The Australian Orienteer - March 2015

M A RC H 2 0 15

World Cup in Tas Oceania Champs

RRP $8.50 inc GST

SILVA National Orienteering League Event Program 2010

2015 Round

Date

Event

Location

Sat 7th March

Mixed Sprint Relay

Sydney

Sat 7th March

Sprint Qualification

Sydney

Sun 8th March

Sprint Final

Sydney

Fri 3rd April

Elite Prologue

Jamestown SA

Sat 4th April

Easter Day 1 Middle Distance

Southern Bri Glen Jamestown SA

Sun 5th April

Easter Day 2 Long Distance

Bri Glen-Tunderri Jamestown SA

Mon 6th April

Easter Day 3 Relay

Mulga Valley Jamestown SA

Sat 23rd May

Middle Distance AUS v NZ

Canberra

Sun 24th May

Long Distance AUS v NZ

Canberra

4

Sun 28th Aug

Ultra Long Distance

Ballarat

5

Sat 26th Sept

AUS Champs - Sprint

Victoria

Sun 27th Sept

AUS Champs - Middle Distance

Victoria

Sat 3rd Oct

AUS Champs - Long Distance

Victoria

Sun 4th Oct

AUS Champs - Relay

Victoria

1

2

3

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

n recent months, we have been talking a lot about the build-up to the first senior international event contested in Australia for fifteen years. The Oceania Championships and World Cup are now behind us and we can reflect on how successful the event was. The answer was that, as an event, it was highly successful – something which is greatly to the credit of Orienteering Tasmania in general and the Event Director, Bernard Walker, in particular.

The international fields in Tasmania were not as deep as we might have hoped for, but at the sharp end of the field there was still a lot of quality, giving those of you who were there the chance to see just how good the best in the world are – not many of us could imagine going close to 6 minutes/km at Coles Bay, as Daniel Hubmann did. All the feedback I’ve seen, both directly and indirectly, is that our international visitors appreciated the chance to compete somewhere very different, something which doesn’t occur as often in the international Orienteering calendar as it once did. Many of them also took the opportunity to spend some more time in Australia in general and Tasmania in particular – a quick scan of the links on “World of O” will reveal plenty of pictures of prominent Orienteering identities at various Tasmanian landmarks (some of them in the middle of runs which lesser mortals would consider epic but for them are standard training). While hopes that some might have had for home medals were not realised, a number of Australian Team members took significant personal steps up and all will have appreciated the chance to compete at a high level on home ground.

After such a successful event thoughts naturally turn to – what’s next? The answer, in the short term, is probably not the World Cup, whose future is under review – only a few national federations have the financial resources to support it properly.

Hosting a World Championships would be a major step up.

While it’s 30 years since we last did it, and I have little doubt that IOF would welcome a serious bid from outside Europe with open arms, the reality at the moment is that we have the technical expertise to do the job, but not the money – even with an optimistic assessment of what we might earn from supporting spectator races, to make the numbers work we would probably need somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million in external money, either sponsorship or government. We’re not the only country with this problem, which is why not many countries have bid for WOC in recent years (and the last two successful bids have both involved using a WMOC in the year before or after to crosssubsidise the WOC).

Inevitably, quite a bit of the conversation at the recent Orienteering Australia annual Conference in December involved money. As I’ve noted here previously, OA has very little income of its “own” other than grants, with most of the rest coming via the States in some form or other, and sorting out how that is to be divided and calculated often consumes a lot of Conference energy. While it’s not an overnight process, our overall strategy is to move towards a model where more of our income is linked to participation and less to membership – which means

that, ultimately, the more we can grow participation, the more resources we’ll have to support development of the sport in general. This also gives more room to States to experiment with alternative membership models, as Victoria is now doing, to broaden the range of people who are on our books while recognising that one of the major trends in the sporting marketplace is that people are less willing to make an extended commitment and more interested in participating on a casual week-to-week basis. (We’ve probably felt this trend much less than many other sports have).

Looking ahead to 2015, one of the major things we will see this year is an upsurge in activity in schools as part of the government’s new Sporting Schools programme. I’ve mentioned this before and think that it’s an area which has a lot of potential for us. It’s good to see that we will be getting some very useful financial support from the Australian Sports Commission to get things up and running, but from there a lot of work is going to have to be done to make things happen.

One of the major demands on us in supporting junior development will be having good coaches and instructors available (and lots of them), covering all levels from the introductory onwards. We haven’t always had a culture of coaching at all levels – what there has been has often been rather fragmented – but we want to do something about that and have support available all the way from entry level to the very top. With this in mind, a very successful coaching conference/ workshop was held in Canberra in late January, led by Nick Dent as OA Head Coach. More than 40 people attended to be involved in a range of presentations and activities, and we are very optimistic that this will be the start of a revitalisation of Orienteering coaching in Australia.

All of this points to a positive year ahead for us as a sport, although one where we will need to be on the ball to take advantage of the opportunities available to us. We will be back into the bush sooner rather than later, with Easter in South Australia the next major national landmark. The South Australians have had to switch to plan B after losing one of the main planned areas in a fire last summer but all indications are that they have been able to do this smoothly, and I look forward to seeing the results in action.

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

Winning PartnershiP

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

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

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION 4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

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 ACT 2911 President Blair Trewin Director High Performance Lance Read Director Finance Bruce Bowen Director Technical Jenny Casanova Director Special Projects Robert Spry Director Media & Communications Craig Feuerherdt Director International (IOF Council) Mike Dowling Executive Officer John Harding National MTBO Coordinator Kay Haarsma National Head Coach Nick Dent Badge Applications John Oliver

orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 oa_president@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 lancer@hillbrook.qld.edu.au orienteering@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6288 8501 orienteering@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: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Admin Officer: Tim McIntyre admin@oq.asn.au Orienteering NSW: PO Box 3379 North Strathfield NSW 2137. Admin Officer: John Murray, Ph. (02) 8116 9848 admin@onsw.asn.au Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402 Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Secretary: John Scown, Ph. (02) 6162 3422 orienteering.act@webone.com.au Orienteering Victoria: PO Box 1010 Templestowe VIC 3106. Secretary: Carl Dalheim, voa@netspace.net.au Orienteering SA: State Association House 105 King William St Kent Town SA 5067. Sec: Erica Diment (08) 8379 2914 secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6094. Secretary: Ken Post, Ph. (08) 9246 2552 kpost1@bigpond.com Orienteering Tasmania: PO Box 339 Sandy Bay TAS 7005. Secretary: Janet Bush secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Lana Luders topendorienteersNT@gmail.com

NEXT issue deadline

April 17. Time-sensitive: April 24

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 1/15 (no. 177) MARCH 2015

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 pcusworth53@gmail.com Magazine Treasurer: Bruce Bowen Printer: Ferntree Print Centre, 1154 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully.

Contribution deadline: April 17; Time-sensitive - April 24.

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 - Lance Read; MTBO - Kay Haarsma; 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: Ian Jessup – marketing@onsw.asn.au ACT: John Scown – scown@light.net.au SA: Erica Diment – diment@adam.com.au – tel (ah) 8379 2914 Vic, WA and Tas – vacant Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 pa. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A49, Rest of World $A58 pa.

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

contents world cup downunder.......................... 6 o c e a n i a C h a m p i o n s h i p s.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 armchair O........................................ 17 F e r r y o .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 2 0 1 4 x m a s 5 d a y s .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 c o c k at o o i s l a n d.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 coaching – The Pitfalls of Summer.......... 31 d e v e l o p i n g a c o a c h i n g p a t h w a y .. . . . . . . . . . 3 2 O s c h o l a r s h i p i n t e r v i e w.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 p a n p a c i f i c c h a l l e n g e .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 m t b o n e w s & r a n k i n g s .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 OA r a n k i n g s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 s p o t t h e d i ff e r e n c e .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 o - s p y .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 L e t t e r s .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4 top events......................................... 47

Cover photo: Julian Dent in the World Cup Long Distance at Transit Flat. Photo: Tony Hill.

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

WORLD CUP

World Cup down under – Tasmania 2015 Nick Dent – OA Head Coach Passing near the swimming pool during the Sprint Qualification at Cataract Gorge. Photo: Tony Hill

Some analysis and athlete comments

F

or the first time since 2000 (when WOC Coach Tom Quayle was 9th in Middle and 14th in the Long Distance) a World Cup Orienteering event was held in Australia. This time the event was held in Tasmania, in January. There were orienteers from 16 countries in the start list for these events which included a Sprint Qualification on the “Cataract Gorge” map in Launceston, followed the next day by the Sprint Final at the “University of Tasmania” campus in Launceston. The Middle Distance saw a return to the “Coles Bay” map which was used previously in 1992 for the Veteran World Cup. The Long Distance event was held on the previously mapped Constable Creek map, west of St Helens, with a significant new section to the south and west.

The start list included four current World Champions - Søren Bobach (Denmark), Judith Wyder (Switzerland), Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Svetlana Mironova (Russia). Other world class athletes included the Swiss men Daniel Hubmann (overall World Cup winner 2014) and Matthias Kyburz, the Swedes Jonas Leandersson, Jerker Lysell and Tove Alexandersson (overall World Cup winner 2014). Four countries fully focussed on this World Cup round with large teams - Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland.

Australia and New Zealand athletes were also competing for the Oceania Championship titles in Sprint, Middle and Long Distance. There was a particular focus as the winner (male and female) in both the Middle and the Long Distance events gained a personal spot in the same event at the World Orienteering Championships in Scotland in August.

SPRINT

And on this control:

Women’s leg #18 - #19 ; Men’s leg #19 - #20 A third of the field ran around and lost a lot of time - control description – Eastern wall, NE corner (inside).

Results: Men 1st M Kyburz 15:06, 2nd D Hubmann, 3rd G Bergman. Best Australian - J Dent (11% behind winner).

Women T Alexandersson 15:58, 2nd J Wyder, 3rd S Luescher.

Best Australian - R Effeney (17% behind winner).

Comment from the “World Of O” analysis of the splits

•M Kyburz km rate was 3.5 min/km and T Alexandersson km rate was 3.8 min/km.

“The first part of the course was the most tricky one seen purely from the map – but most time was lost in the last part of the race when the athletes started getting tired and the course setter used the control description to set some traps.

MIDDLE DISTANCE

The top women did however run very well – orienteering carefully all the way. Actually the top women made less mistakes than the top men even if many legs were the same – maybe because the speed is even higher in the men’s class? Or do the top women simply focus more on the orienteering and the control description?

Time lost on this control:

Women’s leg #11 - #12 ; Men’s leg #12 - #13 A third of the field lost significant time here, probably due to not reading the control description.

The control is on the inside of the canopy (towards control #11). Control description Canopy NW end.

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Quote from the “World Of O” analysis: “Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) and Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) were the best in the tough and tricky Middle Distance World Cup race in Tasmania. Alexandersson did an amazing performance and was nearly 3 minutes ahead of Mari Fasting (Norway) in second. In the Men’s class the race was much closer – in the end the reigning World Champion Middle Distance, Olav Lundanes (Norway), was 55 seconds behind Hubmann.

The stony terrain with many fallen branches proved to be very tricky for the athletes. Very few of the athletes mastered the terrain – and one has seldom seen that many big mistakes in a World Cup race. For example in the Women’s class nearly half of the start field lost more than 3 minutes to the second control, many losing 5-6 minutes – a leg which Tove Alexandersson won in 4:37. In the Men’s class 10 runners lost more than 3 minutes to this control.

Daniel Hubmann mastered the tricky terrain best – running a steady race and finishing the course without any significant mistakes – around 2 minutes behind the “Superman” time which is the sum of the best splits on all legs in the course. Olav Lundanes looked like a winner for a long time – leading the race until the 9th control. But a 30 second mistake at the short leg to the 10th control cost the Norwegian the lead – and toward the end of the course mistakes at #17 and #20 made the victory very clear for Hubmann.”

Matt Ogden (NZ) and Lizzie Ingham (NZ) were the Oceania Champions in the Middle Distance and have both now gained a spot at WOC 2015 in the Middle Distance. This is a quote from Matt’s blog: “The best thing about the Middle was running to the cheers of a big NZ contingent! I was satisfied with my 13th position, and really happy to secure a place in the WOC Middle Distance.”

Results: Men 1st D Hubmann 31:48, 2nd O Lundanes, 3rd M Kyburz. Best Australian - R Preston (25% behind winner).

Women 1st T Alexandersson 29:40, 2nd M Fasting, 3rd M Magnusson. Best Australian - H Allston (42% behind winner).

LONG DISTANCE The talking point from this event has been the 3rd leg on the Men’s course (see map).

Here are some comments from the athletes: D Hubmann, Switzerland (2nd Place) - “Exactly such courses as these are the attractions of our sport. After a 20 minute ride on gravel roads we were exposed somewhere in the jungle and no one knew exactly where we were. When I got the map after the start signal, immediately stood out to me the third leg 3.8km long. It was a real tough nut to crack and I had to stop at the second control to discover a route.”

G Bergman, Sweden (3rd place) - “We had a monster leg to number 3 (3.8 km!), with no really obvious solution. I ended up going left, and I think that it was a good choice. I had a decent run, mostly good navigation (occasionally a bit sloppy with my compass, which led to some unnecessary time losses), and I felt OK physically.”

Middle Distance - This was a great opportunity to show my skills in Australian granite which I totally missed. I attacked the race too hard and underestimated the 2nd control missing a few minutes climbing above the control. This allowed Simon to catch me and we ran the reminder of the race together but never hitting our rhythm continuing to misread the rock detail throughout the race. Very disappointing performance and a missed opportunity.

Long Distance - A great challenge with a tough start and massive long leg. I went for a conservative choice with minimal climb to save energy for later. I executed my routes smoothly, although missed on a few controls in the circle. I felt strong throughout and finished very strongly into 13th place. My best World Cup performance. A pleasing result.

Hanny Allston: The World Cup was an amazing opportunity for us as elite athletes to give back to our local Orienteering community of Australia. To be able to represent my country on terrain that I grew up in here in Tasmania only made it more special. However, with this ‘home-ground advantage’ came an increase in pressure from myself. The build up to the competitions felt a little rushed as I was battling an achilles problem during the Australian Championships period. But I managed to come into the World Cup races in good physical form.

Hanny Allston – Oceania Champion .

Photo: Tony Hill

Jan Prochazka (Czech Rep) – “I just got a map on the start and was impressed. There was a little time on the small path to read the long leg to the 3rd control. During this time I did not find any solution. Later the stony slope did not allow runners to read the map in advance and suddenly I was on the second control. As I did not find any solution of the leg, I took the straight option.”

Results: Men 1st M Kyburz 78:29, 2nd D Hubmann, 3rd G Bergman. Best Australian - J Dent (13% behind winner).

Women 1st T Alexandersson 73:03, 2nd S Luescher, 3rd E Johansson. Best Australian - H Allston (15% behind winner).

Oceania Champions Julian Dent and Hanny Allston were the Oceania Champions in the Long Distance and have both gained a spot at WOC 2015 in the Long Distance.

Here are their thoughts on the World Cup:

Julian Dent: Sprint - It was a tricky Sprint with lots of tricks with the control descriptions so you had to be really on top of the fine detail. I started well and had good flow and route selection in the first half of the race.

Unfortunately as I got tired in the second half mistakes crept in and I lost time on two controls by not concentrating on the description and control location. 18th is a solid result which I was content with.

