The Australian Orienteer - September 2015

s e pt e m be r 2 0 15

JWOC WOC WMTBOC RRP $8.50 inc GST

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

Sun 27th Sept

AUS Champs - Middle Distance

Victoria

Fri 2nd Oct

AUS Champs - Sprint

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

ORIENTEERING australia

The President’s Page Blair Trewin

B

y the time you read this, we will be at the climax of the Australian season, with the Australian Championships week in Victoria. For now, we have an international season to reflect on, with some outstanding performances which have taken place during it.

Mountain Bike Orienteering has often been a forgotten part of the scene in Australia. There is a keen, though fairly small, core of participants, but to many orienteers they are largely unnoticed.

It’s a branch of the sport, though, which has given us more than its share of competitive successes over the years, and another was added to the list in August when Angus Robinson won gold in the Sprint at the Junior World Championships. Being the world champion in any branch of a sport, at any level, is something to be exceedingly proud of. A junior title also augurs well for a bright senior future and we wish Angus well in achieving this.

(For those of you who haven’t given Mountain Bike Orienteering a go, I’d encourage you to try it – it’s a fun variation on the sport, the route choice decisions are completely different to those you have on foot, and finding your way around tracks at riding speed isn’t necessarily as easy as it would be on foot).

Someone else who has experience of what a gold medal looks like has also had a good year, with Hanny Allston making it onto the podium for the first time since her 2006 world championship year as part of a World Championships where she had two top10 results. Scotland also saw the first appearance at this level of several younger orienteers, and while none of them had instant success, it is an important first step for those who we hope will be the core of our team over the next decade.

Many of you will already know about the change in the structure of sports funding in Australia for sports such as ours.

The outcome was better than we expected, with a slight overall increase in the total funding we receive from the Australian Sports Commission. However, that funding is now all committed to increasing participation with no external funding for highperformance activities, which will require us to cover the latter from our own resources. The Board held a workshop in July to work through this in some detail and have a plan in place which we expect will be able to cover most of our existing activities, at least in the short term, with further details to be determined at the Annual Conference later in the year.

I’ve often reflected on the changing nature of sports participation.

It’s a trend across the sports marketplace that people are less willing to commit in the long term and more interested in participating on a casual basis when it suits them. Australia is certainly not the only place where this is happening. At the Swedish 5-Days, I was struck by the fact that, of the 18,000 participants on an average day, “only” 13,000 of them were in the “traditional” classes, with the remaining 5,000 doing one of the 12 enter-on-the-day courses. (The Swedish 5-Days are famed for the impressiveness of their logistics and I was especially impressed that their systems were able to cope with having over 1,000 entries on a single course on some days – even more so than usual at that event, you’d know if you were in the later controls of the course and couldn’t see anybody else that you were probably going the wrong way).

Something else which has changed in our sport is the range of places in which it can take place. For my first decade in the sport, all events were what we would now call “long distance”, and required (at least) several square kilometres of forest. Sprint and urban events have changed that, and so has the ability to make use of much smaller bits of terrain (something greatly facilitated by electronic control punching). A particularly striking example occurred a couple of weeks ago when Bendigo ran a highly successful event on a strip of terrain only a couple of hundred metres across on average – one of the highly detailed gullies with old mine working that their town specialises in. There are many other pieces of terrain around the place that wouldn’t previously have been on anyone’s radar – one of them might be near you and might be worth checking out.

For all that innovation, I’m sufficiently traditional that I hope the traditional long-distance never disappears from the scene. The Australian Long Distance Championships are still the high point of the season for many, and long may they remain so.

SEPTEMBER 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 SEPTEMBER 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 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) 8736 1252 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: Peter Komyshan o_map@iinet.net.au Orienteering Tasmania: PO Box 339 Sandy Bay TAS 7005. Secretary: Peter Cusick secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Susanne Casanova topendorienteersNT@gmail.com

NEXT issue deadline

October 16. Time-sensitive: Oct 23

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 3/15 (no. 179) SEPTEMBER 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: October 16; Time-sensitive – Oct 23.

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.

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

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

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

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

contents the road to new zealand...................... 6 M I DN I G HT i n t h e AR C T I C .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 J WO C 2 0 1 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 WO C 2 0 1 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 SA & VIC Juniors Coaching Camp.......... 25 AU S S C HOOL S C HA M P S p r e vi e w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 t w o M e l b o u r n e S e r i e s s u cc e ss.. . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 T h e ‘ o t h e r ’ O - Ri n g e n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 W M O C & J W M TBO C G OLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 M A S TER S M TBO C HA M P S , PORTU G AL . . . . . . . . . 4 0 C RO S B Y S T I LL S & ( F AL ) NA S H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 L e t t e r s .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 s p o t t h e d iff e r e n c e .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 top events......................................... 47

Cover photo: Winnie Oakhill during the Middle race at JWOC 2015.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

GREAT EVENTS

The road to New Zealand in April 2017

Day 3 start.

In just 18 months time the Oceania and World Masters carnivals will be staged before and after Easter respectively on New Zealand’s North Island in areas near Auckland. The terrains to be mapped for these carnivals will be similar to those used in the recent NZ Queen’s Birthday weekend events where a contingent of Australian orienteering “Bushrangers” won a hard-fought Test Match against New Zealand’s “Pinestars”.

T

here were three days of competition over the long weekend in Woodhill Forest north of Auckland. Day 1 was a Long Distance event in steep sand dunes with pine forest vegetation.

Day 2 involved two Middle Distance events, with the morning event determining the starting order and start time for the afternoon event. It was a true chasing start with the winner from the early event starting first and all other runners starting at the time they were behind the morning winner. Some starters were very close together, creating some interesting pack running in the relatively flat sand dunes. Day 3 were shortish courses in detailed and very low visibility sand dune terrain.

After three days of close racing the Australian Bushrangers pipped the New Zealand Pinestars 285-280 points to take the AspinKey Trophy back across the Tasman. On Day 3 at Otakanini Topu, with only the W21E to be decided the score stood level at 257-257, but the Australian victory in that class proved decisive.

Ironically, the Kiwis actually won three of the four classes, but overall it was the Australian Junior women who made the difference with a big 37 point margin over their New Zealand counterparts.

In the W20 class Australia’s Winnie Oakhill had three 1st places out of the four events and in the M20 class Matt Doyle had one 1st place and two 3rd places. The highlight was the team performances by both the Senior women’s team and the junior women’s team. The Junior women beating the NZ team by 37 points over the three days. In W21E Hanny Allston had three wins out of the four races, and in M21E Brodie Nankervis finished 3rd on Day 1.

W21: NZ 76 - AUS 75 (Aislinn Prendergast, Anna Sheldon, Krystal Neumann, Rachel Effeney, Heather Muir)

Day 2.

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

M21: NZ 79 - AUS 56 (Brodie Nankervis, Lucas Frei, Ashley Nankervis)

M20: NZ 69 - AUS 61 (Matt Doyle, Aidan Dawson, Jarrah Day) W20: NZ 56 - AUS 93 (Nicola Blatchford, Winnie Oakhill, Lanita Steer, Anna Dowling, Olivia Sprod)

Beautiful and open Day 2 with 500 people in a chasing start.

Making his first foray into New Zealand terrain, Aston Key of Melbourne Forest Racers competed in the Senior Boys class. He was so taken by the depth of competition and the complexity of the terrain that he just had to write up his impressions when he returned home. For anyone planning to compete in New Zealand in April 2017 this is a ‘must read’.

New to New Zealand

By Aston Key

Aston Key

O

rienteering is exciting. How much anticipation and adrenalin that goes through you is incredible and on my trip to New Zealand for the Jafa Queens Birthday weekend in early June (they must have a different Queen) I felt all these emotions and more. This was my first trip to NZ that I can remember. Apparently I have been a few times before. First time racing in sand dune terrain and the first time I competed in a junior field against almost 50 competitors in my class.

With 500 entries, the huge forests of Woodhill (the same forest that will be used in 2017 for our Easter 3 Days) just north of Auckland was ready to be challenged by the 40 or so Australians that were there, including our Bushranger team up against the NZ Pinestars. We had four races in three days including a very exciting, full-on chasing start in race 2 of Day 2 that involved all 500 of us starting within about 30 minutes of each other.

Day 1 was the Long Distance day in the beautiful forest of Waioneke. I guess you could almost call it gully/spur sand dune terrain. The talk was this could be just like what they will use in 2017 for the Long Distance race. Day 2 consisted of two races, including the exhilarating chasing start. It was hosted on Pulpit Rock in the morning, a few hours break and then the acclaimed chasing start on the Murawai map. Winners and losers all talking about great forests and a great day that was worth every cent.

Day 3 was the ultimate challenge, at the famous Otakanini Topu map, with an incredible mix of beautiful open farmland contrasting perfectly with the maze of small sand dunes in re-growth low visibility pines with good runnability. WOW !!

Day 1 - It was like running in a forest that had been made just for orienteering. Great runnability and visibility, rewarding navigation and an overload to your senses of orienteering in one of the best forests in the world - A bit like orienteering heaven.

Day 1.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

GREAT EVENTS

Since I was new to New Zealand I spent a lot of time looking at mum and dad’s old maps and asking them questions of how do you do it, how do you get around in those wild looking contours?

The best I got out of them was that you will love it. How was that going to help! And to not get too worried if I got lost, just read the map and follow what the terrain is telling you, oh and be mindful of your direction when the visibility drops away. So no great revelations there, but I must admit I was as worried as I was anticipating what was apparently in store.

Did orienteering in NZ and Woodhill live up to all the hype?

Definitely YES in big capitals. It was really fantastic and even better than what I was expecting. How do you run in sand dunes?

Still not sure on that one but next I have described a couple of my legs where I think I did ok. On the result board I was pretty happy afterwards and I guess I didn’t make any real mistake that made me feel lost but there were plenty of moments where I felt like I was on the edge of my ability.

the escarpment with lots of ups and downs. I spotted the hill and open area behind the control and then stopped on top, realised the control is in the little gully so dropped into it. It was a tough start particularly with people running everywhere.

The tricky low visibility of Day 3 – Yes, you can get through – NZ pines are much softer to push through than ours.

Waioneke – controls #8-9-10: I angled right out of control, seeing the depression on my right and a weird looking knoll in front of me, I ran over that knoll and looked up. I could see the next banana shaped knoll and ran to the left of it. From there I ran up through the saddle keeping the bigger hill on my left, then running on the right of the small depression and up and over the small steep embankment and into the control.

I turn left through the saddle out of #9, running on the right of the gully. When the gully ends, angling slightly right and along the side of the hill, I start dropping slowly and run below the yellow with green stripes. I see a big depression and run around to the left. No navigation is really required because I’m just running on the top of a big depression, then when the depression turns away I use my compass and look for the banana shaped knoll on my left. From there I can see the sharp spur on the right of the control and the knoll on the left of the control, so I run straight into the control.

Between races we spent a lot of our time at the local hot springs swimming and going down the warm water slides with about half the field. It was hard to drag yourself out of the really warm indoor pool.

Day 1.

Waioneke - controls #1-2-3: My first control, so I was pretty nervous. The track out of the Start in the felled area made it easier but as soon I hit the trees, look out! I looked down at the compass because the visibility was almost zero. I compassed with serious commitment then I picked up that it was a flat area leading to the gully a bit to the left. Leaving #1, I use the same gully for my direction, angle left to see the open and drop back right as it bends away, around a small knoll and over a tiny spur into the flag. Leave #2 heading right, get my direction and head out to the smooth flat gully. I could see the big mound and the spur connected to it to my right before the flat area, then onto 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Otakanini Topu – controls #4-5-6-7: This was scary good terrain; navigating was everything. I contoured out of #4 for a little bit so I have my direction, then angled up to the small yellow knoll and a small gully behind it. From there I use my compass and climb to get to the ridge line, picking up the vague gully along the way, then just followed the ridge line until a small gully runs into it on the right. If I am right the control is just on the right and it was - beauty.

Leaving #5 I look up and see two knolls in front of me. I run between them then around to the left of the top of the hill and angle left to the small hill just before the track. I run across the track looking left and right to see where I am in the bend. I run into the forest with compass looking for the hill on the left. I run at the bottom of it until a steep escarpment and I know my control is just at the top of it.

I follow the gully in which the control is in to get out of #6 and, to get my direction, over the right side of the hill and compass into the gully. I follow the gully until it bends right with a small bit of yellow and a track to my left. From there I run to the right of the small spur and compass up the hill. I got a little unsure here but then I saw the small gully with the yellow and angled left into the control.

