ACT for the final round.

Round 1 – Victoria VICTORIAN MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS Selection Trials for WMTBOC and JWMTBOC Race 1 & 2, Saturday April 27 Sprint & Middle Distance, Castlemaine, Victoria Race 3, Sunday April 28 Long Distance, Whroo, Victoria

Rank

2012 ELITE RANKINGS Best 5 M21- Elite of 8 races Rank Joel Young QLD Storm 122 1 Ricky Thackray WA Nomads 121 2 Steven Cusworth VIC Nuggets 90 3 Steven Todkill NSW Stingers 84 4 Oscar Phillips TAS Foresters 76 5 Greg Barbour NSW Stingers 69 6 Ian Dalton WA Nomads 65 7 Brett Merchant SA Arrows 61 8 Alex Randall VIC Nuggets 60 9 Dave Ellis NSW 59 10 W21- Elite Jennifer Enderby Carolyn Jackson Marquita Gelderman Melanie Simpson Thorlene Egerton Christine Browne Kate Gavens Gail Young Susie Williams Cath Heppelthwaite

NSW Stingers 121 1 VIC Nuggets 120 2 NZL 90 NZL NSW Stingers 87 3 VIC Nuggets 84 4 NZL 81 NZL VIC Nuggets 66 5 QLD Storm 54 6 QLD Storm 51 7 NZL 42 NZL

ACT MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS Race 6 & 7, Saturday 19 October Sprint & Middle Distance Canberra, ACT Race 8, Sunday 20 October Long Distance, Canberra, ACT

M-20 Elite Chris Firman Paulo Jun Alvear Fujii Timothy Jackson Karl Withers Tom Goddard Heath Jamieson Angus Robinson Marc Gluskie

QLD Storm QLD Storm VIC Nuggets QLD Storm TAS Foresters VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets TAS Foresters

147 172 188 119 84 64 61 54

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The four classes in the 2013 Australian Elite MTBO Series are: M21-E, W21-E, M-20E, W-20E.

W-20 Elite Sally-Anne Henderson NSW Stingers Amanda Holmgren NSW Stingers

87 30

1 2

The ten classes in the 2013 Australian Masters MTBO Series are: M40-, W40-, M50-, W50-, M60-, W60-, M70-, W70-, M80-, W80-.

2012 AUSTRALIAN MASTERS RANKINGS

Best 5 of M40- 8 events Rank Bruce Paterson VIC Nuggets 111 1 Craig Holland QLD Storm 109 2 Ben Hilley QLD Storm 102 3 Bill Vandendool VIC Nuggets 101 4 Peter Swanson NZL 90 NZL Craig Steffens QLD Storm 72 5 Andrew Haigh NSW Stingers 71 6 Steve Truscott ACT Cockatoos 61 7 Dion Keech VIC Nuggets 60 8 Graeme Hall QLD Storm 60 8 Tony Keeble VIC Nuggets 54 10

Round 2 – Queensland AUSTRALIAN MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS Race 4, Saturday 27 July Long Distance, Gympie, Queensland (WRE) Race 5, Sunday 28 July Middle Distance, Gympie, Queensland (WRE)

Round 3 – Canberra, ACT

Map locations, embargoes and organisers will be announced pending approval of access to the competition areas.

2012 AUSTRALIAN MTBO SERIES MASTERS TEAMS M40- VIC Nuggets W40- NSW Stingers M50- NSW Stingers W50- VIC Nuggets M60- NSW Stingers W60- VIC Nuggets M70- NSW Stingers W70- VIC Nuggets M80- VIC Nuggets W80- VIC Nuggets

M50Malcolm Roberts Andrew Power Tim Hatley

NSW Stingers NSW Stingers VIC Nuggets

133 129 124

1 2 3

Robert Prentice Duncan Sullivan Tony Howes Peter Cusworth Murray Withers John Gavens Rob Garden Fabrizio Andreoni

NSW Stingers WA Nomads QLD Storm VIC Nuggets QLD Storm VIC Nuggets NZL VIC Nuggets

124 114 105 94 92 84 73 69

3 5 6 7 8 9 NZL 10

M60Greg Bacon Paul Haynes David Firman Reid Moran Tim Hackney Bruce Meder Michael Wood Tim Dent Bernie Nichols Keith Wade Blake Gordon John Trevivian

NSW Stingers NSW Stingers QLD Storm QLD Storm NSW Stingers NZL NZL VIC Nuggets QLD Storm VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets

132 127 122 96 95 82 78 75 70 65 64 63

1 2 3 4 5 NZL NZL 6 7 8 9 10

M70Graham Fowler Peter Grover Chris Gelderman Keith Wade Gordon Howitt John Sheahan

NSW Stingers VIC Nuggets NZL VIC Nuggets QLD Storm VIC Nuggets

147 81 75 60 54 51

1 2 NZL 3 4 5

M80Graeme Cadman

VIC Nuggets

150

1

W40Carolyn Matthews Kay Haarsma Nicole Haigh Tamsin Barnes Monica Dickson Sandra Pearce Debbie Gordon Salme Fuller Jeannie Douglass Joanne Rogers

NSW Stingers 141 SA Arrows 122 NSW Stingers 87 QLD Storm 76 VIC Nuggets 69 QLD Storm 57 QLD Storm 42 QLD Storm 41 ACT Cockatoos 30 NONE 30

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9

W50Heather Leslie VIC Nuggets 132 Carolyn Cusworth VIC Nuggets 115 Norah Skilton QLD Storm 108 Peta Whitford VIC Nuggets 87 Jacqui Sinclair NZL 87 Julie Fisher QLD Storm 81 Suzanne O'Callaghan VIC Nuggets 65 Lyn Stichbury QLD Storm 60 Margaret Wilmott NSW Stingers 58 Deb Bain NZL 51 Ann Scown ACT Cockatoos 51 Andrea Harris QLD Storm 48

1 2 3 4 NZL 5 6 7 8 NZL 9 10

W60Kathy Liley Denise Pike Peta Whitford Toy Martin Jenny Sheahan Liz Randall Judy Hill Sue Merchant

VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets NSW Stingers VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets VIC Nuggets SA Arrows

W70Dale Ann Gordon Yett Gelderman W80Joyce Rowlands

87 84 84 78 68 57 48 42

1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8

VIC Nuggets NZL

147 87

1 NZL

VIC Nuggets

90

1

Full series points table available here: http://orienteering.asn.au/mountainbike/MTBONOL/ MTBO2012/ MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING

XMAS MTBO events There was movement at Stanley oval For the word had got around That a course for mountain biking had been set By a man of great renown amongst the Orienteering crowd So riders from near and far had gathered for the test.

The map made things look easy but the hills would take their toll The kookaburras simply sat and laughed aloud It wasn’t every day that humans came with funny toys

The start at the Stanley Xmas 5 days event.

On which they sat and made the wheels go spinning round There were points for every flag you found At checkpoints far and near and bonus points on offer if you came Back early from those hills around the ground But if you did dare to linger or get lost along the track And pedalled back to finish over time Then it’s minus points for you and cries of “Sorry mate, you’re late” “But come along and try again next time” (with abject apologies to Banjo Paterson)

Australian MTBO Championships head to Gympie, Qld

Q

ueensland will be hosting this year’s Australian MTBO Championships near Gympie, two hours north of Brisbane, on 27 and 28 July. The two day event will include a Middle Distance race on the Saturday afternoon and a Long Distance one on the Sunday.

Saturday’s event will be held on a new map of the Corella State Forest, just north of Gympie, which is a hilly eucalypt forest with a good track network.