Julian Dent earned a Long Distance qualification for WOC 2015.

Photo: Mike Hubbert

My focus was the Long Distance and whilst physically the race was strong, my lack of technical preparation showed. I felt like I knew what I needed to do to navigate each leg safely, but the execution of this felt a little rusty. I only made one mistake but looking at the splits my hesitations and nervousness showed through as more significant time losses. Despite this, I felt that I coped with the pressures well and there was no better feeling than running through the spectator shute hearing everyone cheering for the Australians. It was also beautiful to see our younger orienteers being so inspired by watching the elites race.

I have many fond memories of this Carnival and strongly agree with our coach, Tom Quayle, that there is no better orienteering experience than racing a world class event on your home soils. And it was world class. The courses were set to perfection and the event organisers executed their delivery without any hiccups. I thank everyone who supported us and take my hat off to the wonderful team of volunteers who delivered this event series. I am proud to be an Australian orienteer and a member of my State and National orienteering community.

FULL RESULTS here: oceania2015.com/eventor/oceania-wc-results/

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

world cup

Daniel Hubmann (SUI) Photo: Tony Hill

8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Julian Dent (AUS) Photo: Nick Barrable

Matthias Kyburz (SUI) Photo: Warwick Moore

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

world cup

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) Photo: Tony Hill

Spectator control Photo: Tony Hill

10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Hanny Allston (AUS) Photo: Mike Hubbert

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

world cup

Photo: Tony Hill

Alexandersson, Swiss men dominate World Cup in Tasmania

Blair Trewin

Tove Alexandersson (SWE)

Daniel Hubmann (SUI)

Laurina Neumann (AUS)

Photo: Mike Hubbert

Photo: Mike Hubbert

Photo: Mike Hubbert

S

weden’s Tove Alexandersson dominated the first three rounds of the World Cup, held in conjunction with the Oceania Championships in Tasmania. Since the 2013 retirement of Simone Niggli, on her good days she has been clearly superior to anyone else on their good days. Those good days have not always come when they have needed to – she is yet to win an individual World Championships gold medal, although surely that will come soon – but they came with consistency in Tasmania, where her only blunder of any consequence was running the wrong way from the last control to the Finish of the Long Distance.

None of the races were close. She won the Sprint by more than a minute – an extraordinary margin at this level, and one which featured wins on 13 consecutive splits – the Middle Distance by nearly three, and the Long Distance by nearly four. Only in the Long Distance did anyone challenge her even over sub-sections of the course, and there she was able to put a whole course together while others could not. Everyone else was racing for the minor placings, where the contests were a bit closer. Sara Lüscher got two of them, third in the Sprint and second in the Long Distance (Mari Fasting, disappointingly Norway’s sole female representative, would have joined her, had she not lost second place in the Long Distance by forgetting to punch the drinks control, after being runner-up in the Middle Distance), while her Swiss teammate, Judith Wyder, was second in the Sprint. Two of Alexandersson’s Swedish compatriots also got in the medals, with thirds for Maria Magnusson in the Middle Distance and Emma Johansson in the Long Distance.

The Swiss men showed their depth in impressive style, filling three of the top four places in the Sprint, four of the top five in the Middle Distance, and first and second in the Long Distance. At the top of the pile were Matthias Kyburz and Daniel Hubmann, who both placed in every race and shared the three wins between them. Kyburz reinforced an already imposing Sprint reputation by finishing 33 seconds clear of Hubmann in that race, but it was 12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

slightly more of a surprise when he held off a late comeback by Hubmann to take the points in the Long Distance as well. It was Hubmann’s turn in the Middle Distance, where he was just under a minute ahead of the current world champion, Olav Lundanes of Norway. Gustav Bergman was the best of the Swedes, taking third in both the Sprint and the Long Distance.

The best Australian performances came in the Long Distance.

Hanny Allston achieved the only top-10 result of the week for the hosts with a 10th place there – it might have been higher still but for time lost on the last long leg – while Julian Dent’s 13th was his best at this level. Both secured World Championships Final berths through being the regional champions. Both also placed in the teens in the Sprint (with Dent’s 18th enough for the Oceania title), but the highlight there was the 14th for Rachel Effeney, which brought her the Oceania championship in her only race of the week. The Middle Distance was not a great day for Australia – except for Laurina Neumann, who enhanced her reputation considerably by placing 21st, just behind Allston – but it was the best day of the week for New Zealand, for whom Lizzie Ingham and Matt Ogden took the Oceania titles (and the WOC places that go with them) with places of 12th and 14th respectively.

Neumann’s run was the best of those new or almost new to national senior teams, although Matt Doyle and Brodie Nankervis both gave respectable accounts of themselves at various stages, and Krystal Neumann was on track to match or better her sister in the Middle Distance before stumbling at almost the last hurdle.

Non-World Cup elite runners (who ran the same courses before the World Cup races) were also eligible to challenge for Oceania titles, but only in the Men’s Sprint – through Nick Hann, who decided to focus his World Cup efforts on the forest races but ran the Sprint well anyway in the public race – did they get anywhere near doing so. (In the same event junior world champion, Tim Robertson, who surprisingly missed out in qualifying, got an Oceania silver from the World Cup B final).

Julian Dent (AUS) Photo: Tony Hill

Mari Fasting (NOR)) Photo: Warwick Moore

BIG MISTAKES S

weden’s Tove Alexandersson runs like a cat. Rough terrain and fallen timber don’t worry her or slow her down. In fact, sometimes she doesn’t seem to notice that she is running through terrain that may be a little different to what she might expect.

At the World Cup events held recently in Tasmania Tove dominated the women’s field, winning all three events. But, if she hadn’t been so dominant the Long Distance result may have been different. The last control (#18) was on a man-made object at the end of a marsh, and in full view of spectators at the Finish.

Tove arrived to punch with a 4min 22sec lead in the event. She punched the SI unit then streaked off towards the Finish. Except that she wasn’t heading for the Finish banner, but up along the bunting towards the spectator control (#5) instead. As related by one spectator, Tove flashed past then stopped, looked up at the spectators, went “HUHH !!?”, then turned and streaked back towards the last control, did a sharp left turn and ran up the Finish shute.

Her time for the last little leg was 48sec, compared with 17sec for silver medallist Sara Lüscher of Switzerland, 16sec for Julia Gross, the fastest woman on that leg, and 18sec for Hanny Allston.

Of course, Tove Alexandersson still won the event, but if she hadn’t been so dominant over the rest of the field it could have been a very close call.

Tove Alexandersson back on track running in the finish chute.

Photo: Mike Hubbert

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

OCEANIA

Oceania Championships Blair Trewin

The Oceania Championships week was not just about the World Cup. Whilst the international elite competition took the prime spotlight, the week also saw spirited competition between Australia and New Zealand at a multitude of levels.

I

n many ways it was a very successful week for New Zealand.

They were dominant in the Schools Test match, which was expected, and pushed the home country hard in the overall Australia-New Zealand Challenge. For the second time in succession the Relay Challenge was tied, 10 classes apiece; two years ago that was the first time the home country had not won outright for 19 years, this time it was the first time that Australia had ever failed to win on home soil. The hosts did have what appeared to be a reasonably comfortable win across the three individual events, 37 to 23, but that overall result hid close results in the two forest competitions. New Zealand matched Australia with a 10-10 result in the Middle Distance and were only narrowly beaten 12-8 in the Long distance, but the 15-5 margin which the Australians established in the Sprint on the opening day meant that they were able to keep the visitors at arm’s length thereafter.

Clean sweeps by the young and (not that) old

Photo: Tony Hill

up physically as well. While the New Zealand W20 contingent (along with both countries in M20) was depleted by World Cup commitments, there were still several there from 2014 JWOC teams and Blatchford was able to see them off comfortably, only being run close in the Sprint.

Bruce Arthur has lost little, if anything, from his peak, at least over the longer distances. He was perhaps unlucky not to get a World Cup chance, but running for the Australian M40 team was a more than reasonable plan B and it was no surprise when he swept the board. Craig Dufty, another long-term stalwart of Australian domestic elite orienteering and another one who can consider himself unlucky not to get a chance at WOC level at some point in his career, was his closest challenger. The final clean sweep was completed in M35 by New Zealand’s Fraser Mills, a top junior in his day who didn’t quite make it to the top level as an elite, but has held it together better than some of his contemporaries have.

Maintaining a performance consistently good enough to win across all three individual distances, from Sprint to Long Distance, is not an easy thing to do, and leaving aside uncontested classes, only five A class runners were able to do it, three juniors and two at the younger end of the masters’ field.

The Schools Test and other junior highlights

Two of the juniors were New Zealanders, Danielle Goodall in W16 and Connor Cleary in M16. Both had shown plenty of signs of their talent in Western Australia last year, but took a further step upwards in Tasmania. Goodall, who is rated exceptionally highly by the New Zealanders, was untouchable for most of the week – winning the Sprint by two minutes, the Middle Distance by seven and the Schools Test Individual by eight. Only in the Long Distance, when her compatriot Katie Cory-Wright was 27secs behind and Tara Melhuish two minutes away, did anyone get close to her. Cleary was not quite as dominant, with his only win by more than a minute – oddly enough – being in the Sprint, and he did not add the Schools to his week’s list of titles thanks to Aston Key’s fine technical skills on a very technical day, but still impressed. He led a very strong New Zealand M16 contingent who filled five of the top six places in the Long Distance (with the sixth going to a Finn).

The Relay is a somewhat strange beast; one of the few four-leg relays left in Orienteering, and a pure head-to-head contest with only two teams in each class. There was a certain amount of chaos over the first two legs, with some big fluctuations (some of them quite visible, as the last control before the spectator run-through caused several people trouble) and three mispunches. Two of them were in the same class, the Senior Girls, which effectively made that a non-event, but New Zealand eventually took control of the other three classes.

The other junior to take three titles was Nicola Blatchford in W20.

A member of last year’s JWOC team, she has often struggled to put together long stretches of injury-free training but has always looked to have a lot of talent, and now looks to have taken a step 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

The Schools Test match was contested over two days between teams from Australia and New Zealand, starting with a Relay near Swansea and continuing with an Individual on the challenging granite of Coles Bay.

It was a better day for the locals in the Individual. While Aston Key in the Junior Boys was the only Australian race winner, leading his Team to a narrow victory, the Senior Girls also avoided disaster better than their opponents did, with Winnie Oakhill, Asha Steer and Anna Dowling all producing solid results to overcome the good position that Kayla Fairbairn’s race win put NZ in. Ed Cory-Wright and Danielle Goodall led comfortable New Zealand wins in the other two classes to make the end result 5-2.

It was a good week for Oakhill, who prevailed by eight seconds over Lara Molloy in one of the carnival’s best races - the W18 Long Distance in which the top five were separated by just over

Photo: Tony Hill

Jo-Anna Maynard Photo: Tony Hill

two minutes – and was also the lead Australian in the Middle Distance. Other Australian juniors to enhance their reputations during the week included Will Kennedy, who had his first major national-level result with a win in the M20 Sprint, and Zoe Melhuish, who won both the Long and Middle Distance races in W14.

For the most part, though, the New Zealanders had the better of the junior classes in the Oceania Championships as they had in the Schools, taking five of the six Relays and 14 of a possible 24 Individual titles between 14s and 20s. Some of these came from people with well-established reputations on this side of the Tasman, like Fairbairn, Cory-Wright and Alice Tilley (who produced perhaps the week’s most dominant performance when she won the W18 Sprint by nearly three minutes, before departing because of school commitments), but others came from those taking a step up, like Tommy Hayes (M18) and Tom Harding (M14) who picked up two titles apiece.

Honours even in the Relays Over the years, Australia-New Zealand Challenge events have acquired a reputation (on both sides of the Tasman) for being staged in terrain favourable to the home side, but the visitors could have no complaints on that score at the 2015 Relays, held at Diddleum on a mixture of farmland and plantation forest that would have made them feel at home (except perhaps because the fences were mapped).

Whilst they never quite looked like getting to the 11 classes they would need for victory, New Zealand had many good performances, led by their juniors, and it was a fully deserved result when they levelled the score at 10 apiece. Critical to this result was that they prevailed in three close-run Masters’ classes.

Two of these were comebacks from behind on the last leg, in M65 where Dave Middleton overcame a two-minute deficit against Paul Hoopmann, and in W45 where Marquita Gelderman achieved a similar feat against Cath Chalmers. They also held on in one of the day’s closest finishes, where Su Yan Tay almost ran down a five-minute gap in W50 but Jean Cory-Wright held on by eight seconds.

Both the elite classes provided good-quality races, with Swiss and Swedish teams showing their class (notwithstanding that this race was a lower priority for the World Cup runners), and close races between the Oceania countries. The women provided the greater measure of drama, both at the front end where Sweden

Photo: Warwick Moore

led narrowly for two legs before Sara Lüscher brought the Swiss through on the last, and in the battle for third, where Hanny Allston looked to have caught Laura Robertson and just beat her in a sprint finish, but had mispunched. The men also had a close race with the top three teams within a minute. Sweden held on for the win, but there was a great battle between Julian Dent and Matt Ogden – who ran the two fastest times (and both of whom would go on to win Individual Oceania titles later in the week). They ran the two fastest times of the day, with Dent getting the Australians home by 18 seconds.

Quality in many Masters classes The international nature of the Oceania fields meant that the quality of competition in many of the older age groups was high.

Former World Championships representatives of five different countries took titles during the course of the week, and several age groups had a depth rarely achieved at the top end in domestic competition, especially in classes such as M45, where the NZ-resident trio of Carsten Jorgensen (winner of the Middle and Long Distance), Bill Edwards (who took the Sprint honours) and Alistair Cory-Wright provided between them a challenge that even someone of Eric Morris’s quality was unable to overcome.

With the Australia-New Zealand Challenge providing an added incentive to some more normally found in elite classes to act their age, there were quite a few who were previously rarely sighted in Masters’ age groups outside of WMOC. In addition to Bruce Arthur’s M40 sweep, Tracy Marsh took two wins in W40, by an imposing nine minutes in the Middle Distance, before being beaten (slightly surprisingly) by Clare Hawthorne in the Long Distance.

There were also two titles apiece to those who have long being at the top in their age groups on their respective sides of the Tasman, such as Gillian Ingham (W60), Warren Key (M55), Jenny Bourne (W55) and Paul Pacque (M60); the last two might have done the sweep had they not missed the third event through organisational roles. They were joined as dual winners by someone who has risen more recently to the top, Su Yan Tay (W50) – surprisingly it was the Sprint, normally her best distance, which tripped her up as a late error dropped her to third – and one of the legends of the international scene, Carol McNeill (W70), who in the 1970s was the first Briton to finish in the top-10 at the World Championships. (There wasn’t a Sprint in her day, which may MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

OCEANIA

explain why she came badly unstuck in that format in Tasmania).

The most interesting races, though, sometimes came in those classes where there was no standout. M50 was a fine example of the genre. It featured three different winners during the week (including a first forest title, on home ground, for Kenneth McLean), the week’s closest finish when John Robertson edged out Jemery Day by two seconds in the Sprint, and a roller-coaster Middle Distance race which included eight lead changes, five different leaders, seven within three minutes of the lead, and a podium separated by only 23 seconds, with Michael Burton ending up in possession when the music stopped after Simon George lost time on the last control.