Overall it was shapes and direction, although I used yellow a bit out there and green sometimes. There could have been more (or less) and the tracks are pretty handy but often straight so bends and supporting contours really help to let you know where you are before heading back into the abyss.‌.

Map sections enlarged to 145%.

Yeah, and by the way, the Bushrangers smashed the Pinestars first time for a long time in NZ. Go Bushrangers! Watch out 2017.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

World Masters Orienteering Championships 2016 Tallinn, Estonia 5-14 August 2016 w w w.w m o c 2 0 1 6 .e e Competitions The Sprint distance competition consists of one qualification race and a final race. The Long distance competition consists of two qualification races and a final race.

Map: ISOM standard, scale 1:10 000, contour int 5 m, will be remapped in 2016.

Long Final – Pikasaare

Event Fees (€) Deadline

Accreditation

Sprint

Long

Total

28 Dec 2015

80

20

30

130

28 March 2016

100

20

30

150

11 July 2016

140

20

30

190

Competition centre is located in Estonian Defence Forces main military training field. Pikasaare is one of the most enjoyable terrains in Estonia offering fast running on large areas of the map and very interesting orienteering. This pine and spruce forest has many features typical of morainic terrain and is very variable. Height differences are up to 20m.

Fee includes 5 competition days, maps for model events and all the ceremonies.

Australian Three Days Orienteering Carnival

Canberra 25th - 28th March 2016 Sprint Qualification – Kadrioru Park Kadrioru Park is the most outstanding palatial and urban park in Estonia. The park has extensive maintained open park areas, including drainage ditches and new canals. The terrain has many roads and paths. Maximum height difference is 25m. Many tourist attractions are located in the terrain.

Map: ISSOM standard, scale 1:4000, contour interval 2 m, will be remapped in 2016 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Are you excited yet?

We can’t wait!

Easter2016.orienteering.asn.au

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G N I R E E T N E I OR Photo. Blain

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Mea Photo. Lisa

MINIMU

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NCE nukau NG DISTA ounties Ma O C L d • n a T st e IN SPR orth W Auckland, N

. run by the ew Zealand 017 is being n with Orienteering N 2 s e m a G rld Masters conjunctio g at the Wo rienteering Clubs in n ri e te n e ri O O

IOF INFORMATION PROPOSED AGE CATEGORIES

Orienteering at the World Masters Games 2017 serves as the 2017 IOF World Masters Orienteering Championships.

International Orienteering Federation adviser: Nick Dent (Australia)

&

35+, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, 80+, 85+, 90+

The age category you will compete in for Orienteering will be determined as at 31 December 2017.

DATES / VENUE(S)

Sat 22 April SPRINT MODEL The University of Auckland (Epsom Campus), located ~5km south of Auckland Central Sun 23 April SPRINT QUALIFICATION Auckland Waterfront Mon 24 April SPRINT FINAL The University of Auckland (City Campus) Tues 25 April (afternoon) LONG DISTANCE MODEL Woodhill Forest, located 48km North West of Auckland Central, intricate sand dune terrain.

Wed 26 April LONG QUALIFICATION 1 Woodhill Forest Thurs 27 April LONG QUALIFICATION 2 Woodhill Forest Sat 29 April LONG FINAL Woodhill Forest

OTHER INFORMATION

In addition to the WMG entry fee, an IOF levy will be paid by all competitors.

The IOF Oceania Orienteering Championships will take place in Auckland the weekend before (Easter, 14th -17th April 2017). This carnival will be ideal preparation for the WMG. Oceania website coming later in 2015.

SECTION OF MODEL MAP FOR LONG

Registrations will open in 2016. Information current at the time of print.

Visit www.worldmastersgames2017.co.nz for the latest news and information.

@WMG2017 SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

GREAT EVENTS

MIDNIGHT in the ARCTIC Christine Brown (EVOC, Tasmania)

The Midnight Sun - Photo by Christine Brown

For a truly awesome Orienteering experience, the Arctic Midnight Orienteering competition in Greenland must be one of the best. Every year since 2000, the Orienteering club of Ilulissat, Ilulissat Orienteering Greenland (IOG), has hosted the 3-day event. Ilulissat is situated on the west coast of Greenland at 69.22 degrees latitude, about 295km above the Arctic Circle.

I

n a town of approximately 4500 people and 1800 sled dogs (and 5 billion mosquitos), IOG has about 180 members, making it the largest club in Greenland. Other smaller clubs exist in Nuuk and Aasiaat further to the south.

Olav Odgaard, a Dane who was working in Ilulissat in the late nineties, recognised the potential of the area for Orienteering. He teamed up with Flemming Nørgaard, renowned Danish mapper, and they began making maps of the area around Ilulissat. The first Arctic Midnight Orienteering event was held in 2000.

Olav and Flemming, along with Flemming’s mapping team, now travel to Greenland every summer to enhance the maps or make hiking maps for the tourist market and help organise the events.

Ilulissat, means “icebergs” in Greenlandic, and the Kangia ice fjord just south of town, has the highest density of icebergs in the northern hemisphere. The area around Ilulissat is world heritage listed by UNESCO. Originally the event was held in August but this was changed to late June/early July to take advantage of the midnight sun. A fact that is certainly a drawcard for people coming from afar.

This year’s competition was held on July 1, 2 and 3 and consisted of the unofficial Greenland Long Distance Championships, a Sprint race and the famous Arctic Midnight Orienteering (AMO) event.

The Long Distance event was held south of the town and bordering the Kangia Ice Fjord. The glaciated terrain consisted of undulating open rock hills with many small tarns. The vegetation was limited with small marsh plants and some dwarf birch.

Only the largest of the cliffs were mapped and contour lines designated the shape of the rock. There were only a few boulders and knolls mapped. Despite the area being open ground with 12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

large slabs of bare rock (and not one tree in sight), the maps were predominantly white thus enhancing their legibility. The maps were orientated to true north with the magnetic north lines drawn at 32o to represent the declination, something that took a little getting used to. The highlight of the race was coming over the crest of a hilltop to punch a control with the magnificent ice fjord making the backdrop.

The Sprint was held in the township and with very little of the area private there were limited out of bounds areas. Some good course planning ensured that careful route choices had to be made around the scattered buildings.

The final race, the Arctic Midnight Orienteering race is held over four distances, 5km, 10km, 15km and 20km, each with lots of climb. In most years the start is late so that the race is happening as midnight passes to make sure competitors are orienteering under the midnight sun. This year the start was brought forward to 9:00pm to allow those who wished to travel to the Orienteering events being held in Nuuk starting the next day.

This race was magnificent. It was a mass start for all courses simultaneously. The open hills were teeming with orienteers heading off on the various courses. The courses headed uphill and away from the coast which meant that when the course turned in the direction of home runners came up over a crest and were met with the most spectacular view of Disko Bay with its thousands of icebergs and the sun low in the sky. To describe it as breathtaking is an understatement.

This year the winter had been longer and harsher than usual which meant that the marshes were wetter and in some sheltered areas large patches of snow were encountered. The terrain, whilst similar to that of the Long Distance race, was more physical due to the climb and the softness underfoot. After the event competitors could enjoy a well-deserved bowl of fish soup or a piece of cake. The atmosphere was always relaxed and friendly.

The whole event was completed with a buffet style dinner the next evening which featured some Greenlandic delicacies such as whale skin, dried halibut and smoked Muskox. We were entertained by three local athletes demonstrating Arctic Sports.

These sports are part of the Arctic Winter Games. The sports emphasise the strength and flexibility needed in the daily activities that Greenlanders would traditionally engage in such as hunting and gathering. The Ilulissat male choir also provided further local cultural experiences.

Christine Brown finishing the Greenland Championships. Photo by Kell Sønnichsen

Control with Kangia Ice Fjord in background Photo by Kell Sønnichsen

Without a doubt the highlight of the events is the midnight race. Whilst the sun doesn’t set at this time of year the notion of orienteering during the night is enticing. More information, maps and results about the AMO can be found at http://iog.9net. dk/wordpress/?page_id=547HYPERLINK “http://iog.9net.dk/ wordpress/?page_id=547&lang=en”&HYPERLINK “http://iog.9net. dk/wordpress/?page_id=547&lang=en”lang=en .

Paul Pacqué finishing the Greenland Championships with the Kangia Ice Fjord in the background. Photo

by Christine Brown

There is plenty to do in and around Ilulissat in summer with whale watching, hiking, kayaking and sailing amongst icebergs among the most popular activities. The only thing that the information doesn’t forewarn you about is the ferocious mosquitoes. They are large and plentiful so don’t forget to pack your repellent.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

jwoc 2015

Junior World Orienteering Championships JWOC 2015 Manager’s Report – Karen Blatchford Photos: Karen Blatchford

Held in the beautiful mountain area of Rauland in Norway, this would have to be one of the most scenic JWOC Carnivals! How fortunate am I as Manager to be able to accompany such a wonderful group of athletes to this part of the world. To recap on what our training week and competition weeks were like:

Boys Relay start

T

he team met at Oslo airport on 26th June. We then made the jaw dropping beautiful drive to Rauland, being accommodated at Vierli Tourist Centre in two cabins, Hanny in the loft of the girls cabin, me in the boys. We were catering for ourselves totally during this week and for breakfast and lunch during competition week. This added a little extra pressure for the Manager but fortunately maps and events and supermarkets weren’t far away so travel was minimal. Other teams saw the benefits of doing their own meals as well, but they often brought two cooks.

Our training week was in heat wave conditions (mid 20’s), which was thoroughly enjoyed by the team. Not many other teams were around at this early stage. Training involved map walks, short courses and some racing simulations for which we combined with the New Zealand team. Gene had done a terrific job with the OCAD courses for the simulations so they looked very professional. We had quarantine, control descriptions, model maps and allocated start times, an official prestart and hand-onshoulder countdown to starts – everything to try to mirror what the athletes would experience in the following week at the JWOC races.

For a lot of the Aussies this was their first experience of marshes.

It became obvious that the more time we could spend in the terrain during this training week the better – just becoming familiar with how things are mapped and how runnable and readable the marshes are and gaining some confidence in this very different terrain.

We managed to score a perfect day for our rest day during the training week and much to my delight we were able to take a trip to Gaustatoppen – the ‘big snowy hill’ noticed on our drive from the airport. What a great day – snowball fight, heaps of awesome photos together and terrific bonding time. We listened to our playlist and there were so many jokes and laughs. We managed to

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

learn about some recovery and stretching techniques in the park in Rjuken with Yngve, a friend of Hanny’s staying with us.

Competition week approached and the teams started rolling in. We were in the cheaper B accommodation however it was obvious we had chosen well as all teams except Finland, Norway and Sweden were staying here. We moved to two smaller cabins but with more space in the living quarters (room for Karen’s mattress haha) and a valuable washing machine. For Hanny’s WOC preparations it was best for her to move to the hotel accommodation to enable better training and sleeping but still be able to meet and eat with the team at our cabin.

The opening ceremony was held in Rauland with an athlete procession and some Norwegian music. Then it was time for the first event, the Sprint, held in a small town Amot. Despite the Sprint involving mainly road and track running there were some very tricky and not-so-obvious route decisions to make.

There were extensive out-of-bounds areas – olive green amongst houses but without fencing, and out-of-bounds on busy roads and in some business areas. All in all this resulted in a significant number of disqualifications even by some of the world’s best juniors.

We came away with some mixed results but for most – “Phew the first one’s over, now I know what to expect.” Our top three placed men were Henry (51st), Matt (54th), and Aidan (58th) with only 10 seconds separating them. In the women, our top 3 were Winnie (58th), Lanita (74th) and Nicola (104th). Most impressive was to have three boys in the top-60 and to see how well Aidan and Winnie coped with the pressure of their first JWOC race. And, of course, we all were so happy that Tim Robertson (NZ) won gold in the Sprint event.

We then moved to the Middle Distance qualification races on ‘Adalen’, a map with some smooth contoured hillsides, some marshes and some very intricate contoured areas. The athletes

JWOC Middle Final – Winnie Oakhill

JWOC Long – Lanita Steer

JWOC Relay – Hannah Goddard

JWOC Long – Henry McNulty

JWOC Relay – Matt Doyle

JWOC Long – Jarrah Day

were warned that the terrain may be even trickier than it appeared on the map. There were three very different courses in the A, B and C heats and there were big variations in winning times.

