2023 Orienteering WA Yearbook

OUR YEAR IN 2023 – PRESIDENT’S REVIEW

Anna Napier, OWA President

As always, there have been many people who have done a huge amount to keep OWA events going in 2023. The Council has been meeting monthly and making many decisions behind the scenes to keep our governance and event planning running smoothly, and our Administration officer, Melinda Richards, has been always there for event administration and IT as well as numerous things behind the scenes.

Council Members were:

President: Anna Napier

Vice President: Jan Fletcher

Secretary: Ceri Pass

Treasurer: Susan Coleman

Technical Convenor: Tony Simpkins

Mapping Convenor: Sten Claessens

Coaching Convenor: Rob West

MTBO Convenor: Hadrien Devillepoix

General Councillors: Rachel West, Liisa Hirvonen, Heike

Behrbohm, Sharon McFarlane

Our young adults have been stepping up to work to provide a great culture for youth in orienteering and to encourage those who have left school to think about getting involved in coaching and events. Many thanks to Riley and Sharon McFarlane who have been spearheading the work to engage younger people to stay on in orienteering and provide a fun atmosphere.

This year’s volunteer of the year awards, however, are focused on the Kambarang Carnival. Planning for the Carnival began over 18 months ago, with the work for new mapping areas, as we need to have new ones for the National Championship events, and the work is only just now being finalised with the financials, grant acquittal and reporting. A huge effort by many people. Kambarang Committee meetings started in August last year and went mostly monthly until the last 4 weeks when they were weekly. Most key positions were filled quickly and there were no major gaps.

Huge thanks to Graham Braid who ran the meetings very effectively, using Zoom type resources and WhatsApp to good effect. Graham also did a lot of other things besides wrangling the committee, including coordinating and designing the event Bulletins, helping design the award medals, dealing with issues, controlling an event and coordinating the final report.

The other long-term and ongoing ‘office’ job of money managing was done very ably by Susan Coleman, who put together the initial Carnival budget, kept all the bills paid and provided a great financial report on it all, while also doing the same for the general orienteering financials. Susan also did a lot of work with the Schools Team camp with regards to liaising with the Swan Valley Adventure Centre and all that went with that.

Other key members were Noel Schoknecht and Tony Simpkins for extensive work on maps and technical issues respectively, and Tom Brownlie for doing a great job with the WA Schools team management and liaising with the other 12 or so teams from interstate and overseas. Noel Schoknecht also designed the lovely Kambarang logo.

The rest of the committee included:

Jack Dowling – IT and Eventor

Rosie McCaulay and Melinda Richards – IT and Eventor

Vanessa Smith – promotion and shirt designs

Noel Schoknecht

Dave Pass – equipment gathering and transportation, arena layouts

Christine Howitt – volunteer getting and wrangling

Liisa Hirvonen – website promotions and information and daily reports during the Carnival Sten Claessens – SI and SI air controls.

Anna Napier – funding and sponsorship

OTHER KEY PEOPLE

Setters, controllers and starter at Championship events

Middle Distance Planner: Noel Schokneckht; Controller: Graham Braid

Relays Planner: Tony Simpkins; Controller: Helen Bailey

Long Distance Planner: Paul Dowling; Controller: Craig Dufty

Sprint Planner: Nick Dale; Controller: Ceri Pass

Starter at all events: Ken Brownlie

ASOC and Kambarang Classic planners and controllers

Overall Controller: Ian Fletcher

ASOC Sprint and Kambarang Day 1 Planner: Anthea Feaver; Controller: Noel Schokneckht

ASOC Long Distance and Kambarang Day 2 Planners: Hadrian Devillepoix, Tim

Sharp, Ellie Sansom; Controller: Dan Greig

ASOC Relays and Kambarang Day 3 Planner: Eddie Plummer; Controller: Ian Fletcher

Vanessa Smith

Graham Braid

2023 AWARDS

Celebrating our Champions

Junior Female Orienteer of the Year

Neve Lommers holding both her own and Quinn’s trophies

Junior Male Orienteer of the Year

Quinn Lommers, pictured at 2023 Primary School Champs

Male Orienteer of the Year

Craig Dufty

Female Orienteer of the Year

Carol Brownlie

Jeff Whittam Rising Star Awards

Female Long Distance Champion

Amy Dufty and Christopher Drury

Male Long Distance Champion

Craig Dufty

Kellie Whitfield

Female Middle Distance Champion

Male Middle Distance Champion and Male Sprint Distance Champion

BO – held by Riley McFarlane

Zali Dale

Female Sprint Distance Champion

Kellie Whitfield

Oliver Martin

Rutty Rock for Champion Club

Bengtsson-Offrell Trophy –Champion Club

ADHOC – held by John Toomey, Club President

MTBO State Open Female Champion

MetrO Series Champion Club 2022/23

LOST – held by Anthea Feaver, Club Convenor

MTBO State Open Male Champion

Hadrien Devillepoix

Debbie McKay

Golden Gumnuts 2023

Ken Brownlie, Adjudicator

Tom Brownlie, Presenter Nominators unnamed for their own protection

Golden gumnuts are awarded to orienteers who have distinguished themselves in ways they might not necessarily want acknowledged.

In a part of the country we don’t often visit he was doing quite well on the H4 course, when he heard what sounded to him like the cry of a distressed runner, so he stopped to try to help. He heard the call again but where was it coming from?

At the third sounding he realised it was not human at all, but a bird, identified by a nearby woman on his course as a ‘white-browed warbler’.

Was that the same woman who beat him by one second that day, and would she like to demonstrate the call of a ‘white-browed warbler’?

Rosalie McCauley

This member is quite good. In fact good enough to win the H1 course at Ngangaguringguring. Perhaps he has very good map memory, but he was not so good at remembering where he’d left his car keys. He went to his car twice, both before and after his run, forgetting he had left his keys in the caravan.

Oliver Martin

Sometimes when controls are close to each other it is not obvious which is the corresponding number on the map. However, that excuse did not apply to this member at the State Long Champs. Somehow, he managed to run from one to 3, then necessarily back to 2 and on to 3 again. Having found that was a successful strategy for locating tricky controls, he did it again, from 6 to 8, back to 7 and then to 8 again. He did not win his class.

Dan Greig

At the event she dropped her phone in the trailer toilet – not just in the toilet but right into the toilet. (Don’t ask how that happened.) Fortunately, it was early in the day so there had been little, and only liquid, use of the convenience. Her husband bravely retrieved it for her. The things you’ll do for love.

John Taylor

Did your course map at the Australian Middle Distance event have a blue north symbol in the middle of a paddock, looking like a sculpted dam or the aquatic equivalent of a crop circle? But it must have been real, because the map maker had spent many hours ensuring all the details were correct and was a former Mapping Convenor of WA and of Australia.

Noel Schoknecht

Tom Brownlie announces the lucky winners

Oliver Martin with his gumnut

John Taylor

It was the first ‘real’ bush event of the year, at Spice Brook, which was apparently such an exciting occasion for some ladies that they each, separately during the morning, bravely set off from the start without picking up a map. Perhaps they would like to tell us how far they got before realising?

Moreen Cox, Jan Fletcher, Rosemary Kullman, Jan Candy (perhaps?), A N Other – please confess.

After the Australian Long Distance event he decided he did not need his O-gear again for 6 months. However, the next day when about to run at Australian Sprint, he realised he had left all his gear at home. So he borrowed a compass and control description holder from a friend, then an e-tag from Registration. They even chose one for him with tight finger elastic so it wouldn’t fall off, but when he was finally ready to run – no e-tag. Back to registration to borrow another one. In spite of falling over twice on the course, including a parachutist’s roll in the finish chute, the second e-tag survived to be returned. The first borrowed one is still missing.

Ken Brownlie

Noel Schoknecht

Tom with his father’s gumnut artfully draped on his hat

Moreen, Jan C, Jan F and Rosemary

RECOGNISING OUR LEGENDS

In 2023 Don Young became the first Western Australian to be inducted into the Orienteering Hall of Fame. As many current members were not orienteers when Don was at his most active in services to orienteering, the nomination that resulted in his election by a national committee follows.

Nomination for Induction into the OA Hall of Fame General

Membership – 2023

Don was a founding member of Orienteering WA in 1974 and soon took on major leadership roles. In 1979 he was elected OAWA President and held that position until 1984. Under his leadership the OAWA Council was expanded and substantial improvements in mapping, coaching and competition organisation took place. These initiatives resulted in several Western Australian orienteers reaching Australian representative standard in 1985. During this period Western Australia conducted its first multi-day national event, the 1984 Spring West 3 Day. In 1998 Don was made a Life Member of Orienteering WA for his outstanding services to orienteering in WA over a lengthy period of time.

Don also made a significant contribution to administration in orienteering at a national level. He was a member of the (then) Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA) Council from 1981-1997, chaired the Magazine Committee, was Vice President (Development) and finally OFA President 1994–1997. Don was the first OFA President not from NSW, Victoria or the ACT. While possessing a national and world view, Don was experienced in the unique challenges facing the ’more remote’ states in a country the size of Australia.

A statement, provided by Hugh Cameron and Barry Mc Crae, who had more direct experience of how Don strategically guided and influenced both the direction and development of the OFA throughout his tenure than those of us in WA, follows:

‘In the year of his election to the position of OFA President, Don joined a newly formed national Sponsorship Working Group and advanced the convening of an annual conference for officers working in the field of orienteering development. In the following year, he facilitated the introduction of Affiliate Membership at reduced rates to enable Street O participants to join state associations – a long-lasting legacy in that the format has become very popular, bringing orienteering to an urban community. Another significant initiative, strongly supported by Don, was the establishment of a Working Group to prepare an environmental code of practice for orienteering.