M65, M70 and W45 also saw three different winners, although one of the week’s most impressive single performances also came from there when Alex Tarr won the M70 Middle Distance by seven minutes. Whilst seeing such performances from stalwarts who have always been at or near the top is always something to impress, there’s also a joy in seeing others who have been around for many years finally break through for their first big win. This time, such a feat was achieved on Sprint day

by James Lithgow in M60 and John Sutton in M75. Neither had

The Australian WOC JWOC and MTBO teams outfitted by Trimtex

16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Jenny Bourne Photo: Tony Hill

previously won a major national and international event, and Sutton celebrated by doing it again in the Middle Distance three days later.

Many competitors emerged from the week with their reputations enhanced.

Tasmanian orienteering also emerged from the week with its reputation enhanced, with an event which went very smoothly (at least outwardly), a credit to all the hard work which went into it, and was very well-received by locals and visitors alike. The next Oceania Championships will be in New Zealand, part of a fortnight extravaganza of Orienteering which will continue on to the World Masters Championships, and will definitely be an event to look forward to.

Spectacular scenery at the Oceania Champs Photo: Tony Hill

ARMCHAIR O

Beat the World Cup Winner We reckon that a factor of 5 is a reasonable handicap for not actually running the course. So, can you plot a route on this map in 3min 01sec or less? Remember that if you (in your Armchair !!) were actually running this course you would have to avoid all the

C

an you beat the World Cup Sprint winner? Not in the terrain (of course) but in your armchair. Swiss ace, Matthias Kyburz, ran the 4.35km course in 15min 06sec, with compatriot Daniel Hubmann 2nd in 15:39.

out-of-bounds and do-not-cross features like fences, walls and garden beds. And you wouldn’t see the course until you started.

So, your route must be completely legal and don’t check out the difficult legs before you start. There are significant route choice options on many legs – did you choose the best ones?

Good Luck.

Mens Sprint winner, Matthias Kyburz

Daniel Hubmann, Sprint silver medallist

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

Very Ferry Good O

Orienteering on Bass Strait Michael Hubbert

R

eading an Orienteering map with care is more than difficult if the terrain is rolling and wallowing at the time. Apart from a severe earthquake this phenomenon is most likely to happen on board a ship on the high seas.

Jump to New Year’s Day 2015 and some 25 intrepid travellers bound for the Oceania Carnival aboard the “Spirit of Tasmania” were threading their way through the wallowing, rolling terrain in search of twenty cryptic controls (in the form of adhesive stickers) placed high and low around four decks of the Bass Strait ferry by our cunning Course Setter.

Each control contained a letter which would eventually help spell out a message. But the first challenge was to find the controls, many of which were less than obvious, and one in a lift (#9) kept moving between decks – very frustrating if you arrived just as the doors closed and the lift moved off. #18 looks as though it was in the sea but was, in fact, on an inaccessible part of the stern which had to be viewed from afar.

Our Course Setter had obtained permission from the ferry management to run the event and they even announced it over the ferry’s public address system, though they called it an “Orientation” event which may have left some passengers wondering whether the ferry needed some help in navigation.

A special rule was “no running” but some participants showed they could walk quite fast though not, perhaps, in a straight line as the ferry rolled its way to Tasmania. Curiosity rose when several of us gathered at control points and began hunting high, low, around and behind in search of the elusive control stickers which had been cleverly concealed.

Joint winners were Jenny Bourne & Geoff Lawford (Eureka), closely followed by Peter Hobbs (DROC).

And we showed that Orienteering can certainly be a spectator sport as the hundreds of other passengers watched on.

18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Ferry-O in progress

Control sticker

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19

2014 XMAS 5 DAYS

The Winner is…

Sydney !

Ian Jessup ONSW Marketing & Communications Officer

Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself a bit there in channelling Juan Antonio Samaranch from 1993. But that was pretty much the unanimous verdict of the more than 500 competitors who descended on Sydney for our annual Xmas 5-Days Carnival.

Day 2, Cockatoo Island.

Photo: Tony Hill

U

sually centred on a regional town with easy access to quality bush maps, the 2014 Xmas 5-Days for the first time had a distinctly urban feel with four of the days in iconic Sydney locations with superb views of the harbour and/or city.

We were unsure how many entries we would attract with the variety of formats – but the punters voted with their feet and made it a big success – over 300 on Days 1 and 3 (Mosman and Pyrmont) and more than 400 on Day 2 for our debut at Cockatoo Island (see separate article for some classic noodling from the island).

We were thrilled that Swedish six-time world championship silver medallist Tove Alexandersson headed our list of overseas elites. Tove easily won all four days that she entered, and repeated that effort by sweeping the World Cup round in Tasmania the following week.

Watching the Scandinavians in action left us all with a much greater awareness of just how fit they are, and of their superior technical skills.

Each club hosted a different day, with prizes in each class for daily winners and the overall champion (best 4 results count).

Day 1: Lyn Malmgron (SH) at the cannon. Photo: Ian Jessup 20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

The carnival started with a long afternoon Sprint on an elevated neck of land at Georges Heights offering awesome views from Manly to the CBD. This is the traditional venue for Bennelong Northside’s Sydney Summer Series event just before Christmas each year and always features a ‘wedding control’ where couples pose for that defining photo.

The long courses headed east through Sydney Harbour Federation Trust land, which used to be for military use (the northernmost control was an old cannon), then down to the wedding area in the SE corner of the map, back through the Start and finally west around Rawson Oval where Allan Border cut his teeth as a teenage batsman.

Some of the shorter courses made great use of a new section of the map recently opened by council (the bit south of the three tanks). From there you could see a US Coast Guard ship anchored in Chowder Bay – we have a sneaking suspicion it was “laid up with engine trouble” until after the NYE fireworks!

Dave Shepherd (ACT) cleaned up in Men’s A. Day 1: a US Coast Guard ship anchored in Chowder Bay.

Photo: Ian Jessup

Day 2 was a morning Sprint on Cockatoo Island, another area under the control of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.

Big Foot have been trying to get in there for some time now and finally had their wish fulfilled. Being on a Sunday, public transport was capped at $2.50 per person all day, making it a cheap and spectacular day out on the harbour.

This one had the lot: convict history, maritime relics, tunnels and train tracks, industrial statues, a camping area, a huge shed/ workshop near the Start to really test the fine navigation skills - and a 1:3,000 map on two levels. All this in an area 500m x 300m. Part Star Wars, part Easter Island, part Maze Runner. We

loved it that the very easy, easy and moderate courses were set by Ewan Shingler (age 12).

“It was fantastic. It would be great fun to do a World Championship Sprint in this area,” said Tove Alexandersson, whose World Cup team-mate Gustav Bergmann won Men’s A. Day 3 found us at inner city Pyrmont for a 45-minute afternoon Score event in conjunction with the SSS. Garingal debuted this map in October 2013 for the NSW Sprint championships, and an extension to the east took it all the way to the Maritime Museum and the western shores of Darling Harbour. Very few Europeans have run this format, in which you visit the controls in any

Day 2, Cockatoo Island: great views from the grassy yard above the assembly area.

Photo: Ian Jessup

Day 2, Cockatoo Island: navigating the tunnel.

Photo: Tony Hill

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

2014 XMAS 5 DAYS

order within a set time limit – and, depending on host club, may have unlimited planning time (or none).

“It’s the first time we’ve ever run this type of course,” said Signe Klinting and Camilla Bevensee of OK Pan Aarhus club in Denmark. “The scenery was amazing and at every control I was just smiling so much at the beautiful views. But I don’t believe you should be allowed to look at the map beforehand.”

There were 600 points on offer and 11 runners got the lot under time.

But the 1:4,000 scale (it’s usually 1:10,000) also seemed to throw others, and there were a handful of runners back 8-10 minutes early!

Open Men’s SSS star Steve Ryan atoned for mp’s on the first two days by sweeping all 30 controls in 40m3s. The top women’s score was 540,

by Cecilie Fryberg Klysner (Denmark) and Catherine Murphy (Uringa).

Day 4 was our only bush day, with Western & Hills borrowing Big Foot’s map of Darks Common at Lapstone at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

The mercury was in the low 30s by the time the last runner finished late morning, testing already tired legs. Shep and Tove repeated their Day 1 successes.

Day 3, Pyrmont, Noah Poland (ACT) Photo: Ian Jessup

Ross Barr adds:

INNOVATIVE TIMING AT PYRMONT

Day 4: In the bush at Darks Common, Lapstone.

Race 3 at the recent ‘Christmas 5 Days’ carnival in Sydney was a 45 minute score course around Pyrmont Point – very close to the city and with magnificent harbour views. The format allows competitors to study the map/ course beforehand (Sydney Summer Series style with 30 controls of varying value spread throughout the area and a cut off time of 45 minutes), and with a start ‘window’ of over three hours in the late afternoon.

Two Swedish orienteers, not here for the World Cup, turned up for a run – but without watches. Given instructions about the race format and timing needed, they studied the course and duly set off. Imagine the surprise at the download table when both arrived back within a minute of their 45min deadlines (she a bit under, he a bit over from memory) - both with good scores. When asked about this superb finish timing, they said they kept their time on the course under control – by checking the clocks on all the parking meters throughout Pyrmont!

Jawdropping!

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Photo: Tony Hill

As we had hoped, many of our European guests were later spotted higher up the mountains, taking in Echo Point and the Three Sisters on a great day for sightseeing.

We wrapped up the Carnival with a morning Ultra Sprint right out the front of the Sydney Cricket Ground. The setting among magnificent fig trees, around Kippax Lake, and a stone’s throw from so much sporting history - was a fitting end to five days of urban O.

Day 3, Ron Junghans (GO), with the Anzac bridge in the background as the sun sinks on a glorious day.

Photo: Ian Jessup

Participants had a twohour window in which to run three 1km line courses.

The maps were drawn at 1:2,000 with every tree shown, and its canopy covering. There were no control descriptions or numbers on the SI units,

Day 5: Under the trees in front of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Photo: Tony Hill

just a dot in the middle of the red circle to denote the control location.

Controls could be either side of a tree or fence post or log, and each wrongly punched control brought a 30-second penalty instead of the dreaded ‘mp’.

And there was the small matter of a maze with 13 controls. It was great fun watching people come and go through the maze, and even the elites needed to slow down or stop to check they were in the right place. (Go to YouTube and type in Kippax Lake to find a 2-minute video of the maze.)

“It’s the first time I have done this and it’s fantastic,” said Christian Tingström of Sweden, who won the Big Foot Sprints a week prior at St Ives Showground. He finished four seconds behind Josh Blatchford (Newcastle) who completed the three courses in 17m52s.

Christian said, “I am an orienteer, not a runner, so I love how you have to concentrate very hard on the map in an area that looks very easy. And all the dummy controls (from the other courses); it’s like Trail O and quite tricky. It’s a really good training activity, too. I loved it.”

Day 5: Matt Westwood (UR) Photo: Ian Jessup

Day 5 Ultra Sprint map

Hosts Uringa ran a trial Ultra at Callan Park in November to great fanfare from locals, who were at an advantage come the final day. But it was a lot of work for the organisers – three times as many maps as usual, and a separate download station for each course (the Ultra was effectively a threeDay 5: around Kippax Lake. day event in its own right!).

Photo: Tony Hill ONSW offers a sincere thank you to all participants, club volunteers, landowners, prize donors – and to SI guru Ron Pallas for his dozens of hours at the computer ensuring everything ran smoothly and all results were on Eventor within hours after each race.

It is very heartening to discover that people will come in numbers to an urban Carnival with great maps and in great locations. We look forward to hosting the opening round of the 2015 NOL in March.

Day 5: the maze.

Photo: Ian Jessup

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

COCKATOO ISLAND

Cocka-Noodle Doo! Ian Jessup, Orienteering NSW

Which way now?

Orienteers love a new map – and these days that often means a new urban Sprint map promising lots of interesting features. Our debut on Cockatoo Island offered indoor orienteering (in a huge former workshop near the Start), multi-level running (ground level and the upper deck ‘mesa’) and two tunnels (at ground level, cutting through the upper deck).

This curiosity was reflected in the number of entries – over 400, including a family who happened to be camping on the island and thought they’d join in on the day!

Amid all this novelty, not to mention the fantastic location in the middle of Sydney Harbour, at the pointy end of the competition there was also the serious business of trying to win the day … and the overall prize in each class.

And so it is with a touch of schadenfreude that we report here on the misadventures of three highly credentialled, seasoned orienteers who came unstuck during the Sprint.

24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Photo: Tony Hill

Peter Annetts (GO) In Men’s B, Peter led at #8 and was just 10 seconds adrift at #12, after overshooting #10 by 15m. Leg 13 looked fairly straightforward – left out of the tiny dead end, down the steep metal staircase and across to the base of the island, tucked at the rear of the second building on his right. His rivals did it in just under a minute; Peter 4:52. He finished 33rd in 17:26. The third placegetter took 13:55 – so the error cost Peter 30 places and third spot.

As you can see from his route (in red), Peter somehow made a 180-degree error coming out of #12. “I went between the buildings, down the ramp and along the path between the camping spots. Halfway along I started to slow down, and at the end of the camping section I stopped, matched the shelter (undercover) with the round building on my right and the ferry wharf, and just swore. But instead of continuing around the corner and through the Dog Leg tunnel, I turned around and climbed the northern staircase, negotiated my way south across the upper deck, back pretty much to #12, then down the big staircase and on to the control.”

Paula Shingler (BF) In Women’s B Paula led by 15 seconds at #13. Her next leg was to the same control Peter was seeking during his calamity. From the western tip of bare rock near the southern cliff, it should have been a simple matter of a 180, zigzag through the buildings past #8, left and down the big staircase, then across the neck to #14. Alas, Paula lost a minute and a half here, and finished second – 1:14 behind the winner.

Her post-mortem: “At #13 I said ‘Go down the steps and across the neck.’ But I read the tunnel [on the ground level, indicated by the pink )( symbol] as the steps. So I went down the tiny steps near #13 and went left, left, as I should have… and I was running nicely… along the walkway on the southern edge of the upper deck. Then [about level with #10] I realised I could see the assembly area below [near #17] and thought ‘That’s wrong – how do I get down?’ I looked at the map again, turned around and went back down the big steps the correct way.”

The view NE from the southern section of the top deck.

Photo: Ian Jessup

The assembly area.

Photo: Tony Hill

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

COCKATOO ISLAND The straight tunnel.

Photo: Tony Hill

The southern staircase Photo: Tony Hill

Greg Barbour (BF) In Men’s A, leg 22 went from the steps at the tennis court on the upper level, down into the workshop in a corner near the exit doors (which were marked as legal passageways). The average was about 2 minutes. Greg took 4:24. He was not the only one to struggle: Tony Hill took 3:51, Mike Free 6:21. The best exit from #21 appears to be down the northern steps, then (1) left along the path, through the straight tunnel and into the workshop from the west, or (2) right around the cliff, through the assembly area and into the workshop from the north.

Greg details what went wrong: “Cockatoo Island is arguably the best of Australia’s Sprint areas.

It offers views and complexity as well as an element of novelty in the island, buildings and tunnels. At the start I recognised likely special challenges and reminded myself to slow down at times when the terrain changes. The most obvious change was in and out of the buildings and I successfully navigated this difficult change.