Athletes were bussed to a bus stop and then had to walk 2½ km to quarantine with a 150m climb. After such hot weather for the Sprint and the battle being heat exhaustion and trying to cool the athletes down, the opposite was for the Middle Distance qual.

It rained nonstop and was down to 6 degrees and the battle was getting athletes changed, dry and warm after their runs.

We had some terrific results and overall the Aussies handled the terrain really well. To finish with three athletes in the A Final was awesome but even more pleasing was that we had 6 athletes in the top 26 of each heat.

Our best three place getters in the Men were Matt 13th, Pat 20th, Henry 23rd and in the women, Winnie 18th, Nicola 21st and Anna 26th. It was devastating for Henry and Anna to be close and as we watched the last runner enter the arena, Nicola was also only just pushed out of the top 20 and the A Final. So hard for them mentally and I admire the way they coped with such disappointment and how they were still so appreciative and congratulatory for those who had made the A Final.

There was an improvement in the weather for the Middle Distance Final but it was a tough day of racing for the Aussies.

We had some unfortunate mispunches and navigational errors costing some of our experienced navigators valuable time in the forest early on. Most pleasing results came from Aidan who bounced back from a disappointing qualification race to secure 8th position in the C Final; Winnie ran superbly to finish 45th in the A Final, an awesome result for first time JWOCer and terrific experience for her and Patrick to race against such top competition. Anna and Jarrah put very solid performances to finish 11th and 20th in the B Finals – absolutely wonderful results

and both were very satisfied with their runs in such tricky terrain, as was Hannah.

That night there was an addition to the JWOC program with a “get-together” in Rauland for all teams and officials. This may have been an attempt to replace the last night celebrations but that wasn’t to be :) The ‘get together’ was such a positive night. As we arrived we all had to walk around the dining tables and find our national flag at a place setting – that was where we could sit. This meant we were sitting at mixed tables with athletes and managers/coaches from all countries. It was a great way to meet people and make new friends and we all came away feeling very positive and wanting to share our experiences. It also gave the athletes a few ideas for their top tens, perhaps based on personality rather than just appearance this year?

The next day was our rest day and nearly all athletes were keen to go to the Long Distance model map. Some walked or jogged around a few controls trying to get a feel for the terrain. We only spent a short time there and then prepared for our supporters afternoon tea. There were so many family members and friends cheering and waving flags and supporting the team, braving the conditions during the races, and their efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

In total we had 17 visitors for our supporters afternoon and treated them to some tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits and, of course, scones, which had been a hit during the week. Then it was relax, chat, listen to music, watch movies, play Quizup and enjoy each other’s company for the remainder of the day.

For many team members, memories of Bulgaria’s epic Long Distance race last year were still in their minds so all must have felt “this year has to be better”. Quarantine was in the basement of the Hotel and preStart was some distance away so with myself in the coaching zone at the arena, Gene and Hanny shared the responsibility of preStart and quarantine for both the Aussie and SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

jwoc 2015

New Zealand’s Tim Robertson winning the Sprint Gold for the second year.

Sprint medallists.

16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

JWOC Long – Patrick Jaffe

JWOC Relay – Simeon Burrill

JWOC Relay – Nicola Blatchford

JWOC Relay – Anna Dowling

JWOC Relay – Aidan Dawson

JWOC Long – Olivia Sprod

NZ team members. Perhaps Gene drew the short straw being stuck in the cold at preStart but it worked really well. Hanny was awesome to have in quarantine, being so familiar with race preparation. She certainly had good advice for the athletes regarding nerves, preparation and time management.

Coaches to supervise. A fantastic night was had by all and the team once again proved how fun loving yet responsible they are.

I transported all athletes home in the early hours of the morning and they were all ready to depart our super clean cabins by 7.30am.

The JWOC Classic Long Distance was a pretty good day for the Aussies. The course was challenging both navigationally and physically and most felt quite satisfied with their efforts and results. Our top boys were Matt (41st) and Henry (64th) with all other boys finishing within 6mins of each other: Aidan (104th), Jarrah (107th), Patrck (117th) and Simeon (123rd).

I really can’t speak too highly of the Team and their commitment.

I thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s company and I have a lot of respect and admiration for how the athletes handled themselves individually and how they worked together. There was just so much team spirit and so many laughs and jokes. Some really great friendships have been strengthened during our time away.

In the women’s race we had four girls finish within 2mins of each other, all in the top 75 with times ranging from 72 to 74 mins – Winnie, Anna, Hannah and Nicola. Good solid runs and it was becoming evident that all team members were handling the navigational challenges OK, confidence in this terrain is improving with each run but of course with confidence comes more speed and that is difficult to get in only two weeks. It was a great effort by all.

I know it’s easy for us all to say what a wonderful opportunity it is for the Aussie juniors to contest the Junior World Champs but still the majority of people will be judging the team’s success based solely on results and for many Team members this year there were some positives and there were some disappointments, such is the nature of running in foreign terrain, in a big competition against the best in the world and with five competition runs in the week. My report therefore isn’t focusing only on results. I’d like to encourage the Orienteering community to look beyond the results.

Our JWOC week was nearing the end with only the Relay to go.

What an exciting event this was to be. Major places went to the Scandinavian countries: MEN - Finland 1st then Norway and Sweden; WOMEN - Sweden 1st, then Switzerland and Norway.

The Aussie boys team of Patrick, Henry and Matt finished a creditable 12th with Matt having the 7th quickest time on the third leg. The Aussie girls team of Winnie, Nicola and Anna finished 19th, with all girls having solid runs but not up to the pace of the top nations’ athletes.

So the only other event on the JWOC calendar would be the final night celebrations – the JWOC banquet was again dismissed

by IOF however a unanimous decision once again by Managers and Coaches enabled the acceptance of an offer by the Hotel to hold a disco in the basement for all athletes with Managers and

Being able to spend so much time with the athletes has enabled me to see SO MANY benefits from sending these young athletes to JWOC, benefits for them as individuals but also benefits for Orienteering in Australia. I guarantee every single one of them will return home more enthusiastic and determined to continue in this wonderful sport and to pursue their Orienteering dreams.

This alone is an achievement and rubs off on their peers, friends and family and encourages them to give back to the sport. The enjoyment the Aussie Team was experiencing in Norway was witnessed by so many international orienteers that together we were great role models for Australia. To see the athletes make so many friends with international orienteers gives them the SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

jwoc 2015

Coach_Hanny and Manager_Karen.

opportunity to stay in touch and strengthens travel opportunities and the chance to meet up again in the future. Even to have so many family members make their way to Europe and travel with the team members strengthens the community enthusiasm for the sport.

There are six of the team members continuing their travels following JWOC and gaining valuable orienteering experience with other big competitions in Europe. I think the team spirit this year will certainly encourage all eligible Team members to strive to make the team again, and hopefully this report and the feedback to Australia during competition week will encourage potential JWOC athletes to strive to reach that level but also to strive to compete abroad. JWOC is in essence just one European competition, there are so many more, and in saying that, I wish our WOC athletes all the best in Scotland.

18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

LONG M20 – 10.74 km 1 Olli Ojanaho 2 Simon Hector 3 Andreas Soelberg 4 Aidan Smith 5 Simon Imark 6 Matthias Groell 7 Audun Heimdal 8 Tobia Pezzati 9 Shamus Morrison 10 Tim Robertson 41 Matt Doyle 44 Nick Smith 64 Henry Mcnulty 65 Devon Beckman 86 Tommy Hayes 104 Aidan Dawson 107 Jarrah Day 117 Patrick Jaffe 123 Simeon Burrill

FIN SWE NOR GBR SWE AUT NOR SUI NZL NZL AUS NZL AUS NZL NZL AUS AUS AUS AUS

1:07:00 1:08:15 1:08:26 1:09:05 1:09:13 1:10:12 1:10:49 1:10:58 1:11:05 1:11:12 1:18:10 1:18:27 1:22:51 1:22:57 1:26:41 1:32:33 1:33:53 1:36:25 1:38:33

Middle final M20 – 4.22 km 1 Olli Ojanaho FIN 25:13 2 Erik Andersson SWE 25:27 3 Sven Hellmuller SUI 26:16 4 Jonas Madslien Bakken NOR 26:22 5 Audun Heimdal NOR 26:43 6 Nikita Stepanov RUS 26:57 7 Emil Granqvist SWE 27:21 8 Jens Ronnols SWE 27:32 9 Markus Holter NOR 27:33 10 Anton Kuukka FIN 27:44 21 Shamus Morrison NZL 29:37 22 Tim Robertson NZL 29:40 56 Devon Beckman NZL 37:06 57 Patrick Jaffe AUS 38:51 Matt Doyle AUS mp

LONG W20 – 7.34 km 1 Sara Hagstrom 2 Anna Haataja 3 Sandrine Mueller 4 Heidi Martensson 5 Miri Thrane Odum 6 Simona Aebersold 7 Karoliina Ukskoski 8 Marie Olaussen 9 Johanna Oberg 10 Andrea Svensson 47 Alice Tilley 48 Kayla Fairbairn 53 Danielle Goodall 68 Winnie Oakhill 69 Anna Dowling 70 Hannah Goddard 75 Nicola Blatchford 87 Sonia Hollands 91 Lanita Steer 100 Katie Corywright 113 Olivia Sprod 124 Sophie Harrison

Middle final W20 – 3.61 km 1 Anine Ahlsand NOR 26:57 2 Johanna Oberg SWE 27:11 3 Sandrine Mueller SUI 27:14 4 Anna Haataja FIN 27:30 5 Ingeborg Eide NOR 27:48 6 Tilda Johansson SWE 27:55 7 Paula Gross SUI 29:04 8 Pihla Otsamo FIN 29:25 9 Andrea Svensson SWE 29:26 10 Marie Olaussen NOR 29:52 45 Winnie Oakhill AUS 35:45 RELAY M20 1 FIN 1 2 NOR 2 3 SWE 1 7 NZL 1 12 AUS 1 Henry Mcnulty Patrick Jaffe Matt Doyle --- NZL 2 --- AUS 2 Jarrah Day Aidan Dawson Simeon Burrill RELAY W20 1 SWE 1 2 SUI 1 3 NOR 2 11 NZL 1 19 AUS 1 Winnie Oakhill Nicola Blatchford Anna Dowling --- AUS 2 Lanita Steer Hannah Goddard Olivia Sprod

35:38 38:54 36:26

11 18 7

41:31 47:22 53:12

47:23 51:17 47:22 49:40 56:46 52:42

20 19 17

1:36:39 1:38:02 1:38:21 1:46:45 1:50:58 35:38 1:14:32 1:50:58 1:52:06 2:22:05 41:31 1:28:53 2:22:05 1:44:17 1:47:04 1:47:09 1:59:41 2:26:02 47:23 1:38:40 2:26:02 2:39:08 49:40 1:46:26 2:39:08

SWE FIN SUI NOR DEN SUI FIN NOR SWE SWE NZL NZL NZL AUS AUS AUS AUS NZL AUS NZL AUS NZL

52:06 52:46 54:19 54:46 55:44 55:51 55:53 57:07 57:19 57:37 1:07:44 1:07:45 1:08:37 1:12:52 1:13:24 1:13:33 1:14:52 1:19:29 1:20:38 1:25:24 1:35:04 1:43:24

Sprint M20 – 2.91 km 1 Tim Robertson NZL 2 Aleksi Niemi FIN 3 Algirdas Bartkevicius LTU 4 Thomas Curiger SUI 4 Tobia Pezzati SUI 6 Topi Raitanen FIN 7 Aidan Smith GBR 8 Arnaud Perrin FRA 9 Simon Hector SWE 10 Quentin Rauturier FRA 30 Shamus Morrison NZL 32 Devon Beckman NZL 50 Nick Smith NZL 51 Henry Mcnulty AUS 52 Ed Cory Wright NZL 54 Matt Doyle AUS 58 Aidan Dawson AUS 74 Tommy Hayes NZL 79 Jarrah Day AUS 94 Patrick Jaffe AUS 116 Simeon Burrill AUS

14:31 14:34 14:57 15:04 15:04 15:06 15:08 15:14 15:19 15:23 16:08 16:14 16:39 16:40 16:42 16:47 16:50 17:19 17:25 17:52 18:52

Sprint W20 – 2.45 km 1 Simona Aebersold 2 Heidi Martensson 3 Karoliina Ukskoski 4 Sigrid Alexandersen 5 Anna Haataja 6 Emmi Jokela 7 Paula Gross 8 Noora Koskinen 9 Sofie Bachmann 10 Lisa Schubnell 36 Kayla Fairbairn 50 Alice Tilley 58 Winnie Oakhill 59 Sonia Hollands 74 Lanita Steer 83 Sophie Harrison 96 Danielle Goodall 104 Nicola Blatchford 109 Olivia Sprod 113 Katie Corywright 114 Anna Dowling Hannah Goddard

SUI NOR FIN NOR FIN FIN SUI FIN SUI SUI NZL NZL AUS NZL AUS NZL NZL AUS AUS NZL AUS AUS

13:56 14:06 14:30 14:38 14:43 15:01 15:08 15:10 15:12 15:19 16:28 16:52 17:12 17:15 18:02 18:23 18:52 19:19 19:43 20:14 20:29 mp

Monday 28th September MOUNT HELEN CAMPUS

RUN FOR HANNAH

Start any time to suit you between 3.15 - 4.15pm Details and Entry via Eventor – pay $5 at the event Proceeds from the fundraiser will assist the Goddards and go to the Peter MacCullum Cancer Clinic, Melbourne Come and have a run following the Schools Sprint Champs in honour of one very brave National Elite Orienteer, Hannah Goddard.