Sunday’s Long Distance event will be in the southern section of the Toolora plantation forest, 35km east of Gympie. The northern section of this massive plantation forest, near Maryborough, was mapped and used for the Australian MTBO Championships in 2008 and again for the Qld MTBO Championships in 2010 but this will be the first use of the southern area. Despite the January floods in Gympie, the forests should not have been greatly affected and the area generally does not experience much rain in winter.

The Cooloola Coast region is also a great place for a holiday with the World Heritage listed Fraser Island and Cooloola National Parks close by as well as the sheltered waters of Hervey Bay. Gympie is on the Bruce Highway and is an historic gold mining town with plenty of attractions on offer and a good range of accommodation. Visit www.cooloola.org. au for more details.

A week before the Australian Championships, the NSW MTBO Championships will be conducted at Taree on the Central Coast of NSW. This was the venue for last year’s Australian Championships and all who rode there enjoyed the challenges of the diverse terrains offered. So if you are a keen interstate rider with plenty of time, you could make the trek north and take in both events. There will also be training areas available on maps in the forests between Brisbane and Gympie.

There is a special website for the Championships – www.ausmtbochamps.com so visit there for the full details about what is planned, including copies of the training maps.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

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ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

Eventor Making life easy

Orienteering Australia has entered into a 5-year licence agreement with SOFT to use Eventor. As agreed at the 2012 OA conference the licence costs will be met by a special levy on major carnivals.

It is envisaged that this will provide sufficient funds to cover the licence costs (for the first year at least).

Using Eventor Craig Feuerherdt – OA Director, Media & Communications Craig is an active member of Bendigo Orienteers and has been a Vice President of OV since 2011 and OA Director, Media & Communications since 2012.

R

emember entering a major event carnival a few years ago?

Completing a paper form and paying via EFT or cheque.

How did all the information on those paper forms find their way into the start lists and event software? A volunteer spent the time typing all that information with an inevitable mistake or two trying to decipher poor handwriting. In more recent times there have been online entry systems however different events used different systems and there was still a need to manipulate the entry data so it could be used in event management software.

These and a range of other issues resulted in Orienteering Australia deciding to implement a centralised event entry and membership system.

Eventor has several key functions which provide tremendous value to the whole Orienteering community from the participant through to national administrators. Central to all these functions is the ability for everyone to manage their own memberships and entries thereby reducing the burden on volunteers. The following provides a brief overview of three core Eventor functions - an “Eventor 101” if you like.

Registering as a user Before you can enter any events through Eventor you need to register as a user. Note that anyone can browse the event calendar without needing to register. To register; 1. Go to the Eventor web site (http://eventor.orienteering.asn. au/) and select “register a user account”;

Eventor is an integrated entry, membership and results system for Orienteering and has been specifically created for use at a national level. The Swedish Orienteering Federation (SOFT) own Eventor and have funded its development over the last 5+ years.

In 2011, Eventor was adopted by the Norwegian Orienteering Federation through a 5-year licence agreement underpinning the system’s longevity. The following table summarises some of the functionality available to different user groups: User

Functionality

Participant

• enter and pay for events • alter or cancel event entries • k eep track of your results and performances •m anage and pay for your club membership

Event organiser

• specify event details • s elect pre-defined classes or create your own •d efine event entry costs including increasing costs as the event approaches • monitor entries by class and course •o utput entries in IOF XML format for import into event management software such as OE • upload start lists and results

Club administrator

2. Ensure the top option is selected and click the Proceed button; 3. If you want to associate your account with Facebook or Google select the relevant option, alternatively select “Don’t associate with any social account”;

a. A ssociating with Facebook or Google allows you to log in using those accounts and saves you having to remember another username/password;

4. Complete the registration details page and click Next; 5. Confirm the details are correct and click “Save”; 6. Go to the Event tab on the “My Pages” > “My Settings” page and put in your SI number (if you have one).

Creating an Event In order to create an event you need an administrator to provide you with Event Organiser rights for a particular club and/or State.

It is also possible to bulk upload events from a text file. To create an individual event; 1. Select “Add a new event” under the “Event” menu;

• administer memberships

2. Select the event type and number of races and click “Proceed”.

•g enerate accurate member and participation reports for funding bodies or determination of levies

a. Note that most events will be local and have 1 race.

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

3. Complete the General Information page and click “Save”; 4. Refer to the link next to the Status line. Eventor will guide you through the process of setting up all the event details including classes, payment details, fees and payment deadlines, etc. so it can be opened for entries.

Enter an event Now that you are registered you can enter events. To enter an event or events; 1. Go to the event calendar (http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/ Events) ;

4. For each event select the class you wish to compete in and click “Next”;

a. Note that only the applicable classes are shown.

5. Confirm the details, check the Terms and Conditions checkbox, and click “Save”; 6. Select the relevant payment option and complete the payment.

Next time you visit the calendar you will notice that all the events you have entered will be highlighted in green making it easy to see where you can fit in another orienteering event.

2. You can filter what events are displayed by using the options at the top of the page, including searching using a map;

Additional functionality Eventor has a large amount of functionality that can’t be covered in an article like this. Three additional functions that will be of interest to club and event administrators are described below.

Memberships Implementing memberships within Eventor was paramount given the current focus on increasing participation in Orienteering.

Having participation and membership data for the whole of Australia in a central system has significant benefits including timely and accurate reporting to funding bodies. Allowing people to administer their own memberships reduces the administrative burden of membership secretaries.

a. N ote that where detailed event information has been input the calendar informs you how far an event is from your address.

3. Select the checkboxes next to the events you want to enter and click the “Enter selected events” button at the top or bottom of the page.

Implementing the plethora membership structures across Australia has consumed a significant amount of time and development funds. While the system is functional, improvements will occur over time as additional funds become available.

Data Exchange Designed for orienteers by orienteers, Eventor outputs data in IOF XML format. This allows data to be easily exchanged between Eventor and external applications such as OE. Likewise, start lists and results can be imported into Eventor providing a central repository of event information.

API Data within Eventor can be extracted via an Application Programming Interface (API). This has many benefits such as allowing an Orienteering club to display only their events on a web site for instance. This means that data can be entered once and repurposed in any number of alternate ways reducing duplication and minimising errors.

How do I get help Having Eventor in use across Australia makes it easier to build and share knowledge across the country. The collective knowledge is transferable which means there are many more people who can provide assistance.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

However to gain the knowledge you need to learn the system.

Understanding that people learn in different ways, OA is providing a range of alternatives for you to get assistance, including; • Accessing http://support.orienteering.asn.au/ which will be populated with “How To” guides for Eventor (and a range of other OA systems).

• Access the Orienteering Australia YouTube page where there will be videos showing how to use the system.

• Clicking the “Need help?” link in the bottom right hand corner of any Eventor page. Your query will be recorded in a central system where it will be seen by many people and responded to in a timely manner.

Top 10 tips 1. Register all family members in Eventor before entering any events.

2. Enter your SI stick number in the “My Pages” > “My Settings” section.

3. If you get a new SI stick, update all events you have entered.

4. Read event entry guides and other support materials before entering.

5. Select all the parts of a multi day event from the calendar then select “Enter selected events”.

• The user guide (which is yet to be translated into English) will be available in due course.

Summary A significant amount of effort has been invested into getting Eventor to this point. Eventor is a paradigm shift in the management of events and memberships. With the core functionality implemented it is now time to start using the system. There is no doubt that improvements can be made however, before pursuing the development of additional functionality for perceived needs let’s use the system to understand what is really needed.