“As the course wore on I made a few small errors but nothing to signal a poor run. However, on the way to #20 I made a small mistake and overran the control by 10m and then another small error of about 15 secs when leaving #20 to #21.

“Leg 22 left the upper deck and returned to sea level. I was aware this involved stairs and had decided correctly to use the stairs on the north of the island. Although not completely in control, I left #21 in the right direction and was navigating correctly to the stairs.

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

“However, when halfway to the stairs I looked at the map and could not locate the stairs. I looked again and could only see a full cliff where I was heading.

“I decided there were no stairs and I needed to find another set of stairs, so I ran to the viewing area over the Finish - only to find there were no stairs there.

“I then made the only remaining decision; go to the southern stairs … and then through the tunnel to come out on the North!

I executed this new plan perfectly (but had lost about 3 or 4 mins already!) and got the control and then managed without fault to get to the Finish.

“Of course the northern stairs did exist (I had already used them to get to the top deck). So why was I so stupid?

• Towards end of the course I was starting to run into oxygen debt, so I was not thinking as calmly.

• I ignored the warning signs of a few smaller errors and did not slow down.

• I failed to slow enough to think clearly about the problem and jumped to a new solution unnecessarily”.

All the above examples are a failure to match physical effort with mental ability.

So what’s the lesson? Greg advises: “Slow down towards the end of a Sprint if the ‘wobbles’ start, so as to preserve good runs. On the other hand, it is probably good to fail a few Sprints – because if you do not then you are not running to the limit required.”

Roosters one day, feather dusters the next! We thank our Peter, Paula and Greg for willingly offering up their noodles for discussion and analysis.

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ADVERTORIAL

Queen’s Birthday 3 Days 2015 New Zealand 4 events in 3 days

I

f you like the sound of orienteering on sand dunes in pine forest over a mix of flat and steep terrain, then think hard about travelling to New Zealand to participate in a 3-day multi event in late May 2015.

The North West Orienteering Club, based in the Auckland region, is organising the 3-day event over New Zealand’s Queen’s Birthday weekend. Specific dates are Saturday 30 May, Sunday 31 May & Monday 1 June.

The weekend’s events will include multi-day length events on Saturday and Monday with a Middle Distance double on Sunday including a chasing start in the afternoon.

Saturday’s event will be held in Waioneke Forest, while Woodhill Forest is the venue for Sunday and Monday’s events. Like Woodhill, Waioneke is pine forest on sand dune terrain. The terrain ranges from flat to steep and is described as “generally gully/spur on high sanddune terrain with some areas of intricate contour detail”.

The pine forest is generally open with good runnability, although some undergrowth vegetation will reduce visibility and runnability.

Waioneke was last used for the New Zealand Championships held in 2012 and previously for Oceania in 2005. Since then, the map has been extended and new roading allows us to access areas previously only used by the longer courses. With Rob Garden and Marquita Gelderman as the planner and controller respectively for Day 1, this day promises to be a great start to the weekend.

On Sunday the event moves to what could be considered the “heart”’ of Woodhill Forest. The morning race will be on the Muriwai map and the afternoon on Pulpit Rock. The terrain for Muriwai is typical Woodhill sand dune type terrain while Pulpit Rock is described as flat to steep sand-dune based forest. In Muriwai the pine forest ranges from very open to areas with cutty grass and thinnings while Pulpit Rock is mainly open pine forest with some areas of native bush.

The map for Monday is an old New Zealand favourite – Otakanini Topu, based towards the northern end of Woodhill. This area of forest is being remapped for this event after almost 12 years with no use. Considered to be many people’s favourite map in the 1990s, Otakanini Topu is a very technical forest area with parts of low visibility, and both farmland and fast open forest.

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

The weekend will double as a Pinestars/Bushrangers Test match, definitely at senior level and hopefully also at junior level.

An added bonus from this weekend is that it will provide an opportunity to experience similar terrain to that which will be used for the World Masters Games and Oceania in April 2017.

With the timing being less than two years from these events, the organisers suggest those planning on competing in the Masters and/or Oceania should consider NZ Queen’s Birthday 2015 an ideal ‘warm up’ for these events.

Travel times to all events from Auckland City Centre will be approximately 1 hour.

2012 JWOC Middle Distance Champion Matt Ogden’s thoughts on the weekend: “North West has a tradition of hosting high quality events, and this weekend promises to be up there with the very best.

The terrains chosen are the most demanding in the Auckland region, especially that of Otakanini Topu, which through testing the map I have discovered a love-hate relationship due its technical difficulty. Waioneke is arguably one of New Zealands best maps, and with the new extensions and course planners expect a very challenging competition.

And then rounding of the weekend with a more traditional Woodhill style, a fast and furious full speed chasing start, I have no doubts that this weekend will leave you wanting more!”

Saturday 30 May to Monday 1 June qb2015.aoa.org.nz

ADVERTORIAL

2015 South Australian Orienteering Championships

L

incoln Orienteers invites you to a June Long Weekend experience not to be missed! Two days of orienteering – one on a mountain of granite, one on depressions of limestone! Both competition areas are less than an hour’s travel to the west of Port Lincoln and in close proximity to Coffin Bay. For the Long Distance Championships on Day 1 a shiny new map, Mount Dutton, will be unveiled. Day 2’s Middle Distance event will revisit The Sandmine.

The Mount Dutton orienteer can expect numerous and often complex granite features in both steep and gently sloping terrain, with typical granitic contour detail of minor spurs and gullies.

The competition area is dominated by a broad and gently sloped summit/plateau area and two lengthy spurs, all of which feature vegetation diversity that includes fast open on the ‘plateau’ country, slow- and fast-run remnant or regenerating forest on the slopes and extensive areas of variously-sized thickets or copses criss-crossed by open corridors.

Mount Dutton

Sunday 7th June - 2015 South Australian Long Distance Orienteering Championships Map: Mount Dutton 1:10 000 5m contours.

Mapped 2014 by David Winters

M

ount Dutton is a granite inselberg, elevation 270m, which rises abruptly from rolling farmlands 2km from the sandy shoreline of Farm Beach, just 50km west of Port Lincoln! The mountain delivers spectacular views of the entire SW fringe of Eyre Peninsula, with Marble Range dominant to the NE and the magnificent Coffin Bay waterway and the full 40km extent of Coffin Bay National Park clearly visible to the south.

On a good day, from the summit, huge King George whiting might be spotted in the shallows off nearby beaches!

An invigorating walk from the Assembly area to the Start will showcase all of the above, and give a visual taste of what to expect. The elevated Start will reduce climb, enable access to the delightful plateau country and present orienteers with opportunities to hone downhill navigation skills.

Monday 8th June - 2015 Middle Distance event Map: The Sandmine 1:10 000 2.5m contours.

Mapped 2005 by David Winters

T

owering Coffin Bay National Park sandhills adjacent this competition area are clearly visible from Mount Dutton just 20 straight kilometres to the NW, but there the connection between the two competition areas ends – The Sandmine is a complex limestone wonderland featuring subtle 2.5m contours and numerous limestone point features associated with extensive coastal beard heath and acacia shrubbery, mallee thickets and open grassland.

The area is dimpled with many small to very large depressions, making accurate contour reading crucial! Those who competed on The Sandmine during State events in 2005 and 2007 will be the first to take up the opportunity to once more experience the magic of fast run, minimal climb orienteering on one of the best limestone terrains in our country.

Just 6km east of Coffin Bay township, The Sandmine event will offer early starts for those needing to travel home to Adelaide or beyond.

Mount Dutton MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

ADVERTORIAL

We’re Nuts over Kingaroy and you’ll be nuts over Kingaroy too when you get to run on the new maps that Eric Andrews has drawn for the

2015 Queensland 2-Day Long Distance Championships Rob Rapkins, Gordon Muir, Mark Petrie and Jim Bowling joined Eric on the maps recently to check the progress, assess the potential, and have a sneak run.

A

t the moment, these maps have to be the fastest in Australia, so all you speed demons will be able to test your stamina.

But wait, there’s MORE! You have run on fast maps, you have run on complex maps, and you have run on boulder maps. But have you run on a map that has all three?

Navigators will love this!

This is why you have to put aside the weekend of 12th & 13th September 2015. After you have nutted your way through each of the courses being set for you by Kirsty Muir and Mark Petrie over those two days you will know what Orienteering is and why we all love it so.

Arrangements are being made to locate the Event Centre at the showgrounds where camping and caravan sites are available. It is hoped to be able to have the traditional dinner on the Saturday night at this location. More information will be available as arrangements are finalised.

Kingaroy is just 2 1/2 hours north of Brisbane and is in the heart of the peanut growing region of Australia. (Did I say we were nuts over Kingaroy?) It is the largest regional township in the area and has all the amenities. The maps are located west of Kingaroy on a property that has been just begging to be mapped. The combination of open forest interspersed with complex boulder fields and undulating terrain will prove ideal for all levels of orienteering ability.

Kingaroy township has numerous accommodation locations including motels, hotels, caravan parks and other camping facilities. Dining is available from fast food outlets to restaurant facilities and major service clubs. For those who would like to tour the area, Kingaroy is situated in the northern region of the Downs west of the Great Dividing Range. It has a relatively dry climate with pleasant daytime temperatures and, in September, cool fresh evenings. After the Championships an easy drive over the range would allow a visit to the Sunshine Coast and warm water surfing.

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Getting to Kingaroy is easy and has been made easier by the opening of the new Brisbane West Wellcamp airport on the outskirts of Toowoomba. Participants from the south are able to drive up either the Pacific, New England or Newell highways and follow the good roads to Kingaroy. If flying, all the hire car companies are available from both Brisbane Airport and Brisbane West Wellcamp airport or from Toowoomba city. There are flights from all capital cities from $179 to $399 one way. A pleasant one and a half or two hour drive will get you to Kingaroy.

Kingaroy is a popular destination for travellers so early bookings are recommended. Some traveller information sites are listed below. For more information on the event go to the Orienteering Queensland web site at www.oq.asn.au/qldchamps . As details are progressively finalised they will be placed on the web site.

Some contact details: www.oq.asn.au www.wellcamp.com.au www.tourism.southburnett.com.au www.southburnett.biz www.southernqueenslandcountry.com.au www.tripadvisor.com.au

coaching

The Pitfalls of Summer Hanny Allston

There is so much information out there on how to come back from injury. We have all heard it. Build 5% each week, start with slower training and gradually introduce the faster stuff. However, there are so many other times of transition in our lives and with summer here, I believe this is a time for caution. For haven’t we all at some stage said to ourselves; “Summer is here! It is time to finish up work for a while, whip out the toys and get fit !”

I

know that I used to have it in my head that as soon as university exams were done and dusted I would be able to throw myself head first into heavy training to ‘get back to where I want or need to be’. This thought process spells danger and I fell into the trap many times.

The first problem is that many of us lead a more sedentary lifestyle and our body may have become used to sitting down a lot. Suddenly bouncing up and spending time on your feet, added to a training load, can come at the price of injury or illness.

Secondly, you need to think about how much you have been doing and slowly ease yourself into heavier training. Perhaps give yourself 1-2 weeks of slowly building up the training. If you are unsure how to do this, maybe the first week should just be about slow volume. Go for runs, some long and some short, some with friends and some on your own. Add in some strength and easy cross training, all at a talking pace.

It may be important to wear shoes and socks in the ocean when you do this as I normally find my feet become burnt by the friction of the sand. You can also wear a wetsuit or thermal top.

In summary, avoid the pitfalls of being too excited about summer.

Remember, it is a wonderful season but should not always be viewed as a boot camp. My challenge to you is this: Get yourself fit without taking risks. Learn to train smart and in a way that you can sustain most of the year despite how busy your life can become. If you do, the results will take care of themselves.

Hanny at the World Cup Sprint.

Then, in the second week, I would start to add in some gentle intensity in your training. Opt for longer, slightly slower repetitions over shorter & faster ones. Some example sessions that can get you started are: • 2x10min repetitions at around 10km pace (or what I would call ‘uncomfortably-comfortable pace); • 8/6/4min efforts with 1-2min jog recoveries between each; • 15-30min tempo run at a solid but ‘just-can-talk’ pace; • some harder cross training like mountain biking or swimming; • 3-4x5min efforts with 1-2min jog recoveries at 3-5km effort.

These sessions are still aerobic sessions and will prep the body.

Don’t forget to keep up the strength training and focus lots on activating the core and glute (bottom) muscles to support your hips & running form.

For those who feel prone to niggles or injury, one of the best things that I have been recently introduced to by my NZ coach, James Kuegler of Cadence Coaching, is water running, preferably in the ocean or sea water. Here is what I do (at least three times per week as I return from injury): • wade into the ocean up to your thighs (harder) or waist (easier).

Start running parallel to the beach so you are always at the same depth; • as you run, try to think about your feet landing directly under or even behind your centre of gravity. Also think about extending each leg out behind you (using your hamstrings) and that the power is coming from your glutes (bum) muscles and not your quads (thigh) muscles; • I normally do my ocean runs at an easier intensity but you can start to add in great interval sessions too (see above for ideas).

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

coaching

Developing a Coaching Pathway Nick Dent (OA Head Coach)

O

rienteering Australia has developed a structured athlete development pathway in response to the AIS FTEM development pathway (see The Australian Orienteer June 2013, December 2013 and March 2014). In this series of articles the FTEM model of athlete development pathway and how it can be applied to Orienteering has been explained. In response to this the High Performance group has introduced a new National Squad Structure, with five squads for athletes who have demonstrated the benchmarks necessary for the development stage of each squad. A coach has been appointed to work with each squad and an athlete management platform (AMP) has been developed to enable communication with athletes, performance to be tracked, training monitored and other matters relevant to athlete development to be accessible to athletes and coaches.

crossing the chasm between being very good and being exceptional”. She talks about the problems we create for athletes if we label them excellent at too young an age. There is too much use of the word “excellence”. We should use the word “talent”.

She is very much against the trend, especially in education, of rewarding everyone rather than just the very best.

The “High Performance and Athlete Development Pathway Strategic Plan 2014-2018” clearly identifies coaching as a key component of athlete development. What do we currently have in relation to a coaching pathway in Orienteering? There is a Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Coaching Syllabus which outlines the requirements for being accredited as a Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 coach. In order for potential coaches to gain accreditation at any of these levels they must be provided with the opportunity to attend a coaching conference/seminar. At the Level 1 stage these have traditionally been at State level, and at Level 2 and 3 these have been National conferences.

In response to this recognition that a Coaching Pathway needs to be developed a Coaching Conference was held in Canberra 24th and 25th January. All States were asked to send representatives to this conference. We had a very good response from most States and had 48 participants (young and older), some at the Level 3 coach stage and others who were interested in becoming Level 1 coaches. All current National Squad coaches were present and we also had Tom Quayle (WOC Coach) present.

If we are to have effective coaching at each phase of the FTEM pathway we need to offer any interested orienteer the opportunity to become a coach and then to have a clearly defined pathway for the coach to progress. The athlete pathway has a number of crucial stages which have been identified - identifying talent at the key ages of 14 and 15, development of technical and mental skills to enable consistent performances at the key ages of 16, 17 and 18, and providing young adults with a support structure when entering the elite competition at the ages of 21, 22 and 23, so the peak of the pathway becomes WOC representation.

