The Australian Orienteer – December 2021

DEC EMB ER 2 0 2 1

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www.sportaus.gov.au 2 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

THE CHAIRMAN’S PAGE

The Chairman’s Page MIKE DOWLING – BOARD CHAIRMAN, ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

L

ast issue I wrote about the continued impact of the COVID19 pandemic on our sport and readers will no doubt know that Tasmania in the end were left with no choice but to cancel the Australian Championships week for the second year in a row. As a Tasmanian orienteer, I felt the pain of the decision acutely and especially for the organiser Warwick Moore and his team. Warwick as lead organiser had devoted countless hours in navigating the complexities of organising the Championship week with the added burden of dealing with COVID complexities. I know the team were planning to expose competitors to two new orienteering areas and it is to be hoped that these will be put to good use in the future.

Orienteering Australia extends its sincere gratitude to Warwick and his organising team for all the considerable effort that was put in to attempt to provide a quality week of orienteering that is the hallmark of Tasmania for such major carnivals.

On a more optimistic note, Australia is opening nationally and internationally as we adjust to learning to living with the presence of COVID-19. From an Australian orienteering perspective, we will need to continue to be mindful of the potential impact of COVID19 on our sport and COVID mitigation will be part of our future event organisation process from local to national and international events going forward.

We can be cautiously optimistic that our Easter 3 Days and associated events in Queensland next year will go ahead. In looking at the promotional materials we can anticipate some high-quality orienteering will be on offer around Kingaroy and the Gold Coast.

As you read this issue, we will also know whether Oceania will be proceeding in January as the Oceania organising committee

and Orienteering New Zealand were deciding on November 17. Particularly for our elite athletes who have been starved of international competition, Oceania is an important qualification point for the 2022 Sprint World Championships in late June 2022 in Denmark which will be the first time a purely Sprint WOC will be held by the IOF.

For the second year in a row Orienteering Australia will not hold an in-person annual conference but hold a series of four online workshops aligned to our current strategic and operational plan in the areas of: • high performance and coaching;

• participation and Sport Australia-funded projects; • technical, events and mapping; • finance and governance.

On the Board front, since the last issue our General Manager, Matthew Dunstan, resigned and Hanny Allston stepped down, both because of the effects of COVID-19 on their non-OA work. The Board is very pleased that Brett Weihart has now joined the Board.

Brett brings a wealth of experience in strategic, operational and high performance matters to the Board. In addition, we will have hoped to have appointed a new General Manager.

In closing, on behalf of Orienteering Australia, I wish all orienteers a very Happy Christmas and a safe New Year. Let us all hope that 2022 brings more opportunities to enable us to all get out there and enjoy the sport we love, be it in our urban environments or out in the great Australian bush.

Time for a new Editor All Editors to date have been ‘original orienteers’ from the days when Orienteering was becoming established in Victoria and had still to spread to other States. David Hogg and Michael Hubbert both competed in (and finished) the inaugural Upper Beaconsfield event in 1969, while Ian Baker joined the Orienteering scene soon after.

It’s been nearly 18 years since I took on the Editor role and I’ve enjoyed every moment. However, it is probably time to hand over the baton to a new and younger Editor who may have some different ideas on the direction the magazine should follow. It’s a paid position with funds from magazine revenue - $4,125 (incl. 10% statutory Super) per edition, plus expenses.

I’m happy to carry on until a new Editor can be found so, if any of you out there in Orienteering Land are interested in the role, please get in contact with me (Michael Hubbert).

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

2022 Round 1

12-14 March

Melbourne Sprint Weekend

3 NOL races – Sprint & Knockout Sprint

Round 2

2-3 April

Canberra

2 NOL forest races – Middle & Long Distance

Round 3

15-18 April

Easter, Queensland

4 NOL races – Sprint, Middle, Middle, Long

Round 4

23-24 April

Gold Coast Finals

program as shown in Sept

© PhotosByTom.com.au

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Australian WOC, JWOC and MTBO teams are outfitted by

4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u PO Box 3379, North Strathfield, NSW 2137 Chair & Director – International (IOF) Director – Finance Director – Technical Director – at large Director – Secretary Director – Operations & MTBO Director – Executive Officer OA Head Coach OA Assistant Head Coach High Performance Administrator Manager Coaching Development Anti Doping Medical Officer Editor OA Enews National Sporting Schools Coordinator Coach & Controller Accreditation Badge Applications

Mike Dowling international@orienteering.asn.au Richard Mountstephens finance@orienteering.asn.au Jenny Casanova technical@orienteering.asn.au Bill Jones bill@orienteering.asn.au Andrew Lumsden andrew.l@orienteering.asn.au Craig Steffens craig.s@orienteering.asn.au Brett Weihart

gm@orienteering.asn.au Natasha Key headcoach@orienteering.asn.au Jim Russell assistantheadcoach@orienteering.asn.au Fredrik Johansson hpadmin@orienteering.asn.au Brodie Nankervis coaching@orienteering.asn.au Mark Freeman markfreeman@hotmail.com Linda Burridge oa_enews@orienteering.asn.au Jim Mackay sportingschools@orienteering.asn.au Jim Mackay accreditation@orienteering.asn.au John Oliver 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

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STATE ASSOCIATIONS Orienteering Queensland: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Secretary: David Firman secretary@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: Stephen Goggs, Ph. (02) 6162 3422 office@act.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Victoria: PO Box 1010 Templestowe VIC 3106. Secretary: Aislinn Prendergast secretary@vicorienteering.asn.au Orienteering SA: 1 Windsor Rd, Glenside SA 5065. Sec: Erica Diment 0408 852 313 secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6904. Secretary: Ceri Pass, oawa.secretary@gmail.com Orienteering Tasmania: Secretary: Julian Roscoe secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Susanne Casanova topendorienteersNT@gmail.com

NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE

January 14. Time-sensitive: Jan 21

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 4/21 (no. 203) DECEMBER 2021

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, (100023602 for NSW).

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 Printer: Ferntree Print, 1154 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully.

Contribution deadline: January 14; Time-sensitive – January 21.

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; Official News – Andrew Lumsden; MTBO – Craig Steffens Contributions welcome, either directly or via State editorial contacts.

Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions.

Guidelines 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 – ericadiment@adam.com.au – tel: 0408 852 313 VIC, WA and TAS – vacant Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 pa. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A49, Rest of World $A58 pa.

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

CONTENTS T H E C H A I R M A N ’ S PA G E.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 XMAS 5 DAYS.......................................... 8 TWO ICONIC NSW EVENTS.......................... 9 2022 MSW............................................. 10 2022 AUS CARNIVAL................................ 12 2 0 2 1 J W O C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 WOC ROUTE CHOICES............................... 20 E A R LY C LU B S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 SPORT INTEGRITY.................................... 33 O P I N I O N.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 MTBO................................................... 36 OA NEWS.............................................. 38 S P O T T H E D I F F E R E N C E .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9 PHILANTHROPY IN SPORT.......................... 42 FORENSIC ORIENTEERING.......................... 44 O - S P Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 TOP EVENTS........................................... 47

Cover photo: Matt Doyle (Canberra Cockatoos) at NOL Broulee Dunes event.

Photo: Tom de Jongh – PhotosByTom.com.au DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

Aston Key, JWOC Gold Denmark 2019.

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6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

ENTRIES CLOSE – 14 DECEMBER

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

XMAS 5 DAYS

2021 Xmas 5-Days Orienteering Southern Highlands, December 27-31 ENTRIES CLOSE December 14th

© PhotosByTom.com.au

C

ourses are set in readiness for some great Orienteering over the Christmas period.

This is an annual event held in NSW which offers 5 great days of orienteering and the opportunity to catch up with friends (but please be COVID safe).

We may not be match fit but I am sure we will all be happy to be out in the bush orienteering again.

Over the 5 days you can look forward to a wide variety of terrains starting with a bush Sprint, followed by 3 Bush events and a Sprint to finish off. The website will give you more information about each day.

The events remain the same as those rescheduled from 2020 but with the latest COVID safety rules applying.

These regulations are still rather fluid with uncertainty as to whether State borders will be open and if events will be open only to the fully Vaxed! We expect updates over the next few weeks!

We have held off on opening the entries as this is a costly and time consuming exercise to do refunds. We preferred to keep you updated via emails and newsletters etc.

Entries opened in early November and will close on December 14th and there will be no “Enter on the Day”. So you have just a few weeks to enter and arrange accommodation.

We will email updated information to you after entries close.

More information is available on the Xmas 5-Days web page on the ONSW website - onsw.asn.au.

Starts will be in a queueing format and within a set Start window for each day.

Mittagong and nearby towns offer a wide variety of accommodation; visit the Mittagong Tourism website.

Goulburn is another option, visit the Goulburn Tourism website.

Belanglo House is currently closed due to COVID restrictions but we are looking at this for a camping only option with strict COVID rules in place.

You will find most information on the ONSW Xmas 5-Days website and Eventor but we will endeavour to update you closer to the event of any specific guideline changes.

If you haven’t already, start planning now. This area offers some great walks, bike tracks, great places to eat and have coffee after a morning of orienteering.

It is looking very positive for a great Xmas 5-Days so start planning and hope to see you there.

The events will be run following strict COVID guidelines which we will try to keep updated on the Xmas 5-Days web site but please also check the regulations pertaining to your State or Territory.

If you have any questions you can contact the Event Co-ordinator Colin Price colinp53@yahoo.com.au

The 5-Days program will be available through the Eventor Entry Portal after close of entries (December 14th) but this is also hard to keep updated.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas.

8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

TWO ICONIC NSW EVENTS

What do two iconic NSW events have in common?

The Xmas 5 Day and Toukley 2 Day!

B

oth originated in the NSW Central Coast club and were the brainchild of Frank Anderson. Frank joined Central Coast Orienteers in 1982 where he decided to organise some events based on ones he had run in while he was holidaying in Sweden.

Frank and Ethel created an orienteer exchange between Sweden and Australia, bringing many of their friends along to local events.

Toukley 2 Day (March 5 – 6, 2022 will be the 40th event) Frank and Ethel held the first Toukley 2 Day (now the O’Shea 2 Day) in 1983 on a map called “Goobarabah”. Three events in 24 hours (teams of two) organised by the two of them but I expect they had helpers as I see several Swedish names on the trophies. The Toukley 2 Day consists of a line course (Saturday afternoon), a night course and a score event (Sunday morning). In 1985 the event divided into “Long Pairs” and “Short Pairs” events and the event retains this format every year.

Goobarabah Short score.

This year we celebrate the 40th running of the Toukley 2 Day so we are hoping to have some of the original Long and Short Pairs winners, as well as some original club members attending.

Trophy table.

Please contact Colin Price if you have any questions or need information colinp53@yahoo.com.au

Xmas 5 Day It was 1985 when Frank and Ethel held the first Xmas 5 Day. Five events in 5 days, organised on the Central Coast and often on only a couple of maps. All organised by Frank and Ethel. Again, I expect they had helpers as a lot of the competitors camped in their back yard!

The Xmas 5 Day became too big for the small Central Coast club and the maps were being overrun by houses, so NSW clubs have now been running the events for many years.

The 5 Days attracts orienteers from several States and often visitors from NZ and elsewhere overseas. This year we offer a bush Sprint, 3 Bush events and a Sprint around a college, so great variety.

While the weather can be warm, hence the early morning starts, there has also been the occasional cold Xmas 5 Day. But the early starts enable competitors the time to relax and do a casual 12 km walk up some hill to fill in the afternoon.

Personally I prefer a coffee and a chat with friends whom I only see occasionally at events!

You have probably not been doing much orienteering of late so if you are free to escape into the bush between December 27 & 31 you must enter now.

More information and entry available on Eventor.

1985 Toukley 2-Day - Frank Anderson, Ljubov Seidl & Arnold Simson.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

2022 MSW

Join the Sprint Train to Melbourne M

elbourne Sprint Weekend will return 12 – 14 March 2022 including a round of the National Orienteering League (NOL), WOC trial, a World Ranking Event, and races for nonelites.

The carnival will be a similar format to previous editions with 6 races over 3 days, age classes and prizes for the overall winners. Terrain will include a variety of campus environments and a bush Sprint. The weekend’s NOL races include two individual Sprints and a forest Relay (not Sprint).

Following its success in 2020 the Knock-out Sprint returns on the Monday for the elites while non-elites finish the carnival with two more individual races. The Knock-out Sprint will be open to all who want to try it. And those who don’t make it past the qualifiers will be able to fall back to running their age category race in the afternoon.

