OWA yearbook 2024_op

WesternOrienteeringAustralia

Yearbook 2024

OWAlife members MatthewsRichard Tony Simpkins AitkenGary DonYoung BrownlieCarol Jill Elderfield Noel SchnoknechtJan Fletcher

AOWpresidents

1974-78EricIsaachsen

1986-88RoyHiller1988-93 Brenda Matthews 1979-84DonYoung 1985DavePass 1994-98 Bob McCreddin 1999-2004 Noel Schnocknecht 2005-06 EoinRothery 2007 Nick Lethbridge BinnsJennifer2010-15 2008-09 John Twomey 2016 T ash Sparg/ Jan Fletcher MatthewsRichard2017-18 adeWRussell2019 Jan Fletcher2020-24 NapierAnna

anniversary th

John Forrest National Park, mapped in 1973 by Gary Aitken using a base map from the Department of Lands and Surveys.

PRESIDENT’S REVIEW

Anna

Napier

It is an honour to be President of OWA in our 50th year of existence! It is through the fantastic effort of very many people over the years that OWA has grown to the organisation that it is and continues to be very successfully run. Although our participation numbers are not as high as they have been at some times in the past, there are a large number of events provided over each year, in a range of formats, and each takes a number of people to make it happen.

When OWA was started as a sporting club in 1974 (officially incorporated in 1975), there were a small number of very keen people who wanted to find out what orienteering was and work out a way to run events and attract other people to them. Gary Aitken essentially was the driving force behind the commencement of orienteering in Western Australia, with much assistance from Eric Isaachsen, who became the first President, and a number of others. (Note the articles in the 2023 Yearbook and in Enews throughout this year. Many thanks to Robert Boekelaar for the latter.) The efforts that were required to produce the first maps suitable for orienteering were amazing as was the requirement to ‘start from scratch’ with equipment and attracting participants.

We owe much gratitude to them all, and to those many others who have continued on with the vision and built and maintained our sport over the years. A number of our current members have been part of OWA for many years and are still contributing to many aspects of the organisation.

We had 2 celebrations of the 50th year. At the Winter Classic weekend, held at Dryandra, we had a great representation of the early years in the hall, complete with a range of ‘O’ clothing worn in the past, a range of orienteering flags and old equipment, a fun event done in the old style, where participants had to mark-up their own maps and use a punch on their control cards (quelle horreur!), a digital slide show of old photos and a great 50th cake. The cake was cut by Tony Simpkins, who was the longest-serving orienteer present, having joined around 1978!

At the Annual Celebration in late October we had a final acknowledgement of the 50th year and again showed many photos of the ‘old’ times on a slide loop. We celebrated the presence of 3 of the original orienteers in OWA (Gary Aitken, Eric Isaachsen and Don Young) and were excited to count no less than 8 past Presidents at the event, including first and second presidents, Eric Isaachsen (1975-1979) and Don Young (1979-1984)!

Here’s to another successful 50 years of orienteering in Western Australia.

2024

As always 2024 has also required a range of people to manage the organisation, provide a range of services and put on events.

Council Members were

President: Anna Napier

Vice President: vacant (but President ably assisted by Jan Fletcher)

Secretary: Ceri Pass

Treasurer: Susan Coleman

Technical Convenor: Tony Simpkins

Mapping Convenor: Sten Claessens

Communications Convenor: Jan Fletcher

Coaching Convenor: Rachel West

MTBO Convenor: Ricky Thackray

General Councillors and Club Convenors: Liisa Hirvonen (website), Sharon McFarlane, Riley McFarlane (Youth rep), Heike Behrbohm (KO), Helen Post (WOW), Sue Dowling (BO), Janine Taylor (LOST), Robyn Phillips (SWOT), John Toomey (ADHOC).

The Enews is ongoing work for a few people all year – a wonderful communication tool which always looks appealing and professional. Many thanks to Sue Dowling, Carol Brownlie and Christine Howitt.

Volunteers of the Year

It is always very difficult to choose a few people to be awarded Volunteer of the Year, as so many so do so much. However, this year they are:

Braid Family – who set 5 events over the season, with Ceri also being association Secretary.

Robert Boekelaar – who researched and wrote a range of information on the early years of OWA for the 50th anniversary

Dan Greig – for undertaking programming and gaining approvals for all events in the last 2 years.

Robyn Phillips – who has been one of the leading lights of the SWOT Club over the last number of years in a number of positions.

Nick Dale – Nick has been very active in OWA over the last couple of years, having mapped a number of bush and urban areas, set 2 events this year and assisted at Junior Camps.

2024 AWARDS

Celebrating our Champions

Female Orienteer of the Year

Kate Braid

Junior Female Orienteer of the Year

Male Orienteer of the Year

Craig Dufty

Junior Male Orienteer of the Year

Rohan Braid

Ruth Toomey

Female

Female

Long Distance Champion

Male

Male Long Distance Champion

Neve Lommers

Jeff Whittam Rising Star

Jeff Whittam Rising Star

Rohan Braid

Rachel West

Craig Dufty

Female Middle Distance Champion

Male Middle Distance Champion

Female and Male Sprint Distance Champions

Craig Dufty

Kate Braid

Kate Braid and Joseph Coleman

KO – held by Ceri Pass and Rohan Braid

Rutty Rock Champion Club (Relays)

MetrO Series Champion Club

LOST – held by Anthea Feaver

Bengtsson-Offrell Trophy Champion Club

LOST – held by Anthea Feaver

MTBO Female Champion of the Year

MTBO State Open Female Champion

MTBO Male Champion of the Year

MTBO State Open Male Champion

Hadrien Devillepoix

Ekaterina Kliukina

Hadrien Devillepoix

Debbie McKay

Female MTBO State Open Middle Distance Champion

Male MTBO State Open Middle Distance Champion

State Schools Team Captains and Officials

Hadrien Devillepoix

Ekaterina Kliukina

Golden Gumnuts: The Awards for Orienteers who have Distinguished Themselves in Odd Ways

Ken Brownlie: Adjudicator, presenter and recipient (right)

Nominators: (wisely) not named

The day after one of last year’s MetrO series the Association was sent an email with a photo of an SI station and a message reading: ‘This device has been left behind on the verge of our property (address supplied) in Hillarys after the event yesterday. The clipboard was collected but this device was not. I have placed it on top of our letterbox. Kind regards’ (Name and mobile number supplied) It was SI Station 124, supposedly collected by Robert Boekelaar, but he’s not here. However, the pack up of SI was supervised by: Mark Lommers

On the Saturday morning of the first day of the Autumn Classic, a child’s sporting event in Perth meant the family was pushed for time to reach Dryandra before the last start. The journey was uneventful until they noticed a sign ‘Welcome to the Shire of Brookton’ when the penny dropped. The way from Perth to Dryandra is down the Albany Highway, not the Brookton one. Their unusual route choice meant a dash across country, but they still arrived in time. The responsible driver was: Tom Brownlie

This year 2 former metropolitan members joined one of our country clubs, regularly helping at their urban events, which are held on Sundays at 4 pm. In April the Club changed to bush events which open at 1 pm. At the end of the first of these events, during a debrief at around 3:30 pm, our couple drive up. ‘Are we too early?’ he asks. ‘Can we help set up?’ Of course, neither of them had read the email event notice to members which mentioned registration and start times, but they still got an unofficial run for being so dedicated. Russell and Jan Candy

This one is complicated. See if you can follow it. While visiting extended family out of town, this member persuaded all of them to go a local event, requiring 2 cars. From the first car to arrive he sent Mum and sister to run early, so they could return to child-mind. Meanwhile he waited with his 2-year-old. Car 2’s group then arrived and set off on the longest course. Our member’s patience isn't his strongest virtue, and he gave up waiting for car 1’s group to return and set off on his course, leaving his little one with the organisers, sitting on her bag eating an orange. When group 1 returns from their course they take the perplexed child home with them. He finishes his course and finds a note, ‘Headed home. We have [child’s name]’. Patience is definitely not there today and he takes the second car home on his own. Group 2 eventually finish and spend half an hour looking for the cars, which contain phones, water, food, breast-pump. No cars. Ask organisers.They don't know, but offer a phone. They phone home to find he has just arrived there without them. Now he has to about turn and drive 45 minutes back to get them! Hadrien

Devillepoix

A certain club convenor told a gathering of the club that, because she would be away for much of the coming year, she was looking for a replacement. A relatively new member kindly offered to take on the job, apparently not realising that she had actually offered to ‘take on the job’ not just fill in while her predecessor was away. Some weeks later the generous substitute was sent a notice to all club convenors for distribution, which she dutifully sent off to all club convenors –not realising that it had come to her as club convenor, for distribution to her club’s members. The

Mark

person in question has since been learning about, and carrying out, her role as convenor with great efficiency, but, having heard various mentions of golden gumnuts, she has fled to Japan for a few weeks, leaving her predecessor to step into her shoes and accept the trophies won by the club. Janine Taylor

Ellie Sansom was climbing up some rocks to a control and spotted something shiny. Turns out it was a pair of glasses. Oh no, someone must be missing those! Back at the caravan, she got talking to Anthea Feaver who said she knew Richard Matthews had lost a pair and said she would be happy to take them and drop them off to his home. Seemed simple, but the story then unravels, as written by Anthea in emails later that week. ‘Hi Hadrien, Please tell Ellie the glasses belong to Richard and he is very grateful to have them back (I don't have her email)’. Followed by, later the same day: ‘Actually there is another twist to the story. Both Richard and Peter Standen lost glasses yesterday. I sent them both a photo of the glasses and Richard claimed them. He came around this morning to collect them, and had a non-Cinderella moment, ‘These are not my glasses’. Turns out they are Peter's!’ Richard Matthews

Our Secretary will tell you she had a curious phone call from a City of Cambridge ranger. ‘Did we know that a caravan with the registration OAWA 520 was under a tree near the Freeway end of Dodd Street, and if so, why was it there? Had it been stolen and abandoned?’ Enquires occurred and after several phone calls the explanation emerged. When the van was taken for its annual service during the Xmas school holidays, the tower had overlooked that the holidays would be over when the service was complete, meaning access to the shed doors is then blocked by staff cars during the school day. So, he parked it somewhere safe nearby until he could return it to storage. The thoughtful tower, who obviously doesn’t have school aged kids any more was: Peter Gillon

These helpful people usually collect controls at bush events organised by their club and did so at Mt Billy this year, but when the job was apparently completed one of their SI stations was missing. It’s unclear why someone didn’t search for it there and then, but instead our helpful pair drove back the next day, on at least a 3-hour round trip, to retrieve it. They searched control site and their route from there to the assembly area for a long time, to no avail, because the offending SI was still attached to its stand – safely stored in the equipment shed, to where it had been returned the previous day. The LOST members who LOST it were someone who’s already got one gumnut, and Anna Napier

Day 2 at Dryandra had optional chasing starts, 2 minutes apart, in the order of each courses’ day 1 results. He knew his time was immediately after his daughter-in-law’s but while lining up he had to explain politely to her that she should already be going Now or she would delay his start (actually he yelled at her – twice) until she pointed out that he was 10 minutes too early. Ken Brownlie (She didn’t yell back at me. Thank you Vicky.)