Don Young readily recognised the importance of the OFA’s presence on the international scene. He strongly advocated for, and supported, OFA personnel in their roles at the International Orienteering Federation, athletes representing Australia in international competition, team coaches and managers of both JWOC and WOC teams. In 1995, as President, Don represented the OFA at the World Orienteering Championships in Germany. Don wrote a subsequent, comprehensive article, published in ‘The Australian Orienteer’, with reflections to assist the further development of orienteering in Australia. Don advocated for Australia’s 1996 bid to secure the World Orienteering Championships in 2001 and although the bid proved unsuccessful, JWOC, 2007, was subsequently awarded to Australia – the first time the event left Europe.

Don’s commitment to APOC and the Australia New Zealand Challenge was probably second to only that of David Hogg. As a competitor, he competed in the first 6 editions of APOC and represented Australia on a number of occasions at the AUS/NZL Challenge. Don was always interested in ways to enhance regional development. In 1980, at the inaugural Pacific Orienteering Championships, Don met Yvonne Caspari, the Secretary of the Swiss Orienteering Federation. This meeting not only resulted in a lifelong friendship with Yvonne and her husband Armin but also resulted in a close affinity between orienteering and orienteers in Australia and Switzerland, much to the benefit of Australian orienteering.

Don’s commitment to and vision for a significant Australian orienteering regional and world presence was clearly recognised and appreciated by people at all levels of the orienteering community.

During Don’s term as President, MTBO was recognised as an important discipline in Australia. Its development led to the establishment of an OFA Committee for MTBO and set the foundations for international success in the discipline. The first Australian MTBO Championships were held in Victoria in 1998 and the second World MTBO Championships in Australia in 2004.

In 1997, Don Young was the recipient of the Silva Award for Services to Orienteering. His contribution to orienteering is personified in the words of this award’s criteria: ‘a person who has contributed in a most deserving manner to the development of orienteering in your country’.’

Orienteering WA’s Council sincerely hopes that in 2023 Don Young will be inducted into the OA Hall of Fame – a fitting but currently missing recognition of his meritorious contribution to the sport of orienteering at club, state, national and international levels over an extended period of time.

Submitted by the Council of Orienteering WA with the support of:

Hugh Cameron Hall of Fame Member, OFA President 1984–87

Barry McCrae Hall of Fame member, OFA President 1990–94

Don Young with Bruce Arthur, reading Don’s citation, and Blair Trewin, holding the plaque recognising Don’s Hall of Fame membership

In Conversation with Gary Aitken

Gary Aitken is well known to most members as he still attends many events. What younger and/or newer members may not know is that Gary was largely responsible for the introduction of orienteering to WA. Much of the history of this period can be found in Around the Contours (2010). The following conversation with Gary was an attempt to gain a more personal recollection of those early years and changes since.

J: Most long-time members will recognise you as the founding father of orienteering in WA, being responsible for the production of our first orienteering map and setter of our first orienteering event. What made you interested in introducing orienteering to WA?

G: When I was captain of the University of WA’s crosscountry team, I came across an article in a British Sports magazine in which several very well-known runners, including Gordon Pirie and Chris Chataway, wrote about trying orienteering. This caught my attention with the combination of running and thinking. Later while attending Intervarsity Athletics in Melbourne, Tom Andrews took me out to a school mapped for orienteering where he was putting out markers –another spur. Then in 1973, while at an athletic event in ACT David Hogg called a meeting of the 4 states that had started orienteering. I told David that Western Australia would become a member and in 1974 the Orienteering Association of WA was formed with Eric Isaachsen, another member of the UWAAAC as president and me as Secretary.

J: What were the major obstacles that you faced?

G: Maps – there were no orienteering maps, so I did a circuit of government departments looking for maps of suitable places with contours. Discussions with the Department of Lands and Surveys finally had positive results. Cartography for the map was done by the Government Printing Department and I then did the fieldwork. The Department of Lands and Surveys then produced the final map. It was a black and white map of John Forrest. More help with the provision of maps came through a private firm, Australian Aerial Mapping, which offered to provide aerial photos and cartography.

Lack of a caravan to carry equipment and provide shelter. This was acquired thanks to Maureen Strauss at the Department of Sport and Recreation who obtained a grant for ‘a mobile office’!

J: There have been major changes in many aspects of orienteering since you started. Which do you see as making the most difference to the way events are run?

G: The technology involved in the way maps are produced, for example the change from photogrammetry to LIDAR. When the first map was made of Foxes Lair in 1979, the aerial photos were sent to Robin Harvey in Scotland who produced the map which I then field checked. Mysterious small white circles on the map turned out to be areas cleared by ants. I found out the hard way. Also, clear T-shaped areas proved to be placed where large trees had fallen over. Equipment has also changed. Our first control markers were red plastic buckets, courtesy of VOA. Then I managed to get red and white sailcloth while in Victoria and Jeff Whittam made these into orienteering flags, sewing them on a treadle sewing machine and fitting them onto wire from coathangers he had straightened. Later we put blue strips on them after the difficulty for colourblind orienteers had been pointed out. The control markers have continued to change. For competitors the major change has been having pre-marked courses on maps and not having to kneel down and mark up your own course from a master map.

Gary, 2022

Also punches for registering which control you have reached are pretty much a thing of the past. SI sticks not only make things easier for competitors but also administrators. Checking punch marks on controls was a major hassle, especially for events with large numbers of participants.

J: Do you see these changes as positive?

G: Changes in technology and equipment are positive but there are other changes that are not. Changes in mapping rules can be an issue for both setters and competitors, e.g., boulders and boulder clusters. I also think the focus on Elites is negative. They get more publicity and major events seem to be planned around their needs. Perhaps we need separate Carnivals.

J: What do you see as your major contributions to the sport?

G: Introducing it, development, marketing, networking – getting the sport up and running. But the whole endeavour was not a one-person operation. I was extremely lucky, for working in tandem with me was the President, Eric Isaachsen. That very high level of coordination was the elixir to the foundation and growth.

We were ably assisted by many I term ‘Pioneers’. In myriad ways they undertook tasks, volunteering with so much goodwill. From a depleted memory, the following: Clem Lester, John Turley, Paul Crooke, Jeff Whittam, Peter Green, Paul Frost, Terry Rutty.

J: You still come regularly to orienteering events. What motivates you to continue with the sport?

G: The same thing that motivated me at the start. Challenges – physical and mental challenges.

Gary, circa 1980

CHANGING FACE OF COMMUNICATION

Jan Fletcher, Communication Team

Finding someone prepared to be Convenor of Communications has proven difficult, with the position unfilled since 2019. This appears to be due to the increasing breadth of the role and the feeling by many that they don’t have the skills to ‘cover it all’. Over the last few years, a group of members have taken on different aspects of communication, with Sue Dowling, Carol Brownlie and Christine Howitt providing weekly E-News, Liisa Hirvonen managing the OWA website, Vanessa Smith handling publicity for the Kambarang Carnival and Melinda Richards and Helen Post dealing with promotions and online enquiries. Despite this work, there was still evidence that many attempts at communicating with members and of promoting our sport to the general public were falling short because the media used were not those preferred by some of our intended audience.

At the 2023 AGM, when again there was no volunteer to fill the Communication Convenor role, the job was added to the duties of the Vice President. Subsequently Riley McFarlane, the Juniors’ representative on Council was invited to join the team and a meeting was held in April, where major concerns were addressed and the decision was made to send out a survey to members to try to determine the medium most used and most preferred for various communication purposes. After a relatively low response to the request to access and complete the survey via a link on E-News, reminders were sent out via email and Facebook. This led to responses from 64 orienteers, more than half of the usual attendance numbers at events, and reasonably representative of membership in terms of age and gender. It was clear that the fit between medium and preference varied greatly for different types of information. While our usual ways of distributing information about events by E-News and Eventor suited the majority of respondents, more than half would prefer requests to help run activities or invitations to attend social events to be sent by personal email. There was also a small group of respondents who requested use of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Threads for most types of information.

Other consequences of this meeting were the decision to cross-promote orienteering with trail runners etc. who have dual affiliations, and to explore ways of distributing event flyers and promotional materials. Following the survey:

• Lily McFarlane offered to send out material that was considered relevant to younger members and members of the general public using TikTok,

• Riley McFarlane trialed live streaming interviews,

• Promotion of orienteering was carried out at a couple of community events that were encouraging outdoor activity,

Mark and Quinn Lommers promoting orienteering at Park Run

• Anna Napier spoke with Park Run organisers to determine if OWA would be allowed to promote orienteering and, specifically, MetrO events to be held nearby.

Several members who were both Park Runners and orienteers handed out fliers, both about what orienteering was and about the MetrO program. Quinn Lommers, a Junior, decided that the information flyers we had were not what would entice him to come to orienteering and produced his own.

These developments led to a second meeting of the Communication team in October, with the main item on the agenda being the development of flyers about orienteering. We took on board Quinn’s comments to change the language, make it visually relevant and eye-catching and to use QR codes for accessing further information. The general decision of the meeting was that we needed to produce different flyers for different audiences and Vanessa Smith kindly offered to produce the 3 separate ones suggested: one directed at families, one for young males and one for young females. The first 2 of these are finished and are now in circulation. These, together with a MetrO program and a free pass to their first event, have been handed out at 3 Park Runs. Several newcomers at subsequent events used their free entry cards saying that they had received these and found out about the events at a Park Run – a small but promising start.

Hopefully, the efforts to date will help members feel more engaged and attract more newcomers to the sport. Any other ideas or offers to help will be welcome. Just talk with any member of the Communications team named above.