10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

2022 AUS CARNIVAL

aoc .orienteering.asn.au TEXT AND PHOTOS – WARWICK WILLIAMS

Mt Alexander “the Great”

T

he Schools Long Distance Championship and the final day of the Goldfields 3 Day event on Mt Alexander will take place on the 186th anniversary of the first ascent of the Mount by a European, the explorer Major Thomas Mitchell. His party had passed through what is now Castlemaine, and then through Expedition Pass before making camp to the south of Mt Alexander.

Aboriginal people knew the mountain as Lianyuk or Leanganook. Mitchell named the mountain Mt Byng after John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, a Field Marshal during the Peninsular War, but later renamed it in honour of Alexander the Great.

Mitchell noted: “I could ride with ease to the summit of the friendly hill, that I had seen from afar, and found it but thinly wooded, so that I could take my angles around the horizon without difficulty ..… A country fully as promising as the fine region we had left, was embraced in my view from that point.

I perceived long patches of open plain, interspersed with forest hills and low woody ranges, along which I could trace out a good line of route for another 50 miles homewards.”

This event will conclude with a spectacular Finish with views to the Mount and of the exciting last few downhill controls into the truly beautiful Finish arena. We hope you will enjoy this “friendly hill” even more than the Major did, and that you too can “trace a good line of route” to the Finish.

Mount Alexander

Mt Alexander (circa 1991) 12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Gold in the Castlemaine Hills

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oth the Relays in the carnival are taking place on parts of the Wattle Gully map, which was used for the Relay in the 1985 World Orienteering Championships. These events will take runners through large numbers of mining features from the historic Castlemaine goldfields.

Gold was first discovered in Castlemaine in July 1851, and by the end of that year there was estimated to be 25,000 diggers on the goldfield. Initial mining was by hand on the alluvial gravels along the valley floors. Underground mining came somewhat later. The Australian Handbook and Almanac for 1874 reported that “the approximate value of the plant in the mining district is estimated at £267,040. There are in all 178 engines, of the aggregate horsepower of 3396; 297 puddling machines and 1186 stamp heads. The number of miners is 8345, with 2543 being Chinese. Vine growing is carried on to a considerable extent in the neighbourhood of the town.”

Is it any wonder the bush is riddled with mine holes, water races, trenches and dams? We will be running amongst the actual gold diggings, sprinkled with gold dust ..… passing the last Castlemaine gold mine to operate, and through parallel tunnels like miners did in the 1850’s. Both the Relay events will include never before used fast open gold mining terrain extending the famous World Championships ‘85 Relay map to the north east for the Schools Relays and to the north west for Australian Relays.

Wattle Gully (circa 2003).

Parallel tunnels.

Wattle Gully.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

2022 AUS CARNIVAL

Salesian

T

he origin of cricket’s “Ashes” has been told many times.

The Lord’s website sets it out as follows:

“The term ‘Ashes’ was first used after England lost to Australia – for the first time on home soil – at the Oval on 29th August 1882.

A day later, the Sporting Times carried a mock obituary of English cricket which concluded that: “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. The concept caught the imagination of the sporting public.

A few weeks later, an English team, captained by the Hon Ivo Bligh [later Lord Darnley], set off to tour Australia, with Bligh vowing to return with “the ashes”; his Australian counterpart, WL Murdoch, similarly vowed to defend them.

Salesian College oval.

As well as playing three scheduled Replica-ashes-trophy. matches against the Australian national side, Bligh and the amateur players in his team participated in many social matches. It was after one such match, at the Rupertswood Estate outside Melbourne on Christmas Eve 1882, that Bligh was given the small terracotta urn as a symbol of the ashes that he had travelled to Australia to regain.”

It might have taken Orienteering 140-odd years to catch up, but the 2022 Australian Sprint Championship will take you to the very same oval where this match, and the subsequent presentation of the famous urn to Ivo Bligh took place. The Rupertswood mansion is now the administration building of Salesian College, the campus of which promises one of the best Sprint events you will see. Our courses will wind through the complicated passageways around the Rupertswood mansion and Salesian College campus that are waiting for a new winner and more Australian sporting history.

Salesian College.

Sprint map example.

Forest map example.

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Park map example.

2021 JWOC

Long distance podium - Pia Young Vik (Norway) - 5th place.

Kocaeli 05-10 September 2021

Fantastic week for three ‘almost- Aussies’

T

hough no Australians took part in 2021 JWOC held in Turkey, there were three athletes with Australian heritage.

Kylian Wymer (France) is the son of Eddie Wymer who grew up in Melbourne running for Bayside Orienteers and represented Australia at four WOCs. Pia Young Vik and Lars Young Vik (both Norway) are the children of Alix Young who competed in three WOCs, is originally from West Australia and is daughter of Don Young of Bibbulmun Orienteers.

Pia finished 19th in Sprint, 6th in Middle Distance Final and 5th in Long Distance. In the Middle Distance she was in 3rd place at the second last control, but fell and lost three places, finishing just 17sec off Bronze. In Long Distance she was just 33sec off Bronze, and in the Relay she took Norway up from 13th to 7th on the last leg. Lars finished 30th in Sprint and 20th in Middle Distance “B” Final. Kylian finished 42nd in Sprint, 15th in Middle Distance Final and 15th in Long Distance.

Sprint - Hannah Lundberg (Sweden) .

Sprint - Axel Elmblad (Sweden).

Pia Young Vik (Norway).

Long distance - Kylian Wymer (France).

Sprint - Lars Young Vik (Norway).

Sprint medallists - Men.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

2021 JWOC

JWOC Sprint Golds to Denmark and Italy TEXT: IOF; PHOTOS JWOC

T

he Sprint races provided demanding technical and physical challenges for the JWOC competitors, resulting in two close finishes; Malin Agervig Kristiansson from Denmark and Francesco Mariani from Italy are the 2021 Sprint champions.

In both races, held in Kocaeli, Turkey, the leading finish times were very close, and the most decisive factor was route choice on the longer legs. The choices involved either navigating through a complex pattern of streets and running up or down flights of steps, or taking a longer route with easier navigation and less drop or climb.

In the women’s race the favourite to win was Hanna Lundberg, Sweden, who has already found success at senior level in this year’s World Cup. She was a shade slower than Kristiansson up to the control before the arena passage, then Kristiansson made her one significant mistake and Lundberg got ahead.

Kristiansson kept her head, however, and pulled out a really strong finish, ending 5 seconds quicker than Lundberg. Bronze medal went to the French athlete Cecile Calandry. Sixth place was just 18 seconds down on the winning time.

strongly to give Italy a fine start to the championships with a win by 7 seconds over Touko Seppä, Finland. Mariani was fastest throughout, down to a really good start and consistent running thereafter. He in fact ran the fastest leg only on the first leg and a short one towards the end. Seppä was 17 seconds slower on the first leg in 43rd place, but he recovered well to pull steadily up the field and end with the silver. Axel Elmblad, Sweden, is bronze medallist, 13 seconds down on the winner.

Sprint – Women 1. Malin Agervig Kristiansson DEN 14:57 2. Hanna Lundberg SWE 15:02 3. Cecile Calandry FRA 15:05 4. Caterina Dallera ITA 15:11 5. Hedvig Valbjørn Gydesen DEN 15:14 6. Ida Haapala FIN 15:15 Sprint – Men 1. Francesco Mariani ITA 15:39 2. Touko Seppä FIN 15:46 3. Axel Elmblad SWE 15:52 4. Tobias Alstad NOR 15:53 5. Quentin Andrieux FRA 16:01 6. Sigurd Paulsen Vie NOR 16:03

Sprint - Francesco Mariani (Italy).

Francesco Mariani made all the right route choices in the complex terrain and ran

Kocaeli (City Center) Sprint Scale 1 : 4 000

Contour interval 2.5 m

Men Mapper Mehmet Küçükçolak (2018) Update Dimitry Popov (2020) Abdulkadir Köseoğlu (2021) Course planner Huzeyfe Sığırcı

Sprint medallists - Women.

www.jwoc2020.org design by MGS

16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

/ jwoc2020turkey

Junior World Orienteering Championships 2021

/

| Koc

Mudarlı JWOC Middle Distance Final: hugeMiddle success forFinals Sweden

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wo gold, one silver and one bronze is the impressive medal tally Scale 1 : 10 000 Contour interval 5m for Sweden today. Both Hanna Lundberg and Axel Elmblad enjoyed emphatic victories, by 1:42 and 2:13 respectively. Viktor Svensk took silver in the men’s class and Tilda Ostberg bronze in the women’s.

Women

Especially in the women’s class there were other athletes challenging the winners’ times at various stages. In particular, Pia Young Vik from Norway was faster than Hanna Lundberg in the middle section of the race, after Lundberg had made a 1-minute mistake to control #5, but she faded a bit towards the end and finished sixth. Silver medallist Lilly Graber, Switzerland, had a slow start, 42nd to control #1, but recovered well from then on.

A

Elmblad was 15th fastest to the first control, but pulled up to take the lead at control #5 and never looked back, running the fastest on almost all legs and gradually extending his lead. Ferenc Jonas, Hungary took the men’s bronze medal.

Conditions were excellent for racing, with sunshine and a good breeze, and the courses were well set for finding the best navigators and strongest runners.

Hanna Lundberg, silver medallist in the Sprint, was favourite to win this race, as she has already tasted success at senior level in winning the Middle Distance race in World Cup Round 2 in Sweden in mid-August. She was 7th in the Middle Distance Final in JWOC in Denmark two years ago. Axel Elmblad was bronze medallist in the Sprint earlier this week.

Middle Distance – Women 1. Hanna Lundberg SWE 26:25 2. Lilly Graber SUI 28:07 3. Tilda Ostberg SWE 28:10 4. Corina Hueni SUI 28:19 5. Viktoria Mag HUN 28:22 6. Pia Young Vik NOR 28:27

Pia Young Vik (Norway).

Middle Distance – Men 1. Axel Elmblad SWE 25:02 2. Viktor Svensk SWE 27:15 3. Ferenc Jonas HUN 27:35 4. Julien Vuitton FRA 27:40 5. Touko Seppä FIN 27:56 6. Mark Tutynin RUS 27:59

Women Middle Final

Lars Young Vik (Norway).

Scale 1:10 000 Contours 5m

R3 R2

Kylian Wymer (France).

R1

Use only if SPORTident fails!

Mappers Georgi Hadzhimitiev Petar Doganov (2018) Update Georgi Hadzhimitiev (2020) Abdülkadir Köseoğlu Yüksel Kösem (2021) Course planner Huzeyfe Sığırcı

design by MGS

/ jwoc2021turkey

caeli-Turkey

Lilly Graber (SUI).

Use only if SPORTident fails!

R1

R2

R3

/ jwoc2020turkey 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17 Junior WorldDECEMBER Orienteering Championships 2021

2021 JWOC

Swiss and French winners in JWOC Long Distance

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illy Graber, Switzerland, and Basile Basset, France, are the new JWOC Long Distance champions. Graber, silver medallist in the Middle Distance race, won convincingly by 48 seconds whilst Basset’s victory was by just 7 seconds.

Graber was third through the early stages and moved up to second-fastest at control #7 of the 18-control course over 7.04 km with 370 m climb. She had a largely trouble-free run with good route choices on the long legs, #4-5 (quickest 9:26) and #8-9 (quickest 13:49) in the steep hilly terrain, and ran at 7:31 mins per km overall. The silver medal goes to the Czech athlete Lucie Semikova, who held 2nd place from control #12 onwards. Hungarian Viktoria Mag did extremely well from a very early start time to take the bronze, 1:26 down on the winner’s time.

Lilly Graber (SUI).

Long Distance – Women 1. Lilly Graber SUI 52:59 2. Lucie Semikova CZE 53:47 3. Viktoria Mag HUN 54:25 4. Petrina Costermans SWE 54:30 5. Pia Young Vik NOR 54:58 6. Hanna Lundberg SWE 55:39 Long Distance – Men 1. Basile Basset FRA 1:08:57 2. Søren Thrane Ødum DEN 1:09:04 3. Ference Jonas HUN 1:11:46 4. Ilian Angeli ITA 1:12:23 5. Antoine Becaert FRA 1:12:29 6. Isak Jonsson NOR 1:12:53

Søren Thrane Ødum, Denmark, made up for disappointments earlier in the week to take the silver medal in the men’s race. He was fastest at control #4 and from #8 to #10, then second throughout on the 11.05 km course with 585 m climb and 24 controls. Basset lost half a minute on leg #4-5 but was particularly strong on the middle section of the course.