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF ORIENTEERING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Throughout the year we have been celebrating the fact that our sport has taken place in WA for50 years.

We started with a banner on our webpage, designed by Vanessa Smith, and that was quickly followed by fortnightly installments of the story of OWA’s early years in our Enews. This was researched and written by Robert Boekelaar to whom we owe many thanks. Some of his research was used in OWA’s publication, Around the Contours, in 2010. It was expanded and complemented with photos of people, and maps and equipment from the 1970s to 80s.

Our most substantial celebration was held at Dryandra over the June long weekend when OWA typically holds its Classic 2-Day event. This event is often run by SWOT and ADHOC, its country clubs, and always held closer to their centres than to Perth. This year it was augmented by training, run by our Coachesin-Residence, and also by a ‘Blast from the Past’ afternoon. This involved a historical display that included clothing, maps, equipment and magazines from years past as well as a continuous PowerPoint display of photos. The latter appeared to be particularly enjoyed by older members as they brought back memories of old friends, happy times and more youthful images of themselves.

Displays of communications and Carnival shirts from years gone by

After time to browse the displays, members had the opportunity to run one of 2 short courses, cleverly set by Craig Dufty. The ‘old way’ of doing things was demonstrated: collect a map and punch card with your start time written on it; copy your course onto your map using a master map (which of course was on the ground) making sure to put your circles in the correct place; go through the start and run your course, punching your control card at each control stand; at the finish hand in your card to have your punch marks checked against a master punched card for each course. What fun! And didn’t we laugh when one of our top athletes had a wrong punch mark due to lack of care in copying his course.

Finally, the ‘main event’ (from the juniors’ viewpoint at least) took place: the afternoon tea which included the cutting of our 50th Anniversary cakes, made by Nicole Davis and cut by Tony Simpkins, the member with the longest OWA membership present.

Our last anniversary event, held in conjunction with our annual acknowledgement of our volunteers and champion athletes was held on 26 October where we were able to thank in person our first 2 Presidents Eric Isaachsen and Don Young, and our Founder and long-serving first secretary Gary Aitken.

It had been suggested that attendees might like to wear 70’s outfits. Some took up this idea. Stealing the show were, unsurprisingly, Vanessa Smith and Robert Graieg. Not only our O gear has changed with time.

Sten copying his course from a master map

CELEBRATING WA’S NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

Helen Post

For the very competitive in orienteering, the ultimate is to be chosen to represent Australia and compete in WOC, or JWOC. There are also other international competitions for orienteers. In this, our 50th year, let’s take a look at those from WA who have achieved top levels in orienteering.

To compete at this level involves many hours of physical, mental and theoretical training for those who have the desire, dedication and drive to reach these heights. Family, and later, coaches’ support is also vital to the journey.

Congratulations to those from WA who have made it to such heights!!!

WOC (World Orienteering Championships)

Held annually in odd years for forest events and even years for sprint distance races. The forest/ sprint switching started in 2019, was interrupted by COVID-19 and has continued from 2022. To date, only 4 West Australians have achieved selection for WOC!

Liz Kessell (now Abbott) 1987, 1989

Anthea Feaver 1993

Alix Young 1995, 1997, 1999

Henry McNulty 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024

Top 10 result: Alix – 6th in Relay 1997; Henry – 9th in Sprint 2024

Liz, right, with members of WOC 1987 team

Alix Young

JWOC (Junior World Orienteering Championships)

Held annually. Australia sends a team of 6 males and 6 females, <21. To date, only 8 West Australians have achieved selection for JWOC!

Shayne Hill 1992, 1994

Karl Kullmann 1993

Gareth Candy 1998

Erin Post 2003, 2004, 2005

Kellie Whitfield 2006

Rhys Challen 2007

Oscar McNulty 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Henry McNulty 2014, 2015, 2016

Top 10 result: Henry – 6th in Sprint 2016; Erin – 7th in Relay 2005

WMtBOC (mountain bike version of WOC)

Cath Chalmers 2008

Jen Graham-Taylor 2008

Ricky Thackray 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023

World Cup

Usually 4 international rounds a year (varies considerably) where competitors accumulate points for their country and themselves towards the Cup. Often, Australians based in Europe are chosen to compete in these, as well as some who are selected and travel from Australia.

Andy Hogg 2000

Karen Staudte 2002

Oscar McNulty 2013, 2015

Henry McNulty 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024

World Cup, MtBO

Usually 3 international rounds a year including the MtB World Champs.

Ricky Thackray 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023

Henry McNulty, 2017 Sprint Final

Oceania Championships

A competition between countries in Oceania held biennially. There is usually an ANZ challenge as part of Oceania. Athletes nominate for selection to compete for Australia in age groups from M/ W16 to M/W65+, these being chosen by the host country. Many from WA have competed in an ANZ Challenge. For results up to 2009, see P119 to 122 in Around the Contours

Prior to 2001, there used to be APOC (Asia Pacific Orienteering Championships) which was held biennially and incorporated the ANZ Challenge. Anyone can compete at Oceania but there are only a few chosen to compete for Australia in the ANZ Challenge.

WMOC (World Masters Orienteering Championships)

Where people are not selected in a team but still compete in their age group for Australia. Those who have placed top 5 are listed.

Anthea Feaver

Jo Hiller

Don Young

Karen Staudte

Cath Chalmers

WMMtBOC

Ricky Thackray

2002 W40 1st Long; 2009 W50 2nd Sprint

2002 W75 1st Long

2002 M70 3rd Long

2005 W35 3rd Long

2009 W40 1st Long

2018 M40 5th Sprint; 2024 M45 4th Middle

Ricky Thackray

VALE CASSIE CHAPMAN (NEE WADE)

8.4.1981 – 5.11.2024

Helen Post

It is with the utmost sadness that I write this.

Former WOW junior, Cassie, daughter of Russell and Gina, died suddenly on 5 November, aged 43.

Cassie mostly orienteered as a junior, having been part of the Schools Team. Her best result was 2nd at Nationals in W14. Cassie was always happy, always smiling and would have a go at anything, including rogaining, kayaking, skiing, mountain biking, scuba diving and horse riding. She still maintained friendships with current orienteers from when they were juniors together – a testament to her friendly nature, loyalty and how well she was regarded by those whose lives she touched.

Cassie had always wanted to become a police officer but decided to gain some life experience first. She trained and worked as a draftsperson for a few years and eventually accomplished her dream, having been in WAPOL for over 8 years.

Cassie made sure to find time in her busy life for family and was constantly in touch, catching up regularly. She also relished going onto bush maps with Russell when he was setting.

Commiserations to Russell, Gina and families for their tragic loss. Our thoughts are with you.

ORIENTEERING FOR JUNIORS

Go for 2&5 Schools Orienteering Championships

Rosalie McCauley

In 2024, the Orienteering Association of Western Australia (OWA) held the Go for 2&5 2024 Primary and Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships at Garvey Park. Overall, over 570 students participated – 450 secondary and 120 primary school, and the feedback from the students was very positive.

These events are a heavy workload for OWA and required 20 to 32 OWA volunteers to run them. Our OWA volunteers are truly amazing. They turn up on time, roll up their sleeves and get on with their allocated task. They even have fun (I think) and keep smiling through all the ups and downs of the competition days. Special thanks to Dave Pass for organising the hire toilets this year and to Jan Fletcher for organising the medals (again). Nick Dale and Brian Austen visited Garvey Park many times to set and check the courses. Melinda Richards and Rosalie McCauley organised the event and Christine Howitt was the chief starter for the individual starts. All our volunteers are truly worth their weight in gold.

The Go for 2&5 2024 Secondary championships on 12 June was a big event with over 450 secondary students. We ran individual line courses and pairs score events to give students choice. Thirty-six students entered the individual line courses, 75 entered the OE line courses, and the rest of the competitors ran in a pair on a score course. The large number of pairs caused us a headache as we needed to borrow many SI sticks from OWA members to loan to students, so they had the option of collecting more than 30 controls. Our P-cards only store 29 punches plus the finish punch. Wrangling the SI sticks was hard work and while we managed and did not lose any SI sticks, we decided to not do this again and restrict the number of target controls to less than 30 in future.

The secondary students and teachers enjoyed their day at Garvey Park. The vibe when over 110 students mass started was exciting for the students and spectators. Overall, Quinns Baptist College retained their position as Champion School with 39 points from Shenton College with 35 points while Mandurah Catholic College was third with 30 points. The café at Garvey Park reported a bumper day of trading as many students found their way to the café for post-run food.

The Go for 2&5 2024 Primary Schools Championship on 7 August was a much more relaxed event. We knew more about Garvey Park, there were less students, and we did not have to wrangle SI sticks. The only issue was the possibility of rain. This thankfully remained a possibility only. Over 120 students from 4 schools participated.

Some of our crew at work

Quinns Baptist College, Champion Secondary School

At the Go for 2&5 2024 Primary Schools, we trialed using Event ambassadors. We had seen that previously many students were unprepared for orienteering as evidenced by not knowing how to orientate a map nor understanding the features depicted on the map. Nor did they understand how to punch P-cards or what time their start was. Lack of this knowledge made it a trying day for them. The information we provided to teachers which covered all these matters was not understood by the students. We aimed for the Event ambassadors Kate Braid and Joseph Coleman to be armed with a P-card, a SI brick on a stand and a model map and to talk to each school group to explain the important pieces of information to them. We hoped that students would feel comfortable asking Kate and Joseph questions and gain the information they needed to be better equipped to run their courses. We think the Event ambassadors innovation was a success based on feedback from the students. However, Kate and Joseph could not talk to one school group as they arrived too late to the event and at the start it was obvious that these students were lacking in baseline knowledge.

Feedback from the students and their teachers about the Go for 2&5 2024 Primary Schools was very positive. Heavy rain overnight meant the puddles were full to the brim and the students had a great time sloshing through the puddles as they ran their courses. The Garvey Park mosquitoes were voraciously hungry which was annoying for anyone with exposed skin.