Hannah who competed in Norway as part of our National JWOC team this year has a very tough 12 months ahead, having being diagnosed with a Sarcoma Cancer growth at the base of her spine. The next year for Hannah will involve chemotherapy, surgery and for her family part movement to Melbourne to be with her.

Hopefully our support can bring a bit of cheer to Hannah and her family at this difficult time.

COURSES and approx length:

RAFFLE

Choose one of the following: MEN DIFFICULT 2.4km WOMEN DIFFICULT 2.1km MEN MODERATE 1.9km WOMEN MODERATE 1.7km MEN/WOMEN EASY 1.6km

We will have a host of raffle prizes with

tickets being sold at the events prior to

this day.

Raffle drawn at the event.

Enquiries: Karen Blatchford,

Thankyou for your support

blatchy25@yahoo.com.au

JWOC Team 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19

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Danes Dominate WOC

Denmark’s Maja Alm won three GOLD medals.

Danes celebrate Sprint Relay win.

W

OC 2015 confirmed the emergence of Denmark as a true force in international Orienteering. “TEAM DANMARK” Orienteering coach, Lars Lindstrøm, has developed and nurtured a young group of talented athletes who are now repaying his faith in them. His grin was a mile wide after Ida Bobach won the Long Distance championship on the last day of the carnival. In all, Denmark won four gold medals – two individual medals and two relay medals. And each of those medals was won by emphatic margins.

There was joy for the Australian team too, with Hanny Allston taking a podium 5th place in the Sprint event, a top-10 place in the Long Distance and 21st in the Middle Distance.

A disappointing aspect was the apparent lack of interest in WOC shown by many of the Highlands 6-Days participants. When WOC events were elsewhere they didn’t come and when WOC was held at the same location they didn’t bother to stay and watch.

Disappointing indeed, and they certainly missed an exciting spectacle with every event providing surprises and Per Forsberg’s expert commentary creating tension and excitement throughout each day. And special mention must be made of the “running camera-man” who regularly popped out from behind a tree to run Darnaway Castle.

The ‘running camera man’ films Finland’s Minna Kauppi.

with a favoured competitor, often over rough ground, pointing his miniature TV camera at the runner and providing spectators with instant close-up vision from the forest. And in the Sprint events he managed to stay with them all the way along the spectator run-through, then hared back to his tree to do it all again with the next competitor.

WOC 2015 commenced with the Sprint event where just two Australians, Rachel Effeney and Hanny Allston, qualified for the Final. By contrast, New Zealand had four qualifiers - three women and one man. The trend continued throughout the week with New Zealand runners finishing ahead of their Aussie counterparts in all Relays and Individual events except the Women’s Sprint. But there were some very good performances by the Australians too, particularly those who were competing at their first WOC, and we look to them to move even higher up the scale as they gain more international experience.

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Australian Boomerangs Team Men: Lachlan Dow........... Middle Dist, Sprint Relay Bryan Keely............. Sprint, Long Distance Ian Lawford............. Sprint Brodie Nankervis..... Sprint Simon Uppill............ Middle Dist, Long Dist, Sprint Relay Women: Hanny Allston.......... Sprint, Middle Dist, Long Dist, Sprint Relay Rachel Effeney........ Sprint, Sprint Relay Krystal Neumann..... Sprint Laurina Neumann.... Long Distance Vanessa Round....... Long Distance Anna Sheldon.......... Middle Distance Coaches:............... Tom Quayle, Wendy Read

Lachlan Dow - Middle Distance.

SPRINT RELAY 1 2 3 12 16

60:54 62:15 62:20 65:26 66:44

Denmark Norway Russia New Zealand Australia

15:15 16:03 16:07 16:28 17:21

Leg 1 (1st) (3rd) (6th) (13th) (19th)

15:23 15:49 15:47 16:32 16:38

Leg 2 (5th) (12th) (11th) (20th) (21st)

15:34 15:24 15:34 15:55 16:42

Leg 3 (8th= (5th=) (8th=) (12th) (18th)

14:42 14:59 14:52 16:31 16:03

Leg 4 (1st) (3rd) (2nd) (11th) (7th)

Rachel Effeney leads off Sprint Relay.

Emma Klingenberg/Tue Lassen/Soren Bobach/Maja Alm Elise Egseth/Hakon Jarvis Westergard/Oystein Kvaal Osterbo/Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg Tatyana Riabkina/Gleb Tikhonov/Andrey Khramov/Galina Vinogradova Lizzie Ingham/Gene Beveridge/Tim Robertson/Laura Robertson Rachel Effeney/Simon Uppill/Lachlan Dow/Hanny Allston

SPRINT FINAL

Anna Sheldon - Forest Relay.

FOREST RELAY – WOMEN 1 2 3 14 18

109:06 112:08 112:17 132:41 137:37

Denmark Norway Sweden New Zealand Australia

35:40 39:09 37:41 44:06 49:43

Leg 1 (1st) (8th) (5th=) (17th) (23rd)

LONG DISTANCE

WOMEN – 3.8km; 25m 1 Maja Alm 2 Nadiya Volynska 3 Galina Vinogradova 4 Sara Luescher 5 Hanny Allston 6 Minna Kauppi 31 Rachel Effeney 32 Lizzie Ingham 40 Laura Robertson

DEN UKR RUS SUI AUS FIN AUS NZL NZL

13:32.5 14:12.3 14:24.5 14:26.5 14:26.7 14:27.1 16:03.2 16:04.0 16:43.2

MEN – 4.1km; 25m 1 Jonas Leandersson 2 Martin Hubmann 3 Jerker Lysell 20 Tim Robertson

SWE sui SWE NZL

13:12.1 13:14.0 13:16.6 14:01.9

Leg 2 (1st) 38:15 (2nd) 36:03 (4th) 36:28 (19th=) 42:36 (7th) 49:27

Leg 3 (5th) (1st) (2nd) (11th) (21st)

35:11 36:56 38:08 45:59 38:27

Brodie Nankervis - Forest Relay.

WOMEN – 9.7km; 440m 1 Ida Bobach 2 Mari Fasting 3 Svetlana Mironova 10 Hanny Allston 28 Lizzie Ingham 42 Laura Robertson 47 Laurina Neumann 50 Vanessa Round

DEN 75:35 NOR 78:19 RUS 78:39 AUS 81:47 NZL 92:01 NZL 104:53 AUS 108:11 AUS 110:31

MEN – 15.4km; 660m 1 Thierry Gueorgiou 2 Daniel Hubmann 3 Olav Lundanes 46 Matt Ogden 50 Simon Uppill 52 Bryan Keely

FRA 99:46 SUI 100:11 NOR 100:43 NZL 127:54 AUS 134:54 AUS 137:49

Maja Alm/Ida Bobach/Emma Klingenberg Heidi Bagstevold/Mari Fasting/Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg Helena Jansson/Annika Billstam/Emma Johansson Lizzie Ingham/Renee Beveridge/Laura Robertson Laurina Neumann/Hanny Allston/Anna Sheldon

MIDDLE DISTANCE

Vanessa Round - Long Distance.

FOREST RELAY – MEN 1 2 3 16 25

101:40 103:30 103:52 111:04 121:23

Switzerland Norway France New Zealand Australia

33:22 35:11 34:38 35:06 37:03

Bryan Keely - Long Distance.

Leg 1 (1st) (13th) (6th) (12th) (21st)

33:37 34:13 34:16 37:51 38:23

Leg 2 (1st) (3rd) (4th) (19th) (22nd)

34:41 34:06 34:58 38:07 45:57

Leg 3 (3rd) (1st) (4th=) (18th) (29th)

WOMEN – 5.3km 200m 1 Annika Billstam 2 Merja Rantanen 3 Emma Johansson 19 Lizzie Ingham 21 Hanny Allston 40 Laura Robertson 54 Anna Sheldon 55 Renee Beveridge

SWE FIN SWE NZL AUS NZL AUS NZL

35:46 36:36 37:04 41:27 41:57 46:18 52:18 52:36

MEN – 6.2km; 240m 1 Daniel Hubmann 2 Lucas Basset 3 Olle Bostrom 26 Matt Ogden 35 Simon Uppill 56 Lachlan Dow

SUI FRA SWE NZL AUS AUS

34:23 34:26 34:36 37:29 39:07 46:40

Simon Uppill - Long Distance.

Fabian Hertner/Daniel Hubmann/Matthias Kyburz Oystein Kvaal Osterbo/Carl Godager Kaas/Magne Daehli Vincent Coupat/Lucas Basset/Frederic Tranchand Gene Beveridge/Shamus Morrison/Matt Ogden Simon Uppill/Lachlan Dow/Brodie Nankervis SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

woc 2015

Finding New Routines

A recap of the World Orienteering Championships, Scotland Hanny Allston

E

lite athletes are constantly asked to focus on routines in the lead up to competitions. These include when to arrive, how much to train, when to sleep, what to eat, how to execute your race strategies and what to do for recovery. However, I have come to learn that routines cannot and should not dictate how you approach Orienteering races. This year’s World Orienteering Championships once again reiterated that for me.

This was my seventh World Championships and I felt somewhat like the Nanny Hanny of the team. Through previous years I had established a routine of approximately a 2-3 week preparation in the relevant terrain. During this phase I would base in the country I would be competing in and switch from physical preparation to striving for a comprehensive understanding of the region’s forests and how these are represented on the maps.

Due to the tight schedule of coaching and racing, this year I only had three days in Scotland. When the races began rolling around I could feel the doubt creeping in: ‘was this long enough?’

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

The significance of routines Given I only visited two Scottish forest maps and one local sprint map in the lead up to this championships, I knew that I could not approach the races in the same way. Normally I have felt relatively confident in the competition’s terrains and try to attack the courses both physically and technically. With understanding of the terrain comes a readiness to take more risks. That is, understanding a terrain can help de-risk the more risky racing decisions. Examples of such decisions are selecting a faster but more difficult route choice or starting the race with more speed.

New routines require new racing strategies The limited technical preparation for Scotland left me feeling shaky. The few days prior to the races starting rolled around in a frenzy of visiting maps, washing clothes, shopping for food, preparing meals, team meetings and then collapsing into bed at the end of the day. This does sound exhausting doesn’t it? Despite best intentions, there was little time for reviewing old maps and

studying potential courses. I did my best but I never felt it was enough.

underdog. These words symbolized my new strategy and cautious was at the foundation of my new routine.

Then suddenly the races were on me and I found myself standing on the start line of the Sprint Qualification. The race was shaky.

Decisions were rushed, an alleyway missed. A few lapses of concentration but I found the Finish.

I picked up my map with reservations. How tough would this course be? The Qualification and Sprint Relay had been filled with surprises. New fences and barricades; unexpected spectator passages and hidden fence crossings. The traps had been numerous and I had fallen for quite a few already.

Driving home from the event the lights went off, ‘What had just happened?’… Then they came back on again. In a moment of revelation I realized that my racing routines had to change. I was not as well prepared as I usually am. The focus on physical routines had to switch. I turned off the attack button and hit the caution one instead. My new approach of arriving just in time to race required a new routine for racing.