Finally the patience and persistence of event organisers and administrators who chose to be early adopters of Eventor is to be applauded. Their pioneering efforts have improved the collective knowledge base infinitely. It is now time to take a confident step into the Eventor world.

6. Enter multiple people at the same event(s) using the “Enter/ cancel for other member” function on the entries screen.

Adoption in Australia In 2011 Orienteering Victoria (OV) recognised the need to look at an integrated event entry and membership system to reduce the administrative burden of volunteers and improve the accuracy of reporting. OV successfully applied to Sport and Recreation Victoria (SRV) receiving approximately $20,000 to review and implement an appropriate system.

A detailed list of requirements was documented against which the functionality of 5 existing event management systems was compared. The outcome was a proposal to the OV board recommending Eventor. The OV board agreed with the outcome but had hesitations about committing to its adoption because of the number of entrants required to make the system cost effective.

This lead to a presentation at the 2011 Orienteering Australia (OA) conference to determine whether there was interest in adopting such a system at the national level. OV committed to providing the $20k of SRV funding to the development and several States indicated an interest. At the same conference I was elected Director, Media and Communications for OA. Several papers were presented to the OA board during the first half of 2012 outlining a proposal to adopt Eventor at the national level. Simultaneously, negotiations were taking place with SOFT regarding licensing fees and development costs. At the June 2012 meeting the OA board agreed that OA adopt Eventor as a national entry and membership system.

Eventor was formally adopted by all States and Territories at the OA conference in December 2012. Eventor will be used as the national membership database and national carnivals will use the system for entries for the duration of the initial licence (being 5 years from 2013).

7. Use the “Enter/cancel entry for other member” function for EACH event of a multi day event.

8. Check the “Order services” option for additional services.

9. If Eventor appears to hang there may be an error message displayed at the top or bottom of the screen.

10. Follow the entry process to the payment section and pay immediately.

Further information: http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/ http://goo.gl/1NA82

2

https://eventor.orientering.se/api/documentation (use Google translate)

3

http://www.youtube.com/user/OrienteeringAUS

4

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

O-SPY Start Clock App for iphone/ipad

I

n the Sept 2012 edition, O-Spy mentioned a start clock app for windows phones. Greg Tamblyn has found an app for iphone and ipad. It is called StartClock, available from the itunes app store - cost is $0.99

Sports hoping for Olympics inclusion

B

idding for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games are Squash, Karate, Wushu, Mixed Martial Arts, Baseball, Softball, Roller Sports, Wakeboarding and Sport Climbing. In presenting its case to the IOC in Lausanne, Squash officials claimed the “gladiatorial nature” of the sport made it a perfect fit for the Olympics.

US public’s attitude to performance enhancing drugs

T

he Washington Post has reported on a new poll which showed that nearly half of all Americans are not concerned about sports people taking steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. Some 47% said they were not concerned while only just over half (52%) said use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes bothered them.

“The Captain of Australia upstaged by a flame.”

W

ith a love of sport running through the veins of most Australians it should be fairly easy for you to identify the incident which prompted this newspaper headline. Have a think about it.

F

The UK’s Orienteering Magazine Packed with maps, event reports, coaching tips and advice, MTBO, Mountain Marathons/Rogaining, Competitions and much much more.

Subscribe online using all major credit cards at www.CompassSport.co.uk

It’s the Bees that Feed us

52 pages, full colour, 6 times a year £44 World Subscription

B

ees contribute to onethird of the world’s food supply and pollinate 65% of Australia’s agricultural produce. We have honeybees to thank for a wide variety of the food that we eat. (Beechworth Honey).

Vol 32

Issue 5

October 2011

£5.00

Var. 05

Orienteering

Magazine

CompassSport Britain’s

National

Vol 32

Issue 4

August 2011

Vol 32

£5.00

Issue 6

December

2011

£5.00

Know Your Course Leader European MTBO Champs Junior European Champs CompassSport Cup Final World Trail-O Champs World Championships Peter Palmer Relays Björkliden Arctic MM London City Race Route Choice #5 Informal Formats World Cup Final Fitness Training Out of Control Tio Mila Story Competitions Reviews Photo-O

This issue.........

Know Your Course Leader Saunders Lakeland MM Route Choice #5 Scottish 6 Days Fitness training Swiss O Week World Masters Out of Control Competitions JK Report Harvester Reviews Jukola

www.CompassSport.co.uk

Holiday O Guide

Calendar Know Your Copeland Chase Class Leade r Route Choic Original Moun Fitness Traini e #5 ain Marat ng Out of Control Comp hon A Perfect Run etitions Reviews

Liz Hubbert Photography

Food Wastage report

A

quantity of wheat equivalent to the entire production of Australia goes to waste each year in India, according to a new report on global food wastage... http://www.foodnavigatorasia.com/Policy/Indiadamned-by-food-wastagereport

R

J ohn Sutton

ed Roos ACT member John Sutton is mentioned in a book by Frank Drake & Dava Sobel entitled “Is Anyone Out There ? – The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”.

John was a radio astronomer in his youth and worked with Frank Drake at Arecibo in Puerto Rico for a time.

www.Com

.uk www.CompassSport.co

passSport

.co.uk

‘A luxury you can afford.’

OR IE NTE E R ING PUBLICATIONS IOF Publications

Australian Publications

International Specifications for‑Orienteering Maps . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Competition rules for IOF events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Control Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Simple Maps for Orienteering . . . . $11.00 Trail Orienteering (BOF book). . . . . $30.00 Trail Orienteering (booklet). . . . . . . . $8.25 Trail O (leaflet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.70

Elementary Orienteering Instructors‑Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.20 Level 1 Coaching Manual. . . . . . . . $22.00 Level 1 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $3.90 Level 2 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Level 3 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Among the Best Orienteers (video).$19.75 Sponsorship & Advertising, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . available from states Club Guide, available on disc.

Prices include GST and postage within Australia for single copies.

Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@netspeed.com.au

Retirement

or those of us who remember their kids threatening to run away from home? Retirement is payback time.

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

JWOC Selection Criteria

T

he primary selection trials are the four races of the Easter weekend, to be held in Victoria from 29th March to 1st April 2013. Secondary selection trials will be the 2013 March National League races on March 9th and 10th in South Australia.

All candidates for selection are expected to compete in these events unless they have grounds for special consideration (see below). In such cases of special consideration, or where selection is exceptionally tight between two or more nominees, selectors may refer to the results of other recent major events, including the 2013 Oceania Championships, 2012 JWOC and 2012 Australian Championships.

As part of new procedures for the National Junior Squad, members of the squad are expected to enter into an athlete agreement. Those who have declined to enter into such an agreement, or who have failed to follow it to the satisfaction of the selectors, may be excluded from consideration for selection irrespective of their performance in the selection events. This provision does not apply to those who have not yet been asked to enter into an athlete agreement, e.g. those who have not yet been selected in the National Junior Squad.

Classes Candidates for selection will normally be expected to compete in M/W17-20E at Easter. Any candidates for selection who want to run M/W21E should seek the approval of the Chair as soon as practicable – this approval will normally be given only to those who are realistic candidates for selection in senior representative teams or squads. Any such competitors will be considered based on kilometre rates at Easter, and past Junior World Championships performances.

17-20E and 21E will run the same course at the March National League races.

Candidates for selection who are competing or training overseas at the time of the selection events may apply for pre-selection. The Selection Panel has the authority to preselect one or more individuals at any time if, in the Panel’s opinion, they have clearly demonstrated that they have a realistic prospect of placing in the top-16 of the individual races in JWOC. Such a decision will be based primarily on previous international championship performances and the candidate’s proposed program of training and competition overseas. There is no longer any other provision for overseas selection. Anyone who wishes to seek pre-selection under this clause is advised to contact the Chair as soon as possible.

