The Australian Orienteer - September 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013

AUS Schools Champs preview 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 represented in Australia by FISKARS BRANDS. australia@fiskarsbrands.com

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

The President’s Page Blair Trewin

I

t is the time of year when some of our number head to Europe to compete in various championships or just the multi-day circuit (the Scottish 6-Day seems to be particularly popular this year), and many of the rest of us have spent time at odd hours watching computer screens, following GPS dots and cursing technical breakdowns. This year I was among the latter group; it was probably as well that no-one else was around in my area at work at 7 on a Thursday evening to hear me yelling at a computer as the dot labelled ‘Uppill’ entered the finish circle three seconds inside the magic time in the Middle Distance qualification.

The World Championships results were a bit of a mixed bag this year, as were the Junior World Championships (although with some very pleasing results from some of the newcomers in the latter case). On the positive side it was good to see Hanny Allston’s return to the international Orienteering scene, as well as to get all three women into the Middle Distance Final and for Simon Uppill to reach two Finals. Of course, the big disappointment is that the men fell just outside the cut-off to get two places in next year’s Long and Middle Distance races (under the new qualifying system). It’s easy for people to lament the injustice of it all and wonder what might have been without injuries (although we were not the only country to suffer from them). However, we have to deal with things as they are, not as we would like them to be, and we are in a good position to get promoted next year, especially if we can perform in the Relay.

Having WOC places allocated to the Oceania Championships won’t hurt, either.

An improved high performance structure will help our quest to go forward in results at the international level. This is something which has been worked on in the background for a while, but is now gathering momentum, and we should have some concrete plans to put in place in the later part of this year. A lot of the credit for this goes to Lance Read, who has taken on the role of OA’s Director (High Performance) and has really hit the ground running in his first few weeks in the job. More progress will be made as some of the other key players come back from Europe.

There’s a lot of action happening on the development front, too.

Some of the regional participation projects are starting to bear fruit, with the establishment of a Northern Rivers club in New South Wales (I also hear on the grapevine – otherwise known as Attackpoint – that something similar might be happening in Albany). We’re also seeing growth in places where we can find participation opportunities close to where people are. In the place with which I’m the most familiar, Melbourne, a mid-year series on bush areas close to the city – ones some of the purists might turn their noses up at, but convenient for newcomers and fun even for the experienced – are now regularly starting to draw turnouts in the mid-100s (at least when the weather is decent), and it’s been a pleasant surprise to turn up and see so many people whom I don’t recognise. Similar things are happening in some of the other States.

The external environment, both within and outside our sport, is something we always need to keep an eye out on. Within the sport, something which has been attracting some attention is the

long drawn-out process of developing an updated International Specification for Orienteering Maps; our Mapping Committee has been doing some excellent work making sure the IOF is aware of some of the issues specific to terrain types which might not be found in Europe but do exist here. Externally, the obvious thing to keep an eye out on is the upcoming election, and not just because it might (at the time of writing, anyway) coincide with a major event day (as it did in 1998, when we spent an hour after the Australian Championships with the Victorian schools team bus scouring the suburbs of Perth for a polling booth which accepted interstate absentee votes, because one of our team members had just turned 18). Historically sport policy and funding haven’t been the subject of much in the way of partisan wrangling and I think most of us would hope that this continues to be the case.

SEPTEMBER 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 SEPTEMBER 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 PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911 President: Blair Trewin Director High Performance: Lance Read Director Finance: Bruce Bowen Director Technical: Jenny Casanova Director Special Projects: Robert Spry Director Communications: Craig Feuerherdt Director International IOF Council: Mike Dowling Executive Officer: John Harding High Performance Manager: Kay Haarsma High Performance Operations Manager: Nick Dent Badge Applications: John Oliver

orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 oa_president@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au oa_finance@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6288 8501 oa_technical@netspeed.com.au m: 0427 605 167 rbspry@gmail.com craigfeuerherdt@gmail.com 0438 050 074 oa_international@netspeed.com.au orienteering@netspeed.com.au 02 6162 1200 m: 0427 107 033 kayhaarsma@hotmail.com 08 8337 0522 nickdent7@gmail.com 02 4384 3627 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 ONSW: 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

October 11. Time-sensitive: Oct 18

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 3/13 (no. 171) SEPTEMBER 2013

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: October 11; Time-sensitive - October 18.

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 – batmaps.liz@gmail.com NSW: tba 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.

Delivery is airmail, there is no seamail option. Please send payment in Australian dollars by bank draft or international postal order, or pay direct

by Visa or Mastercard. Quote full card number and expiry date.

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

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

CONTENTS T H E P R E S I D E N T ’ S P A G E.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 S P O T T H E D I F F E R E N C E .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 EDITORIAL ............................................ 7 J W O C 2 0 1 3.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 N AT I O N A L O L E A G U E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 WOC 2013........................................... 16 AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPS PREVIEW.............. 22 M E L B U S H O .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 B O O K R E V I E W – To u g h a s N a i l s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 M A P P E R S O P P O S E I S O M.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 WHEEL- O............................................. 39 AUS MTBO CHAMPS............................... 40 TRAIL- O CORNER................................... 43 WOC 1972........................................... 44 O - S P Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 TOP EVENTS......................................... 47

Cover photo: JWOC debutante Lanita Steer at the last control of the Long Distance: photo Kim Nankervis.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

SPOT the DIFFERENCE

This time we go to Irishtown. But not in the Emerald Isle – closer to home in the Victorian gold mining district of Castlemaine. This was a reserve map for the 1985 World Championships and has been often used and enjoyed since then.

Here, in two otherwise identical map sections, we have created 25 differences.

CAN YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

EDITORIAL

Choose your Covers #4 Swiss O 3-2013 cover

In the previous magazine (AO-June 2013) I presented ten recent cover photos from Orienteering magazines around the world and asked you to tell me the top-3 covers you preferred. And now the results of that survey are …………

W

ell, not quite …… because I received only eleven responses from you. That is just 11 responses from all the orienteers around Australia who read the magazine. So, I’m throwing the survey open for another three months.

In the meantime, on the basis of a 3, 2, 1 points score, those who responded and voted have given the covers shown in the June edition the following scores: #10 AO-March 2013-cover...............................12 points #4 Swiss O 3-2013-cover................................12 points #8 AO-Sept 2012-cover..................................9 points #5 Orientierung 4-2012-cover.......................8 points #9 AO-Dec 2012-cover...................................7 points #6 Suunnistaja 8-2012-cover.........................5 points

#8 AO Sept 2012 cover

#7 Veivalg 6-2012-cover.................................3 points #1 Skogssport 1-2013 cover...........................3 points #2 CompassSport 6-2012-cover.....................1 point #3 Orientering 1-2013-cover..........................0 points Some comments about the most popular covers were: #10 Good picture; thoughtful kid holding a compass. Well done. #10 The young girl holding her compass looking focused - the young are the future of the sport. #10 The little girl looks far too pensive, bordering on scared and maybe going to cry. #4 Good picture, the only one showing an orienteer in terrain. #4 Has an athlete in a far more appealing area. #8 Good but not for every issue. #8 Makes Orienteering look attractive and interesting.

General comments – “Have a star when they have done something worthy but give other aspects a go on some other occasions”; “I’ve always thought that the covers were as good as those on any other mag and see no reason to change”; “June 2013 is an excellent cover for the Fun Runner Magazine - definitely NOT an orienteering photo”.

#10 AO March 2013 cover

Here again is your chance to tell the Editor (me) which covers you like and which you don’t. Please look at the covers on p7 of the June magazine, then email me (mikehubbert@ozemail. com.au) with your comments and your top-3 choices. Your responses will be summarised in the December edition.

Michael Hubbert (Managing Editor)

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Photo: Kim Nankervis

Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Valerie Barker – Team Manager

Photo: Kim Nankervis

The Australian Juniors were – back row, left to right: Jacqui Doyle, Lanita Steer, Mary Fleming, Heather Muir, Michele Dawson, Nicola Blatchford.

Front row: Matt Doyle, Oliver Poland, Ian Lawford, Oscar McNulty, Andrew Barnett, Brodie Nankervis.

Planning: training programmes, booking accommodation, arranging car hire, preliminary entries, selection races, national Junior camps. It is hard to pinpoint when planning for JWOC actually begins, and all depends on whether it is the officials liaising with team nominees, officials with the JWOC organisers, or nominees with coaches. For some of us it begins at the final Team Officials meeting the previous year, that is, at one of the meetings in Kosice, Slovakia in 2012, continuing then with the move from the Slovakian organisers to the Czech organising team. For others, perhaps the potential team members, planning might have begun seriously at the National or even the Schools Championships in 2012, during the Schools Tour to New Zealand in January this year or at the national Junior training camp in late January. It is the time when our juniors make an often very public commitment to developing their training and fitness, with an eye to nomination for and selection in the JWOC team.

Selection: a strong field nominated this year so it was encouraging to again have a full team of six men and six women named in the JWOC team. The selectors were able to name the 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

team on Easter Monday, earlier than has become the practice of the past few years. In anticipation we’d already had uniform tryon sessions and preparatory meetings but as always a busy chain of events was set into play from that day on.

Preparation: This is a separate list in itself! Confirmation of accommodation; dietary requests; liaison with the NZ team officials (it’s useful to have them as allies!); letters to schools and universities seeking support, endorsements and assessment consideration; uniform requests; t-shirt designs and orders; ID photos; travel arrangements; medical forms and vaccinations; ASADA courses; passports; travel insurance; family and supporters’ travel; training plans; injury management and physiotherapy appointments; budgets, saving and lots of spending; fund-raising; work leave arrangements; maps, websites and The World of O; media passes; travel guides and hostel bookings…

Getting There: Olle had been in Sweden for some months; Ian and Mary joined him in Finland to run the Jukola Relay as a warm-up event; Heather was the fourth of the advance group who were able to do some serious training ahead of the rest of the

Heather Muir in the Sprint.

Photo: Erik Borg

Photo: Erik Borg

Jacqui Doyle during the Middle Qualification race

Ian Lawford

Photo: Erik Borg

team; Lanita, Nicola, Roch and Valerie arrived into Prague on the back of a heatwave (but no flooding!); Jacqui, Matt, Michele and Andrew brought slightly milder conditions 24 hours later; and Brodie and Oscar were the last to arrive straight after completion of their university exam commitments. The Budget rental counter at Prague airport on Sunday 23rd June saw us coming together as a team, for a short drive through the Czech countryside to our accommodation for the next two weeks, Hotel Cernigov, in Hradec Králové.

Training Week: We had six full days to get over jet lag and get acclimatised, to develop a team spirit, and to really taste the variety of terrain in which the competition was going to take place. We were out most mornings, travelling north to the training areas pertinent to the Long and Middle Distance maps – steep hills, unusually mapped rocks, lots of tracks, soft surfaces underfoot and the open forest and rough meadows so typical of the area - or to the nearby Relay forests and Sprint training areas, mostly by ourselves but a couple of times to work with the NZ team. The weather was just like that we’d left at home!

Maximum temperatures hovered around 12 °- 13° C, and our

raincoats had plenty of use. Laundry arrangements were creative (there are almost no laundromats in the Czech Republic) as clothes were kept in some marginal state of cleanliness. Evening team meetings saw Roch introducing the concept of flow, what it means to an athlete, what psychologists mean by the concept, and the challenge to all team members to have Orienteering autotelic experiences, the optimal of all Orienteering experiences.

Relaxing: If mornings were about training, afternoons were generally far more leisurely. Athletes like to shop – and we had plenty of shopping options very close at hand, including a large Tesco; the social media took lots of people’s time and efforts. The wifi hotspot was at its best just outside the lifts on each floor, and Floor 9 (ours) was no exception. However, as the hotel filled up with incoming teams, the reliability of Internet access moved inversely, so that within a week, getting connected was purely a matter of chance. A nearby indoor swimming complex gave the team a chance to play in the wave pool, and relax in the 37°; and there was the final planning of party outfits, following a ‘Cops and Robbers’ theme.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS Mary Fleming during the Long race.