SCHOOLS AND ORIENTEERING

Schools Championships

Rosalie McCauley

The Orienteering Association of Western Australia (OWA) held 2 Schools Championships at Manning Park in 2023. The 2023 Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships was on Wednesday 7 June and the Go for 2&5 Primary School Championship was on 30 August 2023. In 2023, OWA had planned to hold both Championships at Lake Leschenaultia but moved the events to Manning Park after discussing this plan with City of Mundaring and finding out that dieback is in the area around Lake Leschenaultia.

Manning Park is an ideal location for schools orienteering. It has a large network of tracks with some tracks being tricky to find. Manning Park also has a reasonably large open area suitable for less experienced orienteers. Manning Park is reasonably central, has enough toilets on site and the City of Cockburn staff are helpful and familiar with orienteering.

In the 2022 championship events, many less experienced students mispunched and went home disappointed. To avoid a repeat of this in 2023, we changed the format of the Championships. The experienced students could compete as individuals in line courses and the less-experienced competed as a pair in a score event. Teachers and students were happy with this format.

The mass start is one very enjoyable aspect of using a score event. The event officials give students their maps and the students have a few minutes to confer with their partner and decide which controls to visit before – they are off! The mass starts were exciting for onlookers and students. It is also exciting as the students in pairs stream into the finish just before the expiry of their allocated time. The stream of students is a challenge for the finish team, but they managed, and it was good practice for the Kambarang Carnvial. We tried a few different things in the 2023 Championships. In the Primary School Championships, we used the online result function of the Meos event software. In the event bulletins, we explained to teachers and students how to use this function. On competition day, we showed teachers and parents how to scan the QR code printed on maps and see the event results. Teachers and parents were impressed by this simple way to see the results. Another change was our use of the second side of the map. As students take home their map, we decided to print information about orienteering on the back of the map so family and friends could read this and discover about orienteering.

Riley McFarlane was the Master of Ceremonies at both Championships. Riley used the PA system to keep everyone engaged with proceedings and carried out post-race interviews with many students. Riley also managed the ‘Where’s Wally’ competition where students stuck a pin in a big map of Manning Park to designate where they thought Wally was. Wally was a face etched in a concrete block by one of the tracks. Judging by the locations of the pins, no one spotted Wally but students had good fun sticking their pins into the map.

A good view if you have time and energy to enjoy it

Pairs briefing

The Secondary Schools Championships on 7 June had a fraught start to the day. When the organising team arrived at Manning Park, they found that Western Power were replacing nearby power poles and there was no power at Manning Park. City of Cockburn staff did not know this was going to happen, either. Luckily, we had brought the OWA generator to Manning Park so used this for power. Crisis averted.

Over 300 students from 15 schools participated in the Secondary School Championships. Twenty-one volunteers from OWA helped run the event. Feedback from the students and their teachers was positive. The results of Shenton College’s students showed that Rachel West’s coaching was effective in improving their orienteering skills. Overall, Quinns Baptist College retained their position as Champion School with 48 points from Shenton College with 42 points, while La Salle and Ellenbrook Secondary College tied for 3rd with 15 points. The standout individual students were Amy Dufty who won the Girls 15A by 20 minutes and Kate Braid who won the Girls 16A by 14 minutes. The Boys 15A competition was close with Christopher Drury winning by less than a minute from Archie Brownlie.

It was disappointing that one student moved a control at the Secondary Championships. This action affected the results of some courses. The teacher and parents of the student took action to make sure the student understood the impact of their behaviour.

The start of the 2023 WA Primary Schools Go for 2 & 5 Orienteering Championships on 30 August was much more relaxed. The power was on and it was a beautiful day. Over 90 students from 4 schools participated. Twenty volunteers from OWA helped run the event. Again, feedback from the students and their teachers was positive. Several students reported seeing snakes as they ran their courses. Happily, for everyone, snakes and children took a wide berth of each other.

Secondary Schools winners Quinns Baptist College

Ruben charging downhill

The results of the Christ Church Grammar School and St Brigid’s Primary School students showed that Anthea Feaver and Mike Sibbald’s coaching were effective in improving orienteering skills. Mike explained that Kaitlyn Trin, the winner of the W10, from St Bridget’s Primary School, was only 8 years old.

Overall, St Brigid’s Primary School retained their position as Champion School (with 90 points) from Christ Church Grammar School (30 points), while Rosalie Primary School was 3rd with 6 points. The St Brigid’s Primary School students were absolutely delighted with their win. The results of the Boys 10 and 11–12 races were very close. In the Boys 10, Quinn Lommers won by 30 seconds from Thomas Ash. In the Boys 10, Liam Tan won just over a minute from Eamon Dyke.

The Schools Championships provide an opportunity for students to try orienteering in a safe environment. For many students this will be the only time they compete in orienteering. For these students, we hope they enjoyed their experience and turn up at another event one day. For the small group of students that are already regular competitors at OWA events, the Championships provide an opportunity to practice their ‘big event’ competition skills. This extra experience would help them in other ‘big event’ competitions such as the Kambarang Carnival.

As with past Schools Championships, a large and wonderful team of current and past OWA members worked hard on the event. There are simply too many to list, but you know who you are and thank you for giving up your time. Nick Dale visited Manning Park many times to update the map and set the courses. Melinda Richards and Rosalie McCauley organised the event. Christine Howitt was the Start Manager. Ken Brownlie was the Controller. Jan and Ian Fletcher provided valuable help and advice to Nick, Melinda and Rosalie.

Sincere thanks to: Schools Sports WA for helping promote the event, Healthway for sponsoring the event, teachers for their participation, the City of Cockburn for allowing access to the map area and facilitating the event, and to OWA for supporting the event.

Primary Schools winners St Brigid’s

Archie flying downhill

The Sporting Schools Program in 2023

Jan Fletcher, Sporting Schools Manager

The Orienteering option of the federally funded Sporting Schools program has seen changes in 2023. These are designed to enable school teachers, who cannot access coaches to provide orienteering programs directly to students, to do the job themselves. The teachers undertake the theoretical side of Instructor Level accreditation online. Assessment of the teachers’ skills to practically implement orienteering is carried out in a short face-to-face session with an accredited coach, if possible, or through other forms of interaction.

In WA we have been encouraging teachers to undertake Instructor Level accreditation for some time, simply because it makes better use of resources and enables schools to continue teaching their students how to orienteer without yearly support from OWA. Michelle Martin carried out 10 professional development sessions – both the theoretical and practical side of the accreditation course – with 38 teachers from 14 schools, and John Toomey carried out another accreditation professional development course for 4 teachers from 2 schools in the Great Southern District. Teachers have expressed their appreciation for the instruction they’ve received, with some stating how useful it has been and that it is good to now know an experienced coach whom they can contact if they experience difficulties.

This change in emphasis has reduced the number of orienteering courses provided directly by coaches to students to those in 2 schools, each of which received 4 weekly sessions from Michelle. One of these schools had 110 students from 5 classes, each of which was seen in separate sessions, the other school had only 15 students in Years 7 to 10 who were taught as a group. In one other school Michelle provided teacher support for one lesson.

Clearly mapping of schools is still an issue, no matter how coaching is delivered, and 5 schools were mapped by Peter Komyshan, one by Michelle Martin and 2 by Nick Dale. This required travelling considerable distances in many cases.

Currently only Cranbrook Primary, a country school, has made use of the new system, with the teacher completing the online course and being assessed by Jan Fletcher, while Ian Fletcher field-checked a map that had been drawn by Nick from aerial photos. This system was workable. A more ambitious trial of the new system is being attempted, with a Physical Education teacher from East Kimberley College having completed the online course, and Sten Claessens in the process of drawing up an orienteering map using a site plan and aerial photos. In 2024 the teacher will be asked to field check the map and then the teacher’s ability to apply what he has learned will be assessed though use of tools such as Zoom and GoPro. We will then have a true test of the new system. It does seem a promising way of introducing orienteering to students in the more remote areas of this large state.

Some of Cranbrook’s unique built features

JUNIOR CAMPS

Summer Camp – Camp Quaranup, Albany

Rob West, Camp Director

Three Nights were enjoyed at this beautiful camp with views over Princess Royal Harbour, the Wind Farm, and the Port of Albany. Twenty Juniors and 11 adults attended this camp over 3 nights, in typical Albany weather with a strong easterly for 3 days and on Sunday night there was a very loud thunderstorm directly over the camp. The last day, Monday, was beautiful and sunny with less winds and many of the Juniors and adults had a swim in King George Sound with STS Leeuwin 11 anchored in the background. After welcome activities from Rob and some afternoon tea, the Juniors did a Camp Q orienteering activity instructed by Sarah, which gave them an opportunity to navigate and get to explore the camp and its surrounding area. After dinner, there were indoor activities lead by Tom, with the groups trying to solve problems, puzzles, and a jigsaw.

Saturday morning was a 7:30 am jog from camp to Point Possession, which is 1.5 km along sandy tracks and the ocean side beach, then a steep climb over rocks to reach Vancouver Cairn, then back along the peninsula on the harbour side beach. Zachary was the fastest for this run. After breakfast it was off to Great Southern Grammar in Kalgan on the bus. Sten and Mark had 2 orienteering activities, one as individuals and the second was a relay, both using SI. In the windy conditions this gave the Juniors a chance to really go full pace on the flat school map. After a picnic lunch by the Lower King Bridge, it was off to Albany Senior High School for another orienteering activity set by Liisa and Rachel, again using SI. One activity had small portions of the map attached to the orienteering stands and this really tested the Juniors’ map memory, as they did not get to carry their own map. Afternoon tea was held on Eyre Park and the Juniors took advantage of all of the play equipment. After dinner, Lois set the Juniors a challenge with a night O using maps and torches. Going in pairs, the younger of the pair had the map and was assisted if needed by the older Junior. There were 4 short courses using SI and the Juniors had to get all 20 controls, which were checked by the splits printer.