Ferenc Jonas, Hungary, has bronze medal position just as in Scale 1 : 15 000 Contour interval 5 m the Middle Distance race; he was down in 8th place at control #15 but pulled up strongly from there – aided by fourthplaced Italian Ilian Angeli making a 90-second mistake on leg #19-20. The winner ran at 6:14 mins per km overall – impressive in the very hilly terrain.

Denizli

Long Distance

Women

The courses had a lot of short legs giving contourbased route choices plus two very long legs, the men’s being #10-11 and #14-15 (best times 14:10 and 12:14).

Viktoria Mag (Hungary).

Basile Basset (France).

Denizli

Scale 1 : 10 000

1

31

2

52

3 4

56 57

5 6 7 8

53 54 55 34

9

35

10 11 12 13 14

46 47 36 37 100 M1

51

50

59 58

32 33

63

62

Re

Con

Women Long Distance (1-2) (3)

Scale 1:15000 Contours 5m 42 15 48 49 40 16 61 65 17 60 60

Use only if SPORTident fails!

R1

R2

R3

18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

18 19 20 21

41 64 67 100

www.jwoc

Junior World Or

Sweden gold, Hungary silver in both JWOC Relays

T

here were identical outcomes for gold and silver medals in both women’s and men’s Relays in wet conditions today, with the winning margins 2:19 and 1:37 respectively. Bronze medals go to the Czech women and Swiss men.

Sweden’s win in the women’s class owes a lot to a very strong final leg run from Middle Distance champion Hanna Lundberg, who came up from fourth place, 1:46 down on the lead at that point held by Hungary, quickly up to second and then in front after half-way.

Denmark led at the end of the first leg, Hedvig Valbjørn Gydesen coming in with a 16-second lead. Tilda Ostberg finished ninth on the first leg for Sweden, 2:28 down, and Petrina Costermans improved that to fourth. France was second to Hungary at the end of leg 2 thanks to a fine performance by Cecile Calandry who came up from fourteenth place at the first-leg changeover. A similarly fine run on the last leg was put in by Ida Haapala, Finland, who brought her team up from tenth to fourth.

Hungary’s runners were in medal positions at each changeover and finished a good second, whilst the Czech team came up in position steadily as the race progressed.

Relay Gold for Swedish men.

elay Men

In the men’s race, Noel Braun for Sweden was only 56 seconds down on the lead at the first changeover, and Viktor Svensk converted that to a 1:20 lead at the end of leg 2. Axel Elmblad, gold medallist at Middle Distance, was able to hold off the challenge from Ferenc Jonas of Hungary to take a comfortable win.

The Czech and Finnish teams had started best, with Norway fourth behind Sweden. The Swiss team came from ninth to second on the second leg thanks to a fine run from Pascal Schaerer. Hungary also had a good second leg courtesy of Zoltan Bujdoso, who came up from nineteenth to third. Spain was in a surprise fourth place at the end of leg 2 but finished tenth.

Relay – Women 1. Sweden – Tilda Ostberg, Petrina Costermans, Hanna Lundberg 1:36:57 2. Hungary – Boglarka Czako, Viktoria Mag, Csilla Gardonyi 1:39:16 3. Czech Republic – Michaela Dittrichova, Lucie Semikova, Marketa Mulickova 1:40:49 4. Finland 1:42:01 5. Switzerland 1:42:19 6. France 1:42:31 Relay – Men 1. Sweden – Noel Braun, Viktor Svensk, Axel Elmblad 1:44:14 2. Hungary – Peter Nagy, Zoltan Bujdoso, Ferenc Jonas 1:45:51 3. Switzerland – Pascal Schmid, Pascal Schaerer, Florian Freuler 1:47:06 4. Norway 1:48:10 5. Russia 1:48:11 6. Denmark 1:49:52

ntour interval 5 m Mappers Georgi Kartalov Victor Kirianov Petar Doganov Aleksandar Efimenko (2018)

Relay Men

Scale 1:10000 Contours 5m

Update Georgi Hadzhimitiev (2020) Abdulkadir Köseoğlu Yüksel Kösem (2021) Course planner Huzeyfe Sığırcı

Relay Gold for Swedish women.

/ jwoc2020turkey / jwoc2021turkey

Junior World Orienteering Championships

design by MGS

2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19 2021DECEMBER | Kocaeli-Turkey | jwoc2020.org

WOC ROUTE CHOICES

2021 WOC Women’s Long Distance TEXT – MICHAEL HUBBERT

A

t the recent World Orienteering Championships in Czech Republic the battle for the top three places in the Women’s Long Distance race was fascinating to watch.

Each of the three medallists started off quite conservatively, probably getting a feel for the course and the terrain and looking carefully at the monster second leg which had the potential to make or break their medal hopes.

GPS tracking shows both Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) and Natalia Gemperle (neutral athlete from Russia) chose a direct route up through the cliffs and onto a track around the out-ofbounds area. But Tove Alexandersson (Sweden), relying on her superior running speed, chose a longer route on the track below the cliffs before joining the routes of the other two. All three then took similar routes south, keeping above the line of cliffs to the west. But Alexandersson’s route choice gave her a 34 second advantage on that leg setting up a string of winning legs until a wobble on leg 7 and then more time lost on legs 10 and 11.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE).

Natalia Gemperle (Neutral).

Pl Name Club 1 Tove Alexandersson SWE 2 Natalia Gemperle NEUTRAL 3 Simona Aebersold SUI

Finish time

Diff leg tot S-1 (31) 1:17.11 +0.00 3.19 (3) 3.19 (3) 1:20.09 +2.58 3.20 (4) 3.20 (4) 1:20.28 +3.17 3.25 (6) 3.25 (6)

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

leg tot 1-2 (69) 16.43 (1) 20.02 (1) 17.17 (2) 20.37 (2) 17.27 (3) 20.52 (3)

leg tot 2-3 (44) 6.32 (1) 26.34 (1) 7.11 (7) 27.48 (3) 6.32 (1) 27.24 (2)

leg tot 3-4 (70) 1.15 (1) 27.49 (1) 1.27 (9) 29.15 (3) 1.16 (2) 28.40 (2)

leg tot 4-5 (37) 2.58 (1) 30.47 (1) 3.07 (2) 32.22 (3) 3.14 (3) 31.54 (2)

leg tot 5-6 (96) 1.04 (1) 31.51 (1) 1.12 (2) 33.34 (3) 1.21 (6) 33.15 (2)

leg tot 6-7 (33) 9.36 (4) 41.27 (1) 10.20 (10) 43.54 (3) 9.57 (7) 43.12 (2)

leg tot 7-8 (50) 0.45 (1) 42.12 (1) 0.45 (1) 44.39 (3) 0.57 (18) 44.09 (2)

leg tot 8-9 (34) 2.33 (3) 44.45 (1) 2.28 (1) 47.07 (3) 2.57 (22) 47.06 (2)

leg tot 9-10 (52) 1.23 (12) 46.08 (1) 1.12 (3) 48.19 (2) 1.32 (31) 48.38 (3)

leg tot 10-11 (55) 3.24 (7) 49.32 (1) 3.38 (18) 51.57 (3) 3.04 (1) 51.42 (2)

Simona Aebersold (SUI) in the rocks.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) pounces on a control.

Interestingly, the other two also had problems on leg 7, with Aebersold losing more time on the following legs - 12 sec on the short leg 8; 29 sec on leg 9 (where Gemperle took a longer route but won the leg); and 24 sec on leg 10. But then she won leg 11 clawing back 20 sec on Alexandersson (who took a direct route through the cliffs) and 34 sec on Gemperle to temporarily claim second place only to lose it again on the next two legs. On leg 13 she chose a longer track route but lost 29 sec to Alexandersson.

Then on leg 15, Alexandersson and Gemperle chose vastly different approach routes but arrived just 6 sec apart, whereas Aebersold, who chose a similar route to Gemperle, got within the circle but turned down the hill too early and lost 1 minute to Gemperle.

Fatigue and the pressure of being close to the Assembly run through area began to tell when Gemperle took the urban route on leg 17 losing nearly a minute to Alexandersson and 38 sec to Aebersold who was finishing fast. From being 1:10 down on second place at #16, Aebersold got to within 19 sec of Gemperle at the Finish.

In the final analysis, Alexandersson established her dominance by winning 10 of the 22 legs while Aebersold won 5 legs and Gemperle 3 legs. It was a battle of three athletes with talented running and navigation abilities, but it was consistent speed and navigation which decided the places.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) Natalia Gemperle (NEUTRAL) Simona Aebersold (SUI) leg tot 11-12 (56) 1.32 (1) 51.04 (1) 1.44 (3) 53.41 (3) 1.57 (12) 53.39 (2)

leg tot 12-13 (47) 5.00 (1) 56.04 (1) 5.07 (2) 58.48 (2) 5.29 (5) 59.08 (3)

leg tot 13-14 (59) 1.18 (3) 57.22 (1) 1.23 (5) 1:00.11 (2) 1.13 (1) 1:00.21 (3)

leg tot 14-15 (51) 5.41 (8) 1:03.03 (1) 5.35 (5) 1:05.46 (2) 6.35 (28) 1:06.56 (3)

leg tot 15-16 (60) 0.58 (24) 1:04.01 (1) 0.45 (4) 1:06.31 (2) 0.44 (3) 1:07.40 (3)

leg tot 16-17 (100) 3.33 (1) 1:07.34 (1) 4.30 (15) 1:11.01 (2) 3.52 (4) 1:11.32 (3)

1:17.11 1:20.09 1:20.28 leg tot 17-18 (41) 2.07 (17) 1:09.41 (1) 1.45 (1) 1:12.46 (2) 1.51 (3) 1:13.23 (3)

leg tot 18-19 (42) 3.16 (7) 1:12.57 (1) 3.09 (4) 1:15.55 (2) 2.58 (1) 1:16.21 (3)

leg tot 19-20 (97) 1.26 (1) 1:14.23 (1) 1.35 (3) 1:17.30 (2) 1.33 (2) 1:17.54 (3)

leg tot 20-21 (100) 2.30 (11) 1:16.53 (1) 2.22 (3) 1:19.52 (2) 2.17 (1) 1:20.11 (3)

leg tot 21-F 0.18 1:17.11 0.17 1:20.09 0.17 1:20.28

Name Club (20) Tove Alexandersson (1) SWE (11) Natalia Gemperle (2) NEUTRAL (11) Simona Aebersold (3) SUI

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

EARLY CLUBS – BENNELONG NORTHSIDE

Australia’s oldest O-club turns 50

BY PETER HOPPER AND IAN JESSUP

Based on Sydney’s northern beaches and lower north shore, Bennelong turns 50 this year.

B

ennelong Occasional Orienteers (BOO) was formally constituted in 1971 to become NSW and Australia’s first and oldest Orienteering club. Merging with Northside Orienteers and Social Harriers (NOSH) in 1988 it became Bennelong Northside Orienteers (BNO) as it is known today.

A double-page feature in The Australian Orienteer (April/ May 1986 p16-17), reprinted in this edition, provides a comprehensive account of the club’s beginnings and a glimpse of orienteering’s movers and shakers during the sport’s formative years in Australia.

Since then, and despite its early and important role seeding the formation of other clubs, Bennelong has grown to

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

currently boast a healthy membership list of 106. Part of its success can be attributed to its continuation of The Great NOSH Footrace. In 1975 Northside Orienteers and Social Harriers started what has become the “NOSH” - Australia’s oldest continuous trail-running footrace. Increasingly popular - 385 starters in 2021 - it covers 16km (& new 22km version) through bushland from Lindfield Oval to Seaforth Oval.

In contrast, one of Bennelong’s first orienteering events in 1972 would be met with apoplexy if put forward as a competition layout these days. The Waterfall event used a 1:25,000 hand-drawn black & white map.

For its 50 years Bennelong can claim four world championship representatives, starting with inaugural president Rod Dominish who went to Czechoslovakia in 1972 and took three hours to complete his course! At the other end of the elite performance scale, in 2001 Grant Bluett won the men’s gold medal at the World Games in Japan - the first ever senior individual medal by a non-European competitor. In 2016 he was inducted into the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame.

scrutiny, and the personal nature of member profile Q&As all make great reading in retrospect. Penned by one of the sport’s more outspoken women, Sheralee Bailey produced very colourful versions of the BluePrint.

Other notable performances are Rodney Parkin’s Junior Championships win in 1973, and Tracy Bluett (now Marsh) twice winning W21E, at the Australian Championships.

Every member is important at Bennelong - as Marina Iskhakova, who carried on the newsletter from 2011 to 2016, showed by maintaining the practice of interviewing every new member. This attitude stems from what Marina and family would recognise as the club’s ‘one big family’ feel, with longstanding President Terry Bluett and wife Cheryl adopting them as family when they first came to Australia. Most club members feel the same.