Michele Dawson

Photo: Kim Nankervis Photo: Kim Nankervis

Nicola Blatchford

Oliver Poland

Matt Doyle

Photo: Kim Nankervis

Exams: Not every one was able to relax in the afternoons – JWOC 2013 was a week earlier than usual, which meant that several members of the NZ and Australian teams had university exam commitments. Heather had had to sit two exams under the relaxed eye of the local university supervisors the previous week; Valerie took on the role of Chief Invigilator for two exams each from the University of Auckland for Laura and Renee (NZ), and then on behalf of UNSW, for Michele. The exam papers had all been sent to Valerie (at the University of Canberra) by courier, then hand-carried to JWOC. Returning them was almost an exam in itself for Valerie; some were returned by courier, and Michele’s was photocopied, scanned and then emailed back to UNSW, all with the aid of a non-English-speaking local printer, a USB drive, and lots of miming!

Shopping: The local Tesco (supermarket) was our saviour.

It was large, with a very wide range of stock, and it was cheap.

Valerie did at least one run every day, for bananas, muesli bars and fruit; it was rare that she did not pass other team members (of all teams) on their refuelling runs as well. The local shopping mall also served the team well (especially for the party stuff!); all the local pharmacies were thoroughly checked out for insect repellent, throat lozenges, and icepacks (miming a request for an instant icepack was interesting, but the hot/cold pack we did get was put to good use on Brodie’s knee during competition); of 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Photo: Kim Nankervis

Photo: Kim Nankervis

course we needed a kettle for those post meals and meetings, cups of coffee for coaches and managers; and most importantly, Valerie found a wonderful bakery that supplied a delicious chocolate cake for Michele’s birthday, conveniently celebrated on the JWOC rest day.

Sightseeing: the bulk of the Old Town of HK was embargoed until the last day of competition, so we were allowed access into only the large main square, which was little more than a car park. However, our Sprint training day took us over to Kutna Hora, a beautiful mediaeval town on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We were able to poke around the old streets and buildings, and marvel at the neo-gothic splendour and flying buttresses of the Cathedral of St Barbara. The most curious place to visit was, however, the Sedlec Ossuary, a small church housing the bones of 40,000 people (some dating back to the Plague years of the 14th century), arranged in garlands of skulls or built into large chalices, shields and a vast chandelier said to contain one of every bone in the body! The countryside we drove through daily was intensively farmed; the crops were green and lush, poppies were just appearing, lots of haymaking was being done, and the numerous little villages we passed through had busy gardens and well tended houses.

Women’s Relay start.

Heather Muir Photo: Erik Borg

Photo: Kim Nankervis

Brodie Nankervis

Photo: Kim Nankervis

The Events: This year the Opening Ceremony was short and simple, without a march-past through the local streets; this was because the event programme was different from the norm, beginning with the Long Distance event the next day. However, we were able to present ourselves in our new uniforms to all of our parents and supporters on the Sunday afternoon, enabling lots of photo opportunities. The bad weather disappeared with the end of training camp, and we had pleasant running conditions in the low to mid twenties all week.

In particular this year, we were very pleased to have Kim Nankervis as our official Media Representative, and it was her photos and stories which kept so many of you informed about our results, hopes, achievements and disappointments throughout the week. Kim was able to get into places on the courses that allowed her to take really interesting photos (places banned to officials and spectators) and bring you a new perspective on the events, both visually and through her debriefing sessions with the team. You’ve followed all of these closely, not only through Kim’s work, but also with the assistance of the outstanding television and internet coverage that we had. The events were made very accessible to all of the spectators this year, with live tracking of runners wearing GPS units, the large screen at the Finish and the wonderful commentary by the inimitable Per Forsberg.

Having the JWOC Tour events adjacent to JWOC, meant that there was a lively trades area each day, with plenty of shops selling a wide range of O-gear and sporting accessories, and a ready-made crowd who enthusiastically supported the events. It is appropriate here to acknowledge our own large Support Crew, many wearing their distinctive supporters shirts. Our usual Down Under solidarity saw us again getting very excited with Kiwi Tim Robertson’s third place in the Sprint even while simultaneously managing some of the biggest disappointments of the week.

Thank you to all of the mums, dads, brothers and sisters, and friends who cheered us along!

Hazards: This year brought more than the usual threat of ticks, and stinging nettles. Brodie had a close encounter with barbed wire and wild pigs during the training week, quite a few deer were seen and one of the training areas was adjacent to a large prison. With the actual events being fully televised, runners had to be careful to avoid the cables which wound through the forest floor and the cameras were unsympathetic to Andrew, watching him taking longer than he’d planned to find a control amongst the rocks in the Middle Distance Final. Significantly, the Long Distance maps were not far from the Polish border and were littered with old WWII bunkers; railway lines had to be crossed coming into the Finish chute of the Middle Final (all trains had been stopped that day), and the actual Finish arena was the site of SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

a former coalmine. Indeed, we were assured that below the Finish line was a pit over 1000m deep.

Afterwards: Look forward to seeing some interesting O-tops on the backs of our team, following the traditional clothing swap after the Relay; the banquet (our ‘jailbirds’ and cops); early departures from Hradec Králové after only a few hours sleep; more sightseeing; supporting our WOC team and running in events in Finland; European travel; competing in O-Ringen; even back to school and university within a couple of days for some of us. Everyone gained so much from their experiences, whether this was their first or last JWOC. Returning home means the opportunity to relive and contextualise those experiences and continue to build on the Five-Year Plan, and for our younger team members, to start looking at the JWOC 2014 Bulgaria website and to dream a little. … and from those dreams, plans are created.

RESULTS SPRINT Junior Men 1. Schneider Florian 2. Hubácek Michal 3. Robertson Tim 4. Heggedal Sigur 5. Meier Christoph 6. Pedersli Trond Einar 7. Crickmore Jonathan 8. Parfianowicz Piotr 9. Bloemen Tristan 10. Niemi Aleksi 13. Hann Nick 41. Morrison Shamus 43. Doyle Matthew 45. McNulty Oscar 45. Poland Oliver 72. Eatson Thomas 80. Batin Ryan 94. Barnett Andrew 105. Richardson Alistair

SUI 14:35 CZE 14:39 NZL 14:47 NOR 14:57 SUI 14:58 NOR 15:00 GBR 15:04 POL 15:06 BEL 15:08 FIN 15:10 NZL 15:14 NZL 16:02 AUS 16:04 AUS 16:07 AUS 16:07 NZL 16:38 NZL 16:43 AUS 17:09 NZL 17:22

Junior Women 1. Martensson Heidi NOR 14:33 2. Klysner Nicoline Frib DEN 14:45 3. Denisova Anastasia BLR 14:48 4. Savkina Ekaterina RUS 14:49 5. Benjaminsen Andrine NOR 14:52 6. Sandberg Frida SWE 14:59 7. Hulkkonen Johanna FIN 15:00 7. Tomashevskaya Veronik RUS 15:00 9. Forsgren Hilda SWE 15:02 10. Krasilnikova Daria RUS 15:10 38. Robertson Laura NZL 16:00 54. Metherell Selena NZL 16:35 66. Saville Cosette NZL 17:00 66. Steer Lanita AUS 17:00 81. Gray Rebecca NZL 17:28 93. Doyle Jacqui AUS 18:01 100. McMillan Jula NZL 18:12 102. Fleming Mary AUS 18:13 115. Beveridge Renee NZL 18:45 131. Dawson Michele AUS 20:09

Andrew Barnett, Middle

Photo: Erik Borg

MIDDLE Junior Men – 3.6km 1. Svensk Emil 2. Johansson Anton 3. Wängdahl Jens 4. Anttolainen Aleksi 5. Melsom Borger 6. Minár Marek 7. Chloupek Adam 8. Huber Sindre Rønning 9. Schuster Marek 10. Aldén Niklas 32. Hann Nick 53. McNulty Oscar 59. Barnett Andrew

SWE 24.32 SWE 24.33 SWE 24.41 FIN 24.45 NOR 25.06 CZE 25.13 CZE 25.14 NOR 25.17 CZE 25.36 SWE 25.48 NZL 29.04 AUS 32.44 AUS 37.04

Junior Women – 3.0km 1. Ødum Miri Thrane DEN 25.05 2. Risby Lisa SWE 25.36 3. Rundhaug Mathilde NOR 25.45 4. Haataja Anna FIN 25.51 5. Basset Isia FRA 26.13 6. Høydal Gunvor Hov NOR 26.14 7. Hulkkonen Johanna FIN 26.20 8. Chromá Katerina CZE 26.52 9. Roggo Andrea SUI 26.54 10. Sandberg Frida SWE 27.04 31. Robertson Laura NZL 30.59 53. Muir Heather AUS 38.22

Ian Lawford hands over to Oscar McNulty in the relay.

Photo: Kim Nankervis

12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

LONG Junior Men – 9.9km 1. Parfianowicz Piotr 2. Schneider Florian 3. Kozyrev Andrey 4. Melsom Borger 5. Meier Christoph 6. Johansson Anton 7. Edsen Jakob Ekhard 8. Raitanen Topi 9. Aldén Niklas 10. Wängdahl Jens 14. Hann Nick 25. Robertson Tim 52. Poland Oliver 69. McNulty Oscar 82. Morrison Shamus 85. Lawford Ian 91. Nankervis Brodie 102. Doyle Matthew 123. Richardson Alistair 135. Barnett Andrew 150. Eatson Thomas 151. Batin Ryan

POL 69.21 SUI 70.37 RUS 71.44 NOR 71.53 SUI 72.17 SWE 73.04 DEN 73.26 FIN 73.40 SWE 74.09 SWE 74.15 NZL 75.04 NZL 76.20 AUS 80.34 AUS 83.53 NZL 85.50 AUS 86.24 AUS 87.46 AUS 89.21 NZL 93.52 AUS 97.01 NZL 109.32 NZL 111.07

Junior Women – 7.1km 1. Risby Lisa SWE 60.42 2. Hagström Sara SWE 61.29 3. Savkina Ekaterina RUS 61.36 4. Basset Isia FRA 62.15 5. Klingenberg Ita DEN 64.17 6. Klysner Cecilie Friberg DEN 64.30 7. Chromá Katerina CZE 64.48 8. Jokela Emmi FIN 64.49 9. Klysner Nicoline Friberg DEN 65.29 10. Haikonen Henna-Riikka FIN 65.30 65. Metherell Selena NZL 76.20 73. Steer Lanita AUS 79.13 80. Robertson Laura NZL 80.59 84. Fleming Mary AUS 81.46 90. Muir Heather AUS 83.32 97. McMillan Jula NZL 84.24 102. Saville Cosette NZL 86.17 112. Gray Rebecca NZL 90.16 116. Blatchford Nicola AUS 91.04 119. Beveridge Renee NZL 91.34 125. Doyle Jacqui AUS 95.33 127. Dawson Michele AUS 97.14

Photo: Erik Borg

Lanita Steer, Sprint RELAY Junior Men 1. CZE 2 2. SWE 1 3. RUS 1 17. AUS 1 Lawford Ian McNulty Oscar Poland Oliver 27. NZL 1 Robertson Tim Morrison Shamus Hann Nick 37. AUS 2 Doyle Matthew Nankervis Brodie Barnett Andrew

104.28 105.44 107.35 120.49 39.22 (20) 38.09 (15) 43.18 (35) 124.01 45.41 (41) 40.51 (25) 37.29 (10) 133.59 47.59 (45) 44.58 (40) 41.02 (26)

Junior Women 1. CZE 1 2. FIN 1 3. SWE 2 27. NZL 1 Robertson Laura Metherell Selena Gray Rebecca 28. AUS 1 Steer Lanita Doyle Jacqui Muir Heather 30. NZL 2 McMillan Jula Saville Cosette Beveridge Renee 37. AUS 2 Fleming Mary Dawson Michele Blatchford Nicola

104.45 105.08 106.35 131.09 38.53 (27) 43.42 (27) 48.34 (31) 132.37 44.04 (36) 43.55 (28) 44.38 (26) 139.49 41.38 (32) 46.20 (29) 51.51 (34) 163.03 50.49 (39) 58.55 (39) 53.19 (36)

Photo: Kim Nankervis

Girls with results

Nicola Blatchford-Middle Q

Dressed for the after-party

Photo: Erik Borg

Photo: Kim Nankervis

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

SILVA NOL

SILVA National Orienteering League - update Blair Trewin

T

he Senior team competitions in the SILVA National Orienteering League will both go down to the wire. In both the men’s and women’s competition, it looks to be a two-way contest between the Canberra Cockatoos and the Victorian Nuggets. The Cockatoos’ men lead by a single point, while the Nuggets’ women have a Lizzie Ingham four-point gap, with little changing as a result of the WOC trials weekend in Canberra in early May. There are four races to come, as part of the Australian Championships week. It is likely that both competitions will come down to the season’s final race, the Australian Relays, although being on home ground will do the Cockatoos no harm.