Other applications for special consideration – any competitor who is unable to compete, or whose performance is adversely affected, in one or more selection trials due to injury, or illness, may be considered for selection in the team, providing that they have significantly outperformed one or more members of the team that would have been selected in their absence in recent major events. The Chair may require a medical certificate to be produced.

Timing of selection – The team will be announced in the week following Easter and all nominees will be advised by email.

The selection panel consists of Jan Hardy (Chair), Roch Prendergast (National Junior Coach), Bridget Anderson and Susanne Casanova.

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

Oceania Championships & World Cup In Tasmania, January 2015

O

rienteering Tasmania is delighted to advise they will be hosting the next Oceania Championships when it returns to Australia in 2015. For our interstate and overseas visitors, and not to mention our local Tassie orienteers, we are seeking to host the opening round of the 2015 World Cup. We will have a week of quality orienteering over the first full week of January in 2015 from Saturday January 3rd to Sunday January 11th. The carnival will include the four Oceania Championships in all formats (Long, Middle, Sprint, Relay) plus additional supporting events to make it a festival of outstanding orienteering. Subject to approval by the IOF, the World Cup round will encompass the three Oceania individual championships of Long, Middle and Sprint.

2014 AUS Championships Carnival Embargoes

T

he 2014 Australian Championships Carnival/Karnival, will be held in WA in September-October. It will include the Long Distance, Middle Distance and Sprint Championships, Relay Championships, Australian Schools Championships (individual and relay) and two mid-week events following the schools events.

These areas are now out of bounds to all potential competitors: •T he area south-east of Clackline bounded by Great Eastern Hwy, Decastilla Road, Spencers Brook Road, Tighe Road, Avro Anson Road and Boondine Road but excluding Clackline township.

•T he area south-east of Bindoon bounded by Great Northern Hwy, Flat Rocks Road, Chittering Road and Julimar Road, extending east to include the existing Spice Brook map area.

Private or business visits to residences within the embargoed areas are exempted. Anyone requiring more extensive access should contact Ian Fletcher: i.fletcher@ curtin.edu.au to discuss further possible exemptions.

Victorian MTBO Championships Embargoes

T

he map areas to be used for the Victorian MTBO Championships at Castlemaine, Chewton and Whroo are now embargoed to all competitors until the championships on the 27 & 28 April 2013.

The embargo areas are shown at this link. http://www. vicorienteering.asn.au/mtbo/events/?EventID=2809

NSW 2013 State Championships Embargoes

T

he following areas are embargoed until the NSW State Championships in September 2013. The area covered by the Blue Gum Hills map. The area bounded by Newcastle Link Road (south), Minmi Road (west), forest road (north) and the powerline clearing (east). The park/picnic area is not included in the embargo area.

Also, the area covered by the Sand Dunes map at Bob’s Farm. and the area covered by the Poppethead and Astley’s Tower maps as used for the NOL events in May 2012. Once all of the access issues are resolved with the proposed championships areas the embargo may be lifted from the reserve area.

HEALTH

The Obesity Bomb A recent study has shown that consumption of soft drinks in Australia is around 100 litres per head each year, up from 65 litres in the early 1970s. This sweettooth habit is sure to be adding more kilos where we don’t need them, and a very recent ABS report states that 63% of Australian adults are overweight. We have to admit that Australia is heading the same way as the US in the obesity stakes, but let’s hope it never comes to this ……

Super-Sized Soft Drinks Ban (courtesy SupermarketGuru)

F

ifty-eight percent of adults living in New York City and almost 40% of children attending public school in grade eight or lower are obese. That’s why New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has decided to champion initiatives that he hopes will change the eating habits of New Yorkers. The most controversial of these initiatives, a ban on selling soft drinks and sugary beverages over 16 ounces (455ml) in restaurants, delis, mobile food carts, stadiums, and movie theatres, takes effect in March 2013.

While consumers can purchase as many 16 oz drinks as they like, the Mayor, who also lead the smoking ban 11 years ago in NYC restaurants and bars, described the ban as a way to alert consumers to portion control. Studies, specifically from Cornell University’s Food Laboratory, have shown that the size of plates, portions and packages does have an influence on how much food and beverages are consumed.

Opponents feel the ban is an infringement of the rights and personal freedom of choice. Although smoking is a different beast than soft drinks, as second hand smoke infringes on the rights of non-smokers in restaurants, since the NYC anti-smoking campaign began in 2002, smoking rates are at an all time low, having decreased by 35%.

Some would agree that high soft drink and sugary beverage consumption leads to obesity, which also leads to increased health care costs (and visual pollution). The question isn’t really whether or not city dwellers will support the soft drinks ban and the validity of government’s role in controlling food and beverage choices. It’s whether or not the ban will actually yield positive results.

Obesity strategy a ‘wasteful failure’ THE political response to Australia’s obesity epidemic has been a ‘’failure’’, and $49 million spent on healthy lifestyle advertising campaigns was a ‘’waste of taxpayers’ money’’, a key government adviser claims. Professor Paul Zimmet, a member of former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s preventive health taskforce, says the government’s strategy to fight the fat is ‘’weak and fragmented’’.

He says most of its obesity recommendations have been ignored.

In a speech delivered at a health summit in Canberra, Professor Zimmet, director emeritus at Melbourne’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, argued there is no political will to reduce obesity. While congratulating the government for its action on tobacco control, he claims it has taken the ‘’easy option’’ on obesity, with ineffective social marketing campaigns. ‘’This is one of the biggest drivers of disease - it drives type two diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and certain cancers. It’s a huge load on the community so it’s very disappointing there is no national effective strategy, despite the taskforce making it very clear that it was the whole package that was important, not isolated bits and pieces,’ Professor Zimmet said.

In 2009, the federal government’s preventive health taskforce proposed measures to combat obesity, including increased taxes

on unhealthy food, a ban on junk food marketing to children, exercise programs in schools and workplaces and an urban planning overhaul to boost physical activity.

But Professor Zimmet said the measures had not been adopted and money had been squandered on social marketing campaigns such as the ‘’Swap It, Don’t Stop It’’ and ‘’Measure Up’’ healthy lifestyle campaigns.“It’s achieved very little because campaigns like that can’t be done in isolation without addressing better parks, … improved food access, addressing indigenous diabetes and heart disease rates. So really the whole approach to the problem has been a failure.’’

Fellow preventive health taskforce member Mike Daube, director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, is also disappointed by the government’s lack of action on obesity. ‘’With obesity, we are where we were with tobacco about 50 years ago. We’re fat, we’re getting fatter and the junk food industry is immensely powerful, so strong public education needs to be allied with tough measures, such as dealing with food advertising or food formulation,’’ Professor Daube said. (AP).

Celebrating 40 years in 2013

School and Club Supply Specialists Headlamps Whistles Compasses First Aid Flags, Control Cards, Markers and Punches Backpacks and Waist Bags Enquire about your supply requirements today PH OSoA (03) 9017 4835, FX OSoA (03) 9388 1916 Email info@osoa.com.au MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

LETTERS

Letters

The Australian Orienteer welcomes letters. 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.

Errors in WMMTBOC report

A

s I expect all of your readers are well aware, one of the keys to success in orienteering be it as a mapper, organiser, course setter, controller or competitor is having a fastidious attention to detail. If you ensure all the little things are correct then the right outcomes are almost always assured. Thus I feel it should be with your magazine.