Closer to home, in 1997 the Division 1 team broke through for its first win in the Sydney MetrO League - a competition started in 1994 by Bennelong stalwart the late Frank Assenza.

Sheralee, who also served a stint as President, showed in her writing it’s all about the people at Bennelong. Sure, we could win more championships …... but we don’t. Because we’re too busy enjoying ourselves to stare down the opposition.

Celebration The 50-year milestone is being celebrated with a dinner at Balgowlah RSL on 3 December 2021. The first 25 years was marked with a similar event in 1996 arranged by Janet Dawkins (aka Toilet Lady, since the 2009 World Masters Championships). This year’s event organisers are Katherine Cameron and Linda Mandin.

Many interesting stories are sure to be recounted. The event report could make entertaining reading!

1997 MetrO League Div 1 Winners: (L-R) Sheralee Bailey, Eric Morris, Terry Bluett, Steve Flick, & Anthony Flick. The fashion police were elsewhere that day!

Bennelong’s most recent foray on the national stage was co-hosting a very successful, and very tough, 2021 Easter carnival (rescheduled from 2020 due to coronavirus). It included the infamous Gumble map (west of Orange), which many participants reported being the toughest courses they had ever ‘run’.

Controversy It hasn’t been all smooth running at Bennelong over the years. The BluePrint newsletter, for example, has occasionally touched on some sensitive subjects - the President’s grip on the Club Championship was at one time the subject of

BENNELONG HONOUR ROLL World Championships Representatives Rod Dominish 1972 Grant Bluett 1993-2005 Tracy Bluett 1995-99, 2001, 2005 Eric Morris 2006 Junior World Championships Representatives Grant Bluett 1991-92 Tracy Bluett 1991-95 ONSW President’s Award Frank Assenza 1994 Terry Bluett 2000 ONSW Rookie Of The Year Melissa Grant 2005 Longest Continuous Members Male: Bruce Dawkins 49 years 1972-2021 Female: Janet Dawkins 43 years 1978-2021

Current Bennelong Northside President Terry Bluett at 2021 QB3.

Long-standing Bennelong members Bruce & Janet Dawkins at 1982 NSW Relay Champs.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

EARLY CLUBS – BENNELONG NORTHSIDE

24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

NOSH & The Great NOSH Footrace - History

T

he ‘other half’ of Bennelong’s merged entity, Northside Orienteers and Social Harriers (NOSH), initiated the club’s (now) signature event - a 16km trail run from Lindfield Oval to Seaforth Oval - The Great NOSH Footrace featuring more than 500m of climb, its stunning scenic route around Middle Harbour attracts around 400 runners each year.

Owen Hales, now 80, with friends started NOSH as a Monday night running club in the 1970s, with a play on words behind the name “Nosh”, aka ‘a nosh up’.

Since the runners made such a racket, chatting as they ran along on Monday nights, Hales made the rest of the acronym “social hustlers”, which became “harriers” as the name became more official. After a few years he met some of the key people back then who helped NOSH develop from a jogging group to an orienteering group.

The Great NOSH Footrace was devised by Hales as part of the NOSH club’s activities in 1975, originally finishing at Manly Dam. This meant runners had to cross Wakehurst Parkway.

Inevitably, the decision was made to finish at Seaforth Oval instead.

Hales and his son created the original trophy - a statuette made from old pipes in the pose of a runner - spray-painted gold. It did the job as NOSH trophy for quite a few of years. Helping to run The Great NOSH Footrace was an ‘all handson deck’ affair for all the NOSH-club families, leaving fond memories of directing runners at the various checkpoints.

But after the Bennelong merger in 1988 the race was in danger of folding - until Frank Assenza and his nephew Bill McCarthy took it on. And in 2010 new Bennelong members Darren Slattery and Joel Putnam stepped in to keep it going.

In 2017 Barbara Hill’s Bold Horizons took on the organisation of the NOSH, assisted by volunteers from Bennelong and ONSW’s other member clubs. Barbara added a 22km option in 2019 and the run continues to grow in popularity.

2021 Great NOSH Footrace. Photo: Bold Horizons.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

EARLY CLUBS – BAYSIDE KANGAROOS

Bayside Kangaroos – two clubs join forces Orienteering started in Victoria in 1969 and there was only one “club”, the Victorian Orienteering Association. It was soon realized there was a need to create several clubs to spread the workload of organising events and to provide a focus for members.

TEXT – MICHAEL HUBBERT & IAN BAKER Vic Sedunary.

T

he first club was the Red Kangaroos (RK), formed in 1972 as a spinoff from the original Richmond Harriers Orienteering Club. This club targeted business people from all over Melbourne.

At about the same time, Bayside Orienteers was started with a geographic target area of the beachside and neighbouring suburbs down as far as Mordialloc Creek. From here the Peninsula Orienteers took over although they eventually merged with Bayside Orienteers.

internationally. Angus Robinson was the 2016 World Junior Sprint Mountain Bike Orienteering Champion; Eddie Wymer competed at four WOCs; while Vic Sedunary and Merv Trease had the honour of setting the 2018 World Rogaining Championship in the USA.

Angus Robinson - 2016 JWMTBO Sprint Champion.

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

O

rienteering was introduced to the Australian public with an event at Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria, in August 1969. Amongst the competitors at this first event were Ray White, Mike Hubbert and George Claxton – wellknown Red Kangaroo Orienteers in later years. (In the Australian Marathon Championship the previous year, White and Claxton had finished 2nd and 4th behind world record holder Derek Clayton who also took up Orienteering later on). Co-organiser was Tom Andrews who persuaded Peter WillsCooke to assist in setting this first course.

Peter never became an active orienteer, preferring to stay with track & field.

Tom Andrews – Thumbs up for SILVA.

In December 1991, a meeting attended by members of Bayside Orienteers and the Red Kangaroos Orienteering clubs, voted to amalgamate with the new club to be known as Bayside Kangaroos Orienteers, under the leadership of Murray Hanna, the inaugural President, and the red kangaroo changed to blue.

The members of this combined group have witnessed a club that has flourished, with members from all over the metropolitan area and Geelong taking part in Park & Street, Bush and Mountain Bike events.

From 1992 onwards, the club has organised many Australian Orienteering Carnivals, while a number of members have represented our club/country

RED KANGAROO ORIENTEERS

A few months later at Elliott Lodge, near Healesville, the Novice course was won

by Tom Andrews in 1hr 23min 40sec and the Open course by Mike Hubbert in 3hrs 51min 25sec (only Mike and Tony Kerr of MUMC beat 4 hours!).

Originally Red Kangaroos was known as the Richmond Harriers Orienteering Club and members were closely involved in the establishment of Orienteering in Victoria, the VOA, and ultimately the OFA. Eddie Wymer – multiple WOC rep.

As the club began to attract new members solely interested in Orienteering the decision was made in

Tim Hatley.

May 1972 to change the name to the Red Kangaroo Orienteers. Members of the Red Kangaroos were prominent in the administration of the sport from the outset. John Lewis was President of the VOA for some years. Tom Andrews took on the promotion and education role in the OFA from its formation and Mike Hubbert was Treasurer of the VOA before becoming Secretary of the OFA for six years.

Philippa Lohmeyer-Collins

First Colour map

Pub-O

The first full-colour Orienteering map in Australia was introduced by the Red Kangaroos in March 1973 at an event at Egerton. Now, after many revisions, the map is known as Blackfellows Flat.

That first coloured map was printed on untearable waterproof paper. The innovation so incensed another club that, at their event two weeks later, they offered a map “specially printed on environmentally friendly dissolving paper”.

To the press, Orienteering was a novelty sport in the early days and Red Kangaroos capitalised on this with a number of promotional stunts including charity runs. One was Orienbeering and John Lewis claimed that he and John Hilton were lifetime Australian Orienbeering Champions having downed 13 coldies in 12 hotels over a 5km course in 59min. They share the title with a lamp-post which happened to get in the way. The extra drink was a navigational mistake and the bartender is still wondering about the clues he was asked to hand over.

Slaty Creek quickly followed for the 1973 Victorian Championships and that area became the venue for the 1985 Victorian Championships as part of WOCARN.

Mike Hubbert - Red Kangaroo.

The club introduced computers to the sport at the 1975 Australian Championships conducted at Mt. Tallarook. Wayne Fitzsimmons of Data General provided the hardware. The area is now known at Mt. Hickey.

The Overseas Influence World Championships It was in May 1976 that two Red Kangaroos hatched the plot to apply to host the 1985 World Orienteering Championships in Australia. The year 1985 was chosen because it was the most distant year for which the IOF had requested applications. With much lobbying of IOF member countries it is now history that Australia was awarded the WOC’85 event at the 1980 IOF Congress, attended by the same two Red Kangaroos as members of the Australian delegation of three. Tom Andrews went on to become Chairman of the IOF Development and Promotion Committee.

Red Kangaroos were amongst the earliest Australian competitors in the established European Orienteering events and were quick to show our European friends that there was thunder down under. Mike Hubbert was the first Australian to regularly compete on the UK Orienteering circuit and to venture beyond the Arctic Circle to run under the midnight sun in Norway’s Midnatsol Galoppen. Tales of the exploits of Louie The Fly (“Mr Lewis to you”) at Swedish Five-Day events are still related throughout O-Ringen circles.

Pub-O continued for some years in small towns like Ballan and Little River, usually on a Saturday night when Larry Sykes was setting courses the following day. Larry was an amateur magician, which explains some of his courses.

The Grog King at Easter events was another RK innovation. The rules were very simple – anyone who beat Louie was disqualified. Funnily enough, Louie never won the title.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

EARLY CLUBS – BAYSIDE KANGAROOS

Nick Collins.

Heather Leslie.

The Last Control

Sport Australia Hall of Fame

The RK post-event social always attracted visitors, particularly at cold events in winter. Graham Davies was chief pyromaniac for many years and his huge fires were the envy of other clubs. RKs were often the last to leave the event site and only after the supply of wood was exhausted.

In 1992, Tom Andrews was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame with the following citation:

Spreading the Ideal When Larry Sykes ran off the map once too often and finished up in his native New Zealand he formed the Red Kiwis in Palmerston North. John and Karen Walker moved to Canberra and formed the Red Roos in which John was Head Roo for many years. His calendar cartoons in 1979 are collectors’ items now. These two off-shoot clubs are still going strong.

The distinctive red & white Red Kangaroo badge was designed from the reverse side of the one penny coin. Badges and t-shirts carrying this design were quickly snapped up during overseas trips.

RKs have been a part of Orienteering since its inception in this country and were a substantial source of innovative ideas and administrative expertise as the sport grew.

Tom Andrews OAM – Administration – Orienteering Tom Andrews founded Orienteering in Australia. He organised the first orienteering event in Australia (Victoria) in August 1969, and produced the first Australian coloured Orienteering map in 1973 of Mt. Egerton, Victoria. He co-founded the Victorian Orienteering Association and the Orienteering Federation of Australia (now Orienteering Australia) in April 1970 and was Chairman of the OFA Promotion and Development Committee from 1970 to 1986.

Andrews was Chairman of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) Promotion and Development Committee from 1980 to 1982.

Andrews organised the first international competition for Australian orienteers, the 1971 Australia-New Zealand Challenge, and organised the 1985 World Orienteering Championships in Bendigo. This was the first time that the event had been held outside Europe and Andrews was instrumental in obtaining the Championships for Australia.

Andrews was the recipient of the 1986 Silver Orienteering Award for his contribution to the development of Orienteering in Australia, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1981.

Inspiration: “Cunning running”

1979 VIC Relays - Wayne Fitzsimons, Mike Hubbert, Neil Ryan.

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Sport Australia Hall of Fame at the Australian Sports Museum, MCG - Tom Andrews OAM.

BAYSIDE ORIENTEERS

B

ayside Orienteers had always seemed to be rather a family club.

From time to time a member starred in a junior or veteran grade – Michael Magasanik in juniors, for example, and Jarker Gorander in M43 and M50 – but were never prominent in the elite. But all this changed. At the Victorian Relay Champion­ships in April 1989 both the first and second Men’s Open teams were Bayside. (Sydney’s Big Foot were third).

The Early Days When the sport started in Victoria in 1969, the Victorian Orienteering Association was the club. A small core group of keen members did most of the work; this was alright at first but as the sport became more popular and events more frequent, once a fortnight in the season, we needed to take a fresh look at the way we were organised.

The VOA determined to encourage the formation of clubs as a focus for event organisation and to enable relay teams to be formed.