Lizzie Ingham swept the three May races and has put herself in the box seat to win individual honours. At present she is tied with Grace Crane on 210 points, but has a race in hand; even if Crane wins the three remaining individual races, Ingham would still emerge ahead if she is second in any of the three. Jasmine Neve also has a mathematical chance.

Matt Crane won two out of three in May and holds a useful lead over the consistent Lachlan Dow – yet to win a race this season, but with seven minor placings. It is not quite a done deal yet but Dow would not be able to put a foot wrong from here if he wants to win. Apart from Crane, the other race winner in May was Rob Preston in the Middle Distance, making a welcome return after his dramatic first-day exit from Easter.

In the Junior competition, the Cockatoos’ men and Nuggets’ women are comfortable leaders. Ian Lawford and Heather Muir are setting the pace at the moment with leads of 15 and 14 points respectively, but in both competitions there are several others close enough to have a chance if they finish well. Oliver Poland has won three times from four starts and has a lot of potential to add to his score, while Jacqui Doyle, Mary Fleming and Lanita Steer have all won twice this season and could also contend if they perform at the end of September.

Athlete Pathway Development We promised to bring you more from Nick Dent on this topic but, with the appointment of Lance Read as OA Director (High Performance), and the work he is doing on the High Performance structure, it has been decided to hold an update over until the December magazine.

The 2013 Australian WOC, JWOC and MTBO teams will be outfitted

by Trimtex

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Trail Runner Plus R 80

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

IPX6

Lumens 48h HEADLAMP SILVA X-TRAIL PLUS 45m

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Qualification for 2014 World Orienteering Championships

N

ext year sees the introduction by the IOF of a new qualification system for Middle and Long Distance Finals based upon previous performances. There will be no qualification races for these events.

Trail Runner

In the men there is no non-European country qualified for Division 2. In the women Australia, USA and Canada have all qualified to be in Division 2.

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So for Australia next year, the allocation of places per event is as follows: • Sprint Qualification - 3 men; 3 women • Mixed Sprint Relay - 2 men; 2 women • Long Distance Final - 1 man; 2 women

X-Trail

• Middle Distance Final - 1 man; 2 women • Bush Relay - 3 men; 3 women Division 1 – For the 2014 World Orienteering Championships in Italy, the following countries will have three starting slots in the Middle and Long Distance Finals: Women

Men

SUI

NOR

FIN

SUI

SWE

FRA

NOR

SWE

RUS

RUS

CZE

LAT

DEN

CZE

GBR

FIN

Division 2 – The following countries will have two starting slots: Women

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Men

LTU

UKR

UKR

DEN

FRA

EST

LAT

LTU

AUT

AUT

EST

ITA

AUS

BLR

POL

GBR

ITA

HUN

USA

BUL

ESP

POL

HUN

ESP

CAN

GER

GER

30h

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The remaining countries will have one guaranteed starting slot for both Middle and Long Distance Finals. The countries closest to Division 2 are New Zealand, China, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Japan in the women’s class and Belgium, Slovakia, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand in the men’s class.

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The new model means that all countries are guaranteed at least one start slot in both Middle and Long Distance Finals.

In addition, all nations are allowed three runners in the Sprint qualification race and one team in the Sprint Relay and in the “traditional” Relay.

Orienteering Australia Match-Fixing Policy approved

45h

Silva Intelligent Light ®

Traditional light

ANYHOW. ANYWHERE. ANYWAY.

The Orienteering Australia Board and Australian Government National Sport Integrity Unit have approved an OA matchfixing policy. This is publicly available in section 1.26 of the OA Operational Manual at Administration/op_manual/ The policy is a requirement of Australian Sports Commission funding for all ASC-funded sports. Although sports betting on orienteering is unknown in Australia, it does occur in some European countries for some events. Under the policy Australian orienteers defined as “relevant persons” in the policy (currently members and officials with WOC and MTBO WOC teams) must not bet on orienteering competitions, whether in Europe or anywhere else, or otherwise participate in match fixing.

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SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15 Arial Black 12pt spärrad +900

18/3/10 11:52:32 AM

2

WOC 2013 – FINLAND

2013 World Orienteering Championships Photos: Erik Borg

The Australian BOOMERANGS were represented by: Bryan Keely, Simon Uppill, Lachlan Dow and Josh Blatchford.

Felicity Brown, Hanny Allston, Jasmine Neve, Vanessa Round, Aislinn Prendergast and Susanne Casanova.

In her first appearance at World Championship level Felicity Brown led the Australians home in the Sprint Final, placing 31st with Vanessa Round close behind in 32nd. Simon Uppill went one better with 30th in the Men’s Final.

Best result for the Australians was Hanny Allston’s 22nd in the Long Distance Final while both Hanny and Simon placed 33rd in their Middle Distance Finals.

In the Relays, the Women’s team placed 13th after great runs by Vanessa Round and Hanny Allston, while the Men’s team finished in 20th place.

Team Manager, Tom Quayle, reports: We expected a WOC with varying terrain and that is definitely what we got. It felt like a week with two halves, the first half with the Long Distance in open fast forest and an urban Sprint and the second half in really demanding, typical Scandinavian forest. Our training camp in the week prior to WOC had been focussed on fine tuning our skills using short race simulation trainings, lots of map analysis and course speculation.

Hanny Allston’s 22nd in the Long Distance Final was Australia’s best result.

Swiss great, Simone Niggli, added another three gold medals and one bronze to her already impressive tally. With a clean-sweep of all individual Championship events this year her WOC medal cabinet now contains 23 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze.

J

ust out of Junior ranks, Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson showed she could be the heir apparent to Queen Simone by winning silver in both the Middle and Long Distance events, while the face of these Championships, Lizzie Ingham Finland’s Minna Kauppi, could only manage a Relay silver and two 4th places in the Middle and Long Distance races. And France’s Thierry Gueorgiou added another gold, this time in the Long Distance, and silver in the Middle Distance to his growing collection of WOC medals.

New Zealand ace, Lizzie Ingham, showed her classy running speed by taking 14th in the Sprint Final but then struck trouble in the complex terrain of the Middle and Long Distance events, failing to qualify for the Final in both.

16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

SOTKAMO 1:4 000 / 2.5m Mens Sprint

Simon Uppill’s week of racing was top class.

Long Distance The team’s week started with the Long Distance qualification. We’d enjoyed the training we’d done on the training areas. There were some danger areas though, with sections of detail and low visibility young pine that you needed to slow down in, but otherwise it was beautiful forest.

The organisers put a lot of effort into hiding the fact that the Long Distance Final start was actually at the arena, something we had speculated a lot about in the days leading up to the race. This didn’t really change the character of the race though. The most interesting feature of the race was the long leg back to the arena where, in the women’s race in particular, the route choice would turn out to be decisive in determining the medals.

Sprint We’d done a lot of research of the area and there were no real surprises.

From the edge of the embargoed area and from old maps you could see that the terrain wouldn’t pose too much trouble. We knew that the organisers would use temporary fences to make the area more difficult but they had only erected one main impassable fence through the middle of the map to create route choice. Bryan Keely’s preparation had been disturbed by a fall on the Sprint model map that left him with a nasty cut on his knee, something that Bryan managed carefully for the rest of the week with the help of our physiotherapist Elin Vedin and the Swedish team doctor Mia Jodal.

All our research of the Final area suggested that the terrain itself wouldn’t be too difficult. The organisers had realised that themselves because they had, as in the qualification, put out hundreds of metres of temporary impassable fences to make route choice more challenging. They certainly succeeded making a challenging and exciting Sprint course. The organisers had set up a magnificent Finish in a baseball arena and when home hope Mårten Boström came in to win the men’s race the excitement level in the crowd reached boiling point. I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like that at any other WOC and I’m sure it will be a lasting memory for everyone who was there.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

WOC 2013 – FINLAND

Middle Distance

Relay

And suddenly it was time to prepare for the Middle Distance qualification. For many runners at WOC I’m sure it felt like the holiday was over. The terrain was really challenging both technically and physically. The results confirmed this with a lot of people struggling to come to grips with the terrain. Again, Elin got some more work to do when Lachlan Dow twisted his ankle badly towards the end of his course. This would put an end to his week and necessitate the call up of Josh Blatchford into the Relay team.

The Relay was a fitting end to a tough week of racing. The results were quite close and half way through both the men’s and women’s races it felt like several teams were in with a medal chance. Norway hung on for an unlikely win in the women’s race while the biggest surprise in the men’s race was Ukraine getting the bronze medal.

The Final area was possibly tougher than the qualification area.

Even the incredible Thierry Gueorgiou made uncharacteristic mistakes to miss out on gold. The surprise of the day was Leonid Novikov from Russia winning gold.

TIPASOJA KUMPULA SOTKAMO

1:15 000 / 5m Women’s Long Final

For us there are a lot of positives we can take away from WOC 2013. Our team should be commended for their faultless attitude in approaching what was a challenging World Championship. Some of the things I will take with me from the week are; the women’s Sprint and Middle Distance qualifying where all qualified for the Final; the women’s Relay performance where they finished 13th; Hanny Allston’s strong return to WOC where in the Long Distance she qualified 3rd and placed 22nd in the Final and Simon Uppill’s week of racing which was top class. In five races he never really put a foot wrong and ran a great first leg in the Relay to come back in the lead pack.

Special thanks go to Julian Dent who, after being forced to pull out of the Team due to injury, did such a good job as the Team’s media representative. The Team blog was much appreciated not only by the Australian supporters but received plenty of praise from many of the other teams.

WOC 2013 will be remembered not only for its champions but for the excellent organisation and the incredible atmosphere and enthusiasm of the large crowds that gathered to follow the athletes.

Now it’s back to the drawing board for us to prepare for WOC 2014 in Italy.

Vanessa Round 18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

RESULTS SPRINT

LONG

MIDDLE

Men – 3.9km 1 Mårten Boström FIN 14:19.6 2 Scott Fraser GBR 14:36.7 3 Jonas Leandersson SWE 14:37.8 4 Fabian Hertner SUI 14:41.3 5 Matthias Kyburz SUI 14:45.8 6 Rasmus Thrane Hansen DEN 14:47.3 7 Øystein Kvval Østerbø NOR 14:49.4 8 Jerker Lysell SWE 14:52.3 9 Murray Strain GBR 14:56.4 10 Jan Prochazka CZE 14:56.8 30 Simon Uppill AUS 15:58.0

Men – 19.8km 1 Thierry Gueorgiou 2 Jani Lakanen 3 Edgars Bertuks 4 Dmitriy Tsvetkov 5 Magne Dæhli 6 Matthias Merz 7 Daniel Hubmann 8 Tue Lassen 9 Kiril Nikolov 9 Valentin Novikov

FRA FIN LAT RUS NOR SUI SUI DEN BUL RUS

Women – 13.9km 1 Simone Niggli 2 Tove Alexandersson 3 Lena Eliasson 4 Minna Kauppi 5 Tatiana Ryabkina 6 Anni-Maija Fincke 7 Emma Johansson 8 Mari Fasting 9 Tone Wigemyr 10 Catherine Taylor 22 Hanny Allston

Men – 6.3km 1 Leonid Novikov 2 Thierry Gueorgiou 3 Gustav Bergman 4 Matthias Kyburz 5 Daniel Hubmann Fabian Hertner 7 Carl Godager Kaas 8 Edgars Bertuks 9 Denys Shcherbakov 10 Peter Öberg 33 Simon Uppill

RUS FRA SWE SUI SUI SUI NOR LAT UKR SWE AUS

37:45 37:54 38:21 39:08 39:16 39:16 39:21 39:51 39:59 40:22 44:55

SUI 1:20:02 SWE 1:23:01 SWE 1:23:08 FIN 1:23:44 RUS 1:23:45 FIN 1:25:51 SWE 1:26:32 NOR 1:26:40 NOR 1:28:06 GBR 1:28:11 AUS 1:35:17

Women – 5.0km 1 Simone Niggli 2 Tove Alexandersson 3 Merja Rantanen 4 Minna Kauppi 5 Irina Nyberg 6 Annika Billstam 7 Amélie Chataing 7 Tatiana Ryabkina 9 A Hausken Nordberg 10 Maja Alm 33 Hanny Allston 43 Vanessa Round 44 Jasmine Neve