Overall, St Brigid’s Primary School retained their position as Champion School with 56 points, narrowly defeating Christchurch Grammar School on 55 points. Rosalie Primary and Perth Waldorf School were the other competing schools.

Sincere thanks to: Healthway and OWA for supporting the event; Schools Sports WA for helping promote the event; teachers for their participation; and City of Belmont for allowing access to Garvey Park. This year Healthway have changed their requirements for future funding. They will now only fund events where the events form part of a broader program of work over a period that involves multiple and repeat engagement with Healthway’s priority groups, as well as education opportunities that lead to stronger health outcomes. This change has led us to have a re-think about the Schools Championships and we will let you know more once we havea plan for 2025.

Primary pairs looking for their next control

St Brigid’s, Champion Primary School

The Sporting Schools Program in 2024

Jan Fletcher, Sporting Schools Manager

In 2024 the federally funded Sporting Schools program had marked changes in the booking and monitoring system used to provide orienteering services to schools. This system had many teething problems with the result that very few schools in WA asked for support in the first 2 terms of the year. This changed in terms 3 and 4 when the number of requests were comparable to those in earlier years.

One notable difference, though, was the number of schools outside the metropolitan area that applied for support. This posed problems both for mappers and coaches, some of which were overcome, but others were not resolved with teachers dropping orienteering as a sport to implement. Mapping in remote areas could be carried out when there were good quality recent overhead photos without too much vegetation supplemented with ground level photos. These could be used by our mappers to produce a draft map that could then be checked by the teacher. This situation proved to be rare. Coaching issues were, in several instance, overcome by teachers agreeing to undertake the online Instructor level accreditation program provided by Orienteering Australia, with skills assessed through tasks from the Sporting Schools manager, such as setting a course on the school map for a particular group accompanied by control descriptions and photos of the sites where controls were hung to match the control sites on the map and in the descriptions.

The majority of services to support orienteering in schools came, however, from OWA members. Many thanks are due to Michelle Martin. She provided coaching, PD courses for teachers who wanted to obtain Instructor-level coaching accreditation and also carried out some mapping. Thanks are also due to the others who mapped schools: Peter Komyshan, Veronika Kubinova, Jill Elderfield, Nick Dale, Ricky Thackray, Paul Dowling and Ekaterina Klyukina. Having this number of experienced mappers has made the task of getting schools mapped in a timely fashion much easier than has been the case in previous years.

There have been several other schools that have applied for orienteering services without Sporting Schools support. We have usually managed to provide the services requested.

The current Sporting Schools Manager has been in and out of the job for many years and is keen to know if anyone else is interested in taking over the position. At certain times of the year, it can be time consuming but it can also be an interesting job for those with particular interest in schools and/or coaching.

Summer Junior Orienteering Camp – 19 to 22 January Rob West, Coaching Convenor and Camp Director

Commencing on Friday afternoon, Sten had an orienteering exercise covering most of the Ern Halliday map, which was recently updated by Nick. After dinner, Rachel had indoor orienteering related activities for the juniors to test their knowledge and skills.

Early Saturday morning everyone enthusiastically ran down to Whitford Nodes Park. This was followed by breakfast with some yummy cooked egg, sausage, and bacon. Then onto the camp bus to ECU Joondalup, where Sharon and Riley had prepared challenging activities and the juniors could use SI air. One drama at this location; a huge branch on a big pine tree snapped and was hanging precariously, right where we had runners. So, a coach had to redirect everyone from walking under it until security arrived. Morning tea and lunch were taken between activities in a shady spot. Back at camp the juniors experienced the sport of archery, a difficult task of shooting arrows into a target with bows. The only junior to hit the very centre of the bullseye and score a massive 50 points was Max from Sweden. Then, it was off to the Hillarys MetrO event, which was set by Nick. In the MetrO Results, the juniors from the camp dominated the top places in all the Junior and Medium Senior Male classes. Edmund, Imogen, Eckart, Ruby and Liam

Getting ready for Mark and Tom’s activity

all came first in their class. Once it got dark, Lois had an orienteering activity in the dark using torches, where the pairs had to walk, locate the centre of the circle, then make up the description of the hidden feature on the map.

After the morning run and breakfast, we were off to Minim Cove, Mosman Park, for more challenging orienteering exercises set up by Mark and Tom. Once again SI air was used, the results being printed off by our small splits printer. Morning tea and lunch were taken during the activities under shade. Back at camp the juniors had an exhilarating trip on the Flying Fox. Then everyone had a swim in the sea, in warm water, with a strong sea breeze and some choppy waves. For Max from Sweden seeing a snake on the path back to camp was a highlight. After dinner, Liam ran a well-researched and executed Camp Quiz.

Monday morning, after 2 very full-on days of non-stop activity, the now very tired juniors had modified runs, but some still had energy for a swim. After breakfast, everyone helped with a big clean of the dining hall and the dormitories, before being picked up by parents.

Many thanks to the coaches and parents who assisted with the camp. Rob (Camp Director/bus driver), Lois, Sten, Rachel, Craig, Mark, Tom, Sharon, Riley, John (First Aid), Nick (Lifeguard), Tim and Amanda all contributing to the operation of another fabulous Summer Camp.

Sharon giving instructions for her activity

Summer Camp Reflection

Jonathan Drury

I remember when I went to my first O camp back in 2023 I was pretty nervous coming through the camp gates at Albany. I went through the long wooden building, pulled up in my room and noticed my roommates, Arvin and Chris. I was thinking I could relax until dinner, but no such luck. I absolutely loved the fact that there was never a time when I was doing nothing. Orienteering is fun on its own but the activities we did were exciting.

At my second camp at Ern Halliday in January 2024 I learnt lots. The skills I learnt on this camp made me a better orienteer but also I made friends that I will probably know for the rest of my life. Personally, I think my favorite activity was the night O. Speaking of night time, the food there was really good. The leaders made it a mission to make sure we didn’t go hungry. We did all sorts of fun things like archery, flying foxes and, most importantly, a lot of orienteering.

I would like to thank all the coaches, leaders and organisers for setting up an amazing camp.

Winter Junior Orienteering Camp – 29 June to 1 July

Riley McFarlane, Camp Director

The 2024 winter camp had a new Camp Coordinator, Riley McFarlane, mentored by Rob West. We started with a team-based, 4-part sprint orienteering course designed as an icebreaker for all the camp participants. We quickly had some lunch, packed afternoon tea and headed out to Christmas Tree Creek for the afternoon. We did a short warmup led by John Toomey, followed by the first exercise led by our coaches in residence, Jíri Vales and Veronika Kubinova. The exercise was called O-Craft, where participants used their orienteering skills to gather and ‘mine’ resources you would see in Minecraft. In this videogame, you explore the world, ‘mine’ materials, and ‘craft’ virtual materials into different tools, such as weapons & resource gathering tools. Minecraft also has several villages in the original game, so in the orienteering activity, the coaches and juniors gathered on the hillside at Christmas Tree Creek to establish their village. Participants were split into 5 groups and given a scatter course of control sites on a half contour only, half normal map. In the beginning, all controls had resources placed by the other coaches at the camp. Then, every 5 minutes, all the coaches would replenish resources gathered by the head villager, Riley, who had received resources from the kids so they could craft their items. Some participants ran up to 8 km and challenged themselves in the contour only area, whereas others ran in and out of the circulating tracks.

We returned to camp, had dinner, and then completed the quiz night hosted by Nick Dale and Mark Lommers. This was followed by the last activity, a Night-O activity, set by Jiri & Veronika, where a 10 x 10-metre square grid of 16 controls was placed on the hillside adjacent to the pool. The map given was a blank white map with a line course, and participants had to orientate their maps based on the direction of the grid, not true north. It was a challenging exercise, teaching the participants a valuable lesson on the importance of entry and exit directions and reading your control descriptions. We then rushed into the showers and headed to sleep for the first night of the camp.

Setting up the flying fox

Day 2 began with some breakfast at camp before heading off to the Yetar Spring event, where camp participants could meet up with their families again at the event. Most coaches shadowed participants on a course that was more challenging than they usually competed on, so they could help identify and provide instant feedback to participants on how to improve their skills to complete their courses successfully. We then had lunch at the event arena before finishing the afternoon with an activity called Battle Flags, set by Jiri & Veronika. It was a combination of the board game Battleships, a strategy-type guessing board game where you would fire shots at each other by shouting coordinates at each other, and the game Capture the Flag, where 2 teams have a distinct area where they set up their home base. That home base has a flag that, if stolen by the opposition, determines who wins or loses the game. Participants were split into 2 teams, given a base map and their personal yellow tape, and started with only a few control sites. They had to search throughout the forest to find pink tapes at control sites or extension maps to collect more or invade the enemy territory and steal their opponent's yellow tapes. Once a certain quota of tapes was met, they were permitted to steal their opposing team's flag to win the game.

We then rushed back to camp for dinner and showers, then reviewed the camp’s activities and courses in depth to learn from any mistakes or correct decision-making skills from all the camp activities throughout both days before heading to bed.

The final day involved breakfast, cleaning up and packing away before completing the final exercise, a modified biathlon sprint orienteering relay. Participants were split into groups of 5 and completed a line course before returning for a map flip, where they had to ‘shoot’ cups on benches by throwing gum nuts and then complete a scatter course before swapping over to the next runner. The number of cups knocked over equaled the number of controls you could skip on the scatter course. This was followed by morning tea and an official announcement by Tom Brownlie of the Western Australian Schools Orienteering team, thus concluding the camp.

A major thank you to Sharon McFarlane, Rachel and Rob and Lois West for doing the majority of the booking and helping me do the paperwork. Coaches Jiri Vales, Veronika Kubinova with support from Mark Lommers, Nick Dale, John Toomey, Sten Claessens, Tom Brownlie, Ekaterina Klyukina and Anthea Feaver made the camp happen by coaching the kids as well as setting up and packing away training activities.

Group planning at Christmas Tree Creek

Winter Camp Reflection

Tucker Ellery

I had a great time at my first winter camp. Jiri and Veronika were the main coaches, and their daily activities were very team based, which is unusual for orienteering as it is such an individual sport.

My favourite activity was ‘capture the flag’ in which you had to collect 16 tags from random controls (some without a tag) then capture the opposing team’s flag. The O-craft activity was inspired by Minecraft. Materials (wood, bricks, diamonds etc printed on cards) were collected from controls and then used to create items like swords, wall, hat etc. for points.

I plan to run both these activities with my Boys’ Brigade Company in the future.