Sprinting with caution On the Start at the Sprint Final I stole a glance at the back of my hand. Only minutes earlier I had written two words - cautious

So I started slow. I didn’t race to the Start triangle nor attack the first control. I paused frequently to check my directions and ensure that no traps had been set. The atmosphere was amazing and spectators seemed to appreciate the novelty of Australians racing in their hometown. But their cheers were also distractions so I took the next couple of controls equally safe, aiming for the larger features and avoiding the narrow, twisting and more intricate alleyways. I used multiple features as attack points and avoided running at a speed that made reading the map difficult.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

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Before long it felt like I had survived the first section of buildings and I found myself reading ahead towards some areas of the course that spanned parks and small lakes. I changed gear and lifted my speed by a notch as linear features had become more abundant.

New routines required

Through this section I was solely focused on taking time to plan my route choices and executing a perfect exit from the controls.

Once I was heading in the right direction I lifted the speed, but never to a point where I felt out of control. I was determined not to let my alarm bells ring. But on re-entering the buildings I was reminded of the dangers and cut my speed back to cruise mode.

Driving home from this event I knew I had found my new routine and one that suited a limited preparation in the terrain. Whilst not ideal to arrive so soon before the competition started, it was suddenly OK to not know everything about the terrain so long as I recognized that my old routines needed to be put aside. My new routine of cautiousness and calmness felt appropriate and with every race I ran with this new understanding.

Again I looked for the safe lines. Where there were none, I just trotted my way through the narrow spaces, ensuring that at every intersection I knew what direction I was taking next. I felt safe, calm and like an underdog. I saw spectators but they no longer took any of my concentration.

Leaping over a fence I refolded my map and was surprised to see that the entire remainder of the course was now in flat parkland.

It felt somewhat reminiscent of the last part of the 2006 Sprint Final in Denmark. I knew what I had to do. Stay strong and use the excellent visibility to pick straight lines. Exit directions became my focus. I found that once I exited cleanly from the control and looked up, I could almost see the next control in front of me.

Here I began to feel like I was finally tapping into some of my fitness and speed.

Crossing the line I had absolutely no idea of how I had gone. But in my heart I knew that was the best I could have done and it was the most magical feeling. Only later did I find out that I had achieved a podium finish and 5th position.

I am sure this is why the week unfolded in the way it did. The transition from sprint racing to the forest was hard and my first race in the Middle Distance started shakily. But you learn from mistakes and each day I tried to execute my routines with 5% more perfection. I’d say to myself, ‘just 5% better today Han… just 5%’. On the Finish line it often felt like 20%.

Recovery routines change too The recovery from this World Championships will be new and different too. The immense focus and concentration has taken a different toll on my body. My head feels like someone has blown into my ears and filled it up with air. The body feels lethargic and dragging my suitcase through the airport concourse is enough training for the day.

Over the last eight days I have completed six races. I put more focus into how I raced each of these events than ever before. The new approach of 100% concentration from start to finish resulted in a body that holistically feels exhausted. And given that this is the same amount of races I have done in the past five months I shouldn’t be surprised.

Therefore, I am setting no expectations on how long it will take me to recover. If I bounce back in a couple of day’s time then great. But if it takes a week or two then I am content with that.

After all, it is critical to recover optimally so that the mind, body and spirit all have a chance to become even stronger for next time .… whatever that will be. As always, lessons will be learnt.

The Scottish experience I have amazing memories of Scotland. I loved the landscape and the beautiful people. Amidst lochs and tales of the Loch Ness Monster, you can live like a princess. In the eyes of the locals, from orienteering volunteers to the petrol pump man, my name is ‘Love’ (sounded more like Luv). Furthermore, up there in the far north there was an overall sense of tranquility and remoteness.

The week was busy and I didn’t get a chance to experience much of the Scottish traditions. I never ventured beyond laughing at the Aussie’s wariness of their deep-fried haggis, driving the small laneways to events, and my first experience of wearing a midgie head-net.

Despite my advancing age and being the Nana on the Australian Team, this year I feel like I opened new doors. I learnt that flexible routines and recognizing weak links in your preparation could become your greatest strengths. Whilst I am proud of running for Australia and the results I achieved, I am more proud of how I got there. I am now excited to share this revelation with others so they too can enjoy that amazing feeling that comes with the perfect run. After all, as runners and orienteers, isn’t that what we all strive for?

24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

coaching

South Australian and Victorian Juniors Coaching Camp – 8th-12th July Bridget Anderson

W

hile most of the Australian Orienteering community had their eyes on JWOC during the beginning of July, the South Australian and Victorian juniors had their eyes set towards the Australian Championships carnival. The juniors spent a week in Ballarat preparing themselves for orienteering in technical gold mining terrain. For some of the South Australians this was their first time orienteering in gold mining and many found it a difficult but rewarding challenge.

The idea for the combined training camp came about after the coaching conference in January where the benefits of combined State training camps was discussed. After much discussion with the Victorian and South Australian coaching co-ordinators, the camp got the green light to go ahead and the planning began. It was agreed that the Victorian managers would organise the accommodation and the South Australians would organise the training with the help of local VIC orienteers.

On Wed 8th, 13 South Australian juniors and four coaches tackled the 8-hour drive across to Creswick to meet Roch Prendergast for a map walk at St Georges Lake. In the evening the SA juniors talked about short term goals for the camp and drew their own maps in preparation for the VIC/SA star relay the next day. They were encouraged to draw simplified maps to help them read the detail in the complex mining terrain.

The next day the SA juniors met 17 Victorian Juniors and 9 parents at Blowmine for contour-only training, control picking and control flow exercises.

In the afternoon the juniors were placed into teams of two (one SA and one VIC per team) for a star relay at Surface Hill.

The aim of the star relay was for the VIC junior to place controls out for their team mate using the proper map while the SA junior had to use their drawn map from the night before to bring their controls in.

The team that completed all five legs first was the winner. This exercise proved quite challenging especially when some controls were not placed exactly in the right spot.

On Friday the juniors went to Muskvale to learn about identifying attackpoints in gold mining terrain. The juniors had to find a circled attackpoint for each leg before identifying where the control site would be. The aim of this exercise was to learn how to avoid wasting time in the control circle and to always return to the attackpoint if their approach to the control was not successful the first time.

After a fun session of Micro-O in the gold mining the juniors headed off to St Georges Lake to practice direction finding with and without compasses. In the evening, Steve Bird gave a talk about what makes the perfect orienteer, and pre-race plans. We ended the evening by watching the JWOC Relay and learning that even the best Scandinavian orienteers make mistakes too.

Coach Bridget’s map for the Star Relay. The top map is her first attempt until Simon told her to simplify it more.

Next day we talked about the Australian Schools maps before heading out to Sedgewick for the local Bendigo event.

It was there the Victorian Juniors said goodbye as the SA Juniors headed on to Sprint training organised by Richard Goonan. In the evening the SA Juniors analysed their legs from the event that day and discussed time lost/gained due to route choice.

The last day of the camp saw the SA Juniors complete a camp champs at Surface Hill. While the courses were short, they were challenging and offered a great deal of practice in the gold mining terrain.

Overall the combined camp was a great success and is something that the South Australian and Victorians believe would be beneficial again in the future. A big thanks to all the parents, coaches, volunteers and the Bendigo orienteers who helped make this camp the success it was.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

AUS Schools Championships

Australian Schools Championships

I

n late September the Australian Schools Championships will be staged in the gully/ spur terrain near Campbelltown, north of Ballarat, Victoria, as part of the “Dr Blake Mysteries” AUS Championships carnival. Teams from all States will compete in senior and junior Individual events and Relays and, for the first time, in a Sprint at the Mt Helen campus in Ballarat. In past years the competition has been intense right up to the last few metres, particularly in the Relays. Can we expect the same excitement in 2015? This year, Tasmania brings a strong team to defend their titles won in WA in 2014, but will the experienced Victorians have a home ground advantage? Or will one of the other States rise to the occasion? Who will come away with the trophies - and who will simply have the performance of their life? Probably most.

NSW’s winning Junior Boys Relay, 2014.

Here we show the past winners and preview this year’s State Teams for you to follow during the events.

Anna Dowling

Winners State Senior Girls Senior Boys Junior Girls Junior Boys Senior Girls Relay Senior Boys Relay Junior Girls Relay Junior Boys Relay

Matt Doyle

2010 Queensland Emily Cantwell (QLD) Ian Lawford (ACT) Anna Dowling (TAS) Max Neumann (QLD) Queensland ACT Queensland Queensland

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

2011 Tasmania Heather Muir (QLD) Oliver Poland (ACT) Winnie Oakhill (QLD) Ashley Nankervis (TAS) Queensland ACT Tasmania Tasmania

Tara Melhuish

2012 Tasmania Michele Dawson (NSW) Oliver Poland (ACT) Asha Steer (VIC) Jarrah Day (TAS) South Australia Tasmania Queensland Tasmania

Aston Key

2013 Victoria Lanita Steer (VIC) Matt Doyle (VIC) Asha Steer (VIC) Simeon Burrill (QLD) Victoria NSW Queensland ACT

2014 Tasmania Anna Dowling (TAS) Matt Doyle (VIC) Tara Melhuish (ACT) Aston Key (VIC) Tasmania Tasmania ACT NSW

Tasmanian Team

Junior Boys Josh Allen

C

Alex Battaglia

ongratulations to the students who have been selected to represent Tasmania in the 2015 Australian Schools Orienteering Championships in Ballarat, Victoria.

Jed Fleming Jaidyn Gluskie

Tasmania will be defending four titles won in 2014 and bring a strong and experienced team including Jarrah Day who competed at JWOC in Norway earlier this year. This team will be hard to beat.

Junior Girls

Senior Boys

Mikayla Cooper

Jarrah Day

Eleanor McLean

Joseph Dickinson

Arabella Phillips

Oisin Stronach

Jessica Stephens

Jake West

Amy Enkelaar (Res)

Seb O’Halloran (Res) Luke West (Res)

Mikayla Cooper

Oisin Stronach

Jarrah Day

Rachel Allen Zoe Dowling Ella Johnson

Celsey Adams

Rachel Allen

Zoe Dowling

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Senior Girls Celsey Adams

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SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

AUS Schools Championships

Victorian Schools Team

C

ongratulations to our young orienteers who have been selected to form the Victorian Secondary Schools Orienteering Team for 2015. There is a lot of depth and experience in this Team and they can be expected to do well.

Junior Boys Aston Key Glenn James Mason Arthur Michael Loughnan Henry Cameron (Res) Brody McCarthy (Res)

Michael Loughnan

Aston Key

Glenn James

Mason Arthur

Junior Girls Caitlyn Steer Karina Cherry Sarah Davies Alicia Ciacic

Karina Cherry

Caitlyn Steer

Alicia Ciacic

Louis Cameron

Jimmy Cameron

Peter Collins

Asha Steer

Leisha Maggs

Sequoia Weitman

Sarah Davies

Senior Boys Patrick Jaffe Louis Cameron Jimmy Cameron Peter Collins Lachlan Cherry (Res) Max Dalheim (Res)

Patrick Jaffe

Senior Girls Asha Steer Leisha Maggs Sequoia Weitman

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

NSW Schools Team

F

inn Mackay, Sophie Jones and Ellen Currie are the new faces in the NSW Schools Team (the Carbines) who will be heading for Ballarat in the September holidays.

The Junior Boys are defending their Relay title won in WA last year.

Congratulations to the following students for their selection:

Junior Boys Duncan Currie Alastair George Tom Kennedy Ewan Shingler Finn Mackay

Alistair George

Tom Kennedy

Duncan Currie

Ewan Shingler

Joanna Hill

Rebecca Kennedy

Sophie Jones

Junior Girls Claire Burgess Joanna Hill Rebecca Kennedy Sophie Jones Ellen Currie

Claire Burgess

Senior Boys Daniel Hill Alex Kennedy Toby Wilson Callum Davis Hugh Gingell

Hugh Gingell

Callum Davis

Daniel Hill

Toby Wilson

Senior Girls Melissa Annetts Rebecca George Georgia Jones

Melissa Annetts

Rebecca George

Georgia Jones SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

AUS Schools Championships

Qld Schools Team

T

he QLD Team is strong in the senior classes with Simeon Burrill and Riley deJong from last year’s Junior Boys Australian Honour team joining Jack Neumann and Tom Ronnfeldt; and Winnie Oakhill and Gaby Withers from last year’s winning Queensland Junior Girls team now joining Heather Burridge, back near her best, and a newcomer, Bronte Gannon.