SUI SWE FIN FIN RUS SWE FRA RUS NOR DEN AUS AUS AUS

35:25 37:10 37:59 38:39 38:45 38:49 38:50 38:50 38:56 39:13 46:38 53:20 54:28

Women – 3.4km 1 Simone Niggli 2 Annika Billstam 3 Venla Niemi 4 Maja Alm 5 Tessa Hill 6 Galina Vinogradova 7 Emma Klingenberg 8 Merja Rantanen 9 Heidi Bagstevold 10 A Hausken Nordberg 14 Lizzie Ingham 31 Felicity Brown 32 Vanessa Round 42 Jasmine Neve

SUI 14:10.6 SWE 14:18.7 FIN 14:48.5 DEN 14:53.0 GBR 14:58.2 RUS 15:04.3 DEN 15:08.9 FIN 15:15.9 NOR 15:20.8 NOR 15:22.8 NZD 15:39.6 AUS 16:53.8 AUS 16:56.4 AUS 18:36.5

1:41:39 1:42:57 1:43:29 1:43:43 1:43:57 1:44:20 1:44:48 1:46:21 1:46:40 1:46:40

RELAY Men – 5.2; 5.2; 5.6km 1 Russia 2 Sweden 3 Ukraine 4 Switzerland 5 Finland 6 Norway 20 Australia 1 Simon Uppill 2 Joshua Blatchford 3 Bryan Keely 26 New Zealand 1 Ross Morrison 2 Tane Cambridge 3 Tim Robertson

1:41:47 1:42:37 1:42:55 1:43:39 1:44:55 1:45:00 2:04:27 34:20 (12) 46:17 (26) 43:50 (19) 2:19:45 42:30 (22) 51:09 (30) 46:06 (23)

Women – 4.2; 4.2; 4.4km 1 Norway 1:37:53 2 Finland 1:39:07 3 Switzerland 1:43:44 4 Sweden 1:43:58 5 Czech Republic 1:45:48 6 Russia 1:46:29 13 Australia 2:01:05 1 Vanessa Round 37:09 (10) 2 Aislinn Prendergast 47:43 (20) 3 Hanny Allston 36:13 (7) 21 New Zealand 2:25:08 1 Lara Prince 56:33 (24) 2 Kate Morrison 46:00 (19) 3 Lizzie Ingham 42:35 (17)

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WOC 2013 – FINLAND

In the Light of Day Hanny Allston

S

unlight is pouring into my room and I roll over in preparedness for the day ahead. I’m already thinking about the map I want to visit today and how to maximize my knowledge of route choices in this foreign terrain. I check the time – 2:00am. I haven’t even stepped foot in the forest and I am already sensing the enormity of the challenge ahead of me. It is going to take time to readjust to orienteering in Scandinavia.

The weeks leading into the World Championships are now an endless memory of lush, green forest, rocky hillocks, sodden shoes, lakes, blueberries, giant marsh flies and equally giant technical mistakes. I laughed a lot in those early weeks in Finland as locals discussed the ‘relevance’ of particular maps compared to others. They also loved to explain how ‘fast’ certain maps were and how you could run ‘exceptionally quick’ in some of the forests. On these days I was lucky to break ten minutes per kilometre. To me every forest appeared the same as the one before. My mind churned with complexity of the rocky slopes, the old achilles yelling Photo: Erik Borg at me to find firmer terrain, and when you did slow down to carefully read a map hundreds of flies would send you on your way again – often in a direction distinctly different from that in which you had planned. And yet, slowly, slowly…

I knew that with patience and a positive attitude, things would begin to click together.

The return to international competition put me far outside my comfort zone – physically, technically, mentally, emotionally and logistically. It was only in March that I picked up my first Orienteering map, Easter that I ran my first Orienteering races, May that I was able to turn my training away from ultra-running, and June that I began specific technical training for the World Orienteering Championships in Vukoatti, Finland. I questioned the goal of competing at the World Orienteering Championships frequently through the months leading into the competitions.

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Hanny Allston had a strong return to WOC

As someone who always loves to look forwards, I wondered if returning to Orienteering at the world level was like taking a large step backwards and potentially in the wrong direction. I was also fearful of the stories that I knew it would generate and frightened of my own expectations.

I am not alone in these emotions. Whilst this year my story is unique – a previous World Champion returning after a four year break – we all have a story and with it brings expectations. In the last edition of The Australian Orienteer we read about Canadian Emily Kemp who at a tender age upped herself and moved to France to train alongside some of the greatest orienteers in the World. That brings expectation.

Reading the blog of my great friend Lizzie Ingham, I read about how hard she found the challenge of approaching a World Championships with the knowledge that she was faster and better prepared that ever before. Simone Niggli shifted her whole family including her parents to Finland for the entire ten weeks leading into the Championships. She later discussed how this was the most nervous she had ever been on a starting line. Minna Kauppi, pin-up girl of the World Championships, was a pre-race favourite in all the forest races and yet struggled to deliver results when it counted. Every athlete at these championships had a story. Every athlete experienced the mind games. The individuals that delivered results were those that kept their mind in check.

If I wanted to compete on the world level once more, I realized that the make and break for me this year was the attitude which I bought to my racing.

The night before the Long Distance Final I was reclining on my bed watching the Sprint races live on television. The racing looked fast and furious, with many athletes in the mix for a medal.

Mårten Boström appeared at the start gate. He looked lean and mean, and obviously as nervous as a rabbit in the spotlight. There were over 10,000 spectators packed into the stadium where the athletes were starting and finishing. I remember thinking at the time that if he could keep control of his nerves then he would be crowned World Champion at the end of the night. He took the gold medal. This is the wake-up call every orienteer needs as they step onto the world stage - we work hard to sharpen our physical prowess but our mind always holds the trump card.

Running the Long Distance Final was a memorable experience.

The welcoming cheers of 10,000 spectators, excited babble of the commentators, constant undulations through technical terrain and an almighty uphill finish chute exhausted even the finest runners. My competitors were lean and mean on this day, and it was hard not to be envious of their sense of preparedness. The course advantaged the strong runners and post race I vouched that I would never return to elite competition without more stamina and speed in my legs. But all thoughts, both positive and negative, must get swept aside at WOC – every day is a new day and it must be heralded with a carefully refined orienteering strategy.

that if I made an error in the Middle Distance races I should just get back on the horse and keep fighting. Every orienteer is human and we all make mistakes. Big errors certainly became the key feature of the Middle Distance, especially for the nonScandinavian countries. Physical strength also played such a huge component in the Final and sadly, my lack of physical preparation had me coming unstuck. This reiterated for me how tightly linked our physical strength is to our mental strength.

Racing for our country never ceases to bring out the best in us, especially when it comes to the Relay. This year, both our male and female teams delivered extraordinary results in some of the most technical terrain Finland had to offer. Both Vanessa and Simon’s run on leg one were exceptional and lifted the team morale. Vanessa’s gutsy performance and Aislinn’s physical strength shifted my mind into a place where pain no longer had a place and I found myself able to cease all negative thoughts for the duration of my run. We finished in 13th place and assisted Australia to qualify strongly for next year’s World Championships.

My return to the international stage was nothing like I imagined it would be. The fears I had were unjustified and the negative thoughts can be left behind next year. The team of exceptional Australian athletes, contribution of coaches Tom and Wendy, enthusiasm of our physio Elin, and the wonderful band of Aussie supporters who followed us to the antipode of the globe ensured that performance and enjoyment were tightly linked for me at this year’s World Orienteering Championships. Once again, I have learnt that running speed and stamina, mental toughness and an ability to refocus during and after events are what define our champions in this sport. With less than twelve months until Italy, I am already calculating the next steps forward.

In my years away from elite racing, the Middle Distance races have taken on a higher level of prestige. They have become renowned for their persistently intricate navigation. There is no navigational ‘down time’ when racing a Middle Distance course so mental freshness and acuity is critical. From my lead-in training, I knew

Photo: Erik Borg

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Preview

T

he Australian Schools Championships will be staged next month at The Sandhills, east of Bungendore, near Canberra, as part of the AUS Championships carnival. Teams from all States will compete in Individual senior and junior events and Relays.

In past years the competition has been intense right up to the last few metres, particularly in the Relays. Can we expect the same excitement in 2013? Will the South Australians run the Relays in fancy dress again? Who will come away with the trophies and who will simply have the performance of their life?

Probably most.

SA Relay girls salute Asha Steer

Jarrah Day

Here we preview the State Teams for you to follow during the events.

2010 State Senior Girls Senior Boys Junior Girls Junior Boys Senior Girls Relay Senior Boys Relay Junior Girls Relay Junior Boys Relay

WINNERS Queensland Emily Cantwell (QLD) Ian Lawford (ACT) Anna Dowling (TAS) Max Neumann (QLD) Queensland ACT Queensland Queensland

2011 State Senior Girls Senior Boys Junior Girls Junior Boys Senior Girls Relay Senior Boys Relay Junior Girls Relay Junior Boys Relay

WINNERS Tasmania Heather Muir (QLD) Oliver Poland (ACT) Winnie Oakhill (QLD) Ashley Nankervis (TAS) Queensland ACT Tasmania Tasmania

2012 State Senior Girls Senior Boys Junior Girls Junior Boys Senior Girls Relay Senior Boys Relay Junior Girls Relay Junior Boys Relay

WINNERS Tasmania Michele Dawson (NSW) Oliver Poland (ACT) Asha Steer (VIC) Jarrah Day (TAS) South Australia Tasmania Queensland Tasmania

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Michele Dawson

Qld wins Junior Girls relay

Oliver Poland

ACT Schools Team All in the family … and then some

O

rienteering is certainly a family sport, but in ACT we take it just that little bit further. In our 20 strong team we have 4 pairs of siblings – one of those twins – and 5 team members who had siblings in past teams. And we are very pleased to welcome 5 new team members.

Our Senior boys are highly experienced. Stephen Melhuish, of last year’s Honours and Oceania Team and Oliver Mill who travelled to New Zealand on the Oceania team, lead the Senior Boys contingent and are joined by fiercely competitive fellow seniors Ian de Jongh, Ciaran Lane, Bryce Anderson and newcomer Ben Freeman. The Senior girls are equally determined; Shea-Cara Hammond, who provides most experience, is joined by twins Kelly and Simone Edwards, and Jessica Zhang. The depth of experience in our Seniors is encouraging and they are great mentors to the Juniors in the squad.

Junior Boys Ewan Barnett Patrick Miller Tristan Miller Jesse Piiroinen Noah Poland

Tristan Miller

Zac Needham

Junior Girls Emily Alder Heather Lane Tara Melhuish

The Schools Championships will witness an inspiring and thorough challenge from the ACT team.

Nanette Bragg – ACT Team Manager

Patrick Miller

Zac Needham

Our Junior girls include three 2012 team members Emily Alder, Heather Lane and Tara Melhuish, and new team member Noa Millman.

All have recorded excellent results.

Our Junior boys combine the experience of Ewan Barnett, Patrick Miller and Noah Poland with the enthusiasm of newcomers Tristan Miller, Zac Needham and Jesse Piiroinen who have all been very close this year.

Ewan Barnett

Noa Millman

Emily Alder

Heather Lane

Noa Millman

Bryce Anderson

Ian de Jongh

Ciaran Lane

Stephen Melhuish

Simone Edwards

Shea-Cara Hammond

Jessica Zhang

Senior Boys Bryce Anderson Ian de Jongh Ben Freeman Ciaran Lane Stephen Melhuish Oliver Mill

Senior Girls Kelly Edwards Simone Edwards Shea-Cara Hammond Jessica Zhang

Kelly Edwards

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tasmanian Schools Team T

he Tasmanians will be looking to maintain their recent dominance in the AUS Schools Championships, having won the Teams’ competition for the past two years and been victorious in four of the Relays over the same time. Competition for selection was fierce with the result that a very strong team will be travelling to Canberra at the end of this month. With eight sets of siblings vying for selection, the selected team consists of experienced past members, motivated new members and include the Dowling, West and Fleming siblings.