Juniors with coaches

Arvin, Edmund and Henry on the run

LOCAL ORIENTEERING

Foot Orienteering

For many years now OWA Perth-based clubs have run 3 major types of foot events: MetrO, NavDash (Sprint) and Bush, with the responsibility for organising and setting them distributed among the clubs. This was again the case in 2024. The out-of-Perth clubs, SWOT and ADHOC, have always run their own events, with their 2024 events well-described in their club reports.

An examination of the Perth-based data on number of participants and the proportion of casuals to full members, suggests that there are ‘horses for courses’, and that proximity and ease of access does not totally explain the differences in numbers at events.

MetrO

The 2023–24 series started on 11 November at Koondoola Bushland, with 6 events before the break over Christmas and New Year and 7 events after the break, finishing on 17 February. Starting numbers before the break were quite low, averaging 58. The average number of starters after the break per event was 76. Perhaps there was some carnival fatigue at the end of 2023.

Event venues were varied but the weather was consistently dry and frequently quite hot, although it was sufficiently cool by late afternoon that no event to have to be cancelled.

Over the series, casual starters made up 13.7% of those listed as starters. Obviously, if we consider that most casuals went as pairs or groups while almost all regular members competed individually, it is clear that casuals made up more than 13.7% of the participants in events.

It was good to see that some of the MetrO events were set by juniors with the help of a more experienced mentor.

Newcomer briefing at Hillarys

Mosman Park – before the event

NavDash – Sprint Orienteering

There were 7 NavDash events in 2024, with the Relays also in Sprint form. They were scattered throughout the year. The first event was held at Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley Campus, on 25 February, with a good turn out of 84 starters with all except 4 of them being members. The last NavDash event was the Sprint O Championships, held at Murdoch University. It had 67 starters.

Attendance averaged over the whole NavDash series was strong, averaging 87 starting participants per event. Casuals accounted for 9% of starters, less than in the MetrO series. Ease of access is similar for both MetrO and NavDash but it is possible that newcomers consider line courses more daunting than scatter courses.

The venues were all pleasant and a good mix, with 2 Senior high schools, 2 university campuses and 3 parkland areas. The Swan Valley Adventure Centre drew the most starters with 111 participating. Sprint orienteering appears to be increasing in popularity, possibly because it provides short yet challenging courses that can be reached without a long drive and thus allow participation in only half a day.

Bush Events

Thirteen bush events were held between 28 April and 22 September, with the first being held at Jorgensen Park, the closest to Perth of our ‘bush’ events, with the aim of enticing some MetrO participants to give bush running with line courses a try. There were 77 starters at this event with 10 being casuals.

Over the course of the season there was an average 77 starters per event with only 6 of these being casuals. The most popular event of the season was the first of the events at the Dryandra long weekend, with 100 starters (not quite as many as signed up for the 50th Anniversary celebration held later in the day, but a good number). No doubt having ADHOC and SWOT members join the Perth orienteers helped swell the numbers.

At Yetar Spring North Liam showing some speed

FIFO Orienteering

Helen Post

Is this a first in Oz? The world?

On 1 September, occasional orienteer Russell Buchanan flew his self-built plane onto the landing strip at Frazzle to participate in the bush event being held there!! Orienteers who travelled to WA Nationals in 2023 and participated in the event on the Schools’ individual day would have parked on the ‘airfield’.

To quote Russell: ‘It’s a home-built plane, a Vans RV8, which took me about 10 years to build. It was during the build that Simon (BO member) got me into orienteering. It saved my sanity from otherwise spending endless weekends in the shed!

I was flying commercial airliners at the time I started but have since gone back to special mission air work. We noticed the airstrip at Frazzle a couple of years ago and decided that this event would be a great opportunity to fly in, so we did!’

Naturally, after participating in the event, he flew out.

A more sedate option shown by Moreen and Janine

Russell with his plane

Mountain Bike Orienteering

Duncan Sullivan

Six MTBO events were conducted throughout the year. The first 2 were metro based 2-hour score events, and proved the most popular, with 35 and 40 entrants respectively. Some regular orienteers who may no longer be confident in the bush events came along with an assortment of bikes to tackle the navigation challenge in less physically challenging terrain. Nevertheless, Paul Dowling’s Bibra Lake event did serve up some soft sand in places, with some tricky navigation in parts and plenty of decision making. Duncan Sullivan cobbled together a previous MTBO map with some summer series and sprint foot-O maps to make a new MTBO map named after the new Mooro Beeloo bridge. Ben Coetzer set a great course with only Ricky Thackray collecting all the controls in time.

We then moved to the bush with a couple of newly minted course setters, Mark Newhouse at Glen Forest using MapRun timing, and Volker Gartz at Karragullen/Carinya breaking out the flags and SI units for the first time this year. Entries were in the mid-20s, although the weather may have put a few off turning up at Karragullen. Both courses were challenging and good preparation for the season finale.

The Middle Distance Championships were held at Langford Park, and the Long distance at Dwellingup. Michael Dufty did a great job setting the middle on arguably our best MTBO area. We were then treated to some epic long courses set by Czeck Coach-in-Residence Veronika Kubinova around Marrinup, albeit after some very wet days beforehand making a creek crossing a bit more interesting than necessary. A surprise entrant was Carolyn Jackson who came over from Victoria just for the race, attracted by fond memories of the map from the 2016 Australian Championships, and the reputation of the course setter. Carolyn took the win in W21.

MTBO continues to struggle to attract participants in WA, but perhaps this is symptomatic of the sport as a whole. Maybe it’s the pea gravel. We are hosting the Australian MTBO Championships next year, based at Collie, on some great new maps with terrain that is more forgiving than the Perth Hills. Hopefully all those that have dabbled in MTBO in the past will dust off the bikes and encourage some friends to join the fun to make the carnival a success.

Thanks to Ricky for taking over the role of convenor after being lured back to WA (he has been on loan to Victoria). Duncan serves on the OA MTBO Commission, with a passion for improving mapping standards around the country.

Ellie Sansom: Second in middle distance course at Carinyah

Rob Beatie and Rob West at Langford

Anytime Orienteering

Jan Fletcher

Our Anytime Orienteering courses continue to draw large numbers of participants, most of them new to the sport of orienteering but wanting to give it a try in their own time without any pressure to compete. In 2024 from January to November, data from people who download our maps indicated that 4088 people were intending to try a course. This is fewer than those who intended to orienteer during COVID but is still a healthy number.

It is possible that the smaller numbers are due to some groups, e.g. school groups, simply photocopying maps they have downloaded in a previous year, even though people are requested to download a new map each time they decide to use one because there are sometimes changes to the map features such as fences or buildings, and even control placements may have had to be changed. It is also possible, of course that some of our more frequent users are looking for a new or different area to visit. This hypothesis is given some support by the fact that our newest ATO area – Bickley – had the highest number of prospective users (707) listed for this year.

This year we know that Jarrahdale was used by a group of about 50 people from Qaswa, many of whom had very little experience with the Australian bush, let alone orienteering. They are Muslims from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. Some of them had visited Whiteman Park in the previous year and had enjoyed it, so they decided to try Jarrahdale. They ventured there during winter when the usually, relatively dry creek beds had plenty of water. They filmed their outing and kindly gave us access to their very professional footage which showed, among other things, 2 very different ways to cross a creek: take your shoes off and hold them with your maps overhead, and find a fallen tree and use it to slowly make your way across. Guess which duo were girls and which boys!

As always, the usefulness of ATO maps is dependent on the work of the Friends of a specific ATO map area. They check the map they have volunteered to befriend to ensure that map changes or damage to controls have not made courses frustrating and difficult to follow.

We are very fortunate that our ATO maps in the greater Perth area, both those with control markers and those that use photos to identify control features on maps, have been befriended. We still need orienteers who make visits to Albany, Augusta, Nannup and Narrogin to offer to expand their holiday to check the health of our ATO map areas in those towns. Any volunteers, please let Jan know.

Volker with the maps, Karragullen/Carinyah

Veronika Kubinova: our Coach-inResidence and setter of the Long Distance MTBO Championships

A damaged control, now replaced, reported by Piney Lakes friend Michael Dufty

Noel, Noel. Christmas is here, and the Last O Event of the Year

This event was eagerly awaited, especially by those who have been to many of our previous Christmas events, because we knew that the Christmas event of 2024 had been devised by our own Noel –the ingenious Noel Schoknecht.

Noel greeted us in a very Christmassy red and green gown, giving another wearing for a gown recently acquired for his honorary doctorate. The rules were then explained for those who were paying attention. We were told that this year our event was SantO-Ku, which required running around Mosman Park to collect numbers onMetrO style control flags in a Sudoku grid imposed on the map, place the numbers discovered into a Sudoku grid above the map, and then solve the Sudoku puzzle. If all numbers were found then the puzzle was Very Easy, but it was certainly possible to solve the puzzle without collecting all the numbers. But which controls should be left out? Hmmm.

Four courses were offered, with the shorter ones having the Sudoku puzzle largely pre-filled, sofewer controls had to be visited. There were chocolates for the winners, but you had to be quick before they melted.

Below is the map from the long course with the numbers against the control circles to help you out. You can use this to fill in the Sudoku as competitors did and then solve the puzzle.

Many thanks to Noel for a fun-filled end to our Orienteering Year!

ORIENTEERING PATHWAYS IN WA

Helen Post

How does one progress through the course levels of orienteering? There are no lessons. There are so many skills involved in orienteering. How can they be learnt?

Let’s look at the possible pathways in WA orienteering that help us learn each skill and the right time to use it, to allow maximum enjoyment and success in our chosen sport. There are many different ‘routes’ one can take, as a child, or later as a teenager or adult.

WA juniors are encouraged by coaches or interested fellow club members, to join the Numbats, OWA’s Junior Development Squad. They can do that as soon as they can complete a VE course on their own, provided they demonstrate a commitment to working to improve their skills. Juniors aged 10 and over can also attend 2 junior development camps each year (run by coaches and parents), as well as any suitable training sessions on offer from OWA coaches.

In the year they turn 12, young orienteers can apply to be part of the WA Schools Team which is comprised of up to 6 junior boys and 6 junior girls (<15), and 6 senior girls and 6 senior boys (15+) with a team maximum of 20. Juniors need to be capable of doing an M course, while the seniors must do an H course. This team competes against other State and Territory teams and 2 NZ teams (9 in total) in ASOC (Australian Schools Orienteering Championships) as part of the Australian Championships Carnival each year. Those trying out for this team are offered many extra coaching and training opportunities.