The junior girls will be hard to beat retaining Zazi Brennan and Caroline Piggere from the successful 2013 junior team joined by a much improved Lauren Baade and young Ellen deJong who won the W14 Easter 3 Day this year.

The Junior Boys are less well credentialed though keen to do well with Jack Hill leading the way with excellent improvement this year, Nick Burridge thoroughly earning his place this time with good results, and young Cameron Morrison and Daniel Gray from the Mini Cyclones squad.

Junior Boys Jack Hill Nicholas Burridge Cameron Morrison Daniel Gray Joshua Morrison (Res) Aidan Tay (Res) Jack Hill

Nicholas Burridge

Cameron Morrison

Daniel Gray

Caroline Pigerre

Ellen deJong

Junior Girls Zazi Brennan Lauren Baade Caroline Pigerre Ellen deJong Jessica Rogers (Res)

Lauren Baade

Zazi Brennan

Senior Boys Riley deJong Simeon Burrill Tom Ronnfeldt Jack Neumann

Riley de Jong

Simeon Burrill

Tom Ronnfeldt

Jack Neumann

Senior Girls Heather Burridge Winnie Oakhill Gabrielle Withers Bronte Gannon Sarah Cranney (Res)

Heather Burridge 30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Winnie Oakhill

Gabrielle Withers

Bronte Gannon

WA Schools Team

W

est Australia is bringing a small but determined Team to compete in the events around Ballarat. Oliver Martin and Jo-Anna Maynard have a lot of experience at AUS Schools level and will lead the Team to some worthy performances.

Junior Boys Joel McMullen Kane More Edward Finnie Shaun Richards Mason Eves (Res) Jordan Neill (Res)

Joel McMullen

Kane Moore

Edward Finnie

Shaun Richards

Junior Girls Michaela Maynard Lily McFarlane Hannah Schnell Sarah Richards Skye McMullen (Res)

Mason Eves

Jordan Neill

Michaela Maynard

Lily McFarlane

Senior Boy Oliver Martin (Team Captain)

Hannah Schnell

Sarah Richards

Skye McMullen

Jo-Anna Maynard

Bo Davie

Oliver Martin

Senior Girls Jo-Anna Maynard (Team Captain) Bo Davie Rianna Pocsidio

Rianna Pocsidio SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

AUS Schools Championships

SA Schools Team

T

he SA Schools team have been training hard for the Australian Schools champs this year. In July they combined their training camp with the Victorian Juniors and travelled over to Ballarat to train in gold mining terrain. This has helped the SA team greatly with their preparation for the Aus champs and hopefully they will produce some excellent results. The SA team may be small, but what they lack in size, they make up for in experience!

Junior Boys Dante Afnan Angus Haines Justin Shao Ethan Penck

Dante Afnan

Justin Shao

Angus Haines

Ethan Penck

Junior Girls Emily Sorensen Abigail George Joanna George Meredith Norman

Emily Sorensen

Abigail George

Joanna George

Meredith Norman

Senior Boys Nicholas Congedi Lachlan McCarthy Nicholas Spaulding

Nick Congedi

Lachlan McCarthy

Nicholas Spaulding

Charlotte Brader

Alyce Heap

Senior Girls Charlotte Brader Alyce Heap

32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

ACT Schools Team All in the family … and then some

W

e all know that Orienteering is the family sport, but in the ACT we take it just that little bit further; in our 20 strong team this year we have 4 pairs of siblings – one of those twins – and 5 team members who had siblings in the team prior to this year. We are very pleased to welcome 5 new team members to the ACT family also.

Our Senior boys are a highly experienced crew; providing a challenge during the carnival to select the three mainstream runners. Stephen Melhuish, of last year’s Honours and Oceania Team and Oliver Mill who travelled to New Zealand on the Oceania team, have once again made the Senior Boys contingent and are joined by fiercely competitive fellow seniors Ian de Jongh, Ciaran Lane, Bryce Anderson and a newcomer Ben Freeman. The Senior girls, while a smaller contingent, are equally determined; Shea-Cara Hammond provides the most experience and she is joined by the twins Kelly and Simone Edwards, and Jessica Zhang. The depth of experience in our Seniors is encouraging and they have proven to be great mentors to the Juniors in the squad.

Junior Girls Zoe Melhuish Ella Cuthbert Caitlin Young Miho Yamazaki

Ella Cuthbert

Caitlin Young

Zoe Melhuish

Miho Yamazaki

Junior Boys Noah Poland Zac Needham Tristan Miller Patrick Miller David Stocks Ryan Stocks Ryan Stocks

Patrick Miller

Tristan Miller

Christian Piiroinen

Christian Piiroinen

Senior Girls

Senior Boys

Lucy Barton

Stephen Melhuish

Emily Alder

Oliver Mill

Tara Melhuish

Ciaran Lane Ewen Barnett Mark Glanville Jesse Piiroinen

Noah Poland

Mark Glanville

Oliver Mill

Lucy Barton

Tara Melhuish

Jesse Piiroinen

Ciaran Lane

Stephen Melhuish

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

PARTICIPATION

Two Melbourne Series Tick the Boxes Debbie Dodd (Dandenong Ranges OC)

MelBushO five years on (www.melbusho.com)

U

ntil 2011, Orienteering in Melbourne was largely confined to Park & Street events. The odd pockets of remnant bush within suburban areas had dwindled, and so had the interest of regular orienteers. There was a gap for people looking for something in between Park & Street, and State Series bush events (which for Melbourne orienteers generally require a travel commitment), that wasn’t being filled.

The success of Bendigo’s local Saturday series, and the increasing availability of SPORTident gear within local clubs, led driving force Ruth Goddard to start up a small program of “near Melbourne bush events”. A government grant was received to kick start the Series, which paid for a website, flyers, and some equipment. With SPORTident, new areas of bush or park could be used to set interesting line courses in smaller spaces. Other venues that had fallen into disuse could be remapped and rejuvenated.

The name MelBushO was meant to be temporary, but has somehow stuck.

In 2011 we held three events, with absolutely no idea of how many people to expect. Right from the start we knew we’d hit on something, when 108 people turned up to recently mapped Plenty Gorge – luckily Ruth had been optimistic and printed lots of maps! We averaged 80 per event in the first year. This increased to 115 in 2012 (7 events), 125 in 2013 (7 events), 140 in 2014 (8 events), and after 5 events this year, the average attendance has shot up to 160, and at some events we are attracting up to 200 people. With booming attendances, we’ve done away with paper registration by introducing OLynx Touch (a touch screen interface that streamlines the process and is very popular with competitors). Queue management is now a required skill! Results are uploaded quickly to Eventor and Winsplits before we leave the site. The website features reports and photos from each event.

MelBushO is a success on many levels. Newcomers turn up in droves, and they bring their kids, and tell their friends. The ratio of newcomers and occasional orienteers to regulars is about 50% - much higher than any other program run in Melbourne. There’s no better place to be than sitting at the Finish, seeing mud on 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Like others around Australia, Orienteering clubs in Melbourne have been working hard to attract and retain newcomers. Over the years, we’ve had the usual array of “come and try” or “Sunday specials”, all with varying degrees of success.

Finally, we seem to have hit on a winning formula, and have used it to build and grow two Series aimed at increasing participation.

gumboots and grins on faces as they punch the last control, hand back their SI stick and ask eagerly “when’s the next one?”

Regular orienteers enjoy the chance to compete on bush maps, in a program that fills the gaps between State Series events. Good quality courses can be set on “low-tech” terrain. Aspiring junior squad members gain extra practice leading up to selection races and national competitions. For clubs, MelBushO is a perfect way to introduce their members to bush course setting, mapping, and organising, as well as participating and helping out when it’s their “turn”. It’s also highly satisfying and rewarding to run events that are so well attended and enjoyed – which is why the program has been able to expand so rapidly and is so strongly supported by everyone. We look forward to seeing where it’s at in another five years’ time!

One thing we haven’t done so well is capture newcomer contact details. Until this year, this has been rather hit and miss – we’ve relied on the participants just coming back. Now, we’ve employed Lanita Steer in a newcomer liaison role. Lanita chats to people before they start, helping them select an appropriate course, and pointing them towards the coaches for the day. Afterwards she has a chat about how they went, gives them some tips, and makes sure they have plenty of takeaway material about forthcoming events, and becoming a club member. We provide her with the contact information that is collected via O-Lynx, and she follows up to invite them along to the next event. Hopefully this will translate into more casual orienteers becoming enthusiasts!

Sprint Into Spring

(www.parkstreeto.com.au/sprint)

O

riginally funded through OA-ASC grants in 2013, Sprint Into Spring was another Series developed to fill a gap. With this program the aim was three-fold: provide top quality Sprint competition for high performance athletes; entice Park & Street regulars to further hone their navigation skills and step up the complexity; and provide a safe environment for kids to run on their own. We’ve placed large ticks in all three of those boxes.

Sprint Into Spring has not only given Victorian orienteers an exciting new format, but it’s provided mapping and course setting opportunities for those who might otherwise never venture to have a go. Again, clubs have given it their full support. In 2013, the 6-race Series had an average attendance of 95; in 2014, it was

130. The results last year read like a “who’s who” of Australian Sprint racing as many used the Series to warm up for the Oceania Championships; and we had a number of internationals along for the ride as well. A straw poll of Victorian orienteers voted Sprint Into Spring as the most enjoyable aspect of Orienteering in 2014.

It’s definitely here to stay!

In 2015, we’ve put together a fantastic program with some new and remapped venues – and we’ve put all the course setting in the hands of our Juniors. You’ll see names like Patrick Jaffe, Aston Key, Brodie Nankervis, Matt Doyle, Max and Rosie Dalheim, and Nick Collins, on the maps. We’re really excited about this – and so are they! Their enthusiasm is fantastic to see. The Series starts in mid-October and runs for six weeks, culminating in the Victorian Sprint Championships in late November. One of the successes has been the number of Park & Street orienteers who have gained the confidence to step up to the Championships and do really well.

So what are the keys to success for both these series?

•C onvenient – short travel times to venues in or near the suburbs – events do not require a full day; •R elaxed and welcoming – while both Series are competitive, the emphasis is on having fun and improving your skills; •K id-friendly – venues are confined to bushland reserves, parks or campuses - no roads or traffic; •S omething for everyone – course setting is high quality; events are enjoyed by experienced orienteers and newcomers alike; •C onsistent – the same format and processes are used at each event, so people know what to expect when they arrive; •L ow cost – we charge a single entry fee which covers SPORTident stick loan, compass hire, coaching and refreshments; •T echnology – no paper forms to fill in, quick/simple touch screen registration process, accurate results posted to Eventor and Winsplits within 10 minutes of last finisher; •D ynamic websites – reports, results and photos from each event posted same or next day.

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

GREAT EVENTS

The ‘other’ O Ringen Greg Chatfield (Ugly Gully, QLD)

Not known by most orienteers, judging by the low turnout, is the ‘other’ O Ringen. This 3-day event is held every two years in County Kerry, Ireland. The sheer pleasure of competing in a forest or field area free from many thousands of competitors sets this apart from its more illustrious namesake.

G

eraldine and I have been visiting Ireland each year for some time now (Ger’s family live there) and for the past three events we’ve joined the other 300 or so locals and hardy visitors from the EU and beyond. It’s held on the bank holiday long weekend at the end of May. Now I’d not like to put anyone off but if your thoughts of Ireland are of beautiful green rolling hills and babbling brooks with the sun streaming down then I have a surprise for you.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

You may like to view a note about the terrain published on the event web site .... “The terrain contains steep, boggy terraces; exposed, rocky crags; areas of flat blanket bog; marshy re-entrants; areas of complex contours and heather growth etc.” That is all accurate but lacks mention of things like the midges .... tiny gnats that bite like crazy. Now one or two you wouldn’t mind but when you hop out of your car and find yourself totally covered by a mass of tiny black biting things then you have to be keen to carry on. Thankfully it’s rare that it’s that bad.

Still interested? Then secondly, what about the soggy bogs where you sink up to your thighs .... and higher! You have to be a local to read the map in that marshes are shown but on the ground it is very difficult to ascertain where they start and where they finish ... all the grass seems the same and they run on for large distances and up and over many contour lines so you don’t realise you’ve entered that blue hatched area until you sink .... aha ! Survival of the fittest it isn’t but there again you have to be fit to survive. I won’t bother mentioning the cold driving rain at all, at all.