With Tony Pye, a regular attender at the time, Ian Baker founded Bayside Orienteers as the club for the

Suzanne O’Callaghan.

Stephen Collins.

beachside and neighbouring suburbs of Melbourne, later extended to the Mornington Penin­sula following the demise of Peninsula Orien­teers, (probably due to the lack of events near home). We circularised all orienteers in the area, wrote articles for the local paper and were formally founded at a public meeting and film show in Beaumaris on 5 June 1972. We were off to a healthy start, organising events on Forest Commission black-and-white maps to the east of Melbourne near Gembrook and in Churchill National Park.

Years of progress

Role of the Club

In 1978 club members fieldworked Sailors Falls, just south of Daylesford, for the Victorian Championships which were organised by Hank Pepplinkhouse.

The complex goldmining terrain was beyond their mapping expertise but most people seemed to enjoy it. The area was later remapped as Sailors Diggings as part of the 1985 World Championships/WOCARN program and is outstanding terrain. Cartographer of the original Sailors Falls map was Derek Clayton, for thirteen years holder of the world marathon record. Derek recognised that being fast on his feet was no good unless he was pointed the right way so started orienteering modestly in the forest, working up through the courses until he became a formidable competitor in M35 and absolutely unbeatable on the run-in to the Finish.

Any sporting club has a role beyond being a group of people to organise events. Over the years the club tried to create a Bayside culture or team spirit by providing a range of activities.

At major events away from Mel­ bourne there were campsites. In the summer they enjoyed weekends at Wil­sons Promontory and Lake Eildon.

Membership secretary Jill Miller organised How­man’s Gap Alpine Camp for more than 100 participants at the 1989 High-O at Falls Creek.

About 1973-74 the club had a big turnover of officers and lost momentum.

A core group of keen members worked together to relaunch the club, in 1975 producing their first colour map at Gembrook, Tonimbuk North. The terrain, later enlarged as Mortimer Park, used to be fast and runnable but is now heavily overgrown and impenetrable in places except to the occasional marijuana cultivator.

In 1979 Bayside launched `The Winter Classic’ as a two-day event near Gembrook with a chasing start on Day 2. It became an annual feature event with good publicity, good maps and trophies. Over the years they managed to attract sponsorship on a number of occasions, putting the money back into the event. The 1989 event marked the twentieth anniversary of `The Winter Classic’.

Steven O’Connell.

Bayside has had many prominent members over the years, some achieving great success, others working energetically behind the scenes. Eddie Wymer became Bayside’s first ever WOC team member. Margaret Dunbar has won many Australian veterans athletics titles. Rod and Jill Miller were a social focus and hard workers as custodians of the gear trailer for many years. Now, Ian Baker is the only original member. He was an M35 when he started and, more than 2400 events after his first outing in 1970, has recently been promoted to M85.

Mapping

John Sheahan.

Recognising a lack of expertise at mapping, they decided to concen­trate efforts on organising well-attended events and to use the funds generated to pay for maps. Steve Key, later the principal mapper for the 1985 WOC, prepared Kurth Kiln for the 1980 `The Winter Classic’.

By the end of 2020, Ian Baker had completed 2386 events as competitor, organiser or course-setter.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

EARLY CLUBS – BIG FOOT

Big Foot turns 40 The definitive tale of a larrikin orienteering club

g Foot in about 1990

MICHAEL ROYLANCE

Big Foot Budkavle relay team 1983

I

n the winter of 1981, a clique of undergraduates at UNSW hatched a scheme to secure parking spots available to sporting clubs in the university. This would enable those entitled to drive through the university gates and park on the grounds. A persistent myth is that the minimum membership to recognise such a club was seven. That six was the original number of Big Foot members is probably no more than a coincidence and the legend that it was actually seven is no more than that.

Some of the original cast members had graduated from St Ives High School the previous year and had developed as orienteers under the tutelage of Ron Junghans, then a maths teacher and scarcely much older than his charges.

He and Barbara ferried some of the crew to the Victorian champs in their VW micro bus in 1980 when they were still students. In 1981 the founding members were Paul Darvodelsky, Greg Barbour, Anthony Scott, Alexander Stollznow, Edwina Mulhearn and Stephen Blanks. Of the original cast, Greg Barbour and Stephen Blanks are still club members, the others having moved away or in the case of Darvo, sadly deceased. Conflicting rumours abound as to who were the main instigators and who should get the credit.

Greg and Darvo traditionally get the credit but according to another telling it was Alexander Stollznow who pulled out his compass when the swamp of bureaucratic process and red tape required careful navigation.

The truth is probably an amalgam of the above. Whatever the case, Big Foot was born from a casual desire to obtain parking space from an overly generous university. One cannot imagine them giving so freely of their car spaces in 2021.

KROOC was the name originally mooted for the club which was itself an indicator of the unserious nature of the venture.

This is the title the club proclaimed in its first newsletter.

A group of undergraduate pranksters like The Young Ones of BBC fame is not an unfair comparison. You can just imagine Rick Mayall and Alexei Sayle screaming through the undergrowth all in pink, although the pink would not actually arrive until the mid-80s. The OANSW refusing to register the name KROOC, some other titles where then considered almost all just as inappropriate. Big Foot (originally Big Feet), being one of the less offensive, stuck. An accident of history or just the luck of the draw you might say.

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

The first Big Foot map was St Ives created in 1983 and still in use today, mapped by Anthony Scott and Paul Darvodelsky courtesy of a grant from UNSW. The first Big Foot event was staged on a borrowed map in 1981 or early 1982; these details remain unclear.

After its initial formation the club grew rapidly seeming to feed off the pent-up demand for a less conservative approach among the younger generation. According to various reports the club sailed along for several years, never taking itself seriously until the arrival of one member who took it from adolescence to adulthood. This person, according to one telling, was Warwick Marsden who joined in the mid-80s.

There were several prominent members who joined prior to and after him, some of whom remain with the club today (in no particular order): Andrew MacDonald, Andrew Lumsden, Mal Stewart, Mark Darvo, Anne Darvo, Graham Turner, Arnold Simson, Ljubov Simson, Stephen Blanks and Peter Garran among them. And later Mike Billinghurst, Andy Simpson, Cameron Osborne, Jock Davis, Nicola Nigh, Stephen Craig, Mick Finn, Andrew Wisniewski, Tony Maloney, Richard Mountstephens.

Much of the club history is chronicled in the ‘Big Foot Prints’ - a journal of changing style and frequency dependent on who had the energy and inspiration at any given point in time. The very first missive was typed on Anthony Scott’s typewriter and distributed by post. A copy is posted with this for you to peruse and recall a time of hard copy, postage stamps, envelopes, and no spell checkers. The journal has been absent for several years now and this may well be the last such missive in the lineage. Times and technology being what they are today, the vast internet has superseded Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. Instagram, Messenger, Facebook and TikTok speed images and commentary between orienteers with a spontaneity scarcely imagined in 1981. There was no ONSW website back then.

Although the club emerged from a high school on Sydney’s north shore it has evolved to accept membership from across the globe and still has members who have immigrated, joined and then re-immigrated and remained members. Over the years Big Foot has benefited enormously both competition wise and socially from overseas orienteering talent.

Big Foot in about 1990

Along the way Big Foot has matured and now it approaches middle age. The originators have grey hair as their children prepare to step into their shoes.

The club still retains a semblance of the attitude that sets it apart in the orienteering fraternity. It has the feeling of a tight-knit family sometimes absent from the larger clubs.

The very first Big Foot Prints, circa spring 1981.

Uncle Ron Junghans, the Godfather of Big Foot cooling his heels at the Western and Hills Metrogaine ‘The Rest is History’ organised by Graeme Hill circa 2010.

Ron scores double points here for environmental conservation, firstly for reusing the ice water and secondly for repurposing the esky.

At the time of writing (September 2021) much of the world is in lockdown due to the COVID 19 pandemic which has been rampant around the globe since early 2020. Life generally has been disrupted with orienteering no exception. Many events have been cancelled and the orienteering calendar is in disarray. Notwithstanding we must recognise this anniversary of Big Foot Orienteers although celebrating it will be difficult with personal travel limited by stay-at-home orders.

Thanks are due to many people for retaining the artefacts, some of which you see here and also the oral history. Anthony Scott has maintained the history of the Big Foot Prints faithfully over the years and we owe him thanks also for the photos.

He along with Stephen Blanks, Greg Barbour and Alexander Stollznow provided the oral history which filled in some of the blanks (no pun intended), now recorded here for the reference of members, past, current and future. Scotty’s entire trove of Big Foot Prints has been scanned to PDF and is available free to club members although you might have to provide a memory stick. The entire cache is around 200MB. Thanks also to all those current members who provided correction and input during the editorial process. As the current president who has compiled this brief narrative, I can claim but scant credit and only add my name for the record.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

EARLY CLUBS – YARRA VALLEY

Yarra Valley to celebrate 50 Years Extracts from “Navigating 45 Years – A History of the Yarra Valley Orienteering Club 1972 – 2017”

by Peter Black

I

n 1972, the VOA began to actively promote the establishment of clubs. The objectives were to: • provide a nucleus for event organisation, and • foster future growth of the sport.

At first, most clubs were formed to tap specific geographical areas. John Poppins and Alex Tarr were approached to form a club that would cover the north eastern suburbs of Melbourne and, on 31st July 1972, a meeting was held in the Ivanhoe Harriers clubrooms to establish such a club. The optional names were Diamond Valley Orienteering Club or Yarra Valley Orienteering Club. The latter name was selected because it referred to a wider area. Alex Tarr was appointed president with Keith Gough as secretary and Herb Oliver as treasurer.

Other orienteering clubs were formed under this VOA initiative. These were Bayside, Peninsula, Red Kangaroos, Tuckonie, Melbourne University Mountaineering Club (MUMC - later to be renamed EMU), Super Turtles (Monash University), St Leo’s (College), Latrobe University and Navigators.

Rockhoppers followed in 1973. Country clubs Eureka and Bendigo were formed in 1975 and 1977 respectively. Eltham College was another Melbourne club formed in the late 1970s, changing its name to Nillumbik in 1980 to broaden its appeal.

Central Highlands Orienteering Club formed in 1983.

During the 1970s and 1980s, some of these clubs thrived, some merged and some became defunct. New clubs were formed by individuals or groups with objectives of their own.

Brumby and Dandenong Ranges clubs formed as off shoots of Yarra Valley, Brumby by the Dalheim family in 1976 and Dandenong Ranges by the Key family in 1979. Yarra Valley and Tuckonie orienteering clubs are the only original clubs that have continued without merging.

Who were we?

Alex and Janet Tarr and some of their friends and relatives were the nucleus of the new club. Founding president Alex Tarr, as well as being a librarian by profession, was a keen race walker and bushwalker and so brought some learnt navigational skills to the club, although his subsequent

Tim Dent – 2011.

32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Alex Tarr.

renowned skills as Orienteering mapmaker were to be progressively self-developed. Along with Alex and his wife Janet a teacher and bush walker, the founding member list included other Tarr relatives Jim Geddes (cousin of Janet Tarr), and John Geddes (Janet Tarr’s brother).

Other athletes prominent in the list were John Poppins (bush walker), Harry Summers (a national level race walker), and Michael Hunt (a former Mr Australia and developer of several health clubs). Also joining later in 1972 were Peter Whitmore and Bill Hood (scoutmaster and friend of Harry Summers) and the Lumsden family.

The year 1973 brought the Dalheim family (Hal, Margaret, Hal Jnr and Carl) to the club. Hal Dalheim, a Norwegian born engineer, had many orienteering skills and the Dalheim house became a social centre for the club. This family unit was strong in orienteering – the Dalheims won 5 out of the 12 classes in the 1974 Victorian Championships.

Hal Dalheim did much to energise YVOC and became the second club president in 1975. In the next year he organised the first Easter 3-Days carnival in Victoria on the Strath Creek plateau. Subsequently, in late 1976, Hal formed his own club, Brumby Orienteering Club, and continued to play an important role in Australian orienteering. In 1978, he managed the Australian team to compete in the World Orienteering Championship (WOC) in Norway.

Also joining in 1973 were Tim and Helen Dent. Tim was also very successful in Australian and international Rogaines. Tim became YVOC treasurer and later, from 1981 to 1983, club president.

In 1974, Australia sent its first team to the World Orienteering Championships in Denmark. Alex Tarr and Tim Dent were selected and, when in Denmark, they met fellow Australian team member and YVOC member-to-be Peta Whitford. Thus started a long history of YVOC members in representative Australian teams.

1972 - The first Australian orienteering team including David Hogg (left), Alex Tarr (centre) and Tom Andrews (right).