Saturday night into the early Sunday morning there was a massive thunderstorm, with some lightning cracking right over the camp. Everyone was woken by the extremely loud thunderclaps and the 3 younger girls jumped into bed with Neve, the oldest girl in that dorm.

Sunday morning was another jog to Point Possession before breakfast then straight off to the ADHOC Event at the TAFE and North Albany Senior High School. In drizzling rain, the Juniors did one of the 3 sprint courses with the long course nearly 5 km. Many thanks to John Toomey and ADHOC for setting this event during the Junior camp. After lunch at the Forts, Marc See, a physiotherapist and experienced runner, who was only the 5th person in WA to run a sub-4-minute mile, used the running track for some warm-up and stretching activities, especially for runners. After that everyone went to South Coast Sports Medicine, where John and Marc demonstrated exercise and strength techniques with and without equipment. All of the Juniors had a chance to

Warm-ups and stretches with Marc See

Campers enjoying lunch together

try out all of the specialised exercise machines. Back at camp, many of the Juniors had a swim in the harbour using the Camp Q jetty guided by Nick. After dinner Liam, one of the Juniors, ran a Camp Quiz, which had everyone busy searching their memories for facts.

Monday morning was another run to Point Possession, with some Juniors having a swim with Nick and other coaches on the way back, with the sailing ship, Leeuwin, in King George Sound in the background.

Many thanks to all the coaches, who all contributed with an activity and then assisted Juniors where needed. Sarah, for the first time was the Camp Director and she did a fabulous job. Also many thanks to Nick, the swimming instructor, which allowed the Juniors to have swims.

Summer Camp Reflection

Ruth Toomey

This camp was very fun. We stayed at Camp Quaranup in Albany. We did some great training at ASHS (Albany Senior High School) and took part in a very loud and thundery public event at NASHS (North Albany Senior High School)/TAFE. We also went to South Coast Sports Medicine and Marc See showed us around the gym, and we had lots of fun on the machines. We did a run every morning along the beach, and a quiz before bed. It was great to see everyone again, and to make new friends as well. We had heaps of fun activities; when we weren’t doing them, we were having fun in the dorms, or playing around the camp. Thanks to all the coaches that helped out with this amazing camp, and all the people that came along.

Stretches instructed by Marc See

Winter Camp – Swan Valley Adventure Centre

Rob West, Coaching Convenor

Saturday 1 July to Monday 3 July 2023

Held over 3 days, the winter camp was held in stunning fine weather with very cold mornings. Twenty Juniors attended (2 were unable to make it due to illness) and 10 adults instructed and supervised.

Saturday morning, Sharon introduced the Juniors and coaches to camp and followed with a control relay activity on the oval. Then it was off to Ngangaguringguring for a contouring exercise, which Rachel had set and was assisted putting out controls by Craig, Veronika, Andries, and Steve. The newer Juniors were shadowed by coaches. After a picnic lunch, the afternoon session was a control-picking and attack point exercise for the M/H juniors. The E/M Juniors did a star relay. Back at camp it was afternoon tea, then an analysis of the day’s orienteering. After dinner, Lily provided a presentation on all aspects of training for sports and fitness. Following that, Rob led a team-building activity involving design and construction of a Lego orienteering course for a RC jeep.

Sunday morning after breakfast it was off to Jumbuck Hill for the orienteering event where the Juniors did a course that they had selected. Some of the Juniors were shadowed by coaches.

During the time at Jumbuck Hill, morning tea and a picnic lunch were provided. Back at camp, everyone participated in a game of disc golf followed by a sprint relay prepared by Riley using the SVAC map.

Before dinner, Rachel and Craig did an analysis of the Juniors’ courses at Jumbuck Hill using their own maps and Livelox. After dinner, it was Jan’s Quiz which had all Juniors and adults involved, followed by orienteering games provided by Sarah Richards.

On Monday morning it was breakfast, pack up and cleaning the dormitory. At 10 am the parents arrived, and a morning tea was provided, followed by the announcement of the WA School Team, by Sarah, the team Manager.

New Numbats, Sammy-Lee Slomp, Lily Slomp, Josy Thomas, Troy Kingma, Alba Marshall-Cary and Thor Johannesson were provided tops and welcomed to Orienteering WA.

Many thanks to Camp Coordinator Rachel West and the coaches who attended: Jan Fletcher, Rob and Lois West, Craig Dufty, Riley Mcfarlane, Sarah Richards, and parents Sarah Iles, and Clint Slomp. Also, thanks to bus driver Ian Fletcher. Coaches who also contributed were Sharon Mcfarlane, Lily Mcfarlane, Andries Swart and Steve Fletcher from Queensland. Veronika Vavrova helped with controls.

Ruth at the Jumbuck start

Winter Camp Reflection

Thor Johannesson

I went to the Junior orienteering camp for the first time this year and it was very fun. There were lots of different activities about different parts of orienteering. They taught us quite a lot of skills to become a better orienteer so it was definitely good to do. My favourite part was a game where you had to match up the word description of a symbol to the picture, which helped me learn what symbols are used on the maps.

I mostly enjoyed the individual activities but when we did things in teams, the other people were really friendly and welcoming. I also enjoyed the quiz and navigating an RC car through a course of Lego obstacles.

There was plenty of food and it was really good. We all drank so much hot chocolate that the machine ran out!

It was a good camp and I think it would be really great to go again!

Training at Ngangaguringguring

Campers setting off on the Sprint Relay

LOCAL ORIENTEERING

In the lead-up to the Kambarang Carnival local events continued relatively normally. This was particularly the case for those held early in the year.

MetrO

The 2022–23 MetrO series started on 5 November and concluded on 18 February with a break over the Christmas and New Year period. Twelve events were held in total, 6 before the break and 6 after. Attendance over this series ranged from 60 to 96, with an average of 79. Attendance at different events depended in part on popularity of the locations, with the event closest to a beach drawing the largest group and that with the greatest climb having the lowest. However, the temperature on the day also played a role. To their credit, on hotter days organisers provided a range of strategies to keep people comfortable and always kept safety equipment on hand.

MetrO events have proved to be a good way to introduce newcomers to orienteering. No great travel distances are involved and holding the event between 5:00 to 6:00 pm means that it does not interfere with most other sports. In the 2022–23 season 15.4% of entries registered as casual members, a large number of whom would be newcomers. The series also gave the opportunity to some of our more experienced juniors to try their hand at course setting and event organisation. They did a great job.

Keeping orienteers safe

Cooling off after an event

Viveash newcomer briefing

NavDash – Sprint Orienteering

Sprint orienteering is now one of the forms of orienteering in our National championship carnivals. It is particularly popular with those who like running fast over short distances and who can cope with rapid decision making. Six events were held in 2023 with the first 4 events held between late February and mid-April, and the later 2 in July and August. The areas chosen for such events are often schools and university campuses, but some bush areas close to the metropolitan area are used in the lead up to bush events, providing a useful transition. While numbers for the NavDash varied between events, the average was a healthy 86.

Two Juniors on the run at Russell Gulley

Bush Events

There were 11 bush events between 7 May and 17 September. The first of these had the line format, typical of bush events but was held at Manning Park, a large park within the Metropolitan area that has also been used for MetrO events. The second bush event at Spice Brook in Julimar State Forest was on the day designated World Orienteering Day. Two of the newcomers on that day were Conor Doherty and her friend Jean-Charles. Conor wrote an article about their experience as first-time orienteers for the Adventure Out section of Landscope, which is WA’s Parks, Wildlife and Conservation Magazine, providing wonderful publicity for our sport.

While participation in the bush events varied, our best attendances were for the Middle Distance and Long Distance Championships, with 91 and 100 respectively, suggesting that our lesscompetitive orienteers were not put off by the Championship title and were happy to find a course that suited them.

Conor Doherty and friend Jean-Charles planning route at Spice Brook

Kenine Hills Day 1 –Fast Open running

Mountain Bike Orienteering

MTBO was the event type most affected by the Kambarang Carnival. This was due in large part to the fact that the 2 orienteers who have played major roles in setting MTBO events in past years were heavily involved in mapping and setting for the Kambarang Carnival, and among the relatively small number of regular MTBO participants, none felt they had the skills to set courses, especially the Middle Distance Championships. As a consequence, only 4 of the planned 6 events eventuated. Nevertheless the setters tried an interesting variety of formats for these.

The first event was held in the Applecross/Attadale area and made use of a scatter format with participants collecting as many as possible of 39 controls within a 2-hour period. This location and format proved popular with 51 participants. The second event was held in Roleystone, on the outskirts of the metropolitan area. This time a score format was used with riders having to choose among 35 controls of 4 different point values to gain as many points as possible in 2 hours. Thirty-four riders entered this event.

The third event was held in Dwellingup and offered short, middle and long distance line courses as well as an e-bike course. Conventional maps were used but proof of reaching controls was recorded using MapRun6 technology. Number of participants was low, suggesting that the distance from Perth had been too much for many riders.

The final event was the Long Distance Championships and offered riders the usual line courses and age classes with course distances varying according to class. It was held at Paull’s Valley. Again, the number of participants was disappointingly low.

OWA is hoping that 2024 will be a better year for MTBO. The 2 main course setters will not have a major carnival consuming their time and the presence of a Coach in Residence with top European credentials in MTBO should lift interest in this type of orienteering and provide additional opportunities for newcomers to learn the skills involved.

Attadale/Applecross

Roleystone before the start

Anytime Orienteering

Jan Fletcher, ATO Manager

As is clear from the name, Anytime Orienteering is not an event, but a way for individuals and groups to try orienteering at a time of their own choosing, using free downloadable maps of areas with permanent courses, provided by OWA. By mid-2023 we had 17 such mapped courses with 9,751 listed participants between January and the end of November. With the number of courses increasing and COVID providing an impetus, there have been consistently high user numbers since 2020.