This year the events were centred around Glengarriff on the Beara Peninsula, south-west from Killarney, where there are many ancient ruins and wonderful views over Bantry Bay and, as you can see from the headline photo of Day 2 and the Shrone Hill map itself, the event areas can be pretty spectacular.

This year we found we had the company of Greg and Mary Hawthorn from Tassie who found the going as tough as us. Day 1 was a doozey indeed with thick mountain mist allowing a visibility of only about 20 metres and with the rain, strong winds and the cold, causing our specs to fog continually, and a map containing many shallow gully systems needing good visibility, it

was a day where only Ger was able to finish her course. The rest of us decided it was survival over embarrassment.

All the competitors cars and O equipment on Day 2 would have been lost if the days were reversed. Phew!

Day 2 was better by far with a mixture of firsts, seconds and thirds between us. The assembly area was in a park in Glengarriff itself. There were notices in the park about flash flooding but even with the rain we had there was no sign of the stream banks being broached. But would you believe while we were battling the course on Day 3 with gale force winds and driving rain down on Sheepshead peninsula the park actually flooded with 1m of water.

So if you wish for something different make your way to Ireland at the end of May and say “hi” to the leprechauns and midges while the rain washes away the mud and grime .... oh for a Guinness, even a warm one at that !

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

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MOC RC#5 Trail O Test Israeli Open Competitions Product Reviews Deeside Night Cup British Night Champs Informal Event Formats Know Your Class Leader Concentration Training CLOK Acorn Event Training Formats

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RC#5 Big 5 O Map Scales Women in O Fitness for O Hypothermia Competitions Product Reviews Newsletter Awards Ten Years of MOC Stockholm Indoor Cup Informal Event Formats Know Your Class Leader Mountain Marathon Calendar

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Featuring some of the best granite terrain in NSW. All events centred around Armidale.

Organised by Northern Tablelands, Bush n Beach, Range Runners and Bullecourt Boulder Bounders.

Website: onsw.asn.au/xmas2015 Enquiries: ronpallas@homail.com SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

WMOC 2015

GOLD for Geoff Lawford G eoff Lawford (Eureka, VIC) has won GOLD in the M60 Sprint at the World Masters Orienteering Championships held near Gothenberg, Sweden.

Geoff was still in fourth place with four controls to go, but hit the lead as a result of getting a key route choice right and took the race out by four seconds. (photo courtesy CompassSport)

The Australian WOC JWOC and MTBO teams outfitted by Trimtex

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

WMTBOC 2015

GOLD for Angus Robinson

A

ngus Robinson, our sole Junior representative at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships held in Czech Republic, has won the gold medal in the M20 Sprint Championship.

Angus, of Bayside Kangaroos, Victoria, started slowly but had a brilliant leg to the 3rd control and rode consistently fast from then on to finish in 21:27, a clear 21sec ahead of the 2nd placed rider.

Chris Firman (Qld), our only rep in the Mens Elite, also had a good champs scoring his best result so far at the Elite level with 23rd place in the Sprint.

Angus on the podium with silver medalist Silvan Stettler from Switzerland and Bronze medalist Oskar Sandberg from Sweden.

There will be more detailed coverage of WMTBOC in the next edition of The Australian Orienteer.

M20 Sprint 1. Angus Robinson AUS 21.27 2. Silvan Stettler SUI 21.48 + 0.21 3. Oskar Sandberg SWE 22.00 + 0.33

map – Bábík* Scale 1:7500 Contours 5m

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

mountain bike orienteering

World Masters MTBO Champs

Monsanto – a village of boulders.

Photo: Bill Vandendool

There were 8 Australians in Portugal in June for the World Masters Mtbo Championships which were combined with the European MTBO Champs and World Cup for Elites and Juniors. The events were held in the county of Idanha Da Nova about 300km NE of Lisbon and right on the Spanish border.

Carolyn Jackson was defending her three world titles in W50 from last year and several others were including Portugal in their overseas trip. Carolyn has written a report of the week.

For the third year running Carolyn Jackson won all three gold medals in W50.

Photo: Joaquim Margarido

O

ver the last year there has been a lot of controversy in masters Mtbo circles regarding the introduction of 5 year age groups, which, particularly in the women’s classes, can mean spreading an already small field even thinner. International debate continues regarding combining age groups if numbers are too small, but there is still no resolution. The smaller numbers in each class seems to devalue the world champs somewhat, which is a real shame. Nonetheless I had set myself goals and I was there to try to achieve them.

The champs week started with several training maps to explore, plus two model events, some using a tiny fascinating medieval town called Idanha A Velha. The extreme heat meant I curtailed my riding at these events, but in spite of this I managed to get heatstroke one of the days, which was a very frightening experience. With the heat forecast to continue I was getting very worried about competing, particularly in the Long Distance which for the first time in the women’s classes looked set to be a true ‘long’.

The events kicked off with the ‘Unofficial Mixed relay’ in IdanhaA-Nova. The elites had their World Cup relay event in the morning and all reports were it was a great area around the town, and so it proved to be. The masters had to contend with very hot conditions in the afternoon, but a really challenging and fun map made us forget the heat! The Aussies paired up in several teams, with Richard Robinson and Tamsin Barnes gaining a second place in their category, although they didn’t find this out until much later so were not there to collect their medals!

After a fantastic warm up for the Sprint, it was time to visit the steep hillside town of Penha Garcia, which we had all been driving past over the preceding days, wondering how on earth a Sprint could be run there. As it turned out it was a really amazing area. Steep yes, with incredibly detailed cobbled streets, lots of direction changes and a blown up 1:4000 insert for the most detailed section. Intense orienteering at its best, both navigationally and technical riding on the cobbles.

The Aussies came away with a great medal tally. Gold for me in W50 and also for Leigh Privett (M70) and Tamsin Barnes third in W45. Then the chance to explore on foot this lovely old village.

Next up was the Middle Distance on a map called Vale Das Eiras. The Portuguese came up with another great map and area,

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

perfectly suited to the discipline. More great courses with lots of changes in direction, and hilly with good track networks.

More great results with another gold for me, after a pretty good ride following a small wobble 1-2. Kay Haarsma gained a bronze in W60 in spite of riding off the map at the start and Tamsin got a silver, going one better than the previous day. Sadly Leigh had severe bike problems and had to DNF. It could never be fixed so he was forced to find a hire bike for the remainder of his trip.

Richard Robinson came 6th in M60.

During our time in this eastern part of Portugal near the Spanish border, most of us visited the extraordinary nearby Monsanto, a small village built in amongst huge granite boulders on a mountain. To me it was very similar to Melville Caves at Kooyoora! Everything is made of rock and many houses use massive boulders as walls or door frames, with one house built completely around one which pokes out the middle of its roof.

Stunning views of the surrounding area and a ruined castle atop the mountain complete an unforgettable visit.

After the heatwave, I for one was incredibly relieved there was a cool change in time for the Long. This event finished in the event centre town of Termas de Monfortinho, and that meant being able to ride to the start from our accommodation. The organisers and controller had excitedly promised us a unique, vast and remote area for the Long Distance, and they certainly were right.

We had a big long climb to the start, which meant a very steep loose and rocky descent leaving the start triangle. Difficult decisions to be made immediately....lose your height straight away, or contour into a myriad of tiny hillside tracks. Route choice and planning ahead in particular was the real key here with lots of contours to catch you out, and most notably a controversial uncrossable fence, which was difficult to see on the map. This fence caused many to come unstuck, as they hadn’t seen it and found themselves on the wrong side and faced a very long way back around. Unfortunately many cheated and climbed

Leigh Privett (M70) won Gold in the Sprint.

Photo: Joaquim Margarido

the fence, with apparently some even forming a tag team to help each other over, breaking the fence down in the process. As you can imagine, the organisers were furious Tamsin Barnes, Kay Haarsma and Carolyn as this also compromises Jackson with their Middle Distance medals. their future use of the area. At the presentations, people were asked to volunteer themselves to be disqualified, but sadly only a few came forward, but reports were 20 or more climbed the fence. The organisers had many safety preparations in place expecting heat. Luckily it had proved cooler as it would have been quite a dangerous and considerably more difficult day out in the previous day’s heat, as much of the area was very open and exposed.

I was thrilled and relieved to claim my third gold medal after a tough race, catching 2 mins on one of my arch rivals mid way around the course. Kay came to the fore in her pet event with a silver. Tamsin and Leigh both took third and Richard Robinson came 6th.

W50 Long Course with Carolyn’s route highlighted. 1:15 000, 5m.

Map reduced to 90%

Other Australians at the event Ben Coetzer, Tony Keeble and Bill Vandendool all had mixed fortunes, all aiming to improve each day.

The final day was a 3 person relay, which had several categories of either M/W or Mixed 120 or 160 years (the teams combined age).

Australian 2015 world masters mtbo results SPRINT MIDDLE Long 1 Carolyn Jackson (Vic) W50 1 Carolyn Jackson (Vic) W50 1 Carolyn Jackson (Vic) 1 Leigh Privett (Vic) M70 2 Tamsin Barnes (Qld) W45 2 Kay Haarsma (SA) 3 Tamsin Barnes (Qld) W45 3 Kay Haarsma (SA) W60 3 Tamsin Barnes (Qld) 9 Richard Robinson (Qld) M60 6 Richard Robinson (Qld) M60 3 Leigh Privett (Vic) 13 Bill Vandendool (Vic) M60 10 Bill Vandendool (Vic) M60 6 Richard Robinson (Qld) 17 Ben Coetzer (Qld) M50 19 Tony Keeble (Vic) M45 11 Bill Vandendool (Vic) 20 Tony Keeble (Vic) M45 24 Ben Coetzer (Qld) M50 20 Tony Keeble (Vic) mp Kay Haarsma (SA) W60 dnf Leigh Privett (Vic) M70 20 Ben Coetzer (Qld)

W50 W60 W45 M70 M60 M60 M45 M50

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

mountain bike orienteering

Silver and bronze medals for Kay Haarsma in W60.

Photo: Joaquim Margarido

We had two mixed teams, one in 120 and the other 160 and it proved to be a very strange day for us.

they had given us the wrong map, however they wouldn’t reinstate us and change the results. They did however offer to send us silver medals, and we accepted their offer with alacrity!!

Portugal produced fantastic areas, great maps and a well organised combined World Cup and World Masters Mtbo. The Event Centre was a sports complex complete with an enormous pool, and it created a really nice social atmosphere and was used for meetings, presentations and social events.

The prize handed out in Portugal was this traditional hide tambourine/drum.

The MX120 team of Carolyn, Tony and Ben all had great rides and were announced as coming in 5th despite Ben, our last rider, being down as MP. It turns out he had been given an incorrectly printed map and unfortunately we’d missed the ‘complaints process’ deadline. Also, looking at the times, we should have been in 2nd place. A protracted exchange took place over the next few weeks. The outcome was part disappointment, part success: the organisers finally admitted

BIKE SHORTS Legal and illegal devices list for MTBO

T

he current IOF MTBO rule states: GPS data loggers, cycle computers and watches (with or without GPS) can be used provided that they have no map or breadcrumb display.

Tamsin Barnes won silver and two bronze medals in W45.

Photo: Joaquim Margarido

australian

M TB O c h a m p i on s h i p s

2015

Anglesea, VIC

A list of legal and illegal devices for MTBO has been prepared and refers to GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) devices. (GNSS covers all satellite systems, not just GPS).

ENTRIES CLOSE 26 OCTOBER

The latest version of the list (Version 4) was released in August and can be viewed using this link. http://tinyurl.com/MTBOdevices

2015 AUSTRALIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Rhiannon on a winner NSW’s Rhiannon Prentice (W14) had the right bike to counter the flooded conditions riders found during the recent Queensland MTBO Champs held on the Sunshine Coast.

Rhiannon’s “Fatbike” has tyres that are about 4 inches wide!