Peta Whitford.

SPORT INTEGRITY

Tips for Masters to avoid sport integrity pitfalls SPORT INTEGRITY AUSTRALIA – 1ST OCTOBER 2021

C

ontinuing to play sport as we age is regarded as an ideal facilitator of healthy ageing through enhanced physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

And as the international sporting arena continually strives to create options for all, there are more and more competitive opportunities for sport loving Australians over the age of 35 within the masters’ cohort.

From archery to Orienteering to wrestling, and every letter of the alphabet in between, almost every sport offers mastersage competitions at major events such as the Australian, Pan-Pacific and World Masters Games, and within many local sporting communities.

While acknowledging these events are often a mix of social and elite competitors, Sport Integrity Australia’s Director of Education, Alexis Cooper, says the agency is committed to safeguarding sport across all ages and stages of their careers.

“The masters category represents a unique population within the sport integrity framework, from both an athlete perspective and as role models to the next generation of sports people,” Cooper says.

“While some might think that competition as we age would be more free of controversy, athletes in this category can still experience the pitfalls of sport integrity matters with the same harsh penalties that are afforded to their younger counterparts.

As Cooper suggests, if you’re a master with young sportsters of your own, you’re also in a great position to educate our next generation.

You can do this via our Parent’s Guide to Clean Sport and by supporting your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and neighbours to simply have fun on the sporting field. The ‘Let Kids be Kids’ campaign is a great resource for parents and clubs.

Interested in playing masters sport at a more competitive level?

There are three key Masters Games in 2022 for Aussie masters to get excited about: • Australian Masters Games: 23-30 April, Perth • World Masters Games: May 2022, Japan, Now postponed

“There have certainly been cases where Masters athletes have been stripped of records and medals, and sanctioned due to failed drug tests.”

•P an Pacific Masters Games: 4-13 November 2022, Gold Coast

Earlier this year a 52-year-old masters’ cyclist from California received a four-year ban for the possession, use and attempted use of 10 different substances, including steroids and growth hormone.

Some interesting facts about Masters Games:

Likewise, in 2020, the 48 year-old masters world record holder for the 10,000m in athletics tested positive to steroids and received a four-year ban.

To avoid such heartbreak, Cooper recommends: •E ducating yourself on the full range of sport integrity matters; •C hecking your supplements via the Sport Integrity Australia app; •E nsuring your medication is not banned in sport on Global DRO; and •U nderstanding the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) requirements.

She says you can do all this by downloading the Sport Integrity App via the Apple store or Google Play.

•T he first World Masters Games was held in Toronto, Canada in 1985 with 8,305 athletes from 61 countries.

The most recent World Masters Games (9th) was held in Auckland, New Zealand, with 28,571 athletes from around 100 countries.

•T he World Masters has been held in Brisbane 1994, Melbourne 2002 and Sydney 2009.

•T he first Australian Masters Games was held in Tasmania in 1987 and has travelled around Australia every two years.

•T he Pan Pacific Masters Games is another biennial masters event which attracted 32,400 tourists to the Gold Coast in 2018 injecting $19 million into the Queensland economy.

• The minimum age for many sports is now 30.

•Y ou don’t have to be a superstar to compete! With no qualifying standards or times, the only entry requirement is a minimum age for each sport.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

OPINION

Why Orienteering will NEVER get into the Olympics Opinion piece by Raphael Mak, founder of ORIEN.ASIA (www.orien.asia) August 2021

G

etting into the Olympics has been every orienteering athlete’s dream. A sport that has over a century of history and played by tens of thousands of active athletes worldwide — who doesn’t want this fun navigation sport to enter the Olympics?

Except that Orienteering has never succeeded. In 2000, the Leibnitz Convention held in Austria declared entering the Olympic Games to be a goal. Five Summer Olympics have passed after that, and Orienteering has always been passed over in favour of other new sports, including surfing and skateboarding in the Olympics in Tokyo this year.

Here I’ll make a bold claim - Orienteering will never get into the Olympics.

Classic Orienteering events are not suitable for the Olympics. The format is neither TV nor spectator friendly, the venue is often remote and the duration of the event (over 90 minutes for men) is too long.

Gerry Brady, The Olympics, Orienteering and Ireland

This is one of the reasons why Sprint Orienteering, and to some extent Maze Orienteering, have been so strongly promoted since the 2000s. I’ve heard people (in Sweden) saying that they don’t understand what’s going on when the TV was transmitting Orienteering competitions live. Spectators deserve to know who’s winning the race, at first sight. This can’t be achieved with interval start which is the norm in Orienteering; newer formats like knockout Sprint with mass start might solve the problem.

GPS tracking technology has also improved the lots for Orienteering spectators (although accuracy still leaves something to be wanted), with which people can understand better how different route choices contribute to time loss or gain.

Orienteering in urban settings has increased the visibility of the sport since the 2000s. Pictured: a village near Guangzhou, China. Photo: Raphael Mak

Many theories, no success Theories abound as to why Orienteering never gets to the Olympics.

One of the most given reasons is that Orienteering is “not TV friendly”. If you search “why couldn’t Orienteering enter the Olympics” on Google, the top result (as of writing) is an article posted on the Irish Orienteering Federation website, which says: 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Orienteering has also expanded to become a global sport on six continents, and we have the most populous country in the world on board, where Orienteering is quite of a big hit.

Major Orienteering competitions also do get a lot of sponsorship — just look at all the logos at O-Ringen or World Championships.

With the huge improvement in conditions, you might think Orienteering should have got into the Olympics in the 2010s or 2020s.

But this hasn’t happened.

So what is the matter with Orienteering — why could Orienteering never get into the Olympics?

The real reason Here’s what I think is the real reason — Orienteering is NOT cool. For the majority of people on earth. You might be saying: WHAT?

Here’s what I mean: most people don’t care about Orienteering like they do other sports.

Why is that?

Participation in World Orienteering Championships is low outside of Western countries. Pictured: WOC 2014 in Italy. Photo: Raphael Mak

Not yet a global sport - and it’s not just numbers

The number of member federations in the IOF as of writing is 75, which is very marginal for inclusion into the Olympics.

Having more member countries in the IOF, however, won’t solve the problem. Which brings us to another problem — the sport is too focused on Europe.

Participants in the World Championships and other high level global events have largely been European athletes, athletes from other Western countries, and some Asian athletes, with only a few from elsewhere.

And the results lists are almost certainly dominated by European orienteers.

The national quota system implemented in the 2010s, where higher ranked countries get more start positions in the World Championships, worsened the situation.

(Ironically, this was supposed to address another problem thought to be a hurdle towards Olympics, namely TV watchability.)

Resistance to change There’s also a huge problem in Orienteering - resistance to change.

Orienteering is, by and large, seen to be a European phenomenon. Even in Europe, the sport is still biased around Northern and Central Europe. And this is not going to change any time soon.

Of the 37 WOCs thus far organised, how many of them are outside Europe? Three.

Just three. That’s 8% of venues for over 90% of the world’s population.

The three WOCs held outside Europe are: • 1985 in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia • 1993 in West Point, New York, USA • 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan

No particular cultural linkage Equestrian events are in the Olympics because they’re culturally important.

Judo and Taekwando are in the Olympics because they’re culturally rooted (with Japan and Korea respectively).

Golf returned to the Olympics in 2016, and its socio-cultural status (combined with its spread) might explain why.

Orienteering? You could argue it has a cultural linkage with Sweden, but I tell you, it’s a very weak linkage. And nowadays Swedes probably watch and/or play crosscountry skiing (both of which are in the Winter Olympics) more than Orienteering, not to mention that the vast majority of Swedes (at least according to my estimation) don’t play Orienteering anymore after trying it at school.

Not to mention we lack financially or politically important people (compared to other sports) that would help us persuade the IOC on our behalf.

“Coolness”

Breakdancing will be introduced in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This got me thinking.

Skateboarding is cool. Young people like skateboarding, and the sport is highly visible in urban settings. People often talk about skateboarding casually.

Can you say the same with Orienteering?

Obviously not.

Do young people (outside of Orienteering arenas) like orienteering? Doubtful.

Is Orienteering highly visible? Doubtful, if not in the occasional City Races, which is hard to come by (think road closures).

Do people often talk about Orienteering casually? Probably not outside Orienteering circles, except mentioning that it’s a thing scouts do.

Talk with anyone on the street: “Do you want to go orienteering?” I bet you’ll get answers like “What’s Orienteering?” “What if I get lost?”

Orienteering has ramped up in technical difficulty in the past century, thanks to improvement in mapping and printing technology. The side effect, unfortunately, is Orienteering has increasingly become an insider sport rife with specific navigation techniques hardly understood by outsiders.

The takeaway is, Orienteering is NOT cool. At least not outside the Orienteering community.

This is more pronounced in traditional Orienteering countries like Sweden, where Orienteering is largely, if not exclusively, associated with forests. Not to mention that the magazine of the Swedish Orienteering Federation is called Skogssport (forest sport).

Orienteering in urban environments has seen a huge upswing in the two decades past.

This is encouraging as people need a familiar environment to try something new.

But before Sprint/Urban Orienteering gets a status equal to Forest Orienteering, the Olympic cause is hopeless.

Is the Olympic dream dead?

The Olympic dream is not 100% dead for Orienteering. But with the number of Summer Olympic sports capped at 28, the bar is considerably high which we can’t possibly pass in this decade.

We need to make Orienteering cool, worldwide.

Make Orienteering truly a global sport.

Invest not just in expanding the number of countries, but also make more non-European athletes get onto the podium at World Championships.

Make urban Orienteering a priority. And it’s not just Sprint Orienteering. Explore more mass-start competition formats that will engage spectators.

Make Orienteering simple. Orienteering shouldn’t be an insider sport with lots of specific skills and techniques. (I get why some orienteers like technical difficulty, but that just makes things less attractive for outsiders.)

Make change, encourage change. That’s why Norrsken Orienteering which I co-founded in Sweden is almost exclusively about urban Orienteering. That’s why I started the Metrunner Stockholm City Race with a 16 km long distance urban Orienteering race. That’s why I started ORIEN.ASIA — to make Asian Orienteering more visible worldwide.

Start making change now. If we start trying making Orienteering cool, maybe Orienteering will get into the Olympics in 20-30 years.

Skateboarding and Sport Climbing are two of the new sports for the Tokyo Olympics this year.

In Sweden, Orienteering is largely associated with forests, urban Orienteering being considered “second-class”. Photo: Raphael Mak

Some people say that it’s not worthwhile for Orienteering to continue trying, that it’s better for Orienteering to be a sport on its own. I beg to differ; I prefer dreams followed by actions.

Orienteering might get into the Olympics, perhaps never. It’s just incredibly hard.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

MTBO

NZ MTBOers shine at World Masters

BY PETE SWANSON (ONZ CHAIR) - 12 OCT 2021

U

K-based Kiwi Mountain Bike Orienteering competitors (MTBOers), Rachel and Liam Drew, have had some outstanding results at the World Masters MTBO Championships 2021 held in Abrantes, Portugal.

Rachel achieved a clean sweep in the W45 class, taking out 1st place across the Long & Middle Distance, Sprint and Mass Start events. This also gave Rachel the win in the World MTBO Masters Series which takes results from across several championship events (all European based this year).

Rachel Drew celebrates.

Liam (M45) achieved a 6th in the Mass Start and 4th in the Middle Distance event, but this was enough to give him the title in the World MTBO Masters Series as well.

This is an outstanding result and Rachel is one of the few Kiwi athletes to achieve a clean sweep across all races at a world masters championships, in any discipline.

Rachel rounds the corner

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Liam during the Sprint.

Liam Drew in the sand.

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

NEWS

OA News OA Board

Valerie Barker steps down

H

anny Allston and Matthew Dunstan have resigned from their positions as Director, Coaching and General Manager. Matthew stepped down at the end of September.

The resignations were due to unexpected time pressures in their lives outside orienteering. In both cases, COVID was a factor; it increased the time they need to spend elsewhere earning a living. Hanny and Matthew have offered to volunteer for OA in narrower roles.

Brett Weihart has been confirmed as a new Director.

SILVA Medal 2021 Darryl Erbacher – OA Statistician

T

he SILVA Medal for 2021 has been won by Marina Iskhakova (RR-A).

Congratulations Marina.

Medal a countback based on average winning margins was used.