In June 2023 we acquitted the Anytime Orienteering Extension grant received from DLGSC, with outer regional maps provided for Jarrahdale and Piney Lakes and wheelchair/stroller accessible maps at Whitman Village and The University of Western Australia. The last contracted map type to be completed was a regional map. Ian Fletcher mapped a section of Augusta, and designed the shortest line course to be accessible for wheelchair/stroller users. Fortunately, Andrew Martin agreed to field test the wheelchair courses, including the one at Augusta, ensuring that they were suitable.

Maintenance of the permanent control markers, used on most of the Anytime Orienteering maps, was again made possible by a wonderful group of map ‘Friends’, who inspect the courses on a regular basis and report map changes or damage to controls to the Anytime Orienteering manager. Many thanks to them for their thoroughness and reliability.

Andrew checking out the Augusta course for wheelchair suitability

COACHING IN 2023

Rachel West, Coach

Coaching in 2023 started in January with the Summer Junior Camp in Albany. Also in January, Riley McFarlane started providing Monday and Wednesday afternoon sprint training every week. During the year this reduced to just Wednesday when Riley needed more time for his university studies. These sessions were mostly held at university campuses, but sometimes they ventured to park and closer bush areas, such as Garvey Park, Christmas Tree Creek and Russell’s Gully. Riley became known as the person who knows every running drill known to man, and we could expect to be doing a large selection of these drills each training session as part of the warm up. When Riley was keen for a break in October, after having done a great job of providing these training sessions consistently throughout the year, Kate Klyukina took over the mid-week training sessions. Kate provided very well-organised and interesting sessions weekly until mid-December, when it was time for a few weeks off over Christmas. Many thanks to Riley and Kate for their efforts coaching during the year.

A sprint training weekend was held in early March, organised by Rachel West. This consisted of training activities at Curtin Uni on the Saturday and a Knockout Sprint at Murdoch Uni on the Sunday. After this sprint weekend, bush weekend trainings began, organised by Rachel West and Craig Dufty, and ran approximately fortnightly on weekends when there were no local events. The numbers were solid, getting up to 30 people at some sessions. A few times during the season parkruns (5 km) were thrown in for a running time trial.

In April, Sandro Truttman, a visiting Swiss orienteer, kindly gave a presentation to athletes and coaches regarding the mental techniques required in orienteering, which was highly insightful. Then in July we had the usual Winter Junior Camp, this year at the Swan Valley Adventure Camp, which provided coaching to our members in the 10 to 20 age range.

Coaching concluded with a weekend at Hill Park Dale prior to the Australian Champs. Even 4 visiting NSW Juniors, who had come over early to get in some extra training, attended.

Training with Riley at Christmas Tree Creek

Hill Park Dale training

INTERSTATE AND OVERSEAS EVENTS

Australian Junior Development Camp

Riley McFarlane

The orienteering year started with the Australian Junior Development Orienteering camp in Launceston, Tasmania, held from 3 to 5 January 2023, just before the Oceania Orienteering Championships Carnival.

Day one consisted of Sprint orienteering training, with 3 different exercises on offer. Rachel Duckworth, a Coach in Residence and a member of the British Junior World Orienteering team, provided 2 different Sprint orienteering exercises and a normal Sprint orienteering course after each exercise. The first one was an advanced reading ahead/map memory/map flipping/Sprinterval hybrid exercise. It consisted of 2 different courses with 1 km loops, however, alternating legs were blanked out which required you to flip the map each time you started a new leg. This proved a bit of a struggle having to remember your previous route choice while reading ahead for making your new route choice! The second exercise was dubbed ‘Puzzle-O’, as a regular orienteering course had been jumbled up into small sections of map, with odd and even legs placed on opposite sides of the map! Quick decision-making skills and identifying the correct leg proved crucial in executing the exercise perfectly.

Day 2 consisted of 2 bush orienteering exercises, run by Evalin Brautingham and John McComb, at Royal George, south-east of Launceston. The first exercise was a Corridor-O, which consisted of 1 km of normal legs and 5 km of corridor orienteering. Map contact and compass bearings were crucial in looking only at features directly in front of you! The second exercise involved bush intervals with mass starts, but with a twist! The first loop was simulating a relay start with its many distractions, having Brodie Nankervis shout at Toby Cazzolato with a megaphone, Ethan Penck running around with a Bluetooth speaker shouting misleading information about the whereabouts of controls, and one of the participant’s mothers proclaiming she had lost her dog. The preceding exercises all helped practice relay orienteering where you would use others around you to navigate throughout the course.

The final day consisted of the camp champs / peg-leg relay, organised by Francesca Taufer, Tasmania’s Coach in Residence. The exercise was a normal bush-o course, but at every few controls there would be pegs placed at that control. There was a mass start. If you were among the fastest and collected a peg, then your overall time would have decreased by one minute, however, you would be penalised by running an extra loop. Slower runners were able to skip the penalty and catch up, keeping the pack together. Unfortunately, none of us could keep up in the bush with Aston Key, who decided to crash the Camp on the last day.

In summary, the Australian Junior Development Camp provided a wealth of new knowledge for myself, Liam, Amy, Craig, Rachel, Aldo and Eckart to help further develop our orienteering and coaching skills to share among the rest of Western Australia!

Oceania Orienteering Championships

Liam Dufty

The Australian Championships in Victoria saw a return to normality post-COVID and reminded all that attended how motivating interstate competition could be. So, when we returned to WA, we were all itching for another opportunity to improve our orienteering skills. The only way to get back into the bush was to escape the heat by travelling to Tasmania for the Oceania Orienteering Championships.

The first event of the week felt very familiar for those of us who attended the Carnival That Never Will Be –the Sprint once again at the University of Tasmania: Launceston. Courses were tricky, with a mix of a couple of long route choice legs and many short, detailed legs. Controls were often tucked away and hard to see, so you had to be very sure of yourself when you got into the circle to find the control. Adding to the challenge, most classes went well beyond the supposed 12 to 15-minute winning times, many winning times approaching or over 20 minutes.

The next competition was the Long Distance, 2 days after the Sprint. There was a model event held on a nearby map, but some of the group opted out of this in favour of recovery time, having also participated in the Australian Junior Development Orienteering Camp in the days leading up to the Sprint. The Long Distance was on a new map out near St Helens. It was physically tough; steep hills with thick marshes and densely packed bush on the lower ground between the hills. The physicality of the terrain led to winning times for some courses stretching almost 30 minutes beyond what was intended. Many of the top Elites looked absolutely knackered when passing through the spectator controls and running into the finish.

After another much-needed rest day, the next event was the Oceania Middle Distance. The Middle Distance took us into flatter terrain, a mix of some intense mining sections broken up by a few lesstechnical spur gully legs, on another new map. Many suffered from tired legs on the hills after the Long Distance, and a change of pace was required to avoid mistakes in the intricate mining detail coming off the large hills, valleys, and boulders of the Long Distance.

The final event was the Relay, this time backing up after the Middle Distance without a rest day. Those that had looked at the bulletin worried that we were in for another tough day with high levels of climb listed again. Those worries were eased, however, when not long before the start it was announced over the loudspeaker that the climb had been measured using the wrong contour interval, and the actual climb was half what was advertised. A large section of the course went into old mining terrain, this time the erosion gullies were overgrown, meaning both a technical challenge in interpreting the features and a physical challenge in clambering through the terrain. It was met with a mixed response from competitors – some loved it, others found it a bit too tough for their taste.

The small contingent of West Australians that attended the carnival (a total of 17 ran in at least one event) performed well, earning 18 A-class podium finishes across the 4 events. WA podium finishes in the A-classes are listed on the next page.

Amy Dufty running in Middle Distance event

Liam on his way to winning the M18A Sprint

Oceania Sprint

- Amy Dufty 2nd W16A

- Rachel West 2nd W45A

- Eckart Bosman 3rd M16A

- Liam Dufty 1st M18A

- Craig Dufty 2nd M50A

Oceania Long

- Amy Dufty 3rd W16A

- Karen Staudte 3rd W55A

- Liam Dufty 1st M18A

- Isaac Madden 3rd M18A

- Craig Dufty 2nd M50A

Oceania Middle

- Tristan Merritt 2nd M10A

- Eckart Bosman 3rd M16A

- Isaac Madden 2nd M18A

- Liam Dufty 3rd M18A

- Craig Dufty 3rd M50A

Oceania Relay

- Eckart Bosman (Team Australia) 2nd M16A

- Craig Dufty (Team Australia) 1st M50A

- Amy Dufty (Composite NSW/ACT/WA Team) 1st W16A

Eckhart on podium, 3rd in 16A Sprint event

Australian 3-Days

Ken Brownlie

Over the Easter weekend, 17 of us from WA made the long trip east to join over 800 at the Australian 3-day event in the Snowy-Monaro high country of NSW. Nine Braids, Duftys and McFarlanes also ran in Good Friday’s Prologue or public Sprint, which was moved to Canberra when renovations to the Jindabyne Recreation Centre were altering the intended map on a daily basis.

The weather at 1,000 m altitude varied from cold to very cold, not quite freezing but close to that with the wind chill and occasional drizzle. Perhaps that was why nearly 300 people eventually DNF.

Many of us ran wearing 2 layers and/or a wind/waterproof top. In the assembly area multiple layers, beanies and gloves were needed and the instant coffee stall was heavily patronised. Although it did not quite snow on us, the nearby Snowy Mountains did live up to their name that weekend.

Days 1 and 2 near Nimmitabel were on new Highlands map; lightly forested with much fallen timber and stones underfoot, partly hidden by long grass and patches of bracken discouraging running to the multiple rock feature controls by all except the bold, even when following ‘elephant tracks’ of earlier others.