There is much evidence to indicate that we have a significant need to develop consistent technical and mental skills in our identified talented athletes. We need to overcome what Corrine Reid, Associate Professor, School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University, calls the “The Excellence Delusion: 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

In sport, too much too soon is a mistake. We need to be aware of just what “very good” means in our sport and just what “excellence” means in our sport. If we set the bar of excellence too low then we are creating a chasm between very good and real excellence that too many athletes will fall into. Excellence is exponential not incremental - we need to apply this to our pathway in Orienteering, where real excellence is achieved at WOC level.

An outline of the Conference Program and associated presentations and other resources have been made available on the OA website under Coaching Accreditation.

Some comments from those who attended the Coaching Conference: Maggie Jones (NSW) “I thought it was a great conference and thoroughly enjoyed it. I particularly found how the more senior squads are being coached thought provoking. There were things to learn from all the speakers but I found the session on the Swiss approach to coaching particularly good as was Russell’s presentation on the psychological aspects of long course competition. I can see the IT elements, including the new Android app, adding significant value to my coaching work.”

Anna Hyslop (ACT) “Personally, I enjoyed the presentations and comments presented by Hanny. I found them very informative, practical and reassuring. Russell’s presentation was also extremely engaging and a lot fun, whilst covering

some really important points. One of the biggest benefits of the weekend was the opportunity to meet with such an enthusiastic and diverse range of coaches - sharing ideas, successes, concerns and developments.”

Su Yan Tay (QLD) “The conference was helpful for me because I picked up different ideas or information from different presenters that is relevant to coaching juniors.”

Tom Quayle – the post race analysis of time loss for each leg as a percentage of winning time - I can implement that and get the juniors to do that analysis on the back of their map and have a goal that can be individualized.

Russell Blatchford – the 7 points for mental techniques - I will pass them onto juniors.

Nick Dent – for juniors, technical consistency before physical fitness build up, focus on development of the athlete, not performance - Lars also mentioned this, no rush to compete in higher age groups - let them win!”

The following table clearly identifies the alignment between the athlete pathway, coaching level and the target group for that level of coaching.

Coaching Pathway and Athlete Pathway TARGET

F1 - Basic Movement Foundations F2 - Extension and Refinement of Movement Foundations

Level 0

Sporting Schools Teachers

F1 - Basic Movement Foundations F2 - Extension and Refinement of Movement Foundations F3 - Sport Specific Commitment and/or Competition

Level 1

Club Coaches Sporting Schools Sub Junior Groups

T1 - Demonstration of Potential T2 - Talent Verification T3 - Practicing and Achieving

Level 2

State Squads NOL Squads State School teams

T4 - Breakthrough and Reward E1 - Senior National Representation E2 - Podium Success

Level 3

WOC Bushrangers World Cup WUOC JWOC National Squads

Key outcomes from the Conference - Coaching Plan 2015-2016 •S ummary of requirements for Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Coaching; •N ational Level 2/3 Coaching Conference December 2015, Canberra (Special overseas guest Coach); •N ational Squads training camp NZ – option for Level 2 and 3 coaches to attend; •E ncourage States to co-ordinate the organisation of Level 2 Coaching Courses in 2015/2016; •S print training camp in Jan 2016, Canberra - option for Level 2 and 3 coaches to attend;

In colour, if we have room, otherwise black & white Send artwork to The Editor: mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au In memory of Rex Saye, the orienteering software which he designed and wrote (OTrack and Corpse version 7 with new features) is now available free of charge at

www.o-ware.com

Custom Orienteering Tops, Bike Jerseys & nicks

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AU S T R

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• National Squads training camp post Easter 2016; • Junior and senior Bushrangers team to NZ late May 2015; •W orld University Orienteering Championships - August 2016, Hungary; • WOC 2016 Training Camp Sweden 1st - 5th July 2015.

Contact: Peter Cusworth peter@worthcycling.com Ph 0409 797 023 MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

DEVELOPMENT

OACT Scholarship

David What benefits can you bring to us here in Canberra?

LUKAS That is why I really like this OACT Scholarship. For one I can bring my knowledge from Switzerland: On the other hand I can also learn how I should coach and I can also learn English. I started my coaching education aged 16 with an organization called Youth and Sport (an organisation which trains and pays the coaches for a lot of different sports). I completed this coaching education before I left to come here.

I have done around 23 days of coaching courses to gain this accreditation which is also the highest from Swiss Orienteering.

David Poland (Orienteering ACT) interviews Lukas Frei (OACT Scholarship holder 2014)

David Twenty three days. That would be more than most of our coaches here have done ….

David What made you decide to leave Switzerland and come all the way to Australia for this scholarship?

LUKAS Yes, but in Switzerland there is a lot more still to go up in the coaching pathway, to allow you to train athletes in the squad. Here in Canberra I have so many possibilities and I can give input as to what we should or can change for the better but I can also learn something from Orienteering here.

LUKAS When I saw the advertisement for the coaching scholarship in Canberra, I was immediately very interested to enquire. But why I should leave the big Orienteering country as a 21 years old orienteer from Switzerland and go down to the “small” and not so successful Orienteering country Australia for around six months? I want to become a professional coach. As one of many young orienteers - I have just graduated from the juniors programme, but I still have a bit of a journey to travel from athlete to coach. During my last few years as an athlete in the regional squad I realized it was not possible for me to end up as an athlete in the national squad. The gap between me and the best ones is too big and we have too many very good orienteers in Switzerland every year. Also I did not feel able to invest so much time for training. So it came to pass that I decided to be a coach.

David How long have you wanted to be a coach for?

LUKAS The path to becoming a coach is a long journey.

To go from an athlete in the squad to the coach in the squad immediately isn`t possible. That route is too steep. We prefer to have a small break between being an athlete and being a coach.

Why is that? Too many athletes are too near to you. – some are my best friends! As coach you take on a position of authority – a position that is earned over time. And that’s not given when you are coming straight from the same squad. I had the possibility to coach my club members or juniors, as I`ve done the last few years. But then I`m not the only coach, can`t do what I want and I haven`t as many possibilities to set courses. You have to share the trainings with the other coaches. They also want to set up some training as well – a small luxury problem.

34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

David What have you done here in Canberra so far?

LUKAS In most weeks here I usually organise two workshops.

One for beginners on Mondays and one for moderates/advanced runners on Tuesdays. I also prepare special maps for the weekly Wednesday Twilight events. As well I teach kids in the schools and I give evening talks to club members about how you have to navigate or how you have to use OCAD (Mapping and course setting program). My next big goal is to coach an athlete from OACT to JWOC this year.

David How does Orienteering here differ from Orienteering in Switzerland?

LUKAS Orienteering here is not very much different to what we have in Switzerland. But here we have more competitions but less training. Perhaps too much less, because as a young orienteer you can learn much more from training than from the competitions. Especially when you have a coach with whom you can discuss it afterwards and analyze your run. Furthermore it is hard to bring new kids into Orienteering when they haven`t the possibilities to start slowly with orienteering over trainings.

In Switzerland we have many children who, for the first two or three years, only attend the weekly trainings. Only after that do they like to go to a competition. If you do a hard course too early you just make mistakes and do not learn. It is important that young runners can learn the joy of winning by competing in their correct age groups. Otherwise it can be a big let down when they turn up to JWOC and do not win.

David What does Swiss Orienteering do to bring kids into Orienteering?

LUKAS When we held the World Orienteering Championships in 2003 in Rapperswil-Jona the Swiss took the opportunity to plan to have something sustainable and the “sCOOL” project was the result. One part from this project was the biggest mass sport event in the world and therefore an entry in the Guinness World Records: On 23rd of May 2003, 1,381 schools and 207,979 children and adults were involved. Now the regional clubs organise every year approximately 20 different regional sCOOL cup days. By doing this we have around 9,000 kids compete every year and the numbers are growing every year.

Another thing is the “Tour de Suisse”. This event is going to 160 schools every year and is reaching 11,500 kids annually. With “sCOOL@School” they held five or eight half-day sessions at the school in three key regions and they reach 1,300 kids every year. All together we reach every year 22,000 kids or nearly a quarter of a million in ten years! The number of kids converting from the School Programmes into a club isn`t very high but we can show them what a great sport Orienteering is and hopefully they learn something from these events for their lives. Also some clubs promote every spring, a week-long beginner course, to encourage new interested children in Orienteering.

David So what do you think is the future for this scholarship programme in Australia?

LUKAS As a conclusion I will say it is a win-win situation between me and Orienteering ACT. I can`t change everything during my time here. OACT do a lot right, but to give some inputs and give a hand, that is what makes this cooperation so good. I recommend all States to be brave and give a young coach the opportunity to offer you skills in coaching and the know-how from Europe. It is such a great experience for us too, we see the country and meet the friendly people. Thank you for that!

The O Scholarship model spreads David Poland (OACT)

T

he idea for a coaching scholarship began in Canberra with the Blue Sparks in 2012. We wanted to provide coaching for ordinary families – parents of kids who were taking part in Map Mates. We realised that unless the parents became interested the kids would have no-one to drive them to events. We embarked on the Family Pathways Project relying on volunteers to coach adults and families. Some 40 people volunteered to help in some way or other in this project in that first year of 2012, but we could see it was unsustainable.

Despite everyone’s generosity with their time they were busy with employment, school or simply retirement.

When my son Oliver took a gap year and travelled to Europe for six months of Orienteering he teamed up with a club in Sweden who looked after him and showed him around. This gave me the idea – why couldn’t we do the same here in Australia? And so the OACT coaching Scholarship Programme took place. In 2013 we hosted Lukas Funk from Switzerland.

Another applicant Ludwig Ahlund was also very keen so we forwarded his details to a Queensland club who put him to great use setting training activities for the Junior Squad and adults.

In 2014 we had 11 applicants, nine of whom were of a very high quality. We chose another Lukas from Switzerland – Lukas Frei. Unable to take more than one in Canberra we passed on the other names to other States and clubs and I am pleased to hear that most of them were able to find positions elsewhere. Each club has used them for their own needs – some for mapping, others for event organising, teaching school kids or teaching adults. Each has brought their own strengths whether it be knowledge of OCAD or elite training but they all have brought with them an infectious enthusiasm.

Without exception they have been an inspiration to our younger orienteers.

In 2015 ACT has again advertised for a scholar. Details are on the ACT Website - Coaching page . Anyone (even Australians and New Zealanders) can apply. Once again we plan to forward on the names of any unsuccessful applicants to other States or clubs so if you would like to have a visiting coach for a month or two please let the OACT office know.

Most scholars are simply happy with a friendly host family but for some the opportunity to earn money through the ASC Sporting Schools Programme will be an advantage.

In the long term I wonder if this concept could spread internationally with a series of orienteer exchanges between many countries similar to a Rotary Student exchange.

Apart from Lukas Frei in Canberra, scholars who arrived in Australia in 2014 included: •R ichard Parkin (UK) assisted Tasmania with the World Cup logistics.

•H arry Nicholson (UK) visited Perth and taught school children and the Junior squad.

•H enrik Knudsen (Denmark) assisted Tasmania with training events.

•T hor Nørskov, Jakob Edsen and Eskil Schøning (all Denmark) have been in Victoria since October and will spend some more time there in Feb/March.

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

junior challenge

Pan Pacific Challenge Sponsored by Devils@Cradle & the ‘Adopt a Devil program!’

Kim Nankervis

Laura de Jong

T

he Pan Pacific Challenge is a competition to encourage the younger age classes to participate in the Oceania Carnival. The concept was first introduced at the 2013 AUS Championships carnival in ACT, and was continued at Oceania held recently in Tasmania.

Every member of each Team contributes to their Team’s overall score by participating. The higher their placing the more points they earn. Point averages were calculated so Team sizes did not affect overall results. By just competing though, they still earned points! Age Classes included in the challenge were M/W 10 Novice, M/W 10, M/W 12 and M/W 14.

Zoe Melhuish

Emily Hayes

Teams were named after several of the Devils up for adoption: Tasmania - Fury Victoria - Titan NSW - Ossa New Zealand and New Caledonia - Blackjack ACT, QLD, SA and WA - Minion

Team Results for each day!

Sprint – University - Titan were Sprint champions!

Titan (VIC)......................................61.7 Blackjack (NZ, NC).......................60.0 Minion (ACT,QLD,SA,WA)............56.7 Fury (TAS)......................................54.0 Ossa (NSW)...................................46.9 Rajah Rocks – Fury were Middle Distance champs and took the lead!

Larissa Edwards

Fury (TAS)....................................158.8 Sophie Arthur Saxon Krause

Titan (VIC)................................. 157.9 Blackjack (NZ, NC).....................156.3 Minion (ACT,QLD,SA,WA)..........155.8 Ossa (NSW).................................145.8

Final results were: Fury (TAS)....................................454.1 Titan (VIC)....................................453.5 Minion (ACT,QLD,SA,WA)..........452.3 Blackjack (NZ, NC).....................449.3 Ossa (NSW).................................447.7 Team members from Fury, the winning team, all received a Devils@Cradle hat signed by one of the World Cup winners. Second and third placegetters each received a toy Devil. The more competitors running from each Team improved the chances of winning. We encouraged Team members to possibly adopt their Team’s Devil to assist Devils@Cradle with their breeding program and in ensuring the survival of this unique species!

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

Kelvendon – Titan showed their power and narrowly regained lead!

Titan (VIC)....................................257.0 Fury (TAS)....................................256.9 Minion (ACT,QLD,SA,WA)..........254.3 Blackjack (NZ, NC).....................253.3 Ossa (NSW).................................247.1 Coles Bay – Ossa, Blackjack, Minion and Fury closing in on Titan – less than 7 points in the whole competition!