Accordingly I was very disappointed when reading the summary of results of the 2012 World Masters MTBO Championships in the December 2012 edition to find a number of fundamental errors including listing the wrong class (twice) for Tamsin Barnes (should be W40) and the wrong spelling (three times each) for both of Vivienne Prince and Michael Wood. Given that the event website contained the correct data it should not have been difficult to ensure accuracy of this detail.

Richard Robinson - M55 Queensland

Cover photo

T

he cover of Dec 2012 is the BEST YET. Keep them coming.

Jack Palmer

A Fit Brain helps Orienteering

I

t is said that Orienteering is a healthy sport for all ages, which is true, if one engages in it at the right level. In general, all the advice is about running faster and for longer, and eating, and exercising often and even taking supplements, but not eliminating alcohol, which is odd.

I have been reading about the latest findings in how the brain develops as one ages, and if one discounts the biases of the researchers, and they differ considerably, most not wanting to give up alcohol, coffee, beating people at some form of recreation and supporting gyms and Big Pharma, some things become clear for the orienteer past middle age, which starts when specs are needed to see the map and ends about the time that worrying about forgetting names and where the car keys are becomes a serious worry.

That varies from about 55 to 70. After that comes brain maturity time, which is very helpful to us older orienteers.

This brain mature time needs a good blood flow and lots of mental exercise of all sorts and developing new mental skills, particularly from self-education. As the engine of the older orienteer becomes less efficient, it slows down, but the brain does not unless it is suffering engine caused defects.

One of the unusual things that happens is that the brain starts to use both its frontal hemispheres together and less uses the primitive parts of the brain that the young people use to the extreme. That means as one goes along one calculates such things as how long 4 litres of oil will last in a generator using 300ml every 5 weeks.

This is in the dull parts of all these long legs beloved of the extremists, with the brain utilising learned responses to look out for helpful features. This is not what is meant by focus, which is often hollered about, nor multi-tasking which means focusing on two things at once which is rarely possible.

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

What is happening is that the brain is sorting priorities better and putting simple things on the backburner, or in some cases in a top cupboard, like people’s names or where one left ones specs.

After 65 or so, the brain needs about thirty minutes of 20min/ km exercise a day, and I have a steep garden and local bush is steep, so I just do the time not the speed. On a good day one can orienteer with very little use of the compass or the map, the brain taking information and using all the learned skills, that is, if these skills have been utilised.

If older orienteers are less biased towards fast times and more towards accurate and best route choice selection, they end up happy and ready for the next event. Winning is not everything, as some extremists aver, it is a side effect at times from the use of skills and judgement from a mature brain.

Older orienteers should pity the young ones who are driven by their lower brains, running madly all over the place in what really looks like high speed noodling. But the youngsters really don’t mind, they enjoy that.

So as one ages, do not worry about the cranky engine and learn to use the maturing brain. It is likely to last a long time if used properly.

Ian Johnson (Bendigo Orienteers – M85) P.S. If it is any help, I hollered for our Course 3 at Bendigo Mike Hubbert, Editor E D I Tis O R the I A L shortest hard. It is supposed which to be between 3.2 Some 75% of the French JWOC team train in Pole France, the national and Talented 3.8 km Juniors long depending on training physical difficulty.

Extremists centre in St. Etienne where Thierry Gueorgiou trains. The results for France at JWOC were positive. French juniors gained 2nd and 3rd WHAT great performances by Hanny Allston and Julian Dent at the places in the men’s events and 11th & 12th and a relay 5th amongst the JWOC in Switzerland.

Of course, all the team did wellrunning but Hanny like itrecent 3.8km with difficult or travel when they set women. and Julian stood out – one 3rd place Bronze medal to Hanny and 4th Australia must learn from the French example. Raw talent is one and 11th places to go with it; and 4th and 8th places to Julian. Hearty courses.

It is very popular with thing young people starting hard but focussed development is needed to really bring the best out congratulations. of our young orienteers. There is a program at ACTAS and there is talent Australia’s junior orienteers are regularly achieving good results so it identification in Tasmania, but wethink need to do more. would appear development program is bearing fruit.

Yet I courses older women who do not still they are Mike Hubbert, Editor E D I T O Rand Ithat A Lthe junior I hope you find this edition as good a read as ever. suspect that those good performances are more the result of individual raw talent than of focussed training programs and finely-tuned skills.

W35A. Things to avoid are steep-sided water races too Some navigating, 75% of the French JWOC team train in Pole France,and the national Good The reasons for this are obvious – Orienteering is a sport built on Talented Juniors training centre in St. Etienne where Thierry Gueorgiou trains. The results Mike Hubbert volunteers. We don’t have the resources to employ highly-skilled coaches for France at JWOCnot were positive.

French juniors gained 2nd and 3rd road WHAT great performances Hanny Allston and Julian Dent Yet, at the much fallen timber underfoot. are entranced with and administrators, or to run by regular camps for focussed training. it’s We places in the men’s events and 11th & 12th and a relay 5th amongst the recent JWOC in that Switzerland. allWe theowe team did well Hanny equally obvious we needOf to course, do more. it to the kidsbut who love women. and Julian stood out –that onethey’re 3rd place Bronze medal to Hannytime and and 4th Orienteering so much prepared to devote so much NextRaw issue running.

Australia must learn from the French example. talent is one and 11th effort to it.places to go with it; and 4th and 8th places to Julian. Hearty 1 December 2005 congratulations.

In France, Orienteering is not a major sport either – 5888 orienteers junior orienteers regularly achieving The goodFrench results have so it andAustralia’s 187 clubs in 2003 (the are latest data available). would appear that the juniortodevelopment program is bearing fruit. resources problems similar those we face.

True, they’re closer toYet theI suspect that thosebut good performances moreway thefrom resultParis. of individual European action, Stockholm is still are a long France’s raw talent than of focussed trainingasprograms andworld’s finely-tuned skills.

Thierry Gueorgiou is established one of the best. He is an The reasons forand thisthe areFrench obvious Orienteering is aofsport built on exceptional talent are–taking advantage his presence volunteers. don’t have resources employorienteers. highly-skilled coaches in designingWe programs to the nurture other to talented and administrators, or to run regular camps for focussed training. Yet, it’s equally obvious that we need to do more. We owe it to the kids who love Orienteering so much that they’re prepared to devote so much time and effort to it.

In France, Orienteering is not a major sport either – 5888 orienteers and 187 clubs in 2003 (the latest data available). The French have resources problems similar to those we face. True, they’re closer to the European action, but Stockholm is still a long way from Paris. France’s Thierry Gueorgiou is established as one of the world’s best. He is an exceptional talent and the French are taking advantage of his presence in designing programs to nurture other talented orienteers.

thing but focussed development is needed to really bring the best out of our young orienteers. There is a program at ACTAS and there is talent Contributions deadlines identification in Tasmania, but we need to do more.

I hope you find this edition as good a read as Time-sensitive: ever.

22 October Good navigating, All other contributions: Mike Hubbert 15 October

Next issue

1 December 2005

VICTORINOX AWARD

Contributions deadlines

Time-sensitive: The Victorinox Award goes to Adrian Uppill. He receives a 22 October Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/ All other contributions: alarm/timer; retail value $109.95 15 October

A Family Affair IN the last issue of The Australian Orienteer there was not a single mention of the Family Relays at Easter 2005. The Family Relays is a wonderful event. It is about participation of families in a friendly, social atmosphere.

It is an opportunity for families to catch up to friends from other parts of The Victorinox Award goes to Adrian Uppill.

Heessential receivesingredients a Australia.