When competing in the ASOC, participants gain points for WA on each run they complete. Events include a Sprint, a Long and a Relay. They also gain individual points which may qualify them for selection in the National Schools Honour Team, consisting of 4 Senior boys and 4 girls, 4 junior girls and 4 boys. This ‘team’ does not compete against anyone but is often an indicator of future JWOC (Junior World Orienteering Championships) selection. (See article on WA Champions.)

Many juniors link up with a coach from about the age of 15 to add to skills improvement, and may do cross-training via other sports e.g. Athletics, to increase fitness. It may also be possible to attend another state’s junior camp.

Once out of school, juniors (<21) can apply to join the Western Nomads, 20E ( <21 ). There are interstate competitions throughout the year for this squad, in NOL (National Orienteering League ) events, accruing points towards the NOL 20E Trophy – teams and individual.

(In 2005, the inaugural year for Junior (now 20E) NOL teams, the Western Nomads won the Teams trophy and Erin Post won the Individual Female trophy. Team members were Rhys Challen, Sarah Dunnage, Ivan Komyshan, Erin Post, Cody Whitfield and Kellie Whitfield. In 2006, Kellie Whitfield won the individual NOL. These are the only times, to date, that WA has won in NOL.)

Four juniors in Numbats shirts at the 2023 summer camp

Similarly, in the year they turn 21, young orienteers can apply to join the Western Nomads, 21E (21+) and compete in NOL events for the NOL 21E Trophy – teams and individual. As well as NOL, there are also competitions with New Zealand at junior and senior level at Oceania and via the ‘Bushrangers Team’, giving valuable practice in competitive events for both countries’ athletes.

With NOL competitions being held in various states throughout the year (usually at Easter and Nationals plus other nominated events), it can involve a lot of interstate travel, which is particularly expensive for West Australians. However, there are various grants or subsidies available to athletes selected for State and National representation – from local councils, State Government, Australian Government (AIS), Orienteering WA and Orienteering Australia, depending on the competition being entered.

Many people who come to orienteering do not come as a junior and are not necessarily interested in high-level competitions, but there are still many opportunities for adults to develop orienteering skills and knowledge to improve their experience. This could be as simple as reading the information on the OWA website, especially regarding course parameters. There are also many training opportunities for people of all ages to access. Getting a coach or even becoming a coach, as well as helping to set courses are other excellent ways to learn more about orienteering. Getting into the mind of the setter can give you a valuable insight. Asking a fellow club member to walk around a course with you is another good tactic, as well as chatting to fellow orienteers about your course both before you start and after you finish.

Trying all or some of the above will help add to your enjoyment of and success in orienteering.

Which pathway will you take? Maybe you’ll be part of the majority of orienteers who stay on the recreational route, enjoying your navigating experience and the camaraderie of others who do orienteering? Maybe you simply want to have a walk that uses the mind as well as the body? Or maybe you’ll be one of the few who aim to progress to National representation?

There are different pathways in orienteering, depending on your reasons for orienteering. Competitors may turn onto a particular pathway at any time, even as an adult. It’s never too late to enjoy running with a map. The main thing is to have fun!

OWA’s successful Junior NOL team in 2005

COACHING IN 2024

Coaching for 2024 began in January with a successful summer Junior Camp, which was held at the Ern Halliday camp in Hillarys. We had 24 participants. Sprint training activities were held at ECU Joondalup and Minim Cove. The on-site Ern Halliday camp map was used for 2 of the activities and the Hillarys Metro event, setby Nick Dale, was also included in the schedule. Thanks to the many coach and parent helpers, and particularly to Rob West who was the Camp Director.

Kate Klyukina continued offering mid-week training sessions throughout the year, with a big break when Jiri and Veronika took over these when they were based in Perth. Many thanks Kate.

Rachel West and Craig Dufty provided 4 pre-Easter bush training sessions onPerth bush maps.Rachel also set a popular Knockout Sprint training at Hale School. Thank you to Sharon McFarlane for negotiating access to the school. Given how popular Knockout training has been, it would be worth giving this format a try as an actual event. It does require more work to set up but it seems the format is very engaging, particularly for our younger members.

The main pre-Easter training was a weekend in Bunbury, held at Evedon, and organised by Kellie Whitfield with help from Jill Elderfield. The attendance was 27 on Saturday and 25 on Sunday morning. Many participants also included the Sunday afternoon SWOT sprint event to the weekend's training. This event was held at Bunbury Catholic College and set by Michelle Martin. Many thanks to all those who helped make this happen.

Jiri Vales and Veronika Kubinova, our Czech coaches in residence, arrived in April after Easter and provided us with many great training activities, including Nomads training at Julimar, Schools Team training and coaching workshop at Jorgenson, MTBO workshops, a very popular Foxes Lair training, most of the activities at the Winter Junior Camp, as well as an Austrailian Champs training day and evening workshop. They were also based in Bunbury and Albany for some time to support activities with our regional clubs. I would like to say a huge thank you to both Jiri and Veronika for the massive effort and enthusiasm they put into offering really fun training sessions. We were very lucky to have them come to WA. Also a big thank you to Jan Fletcher who put in a huge amount of work to put together the Coach-in Residence submission and cover thelogistics of their stay.

Training for the Australian Championships

Rachel West

Knockout training

In June Nigel Wade kindly provided us with a bush sprint training (mapping the area himself) on his Wrendale property in Gidgegannup. We had a good turnout of 25 people and it was terrific to be able to train on a new map, on what felt like ‘real bush’ terrain. Thanks Nigel.

The Winter Junior Camp was held at Swan Valley Adventure Centre and had 18 participants. A big thank you to Riley McFarlane who took on the job of Camp Director, with mentoring from Rob West and Sharon McFarlane. Jiri and Veronika did a massive amount of work to provide most of the activities on the camp and hopefully provided some new ideas to ourcoaches. Thanks to Matt Seward for setting the Yetar Spring event that was included in the camp schedule, and thanks to all the other coaches who contributed to the running of the camp. I have heard the kids were very engaged in the fun activities provided and hopefully they learnt a lot.

Coaches in Residence

Jan Fletcher

Two coaches from the Czech Republic, Veronika Kubinova and Jiri Vales, came to work as Coaches-inResidence (CiRs) with members of Orienteering WA from 24 April until 27 September 2024. Their visit was assisted by a grant provided by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries with the goals of supporting and upskilling existing OWA coaches and attracting new coaches to work with (i) novice orienteers and (ii) young elite orienteers. Both had impressive credentials in both foot and mountain bike orienteering as athletes, coaches and mappers.

They were given a draft program of activities that would involve visiting OWA clubs in Bunbury and Albany as well as working with the Perth-based clubs. This program was refined in discussion with the OWA Coaching Convenor and the presidents of the Albany and Bunbury clubs. Some changes were also made when it became clear that the CiRs’ style of upskilling our coaches was based on our coaches watching and engaging in their coaching of OWA athletes rather than listening to them being told what they could or should do. For this reason, the number of workshops originally programmed was reduced and the number of opportunities to watch and/or be engaged in coaching of OWA members – particularly our novice orienteers and elite juniors – was greatly increased.

An idea of the range of their activities provided by Veronika and Jiri can be gained by reading other sections of this Yearbook. You will see their names cropping up in articles on Coaching, Schools Championships, Juniors camps and Club News. They also set events and assisted with mapping.

Veronika and Jiri were outstanding coaches who worked extremely hard, showed great creativity and ingenuity, and also had wonderful interpersonal skills.

Jiri and Veronika

Jiri and Veronika checking in finishers at their Moving Controls Training event, Foxes Lair

They had a big impact on our members, particularly our coaches and older juniors. Their approach to coaching juniors incorporated their belief that a coach must not only be able to teach orienteering skills but must also provide the opportunity for the juniors to feel that they are part of a group that is having fun. They considered that these ingredients were essential to maintain the interest and enjoyment of participants.

Our older juniors, who were our most consistent attendees at coaching/training sessions, responded very positively to both the opportunities and the challenges they were given. They are now running the 2024–25 summer MetrO series. This involves setting and running the events, including providing instruction to newcomers. Five of them have also agreed to assist 3 accredited coaches to run a Learn to Orienteer day in late November. It is anticipated that this group will also go on to enrol in the online Orienteering Instructor course offered by Orienteering Australia.

We were indeed fortunate to have Jiri and Veronika as CiRs and owe them our thanks. Thanks are also due to DLGSC for their financial support.

Even their ‘Thank You’ farewell present was creative and challenging

Learn to Orienteer (L20)

Kate Klyukina

The L2O program was developed in 2023 by Orienteering Australia as a way to provide a nationally consistent and resourced way of introducing newcomers to the sport of orienteering. Participants would pay a fee for the services received. In WA L2O replaced the Beginners program that had been run for free by OWA over many years. Ekaterina Klyukina (Kate) offered to run a trial of this program and, mentored by Rob and Lois West, ran a 2-day program, with each session the day before a local event, with the idea that participants could try out their newly learned skills at an event. Very few participants took advantage of this possibility so the coaching team decided to recommend a one-day program. OA took on feedback from the states that ran trial programs and in 2024 provided different programs ranging from 10-week hourly sessions to one-day intensive programs. Kate again offered to run a program, settling for the one day intensive. Her report reads as follows:

The Learn to Orienteer program was run on 24 November. Sadly, only 5 participants attended the session. It is important to note that the weather was unpleasant, the temperature being over 36°C and this may have been one of the reasons for the small number of attendees. This group was comprised of 2 adult women, one adult couple and a young girl.

The first 2 activities (a short star course to practise map orientation followed by a line course) received positive feedback from all participants who described orienteering as a big puzzle or escape room which was satisfying to solve. In the second part of the session, the attendees ran an individual line course in a relay format, followed by maze courses and map puzzles. The adults enjoyed the first part of the session and the map puzzles, while the child was interested in all activities and particularly enjoyed the maze and the individual course.

To conclude, the session went well despite the low attendance. However, when planning future sessions, factors we need to keep in mind to improve attendance are: the likely weather conditions at different times of the year, the length of sessions, and provision of a longer time for advertising.

Oliver on map walk with participants

Kate with participants

INTERSTATE AND OVERSEAS

Oceania

Joseph Coleman

The first overseas orienteering of 2024 in which Orienteering WA members participated was Oceania. The small group making the trip were: Riley McFarlane, Oliver Martin, Ricky Thackray and Joseph, Susan and Michael Coleman.

Oceania 2024 was held in New Zealand across 2 cities and 2 sprint series, the Lonely Mountain Sprints and the Auckland Triple Crown. With every event being a sprint, it meant we had multiple courses each day and especially with Lonely Mountain Sprints consisting of 5 events in 3 days, we were quite exhausted. Thankfully with a week in between to rest up and explore some of New Zealand’s sights, we were all ready to go for the second series.