Joseph Dickinson

Jed Fleming

Junior Boys Joseph Dickinson Jed Fleming Jake West Luke West Sebastian O’Halloran (Res)

Jake West

Luke West

Rachel Allen

Zoe Dowling

Lili Wrigley

Junior Girls Rachel Allen Zoe Dowling Jacinta Mackay Lili Wrigley Kara Fox (Res)

Jacinta Mackay

Bryce Fleming

Senior Boys Corey Bowerman Jarrah Day Ashley Nankervis Oisin Stronach Bryce Fleming (Res)

Corey Bowerman

Jarrah Day

Ashley Nankervis

Oisin Stronach

Senior Girls Celsey Adams Anna Dowling Hannah Goddard Nicola Marshall Ella Johnson (Res)

Celsey Adams 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Anna Dowling

Hannah Goddard

Nicola Marshall

Victorian Schools Team A

team of 20 students including 4 travelling reserves has been selected.

So it is excitement all round. Orienteering Victoria wishes these students good orienteering which will bring success!

With both co-captains returning from JWOC racing earlier in the year, and a wealth of experience amongst many of the other Team members, Victoria will do well this year and looks forward to some strong results at ASOC. Both Junior teams have a mix of experience and some new talent who have a great opportunity to step up and show they can do well on the national stage.

Lachlan Cherry

Patrick Jaffe

Aston Key

Junior Boys Patrick Jaffe Aston Key Lachlan Cherry Max Dalheim

Max Dalheim

Asha Steer

Junior Girls Asha Steer Tanisha Whitfield Alice Bills Lauren Harney

Tanisha Whitfield

Lauren Harney

Matt Doyle

Louis Cameron

John-Joe Wilson

Peter Collins

Lucy Fleming

Rosie Dalheim

Leisha Maggs

Alice Bills

Senior Boys Matt Doyle (co captain) Nick Collins Louis Cameron John-Joe Wilson Peter Collins (Res) Sam Hasell (Res) Nick Collins

Senior Girls Lanita Steer (co captain) Lucy Fleming Rosie Dalheim Leisha Maggs Rebecca Jaffe (Res) Sequoia Weitman (Res) Lanita Steer

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Queensland Schools Team T

he Queensland Junior Cyclones are ready for another battle for the points in 2013.

The Senior Girls are led by star performer Heather Burridge. Since her fall when favourite to win the Junior Girls in 2011 Heather has struggled with injuries, but she has the qualities and experience to succeed. Jessica Hoey returns for her second year in Senior girls and is joined by Sammy McDougall and Sharn Harvey.

Junior Boys The Senior Boys are training hard and running confidently so some good results would not Simeon Burrill surprise. 2012 team member, Toby Brennan, leads Riley de Jong the team with Tom Ronnfeldt and Jack Neumann Joshua Morrison from the 2012 Junior team and newcomer Elliott Meelan.

Aidan Tay The Junior Girls are strong. Winnie Oakhill - Junior Girls winner in 2011 when only 13 - is running very well this year. Her team mates are Gaby Withers, also an accomplished MTBO competitor, Zazi Brennan, sister of Toby, and Caroline Pigerre.

The Junior Boys are very strong. 2012 Australian M14 Champion Riley deJong and close rival Simeon Burrill are joined by Aidan Tay and newcomer Joshua Morrison.

They should have an exciting tussle with the talented Victorians and Tasmanians in this class.

Riley de Jong

Simeon Burrill

Joshua Morrison

Aidan Tay

Caroline Pigerre

Gaby Withers

Junior Girls Zazi Brennan Winnie Oakhill Gaby Withers Caroline Pigerre

Winnie Oakhill

Senior Boys Toby Brennan Elliott Meelan Jack Neumann Tom Ronnfeldt

Zazi Brennan

Elliott Meelan

Jack Neumann

Tom Ronnfeldt

Senior Girls Heather Burridge Jessica Hoey Sammy McDougall Sharn Harvey

Toby Brennan 26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Jessica Hoey

Sammy McDougall

Heather Burridge

West Australia Schools Team A

Junior Boys Oliver Martin Josh Bakaimis Michael Cox Lee Dennis

Team of eight athletes has been selected to represent Western Australia at the 2013 Australian Schools’ Championships. The team is a mix of experienced orienteers and talented newcomers who are all excited to be representing WA in Canberra.

The Team Captain, Cameron Duncan, has been able to return to the team in his final year at school, since his school exams will have finished before the Carnival. This year is Oliver Martin’s third year in the team, and he is keen to make his mark in the Junior Boys’ competition. WA has a full Junior Boys’ team and Oliver is looking forward to racing in a WA Junior Boys’ Relay team for the first time. Jo-Anna Maynard is a double State representative again this year, representing WA in Cross Country as well as Orienteering.

Michael Cox

Senior Boys Cameron Duncan

Cameron Duncan

Junior Girls Jo-Anna Maynard Grace West Amy Attwood

Jo-Anna Maynard

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The three new faces in the Junior Boys’ team Josh Bakaimis Oliver Martin Lee Dennis are Josh Bakaimis, Lee Dennis and Michael Cox while Amy Attwood and Grace West will compete in the Junior Girls’ class at their first National event.

Enthusiasm is high and everyone is training hard to ensure Lee, Michael, Grace and Amy all attend Quinn’s Rock Baptist our small Team makes its mark in Canberra.

College where orienteer, Steve Fletcher, coached the school Anthea Feaver – Team Manager to 3rd place in the WA Schools’ Championships in their first year of competition.

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SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

NSW Carbines Schools Squad O

NSW is delighted to announce the NSW Carbines Squad for 2013.

The team will compete in the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships in October.

Duncan, Rebecca, Amylee, Alistair and Hugh are new faces in the squad.

Selection chairperson Andrew named. The selectors will finalise the composition of the Junior and Senior Boys after the NSW Champs on September 21-22.”

Karen Blatchford is the manager for the NSW Carbines and NSW Head Coach Nick Dent is the team coach.

Hill added: “Congratulations to all those

Alex Kennedy

Callum Davis

Duncan Currie

Alistair George

Junior Boys Duncan Currie Callum Davis Alistair George Hugh Gingell Alex Kennedy

Hugh Gingell

Junior Girls

Senior Boys

Melissa Annetts

Scott Charlton

Georgia Jones

Aidan Dawson

Rebecca Kennedy

Daniel Hill Lawrence Jones Toby Wilson

Scott Charlton

Melissa Annetts

Georgia Jones

Rebecca Kennedy

Daniel Hill

Aidan Dawson

Toby Wilson

Lawrence Jones

Kate Kennedy

Amylee Robertson

Samantha Wallace

Senior Girls Nicola Blatchford Kate Kennedy Amylee Robertson Samantha Wallace

Nicola Blatchford 28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

South Australian Schools Team T

he South Australian squad has been working hard to build upon the success of 2012. Bridget Anderson has continued to use her expertise and experience to provide a varied and dynamic training program that has produced significant improvements throughout the squad. Both the Senior Girls and Boys are determined to take advantage of this training and make a strong appearance at this years’ Championships. Fierce competition for selection has ensured that both the Junior Junior Boys Girls and Boys have Nick Congedi had to demonstrate strong orienteering Angus Mills capabilities to ensure Dante Afnan selection.

Lachlan McCarthy South Australia had not Justin Shao finalised its Schools Angus Haines team at the time of printing. Contenders Dean Pastrello for possible selection are shown here.

Dante Afnan

Nick Congedi

Angus Mills

Lachlan McCarthy

Justin Shao

Junior Girls Charlotte Braider Emily Sorensen Jasmine Bevelander Sarah Lim Meredith Norman

Angus Haines

Dean Pastrello

Emily Sorensen

Sarah Lim

Senior Boys Aiden Sullivan James Fuller Riley van de Loo Will Kennedy

Charlotte Braider

Aiden Sullivan

James Fuller

Riley van de Loo

Senior Girls Olivia Sprod Mel Fuller Sally Young

Will Kennedy

Olivia Sprod

Mel Fuller

Sally Young SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

EVENT DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION

Build it and they will come Text: Dennis Mews Photos: Debbie and Ian Dodd

Dennis Mews is Communications & Marketing Officer for Orienteering Victoria. He began his orienteering in 1978 in Middle England and is now happily settled in Melbourne with his wife, Pat, and family.

Dennis Mews

He is a former President of West Midlands OA and Harlequins OC in England and led many development initiatives. As a teacher, he was also very active in schools orienteering, regularly taking his pupils to orienteering events.

A hip replacement in 2009 led to a surprise IOF medal for Trail Orienteering in Sweden.

The Melbourne Scene Melbourne orienteers are fortunate in the variety of experiences available to them. Park & Street Orienteering in Melbourne has been a great success over many years, while Mountain Bike Orienteers and Radio Orienteers are two small but loyal groups.

In this environment, Bush Orienteering has found itself to be relatively under-represented. There are more current participants in Park & StreetO than BushO and many of the former never venture into the bush. An excellent website http://vic.orienteering. socialfx.net/parkstreet/ with timely information and prompt results gives city dwellers all they require. Why go further afield?

Major bush events are generally staged in the goldfields, at least 1.5 hours from the four million-strong Melbourne population.

Bendigo Orienteers and Eureka Orienteers do a sterling job making regular bush events available locally, and it is no accident that many of our best competitors hail from these parts, with regular access to top-class orienteering terrain. What can clubs provide for the 75% of Victoria’s population who live in its capital city?

In my role as Orienteering Victoria’s Communications & Marketing Officer, one of my principal objectives has been to find ways in which we can increase the attraction of our Bush Orienteering events, enhancing the experience for existing members while using all avenues in the quest for new participants.

Getting the Information Out There At the start of my tenure in 2013, I took the view that our best source of new participants was likely to be our current members.

They are our best advert for the sport, as well as having the knowledge and experience to navigate new people through the bewildering maze of maps, control descriptions and event types.

When newcomers are asked what brought them to an event, they invariably say, “I heard about it from a friend.”

I set myself the task of ensuring that bush Orienteering information reached those members (and their friends) most likely to come. Our regular weekly email bulletin goes out to over 350 active subscribers on Wednesday morning, giving ample time to plan the week, be it BushO, Park & StreetO, MTBO or RadiO. New participants’ details are taken at each event and included in the following week’s e-mailout. The Orienteering Victoria website now displays a prominent link to subscribe to the email on its front page. This, together with data collected at Street, Bush and Schools events, has provided a steady supply of contact details.

Numbers are up almost 20% in six months.

Our OV Facebook page allows me to pass on items of news and event information which is regular and up-to-the-minute. This now has 90 readers and continues to grow. All competitors in our recent Schools Championships were provided with event information and a free voucher. The seeds have been sown, and we are targeting families like these as future club orienteers. Only time will tell.

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

MelBushO melbourne bush orienteering

An introductory series of Bush Orienteering events close to Melbourne

• Learn how to read an orienteering map • Come and experience an absorbing outdoor sport • Discover some of the precious bush areas near Melbourne • Suitable for adults and children of all ages More information on

www.MelBushO.com

Press releases have been sent to local newspapers on a regular basis, although to little effect. Editors are particularly interested in ongoing local opportunities to their readers, while Orienteering offers an ever-changing kaleidoscope of experiences. We may be in your area today, but it will be some time before we return.

For us, this is the attraction of the sport. We get to run in areas often unseen by the average person. An occasional Orienteering item may surface in the news media but information on how to get

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

EVENT PROMOTION DEVELOPMENT

involved is generally omitted, no help to the jogger tired of the same old run looking for something different. I plan to try paid advertising in future, knowing from past experience it will bring in new blood.

Events for Newcomers How do our events look to the newcomer? Most people are pleasantly surprised at its popularity and at the range of ages and abilities catered for, although many can be bamboozled by those things we take for granted. The registration system, the map, the results, what do I do if I get lost? Maps are central to our sport and newcomers need to interpret the colours and squiggles.

Mapping guidelines are clear, that all maps should carry a legend, but this often is omitted in the squeeze to A4 format. The OV email now provides a link so that participants, at the very least, can provide their own legend.

Often, event information which is distributed can be vague or incomplete or both. Published details often make assumptions about the knowledge and experience of the reader. “Different parking to last year� is not helpful to those who never came. The precise location may anticipate detailed local knowledge. A map location is required, with travel directions. Eventor is excellent for this, but only for those who use it. What time does registration start, or finish? What do I need? How easy are the courses? I am

32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

working on an event details template which may assist clubs in providing full and timely event information.