The event in many ways reflects one of the Victorinox Voyager withsport.

20 tools and features including a watch/ of Orienteering – a family alarm/timer; retailfamilies value $109.95 South Australian had a great result by achieving a trifecta with

VICTORINOX AWARD

the Uppill (OH), Merchant (TJ) and Dose (TT) families placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

A Family The FamilyAffair Relays should be promoted and given media coverage in The Australian Orienteer as it has over many years proven to be IN the last issuebreeding of The Australian there was not a single mention an invaluable groundOrienteer for future orienteers, including elite of the Family Relays at Easter 2005. The Family Relays is a wonderful orienteers. event. It is about participation of families in a friendly, social atmosphere.

Adrian Uppill (SA) It is an opportunity for families to catch up to friends from other parts of Australia. The event in many ways reflects one of the essential ingredients of Orienteering – a family sport.

South Australian families had a great result by achieving a trifecta with the Uppill (OH), Merchant (TJ) and Dose (TT) families placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The Family Relays should be promoted and given media coverage in The Australian Orienteer as it has over many years proven to be an invaluable breeding ground for future orienteers, including elite orienteers.

Adrian Uppill (SA)

1800 209 999 www.victorinox.com

FOR STOCKISTS CALL

SEPTEMBER 2005 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

AO Sept 05.indd 3

27/8/05 10:03:57 AM

1800 209 999 www.victorinox.com

FOR STOCKISTS CALL

VICTORINOX AWARD AO Sept 05.indd 3

The Victorinox Award goes to Gillian Woodward for her regular Nutrition articles in the magazine.

Gillian will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $119.

SEPTEMBER 2005 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

27/8/05 10:03:57 AM

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

2012 National Rankings – non-elite Darryl Erbacher – OA Statistician

R

ankings in non-elite classes have been determined based on results in the Australian 3-Days, Australian Championships and the Tasmanian Long Distance Championships.

Points are awarded for each event completed on the basis of 100 points for first place and lesser points for other competitors. An orienteer’s best three events count towards their rankings. The first 10 orienteers ranked in each class are published here. State secretaries have lists of all orienteers ranked between 50 and 100 points inclusive. When more than one orienteer in a class has 100 points, the first ranked orienteer is determined by the average of their three best winning margins.

In the Australian Sprint Championships, the field of W70 orienteers was split between two different courses. An estimate of times for one of the courses has been made based on the differences between the courses.

Some points of interest in the 2011 rankings: 1. The winner by the largest margin was Neil Shafer (GO.N), winning by 28.21%.

2. In one class two orienteers earned maximum points (separated by winning margins): Anna Fitzgerald (WH.N) and Anna Hyslop (PO.A), W35.

3. 28 clubs had members in the first three places of their respective classes: UG.Q (7); AL.T (6); WO.W, GO.N (5); PO.A, EV.T, WR.T, AOA (4); BS.A, BK.V, MF.V, RR.A, LO.W, WH.N (3); EN.Q, BF.N, NC.N, BN.N, OH.S, SH.N, UR.N (2); YV.V, WA.S, KO,W, RR.Q, GS.N, NT.N, TT.S (1).

4. The most successful states were: NSW (20), VIC, TAS, ACT (14).

5. Families with two or more members in the first three placings were: Hill (Daniel, Joanna); Wymer (Kylian, Alyssia, Eddie); Lawford/Bourne (Geoff, Jenny); Uppill (Adrian, Robin); Mount (Tony, Sue); Schafer (Neil, Christa); Poland (Noah, Oliver); Key (Sue, Warren).

6. The class with the most ranked orienteers was M65 (27).

Class M10 1 Ewan Shingler 2 Mason Arthur 3 Will Fleming Class M12 1 Kylian Wymer 2 Patrick Miller 3 Noah Poland 4 Dante Afnan 5 Jared Mckenna Class M14 1 Patrick Jaffe 2 Jake West 3 Simeon Burrill 4 Riley De Jong 5 Matias Salonen 6 Ewan Barnett 7 Lachlan McIntyre 8 Joseph Dickinson 9 Aidan Tay 10 Tavish Eenjes Class M16 1 Daniel Hill 2 Jarrah Day 3 Nicholas Collins 4 Stephen Melhuish 5 Oisin Stronach 6 Toby Wilson 7 Aiden Sullivan 8 Ulysse Siaud 9 Will Kennedy 10 Lawrence Jones

BF.N MF.V EV.T

100.00 87.57 77.59

BK.V BS.A BS.A YA.S UR.N

100.00 93.01 91.12 81.91 66.13

MF.V AL.T BB.Q RR.Q UG.Q BS.A UG.Q EV.T UG.Q BG.V

100.00 98.00 97.36 96.50 93.13 77.39 77.13 75.10 72.76 71.01

GO.N AL.T BK.V PO.A AL.T GO.N YA.S EV.T WA.S UR.N

99.31 97.16 91.79 91.57 89.40 88.11 87.41 87.03 84.84 81.09

Class M35 1 Miles Ellis 2 Dmitry Stukov 3 Jean paul Cochereau Class M40 1 Scott Simson 2 Greg Morcom 3 Paul Marsh 4 Rohan Hyslop 5 Peter Annetts 6 John Baker Class M45 1 Eddie Wymer 2 Jock Davis 3 Andy Simpson 4 Steve Doyle 5 Neil Simson 6 Tim McIntyre 7 Tony Hill 8 Ruhi Afnan 9 Ian Jones 10 Mark West Class M50 1 Bernard Walker 2 Warren Key 3 Mark Nemeth 4 Russell Blatchford 5 Michael Dowling 6 Mark Shingler 7 Malcolm Roberts 8 Andrew McComb 9 Mike Morffew 10 Nick Melhuish