Lonely Mountain Sprints

We started off the carnival with a warmup event at New Plymouth Girls' School, a nice simple course on a small school map which felt very similar to many previous events I'd done. It was a great way to get moving and to get the Carnival started.

Spotswood:

The first actual event was at Spotswood Primary School and Spotswood College, which provided quite a normal sprint course, split across the 2 schools with a long leg along the main road connecting them. Other than a couple of dead ends, there wasn't too much to catch competitors out and so it was all about being quick. However, you still had to be accurate unlike the 62 mispunches across all classes, 23% of all competitors! It was a good way to properly start off the Carnival, despite it being quite wet, something which would remain a constant over the rest of the Lonely Mountain Sprints.

Devon:

After a few hours to rest up we all reconvened that afternoon at Devon Intermediate and St Joseph's Catholic School for the next event. From the start we were immediately thrown into some very mentally challenging orienteering with many artificial barriers or impassable walls blocking route choices. The rest of the course was split across the 2 schools and for the most part was fairly regular sprint orienteering. After a steep descent through a small bushy area, we ran through the spectator control with the best route choice to the next control through a small corridor just nearby. Missing this meant competitors had to do about twice the distance to the next control and definitely shifted the field around a bit.

Pukekura Park:

The next day we made our way to Pukekura Park for the Knockout Qualification. Starting in groups with many forking controls, it made for an exciting race on a more physically challenging map as it had far more elevation than the events the previous day. The location was very similar to Araluen in WA, just with denser vegetation, which gave a bit of similarity. The dirt paths out on the course mixed with the rain caused a decent number of competitors to get into the finish covered in spatters of mud. Further Knockout Quarters and Semis took place afterwards at New Plymouth Boys' High School, however, I was not involved in that.

Joseph

Te Henui/WITT:

The final individual event of the Lonely Mountain Sprints took us to probably the most interesting location I have ever orienteered at: a cemetery. The course started out fairly tame, going through the small university campus of WITT but we soon made our way over to Te Henui Cemetery where we navigated in between rows of gravestones in very wet conditions. It definitely felt wrong to run throughout the cemetery, especially when there were sometimes small passable areas between 2 gravestones and controls tucked into little nooks. These small corridors, artificial barriers and the repeating nature of the rows of gravestones often made it hard to navigate and to pick the best route and certainly required focus to keep track of how many rows you had run past. Definitely my favourite event of the Carnival, it was just such a change from normal orienteering scenery.

Pukeiti:

The next day we all gathered early and hopped on a bus that took us out to Pukeiti, rainforest gardens at the base of Mount Taranaki, for a sprint relay. The course ran through the gardens and on trails through the forest. Mostly about route choice and picking the right trail, it was definitely a runner’s course. This event also had the most infamous finish chute of the carnival with a sharp left turn on some wet grass which very quickly became muddy and slippery, causing many people to lose their feet around the corner and go sliding. It was a great way to finish up the Lonely Mountain Sprints and our time in New Plymouth.

Auckland Triple Crown

Auckland University City Campus:

The first event of the Auckland Triple Crown series took us to the Auckland University City Campus and Albert Park, which provided a technical and challenging map only made more difficult by the various construction and artificial barriers placed around the map. With many small corridors, different levels and dead ends, if you weren't focusing you were sure to get lost, as I found out the hard way.

Auckland Girls Grammar School:

On the next day we made our way to Auckland Girls' Grammar School and Western Park for our second event of ATC. Whilst not a particularly complex map, there were a couple of spots that could trip you up, including at the first control which saw many people make a small mistake going to the wrong level or missing the turn. For the most part the map allowed faster running especially throughout the park section of the map which provided spectators much opportunity to see runners coming through the arena.

Auckland Viaduct:

After a day’s break where many competitors travelled to Rangitoto Island, the final event of the carnival was at the Auckland Viaduct where competitors ran through city streets creating a change of scenery from the mostly schools and parks that we'd had so far. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to

Riley

Oliver

compete in the event thanks to a hospital visit and my new moon boot and crutches. Despite this, from all accounts it was a very fast course with quick navigation and decisions needed with clusters of short quick legs separated by longer route choice legs. It also had the added challenge of ‘public dodging’ as this popular riverside restaurant area became increasingly busy with people enjoying the public holiday.

Overall, it was a great Carnival and my first experience of orienteering outside Australia. Although only a small contingent of Western Australians made the journey across, Riley, Ollie, Ricky and my family and I all enjoyed the experience. Ricky was the standout performer of our group finishing 2nd in M40 for the Lonely Mountain Sprints and 1st for M45 in the Auckland Triple Crown.

Australian 3-Days

Jan Fletcher

The 2024 3-Day Carnival was held in SA over the Easter holidays. Orienteering WA sent off what was probably the largest contingent to compete for WA in an interstate carnival – 47. This compares with 17 in 2023. It doubtless helped that this carnival was more accessible than the previous one in the Snowy Mountain area of NSW. Another difference between the carnivals in the 2 years was the weather. Photos in the 2023 Yearbook show our participants trying to keep warm and dry. The photos below make the difference obvious.

Shorts and singlets were needed – at least for the sprints

Not a jumper or raincoat in sight this year

The very warm weather took its toll in the bush courses, with some competitors, especially among the older ranks, withdrawing due to health concerns.

The first event, the NOL prologue and public sprint event was held at Heathfield High School and gave most of us a way of easing into competition mode with a fairly straightforward first few legs before hitting the more tricky legs with route choices that could cost time. On the Saturday, the start of the 3-day cumulative competition started, moving out of town and into the hills and farmlands of Murrayland. Despite the terrain being quite open, there was enough bushland with plenty of boulders to require concentration.

The WA contingent performed quite well, with 11 podium finishers, 2 of whom were first-place getters in the A category (Craig Dufty and Rohan Braid) and 3 in the AS category (Daisy McCauley, Jaco Bosman and Ken Post). Rohan was a total standout. He was not only the overall winner in M14A, but he won every day, finishing with an overall lead of nearly 42 minutes over his nearest competitor!

One class of competitors that has been included in the Australian 3-Days for many years is the 21AS Sledge. Participants in this class complete their courses in crazy outfits and vie for the right to wear boxer shorts of different colours to indicate performance for such things as: best sob story (blue), fastest downhill finisher (racy red), and, as the name suggests, they are free to sledge each other. While the participants in this category are mainly male, Tash Thackray regularly gives them plenty of competition – especially when it comes to outfits.

Those of us who have competed in SA more than once have found that clubs there provide good terrain, challenging courses and well-organised events. These encourage return visits, as do the galleries, restaurants and vineyards for those with more extensive interests.

Rohan Braid – 14A Champion

Tash in her outfit

World Masters Orienteering Carnival, Finland 2024: An Experience

Ken Brownlie

This Carnival was centred on Turku, a maritime tourist city about 2 hours by bus west of the capital Helsinki, with 7,000 participants attending. OWA had 6 members competing: Carol and Ken Brownlie, Jan and Ian Fletcher (the 4 travelling together), and Anthea Feaver and Peter Standen. We all met up at events and for dinner one evening together with former LOST members Kjell and Anna Winther.

On Friday 2 August we set out to register at the Event Centre. It was only 1.5 km walk from where we and the Fletchers were staying, but it took a while to find the entry to the large sports complex – a presage of things to come perhaps. Registration was efficient with a café and stalls selling gear on site. Here we were able to ‘test out’ our hired Emit punching cards – very inefficient devices compared with our SI sticks. They included a waterproof paper patch on the reverse of the card, uniquely pricked by each unit as a back-up. An Emit card is best held in one’s dominant hand, so those of us who use baseplate compasses found the system distinctly inconvenient, especially since the card had to be placed in a rectangular slot in one direction, so that at times one had to run around the control to insert it the correct way round to register. After this activity we left our backpacks at the centre, labelled with our competitor numbers, while we visited the Sprint Model area 500 m away.

On the Saturday the Sprint qualifying event was held. (Qualifying events are held because there are so many in each age class, e.g. 260 in M75. Results at qualifying events are used to allocate runners in order to A, B or C, etc. finals.) The Sprint qualifier was in the old part of the city among the wooden buildings which had survived a 19th century city-wide fire. Carol made her A final, while Ken and the Fletchers were in the B finals – Jan as a result of registering as a MP in the qualifier due to inserting her Emit card the wrong way around at some controls.

The Finals of the Sprint were on the Sunday, also in the old part of the city, but including the more complex university. Much to the amazement of many of us, the finish was at Turku cathedral where spectators were allowed to sit on the cathedral steps, leaving just a narrow passage for the worshipers attending one of the 3 services (in Finnish, Swedish and English) being held during the noise of the Carnival proceedings. Carol came 62/80 in the A Final, Jan 9/65 in W75B while in M75B Ian was 14th and Ken 25th out of 80; all not bad considering how many fit old Scandinavians there were in those older classes.

Model events for the Middle and Long Distances were available on Monday 5 and again on Thursday 8 August with the Qualifying event for the Middle Distance event being on Tuesday 6, with the final on Wednesday 7. The Long Distance Final was on Friday 9. For all these forest events a 20 minutes’ walk took us to a stop for reliable shuttle buses and after rides of varying length, to our event.

The first, the Forest Model, was an eye opener. We found it difficult to distinguish terrain features because mapped rocks, knolls, spurs, small hills and rock surfaces were all covered by moss and looked the same on the ground where there was some fallen timber and generally going was slow in light undergrowth among pines or beech on complex slopes. While the vegetation was mostly fairly open, we learned to avoid mapped pale green which was much thicker than expected. Ubiquitous swamps and marshes were at most ankle deep and often just damper than their surroundings. Paths and tracks were scarce and there were few major contour features so we usually resorted to dead reckoning – compass and pacing. Perhaps consequently, we did not do well at the Forest Qualifying the next day, nor at the Middle or Long Finals.

By contrast Anthea was outstanding in W65A Finals coming 8th in the Sprint, 21st in the Middle Distance and 19th in the Long, out of 80. Perhaps her experience in Scandinavia helped?

Throughout the week the weather was humid, with heavy rain during the Long final. There was no cover at the arenas, or Bunnings to buy chairs from, but we did manage to commandeer some bench spaces near the better-than-average catering tents, where we were glad to socialise with some of the Eastern Staters and commiserate about the tricky terrain. Apart from the unseemly bunfights of map returns, overall the organisation was good and made for an interesting experience, although one which we will be unlikely to repeat.