MelBushO is Born MelBushO was created in 2011 to find suitable areas and bring bush Orienteering nearer to Melbourne, and more accessible to the erstwhile punter who will not travel more than half an hour or spend more than nominal dollars on a new and untried experience. The pilot scheme was created and developed by Ruth Goddard (YVOC) and Debbie Dodd (DROC), initially with just three events. An attractive and informative website www. melbusho.com was regularly updated with event information,

results and photographs. They hoped to attract 30 or so freshfaced and unsuspecting newbies, so were delighted when 100 came! The story was repeated at subsequent events and MelBushO was born.

The series was extended to seven events the following year, and people continued to come. Slightly worrying, though, were the participation statistics which emerged at the end of the series, showing that half of participants only ever came once. They said they’d enjoyed themselves, see you next time, but never returned.

Only they know why.

Events Create Members MelBushO has a deliberately simple format, with four courses suitably varied in length and difficulty. Events are within 45 minutes drive for millions of people and provided for the relatively nominal sum of ten dollars. The simplest organisation is supplied, with many helpers in orange caps to assist newcomers and guide them through the maze. This year, so far, numbers have continued to grow, such that the last couple of events have attracted 150 people. How much of this is repeat business, only time will tell. I guess it’s good news either way.

The success of MelBushO has its roots in the time and effort of club members who have organised and planned these events, as well as those who have helped newcomers to take their first steps into the bush. A programme of three events in 2011 was promising, while seven events in 2012 saw many more individuals and families try the sport for the first time. This year there are also seven events and numbers continue to rise.

Members create events and events create members, and the cycle is repeating itself. During a nine month season, there is certainly scope for a dozen MelBushO events, perhaps spaced out every three weeks or so. The question asked by beginners most often is, “When’s the next one?” We need a ready answer and it shouldn’t be far, in time or distance. Then we would really see numbers take off. Watch this space.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

BOOK REVIEW

Tough as Nails – a history of Richmond Harriers 1913 - 2013

O

rienteering as we now know it was introduced in August 1969 with an event at Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria. Amongst the competitors at this first event were Richmond Harriers runners Ray White, Mike Hubbert and George Claxton – well known Red Kangaroo Orienteers in later years. Co-organiser was another Richmond Harrier, Tom Andrews, who persuaded club-mate Peter Wills-Cooke to assist in setting this first course.

A few months later at Elliot Lodge, near Healesville, the Novice course was won by Tom Andrews in 1 hr 23:40 and the Open course by Mike Hubbert in 3 hours 51:25 (only Mike and Tony Kerr beat 4 hours!).

Tom went on to become the driving force behind Australia’s hosting of the World Orienteering Championships (WM’85) in Victoria in 1985 – the first time the Championships had been staged outside Europe. For his administrative achievements Tom is honoured in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame at the National Sports Museum in the MCG. Richmond Harriers are celebrating their centenary this year and have produced a history of the club’s first 100 years entitled “Tough as Nails”. An apt title because in the early years of the club that is exactly what they were. Dr Jim Cairns is said to have remembered the pre WWII days in Richmond and the reserve behind the Richmond Town Hall (where the club is still based today): “Whenever I went there there were always several hundred men hanging about on the Reserve. They’d sometimes play football if anyone ever had a football; they had little stalls where they used to sell kinds of meat pies for a penny ….. around the Vine Hotel (opposite the Town Hall) there was always a hundred or so men standing outside with half-a-dozen in the bar – licking up the smell of it.”

The book gives a very readable account of the issues, personalities and triumphs the club encountered, from the very tribal days in suburban Melbourne (when Richmond was known as Struggletown) to more recent and comparatively peaceful times; the introduction of women members; the influence of coaches like Percy Cerutty; and much more. It is certainly not just a dry account of events and performances, but more a tale of how a band of athletes grew a club with personality and tradition over many years.

The Orienteering arm of the club was initially known as the Richmond Harriers Orienteering Club and members were closely involved in the establishment of Orienteering in Victoria, the VOA, and ultimately the OFA. As the club began to attract new members solely interested in Orienteering, the decision was made in May 1972 to change the name to the Red Kangaroo Orienteers.

The club thus claims the distinction of being the oldest Australian Orienteering club despite claims by some upstart younger clubs. Then in 1993 Red Kangaroos and Bayside Orienteers amalgamated to form the current Bayside Kangaroos.

An extract from “Tough as Nails” relating to Orienteering is reproduced below. Copies of this 266-page book may be obtained from the author, Roger Trowbridge, for $40 + p&p. Contact Roger at p-rtrowbridge@bigpond.com

The Sport Australia Hall of Fame plaque for Tom Andrews.

Club Coach Percy Cerutty leads up the famous sand hill at Portsea.

34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

The Red Kangaroos We’re in the late `60s. Tom (Andrews) was out of advertising and into importing. One of his suppliers was SILVA, whom Tom visited in Sweden to learn about current products. “They knew I was a runner so they took me to the Swedish Orienteering championships that Sunday.”

Tom continued: I saw these guys running in and out of the forest and didn’t have a clue what they were doing. When I got onto it I thought I’d introduce it to Richmond Harriers for offseason training instead of running the Boulevard. We had all the information we needed and SILVA had the compasses.

Tom Andrews – Thumbs up for Silva!

Mike Hubbert, secretary at the time, and the committee at first offered a luke-warm response to the proposal so Tom recruited the support of the club’s shot-put and discus thrower Peter Wills-Cooke, whose father had a cool store and some land in Upper Beaconsfield. “We started off from the Beaconsfield Hotel because they gave us a change room and showers. I’d been in the ad. game,” Tom continued, “so we got a lot of publicity. We had the Herald there and the Sun, two TV stations and Evan Whitten, a reporter from the Truth. He actually competed - or pretended to - and sure enough he gave us a page and a half: `New Sport Comes to Australia”.

Several Richmond runners joined in the event, along with members from other Harriers and the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club. Mike Hubbert continued the story:

I think the MUMC fellows came along because we did a lot of bushwalking at the time - Claxton, White, Crossin and the others - and we’d record our bushwalking and mountaineering feats in the mountain hut log books to out-do the Melbourne Uni walkers. So they thought they’d have a go at us.

Orienteering was on the map, so to speak.

The Richmond Harriers Orienteering Club, which formed after the Beaconsfield event, is likely to have been the first orienteering club in Australia. It later changed to the Red Kangaroos, with a nucleus of Richmond members and a few friends of Tom’s from the advertising field. Eventually it merged with Bayside Orienteers and became the Bayside Kangaroos.

Tom Andrews competing at an event in 1974.

Mike Hubbert shows off his original Red Kangaroos T-shirt.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

MAPPING

Aussie Mappers oppose new ISOM proposal Alex Tarr

I

am writing this with support of Eric Andrews and Mike Morffew. Together we have mapped or been involved in a great majority of the Orienteering mapping in Australia over the past twenty years. In particular, every international event (WC, WRE’s, WMOC’s and JWOC) has had our mapping input.

We are dismayed at the proposal in the new draft ISOM to mandate the use of a screen to represent broken ground, stony ground and boulder fields. Australian current practice is to place each dot/triangle individually which conforms to all editions of the ISOM from 1972 to the current 2000 version. When mapping broken/stony ground and boulder fields each dot/triangle is plotted in the field and placed for maximum legibility of the surrounding features - typically erosion gullies, embankments and watercourses in broken ground; boulders and rock faces in stony ground; and rock faces in boulder fields. In all cases the contours and associated features are kept clearly legible.

The new draft ISOM mandates the use of a range of screens for these features. The trouble with screens is that the dots/triangles fall where the computer program places them rather than where the mapper wants them. Trial prints demonstrate that all detail within the screen is compromised as the dots/triangles destroy legibility. Further there is no provision for any small boulder fields.

Australian Orienteering terrain typically has a large number of broken ground areas with extensive contour and other brown features within it (goldmining). Also, our granite terrains have numerous stony ground and boulder field areas, each of which is likely to have other features within. These areas are not peripheral to the map, but are the very core of the orienteering. Up to 70% of all control sites at JWOC had stony ground or boulder fields within the control circle. The most recent WRE (Easter 2013) had a similar percentage of broken ground within the control circles.

Legibility is maintained by the hand placement of individual dots and triangles.

The mandatory use of screens for these features would mean that over 90% of all Australian maps would no longer conform. If made to conform then a very high percentage of the map area would no longer be legible and be useless for Orienteering. The most likely outcome may be a direction from our Federation to ignore the new ISOM and continue to map to ISOM 2000 standards.

Accordingly we are requesting our Federation to vote against the new ISOM unless the broken ground, stony ground and boulder field symbols and definitions conform to those of ISOM 2000.

We point out that there are a number of other issues regarding the Draft that are in dispute. The process suffered first from secrecy and now from being rushed. The new draft is over 300 pages, has only recently been supported by an (incomplete) OCAD file and is yet to be supported by sample maps or a colour table.

Consultation has been minimal, and the whole process very Eurocentric. If Australian experience is representative of other outlying Orienteering countries then we have serious doubts about the viability of Orienteering as a world sport.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Attached are map sections which show how the proposed use of screens for broken ground, stony ground and boulder fields actually effects the finished map.

Under all ISOM’s to date dots for broken and stony ground and triangles for boulder field were plotted in the field and placed on the drawn map for maximum accuracy and legibility. The Draft ISOM mandates the use of screens. The sample maps show the original map and the screened map.

Control sites have been added to assist in examining the detail.

As the samples show, what was previously precise is now so generalised as to be useless for fine navigation. Edges of screened areas are no longer legible or accurate, the screens obscure contour features and control sites, and boulder fields either disappear or are shown as broken triangles. There is no way that any dot or triangle can be accurately placed.

This is particularly relevant to Australia as the core of our technical orienteering relies on these features. Over 90% of all championship events held in Australia over the past forty years have been held in terrain where these features are highly relevant.

We see this problem with screens as being symptomatic of other problems in the Draft (over 130 pages) and note that the USA and NZ have also expressed concerns about what seems a rush for immediate adoption. We call for the Draft to be held over for twelve months and for the IOF Map Committee to hold workshops in each of the IOF Regions so they can get genuine worldwide feedback before a Final Draft is presented to the IOF.

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Chewton Diggings – original map – goldmining and gully spur •F ieldwork by Steve Key for WOC 1985 relay model.

Updated and drawn by Alex Tar 2009.

•E ach broken/stony ground dot and each boulder field triangle plotted in the field and placed in the drawing stage for maximum accuracy and legibility.

•S ample control sites are marked to make it easier to compare detail.

•C onforms to current standards and Australia proposes continuation in the new ISOM.

Chewton Diggings – stochastic screens •B roken/stony ground replaced with mandatory stochastic screen as proposed in ISOM revision.

•B oulder fields replaced with mandatory boulder field screens as proposed in ISOM revision.

•D ots and triangles placed according to the screen.

The detail mapped by the fieldworker is compromised.

• Edges of stony/broken ground no longer accurate.

•M any dots/triangles do not appear as the location corresponds to a blank area on the screen.

•N arrow areas of stony ground often no longer apparent to the orienteer.

Chewton Diggings – regular screens •B roken/stony ground replaced with mandatory regular screen as proposed in ISOM revision. Boulder fields replaced with mandatory boulder field screens as proposed in ISOM revision.

•D ots and triangles placed according to the screen.

The detail mapped by the fieldworker is compromised.

• Edges of stony/broken ground no longer accurate.

•M any dots/triangles do not appear as the location corresponds to a blank area on the screen.

•N arrow areas of stony ground often no longer apparent to the orienteer.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

MAPPING

Malang – original map •F ieldwork and drawn by Eric Andrews for JWOC long distance 2007. Enlarged to 1:10,000.

•E ach rocky ground dot and each boulder field triangle plotted in the field and placed in the drawing stage for maximum accuracy and legibility.

•S ample control sites are marked to make it easier to compare detail.

•C onforms to current standards and Australia proposes continuation in the new ISOM.

Malang – stochastic screens •S tony/rocky ground replaced with mandatory stochastic screen as proposed in ISOM revision.

•B oulder fields replaced with mandatory boulder field screens as proposed in ISOM revision.

•D ots and triangles placed according to the screen.

The detail mapped by the fieldworker is completely lost.

•G reat many part triangles occur which are impossible to interpret.

•M any dots/triangles do not appear as the location corresponds to a blank area on the boulder field screen.

Malang – regular screens •S tony/rocky ground replaced with mandatory regular screens as proposed in ISOM revision.