Titan (VIC).................................. 356.4 Fury (TAS)....................................355.4 Blackjack (NZ, NC).....................351.8 Minion (ACT,QLD,SA,WA)..........349.7 Ossa (NSW).................................349.1

Grace Cory-Wright

Team Minion Patrick Thomas Noah Llew Ingrid Riley Zoe Laura Remi Liam Michaela

Team Titan

Shelton Agar Hyslop Poland Reilly Shelton Agar Lane Melhuish de Jong Afnan Dufty Maynard

ACT ACT ACT ACT ACT ACT ACT Qld SA WA WA

M12A M14A M14A M14A W10A Novice W14A W14A W12A M12A M10A W14A

Lachlan Luke Torren Solomon Ryan Mason Magnus Jensen Sophie Emma Milla Sarah

Feuerherdt Feuerherdt Arthur Cameron Cates Arthur Fossum Key Arthur Cates Key Davies

Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic

M10A M10A M12A M12A M12A M14A M14A M14A W10A W10A M/W 10 Novice W14A

Sarah Davies

Jensen Key

Charlie Frater Matthew Greenwood

Team Blackjack

Luke Feuerherdt

Jett McComb Juliet Frater

Team Fury Team Ossa Julia Louise Aoife Oliver Saxon Jamie Daniel Lachlan Lachlan Erika Mikayla Tiia Ellen Serena Joanna

Barbour Barbour Rothery Freeman Krause Marsh Sherlock Sherlock Brooks Enderby Enderby Marsh Currie Doyle Hill

NSW M/W 10 Novice NSW M/W 10 Novice NSW M/W 10 Novice NSW M10A NSW M/W 10 Novice NSW M10A NSW M10A NSW M10A NSW M12A NSW W10A NSW W12A NSW W12A NSW W14A NSW W14A NSW W14A

Euan Charlie Jett Will Joshua Alexander Dexter Jaidyn Alexander Ethan Sophie Liana Zali Mikayla Eleanor Arabella

Best Cooper McComb Fleming Allen Battaglia Canning Gluskie Mackay Stubbs Best Stubbs McComb Cooper McLean Phillips

Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas Tas

M10A M10A M10A M12A M14A M14A M14A M14A M14A M14A W10A W10A W12A W14A W14A W14A

Torun Charlie Matthew Oliver Matthew Kieran Tom Patrick Ryan David Grace Larissa Kyla Juliet Rebecca Emily Kaia Anna Sylvie Lucy Jessica Cecilia Fabien

Joergensen Frater Greenwood Edwards Harding Edwards Harding Hayes Moore Oram Cory-Wright Edwards Moore Frater Greenwood Hayes Joergensen Cory-Wright Frater Parsons Sewell Maillot Devaud

NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NZ NC NC

M/W 10 Novice M10A M10A M12A M12A M14A M14A M14A M14A M14A W10A W10A W10A W12A W12A W12A W12A W14A W14A W14A W14A M/W 10 Novice M12A

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

mountain bike orienteering

MTBO NEWS Pe t e r C u s w o r t h

5-year age group classes

T

he IOF Council has approved 5-year categories from W/M 40 to W/M 75 and these will be in place for this year’s World Masters Championships in Portugal. A key goal here was to bring MTBO in line with Foot O and Ski O. This seems a good idea in the large classes such as M40, M50 and M60, but will make others, particularly the Women’s classes, look a bit thin. The Council did not support a proposal to merge classes if there are fewer than 10 participants in a category, opting for a consistent rule across all classes and disciplines.

I can see that if you are at the wrong end of a large 10-year age class, your chances of a good result would improve competing in your 5-year class. Perhaps this may encourage more entries from those in the second half of a 10-year group as they should be more competitive? The Council recommended that multiple classes use the same courses in order to reduce pressure on organisers.

With even smaller fields in Australia, it is unlikely that we will adopt the 5-year categories here any time soon.

World Masters MTBO Series

F

or those Masters planning an extended MTBO holiday in Europe, there is now a World Masters MTBO Series you can take part in. There are 12 races over five events in the 2015 series with competition in the new 5-year age categories: 1. D enmark Training Camp – 15-19 April – Middle & Long Distance;

The first start group gets underway in the Summer 75 MTBO evening event at Melbourne’s Plenty Gorge in February.

The Council discussed the use of GPS-enabled watches on the basis of the SkiOC proposal and decided to reject it because it would be against the basic principle of Orienteering: navigation with the help of map and compass only. Recognising a GPS-enabled cycle computer or watch is getting more and more difficult since GPS is not a distinguishing feature, thus not shown on the device. Hence, Event Advisors and organisers may have a hard time to identify GPS devices in any case.

Discussion is continuing but rule 21.6 remains unchanged for the moment. The consensus among MTBOers is that it is impossible to gain an unfair advantage from a GPS-enabled cycle computer that does not display a map or breadcrumb trail. Whether the Council sees it this way will be interesting to know. The Rules Commission obviously supported the 2013 rule change and is likely to support it again.

2. Hungary World Cup – 1-3 May – Middle & Long Distance;

The MTBO Commission is also compiling a list of permitted devices.

3. F rench 3-days MTBO – 23-25 May – Middle & Long Distance;

New Mass Start format approved

4. W orld Masters Champs Portugal – 7-14 June – Sprint, Middle & Long Distance; 5. C zech 5-days MTBO – 2-6 July – Middle, Middle & Long Distance.

Your best 7 results out of the 12 races will count.

GPS Bike Computers – legal or not?

T

he current IOF rules for MTBO state in rule 21.6:

During the competition the only navigational aids that competitors may use are the map provided by the organiser, and a compass. A GPS-enabled cycle computer or watch may be used provided that it does not incorporate a map or breadcrumb display.

The Ski Orienteering Commission put a proposal to the IOF Council last year to allow the use of GPS-enabled wristwatches or data loggers with no map or breadcrumb display in IOF events. One of the arguments presented in the proposal was that the same is already allowed in MTBO. Council looked into this and concluded that the proposed change in article 21.6 of the MTBO Competition Rules was approved by mistake in 2013.

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

T

he IOF Council has approved a new “Mass Start” competition format for MTBO. At this stage however, there are no plans to add this format to the WMTBOC and JWMTBOC programs as they do not want to add to the current workload for organisers.

Future IOF MTBO Events

T

he practice of having the World Masters combined with the World MTBO Championships in some years, and then other years being combined with other events such as a World Cup or European Championships will continue in coming years. Recent event applications received by the MTBO Commission continues this trend with one 2018 applicant country wanting to run the Masters with the WMTBOC and the other not. The Commission is happy at this stage for the market to determine which way each year will go.

Recent event applications received by the MTBO Commission include: 2017: European & World Masters MTBO Champs: FRANCE 2018: World MTBO Champs: AUSTRIA, DENMARK

2015 Australian MTBO Series

National Training Camp

he first round of the Series is the NSW MTBO Champs to be held around Newcastle on the weekend of 21-22 March. Sprint, Middle and Long Distance races will be contested and will also be selection races for the Australian Team to go to the World Championships in the Czech Republic.

TBOers of all skill levels came together for the December National MTBO Training Camp hosted by the National MTBO Coordinator Kay Haarsma and seventime World Masters gold medallist Carolyn Jackson on the renowned Castlemaine MTBO maps. Riders from Victoria, Queensland, SA, NSW and even England descended on the Victorian country town for the opportunity to hone their MTBO skills. The five day camp was a chance for the squad to share expertise, practice their riding technique, develop their navigation skills and generally have fun. As well as traditional MTBO courses, the squad rode complex exercises designed to test the various skills needed for MTBO and to better prepare them for upcoming major events. Along with providing excellent training for the advanced riders, the camp was a chance for new riders to try their hand at MTBO and learn from the combined experience of Kay, Carolyn and members of the JWMTBOC Team. Several young talents emerged and those with experience in cycling and orienteering soon discovered the joys and complexities of the combined sport.

T

The Queensland MTBO Champs will be the second round of the Series and will be held on the Sunshine Coast on 22-23 August. Again, Sprint, Middle and Long Distance races.

The final round will be the Australian MTBO Championships to be held at Anglesea on Victoria’s Surf Coast over the weekend of 7 & 8 November. Three new maps will be used and the terrain competitors will experience is something quite different to previous MTBO events held in aus t r al i an Victoria. The Middle and Long Distance Championships will also c h am p i ons hips be World Ranking Events.

2015 Anglesea, VIC

MTBO

M

2014 Australian MTBO Series Results & National Rankings Tables compiled by Blake Gordon. Full tables can be found at: www.orienteering.asn.au/getinvolved/national-league/mountain-bike-orienteering/mountain-bike-national-league/

Elite Teams

Elite results & rankings

M21-Elite WA Nomads QLD Storm NSW Stingers

Points 53 30 27

Rank 1 2 3

W21-Elite WA Nomads VIC Nuggets NSW Stingers

58 49 27

1 2 3

M-20 Elite VIC Nuggets QLD Storm

70 9

1 2

W-20 Elite QLD Storm

18

1

OA State MTBO Shield Staged over three races at the 2014 Australian MTBO Champs in Alice Springs.

Victoria New South Wales Queensland South Australia Western Australia ACT Tasmania

136 82 38 11 10 10 4

M21- Elite Ricky Thackray Alex Randall Chris Firman Ori Gudes Stephen Todkill Bernhard Klingseisen Ian Dalton Fedor Iskhakov Lachlan Hallett Wayne Eliot

Masters results & rankings

Points 133 124 120 83 75 72 70 69 54 54

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9

NSW NSW WA NSW WA WA QLD

147 123 90 70 68 62 61 54 49 27

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

M-20 Elite Timothy Jackson Angus Robinson Karl Withers

VIC VIC QLD

147 144 30

1 2 3

W-20 Elite Gabrielle Withers Jane Zimmerman

QLD QLD

60 27

1 2

W21- Elite Carolyn Jackson Natasha Sparg Julie Quinn Marina Iskhakova Melanie Simpson Virpi Komulainen Sally-Ann Henderson Jen Graham-Taylor Polly Weston Cass Percival

WA VIC QLD WA NSW WA WA NSW SA WA VIC WA None

M40Craig Steffens Neil Ker Joe Biggs Tony Keeble Andrew Haigh David West Rob Jessop Steve Truscott David Baldwin Michael Dufty

QLD QLD QLD VIC NSW NSW ACT ACT None WA

Pts 147 138 115 64 61 61 60 58 57 54

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10

M50Andrew Power Duncan Sullivan Tony Howes Murray Withers Bruce Paterson Ben Coetzer Bill Vandendool Malcolm Roberts Richard Robinson Darryl Smith

NSW WA QLD QLD VIC WA VIC NSW QLD TAS

141 133 122 117 113 94 92 73 65 60

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

VIC QLD WA VIC WA WA QLD VIC VIC QLD NSW

142 117 87 76 72 69 64 59 59 51 51

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 10 10

NSW VIC VIC VIC

139 135 81 63

1 2 3 4

W40Sonya Palfreyman Nicole Haigh Carolyn Matthews Tamsin Barnes Joanne Rogers Cath Chalmers Terri Gray Georgina Landy Kay Haarsma

QLD NSW NSW NSW QLD NSW QLD None SA

121 90 90 75 54 54 51 46 43

1 2 2 4 5 5 7 8 9

W50Heather Leslie Ann Scown Anthea Feaver Jenny Hill Jennifer Strack Sally Wayte Prue Dobbin Jeannie Douglass Janelle Schafer Debbie McKay

VIC ACT WA QLD QLD TAS VIC None QLD WA

116 73 60 54 54 54 50 42 30 27

1 2 3 4 4 4 7 8 9 10

W60Kathy Liley Andrea Harris Carolyn Cusworth Lois West Julie Fisher Cecilia Sutton Jenny Komyshan

VIC QLD VIC WA QLD None WA

147 60 57 51 27 27 24

1 2 3 4 5 5 7

M60Peter Cusworth David Firman Peter Komyshan Peter Hill Rob West Richard Matthews Reid Moran Rick Armstrong Leigh Privett Athol Lester Greg Bacon

W70Dale Ann Gordon Helen Smith Jenny Sheahan Penny Dufty

VIC SA VIC WA

84 54 48 30

1 2 3 4

M70Tim Hackney Blake Gordon Keith Wade John Sheahan

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

orienteering australia

2014 National Rankings – non-elite Darryl Erbacher – OA Statistician

R

ankings in non-elite classes have been determined based on results in each of the days in the Australian Easter 3-Days (E1, E2, E3), Australian Championships (AS, AM, AL) and the Western Australian Long Distance Championships (WL).

Points are awarded for each event completed on the basis of 100 points for first place and lesser points for other competitors. An orienteer’s best three events count towards their ranking. The first ten orienteers in each class are published here. State secretaries have lists or all orienteers ranked between 50 and 100 points inclusive.

Where more than one orienteer in a class achieves 100 points, orienteers are ranked based on the average of their three best winning margins.

Some points of interest in the 2014 rankings: • The winners by the largest margin were: Maureen Ogilvie (UR.N) 42.52%; Joanna George (TT.S) 6.57%; Mikayla Enderby (NC.N) 5.95%.

• In three classes two orienteers earned maximum points (separated by winning margins): M55 - Geoff Lawford (EU.V), Warren Key (MF.V); M80 - Eino Meuronen (BS.A), Don Young (BO.W); M85 – Kevin Paine (BS.A), Neil Schafer (GO.N).

• 30 clubs had members in the first three placings of their respective classes: BF.N (8); NC.N, PO.A (6); AL.T, BS.A, MF.V, YV.V (5); BK.V, BO.W, EN.Q, SH.N, TT.S, UG.Q, YA.S (3)l EU.V, GO.N, GS.N, RR.Q, WH.N, WR.T (2); DR.V,EV.T, LO.W, NE.V, OH.S, TT.Q, UR.N, WE.A, WO.W (1).

• Families with two or more members in the first three places were: Enderby (Mikayla, Erika W10, Jennifer W45); Shingler (Nea W10, Ewan M12, Paula W50); de Jong (Ellie W14, Riley M16); Bourne/Lawford (Jenny W55, Geoff M55); Baldwin (Jean W70, Basil M75); Dufty (Penny W70, Phil M70); Arthur (Torren M10, Mason M12); Afnan (Dante M14, Ruhi M45); Key *(Aston M14, Warren M55); Hodsdon (Val W65, John M75).

• NSW orienteers filled all 3 placings in W10 and W45.

W10A 1 Mikayla Enderby NC.N 100.00 2 Nea Shingler BF.N 94.05 3 Erika Enderby NC.N 87.87 4 Emma Cates YV.V 79.51 5 Natalie Miller BS.A 60.14 W12A 1 Joanna George TT.S 100.00 2 Riley Lane PO.A 92.17 3 Abigail George TT.S 85.98 4 Caitlyn Steer BG.V 72.73 5 Sarah Richards WO.W 67.05 W14A 1 Ellie de Jong RR.Q 99.44 2 Emily Sorensen TT.S 98.66 3 Zoe Melhuish PO.A 98.22 4 Michaela Maynard BO.W 95.09 5 Joanna Hill GO.N 90.88 6 Caitlin Young BS.A 87.78 7 Heather Lane PO.A 87.00 8 Sarah Lim TJ.S 85.13 9 Arabella Phillips EV.T 80.51 10 Claire Burgess NC.N 79.58 W16A 1 Winnie Oakhill UG.Q 100.00 2 Zoe Dowling WA.S 97.77 3 Asha Steer DR.V 97.57 4 Georgia Jones UR.N 97.20 5 Tara Melhuish PO.A 96.06 6 Rachel Allen AL.T 89.77 7 Zazi Brennan RR.Q 81.07 8 Lauren Baade UG.Q 79.91 9 Gabrielle Withers EN.Q 68.81 10 Rebecca George BF.N 65.91

ALASAM E1E2WL AME1AL WLAMAL E3E1E2 ALAME2 E1E3E2 E1AME2 WLALAM WLASAM E2E3AM AMALWL E1E3AM ASWLAM AME3AL ALAMAS E1AME2 E2ASAM ALAMWL E2E1AM E1E2E3 AMWLE3 ALASAM E2E1E3 ASWLE3 ALE2E3 ALASAM ASWLE1 ALASAM ASE3E2

W35A 1 Cathy Hogg PO.A 100.00 2 Leida Williams TT.Q 94.27 3 Kim Carroll AL.T 83.09 4 Brook Martin GO.N 74.17 5 Danielle Kopriva UR.N 53.69 W40A 1 Anna Hyslop PO.A 100.00 W45A 1 Jennifer Enderby NC.N 100.00 2 Cath Chalmers BF.N 98.57 3 Karen Blatchford NC.N 94.00 4 Wendy Read UG.Q 93.81 5 Anita Scherrer RR.A 85.69 6 Linda Sesta UR.N 84.22 7 Alison Inglis BS.A 74.15 8 Barbara Hill GO.N 68.53 9 Karen Wild-Allen AL.T 57.88 10 Alexa Troedson BF.N 52.29 W50A 1 Su Yan Tay UG.Q 100.00 2 Paula Shingler BF.N 94.78 3 Sue Hancock WA.S 94.28 4 Gayle Quantock NC.N 92.62 5 Christine Brown EV.T 91.87 6 Anthea Feaver LO.W 91.16 7 Toni Brown BS.A 88.92 8 Ana Herceg PO.A 83.27 9 Christine Marshall AL.T 81.69 10 Carolyn Matthews NC.N 81.39 W55A 1 Liz Abbott PO.A 100.00 2 Carolyn Jackson MF.V 96.93 3 Jenny Bourne EU.V 95.95