Those of us driving in from the SW on day 1 were worried by the dismal condition of the recommended road. 50 km/h was almost too fast for the multiple potholes. The gravel track into the event was a delight by comparison, so after that we took the slightly longer but faster highway route home.

Day 3 near Berridale at Teapot Creek was much more open, less hilly, and still rocky underfoot, like Peterdine, with long dry grass, but no seeds at this time of year. The change to openness tempted a few to outrun their navigational abilities.

WA podium places for the combined 3-days were: Carol Brownlie 2nd W70A, 2 seconds ahead of 3rd, this in spite of bruising an eyelid on the course at day 3, later needing her contact lens to be extracted in A & E. Over the next few days I had to explain many times that her black eye had nothing to do with me.

Russell Wade was 3rd M70A and Rosalie McCauley 2nd Open Moderate, all from WOW!

Sadly 3 Duftys had to withdraw when they became ill; Liam, and Rachel after day 1 when she was 3rd in W45A, and Craig after day 2 when he was leading M50A by a splendid 12 minutes.

Nevertheless, it was good to see interstate friends again, including formerly from WA, Virpi Komulainen.

Ricky Thackray dressed for the Sledge class in his army camouflage while Tash Sparg was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

Overall it was an enjoyable carnival, in spite of some weird route choices. (For a laugh see Livelox for M75A days 2 and 3.)

Some of the WA group huddling to keep warm

Carol on the podium, despite injuring her eye on the way

The Western Nomads

Sharon McFarlane

National Orienteering League

The first National Orienteering League event for the year was held in Tasmania in January and was part of the 2023 Oceania Championships. With the continuation of the sports classes in the Elite categories for forest races, it provided an opportunity for our newest Nomads to compete in the Elite sports classes, an initiative from OA to assist Juniors transitioning to the Elite competition.

Our Junior Elite Males team consisted of Aldo Bosman, Liam Dufty, Isaac Madden and Riley McFarlane. Highlights of the round were Liam placing 1st in the Sprint and Long Distance 18A class and 3rd in Middle, along with Isaac placing 2nd in the Middle, 3rd in the Long and 5th in the Sprint. Aldo placed 1st in the 20AS Long class and 1st in the Middle 20A. Riley was the lone Nomad in the 17-20E class and improved his results from his last event in Junior Elites at Nationals in 2022. Aldo, Liam and Riley acquitted themselves well running for the first time as a team in the Elite relay event. At the end of the first round the team had competitively run themselves into 3rd position on the National Team’s ladder.

The second NOL round was a fast and furious Sprint weekend in Sydney. Riley was the lone Nomad and unfortunately was unable to compete in the NOL relay without a team mate so ran a solo class as advised by NOL administrators. In the individual Elite event on the Saturday Riley placed 15th and enjoyed the knock-out Sprint event on Sunday where he ran a fast qualifying heat time of 9.20 and proceeded into the quarter final in a fast field with a combination of 20E and 21E competitors, running a time of 5.54 minutes, being 34 seconds behind the heat winner! Riley’s overall weekend result placed him in 11th position.

Easter in the ACT was the third round of the NOL season. Riley was joined by Liam competing in the 17-20E classes, and the round started with a Sprint event where Riley’s nose bled from the 2nd control to the finish! Kate Braid impressively ran herself into 9th place in the Women’s 17-20E class in her first Elite event. Unfortunately, due to illness Liam’s only event was the Sprint. Riley and Kate faced tough terrain and torrential rain over the next 3 events, however, they dug deep, kept going and gained invaluable experience and points on the board in both individual and team categories.

The fourth and final round of the NOL season was held in Castlemaine, Victoria. The races were Middle Distance individual events and a Team Relay. Riley was the lone Nomad, his individual performance (14th) on the Saturday morning gave him a good starting position in the afternoon’s chasing start. The Teams’ Relay was held on Sunday. The SA Arrows formed a composite team and invited Riley to join them which allowed him to race in the event and gain experience. An awards dinner was held on the Saturday night to celebrate the individual point winners along with some ‘fun’ awards. Our own Riley was the uncontested winner of ‘The Best Chat’, voted on by all NOL participants.

At the end of the NOL season Riley finished in a solid 15th place overall for his first season, and Kate finished in 19th which is commendable as she only attended one round. The Junior Elite Men’s team of Aldo, Liam, Isaac and Riley finished in 6th place.

Western Nomads Bushrangers Team Selection

Liam and Riley were selected to represent Orienteering Australia in the Junior Bushrangers team to compete against the NZ Pinestars over 3 events in New Zealand for the Kings Weekend in June. The opportunity and experience to compete overseas at an Elite level was an invaluable learning opportunity and has helped them to continue their pursuit of orienteering competitively at the highest level and share those experiences with all OWA Members.

Riley – Bushrangers Team

Western Nomads in Transcend Trails Relay

In June, 5 of our Western Nomads racing as a Relay team undertook the 2023 Transcend Trails 65 km Ultra Relay. It was a very challenging course with approximately 2,700 m of elevation and plenty of technical surfaces. Starting in darkness, they ran through National Parks and private properties from Walyunga to the Avon Valley.

Liam Dufty, Aldo Bosman, Oliver Martin, Seth Thomas and Riley McFarlane proudly represented the Western Nomads and Orienteering WA with an amazing 2nd place in a cumulative time of 7 hours 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

The team certainly showed the Trail Running Community that orienteers can run anywhere, anytime and under any conditions!

Each of the runners put in huge efforts and supported and encouraged each other. We congratulate them on their achievement and the way they represented themselves, the Western Nomads and Orienteering WA.

Congratulations to Riley for winning ‘King of the Mountain’, a title for the fastest time on a 3 km section of the final leg. The Transcend Trails Team warmly welcomed our boys and made numerous mentions of the Western Nomads orienteering team!

National Championships

Being a home championship, we had a large number of Western Nomads competing in the Men’s and Women’s 20 and 21 Elite races.

Kellie Whitfield was our highest placed individual athlete with a bronze medal in the long distance – an amazing effort in tough conditions. We had quite a few of our Nomads placing in the first 10 over the Championships.

We fielded 2 teams in the Men’s Junior Elite relay placing 6th and 10th, the Female Junior Elite team placed 5th, whilst our Men’s 21E team placed 6th. Our Women’s 21E team consisting of Joanna Maynard, Veronika Vavrova and Kellie Whitfield, were our best performers, becoming bronze medalists.

We have a promising squad of Junior and Senior Elites for the upcoming 2024 NOL Season along with Nomads attending Oceania Championships in NZ in 2024 as well.

THE MAKING OF A CARNIVAL

The work done to run a successful Australian Orienteering Championships carnival starts years in advance of their running with many behind the scenes activities: finding a Carnival Director (someone prepared to volunteer to guide the many other players involved), choice of map areas, mapping, course setting and controlling, promotion of the carnival, etc. The following reports provide an insight into the ups and downs of a few of the most time-consuming and important roles.

Mapping for Kambarang

Noel Schoknecht

One of the first decisions, once we agreed to host the Australian Orienteering Championships, was which maps we would use. With this decision comes a host of questions. Which areas are suitable for the different formats (Long Distance, Middle Distance, Sprint and Relay)? Are they up to current mapping standards? Do they need updating? Do we have permission to use them? Do we need mappers and, if so, who? So, with guidance from the fledgling Kambarang committee, planning began to address these questions.

Three of the events were likely to be World Ranking Events (Long, Middle and Sprint) so they needed to be compliant with the current mapping standards (ISOM 2017-2 for bush maps and ISSprOM 2019-2 for Sprint maps). None of our maps prior to the carnival were fully compliant with these specifications.

From early on (and planning for this started 3 years before the carnival), we were keen to have bush maps where more than one event could be held to minimise moving equipment around.

Before discussing the choice of maps, it is useful to understand the requirements of the different event formats.

• The Long Distance profile is physical endurance. This format emphasises route choices and navigation in rough, demanding terrain, preferably hilly.

• The Middle Distance profile is technical. The emphasis is on detailed navigation and where finding the controls constitutes a challenge. It requires constant concentration on map reading with occasional shifts in running direction out from controls.

• The Sprint profile is high speed. It tests the athlete’s ability to read and translate the map in complex environments, and to plan and carry out route choices running at high speed.

• The Relay profile is team competition. The format is built on a technically demanding concept, more similar to the Middle than the Long Distance.

It was decided after some debate that, for the Australian Championship events, Peterdine would be ideal for the Aus Middle distance and Aus Relay with a common assembly point. Providing route choice options are fairly limited on Peterdine but there are some wonderful areas of technical rock. Avon Valley was chosen for the Aus Long Distance because the terrain gives some good route choice options, and Christ Church Grammar School/Methodist Ladies College was chosen for the Aus Sprint because it’s a great complex area close to Perth. We are fortunate that Blair Wilding is very happy for us to use Peterdine (for 30 years now!), and DBCA were happy for us to use Avon Valley. We had been eyeing off CCGS/MLC as a great sprint map for some years, and with help from Anthea Feaver we were able to gain access. Thanks Anthea!

For the schools events we secured access to Aquinas College for the Sprint, and thanks to Sam Burton and adjacent land holders we were able to use Frazzle Rock again for the other schools events. Phew! The map areas were settled!

The next step was to bring the maps up to current IOF mapping standards. We decided that Frazzle Rock, although not ISOM 2017-2 compliant, was close and very good, and suitable for the Schools events. As these were not Aus Champs events the maps did not need to be fully compliant anyway. The course planners and controllers did minor map updates as they went, which was fine. The other maps were a different story. Peterdine, Avon Valley and Aquinas would need remapping and CCGS/MLC was a totally new map.