Australian Orienteering Championships

This year the Australian Orienteering Championships were based in and around Armidale in the northern tablelands of NSW. The 4 events of the Carnival bookended the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC), with the Middle Distance and Relays being the weekend before ASOC and the Long Distance and Sprints the weekend after. All the AO championship events, except for the sprint, were held at Glenburnie, close to Uralla, in a very large, beautifully mapped area that allowed the one assembly area to be used, yet provided distinctly different terrain for the 3 events held there. The Sprint event that concluded the Carnival made use of the campus of the University of New England – similar to WA universities but with more slope.

There were 43 WA orienteers participating. This number included the 12 school team members and their 2 coaches and manager.

There were some good performances from our members with 12 on the podium for individual events with 3 having success in 2 events:

Rohan Braid: 2nd M14A Middle Distance and 3rd M14A Sprint; Craig Dufty: 2nd M50A Middle Distance and 3rd M50A Long; Quinn Lommers: 3rd M12A Long and 2nd M12A Sprint

Single event placings were achieved by: Carol Brownlie: 2nd W70A Middle Distance; Jan Candy: 1st W75A Middle Distance; Jan Fletcher: 2nd W75A Middle Distance; Peny Dufty: 2nd W80A Long Distance; Ricky Thackray: 2nd M40A Sprint; Rachel West: 2nd 45A Sprint; Ken Post: 2nd M65AS Long Distance; Sarah: 2nd W21AS Long Distance; Matthew Coleman: 3rd Men Open B.

WA also performed well in the relays with 6 of our teams placing. The most exciting, but least lucky, was the M/W 12 relay team of Quinn Lommers, Ruth Toomey and Fraser Brownlie who came 2nd, just 2 seconds behind the winning team. Other placings were achieved by: Sten Claessens, John Toomey & Craig Dufty M45A, 3rd; Helen Post, Jan Candy & Carol Brownlie W65A, 2nd; Ken Brownlie, Russell Candy & Ian Fletcher M75A, 3rd; Rachel West, Ceri Pass & Sarah Richards, 2nd 21AS; Tucker Ellery, Arvin Nair & Peter O’Loughlin M21AS, 3rd.

OWA members on a spot on the hill with a good view of the finish

First day success: Jan Candy 1st, Jan Fletcher 2nd W75A Middle Distance

As noted previously, the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships were held in between the ASOC and Australian Champs, making a very strenuous time for the school team members who competed in both Championships … but who better to tell you about their experiences than the team members?

Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC)

Arvin Nair, WA Schools Team member

I was fortunate to be a part of the WA Schools Team that travelled to Armidale and Uralla in NSW for the 2024 Australian Orienteering Championships and the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships. Departing with the Team on Friday 27 September, I was geared up for another exciting week of competition and camaraderie.

Once arriving at the New England Girls School, after 2 flights and a bus, we were so ravenous that we abandoned our bags in the bus and bolted straight to dinner. The delicious meals were a common theme throughout our stay, and were appreciated, with the team often having seconds and thirds to replenish the energy we spent orienteering.

The events themselves were held in the beautiful country of the Anaiwan and Kamilaroi people, and I express my sincere thanks to them and the owners of the private property we ran on for allowing us to do so. A particularly poignant moment was the smoking ceremony conducted as the teams walked into the start draw venue, a ritual meant to cleanse our souls of any evil spirits and prepare us for any challenges that we may face.

Despite the dreaded ASOC virus rearing its head again, the team performed commendably, with standout performances by our emerging class of Junior Boy athletes, who I’m sure will challenge for top honours in the not-so-distant future.

Zali Dale, 3rd leg runner in the W20E relay

Arvin (right) and Tucker (left) navigate a fence, photographed by Alec Watt at the ASOC long

Between competitions, our rest days were filled with snack runs and journeys to the beautiful waterfalls and natural parks in the region. Bowling was also popular, with us bumping into other states and even New Zealand on our way to and from the venue.

Evenings were time for team meeting, which involved a team trek, map and splits in hand, to a classroom with a projector, where we were able to pore over Livelox and learn from our mistakes. I enjoyed watching the winners’ route choices, as they showed me alternative route choices that I didn’t even consider when out on course.

When not partying at the disco, or puzzling over orienteering trivia at the quiz night, we often played frisbee, to the detriment of a few nearby windows (no damage done).

Of course, there were the usual shenanigans, with some state, *QLD*, mysteriously conjuring a tent on top of one of the team buses. The New Zealanders managed to find some chalk pens and covered their buses in an absolute mess of pro-NZ propaganda.

Overall, the 2024 AOC and ASOC were the perfect way to cap off my third and final year as part of the Schools Team. I’d like to thank all of Team WA, from my fellow teammates to the coaches who put in work training us and keeping us in check, to all the other orienteers for their support throughout the carnival. Looking forward to 2025, Go WA!!!

MEET THE TEAM

Back row: Sten Claessens (Coach), Tom Brownlie (Manager)

Third row: Ruben Claessens, Rohan Braid, Neve Lommers, Chris Drury, Edmund Toomey, Tucker Ellery

Second row: Arvin Nair, Amy Dufty

Front row: Quinn Lommers, Archie Brownlie

Missing: Sarah Richards (Coach), Troy Kingma

This was my second Schools Champs and I found it just as fascinating and constructive as the previous year. The accommodation in Armidale was beautiful and comfortable with ovals and a dining hall. The food was of good quality and we were never left hungry.

After every event, we held a meeting from which I went over my course and my route and thanks to Sten, Tom and Sarah, I picked up on my mistakes and realised how I managed to make them. We took part in many social events including the quiz and games night. We got to meet and play with many new people from other Australian states and from NZ.

We were also given a lot of free time and chances to explore Armidale on the rest days. I especially liked all the waterfalls and waterholes we went to swim in and look at. The Carnival itself consisted of the Australian Championship days on 2 weekends and, in the week in between, the Australian Schools Championship days. The events were held between 2 bush maps, Pine Tree (for ASOC), and Glenburnie (AOC) and 2 sprint maps as well, both in Armidale. We ran middle, long distances and relays.

Thanks to our amazing coaches for putting up with our crap and carting us from place to place. I had a great time as I know the others did too.

Archie Brownlie, WA Schools Team member

In the lead-up to the national Carnival, I felt excited. I believed that I could be competitive in my age class. Sadly, I came down with some sort of cold right before the Carnival, and this hindered my ability to perform. I still had a good time though, with many activities not needing speed or endurance (what the cold took away from me). The events were exciting and seeing my friends podium was nice. Overall, my experience at Nationals was great, with, I believe, a top 10 finish on at least one of the days. I hope that for future years to come I can experience the same support and not contract diseases.

Team captains Tucker and Amy thanking coaches Sten and Sarah and Manager Tom at OWA Awards night

Archie, photographed by Terry Cooke at ASOC long

TOP LEFT: Chris Drury, photo by Terry Cooke

TOP RIGHT: Arvin Nair

MIDDLE: Troy Kingma, photo by Terry Cooke

BOTTOM: Neve Lommers, photo by Terry Cooke

WA CLUBS – 2024 WRAP UP

Albany and Hinterland Orienteering Club

John Toomey, President

We conducted 10 local events on sprint maps including first-time uses of Manypeaks and Spencer Park primary school maps. Being tiny little maps we offer a 2nd free course of about 1.5 km with almost a mass start for everyone for a bit of fun, and most people sign up. This year we had 5 different course setters which has slightly reduced the burden of organising so many events, and I'd like to thank Tony, Tracey, Caroline and Jen for setting. In addition, Edmund set the Primary Interschool Teams scatter event which once again was very well attended by 5 local primary schools.

New for this year for us was our first attempt at a secondary school competition, and our plan was to showcase orienteering as an exciting head-to-head competition that fits easily into a school's half day. To do this we set a relay on a playing fields area with 2 courses: Year 7–8and Year 9–10.Forks in all courses and a figure-8 style courses meant that the teammates could cheer their runners. This was a resounding success and the 3 schools that attended are super keen to bring more students next year and are encouraging the other secondary schools in the region to get involved – orienteering is formally part of the region's secondary school officialsports calendar now.

Notable individual achievements this year include Edmund's scholarship with the Great Southern Academy of Sport who assist young athletes in sports that have clear high-performance pathways. Ruth was OWA's Junior series winner and much as she was surprised and happy with the award, she would love to see more junior girls involved.

Next year we will continue with our low-key easy-to-organise club events and endeavour to put the main efforts into the 2 inter-school events. It's lovely to have a couple of new setters able to set Sprint events but we still have the commitment and obligation for all the surrounding necessities for running a club and the event calendar spread over a very small membership base. The focus will remain on keeping it simple to organise.

Edmund in action

Map reading on the run

Bibbulmun Orienteers

Sue Dowling

In 2024 BO set a total of 12 events. We began the year with a MetrO event at Mosman Park, followed by another MetrO at Piara Waters. Next on the BO calendar was the first MTBO event of the year, at Bibra Lake. Then there was a NavDash experience at Swan Valley Adventure Centre. Next was a sojourn to Dryandra to organise the first day of the WA Classic, followed by another bush event at Yetar Springs. Another MTBO event (Middle Distance Championships) at Langford Park was followed by the Sprint Championships at Murdoch University. Then came another bush event, this time at Frazzle, enlivened by our FIFO orienteer, Russell Buchanon. Back to MetrO and we have BO orienteers setting events at Ashfield, Yokine, and Thornlie.

Some BO members travelled interstate for orienteering. Those who competed in the Australian 3-Days in South Australia included Ricky and Tash Thackray; Rachel West; Lois and Rob West; Craig, Amy and Liam Dufty; Riley and Sharon McFarlane and Rob Beattie. Some gained podium places. Later in the year came the Australian Championships, held in and around Armidale in NSW. Taking part were Ricky Thackray; Rachel West; Craig, Amy* and Liam Dufty; Penny Dufty; Sharon and Riley McFarlane; Troy Kingma* and Tucker Ellery* (*members of the Australian Schools Team). Again, some gained podium places. The Australian MTBO Championships, held in Canberra, saw Ricky Thackray placed first in 3 of the 4 events, in M40, and he was 2nd in the other event. Tash Thackray also competed.

The Dufty family ventured overseas to Italy, Switzerland and France because Australia isn’t hilly enough. Ricky Thackray went MTBOing in too many countries to mention.

Closer to home, many BO-ers gained podium places in the various OWA Championship events.