BF.N WH.N NC.N

100.00 98.22 91.21

NC.N TJ.S BF.N PO.A GO.N EN.Q

100.00 91.83 87.02 86.61 70.90 51.72

BK.V BF.N BF.N CH.V TF.Q UG.Q GO.N YA.S UR.N AL.T

100.00 98.45 92.66 92.63 88.72 83.04 80.82 79.11 79.01 76.62

WR.T MF.V TF.Q NC.N WR.T BF.N NC.N OH.S WR.T PO.A

100.00 90.91 88.02 86.71 85.73 84.08 79.21 78.86 77.22 74.88

Class M55 1 Geoff Lawford EU.V 2 Darryl Smith WR.T 3 Paul Pacque EV.T 4 Ted Van Geldermalsen YV.V 5 Grant McDonald AO.A 6 Geoff Todkill NC.N 7 James Lithgow GO.N 8 Eoin Rothery BF.N 9 Roch Prendergast EU.V 10 Richard Robinson SO.Q Class M60 1 David Marshall AL.T 2 Adrian Uppill OH.S 3 Nick Dent CC.N 4 Bert Elson AL.T 5 Paul Hoopmann TJ.S 6 Nigel Davies EV.T 7 Hugh Moore RR.A 8 Rob Rapkins EN.Q 9 Richard Matthews LO.W 10 Bruce Bowen PO.A Class M65 1 Terry Bluett BN.N 2 Ross Barr GO.N 3 Steve Flick BN.N 4 Ian Fletcher LO.W 5 Robert Allison RR.A 6 Dave Lotty UR.N 7 Andrew Campbell FN.Q 8 Greg Chatfield UG.Q 9 Mike Howe LO.W 10 Dick Ogilvie UR.N Class M70 1 Alex Tarr YV.V 2 Darryl Erbacher PO.A 3 Tim Dent YV.V 4 John Hodsdon SH.N 5 John Brammall EV.T 6 Ted Mulherin WH.N 7 John Sutton RR.A 8 Peter Kreminski WA.S 9 Tim Cox GO.N 10 Neville Cobbold UG.Q Class M75 1 Clive Pope UG.Q 2 Pauli Piiroinen BS.A 3 John Lyon TT.S 4 Robin Simson TF.Q 5 Barry Hanlon WH.N Class M80 1 Tony Mount AL.T 2 Gordon Howitt SO.Q 3 Ray Kelly UG.Q Class M85 1 Neil Schafer GO.N 2 Hermann Wehner WE.A Class W10 1 Zoe Melhuish PO.A 2 Alyssia Wymer BK.V 3 Sophie Jones UR.N 4 Venla Salonen UG.Q 5 Serryn Eenjes BG.V 6 Eleanor McLean EV.T 7 Isabella Burridge UG.Q Class W12 1 Arabella Phillips EV.T 2 Heather Lane PO.A 3 Joanna Hill GO.N 4 Annabelle Mill RR.A 5 Ellen De Jong RR.Q 6 Inala Day AL.T 7 Christina Meelen RR.Q 8 Rebecca Kennedy WP.N Class W14 1 Winnie Oakhill UG.Q 2 Zoe Dowling WR.T 3 Rebecca George BF.N 4 Tara Melhuish PO.A 5 Georgia Jones UR.N 6 Asha Steer DR.V 7 Gabrielle Withers EN.Q 8 Zazi Brennan RR.Q 9 Melissa Annetts GO.N 10 Ally Wrigley EV.T Class W16 1 Lanita Steer DR.V 2 Anna Dowling WR.T 3 Heather Burridge UG.Q 4 Hannah Goddard EV.T

100.00 97.74 97.33 92.74 91.01 76.54 73.58 72.70 63.69 63.05 100.00 98.22 95.33 91.16 90.39 87.66 86.58 82.89 82.66 78.60 100.00 98.12 96.07 94.47 91.89 91.31 89.61 87.96 84.75 84.52 100.00 96.05 86.02 84.14 81.28 79.79 78.17 63.61 55.16 52.22 100.00 94.65 72.18 68.30 67.10 100.00 89.88 70.99 100.00 71.79 99.83 99.36 98.69 88.20 75.09 71.52 65.65 98.08 96.03 95.89 89.37 85.78 73.13 65.14 61.38 100.00 86.59 83.78 83.10 81.19 80.74 71.58 65.69 65.22 60.02 100.00 99.83 94.97 91.77

5 Lucy Fleming 6 Jessica Hoey 7 Rosie Dalheim 8 Inka Salonen 9 Celsey Adams 10 Leisha Maggs Class W35 1 Anna Fitzgerald 2 Anna Hyslop 3 Brook Martin 4 Jane Pulford 5 Sussan Best 6 Kim Carroll Class W40 1 Clare Hawthorne 2 Jennifer Enderby 3 Heidi Salonen 4 Isabelle Wymer 5 Tamsin Barnes Class W45 1 Nicola Dalheim 2 Su yan Tay 3 Anita Scherrer 4 Wendy Read 5 Paula Savolainen 6 Sue Hancock 7 Christine Marshall 8 Clare Leung 9 Karen Blatchford 10 Barbara Hill Class W50 1 Jenny Bourne 2 Liz Abbott 3 Anthea Feaver 4 Christine Brown 5 Felicity Crosato 6 Toni Brown 7 Gayle Quantock 8 Carol Harding 9 Joanna Parr 10 Carolyn Matthews Class W55 1 Robin Uppill 2 Carolyn Jackson 3 Sue Key 4 Mary McDonald 5 Julia Prudhoe 6 Hilary Wood 7 Jan Hardy 8 Margi Freemantle 9 Liz Bourne 10 Debbie Byers Class W60 1 Carol Brownlie 2 Lynn Dabbs 3 Jacquie Rand 4 Valerie Barker 5 Val Hodsdon 6 Fiona Calabro 7 Christine Sinickas 8 Judy Allison 9 Hilary Cane 10 Judith Hay Class W65 1 Toy Martin 2 Debbie Gale 3 Libby Meeking 4 Jenny Hawkins 5 Kathy Liley 6 Ruth Goddard 7 Janet Bush 8 Penny Dufty 9 Sally Salier 10 Valerie Brammall Class W70 1 Ann Ingwersen 2 Dale Ann Gordon 3 Christa Schafer 4 Janet Tarr 5 Helen Smith 6 Mary Hawthorne 7 Janet Morris Class W75 1 Maureen Ogilvie 2 Sue Mount 3 Caryl Woof 4 Sue Healy Class W80 1 Joyce Rowlands

CH.V RR.Q MF.V UG.Q EV.T BG.V

77.10 74.66 67.63 67.33 59.55 50.29

WH.N PO.A GO.N AL.T EV.T AL.T

100.00 100.00 94.49 87.93 87.45 74.36

MF.V NC.N UG.Q BK.V RR.Q

100.00 97.98 95.42 94.53 60.41

MF.V UG.Q RR.A UG.Q GO.N WR.T AL.T UG.Q NC.N GO.N

99.27 98.98 98.76 96.17 93.67 93.43 91.71 89.74 88.38 87.56

EU.V PO.A LO.W EV.T RR.Q BS.A NC.N BS.A BF.N NC.N

100.00 93.79 87.88 86.50 78.40 78.10 77.04 76.10 70.32 69.20

OH.S MF.V MF.V AO.A CC.N CC.N AL.T YV.V BB.Q BF.N

100.00 99.81 99.18 85.11 84.14 80.95 67.81 67.33 66.00 58.47

WO.W 100.00 WH.N 96.16 UG.Q 90.05 BS.A 86.98 SH.N 86.83 TF.Q 85.89 YV.V 84.32 RR.A 83.74 AL.T 74.72 TF.Q 70.35 NC.N EV.T YV.V NT.N YV.V YV.V AL.T BO.W AL.T EV.T

100.00 99.21 97.14 95.96 90.63 89.59 89.23 77.73 72.26 70.56

PO.A EU.V GO.N YV.V TT.S WR.T WH.N

100.00 95.69 93.15 82.07 66.35 56.97 51.12

UR.N AL.T EV.T NE.V

100.00 93.88 93.49 61.49

NE.V

100.00

MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

SILVA Medal 2012 Darryl Erbacher – OA Statistician

T

he SILVA Medal for 2012 has Jenny Bourne been won by Jenny Bourne (W50 Oliver Poland - AO.A). Jenny also won this award Grace Crane in 2009. She joins Maureen Ogilvie (1990, 2002, 2007) with three wins.

Clive Pope The Lawford/Bourne family have taken Robin Uppill a recent stranglehold on the SILVA Maureen Ogilvie Medal. Jenny and Geoff between them Geoff Lawford have kept the trophy in the family for the last four years. Families who have Carol Brownlie had two or more members as winners Anna Fitzgerald of this award in the past were: Tarr (Alex, Kathryn); Anderson/Enderby (Frank, Jenny). The Saw family has had three family members win this award (Peter, Andrew, Kathy).

EU.V

24

BS.A

23

AL.T

23

UG.Q

23

OH.S

22

UR.N

22

EU.V

22

WO.W

21

WH.N

20

This year, the SILVA Medal is based on points for participating and placing in the following events: Australian 3-Day (each day considered as a separate event); Australian Sprint, Middle and Long Distance Championships; and the Tasmanian Long Distance Championship. Each orienteer who completes six of these events in M/W16 and above is eligible for the SILVA Medal. The maximum points available is 24.