•B oulder fields replaced with mandatory boulder field screens as proposed in ISOM revision.

•D ots and triangles placed according to the screen.

The detail mapped by the fieldworker is completely lost.

• Edges of stony/broken ground no longer accurate.

•G reat many part triangles occur which are impossible to interpret.

•M any dots/triangles do not appear as the location corresponds to a blank area on the boulder field screen.

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

EVENT PROMOTION

Raymond Munro - local coordinator Wheelchair Sports NSW

Orienteering Without Limits WHEEL-O: A first in Australia?

Text and photos by Bruce Meder (Northern Tablelands OC)

W

hen Luke Fieldhouse had a casual conversation with Bruce Meder in a room in Coffs Harbour last December, little did he realise that he was creating a new Orienteering format.

Orienteering has Foot-O, MTBO, Ski-O, Trail-O and even Kayak-O. Luke wanted to add Wheel-O to the mix.

Luke uses a wheelchair to get around. He is an active young man who at the time of his conversation with Bruce had just gained his green belt in Taekwondo. When he asked Bruce what he was interested in, Bruce said that he enjoyed Orienteering. Luke replied: “Cool, could I do that from my wheelchair?” Bruce’s response was “why not?”

What emerged was to base a Wheel-O event on a Sprint-style format. The first decision was where to stage such a unique event.

The Coffs Harbour Education Campus was approached and proved to be very keen on the idea and eager to help. A Sprintstyle map of the campus was created using OCAD. An enthusiastic committee of locals representing the nearest Orienteering club (Northern Tablelands), Lifestyle Solutions (a disability service provider), Wheelchair Sports NSW, Coffs Harbour City Council and wheelchair users spent four months planning and organising this inaugural event. The decision was made to name the event Orienteering Without Limits so as to recognise the inclusive nature of the event and to promote the concept that limits are only in the mind.

All three courses planned were wheelchair-accessible but not limited to those using wheelchairs. Publicity leading up to the event emphasised that anyone was welcome to come along and try Orienteering. Families were particularly encouraged to try out the sport.

Just as the introduction of MTBO has seen innovation in mapholding technology, the participants in this event tried different means of holding their maps. Clipboards, lanyards and having a support person holding the map were all tried out.

The Sprint format of Orienteering is especially adaptable to being wheelchair-friendly. Most university campuses and the like have a network of pathways and paved surfaces. Extra consideration in course planning needs to be given to likely route choice, so as to ensure that there are, in fact, accessible routes between controls.

With wheelchair access in facilities such as university campuses becoming standard practice, the possibility of wheelchairfriendly Orienteering becomes increasingly available. Indeed, any location that has a network of pathways, tracks or amenable surfaces becomes a possible area for Wheel O. For example, the Orienteering Without Limits group in Coffs Harbour is considering the Coffs Region Botanical Gardens as a venue later this year.

It has an excellent network of tracks, pathways and boardwalks ideally suited to Wheel O. “Who knows,” enthused Bruce Meder, “perhaps one day we will be organising the first Australian Wheel-O Championship.”

ONSW was quick to support the initiative, pointing out that this would be the first time in NSW that Orienteering using wheelchairs had been held. Paul Prudhoe (President, ONSW) suggested that “it may even be the first time in Australia in this Sprint format.”

The uniqueness of the event, plus the pioneering aspect, meant that the event gained media attention leading up to the day, with a story in the local newspaper, two radio interviews and even a mention on television. A follow-up story was printed in the local newspaper (Coffs Coast Advocate) after the event.

For two days prior to the event rain and drizzle descended on Coffs Harbour, but this did not manage to dampen the spirits of the organisers who decided to go ahead. Saturday 29 June dawned fine in Coffs Harbour and by midday it was gloriously sunny. (The next day it returned to rain). A promising start.

More than 30 people (including four wheelchair users) turned up to enjoy the challenge of navigating the intricacies of the buildings and pathways. Added to the challenge was the multilevel nature of the inner campus.

Upon completing his course the Coordinator of Wheelchair Sports NSW (Coffs Coast), Raymond Munro, enthused that “We must do this again, and soon!” Another wheelchair competitor, Kate Corcoran, grinned and said “I’m up for it again.”

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING

2013 AUS MTBO Champs

NSW resident, Fedor Iskhakov, from Russia, enjoying the Pine forest tracks at Toolara.

Coondoo Creek Course 1

2013 Australian Long Distance Championship Scale: 1:25,000 Contours: 5m 40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

Ricky Thackray, Patrick Higgins & Marquita Gelderman win the elite titles Text: Kay Haarsma. Photos: Jane Zimmerman

A

n excellent weekend of Mountain Bike Orienteering was held in late July near Gympie, Queensland, to decide the Australian Middle and Long Distance championship titles.

A contingent of thirty New Zealanders, who had incorporated the previous weekend’s NSW Championships into a 10-day mountain biking tour, added great competition to the races.

The two events were held on vastly different areas. The Middle Distance was at Corella Forest, with several crucial long route choice legs interspersed by two areas of complex single track.

In the Women’s elite, Marquita Gelderman had a narrow 1-minute win over a very fit and fast Carolyn Jackson.

24-year old Patrick Higgins navigated well to take the Men’s elite title by two and a half minutes over Greg Barbour. Patrick is actually British but currently residing in New Zealand. Unfortunately, Australian WMTBOC team members Ricky Thackray and Callum Fagg both had punctures.

The Long Distance event was held in Toolara pine plantation on a huge area that required the elites and top three courses to have a 1:25,000 map.

Carolyn Matthews (NSW), 3rd in W40.

Despite its size the area was a detailed maze of roads and tracks which demanded intense navigation at all times. Several long legs gave numerous route choice commutations, while some short legs at the end saw a few competitors come unstuck.

Got the map... now where?

Tasmanian gun Callum Fagg by a mere two minutes on the 38 kilometre course. This followed Ricky’s win in the WA State championship the week before. NSW’s Gary Sutherland showed consistency to take out third place again.

The outstanding ride of the weekend Callum Fagg (Tas) punches the final control was undoubtedly from Kiwi Marquita Gelderman who raced around the Women’s 30 km course so speedily that she bettered the times of the M40s and M17s on the same course.

In fact, Marquita’s kilometre rate was only beaten by the two top elite males! There was great interest to see where she actually went on route gadget!

Carolyn Jackson, still recovering from a bout of sinusitis, was joined by Jenny Enderby (NSW) on the podium.

WA’s Ricky Thackray took out a well deserved elite championship, managing to withstand the efforts of young

Two Kiwis in water: Dave Carmody follows David King through the flooded track.

The Queensland based Withers family dominated the Junior ranks with Gaby winning both W14 titles and Karl the M17 races, though pushed in both

by Tim Jackson. Karl is off to his second Junior World Championships in Estonia in August.

Promising Ballarat rider Declan Dickson won both M14 races, but was

M70 Middle winner, Blake Gordon (Vic), was 3rd in the Long.

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING

2013 World MTBO Championships Rakvere, Estonia 26 to 31 August

B

y the time you read this the WMTBOC and JWMTBOC events in north-eastern Estonia will have wrapped up.

Declan Dickson, M16 winner from Victoria.

Declan Dickson, M16 winner from Victoria.

more pleased by his navigation in the Long Distance event.

The veteran classes had both quality and quantity and all wins were hard earned. Ann Scown (W60), Malcolm Roberts (M50) and Peter Cusworth (M60) won both titles, albeit Peter’s win in the Middle Distance was by a mere 1sec over Sydney’s Paul Haynes. Over the four NSW and Australian Championship title events both Marquita Gelderman and Peter Cusworth managed to remain unbeaten – a tremendous feat of navigation.

Many thanks must go to the Queensland organisers, notably course setters Graeme Hall and Liz Bourne and mappers Craig Steffens and Eric Andrews for the enormous amount of time and effort they put into making the events not only possible but highly enjoyable. Also thanks to Rob Crosato, Wendy Steffens, Debbie Gordon and other Multi-Terrain Bike Orienteers and OQ who assisted the running and promotion of the event. This included a lovely meal and quiz on the Saturday night.

Full results are available on the Australian MTBO Championships website – ausmtbochamps.com. This permanent site hosts the full history of all previous championships. It also has details for the upcoming Australian MTBO Sprint Championship which is part of the ACT MTBO Champs weekend in October.

Re-printed from the report on the Orienteering Australia website

Jaquetta Bradshaw, W50 from NZ, heading out from the start.

The Australian Team: Women: Carolyn Jackson.

Men: Callum Fagg; Chris Firman; Alex Randall; Ricky Thackray.

Junior Men: Tom Goddard; Angus Robinson; Karl Withers.

A full report will appear in the next magazine.

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Contact: Peter Cusworth pcusworth@bigpond.com Ph 0409 797 023 42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

his time we bring you one of the Trail-O courses from WTOC 2013 held in Vuokatti, Finland, in conjunction with WOC. Competitors were presented with a standard “line” course but, at the control sites they were confronted with a number of control flags. Their task was to decide which flag (if any) was in the position indicated by the control description.

On this solutions map each flag position is shown by a very small circle and a letter.

The correct circle (if any) is filled in and the correct answer is shown after the control number and at the end of the control description. For example, Control #1 had four flags (marked as solutions A – D) and the correct flag was A. Answer Z is the Zero solution – no correct flag, and a small X shows where a flag would have been for a positive answer. The decision point for each control is shown by the elongated cross.

This will take quite a bit of study to sort out.

T

TRAIL-O CORNER

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

WOC HISTORY

The year was 1972 and the World Orienteering Championships (called Weltmeisterschaften in those days – hence WM’72) were to be staged in Czechoslovakia, behind the Iron Curtain. For the first time, Australia was to field a competitor at these Championships - Rod Dominish was our sole representative in the Czechoslovak terrain. Here we reprint Rod’s account of his experiences.

Stare Splavy, Czechoslovakia, 1972

A

confused Australian stood alone, somewhere far from the East German border and close by a large forest which it is utterly forbidden to enter because of the large Russian military installation there.

Rod Dominish about to start

Kiall, the Canadian champion, who had lived in Sweden for the last two years, went off, then Frilen, the Swedish champion, Eftimov, the Bulgarian champion, Solka the Polish champion and Lenhart the Czech champion went off at 3-minute intervals.

“Dom-in-isch-Oorstralie” came the guttural cry as I stepped forward to receive my map. Then I was off, running and peering at the most confusing multi-coloured print I’d ever seen. The magnifying glass on my compass was soon put to good use.

Carefully plotting my course to the first control, I decided to stay on the tracks. My speed was slow, but I was determined not to err. Suddenly there it was 50 metres ahead, the first of 18 controls to find. This one “under a rocky ledge”. Before I could grab the control card punch, the Norwegian Weltzien, who had started 3 minutes behind me, seized it. “Good grief,” I thought, “where did he come from?”

For the next three controls, I chased this Norwegian jackrabbit and finally on #5, “in the rocky passage”, I saw him arriving just as I was leaving. My exuberance was short-lived, as the first of my two serious “goofers” occurred somewhere between #5 and #6. On this occasion I turned down the wrong animal track and had to retrace my steps, after spending half an hour in the wrong valley.

My first experience in Czechoslovak forest had been a disaster. This was the training race, the day before the Championship proper.

A chance for the organisers to indicate precisely the type of terrain and control descriptions to be used the next day. My first experience in the European forests.

Defeated certainly, but nevertheless enjoying every moment, I plugged on with at times uncanny accuracy until #13 control loomed up. The description Rod Dominish in the said “in a cave” so for a whole hour I 1967 NSW Marathon Championship checked out every cave in the area, eventually finding Rod Dominish (left) at WM’72 the right one 10 with Canadian Bob Kiall. metres from where I had first looked.

After tremendous difficulty finding the first two controls I had settled down and began to read the country. Controls were well hidden, by Australian standards, but the country was less rugged and I could run in almost any direction through the beautiful pine forests (usually the wrong direction!). Something was wrong, and after careful checking that night I realised that the angle of dip of my compass needle should have been adjusted from Australian to European conditions (that’s my excuse anyhow and I’m sticking to it). But it didn’t account for my being 180º out when heading for the home base, leaving me lost, one kilometre from the finish, somewhere in Czechoslovakia.