BO was represented in OWA’s team of Nomads, with Riley McFarlane and Liam Dufty competing in all 5 NOL rounds, Amy Dufty the Easter and Brisbane Sprints plus the Relay at the Australian Champs, Rachel West and Ricky Thackray competed in the Tasmanian and Brisbane NOL rounds, Joanna Maynard competed in the Brisbane NOL events, and Tucker Ellery competed in the Australian Sprint Championships. Tash Thackray also was a part of the Nomads team. Riley was part of the Bushrangers team representing Australia in the Kings Birthday Weekend test match. Riley and Liam were part of the Western Nomads team that took part in the Transcend Ultra. Sharon McFarlane was the Nomads Manager.

Finally, to all the BO members who set, controlled, organised, instructed, collected controlled, towed and more: many, many thanks to you all.

Ellie Sansom at Sprint Champs

Jack Dowling – Eventor supremo and frequent event administrator. Pictured in the van at Carinyah MTBO event

Kulgun Orienteers

Heike Behrbohm, Convenor

KO set 9 events in 2024. They included 2 MetrO events at the beginning of the year at Bibra Lake and Piara Waters. Then a NavDash event set by Vanessa and Volker at Garvey Park. In May Graham and Lachlan set the bush event at Mt Billy SE and in June Graham mapped and set the Sprint SOL event at Wanneroo Senior High School. Volker set his first MTBO event at Pickering Brook and Ceri set the State Middle Distance champs at Hill Park Dale. Tim set the last KO bush event in September at Malmalling NE. Joseph, as a Nomads member, set a MetrO event at Wireless Hill Reserve in November. Ceri also was the controller for the Malmalling event, while Dave was the organiser for 3 events and Heike for one.

Many thanks to all the volunteers mentioned and to all the others who helped with control collection and/or instructing.

KO member numbers are steady with a total of 45 members this year, of which 18 are children.

During 2024 Vanessa redesigned our shirts and our old KO flag, which was replaced with a much larger and colourful one.

Congratulations to Kate Braid who was selected for the OA National Development Squad at the beginning of the year.

At the Annual Dinner event in November an award for Volunteer of the Year went to the Braid family for setting and controlling 5 events in 2024, and to Ceri for her role as secretary of OWA. Rohan Braid, Kate Braid, Joseph Coleman, and Debbie McKay were also all presented with awards.

It has been a long time but the Rutty Rock is in KO’s possession again after a fun day at the John XXIII Relay event.

This year we still have 4 members on the OWA Council: Ceri Pass, Secretary; Susan Coleman, Treasurer; Sten Claessens, Mapping; and Heike Behrbohm, general councilor.

KO with the Rutty Rock

LOST

Janine Taylor, Convenor

……….. The meaning of ??…..LOST……

….. a Convenor’s perspective on the year that was…..

Bear with me just for a moment. I’ve been fascinated with our Club’s name. It isn’t an acronym, I’m assured, but whenever one says they belong to an orienteering club named LOST, the wink wink, nudge, nudge, say no more reaction happens!

So, I decided to consult the Oxford dictionary and Thesaurus for the definition of LOST. My, oh, my, how relevant is the humble word lost to the sport of orienteering. Here’s what I found. The words underlined are the various meanings of lost.

• Observing groups of orienteers comparing notes after an event, shaking and scratching of heads, nodding, …words heard often ‘went astray’, ‘off track’, ‘lost my bearings’ and ended up ‘going around in circles’. Sound familiar?

• An opportunity lost when missing a control, wasting an hour squandering time, you’ve gone by the board, not the control.

• Ruined! Totally crushed, hadn’t finished in time. Positive the control was obliterated by a drop bear!

• Dodging the creek and evading wet feet, just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong? Then outrun by a peer and outdistanced not getting ahead this time. Oh hum.

Clearly not all members lived up to their club name as LOST was awarded the Bengtsson-Offrell Trophy (Champion Club) and the MetrO Series Champion Club for 2023/2024. Both awards were presented at the OWA 50th Anniversary Dinner held in October.

In addition, some of the LOST members seem to think that LOST is an acronym for ‘lost orienteers and social tipplers’, as was originally suggested, but declined, by the membership. Certainly, social activities are enjoyed by the club.

But as usual for a club to run smoothly it takes a community of people. Administrative duties, setting, controlling, the towing of caravan and toilet, setting up and collecting controls. Thank you to each and every one of you who have helped with the above tasks. Thank you for participating in the events. A big welcome to all new members this year. We hope you’re enjoying the art of orienteering. What a great family OWA is.

Enjoying a LOST Christmas Party

South West Orienteers and Trekkers

Robyn Phillips, former Convenor

SWOT provided a program of 12 events this year, with 3 Scatters, 3 sprints, 1 score and 5 bush events. Our attendance ranged from 8 to 47 which was a downturn from last year. Our 2 highest attendances were our first event of the year in Dalyellup (47) and our bush event at the ever-popular Crooked Brook (46). Kellie Whitfield ran training at Evedon prior to Easter which was a great success and at the finish of the weekend we were pleased to see many of the Perth participants attend our sprint at Bunbury Catholic College. There was high activity and an overabundance of competitiveness as many ran all events, which was great fun.

We welcomed our Coaches-in-Residence in the lead up to the Evedon Offer event in July. Veronika and Jiri, hosted by Kellie Whitfield, clocked up some extensive kilometres (and climb!) whilst providing updates to the Evedon Offer map. They also set some great courses for the event, and fittingly slept well after setting out and bringing in controls. Thanks Veronika and Jiri –we hope you enjoyed your time in the South West!

Our last event for the season was at the Mornington Adventure Camp not far from Harvey. This map was resurrected with the efforts of Peter and Jill Elderfield, and Peter O’Loughlin. There have been many great improvements at Mornington, and the owners were excited about the mapping and our event. It was however unfortunate that the weather was very wet in the lead up and on event day. A couple of map adjustments were necessary on the day due to high rainfall and a trickling creek turned into a torrent, which in turn was a safety risk for competitors with the associated controls having to be removed from the map at the last minute. We are hoping the new map can be used again in 2025 – fingers crossed for a dryer lead up to the event!

A few SWOTters went to Dryandra for the WA Classic weekend in June. It certainly was great to just enjoy the event, with no responsibilities for that weekend! The woodlands did not disappoint, and the weather was great – such a lovely setting with flora and fauna in abundance. Some of us camped, which was great, and we enjoyed a nostalgic jaunt through items and photos on display in the hall for the OWA 50th anniversary celebration afternoon tea. It was a shock to return to Bunbury and the tree carnage and debris following our second mega storm –dare we say another tornado?

SWOT attendance at the state and national events this year was down due to other commitments, however a small contingent of SWOTters did attend the National Championships. One of our newest members, Jan Candy, did exceptionally well in achieving a first in the W75A (individual) and a second in the W65A relay (with Helen and Carol). Arvin Nair also attended as a member of the WA Schools Team and successfully completed all of his courses.

Our annual SWOT trophy winners this year were Jaco Bosman (SWOT Score event), Junior Trophy went to Eckart Bosman, and the Ivor Allum Trophy was presented to Peter O’Loughlin.

Jaco Bosman

Peter O’Loughlin

Wullundigong Orienteers of the West

Helen Post, Convenor

Well done and thanks to:

Dan Greig who, for the past 5 seasons, has been designing the OWA event schedule, consulting with OWA Council, seeking permission from landowners and emailing details of these to each of our setters. This is one of the many behind the scenes jobs carried out by our volunteers. Robert Boekelaar for researching OWA’s history, initially for the Around the Contours book produced in 2009, and more recently for the weekly Enews editions marking our 50th year. Rosalie and Melinda for being part of the admin team for the Schools Champs.

Tom for setting and organising the NavDash at ECU Mt Lawley. Oliver and Dan for setting and controlling at Jorgensen (stepping in at the last minute after the withdrawal of the original setters). Brian and Ben, MtBO at Bayswater: Brian also controlled the Schools’ Champ’s. Ken and Helen for controlling and setting Day 2 of the Winter Classic at Dryandra. Ken and Carol for setting the inter-club relays.

Richards

Peter K set the Long State Champs at Peterdine; during these months Peter was also helping Jenny in her recovery from spinal surgery which did not go as expected. Jenny has been determined in her rehab where she needed to learn to walk again. Thankfully she is progressing really well.

Sue booked the venue for our Annual Dinner, sourced table décor, set up and directed set up of tables, etc. for the dinner. Sue did this for many years before we switched to lunch at Whiteman Park.

Tom and Sarah traveled with the WA Schools Team for Nationals, as Manager and Assistant Coach. The Manager role involves a lot of time liaising with the National Manager as well as students and their parents prior to the competition.

Kate ran many of the mid-week training events available to members.

Many WOWers travelled to the Adelaide Hills, SA to compete at Easter (Australian 3 Day Championships). Top 5 placings were gained by Daisy, 2nd W21AS; Ken P, 1st M65AS; Carol, 2nd W70; Russell, 5th M70.

Even more traveled to Armidale, NSW for Nationals (Australian Championships). Top 5 placings were gained by Sarah, 2nd W21AS Relay and Long; Fraser, 2nd M/W12 Relay, 5th M12 Long; Christopher, 4th M16 Relay, 4th JB Schools Long; Wayne, 5th M35 Relay; Ken P, 2nd 65AS Long; Helen, 2nd W65 Relay; Carol, 2nd W70 Middle, 2nd W65 Relay, 5th W70 Long; Ken B, 3rd M75 Relay.

Despite losing 2 competitors for setting duties, WOW still fielded 6 teams at the Interclub Relays and placed 2nd!! NO team punched the wrong control which is fantastic!

Oliver, Kate and Helen flying the flag for OWA

Sarah

– Assistant Schools Team coach and competitor

OWA’S 2025 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

• Find a replacement for Anna as President. She really intends to step down

• Increase our membership, with a focus on junior girls

• Find mentors for all junior orienteers who would like to set an event

• Find volunteers to check all quiz style Anytime Orienteering courses.

Let’s all do what we can to achieve these resolutions!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Cover design: Vanessa Smith

Cover photo: Rob West

Typesetter: Josie Duncan

Copyeditor and reviewer: Jan Fletcher

Project managers: Jan Fletcher and Melinda Richards

Major contributing photographers: Rob West, Sue Dowling, Melinda Richards, Pam Yeatman, Helen Post, Chris Howitt, Ken Brownlie

The State Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Lotterywest is a major supporter of Orienteering Western Australia. Sport and recreation builds stronger, healthier, happier and safer communities.

John Forrest National Park mapped in 2005 by Peter Komyshan; some areas re-mapped in 2016. Section on display excised by Noel Schoknecht for comparison with 1973 version.

Orienteering Western Australia