Mappers were lined up. Duncan Sullivan bravely agreed to take on the mammoth task of the Avon Valley remap and Nick Dale enthusiastically took on CCGS/MLC. I don’t think either were quite aware of the amount of effort it would take. Graham Braid, in addition to running the Carnival, took on Aquinas, and I took on Peterdine.

We already had LiDAR and high-resolution aerial imagery for the Perth area, so preparing the base information for the urban Sprint maps was fairly straightforward.

It was decided to acquire LiDAR and imagery for the Avon Valley and Peterdine areas as this provides very accurate contours and georeferencing of features. With GPS tracking now a common feature at events, and posting courses online after the events, good georeferencing of the map and its features is very important. Even though the existing maps had served us well, they couldn’t just be adjusted to fit because the features were mapped to an old standard and were not accurately placed, and to make them right would take more effort than a remap with new data.

A LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) system calculates how long it takes for beams of light to hit an object or surface and reflect back to the laser scanner. This is used to create a 3Dl dataset of an area. The apparatus is mounted on an aircraft and creates a very large dataset of georeferenced (x, y and z) points (data cloud) which are used to create contours and other features. A complex topic – please come and talk to me if you want to know more!

A surveying company was contracted to acquire the LiDAR and imagery for Peterdine and Avon Valley, and this information was acquired in Jan 2022. Avon Valley was a little tricky because it is one of the flight paths to Perth airport, so special permission and timing was required.

The supplied files were big! The LiDAR files were 14 GB for Peterdine and 21 GB for Avon Valley. These files were processed in tiles (small sections of the entire area) in OCAD 2020 to generate contours, sunshaded Digital Elevation Models (DEMS) and a host of other outputs useful for mapping.

So we were set to go!

Duncan has provided a great story of his mapping experience at Avon Valley. I’ll provide a quick summary of mapping at Peterdine.

The original map covered about 9 km2 (900 ha). I decided that a paddock in the south was never used and not needed, thus reducing the final map area to about 800 ha. Armed with a digital tablet (Samsung S6 with and S pen), all the base images loaded and lots of preliminary mapping (fences, tracks, draft contours etc.) done on the computer at home, the field mapping began in June 2022. The maps were kept in OCAD format, but I used Open Orienteering Mapper on the tablet in field. I also carried a small powerbank to keep the tablet running when the battery was low, usually needed after about 4 hours. The interesting thing about mapping in the digital age is you don’t need to know where you are on the map – the GPS tells you that – so all effort is on how to interpret the jumble of rocks in front of you! The international mapping specifications not only define the size and colour of the symbols used, but also the minimum spacing between them. So, in a detailed rocky area not all features can be mapped – that’s the challenge. A lot of time is spent walking around a rocky area trying to determine what are the key features and can they be put on the map whilst maintaining minimum spacing between then.

Sunshaded DEM of part of Peterdine generated from LiDAR data showing watercourses, dams, ridges and rocky areas

A complex area mapped to ISOM 2017-2 specifications. There’s a lot more rock out there which had to be simplified

I had plenty of companions whilst mapping. In autumn the grass feed is low and the sheep are hand fed. They were hoping I would provide a feed for them too!

So many days were spent wandering around, pondering over rocks and gullies and putting my best efforts onto the tablet. I averaged about 40 ha per day, which included about 6 hours mapping and 2 hours updating in the evening. I was based at my property near York, so I had lovely early morning and late afternoon drives through the ever-changing landscape each day

It took about 25 days in the field, and a couple of days fixing up the mistakes Tony Simpkins found! Then many hours in the home office tidying up the map, and making event files for all the carnival maps. The original Eric Andrews 1993 map, although great for its time, was not accurate enough to use as a base, but was very handy to check where I should be looking for rock. It is very easy to miss something when you’re walking around 800 ha! Even after all the checking, one missing boulder –which happened to be on the Elite course but not near a control and no impact on the event – was found by the IOF Event Advisor Andrew Lumsden on the day of the event. There may be more out there – a prize to anyone who finds one!

So would I do it again? Yes, but not straight away – at least not for such a big area. It is lovely and peaceful just wandering around listening to the birds (and the sheep!) with the wind whistling through the sheoaks. Lunch spent sitting on a rock in the shade overlooking the valley, swatting flies. When working in a grassy area it is important not to fieldwork in Oct/Nov when the grass seeds are setting. Unfortunately I had to do this once or twice – have a look at the result!

Mapping Peterdine

The end result was a great set of high-quality maps for the carnival which can be used for years to come. My thanks and appreciation to all the mappers that took on this task, whether taking on a new map or updating an old one, all very important tasks to achieve what I believe was a very successful Carnival.

Ewok shoes!

Hopeful companions in the field

Memoirs of a (Nearly) Novice Orienteering Mapper

Duncan Sullivan

In late 2021 OWA Mapping Convenor Noel Schoknecht approached me about remapping Avon Valley National Park for the 2023 Australian Championships Kambarang Carnival. I had imagined I would like to try some foot-o mapping in retirement, but that is still a few years away. Oh, and I have never done a bush map. But I was honoured to be asked and agreed to go ahead. I guess with the pandemic it was difficult to get professional mappers from elsewhere, some of the usual suspects have retired, and some have sadly passed on. Oh, did I mention it is a World Ranking Event and my work needs to satisfy an IOF Event Adviser?

Checking rock detail

My mapping CV includes fieldworking a section of Walyunga in the early 1980s, my one and only MetrO series map City Beach North in 2001, the Galaxy Sprint map of Claisebrook Cove in 2003, and my first of many MTBO maps at Bussell Brook in 2004.

I dug out my old maps of the area, Quarry Rd and Drummond Creek, both drawn by John Bowler in 1988 for the Australian Championships, fieldworked by John and Heather, Tony Simpkins, Richard Matthews and Dave Pass. They are very good maps, so why do we need a new one? The vegetation has changed and many of the old tracks are now barely visible or overgrown. Maps of that era are often a bit distorted when we try to use modern georeferencing and GNSS devices. And an Australian Championships demands a map drawn to ISOM 2017.2 standards.

Peaceful Brook sounds appealing, but Hell Hole Gully and Parrot Bush Hill not so. The latter area is now off limits due to potential unexploded ordinance, comprising about one-third of the Drummond Creek map. (No orienteer has been blown up in the making or use of these maps.) A day wandering around the northern parts of the area found a lot of impenetrable bush, including large parts of the original map that were once white with good features.

A decision was made by Council (Noel) to start afresh and acquire LIDAR data. So now I had to learn a new (to me) International Standard, and a new method of mapping. I decided to go with a tablet using Open Orienteering Mapper in the field. A lot of preparation can and needs to be done on a PC at home on OCAD. The base map then has very accurate 5 m contours, most of the form lines that are needed and very accurate watercourses. Boulders are not reliably seen on the highresolution aerial photos due to tree canopy, and mostly they don’t show on the other LIDAR images. Cliffs, on the other hand, can be seen reliably on the slope gradient background and mapped provisionally at home, then used as an accurate reference when mapping surrounding rock features. Vegetation, however, is not well dealt with and needs lots of fieldworking.

It was a time-consuming but rewarding process, 34 days of primary mapping and fieldchecking, 5 to 8 hours on foot each trip, and countless hours at home refining. Available mapping days were hard to find with work, life, weather, park closures, and a couple of trips to hospital following a bike crash and then a small heart attack. So, it was a scramble to get the area required for Kambarang finished and then revised following advice from the course setter, controller, IOF advisor, and Noel. After my heart episode someone wiser than me demanded I have company, and Nick Dale was able to accompany me on several trips. Having 2 sets of eyes helped come up with the best solution for mapping complex groups of rocks.

The map is just one person’s interpretation, and despite there being one strict International Standard, different mappers will come up with different interpretations. I looked extensively for others’ advice and at online mapping forums. OCAD can check if you have observed minimum gap sizes in the drawing. Once I thought I had everything right, OCAD came back with 418 violations that needed correcting before Noel got the final version.

Highlights were spending a little time looking at the wildflowers and wildlife. I have now bought books on WA wildflowers to help know what it was I previously would have pushed through or trodden on. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out which end of an echidna was which. And I scared Edward the Emu off one day to reveal his clutch of 10 beautiful blue eggs. Lowlights were losing a set of car keys, a car break-in, and a broken tablet screen when dropped in stony ground.

Orienteering events require a lot of things to go perfectly, and little mistakes or omissions can stuff up someone’s competition. ISOM states ‘the competitor shall not perceive any inaccuracy in the map’. Whilst only a few took the time to thank me for producing a good map, the fact that no one (to my knowledge) complained is satisfaction enough. Would I do it again? There is more terrain at Avon Valley that can and should be mapped. The ‘someone wiser than me’ is hoping there are other budding mappers out there who can finish it off.

Duncan with Edward the Emu’s eggs

Duncan trying to figure out which end is the echidna’s head

Kambarang Promotions

Vanessa Smith

As orienteers, we all know that there are Australian Championships every year at the end of September, but what is the tipping point where we decide to participate? The blockages are numerous: distance, cost, poor maps, adverse weather, lack of value in taking a costly trip for minimal events, disorganisation, shortage of accommodation options, lack of tourism opportunities in the vicinity, transport issues, misalignment of school holidays between states, personal issues, to name a few.

The focus of the Kambarang promotions was to highlight the positives of coming to WA in September, while negating the negatives. We were very visible with our promotions, using bright banners to decorate the finish chute of each event at the 2022 Australian Champs. Any photos taken of people in the finish chute had a background of our banners. By the end of the Carnival, all participants knew that the 2023 Australian Championships were in Western Australia and had photographic evidence.

The banners were also used at local events, the Oceania Carnival and Easter 2023 in the ACT to reinforce the image that WA was working hard to provide a vibrant and well-organised Carnival. All Western Australian athletes participating in the 2023 Easter 3-day orienteering Carnival were given the opportunity to purchase Kambarang orienteering shirts to further promote the Carnival and to also promote the shirts themselves.