The last few controls were easy to find as by this stage I was walking and jogging, but the whole time I had a Pole following (apparently he appreciated my great skill), but as we checked in at the final control point, some 3 hours after the start and certainly more miles than the 12 that a crow would fly around that course, he suddenly became inspired and decided that he wasn’t to be shown where the finishing line was, and took off. With every ounce of energy I could summon, I ran down the unappreciative Biziel Lech with only 50 metres of the long finishing straight to go. The crowd roared, as it was the best finish of the day, about the only thing I had to be proud of that day.

Quite embarrassingly I was discovered and subsequently detained by a Czechoslovakian TV camera team who had me kangaroohopping over creeks and other such antipodean activities, causing me to arrive back half an hour late at the marshalling area and creating extreme havoc amongst the officials. My interpreter described it as a classic “goofer” and threw serious doubts on me finishing the Championships the next day.

With a 10:00am start time, 100 kilometres from the village, I had to leave at 7:00am after breakfast at 6:00am. A slight gastric attack and a twisted ankle were all I had as excuses for any failure but a friendly Swiss team doctor soon fixed that and with ankle strapped I headed for the Start, still keen to do my best. There was a 600 metres jog to the pre-start area, and arriving 15 minutes before my start time I saw several others start before me. Bob 44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

As it was, there were quite a few non-finishers and I even beat a few who finished, so was immensely proud of my 72nd placing.

The time meant very little, in comparison to the winner’s time of 1 hour 35 min 57 sec, which was really great, if not unbelievable.

The Norwegian Age Hadler had won by the astonishing margin of 5 minutes and averaged under 8 minutes per mile for the 12-mile (straight line) course, finding 18 controls in the process. The veteran Stig Berge, also from Norway, was second and Bernt Frilen

(Sweden) third. Age is now 28 and that, he reckons, is the best age for a top-class orienteer.

a sport that is a marvellous, healthy escape from the cares of the world.

The crowd of 20,000 gathered just to watch the finish, acclaimed Hadler alongside Sarolta Monspart, the women’s champion, at the presentation ceremony, which was even more magnificent than every other aspect of the Championship.

In what other World Championships, for instance, would the Press be invited to take part in the training race and to be given a code word which they were encouraged to utter when they reached control #8. There, underneath a huge sandstone cliff, they said the words “Magnetic deviation” and were immediately ushered into a cave, seated on a log and plied with plum brandy.

It had been everything that a World Championship should be - fiercely competitive in the arena of the forest and extremely friendly in the village. And this puts the International Orienteering Federation in a dilemma. Should they press for the sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with all the useful publicity and prestige that that would give, or should they stay outside and continue to stage world championships every two years in this informal and pleasant atmosphere?

After Munich (the terrorist massacre at the Olympic Village in 1972), there are an increasing number of people, officials, competitors and journalists who feel that it is much better to keep out of the over-blown, nationalistic Olympic atmosphere, especially with a sport that could never be classified as a spectator sport, but which can certainly be classified as one of the most enjoyable and intriguing sports in the world for the competitor –

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.

I

1972 RESULTS (Individual Race) Men 1. Age Hadler (Norway) 1:35:57 2. Stig Berge (Norway) 1:40:52 3. Bernt Frilen (Sweden) 1:43:55 72. Rod Dominish (Aus) 3:28:30 Women 1. Sarolta Monspart (Hun) 1:17:01

attractive for the newcomers? How can we get more kids trying Orienteering and hooked on it with their parents?

I trust we will be back one day in Queensland and we hope to see you soon in Finland either in Jukola Relay, Kainuu Orienteering Week or Fin5!

All the best, Mikko Salonen & family. (from Orienteering Queensland e-bulletin)

Dear Queensland orienteers!

t has been an honour to be part of the great Orienteering community in Queensland for two and a half years. Our family would like to say thank you very much for all of you!

As many of you may have noticed, I have always been passionate in developing Orienteering. So, I wanted to take an opportunity for the very last time to say something about that as well. We have recently seen some really great developments taking place in Queensland, QLeague and Urban StreetNav being the greatest examples.

QLeague has provided competitive athletes with better opportunities to race against each other and increased overall participation in QLeague classes. Additionally, Urban StreetNav series has attracted a lot of newcomers to trial this great sport.

What I would like to see more are initiatives attracting children and making this sport easier to start practising. This means systematic junior development and “how to orienteer” type of courses for kids (and adults). Also, we need to continue overhauling the event system so that there will be more StreetNav and Midweek type of event series with fixed date and time - not too many different type of events without a clear underlying structure.

I also would like to encourage you all to question things and think more “out of the box”. If we have done something this way for the last 30 years, is it enough to keep the sport

FOR STOCKISTS CALL 1800 209 999

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FOR STOCKISTS CALL 1800 209 999 VICTORINOX AWARD

www.victorinox.com

The Victorinox Award goes to Kim Nankervis for her excellent photos from the recent Junior World Orienteering Championships held in Czech Republic.

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

SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

V O-SPY

T

Miss Punch

he primary objective of Orienteering is to punch the correct controls in the correct order. All other things are secondary.

Why is it then that so many of us get caught out ??

Victorinox CEO had a vision

isionary chief executive of Victorinox, Carl Elsener III, has died at the age of 90.

In his 57 years at the helm he took Victorinox knives from little more than a cottage industry to one of the 20th century’s most successful products.

He mechanised a manufacturing process for the knives that were being assembled by hand.

That wicked witch of the forest, Miss Punch, beckons us to the wrong control. And we follow, starry-eyed in her presence. Not prepared to slow a moment to read a control number in our headlong rush to embrace her. Her beauty blinding us to the realisation all that now awaits us at the Finish is the dreaded “mp”.

While Victorinox knives, with their familiar red handles and Swiss cross and shield motif, continued to adjust gun sights, cut open cans and prise stones out of horses’ hooves, Elsener oversaw the introduction of numerous optional gizmos, including forks, compasses, screwdrivers, mini-screwdrivers for spectacles, wood and metal saws, toothpicks, tweezers, scissors, pliers, keyrings, fish-scalers, magnifying glasses and tools to break glass and cut seat belts after car accidents.

More recent models come with LED lights, laser pointers, “cyber tools” to fix computers, USB memory sticks, digital clocks and MP3 players. Elsener remained active in the company into his late 80’s, cycling to work each day.

As the stars in our eyes fade we are confronted by the awful truth that she has wooed us to destruction yet again.

Victorinox is a long-time sponsor of Orienteering in Switzerland and of The Australian Orienteer.

C

Mark of a Champion

hampion gymnast and multiple Olympic medal winner, Nadia Comaneci, had a simple approach to achieving her goals. “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid.

Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet.”

Dr. Mike Waterfield turns 80

M

any long-serving orienteers will remember Mike Waterfield in the early days in Victoria. He was the one who insisted on getting his money’s worth by entering the longest course on offer and then taking forever to complete it.

Mike is also a keen cyclist and decided to celebrate his recent 80th birthday by cycling to Sydney. But he didn’t choose the short route. He preferred the picturesque route which took him through the Snowy Mountains and on to Sydney. He will be cycling at the Masters Games in Geelong later this year.

O EXPRESS goes full colour

O

A Western Australia’s monthly newsletter, O EXPRESS, has gone full colour. The 24-page publication now carries bright and colourful photos which really enhances its impact. No maps included yet but it’s probably only a matter of time.

Congratulations to OAWA for a positive promotional innovation.

Advertise your event You can have a 6 x 9 cm event ad for just $50 In colour, if we have room, otherwise black & white Send artwork to The Editor: mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au (pic courtesy Herald-Sun) 46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2013

TOP EVENTS 2015

2013 AUS Championships Carnival ACT www.auschamps2013.com PWT Five+Five Days Sardinia Stintino, Sardinia info@orienteering.it World Masters MTBO Champs Costa Alentejana, Portugal www.wmmtboc2013.fpo.pt/ ROME 2013 www.rome2013.net/

Jan 3-11

CANCELLED FOR 2013 Nov 9, 10, 11 NEW DATES

Venice City Race 2013 Venezia, Italy www.orivenezia.it Cal O’rie New Caledonia clubconvergence@lagoon.nc

July 25 Aug 1 Dates tba

Dec 27-31

Xmas 5-Days Orange NSW

Dec 30Jan 4

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

Sept 28Oct 6 Sept 30Oct 10 Oct 9-13

Nov 1-3

Oceania Championships 2015 & World Cup, Tasmania Australian 3 Days Carnival 2015 South Australia JWOC 2015 Norway WOC 2015 Inverness, Scotland www.woc2015.org Scottish 6 Days 2015 Inverness, Scotland www.scottish6days.com WMOC 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden www.wmoc2015sweden.se WMTBOC, JWMTBOC 2015 Czech Republic AUS Championships Carnival 2015 Victoria

April 3-6 Dates tba Aug 1-7

Aug 1-8

September

2014 Jan 4-11 6 Races & 2 Competitions over 8 days in New Zealand 2014!

Ride on a selection of maps that will take you on a journey from Auckland’s stunning west coast pine forests down to the cultural heart of New Zealand in Rotorua’s thermal wonderland.

This event will incorporate the 2014 A-NZ MTBO Challenge with the results on Jan 7, 9 and 10 contributing to the scores to decide the winner of the Challenge banner.

In addition to the Challenge, there will also be an overall individual winner decided by the accumulated times for five specified events!

The provisional dates and venues are set out below and are subject to landowner approval.

Saturday Jan 4th Day 1 of Multiday - Marquita’s Garden 45 minutes NW of Auckland City. Hilly plantation forest with intricate mtb track network north-west of Auckland.

Sand based forest near the rugged west coast.

Sunday Jan 5th Day 2 of Multiday - Riverhead Forest 25 minutes NW of Auckland City Hilly to undulating clay based plantation forest with intricate mtb track network and forest roads on the northern outskirts of Auckland.

au s t r al i an & o ce a n ia

Tuesday Jan 7th A/NZ Challenge Middle distance and Day 3 of Multiday - Hedley Road

MTBO Sand based pine plantation with tracks and forest roads 50 minutes NW of Auckland City.

Thursday Jan 9th A/NZ Challenge Classic distance and Day 4 of multiday Maramarua Forest Hilly to undulating clay based plantation forest with mtb track network and forest roads about an hours drive on the way south of Auckland.

Friday Jan 10th A/NZ Challenge Sprint - Rotorua

c ha m p i ons h ips

You’re into mountain bike mecca with a flat out fun sprint in the Rotorua area! Approx 3 hours drive south from Auckland.

Saturday Jan 11th Day 5 of Multiday - Rotorua Forest.

2014

Alice Springs, NT

Explore the far reaches of Rotorua’s Whaka Forest! Hilly and undulating with some flattish parts - but be prepared for some wickedly good single track!

AUCKLAND MARAMARUA ROTORUA

The event will be run under the AUS/NZL MTBO Challenge Rules.

The best entry and exit point to this event for overseas competitiors is through Auckland Airport. If you need to hire a bike for the carnival there are several companies in Auckland and Rotorua that hire bikes.

Event contact: rgmg@xtra.co.nz For those keen to explore more mountain bike trails during the rest days there are lots of places in Auckland and around Rotorua and Taupo. See the website for links.

AUS/NZ MTBO Challenge Carnival Auckland to Rotorua, New Zealand mtbocarnival.com/ April 18 - 21 Australian 3 Days Carnival 2014 Lithgow/Mudgee, NSW onsw.asn.au/easter2014 June 14-16 AUS & Oceania MTBO Championships, Alice Springs, NT www.ausmtbochamps.com July 5-13 WOC 2014 Trentino, Italy www.woc-wtoc2014.com July 19-25 O-Ringen 2014 50th Anniversary Rinkaby, Skåne, Sweden. www.oringen.se July 19-26 SOW 2014, Swiss O Week Zermatt, Switzerland www.swiss-o-week.ch July 21-27 JWOC 2014 Borovetz, Bulgaria www.jwoc2014.bg Aug 24-31 WMTBOC, JWMTBOC & WMMTBOC Bialystok Poland www.wmtboc2014.pl Sept 27Karrak Karnival, AUS Champs Oct 5 Carnival 2014, West Australia wa.orienteering.asn.au/karrak-karnival Oct 11-19 Race the Castles 2014 Scotland www.racethecastles.com Nov 1-8 WMOC 2014 Porto Alegre, Brazil www.wmoc2014.org.br/ Nov 8 - 9 Venice City Race 2014 (check dates for Venezia, Italy Acqua Alta) www.orivenezia.it

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

Vol 32

Issue 5

October 2011

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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

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