Photo: Sunshine Orienteers

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

NATIONAL MTBO SERIES #3 IOF WORLD RANKING EVENT AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND MTBO CHALLENGE On Victoria’s Surf Coast at Anglesea and Torquay

Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 2015 plus warm-up event at the You Yangs, Friday 6th.

ausmtbochamps.com

GREAT EVENTS

Crosby Stills & (Fal)Nash “Baby Boomers Barnstorm Big Foot Bash”

By Ross Barr Photos: Tony Hill

Falnash State Forest

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100 200 300 400 500m

Scale 1:15,000 Contour Interval 5 metres

Falnash State Forest 1:15,000 Reproduced here at 90%

Legend

magnetic north contours form line sealed road dirt road track indistinct track power line fence ruined fence Safety bearing: termite mound West to Thompsons earth bank s recently alluded to in The Australian Orienteer, many of the older age categories are cliffs Creek Road fiercely contested – perhaps none more sorockface than M65. With every State contributing three to four runners of talent and ability in this age class (not to mention their good boulder, boulder cluster ground looks), it is always a case of anyone in the toprocky 10-20 here can win. man made feature This is a group defying the doctor, the waitingpit, room, the Douglas Hanly Moir – the mine shaft dickey knee, the sore hip, the tight achilles, and thecherry crook back. They are the best native tree of friends, and the deadliest of O rivals. Thinkcreek of some of the names – and the watercourse pedigree. Blokes who have been around Orienteering for decades, and picked runnable forest up the odd podium spot along the way. Bluett, Flick, Hawkins, Shepherd slow run forest walk forest (NSW); Moore, Allison, Jones, Wainwright (ACT); Chatfield, Rapkins fightSedunary, Fleay (VIC); (QLD); Smith, Hoopman, Uppill (SA); Radford, open area Fletcher, Simpkins (WA). And of course the recent to M70 rough ‘departures’ open area that have given much curry along the way (think Ogilvie, Privett, depressions

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Merchant, Laver, Brownlee, etc) - all great blokes, and outstanding Organiser's mobile orienteers.

0413 451964

To give AO readers an idea of a typical M65 stoush, how about we lean in to Day 2 of the recent QB3 weekend in NSW – Big Foot’s Long Distance day at Falnash State Forest near Lithgow. Many readers will be familiar with Falnash, 1 an open eucalypt area with a single creek line to the east, and broad subtle contour work across most of the remainder. Decent termite mounds rise up to confound and confuse – as does the odd special tree.

The vagueness, combined with the 1:15,000 map Fieldwork and cartography scale, can play tricks here – especially amongst M65’s,

by Terrythe Bluett 2012/2013 who would normally have got stuck into based the Shiraz the fieldwork night on original before and might be feeling a little ‘dusty’byatDave theLotty. mapFieldcheck box.

QB3 2015, Day

2

Hard 5

5

2 226 3 229

2015 by Simon George

Nowhere is the ‘free lunch’ more out of reach than in and Mark Shingler.

M65. Even given QB3 is primarily a NSW institution, interstate invaders are often to be found at the start box – in this case, we almost have a ‘top ten’ in the age class, with Hugh Moore, Bob Allison, Billy Jones and Eric Wainwright up from Canberra to add a bit of ginger to the NSW guns.

Not mapped yet

1 223

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SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43 For information on orienteering contact: 9 239 Orienteering NSW PO Box 3379

5.6 k

Steve ‘The Stevedore’ Flick had won Day 1 at Baal Bone Junction, but could he hold? Would ACT spoil the party? Would Terry shine?

Would this be one for the fast men, the slow men, the middle men or the men in tights? Would Steven Stills play at the after-party?

M65’s across the country held their breath.

Let’s check the race action.

A long subtle sloping uphill leg to the first saw Bill Jones ‘The Grocer’ ping in 7:34. This was fast work indeed, given many were to post high eight’s to nines, with Bob Hawkins astray at 11:13.

Even Steve Flick had to hope better was to come after his 7th placing at the opening flag (in 9:22). Bill Jones off with a flier!

Jeez, didn’t see this coming.

A short leg followed into very vague territory, this time seeing Steve with the foot down (2:19) to edge up to 3rd place. Bill lost twenty seconds, but still maintained his lead. The next leg (#2 - #3) required maintaining contour height across reasonably welldefined spur/gully. #4 to #6 saw the boys wielding their e-sticks at the flag, all that is, except Terry Bluett. Tezza, recovering from a year of medical, began well (2nd with a low eight to #1) but slowly rose too high over the third leg to enter an unmapped portion of forest and serious discombobulation. Terry’s 21min plus ‘excursion’ here cost him any chance of course, and is all the more puzzling for such a great orienteer – as he fieldworked and drew the original map!

Hugh Moore.

So, with Terry gone, how were things unfolding for the rest.

The #3 - #4 leg was downhill and around either side of a large hill (the hilly bit at Falnash) to rocky ground, and a contour leg to #5.

Both legs were 5/6 minute affairs with steady results reported from the men in Lycra and Tuile.

Bill’s steady second and third leg placings in this section saw him maintaining the overall lead to #5, although Hugh had begun to rattle the tin – winning legs 3 and 5, and taking the lead at #6 after BJ dropped three minutes. This leg (#5 - #6) was uphill from above the watercourse on a long bearing northwest to a ‘distinctive tree’. You crossed the main middle track, but where exactly? Many were at their work here in the mid eight’s, with Hugh’s 6:32 an impressive run. At this stage Peter Shepherd was seen walking in the wrong direction (and subsequent dnf) after a longish leg 3 and missing #5, Steve Flick had been holding 3rd but dropped a place after a mid ‘tenner’ (10:18) at the 6th, Wazza Selby and Keith Jay impressed with low eights, Rosscoe briefly flirted with 3rd – and Bob and Bob worked in tandem fashion mid pack.

Steve Flick.

The next leg (#6 - #7) was a flat, vague flier, with Ross, Steve and Eric all in Ferrari mode to the large termi in 2.3min, 2.4min or so. Hugh lost the plot here (and probably the overall race), working a 6:47 onto the score sheet (10th place and his worst leg in what was the vaguest section of the race). Bill’s three minute (5th) ping saw him regain the lead – but sadly for the last time.

The next leg (#7 - #8, fast downhill to a rock face above the creek) was a four to five minute flog - Steve regaining the lead with 3:49. Bob Hawkins impressed with 4:17 (3rd), Hugh even more so in 4:11 – and making up for his prior ‘nightmare’! Runners then crossed the creek on a leg to a shallow gully and recrossed for a pant uphill and another contour run – knocking off legs 9, 10 and 11 before the last lift to the flag. Impressing towards the end were Warwick Selby with 3rd placings over the last three legs, Eric finding the puff on the last with 34sec, but how about young Billy Jones – flying to the finish in 25 seconds!

Hugh’s win on the #9 - #10 leg lifted him to 2nd overall, swapping places with Bill, who’s last leg blinder couldn’t quite close the gap.

Steve’s wins on the 8th, 9th and 11th legs kept him on top – taking the contest 53:13 to Hugh (54:30), Bill (54:32) and then a couple of minutes to Rosscoe (56:23) and to the two Bob’s. And although there were only three competitors that led during the race (Steve and Bill, with Hugh briefly), ALL of the other eight runners placed a leg – some several times over. Typical M65 action.

Rock & Roll, red wine and runners not giving an inch. What a bunch of legends. Talk about competitive!

Terry Bluett.

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

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.

A

June 2015 Magazine

fter reading the current edition of The Australian Orienteer magazine I cannot see any acknowledgement of the names of the people on the cover. You have acknowledged the photographer Tony Hill (page 5) but not the people in the cover photo. Could a note be put in the September 2015 to correct the situation?

A great article on the Moonlight Madness on pages 36 and 37 but why do you have to spoil the article by putting the map in the centre and thus the overall map effectiveness is lost by having the page join down the centre?

Thanks, Ross Duker (Garingal Orienteers) (Ed: The orienteers in the June 2015 cover photo are (L-R) Ellen Currie (GO), Emily Sorensen (TT), Jean Baldwin (GS) & Ruth Goddard (YV).)

I

just wanted to say that I love the cover photo for this month’s Australian Orienteer. It’s perfect - it’s got action and bright colours, and two young women racing and two older women racing. It shows that orienteering is for everyone and makes it look fun and exciting.

Rachel Johnson (Nillumbik Emus, VIC)

2015 World Championships

T

o-spy World Champs to be split

T

he International Orienteering Federation (IOF) has decided that from 2019 the World Championships program will be split, with a Forest WOC and a Sprint WOC taking place in alternate years. The formats of these new programs are yet to be announced. Both are expected to cover a 5-day period, with the first Forest WOC to be held in 2019 and the first Sprint WOC in 2020.

he recent WOC held in Scotland may well be remembered as a logistics nightmare, which would be a pity because there were some very exciting races and the overall presentation was top class.

The terrains chosen may have been very suitable for WOC races but the long and narrow approach roads were certainly not suitable for the vast numbers of cars and buses that the WOC and Highlands 6 Days events attracted. Slow moving queues of vehicles several miles long were not uncommon. What were the IOF Event Advisers thinking??

About halfway through the Long Distance event, competitors’ starts had to be halted for 20 minutes because a bus carrying them to the Start got ‘stuck’. At first we were told it had

Victorinox award This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Aston Key (Melbourne Forest Racers, VIC) who, in this edition, gives us his first impressions of orienteering in New Zealand.

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

crashed – fortunately that was not the case.

And it wasn’t just about narrow roads. Every day in the Media Centre at each arena there were heated complaints about the limitations of wi-fi access.

The dimensions of the on-line requirements of the media must be well known from WOCs in recent years past, yet what was provided was clearly inadequate. About halfway through the week the WOC Media Liaison sent out an email explaining that the problems with wi-fi access were due to too many media people using it. Uh huh.

the incoming relay runner to drop their map at the Finish line, keep on running to a fence holding maps for the next legs, pick up the next leg map for their team and hand it over the fence to the outgoing runner.

It’s a simple system and should be adopted for our National and State Relay Championships.

Relay changeovers

T

he changeover technique used at major championship events including World Championships is for SEPTEMBER 2015 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

Spot the Difference

The Sprint season is coming so it’s time to brush up on your fine navigation and map reading. We have a Sprint map which will be familiar to many, but there are 25 differences in the two otherwise identical map sections.

CAN YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2015

Top events 2017

2015 Sept 12-13

Sept 26Oct 4

a u s tr a l i a n

MTBO

Nov 7-8

c ha m p i ons h ips

2015

Anglesea, VIC

Dec 27-31

Dec 29Jan 3

April 14-17

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 Xmas 5 Days Armidale, NSW http://onsw.asn.au/xmas2015 Big Five-O 2016, Kaapsehoop, South Africa. www.bigfive-o.co.za

April 22-29

May (dates tba) June 10-12 June 17-18

July 1-7

July 9-16 2016 March 25-28

May 14-15

June 18-19

July 9-15

July 9-16

July 16-23

July 23-29

July 24-30

July 9-16

Aus 3-Days Carnival, Easter, ACT 10Mila Falun-Borlänge, Dalarna, Sweden www.10mila.se Jukola Relay 2016 Lappeenranta, Finland www.jukola.com/2016/ JWOC 2016 Engadin, Switzerland www.jwoc2016.ch/ 5th Tour O Swiss Switzerland www.tour-o-swiss.ch Swiss O Week 2016 Engadin, Switzerland

July 22-28

July 30Aug 5 July 25-27

Oceania Carnival near Auckland, New Zealand WMOC 2017 near Auckland, New Zealand worldmastersgames2017.co.nz 10Mila Göteborg, Sweden www.10mila.se AUS 3 Days & QBIII, NSW Jukola Relay 2017 Joensuu, Finland www.jukola.com/2017 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 Scottish 6 Days Deeside, Scotland The World Games Wroclaw, Poland

August 19-27 WMTBOC & JWMTBOC 2017 Vilnius, Lithuania Sept/Oct AUS Champs Carnival, NSW

O-Ringen 2016 Sälen, Dalarna, Sweden. www.oringen.se WMTBOC, JWMTBOC 2016 Aveiro-Coimbra, Portugal

Mappin g & Course Settin g Soft ware

Economy Starter edition Frequent user Standard edition High capability Professional edition

July 24-30

CROESO 6 Days South Wales, UK www.croesomultiday.org.uk August 6-13 WMOC 2016 Tallinn, Estonia www.wmoc2016.ee Aug 20-28 WOC 2016 Strömstad – Tanum, Sweden www.woc2016.se/en/ Sep 29WMMTBOC 2016, Oct 2 Kaunas, Lithuania Sept 24-Oct 2 AUS Champs Carnival, QLD Dec 27-31 Xmas 5 Days, Newcastle area NSW www.onsw.asn.au/xmas-5days-2016

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