Orienteers who scored 10 points or more are listed below: Marina Iskhakova Greg Barbour Warren Key * Jenny Hawkins Grant Bluett Chris Brown Sue Key Steve Flick Milla Key Matt Doyle Jennifer Enderby Gareth Candy Wayne Eliot Tracy Marsh Tom Walter Toby Cazzolato Mikayla Enderby Mace Neve Jock Davis Istvan Kertesz Erika Enderby Emily Sorensen Briohny Seaman

RR A BF N MF V BS A AO A EV T MF V BN N MF V CC A NC N AO A UR N BF N RR A SW S ST N RR A BF N GO N NC N SW S WR N

W40A M55A M60A W75A M45A W60A W65A M70A W16A M21E W50A M40A M35A W45A M40A M18E W18E W35A M50A M35A W16A W20E W35A

12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

0.31 0.18 0.14 0.09 0.07 0.06

*Previous winner of SILVA Medal

Vale Tony Mount

O © PhotosByTom.com.au

The SILVA Medal competition for 2021 is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian 3-Days Championships (each day considered as a separate event), and other events including the cancelled Sprint, Middle & Long Distance Australian Championships and the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships. For 2021 the OA Board decided to make an award based solely on the Australian 3-Days.

Points are scored for completing a course as follows: 1st – 4; 2nd – 3; 3rd – 2 and 1 for finishing, 1 point if there are less than 4 starters.

Six orienteers won all three days scoring a maximum of 12 points. To determine the winner of the SILVA 38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

rienteers will be saddened to learn that long-time orienteer Tony Mount passed away on October 25th, at the age of 90. Tony was one of the stalwarts of Orienteering in Tasmania, having started orienteering with his wife Sue in 1974. He was president of OT in 1975, 1976 and 1989 and was made a Life Member of Orienteering Tasmania in 1985, for outstanding service to OT. Among his many Orienteering successes were winning the Australian Long Distance Championship in his age class 12 times, and the Easter 3 Days 12 times, most recently in 2018 in Tasmania. With Sue (who passed away in 2019) Tony was always very enthusiastic about welcoming newcomers to the sport. Our sympathies go to his sons Stephen, Richard and Chris and their families.

Orienteering Tasmania

Blair Trewin

V

alerie Barker is stepping down after a lengthy period of involvement in schools orienteering in Australia spanning more than 20 years.

Most recently, she stepped in to chair the OA Schools Committee in 2018 – initially for one year but she ended up doing it for three.

This committee was established to manage the transition of the Australian Schools Championships (ASOC) to a purely OA-managed event after School Sport Australia removed Orienteering from its list of endorsed championship sports, with its chair being the replacement for the previous National Secretary role under School Sport Australia.

Valerie led this process, which was a complex one of establishing rules and policies for the championships and bringing everything that needed to be brought across from the old system – the sort of work that isn’t particularly visible for most people but is important to make things happen. The Australian Schools Championships have been one of the great success stories of Australian orienteering since they first took their current form in 1989, and it has been a very high priority of OA to maintain and strengthen them.

This was merely the latest chapter in Valerie’s contributions. Her first involvement in national schools orienteering was as a long-standing leader of the highly-successful ACT team. She has also managed a number of national teams, most notably Schools Test match teams which have travelled to New Zealand – an important step in the development of many young orienteers.

(Orienteering Australia has now moved to a system where the current Organiser for any given ASOC year would then step into a one-year transitional advisory position for the following year.

Meisha Austin, Orienteering Tasmania & ASOC 2021 organiser, has already indicated that she would be willing and pleased to do this, and is now working with the Organiser (Asha Steer) for ASOC 2022 in Victoria).

Spot the Difference

With the summer events coming up it’s time to brush up on your Sprint map reading skills again. Here is a complex Sprint map. MAP 1 (above) is essentially the original map. MAP 2 (below) contains 25 changes. Some of the changes will be easy to find and some will not.

CAN YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

Spot the Difference

THE SEPTEMBER PUZZLE In the September magazine we gave you a complex Forest map.

There were 25 differences between MAP 1 and MAP 2.

DID YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

The solutions to the September puzzle are shown on the opposite page.

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

THE SEPTEMBER SOLUTION. There were 25 differences between MAP 1 and MAP 2. DID YOU FIND ALL 25 ???

The solutions to the September puzzle are shown here.

Christmas gift idea

O • • • •

NSW is trialling club membership as a Christmas gift idea for someone who has done a couple of events and really liked them has been thinking about joining a club and might need that final ‘push’ has children who have enjoyed an Orienteering experience belonged to a club but let their membership lapse

They’ll be able to access member-only entry fees, season tickets to selected Series and a host of other benefits.

Gift orders for a 2022 ONSW membership will open in November and be available until December 23. Gift membership details will be dispatched to the lucky new members from mid-December.

Ian Jessup – Marketing & Communications Officer

pretex Jim Russell

Ph. 0411 125 178 jymbois@gmail.com

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https://goo.gl/t81zFf DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

FUNDRAISING

Philanthropy in Sport or how to leave a sporting legacy (and maybe even save on your tax too!)

BY IAN DODD - B. Bus (Accg) FTIA Certified Tax Advisor, DR-V Treasurer

Disclaimer: This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.

So you want to leave your club with a legacy?

A

s we know, many orienteering competitors also volunteer in various capacities: map makers, coaches, club officials or any of the other important tasks that need to be done. The legacy they leave with this volunteering helps their clubs, their sport and the community generally. I think we do a pretty good job of recognising many of those who have contributed significantly to our sport.

But volunteering your time and expertise is only one way you can contribute. The idea of contribution via philanthropy has, perhaps, been a little less explored. Now I know that if you asked the average orienteer to pony-up more money for Orienteering, their first thought might be “haven’t I already paid out enough in entry fees?” Well, aside from the probably larger contribution you have made to the multinational oil companies just getting to events, the fact is that most entry fees usually only cover the day-to-day running activities of your typical club.

Across Australia, many clubs are doing it tough. According to the “Impact of Covid-19 on Community Sport – Survey Report September 2021 Update”1 the average small sports club/association in Australia has lost $11,262 in revenue over the last year from the effects of COVID restrictions. Some of this has been recovered via government grants and subsidies, but just 16% of small clubs reported an increase in income in 2021. The same report found that 13% of all sporting clubs in Australia believe they now have an uncertain financial future and might be forced to shut down permanently.

I decided to see what was happening in the sports philanthropy field for small clubs. As a Tax Agent, my first thought was “can I get a tax deduction for sports donations?” I knew that whilst most sports clubs are not-for-profit entities, they are not DGRs or Deductible Gift Recipients. This classification is reserved for charities, hospitals and similar benevolent institutions. So, whilst I can certainly give my club some cash or pay for a new trophy, I can’t expect a personal tax deduction to apply.

If I owned a business, I could perhaps have my business sponsor an Orienteering event. The business would possibly be able to claim a tax deduction (providing the usual legal requirements are met). However, this is really a separate topic which I won’t explore further here; I recommend talking to a qualified tax advisor before going down this pathway.

So if I want to make a significant financial contribution to my favourite sport, what are my options? The big question is when am I going to make the contribution? Now a warning, we are going to get a bit serious here. The two options - as far as timing is concerned are – (1) pretty soon, or (2) when you’ve punched that very last, final control (i.e. you’re dead!) Of course you could do both options if you wanted to.

With option (1), you can donate the cash while you are still around to bask in the glory of all your goodness. With option (2), not so much.

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

With option (1) you crack open the piggy bank or, these days, whip out the credit card. Option (2) requires a bequest (as the lawyers call it) in your will and here you will (probably) need a lawyer.

Now you are probably thinking “after I’m dead who cares about tax deductions” and you might be correct there. If, in your will, you have made appropriate provisions for your descendants, you might bequest the balance to your favourite Orienteering Association (or your favourite Australian Orienteer contributor? No? - worth a try!)

If you want to do something now, it gets a bit trickier as you may want to first work out if you have left yourself enough cash for your retirement. This is particularly difficult with current interest rates practically nil, and retirees having to scrape around for an income flow. If you are still working – or better yet have a sizable retirement income - then a nice little tax deduction might well get the generosity juices flowing. How can this be done? The Australian Sports Foundation is the answer.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that something to do with the AIS? Or is it the government department that hands out grants to National Federations or something? Nope, it isn’t. The Australian Sports Foundation is Australia’s leading non-profit sports fundraising body. I know this ‘cos I read it on their website: https://sportsfoundation.org.au/ (it’s called research, people!). They operate Australia’s only sport-specific and tax-deductible fundraising platform. As a not-for-profit body themselves, they retain only 5% of donated funds (plus any credit card charges) to cover the costs of administering their activities and grant programs. The ASF is not a government body but does report annually to the relevant Federal Sports Minister.

So you give them the cash; they give it to your nominated sports project; you get the tax deduction.* Simples!

Perhaps it’s all coming back now – isn’t that the thing Blair used to bang on about in June each year? Yep. So what are the projects you can choose from? There are three categories: • Clubs and Associations • Individual Athletes (alas the word ‘athlete’ pretty much rules me out) • Community Projects Which ones are for Orienteering, you ask?

At the time of writing (yes, I have done all the hard googling for you here) and in no particular order: • Orienteering Tasmania Performance Fund; • Orienteering ACT Development Fund; • Orienteering WA Development Fund; • Orienteering Australia Funds; • Southern Arrows WOC Support Fund; • National Junior Orienteering Team; • High Performance; • National MTBO Team; • National Senior Team; • OA General Fund.

To find out more about each option and help make your selection, I offer bonus advice: you can read all about it on the website itself – well I can’t do everything for you!

Now, orienteers are a cunning bunch (at least I read this on some old bumper stickers) and I can imagine a few of you thinking: “what happened to my State?” Clearly some of us are potentially missing out here! Where is the “M60 Crotchety Old Victorian Has-beens and Neverwere Portaloo Toilet Paper Fund” for instance? Well, as far as I can see, any club or individual can add their own project. It’s pretty much a GoFundMe for Australian sport, but to be successful you need to think before signing up.

What is your project? What is your goal? What will success mean?

How will you promote it? How will you convince others to fund you or your club? How will you thank donors and how will you keep it up-to-date (dead projects get no attention)? The ASF has templates and lots of good advice to help you along. If you want to register a new Fund, first check with your State Association or the OA Director of Finance for any Orienteering-specific procedures to be followed.

Some work to do there, I think. But is the work in setting up a program through ASF any harder than organising a cake stall at events, or a sausage sizzle? And the benefits can continue long after the cake stall tent has been packed away, particularly if you have donors signed to a monthly giving program.

So, does it work?

According to the ASF’s audited annual report, in 2020 they distributed over $43 million to Australian sports clubs and athletes.

Over 4,400 individual fundraisers (clubs, schools, athletes and organisations at all levels) were helped. The top sport was AFL getting $15.7 million. No surprise there, but heading the nonprofessional-TV-sports (at 9th place overall) was Rowing with $1.12 million pocketed! Imagine what Australian orienteering clubs could do with $1 million! Maybe even get a national team that can beat the Kiwis! Here’s my message: no more money for Collingwood FC (or the Roosters for you northern orienteers) – send it to Orienteering!

Enough said.

Funding received by Orienteering Australia through the ASF has clearly helped in achieving goals and targets set. OA has also received bequest funding, notably the generous Moira Whiteside Bequest which has been used for assisting to promote the annual Australian Championships.

I think we can do better. We need projects that inspire and deliver outcomes that can motivate donors. And we can be a lot less timid in our promotion of these projects. Ask your club or State Association what they are doing. To quote from the ASF report “it is vital that clubs embrace a culture of fundraising and embrace new forms of fundraising technology”. The old chook raffle is no longer going to cut it.

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VICTORINOX AWARD This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Warwick Moore (Tasmania) for his unenviable task leading the organization of the Australian Championships carnival, now twice cancelled due to COVID restrictions.

Warwick will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $139.

If COVID has taught us one thing, it is that sport is important for both physical and mental health, and it will not thrive if we don’t take it seriously. Orienteers who support the goals of our Associations and appreciate what sport can do for the community, may be far more willing than we think to leave their contribution in a form other than volunteer hours. You may be one of them. We need to show potential benefactors how to help and what can be achieved. Pay it forward for future orienteers.

Notes: 1

Survey of members commissioned by the Australian Sports Foundation updating earlier survey in May 2020. The majority of Australian orienteering clubs and Associations fall in the “small club” category of this report (<1,000 members and <$250,000 income).

* The dreaded asterisk fine print! Glad to see you were paying attention. As a general rule you cannot get a tax deduction for gifts that you, or associates or relatives make that directly benefit yourself. So I can’t get a tax deduction for money I (or my wife) donate to my “Get-Ian-to-the-World-Masters-in-Europe Fund”. If you are not sure, get some professional advice first.