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

AME1E2 WLALAS ALASAM E3E1E2 E1E3E2 E1E2E3 ASAME1 ALWLE2 ASALAM ASE2AL E2E3E1 E2E3E1 E2E3E1 ASALAM E2E3AL E1AME3 ALASAM ASWLE1 WLALE3 WLASAL ALASE2 E1E3E2 ALASAM ASWLE2 E3E2E1 ALE3AS ALASAM ALAMAS E1E2E3

4 Debbie Davey WR.N 87.23 5 Sue Key MF.V 70.47 6 Julia Prudhoe CC.N 67.94 7 Hilary Wood CC.N 63.62 8 Julie Flynn BG.V 57.74 9 Julie Leung TF.Q 56.40 10 Margi Freemantle YV.V 55.37 W60A 1 Lynn Dabbs WH.N 100.00 2 Carol Brownlie WO.W 99.52 3 Robin Uppill OH.S 96.17 4 Jacquie Rand UG.Q 85.64 5 Lynda Rapkins EN.Q 83.94 6 Alison Radford TT.S 82.56 7 Valerie Barker BS.A 82.22 8 Barbara Tassell AL.T 78.15 9 Robyn Pallas CC.N 75.34 10 Jan Hardy AL.T 73.27 W65A 1 Val Hodsdon SH.N 99.20 2 Toy Martin NC.N 98.41 3 Libby Meeking YV.V 98.34 4 Lois West BO.W 97.40 5 Jenny Hawkins BS.A 96.47 6 Judy Allison RR.A 89.13 7 Robin Spriggs UG.Q 83.21 8 Pat Miethke PO.A 82.84 9 Kathy Liley YV.V 77.44 10 Carol Jacobson GO.N 77.22 W70A 1 Jean Baldwin GS.N 100.00 2 Penny Dufty BO.W 97.92 3 Judi Herkes BK.V 95.65 4 Janet Tarr YV.V 77.82 5 Valerie Brammall EV.T 71.46 6 Carolyn Chalmers NC.N 69.82 7 Helena Griggs AL.T 64.49 8 Ann Ingwersen PO.A 61.34 W75A 1 Janet Morris WH.N 100.00 2 Helen Alexander BK.V 99.27 W80A 1 Maureen Ogilvie UR.N 100.00 2 Joyce Rowlands NE.V 57.48 M10A 1 Torren Arthur MF.V 100.00 2 Remi Afnan YA.S 83.22 3 Dylan Bryant EN.Q 70.63 4 Liam Dufty BO.W 66.13 5 Anakin Trotter NC.N 64.11 6 Sam Woolford BB.N 60.16 7 Oliver Freeman BF.N 56.41 M12A 1 Andrew Kerr PO.A 100.00 2 Ewan Shingler BF.N 96.71 3 Mason Arthur MF.V 95.24 4 Shaun Richards WO.W 91.71 5 Ethan Penck YA.S 74.95 M14A 1 Patrick Miller BS.A 100.00 2 Dante Afnan YA.S 98.41 3 Aston Key MF.V 97.07 4 Alastair George BF.N 97.02 5 Tristan Miller BS.A 95.16 6 Noah Poland BS.A 94.59 7 Glenn James BG.V 86.12 8 Ryan Stocks BS.A 85.03 9 Michael Loughnan BG.V 74.30 10 Angus Haines OH.S 73.00 M16A 1 Ewan Barnett BS.A 100.00 2 Riley de Jong RR.Q 93.50 3 Sebastian O’Halloran AL.T WLASAM 4 Jesse Piiroinen BS.A 88.67 5 Oliver Martin WO.W 85.52 6 Duncan Currie GO.N 85.38 7 Simeon Burrill BB.Q 83.16 8 Luke West AL.T 82.94 9 Lachlan Cherry BG.V 80.17 10 Callum Davis BF.N 79.72 M35A 1 Peter Lada YV.V 100.00 2 Matthew Cohen AL.T 91.86 3 Tony Bryant EN.Q 65.39 M40A 1 Greg Barbour BF.N 100.00 2 Jon McComb AL.T 95.78 3 Jock Davis BF.N 95.39 4 Scott Simson NC.N 93.21 5 Andy Hogg PO.A 90.79

ALE2AM E2E1E3 ASAME2 ALASE3 E3E1E2 E3E1E2 ASE2E3 ALWLE2 ASAME1 E1ASE2 E2ASE1 E1E2E3 E2ASAL ASE1AM AMALAS E1E2E3 ASALAM AMWLAS E2E3E1 ASWLE3 ALWLAM E1E3E2 E3E1E2 ALASAM ASE3AL ALAME3 E3E2E1 ALE1E3 ASWLAL AME2E1 E3E1WL E3AMAS ASWLE3 E1E3E2 E1E3E2 ALWLE1 ASAMAL ALAME1 E2E1E3 ALASAM AME2AL AMALAS WLAMAL E2E3E1 E2E3E1 E2E1E3 E1E2E3 ALAMAS WLASE2 ASWLAL ASALE1 WLE1E2 ASALAM AMASAL ALWLE3 AME2WL E3AMWL ALAMAS AMASAL AMWLAS ALASAM E1E2E3 ASALAM 90.70 AMASE3 ASAMWL ASAME3 ALWLAS AMWLAS WLAMAS AMASE2 E1E2E3 ALAMAS ASAMAL AMWLE2 E1E3E2 E1E3AL WLASE1 E1E3E2

6 Jason McCrae RR.A 89.15 7 Graham Braid KO.W 87.21 8 Matthew Sherlock BF.N 83.38 9 Greg Morcom TJ.S 82.06 10 Shane Trotter NC.N 75.37 M45A 1 Ruhi Afnan YA.S 98.22 2 Peter Annetts GO.N 98.12 3 Mark Freeman BF.N 93.06 4 Tim Rogers BF.N 93.02 5 Andre Morkel LO.W 92.29 6 Rohan Hyslop PO.A 91.88 7 Rob Lewis BK.V 89.33 8 Paul Marsh BF.N 87.76 9 Ian Jones UR.N 83.10 10 Andrew Martin WO.W 82.87 M50A 1 Jim Russell BG.V 100.00 2 Andy Simpson BF.N 99.00 3 Tim Hatley BK.V 94.52 4 Tony Woolford BB.N 91.02 5 Bernard Walker WA.S 90.79 6 Jemery Day AL.T 90.43 7 Simon Windsor BO.W 87.44 8 Mark Shingler BF.N 86.77 9 Ari Piiroinen BS.A 86.25 10 Lance Read UG.Q 84.73 M55A 1 Geoff Lawford EU.V 100.00 2 Warren Key MF.V 100.00 3 Robert Vincent NC.N 94.82 4 Melvyn Cox BN.N 90.32 5 Eoin Rothery BF.N 85.14 6 Warwick Davis TK.V 83.61 7 Russell Blatchford NC.N 82.95 8 Grant McDonald AO.A 82.94 9 Malcolm Roberts NC.N 81.66 10 James Lithgow GO.N 80.07 M60A 1 Ted van Geldermalsen YV.V 100.00 2 Paul Pacque EV.T 98.95 3 David Marshall AL.T 98.08 4 Roch Prendergast EU.V 91.88 5 Nick Dent CC.N 90.96 6 Adrian Uppill OH.S 90.41 7 John Scown AO.A 89.23 8 Bruce Bowen PO.A 86.81 9 Bert Elson AL.T 85.30 10 Paul Prudhoe CC.N 82.03 M65A 1 Tony Radford TT.S 97.80 2 Tony Simpkins LO.W 95.46 3 Robert Rapkins EN.Q 94.93 4 Steve Flick BN.N 94.46 5 Hugh Moore RR.A 93.71 6 Paul Hoopmann TJ.S 93.51 7 Kjell Winther LO.W 90.05 8 Greg Chatfield UG.Q 89.03 9 Terry Bluett BN.N 79.31 10 Greg Hawthorne WA.S 76.82 M70A 1 Alex Tarr YV.V 100.00 2 John Le carpentier SH.N 97.91 3 Phil Dufty BO.W 94.34 4 Tim Dent YV.V 90.30 5 Mike Howe LO.W 88.41 6 Dick Ogilvie UR.N 82.56 7 Ron Junghans GO.N 80.34 8 John Brammall EV.T 65.56 9 David Hogg PO.A 64.28 10 Frank Tomas WA.S 56.54 M75A 1 Basil Baldwin GS.N 100.00 2 Clive Pope UG.Q 93.78 3 John Hodsdon SH.N 91.05 4 Pauli Piiroinen BS.A 82.18 5 George Reeves TT.S 82.03 6 Barry Hanlon WH.N 79.40 7 Graham Galbraith BN.N 68.67 8 Peter Cutten WA.S 64.88 9 John Lyon TT.S 62.60 10 Robin Simson TF.Q 61.20 M80A 1 Eino Meuronen BS.A 100.00 2 Don Young BO.W 100.00 3 John Dempster YV.V 54.11 M85A 1 Kevin Paine BS.A 100.00 2 Neil Schafer GO.N 100.00 M90A 1 Hermann Wehner WE.A 100.00

E1E3E2 ASWLAM E3E1E2 E1E3E2 E1E3E2 AME3E1 WLE2E3 E2E1E3 E1E2E3 ALASWL WLALAM E2E1E3 E2E3E1 E2E1E3 ALWLAS ALE1E2 ASWLAM AMASAL E2E3E1 WLAMAL WLASAM AMASAL ASAME1 AMALWL AMALE2 E1E2E3 ALASAM WLAMAL E3E1E2 ASAMAL E2WLE3 E1E3E2 E1E2E3 E1WLAS E1E2E3 ALAMWL E2E3E1 E1E3E2 WLALAS ASALWL ASALE2 E3E1WL ASALE1 ALWLAS ASALAM AMASE3 ASALE2 ALAME2 E2ALE3 WLE2AL ALWLAM E1E3E2 AMWLAL E2E1E3 E2E3E1 AME1E3 ASWLAM WLASAM E2E3E1 ALAMAS ALWLE3 ALASE1 ALWLAM E1E2E3 WLASAL ALASAM E1E3E2 ALAME2 E2E1E3 AMASWL E1WLAL E1E2E3 E3E2E1 E2ALAM E3E1E2 E1E2E3 ALASAM E2E1E3 E1E2E31 ALASAM ALASAM

Orienteering Australia

SILVA Medal Darryl Erbacher – OA Statistician

Liz Abbott wins 2014 SILVA Medal

T

he SILVA Medal for 2014 has been won by Liz Abbott (W55 – PO.A). The SILVA Medal award is based on points for participating and placing in the following events: Australian 3-Days (each day considered as a separate event), Australian Sprint, Medium and Long Distance Championships and the State Championship associated with the Australian Championships Carnival.

Each orienteer who completes six or more of the above events in M/W16 and above in elite classes is eligible for the SILVA Medal.

There were three orienteers who achieved maximum points and a countback system based on winning margins has been used to separate these. In effect, Liz has performed relatively further ahead of the field in her class than the others who gained maximum points.

(Rules for this award are at Section 2.17 of the Operations Manual on the OA website.)

Liz Abbott

PO.A

24

12.69

Su Yan Tay

UG.Q

24

07.93

Basil Baldwin

GS.N

24

07.47

Jennifer Enderby

NC.N

23

Matt Doyle

CH.V

22

Simon Uppill

OH.S

22

Jean Baldwin

GS.N

21

Lynn Dabbs

WH.N

21

Geoff Lawford

EU.V

21

Ted van Geldermalsen

YV.V

21

Greg Barbour

BF.N

20

Liz Abbott, winner of the 2014 Silva Medal.

OA Statistician, Darryl Erbacher, interviews 2014 SILVA Medal winner, Liz Abbott Darryl: Liz, you have had a fabulous year.

Six wins from 7 starts in national competition and in a year in which you were in the same class as arch-rival Jenny Bourne (two-time winner of the SILVA Medal and numerous World Masters placings).

Congratulations.

Liz: Thanks Darryl.

D: How did you do so well when Jenny did not run poorly at all?

L: I made a deliberate effort to improve my fitness over the last two years and it has paid off. Jenny has always trained harder than me which reflects in her great results over the years. I had a few wins against Jenny last year and was ranked first in W55 in 2013. I have been privileged to have been able to run against Jenny Bourne over all these years.

The rowing I’ve been doing over the summer has boosted my aerobic fitness and I’ve been cycling

more during the winter.

We’ve travelled to more competitions and of course my competitors, Debbie Davey, Hilary Wood, Mary MacDonald, Robin Uppill, Carol Harding and Carolyn Jackson are all there to add to the pressure.

D: Your husband Bruce Bowen is now retired. Is his coaching the reason for your results?

L: Bruce and I travel to more events now our children are more independent and Bruce has taken on more housewifely tasks giving me more time to train! He also organises all the travel and event entries. Not so sure about the coaching – he has been known to ask “are you sure you want to ride, its raining?”

D: Your win in the Western Australian Championships was stunning. How did you do so well in this event?

L: It was pouring with rain for that event so anyone with glasses was severely

disadvantaged. I wear one contact lens so the rain doesn’t bother me. The area was fairly vague (typical WA) and I’d run in the area before. WA is where I first learned to orienteer so my compass work is pretty good.

The wildflowers were quite a distraction though, I nearly put my foot on a cowslip orchid!

D: My orienteering style leads to some good wins and some poor performances. Yours is far more consistent. How do you achieve this?

L: I believe in minimising errors – we all make them.

Carol McNeil (ex British WOC Coach) taught me in the 1980’s “if you get mislocated, think about where you’ve been”. This really helps to prevent time wasted, milling around, trying to locate yourself. Stay cool under pressure, never look at the Start list, and try to race in a variety of terrains, and weathers. Bob Kaill who coached the WOC Team in

1987 and ’89 encourages ‘relaxed concentration’. Ian Fletcher and Tony Simpkins from WA taught me to run straight on a compass bearing.

D: Bruce has been improving rapidly recently. Can he make the winning of the SILVA Medal a family affair (I see he runs against Ted van Geldermalsen, Paul Pacque and David Marshall)?

L: Yes, Bruce placed 2nd in the M60A Australian Sprint Champs at Curtin University, his best result ever. He, too, has made attempts to increase his fitness and to drop some kgs. He and I are enjoying having so many competitors in the senior races. My 92yr old Mum commented about all the ‘young and healthy’ M60A’s Bruce was lunching with in Kings Park in Perth during the WA Carnival.

D: Once again, Liz, a wonderful performance.

Well done.

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

Spot the Difference

Those who took part in the recent Xmas 5 Days will recognize this map, but can you Spot all the Differences? It’s not easy on such a complex map as this and some are much harder to spot than others.