Jenny Bourne, winner of the 2012 SIlva Medal.

OA Statistician, Darryl Erbacher, interviewed SILVA Medal 2012 winner, Jenny Bourne.

DARRYL: Jenny, you have had a very good year. Six wins from seven starts in national competition. You were the only runner to gain maximum points this year. Congratulations.

others, apart from Geoff, who are in contention to win. So the focus really is to have mistake free runs.

You cannot control how well your rivals run - unless I give Geoff a dodgy dinner the night before!

JENNY: Thanks Darryl. I had a mixed year. Most of my races for the SILVA Medal were good, but there were some other races, such as some overseas races, that I was not happy with. There is always room for improvement that is what keeps it interesting.

D: The Sprint was close (only 27 seconds separated the first three orienteers). I don’t hear much about the few mistakes you make. What happened here?

D: You and Geoff have held this trophy for the last four years between you. The Saws (Peter, Andrew, Kathy) held it for three consecutive years in the 1980s. However, the Hassall family (Ian) have held it for 10 years, consecutively on three occasions. Do you think that you can ever match that effort?

J: Six more years! That’s pretty ambitious. I think we will have to hand the role of winning the SILVA Medal on to Belinda and Ian to achieve that goal.

D: Geoff was only two points behind you. Do you have any family challenges to spur you on to greater things?

J: Yes, we have a “friendly” competition but there are many

J: I did make some mistakes in the Sprint, caused, I think, by rushing it too much. It is something I have a tendency to do and something I must learn to control. I think “Sprint” is the wrong name for these short races, as you should not be focusing on your speed. You need to focus on the navigation and getting everything absolutely perfect. The speed should take care of itself. You can lose more time from small mistakes and hesitations than you do from running too slowly. Of course, you know you must run fast but you must be intensely focused.

Perhaps “Intense” is a better name for these races.

D: I remember having trouble with the map used in the World Masters at St Helens (same as the Long Distance Championships). How did you manage to conquer this map?

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2013

J: I’m not sure that I “conquered” that terrain - I made some mistakes. My technique was the usual one - to look for big features and simplify the terrain. That area is unusual in that most of the detail is “below” the general ground level, so that you don’t see the features as you approach.

You have to be confident and keep going although the features are not in sight.

D: You have said in the past that you are lucky to have found something you are good at. What are your personal attributes that cause you to be ‘good’?

J: I am lucky that I enjoy running and the feeling of fitness that running brings and also that I am fairly injury free, so I am able to keep fit. This makes me a reasonable runner, particularly in the terrain. I am also a good map reader (despite being female!).

D: You have been orienteering for as long as I can remember.

Does your navigation get better with the years?

J: I don’t think my navigation has got better over the years. It has probably got worse with failing eyesight and inability to see the map as clearly. After so many

years of orienteering, it becomes easier to “switch on” when you pick up the map. A lot of techniques become subconscious.

D: How do you stop repeating mistakes you have made before?

J: Once you reach a high level of proficiency, mistakes are caused by lack of concentration, lack of focus on the navigation, rather than an inability to execute a particular skill. You need to think about WHY you lost concentration.

Unfortunately, for me, the reason always seems to be the same - I am thinking, subconsciously sometimes, about my rivals. So I start thinking about my running rather than the navigation.

D: When did you last make a new type of navigation error and what was it?

J: When you have done so much orienteering, you are more aware of the possible mistakes in different situations. So you are extra alert for the errors. Lack of concentration can lead to all sorts of wonderful mistakes being made.

D: Thanks for talking with me, Jenny, and congratulations again.

TOP EVENTS 2013

2014 Mar 29 Apr 1 Mar 29 April 1 April 6

2013 Victorian MTBO Champs

April 27-28

Sprint, Middle & Long

vicmtbo.com

May 4-5

June 29July 6 July 7-14

July 20-26

25 July – 4 August a u s tr a l i a n

MTBO

July 28-29

c ha m p i ons h ips

2013

Gympie, Qld

July 28Aug 3 July 27Aug 1 Aug 3-10

Aug 26-31

Gold’n Ponds AUS 3 Days 2013 Bendigo, Victoria NZ Orienteering Championships Christchurch. NZ www.nzonationals2013.org.nz Australian Ultralong O Creswick, VIC gjlawford2@bigpond.com Vic MTBO Champs/Aus Series #1 & Aus team selection races Castlemaine & Whroo, Victoria www.vicmtbo.com Canberra Autumn Classics ACT Championships 2013 http://act.orienteering.asn.au/events JWOC 2013 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic www.jwoc2013.cz WOC2013 Vuokkati, Finland www.woc2013.fi O-Ringen 2013 Boden, Lapland, Sweden www.oringen.se 2013 World Games Cali, Colombia worldgames2013.com.co AUS MTBO Championships Gympie, Qld www.ausmtbochamps.com Moray 2013 Scottish 6 Days www.scottish6days.com/2013/ Five days of Apennines 2013 Val Trebbia, Liguria (nr Genoa), Italy www.5days2013.it WMOC 2013 Sestriere, Piedmont, Italy, www.wmoc2013.it World MTBO Champs Junior World MTBO Champs Rakvere, Lääne-Viru, Estonia www.orienteerumine.ee/mtbo2013

Sept 28Oct 6

AUS Championships Carnival ACT www.auschamps2013.com Oct 9-13 World Masters MTBO Champs Costa Alentejana, Portugal www.wmmtboc2013.fpo.pt/ Nov 9-10 Venice City Race 2013 (check dates for Venezia, Italy www.orivenezia.it Acqua Alta)

Nov 9, 10, 11 Cal O’rie NEW DATES New Caledonia clubconvergence@lagoon.nc Dec 27-31 Xmas 5-Days NSW

Dec 30Jan 4

Big 5 O Week, South Africa Kaapsehoop, Mpumalanga Province South Africa. www.bigfive-o.co.za/

April 18 - 21 July 5-13

July 19-25

July 19-26

July 21-27

Aug 24-31

Nov 1-8 Dates tba

Dates tba

Australian 3 Days Carnival 2014 Lithgow/Mudgee, NSW WOC 2014 Trentino, Italy www.woc-wtoc2014.com O-Ringen 2014 50th Anniversary Rinkaby, Skåne, Sweden. www.oringen.se SOW 2014, Swiss O Week Zermatt, Switzerland www.swiss-o-week.ch JWOC 2014 Borovetz, Bulgaria www.jwoc2014.bg WMTBOC, JWMTBOC & WMMTBOC 2014 Bialystok Poland WMOC 2014 Porto Alegre, Brazil www.wmoc2014.br 2014 AUS MTBO Championships South Australia AUS Championships Carnival West Australia

Saturday 6 April 2013 (Saturday after Easter) Format: Multi-loop Organiser: Eureka Orienteers Terrain: Creswick area, detailed mining and gully/spur, fast running Winning times: M21E 2.5hrs, W21E 2hrs, M20E 2hrs, W20E 1hr45, all other classes have longer than normal winning times (but are not ultralong length)

Major Prize: return flight to Europe in 2013 + entry to European event of choice (e.g. Oringen), total value $2500 Winner of major prize will be decided between elite class winners by a handicapped adjustment of elite class km rates, based on Scandinavian ultralong km rates

Other Prizes: $100s and $100s other prizes sponsored by:

www.wildfiresports.com.au

orienteering apparel

orienteering/sports equipment and accessories

Entries now open: eventor.orienteering.asn.au Contact details: Jenny Bourne, Geoff Lawford, email: gjlawford2@bigpond.com

Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre MARCH 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

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