For goodness sake, don’t call me – ask my wife: she knows everything!

O n reflection I think she would still be happy to donate to any fund that gets me out of the house for a while!

Advertise your event A colour 6 x 9 cm event ad for just $50 Send artwork to The Editor: mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au

DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

FORENSIC ORIENTEERING

Mystery may be solved by orienteering

Reviewing the available representations of his route after leaving Cheeky Monkey’s confirmed what I’d thought. Theo made some, if not all of these classic mistakes while trying to find his way back several kilometres to the Wake Up! tourist hostel where he was staying.

PETER HOPPER, STRATEGIC INVESTIGATIONS, 10 OCTOBER 2021

U

nfortunately for me, as a pedantic orienteer, once lost it usually takes me longer than most to get back on track. I have to figure out not just where I am and how to recover, but also how I got lost in the first place. Sure, I could do that after the event, once I’ve recorded a half-decent time. But being pedantic means I get engrossed in the exercise of figuring it out, then and there, and completely forget about the race. The race loses all significance - the physical exercise becomes an intellectual challenge - at least until I’ve solved the mystery.

The problem solving skills I’ve acquired over the years, from getting lost so many times, haven’t yet improved my orienteering results. But they may have helped solve the mystery of a missing backpacker who disappeared in 2019.

Theo Hayez - lost in Byron Bay I’d heard about the missing man in Byron Bay, from a few radio news stories broadcast at the time. But nothing more. From what I’d heard, and having been to Byron Bay several times over the decades, I guessed he probably went to the lighthouse at night, decided to climb out along one of the ridges (like the goats I’d seen there) and fallen to his early and unfortunate death.

A bit later on I heard that ‘his phone had been found’. Not exactly true, but the reports placing him on the cliffs below the lighthouse were confirmation enough of my guess. I moved on and never thought about it again. Until I recently told a friend that I’m interested in investigating mysteries, like William Tyrrell’s disappearance from Kendall (NSW Mid North Coast). The friend, a fellow orienteer, suggested I listen to “The Lighthouse” podcast. A few weeks later I did ……

Tired after a run I dozed through the second (of six) episodes. But when my wife told me ‘they found his phone data and it showed him going the wrong way’, I immediately had a suspicion. Finding some examples of the tracked route Theo had taken after leaving the Cheeky Monkey’s nightclub, it showed exactly what I suspected had happened.

Navigational mistakes Being an orienteer I have been lost many times - probably more than most other orienteers – in bush, on streets, in parks, buildings, on mountains and in valleys. The skill in orienteering is always knowing where you are. But even the best orienteers get lost. The skill then is to figure out where you are and how to get back on track.

The reasons an orienteer might get lost are many and varied. And usually involve much indepth discussion and analysis after the event.

Some of the more straight-forward reasons are: • Had the map upside down!

• Thought I was here …. when I was actually here!

• Got the scale wrong!

• Went left instead of right!

• Went south instead of north!

Stupid mistakes. But surprisingly easy to make when you’re trying to follow a route via map.

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Route according to Google

Convergence To solve difficult questions or problems I use a technique for which I coined the term “Convergence Theory”. It requires deductive reasoning by the investigator, who understands a sufficient and diverse amount of information about the subject and is capable of processing it to converge upon an answer or conclusion that is not otherwise obvious.

I know Wake Up! I’ve stayed there several times. Or at least had when it was known by its previous long-standing name, “Belongil Beach House”. It was always a great place to stay. But its distance from town and the convoluted streets to get there and back, made it always easier to go via the beach - Belongil Beach - which is just over the dunes and a couple of straight kilometres of sand between Wake Up! and town. In fact, the common advice, and always my practice, was only to go to and from town via the beach.

But a problem that always caused, was knowing exactly where Belongil Beach House / Wake Up! was, on the other side of the dunes, as you walk the beach to get home from town. More than once I tried exiting the beach after going too little or too far. However, most people staying there, and I think increasingly so over the years, availed themselves of the hostel’s mini shuttle bus service to get to and from town. So familiarity with the route via the beach would have been even less these days. Especially for someone relatively new to Byron, perhaps hoping to walk it for the first time.

And finding the beach could be a bit of a problem as well. Not the least because it is somewhat hidden by shops, buildings, houses, parks, dunes, and bushland. But also because Theo started out going around a corner from Cheeky Monkey’s into an unfamiliar street. From there, the layout of Byron more broadly with respect to its beaches could be confusing …. being, as it is, on a corner (albeit the most easterly corner of mainland Australia) with the lighthouse ridge running between two perpendicular coastline beaches.

So with this collection of information, covering two relevant areas of my knowledge and experience - map navigation and its pitfalls, and the general layout of Byron Bay with respect to Wake Up! - combined with the myriad other pieces of information about Theo in the podcast, I’m pretty sure I can see (perhaps exactly) what he has done.

And it wasn’t anything to do with anyone else, drugs, or misadventure, as many postulate.

On leaving Cheeky Monkey’s Theo had made the same mistakes even a seasoned orienteer could make. And then, also like some orienteers might do, sought the shortest but most difficult route to recover his situation. Unfortunately it ended tragically.

Truth is stranger than fiction, and sometimes not

sides of the parkland. Theo needed to go west, but he was in fact now heading east!

Some time after 18 year old Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez disappeared in Byron Bay during the night 31 May / 1 June 2019, his family were able to access and use his phone data and Google to track his last-known movements. They help explain what Theo was probably thinking, and why and how he ‘disappeared’ that night.

7. Theo now appears to make all the turns that would be logical and necessary to get back to the Wake Up! hostel. But being unfamiliar with Byron Bay he would not have realised he was heading in the wrong direction and to the wrong beach - Tallow Beach.

Route analysis

9. On getting to the beach Theo turns left, as he would if he were intending to walk along the beach and leave it near the Wake Up! hostel.

Many scenarios have been suggested to explain what happened to Theo. But for me, as an orienteer, with my own experience of Byron Bay to draw upon, I’ve been able to piece together the available information to confidently conclude what I believe happened.

1. W hy Theo walked around the corner into Kingsley Street after leaving Cheeky Monkey’s is unclear - but he could have been avoiding the ‘walk of shame’ after being ejected from the nightclub.

Regardless of his reason it seems clear he then intended to take the backstreets to the beach to head home to Wake Up! hostel along Belongil Beach.

8. On getting to the bushland Theo would have thought it was the vegetation behind Belongil Beach - which is why he traverses through it heading down and to the left.

10. Understandably confused by the hill at the end of the beach he would have taken some time to figure out how he had gone so wrong. And when he finally did, he could easily have thought the quickest way home was now up the hill, along the ridge to the road above, and back to the Wake Up! hostel from there.

Queue for entry to Cheeky Monkey’s.

Wrong beach – Cosy Corner of Tallow Beach, not Belongil.

2. There is little doubt his intention was to head back to his hostel.

He checked his phone several times en-route. The trouble was, he was heading in the opposite direction.

11. But no-one, not even an orienteer, would expect to find the cliffs on the other side of that ridge to be as treacherous as Everest.

They would have been perilous for Theo in the dark.

3. As he walked along Kingsley Street he probably intended to turn left into Middleton Street to get to the beach, but would have missed it - because the mapped cross-street is almost non-existent in reality - and turned left at the next (Tennyson Street) instead.

4. Turning left into Tennyson and expecting to following it to the beachfront, Theo would have been surprised to find it terminate at a bushy dead-end.

5. After taking some time at the dead-end of Tennyson Street to re-check his route, Theo heads off again but probably makes the mistake of turning left instead of right – perhaps because he has just turned 180-degrees to get out of the dead-end.

(A less likely alternative to 5 & 6 is that Theo deduces he has somehow walked from Cheeky Monkey’s to the Burns Street deadend (instead of Tennyson), from where he would logically turn around and continue (left) via Wordsworth Street and across the adjacent parkland.)

Turnaround - confusion and disorientation after dead-end in Tennyson Street.

6. After crossing the playing fields Theo could have been lulled into thinking he was back on track when seeing and following Marvell Street in front of him. Confusingly, Marvell Street exists on both

Perilous ridge from Cosy Corner to Lighthouse Road.

12. Theo’s phone is reported to have pinged the GPS a couple more times in the hours that followed. But it was probably in his pocket, in the water, at the base of the cliffs below the lighthouse.

The coroner is now investigating. But I have little doubt the above is the likely explanation. He was simply trying to find his way home.

Hopefully this information will help his family, the coroner, and all the people who’ve taken an interest and searched for him since 2019.

Theo’s death is a very sad thing. But for him to die in such a beautiful location, and create an incredible mystery, and receive so much attention …. is an extraordinary thing as well.

For more go to: strategicinvestigations.com.au/missing/ mystery-may-be-solved-by-orienteering.html References: The Lighthouse by David Murray (https://www. looking4theo.com); Google Maps - Street View DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

O-SPY

Tour de France spectator goes on trial

A

spectator who attempted to get noticed by TV cameras while cheering the Tour de France but caused one of the biggest pile-ups in the race’s history has gone on trial charged with injuring dozens of riders. The German rider Tony Martin bumped into her and fell, causing dozens of riders to crash while others swerved into the crowd.

Footage of the collision showing medics tending stunned and grimacing victims prompted outrage among fans and race organisers, especially when they discovered the woman had fled the scene instead of staying to help. She remained in hiding for four days before turning herself in to police.

O-SPY Olympics

N

ewly introduced sports Skateboarding and Sport Climbing seemed to be popular at the Tokyo Olympics, and Breakdancing (or “Breaking”) is set to debut at the 2024 Paris Games. Now there’s a rumour that some in the Orienteering world are pinning their hopes on Maze-O at Stockholm Stadium Maze-O making it onto the Olympics program at Brisbane 2032. Apparently some believe that this so-called “artificial orienteering” will pave the way for Orienteering in the Olympics to become a reality.

Several riders had to pull out of the race, including Spain’s Marc Soler, who broke his arms. The defendant was charged with endangering lives and causing unintentional injuries and could face a fine of up to €15,000 and a year in prison.

2021 Tour de France pile-up.

Colour changing horse

Glass bins are coming

Seen in a local newspaper – hope the “Garbos” don’t drop them.

Snow strands UTAH Ultramarathon runners

I

n the event through Utah’s Wasatch Mountains on Oct 9, the runners were about 8 miles into the 50 mile race when the conditions deteriorated with extreme weather bringing on 12 to 18 inches of snow, 40 miles-per-hour winds and near white-out conditions. All 87 runners caught in the rugged mountains were eventually rescued in an operation lasting several hours.

Last May 21 runners died in China after freezing rain and high winds struck a 62-mile mountain race. Hours into the event, the weather suddenly deteriorated, and runners dressed in shorts and T-shirts were facing freezing conditions and hail.

Some passed out from the cold. About 1,200 people joined the rescue effort.

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2021

Snowdrifts that stopped Utah ultramarathon.

Top Events 2021

2023 Dec 27-31

Easter

Xmas 5 Days NSW Southern Highlands www.onsw.asn.au/xmas-5-days

May 13-16

2022 Jan 7-16

Jan 22-24

Mar 12-14

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April 2-3

Australian MTBO Champs Kurri Kurri, NSW, mtbo.orienteering.asn.au Canberra NOL events (forest)

April 15-18 Easter

AUS 3 Days Carnival + NOL, Queensland

April 23-25

Gold Coast NOL Sprint Weekend Queensland

May 13-29 POSTPONED

WMOC & World Masters Games near Kobe, Kansai Prefecture, Japan www.wmg2021.jp/en/ QB3 Wagga Wagga, NSW

June 11-13

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July 11-16 July 23-29 August 11-18 August 18-27 September

AUS 3 Days Carnival, ACT World Masters MTBO Champs Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia JWOC 2023 Romania Forest WOC 2023 Flims, Switzerland O-Ringen 2023 Åre, Sweden WMOC 2023 Slovakia WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Czech Republic AUS Championships Western Australia

2024 Easter

AUS 3 Days Carnival,

June 28-30

World Masters MTBO Champs Viborg, Denmark O-Ringen 2024 Smålandskusten, Sweden WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Bulgaria Oceania & AUS Champs Carnival Armidale, NSW

July 21-27 Sept 9-16 Dates TBA

2022 Jukola Relays Mynämäki, SW Finland Sprint WOC 2022 Denmark (near Velje, Jutland) woc2022.dk 54th Kainuu Orienteering Week Puolanka, Finland 2022 World Games Birmingham, Alabama, USA www.theworldgames2021.com/ WMOC 2022 Vieste (Gargano, Puglia) Italy

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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DECEMBER 2021 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

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