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

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

CAN YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

o-spy Sporting Schools Funding

O

rienteering Australia has received funding for the Sporting Schools program. Sporting Schools is a $100 million Australian government initiative targetting the 8,000 primary schools in Australia and a sample of 80 high schools and is due to commence in July 2015. The Australian Sports Commission website for this program is http://sportingschools.gov.au/ OA Executive Officer John Harding said, “Implementing this for Orienteering will require a considerable increase in the numbers of Level 0 and Level 1 accredited coaches willing to run 3 to 8 week Orienteering programs in primary schools, a large increase in the numbers of schools mapped (and schools with existing maps updated), National and State online resources, a State Sporting Schools coordinator in each State and Territory, and a State Sporting Schools implementation plan.

Orienteering Australia wishes to encourage experienced junior orienteers aged 18 and over and any other orienteers older than this who might be seeking some part-time remuneration to contact your State Association to express an interest in becoming an accredited Sporting Schools Orienteering coach or otherwise contribute to the mapping and administrative effort needed to implement Orienteering in the Sporting Schools program.” Further information is available from John Harding at Orienteering Australia.

Teach Orienteering and enjoy beautiful beaches!

O

rienteering ACT is offering a $2500 scholarship to a talented, enthusiastic individual to enjoy Orienteering and coaching in our Nation’s Capital, Canberra. The opportunity is to stay with a welcoming host family and teach Orienteering to club members and school students alike, while being able to enjoy everything Australia has to offer – Orienteering included!

This will be the third successful year of the scholarship program. In 2014 there

were eleven applicants, nine of which found an opportunity somewhere in Australia if Canberra was unsuitable.

With the expected increase in Government funding throughout 2015 to teach Orienteering in schools, plenty of paid opportunities can be expected.

Australians can apply.

Applications are available for a three, six or twelve month period at any time of the year suitable for the individual.

Work commitments will be primarily throughout the ACT school term, however conditions are flexible to allow for travel and/or study commitments.

For full details, see the Orienteering ACT website.

Other clubs wishing to host any applicants are encouraged to contact David Poland; +61 407 011 737

“Bright Alpine Climb”. Four mountain runs for an incredibly low price! While I was in Melbourne I ran for Melbourne Forest Racers which I really enjoyed.

A small but active club. We’ve had some really nice Thursday trainings with dinner afterwards. To get a bit of extra money we’ve been doing a bit of mapping and updating maps. This has as well been a great experience.

For the last bit of time here in Australia I’m going on a month long road trip up the east coast and back again to Melbourne. The main focus for this trip is to find the coolest Orienteering maps there are to run on!

One thing is for sure; I’ve really enjoyed my stay and I’m definitely coming back!”

Milestones for Editor

I

n the past month or two Michael Hubbert (your Editor) has passed two career milestones – 51,000 controls located and 3,900 courses completed, in a bit over 45 years of orienteering.

He’s going a lot slower these days with quantity outranking quality, but he’s still going.

Jakob, Thor and Eskil

New Orienteering Board Game Who is setting the course?

I Three Danes in Victoria

T

hree young Danish orienteers, Thor Nørskov, Jakob Edsen and Eskil Schøning came to Australia back in the middle of September 2014. Thor says: “While I’ve been in Australia I’ve visited numerous places with Melbourne as my base where my host family lives. I’ve been to El Dorado (for Christmas and Orienteering), Mt. Kooyoora, Tasmania (World Cups), Sydney (New Year at the Harbour Bridge), New Zealand (road trip), Bright, Perth (for the Karrak Karnival), the Blue Mountains and many more! It has been mostly Orienteering trips to all these cool place but we also had time for some non Orienteering trips.

mprove your orienteering with this NEW orienteering board game from Finland. Design a map using different terrains and map features. Then design your course. Great fun for the whole family and Finnish champion, Minna Kauppi, recommends this game. There are English instructions and the game can be purchased from Colin Price at Aussieogear.com Cost is $49 plus post, or purchase at the Aussieogear “O” shop.

If I had to name one in particular it would be the trip to Bright for the MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

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.

Too Much Elite Content?

C

ongratulations on the detailed article on the Australian Championships in the December 2014 edition of The Australian Orienteer However, I would like to make a plea to make the reporting more interesting to club level orienteers.

I wish you had included some locational detail so that I could have a better feel for the place and the events. The writing style and content assumes a high underlying knowledge level of the elite levels of Orienteering by the reader.

I also noted the passionate response from Debbie Dodd on the earlier Joe Bloggs article. As a club level non-elite orienteer, I can recognise things in both sides of that story. It really can be daunting for new arrivals to the sport, despite the good intentions of people like Debbie. I have brought workmates along and hosted them through their first events – even with that level of personal attention, they find it daunting.

We need to acknowledge the existence of problems in order to address them. Peter Hobbs’ article summed up the issue nicely.

People are telling us things about the accessibility of Orienteering as a sport, that we ignore at our peril.

I have been orienteering since the 1970s and still enjoy my participation at club level. I have observed over those 50 or so years that there is an increasing divide between the elite end of the sport and the club level.

The content of The Australian Orienteer now focuses almost entirely on the elite end of the spectrum. Many of us out here have little interest in the minutia of the elites but still volunteer to assist at events and enjoy our local Orienteering.

I also noted at my last volunteering at a major event that the young elites are very impatient and often quite rude to the volunteers, which does not encourage harmonious relations between the two levels of the sport. The clubs are expected to support all levels of events and provide an entry conduit into the sport but seem to be largely ignored.

The material in the December edition of The Australian Orienteer is of high quality and beautifully illustrated and well laid out. It is a credit to Michael Hubbert. However, it seems to me that its focus on the elite level of the sport is widening the gap between the elite level and the club level people who are expected to organise local events, host interested potential members and support elite events as volunteers. We are not on a sustainable path.

I don’t have the answers, but I think that the topic is a worthy subject for further debate.

Ian Crellin (Parawanga Orienteers, ACT).

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

T

Attracting Newcomers

he excellent article by Peter Hobbs (The Australian Orienteer – December 2014) about his running friends who won’t try Orienteering exactly reflects my own experience over 40 years. The reasons runners have given me usually include that you have to think and you are not on a track – two things that are absolute anathema to most runners.

Then we have the strange paradox of the minimal crossover (at least in Queensland) between Rogainers and Orienteers. When I promote Orienteering to Rogainers they quote two reasons for declining. They are horrified at the idea of not having two hours to study the course and/or they are not interested in running while navigating.

Not many beginners are like I was. When I went to my first event I was alone, knew nobody, was very shy (would you believe!), got no welcome and minimal help, and ached for days afterwards, but couldn’t wait to go back for more. Clearly, people like this are the exception.

Peter asks, “What is the solution (to successful promotion)?” It’s no cakewalk. The only things that have a reasonable track record are your own careful chaperoning of the few friends who succumb to your cajoling, and organisers ensuring that newcomers are treated as a precious resource, with a personal welcome and lots of assistance. I believe that nowadays that does not happen most of the time.

My own promotional efforts have fallen mostly on deaf ears, but there are exceptions – two families who are now stalwarts of Queensland Orienteering. So don’t give up hope, Peter, for you will have some successes.

Trevor Sauer (Sunshine Orienteers, QLD)

T

Eventor Robopaths Rule OK

he Law of Unintended Consequences has been well and truly eating into the sensibilities of the Australian Orienteering fraternity. Those with many years membership and experience are both dismayed and incredulous at the wisdom and knowledge of those who have imposed Eventor upon one and all.

Eventor is the antithesis of Orienteering and orienteers. It strips away the human element, it eliminates resourcefulness, initiative, flexibility, enterprise and commonsense. To be replaced by programmed robopaths or cyborgs. (Cue Daleks of Dr Who: “We will obey ….”).

In the June 2014 edition of The Australian Orienteer, I said that Eventor erected a number of discriminatory barriers to participation. I further highlighted the (false) assumptions central to Eventor. Where was due diligence? Where were the incisive minds?

In the September 2014 edition, Dorothy Adrian exposed the fundamental flaws in the design and nature of Eventor. Eventor can never be an instrument of, or medium for, communication, marketing, or being service-oriented. Rather, it is a straitjacket to enslave conformity. Eventor is not user-friendly. It creates churlish attitudes and behaviours. Jim Bowling further exposes the paucity of thought underpinning the imposition of Eventor by listing flawed assumptions.

Finally, in December 2014, Murray Hanna documents how the barriers created by Eventor are turning people both off and away from the sport.

Eventor is the new HAL (“2001 A Space Odyssey”) and is setting out to be omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient to eliminate decision-making. Eventor is in charge, and says: “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that”. And, “I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do ………. This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardise it”.

And, inevitably, subliminal control over those who instigated the program: “This conversation can serve no purpose any more.

Goodbye.” Indeed !!

Some remedial action is urgently required, such as: • Provide each State Association with $2000 – 2500 (minimum) to pay an Eventor facilitator to ensure no-one is discriminated against and there are no barriers to participation. The facilitators will process applications and cash payments for both membership and events; • Ensure that for major competitions each Association provides a comprehensive range of EOD (enter-on-day) courses, with an entry fee no greater than the normal or standard charge for events.

Gary Aitken (Co-founder (1974) and Life Member, OAWA)

OA Director, Communication - Craig Feuerherdt – has provided the following:

OWA RESPONSE FOR PUBLICATION

I

understand the initial concerns that some OWA members had with Eventor - this is to be expected with any kind of change and the system is now operating quite smoothly for memberships and pre-entry events. As with other States, the majority of WA events are low key EOD, and even for preentry events EOD is also available (and generally cheaper).

Help for members and prospective members is available from the OWA Eventor Coordinator and club representatives.”

Victorinox award The Victorinox Award goes to Gary Aitken for his letters defending established values.

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

MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

ADVERTORIAL

2015 Australian Orienteering Championships – Ballarat Dr Blake’s Multifarious Mapping Mysteries

I

t is now just seven months until this annual festival of Orienteering comes to one of Australia’s premier Orienteering regions, the goldfields and forests around Ballarat.

The structure of this week-long Orienteering Carnival has been designed to minimize daily travel to the various events, allowing visitors to have plenty of time to see all that Ballarat and the region can offer. Please take the time to go to www. visitballarat.com.au and you will gain a comprehensive insight into accommodation options, restaurants, cafes, bars, historical locations, tourist attractions and much, much more.

Details for each day’s competition will be placed on Eventor very shortly and early-bird entries will open with that placement.

The general schedule is – Saturday Sept 26........ Victorian Middle Distance Championship Sunday Sept 27........... Australian Middle Distance Championship Monday Sept 28.......... Schools Championship Sprint Tuesday Sept 29.......... Schools Champs Individual & Public Event Wednesday Sept 30.... Schools Championship Relay & Public Event Thursday Oct 1............ Champs Rest Day & Ballarat Street O Event Friday Oct 2................. Australian Sprint Championship Saturday Oct 3............ Australian Long Distance Championship Sunday Oct 4.............. Australian Relay Championship

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2015

The ABC television program “The Dr Blake Mysteries” uses Ballarat as its backdrop and with their permission we have been able to build on this theme for the 2015 Orienteering Carnival. This will be apparent for many as you question the mapper and course setter’s parentage when you traverse yet another gold yielding erosion gully. It will also be on show for the visitor to the city who can walk at a leisurely pace around Ballarat and capture glimpses of the location points as viewed by thousands across Australia.

A social and recreational program is being prepared and will be promoted widely closer to the time. Gear up now for a great week in Ballarat in September/October tinged with a little nostalgic mystery as you unravel the maps by day and the golden city by night.

Check back regularly during the year to www.ozchamps2015. com.au for information about the Australian Championships in Ballarat. And perhaps you can solve a mystery or two along the way.

Top events 2015

2016 April 3-6

May 30June 1 June 7-8 June 8-14

June 26-28

July 1-5 July 2-6 July 5-12

July 18-24

WMOC 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden www.wmoc2015sweden.se

Aug 1-7

WOC 2015 Inverness, Scotland www.woc2015.org Scottish 6 Days 2015 Inverness, Scotland www.scottish6days.com/2015 WMTBOC, JWMTBOC 2015 Liberec, Czech Republic www.wmtboc2015.cz 2015 Queensland Long Champs Kingaroy, QLD www.oq.asn.au Doctor Blake’s Mystery Tour AUS Championships Carnival 2015 Ballarat region, Victoria www.vicorienteering.asn.au AUS MTBO Championships Anglesea, Victoria www.ausmtbochamps.com Big Five-O 2016, Kaapsehoop, South Africa. www.bigfive-o.co.za

Aug 14-23

Sept 12-13

Sept 26Oct 4

Nov 7-8

Dec 29Jan 3

July 9-16

July 16-23

July 17-23

2015 NSW Long Championships will be held on 17th May at Gumble, near Orange, one of Australia’s best granite orienteering areas. This year we will use a new assembly area which will focus on a rarely used part of the map. Put it in your diary and watch the newsleters and Eventor for more details.

Easter Carnival, ACT JWOC 2016 Engadin, Switzerland 5th Tour O Swiss Switzerland www.tour-o-swiss.ch Swiss O Week 2016 Engadin, Switzerland O-Ringen 2016 Sälen, Dalarna, Sweden. www.oringen.se WMTBOC, JWMTBOC 2016 Aveiro-Coimbra, Portugal

July 24-30 Dates tba

WMOC 2016 Tallinn, Estonia www.orienteerumine.ee/wmoc2016 WOC 2016 Stromstad – Tanum, Sweden www.woc2016.se/en/ WMMTBOC 2016, Lithuania AUS Champs Carnival, QLD

Aug 20-28

JWOC 2015 Rauland, Norway www.jwoc2015.org O-Ringen 2015 Borås, Sweden. www.oringen.se

July 25 Aug 1

Aug 2-8

March 25-28 Dates tba

Australian 3 Days Carnival 2015 Jamestown, 200km N of Adelaide South Australia NZ QB 2015 Three Day Helensville, North Island, NZ www.QB2015.AOA.ORG.NZ South Australian Championships Coffin Bay, Port Lincoln WMMTBOC 2015 Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal mtbo15.fpo.pt/index.php/en/ ICE-O 2015 Reykjavik, Iceland www.natloc.org MTBO 5 days 2015 Pilsen, Czech Republic NATLOC 2015, Nuuk, Greenland www.natloc.org

Sept Sept/Oct 2017 April 15-21 April 21-30 June 10-11 July 1-7 July 9-16 July 9-16 July 16-22

August 3-13 Dates TBA Sept/Oct

Oceania Carnival North Island, New Zealand WMOC 2017 Auckland NZ worldmastersgames2017.co.nz AUS 3 Days & QBIII, NSW WOC 2017 Otepää, Estonia www.orienteerumine.ee/woc2017/ JWOC 2017 Tampere, Finland FIN5 2017 Tampere, Finland O-Ringen 2017 Arvika, Värmland, Sweden. www.oringen.se The World Games Wroclaw, Poland WMTBOC Vilnius, Lithuania AUS Champs Carnival, NSW

Or ie n te er in g Ser ie s Economy Starter edition Frequent user Standard edition High capability Professional edition • Buy in A$/NZ$ • Rapid delivery • AUS/NZL orientation Australia & NZ OCAD reseller

PO Box 625 Daylesford VIC 3460. 03 5348 3792, 0410 481 677 info@ocad.com.au MARCH 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

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