Even internationally the Kambarang shirts stood out with their distinctive aqua, white and orange colouring. Waiting at the start of a Scottish 6-day event in July 2023, I had someone come up to me having recognised the shirt from the Easter Carnival, and state that they were definitely coming to WA for the Australian Champs.

The design of the shirts is based heavily on the Kambarang Carnival logo with the wattle, everlasting and eucalypt flowers being sectioned off by bands of orange. Orange is the colour that the Noongar people associate with the season of kambarang. Noongar welcome to country was included in the orange band on the sleeve.

A second order of shirts was done when other WA orienteers going overseas wanted to wear a Kambarang shirt whilst orienteering there. This order was heavily promoted in WA and gave the opportunity for any OWA members to get their Kambarang shirts early, feel connected to the Carnival and promote it.

A5 flyers were printed for distribution at the 2022 Australian Championships, Oceania Carnival and the 2023 Easter 3-day Carnival. Minimal paid advertising was done, targeted to very specific groups who have orienteered, but may not have considered themselves good enough to participate in an orienteering Carnival. Articles about the Carnival were featured in numerous orienteering newsletters or magazines.

A Facebook page dedicated to the Kambarang Carnival was created in March 2023 to initially promote the maps that we would run on as well as reinforce the message that the WA team was super organised, which would ensure a fantastic Carnival.

All mappers were requested to provide updates and interesting photos from where they had been working. Graham Braid provided a video of what appeared to be a run through Peterdine. It was actually a time-lapse of him walking through an area where everyone wanted to run. Duncan Sullivan provided photos of his echidna and emu egg finds at Avon Valley National Park; Nick Dale supplied a colourful selection from his map at Christ Church Grammar/MLC whilst Noel Schoknecht gave us an insight to how attractive he was to the sheep at Peterdine.

The reach of the page expanded as other orienteering organisisations from around Australia shared our posts. Posts, including important ones regarding deadlines, were viewed almost immediately by hundreds of followers, something that a website cannot achieve.

The focus shifted during the Carnival to encapsulate participation, success and enjoyment of the Carnival. Riley McFarlane came on board to live stream the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC) from the commentary box. Great memory for anyone who was there, but a lovely service for those parents who who did not cross the Nullabor, so that they could see their child competing.

Placegetters in the open divisions were honoured with medals. First, second and third placed competitors in the B division and all participants in the W/M 10 division were honoured with certificates featuring the elements from the Kambarang logo.

The Kamarang Carnival will be remembered for many things: personal performances, friends, sight-seeing, maps, navigational mistakes or involvement. On a Carnival level it will be remembered for its colour. The colour of the promotional banners, the Kambarang shirts, the certificates, the ASOC honour shirts and even the colour of the state flags used for the ASOC events.

At the completion of the ASOC events, 8 male and 8 female athletes are selected in an Australian honour team. Previously they had received socks to commemorate the honour.

This year it was decided to honour those athletes with recoloured Kambarang shirts featuring Australian national colours of green and gold and emblazoned with ‘Australian Schools orienteering championships, Honour team 2023’.

Tradionally gazetted flags were used for the ASOC events, but all look the same as they drape displaying the Union Jack on a dark blue background. WA took this to a new level by creating a set of state based flags in state colours featuring a state emblem. The New Zealand team was provided with their silver fern flag, rather than their look-alike Australian flag.

Kambarang means the season of birth in the Noongar language. Western Australia made the Kambarang Carnival live up to its name by delivering an orienteering Carnival that set standards.

THE KAMBARANG CARNIVAL REPORT

Roundup

Anna Napier – OWA President

OWA has put on a great National Championships carnival over the 9 days between 30 September and 8 October. The 7 events also included the Australian Schools Championships and took place in areas adjacent to the Avon Valley from Brookton to the Avon Valley National Park as well as in the city for sprint events.

A good number of competitors (a total of 565 at the Long and Middle Distance Championships) came from the eastern states as well as from a range of countries, from New Zealand and New Caledonia to the UK, and enjoyed a range of terrain from open, high granite regions to steep forest/ woodland slopes. The schools teams numbered up to 170, along with their coaches and team managers.

A number of visiting groups stayed in the Avon Valley towns of York, Northam, Beverley and Brookton, exploring the heritage charms of each. The schools teams had a great stay for 9 days at the Swan Valley Adventure Centre on the upper Swan River.

The weather was variable, as expected in spring, with pleasant running weather over most days but with a very hot day of around 36 degrees for the Long Distance Championships, which tested some of us. There were some great runs for West Aussie locals, with many podium finishes across all events. Fantastic work by our Schools Team as well. We had full teams for Junior and Senior boys, but were short a girl in both Junior and Senior categories yet still managed to get off the bottom of the ladder for the first time in many years!

Responses from our visitors were all very positive about the organisation of the carnival and the maps and courses. Great work by all the Kambarang Carnival team.

Thanks

Graham Braid – Carnival Director

What a whirlwind week of events that was! I would like to pass on my heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers throughout the Carnival. From the people who filled the key positions to the dozens of people who committed some of their time to help at some stage during the Carnival. We received many positive comments about the efficient organisation of the Carnival, and that comes down to the efforts of everyone. At a few stages during the events, people were required to step into roles at short notice and there were always people willing to do so.

Well done all, without you the Carnival would not have been such a great success. It was a pleasure working with all of you.

ASOC Relays first runners

Rachel West – Coach

Seventeen students represented WA at the Australian Secondary Orienteering Championships this year. This was a team heavily weighted to boys, with 13 boys and only 4 girls. As 3 girls are required for a full team, and we only had 2 girls in both Senior and Junior categories, we were at quite a disadvantage in the overall state team points calculations. It was therefore a surprise that this year WA were able to get off the bottom of the table for the first time since 1992, beating Victoria to take 6th out of the Australian states, and 8th in the Southern Cross Challenge (which includes New Zealand). This is a huge credit to the team.

WA team members in the top 10 Australians at ASOC were:

Sprint – Senior Boys: 10th Liam Dufty; Senior Girls: 6th Kate Braid, 8th Ruby Phillips; Junior Boys: 9th Lachlan Braid; Junior Girls: 6th Amy Dufty.

Long – 8th Liam Dufty, Senior Girls: 4th Kate Braid, 9th Ruby Phillips, Junior Boys: 4th Lachlan Braid, Junior Girls: 5th Amy Dufty.

Kate Braid was selected for the 2023 ASOC Honour Team.

We also had some fantastic runs in the ASOC Relay. Congratulations in particular to the Junior Boys team of Lachlan Braid, Christopher Drury and Rohan Braid that placed 3rd Australian team, and the Senior Girls team of Kate Braid, Amy Dufty (running up from Juniors) and Ruby Phillips that placed 2nd Australian team.

I would also like to congratulate our many less-experienced and younger team members for displaying such a positive attitude and trying to get as much out of the experience as they could. The depth of talent in this younger group bodes well for coming years. I really enjoyed spending time with this great group of young people.

ASOC Sprint awards ceremony

Australian Championships

Liisa Hirvonen

The Carnival started with the Australian Middle Distance Championships on Sat 30 Sept in Peterdine (Bitidiin). The Middle Distance Championships was the most popular event of the Carnival, with 543 starting competitors in 51 classes, competing on 18 different courses navigating a total of 97 controls.

The Australian Relay Championships were held the next day 1 Oct on the same map. The relays had 160 teams, each with 3 runners, and a mass start with all first leg runners starting at the same time.

After the mid-week ASOC & Kambarang Classic events, the Australian Long Championships were held at Avon Valley on Saturday 7 Oct. Due to the hot weather forecast, start times had been moved forward by an hour. The previous day was also hot, and the temperature was already over 20 degrees at the start of the competition at 8:30 am, before climbing up to 37 degrees towards the end of the competition.

The Australian Sprint Championships on Sunday 8 Oct at the Christ Church Grammar School / Methodist Ladies College in Claremont, Perth. Special mention to Edmund, Quinn, Archie and Ruben, who took the first 4 places in the M12A class!

All events went smoothly, and winning times were roughly as expected. We have received lots of positive feedback about maps, courses and organisation – thanks again to all our volunteers!

WA Placegetters

The following Western Australians won podium places in the Championship classes. There were also other excellent performances – in some classes competition is very tough. All results for the Kambarang Carnival can be found in Eventor.

Middle Distance Championships

1st place: Fraser Brownlie (M10A), Peter Hamilton (M85A), Ruth Toomey (W10A).

2nd place: Quinn Lommers (M12A), Tim Sharp (M40A), Craig Dufty (M50A), Russell Wade (M70A), Liisa Hirvonen (W40A), Anthea Feaver (W60A), Carol Brownlie (W70A).

3rd place: Sten Claessens (M45A), Volker Gartz (M55A), Ian Fletcher (M75A), Mike Howe (M80A), Lily McFarlane (W21A), Vanessa Smith (W60A).

Relays

1st place:

M45A - Sten Claessens, John Toomey, Craig Dufty

M75A - Ken Brownlie, Mike Howe, Ian Fletcher

2nd place:

M/W12A - Edmund Toomey, Archie Brownlie, Quinn Lommers

W65A - Jennifer Binns, Jan Candy, Anna Napier

M45A relay team of John Toomey, Craig Dufty and Sten Classens

Edmund Toomey in the Aus relays M/W12A

3rd place:

W21E - Jo Anna Maynard, Veronika Vavrova, Kellie Whitfield

M55A - Duncan Sullivan, Nick Dale, Volker Gartz

W21AS - Ruby Phillips, Amy Dufty, Sarah Richards

W45A - Rachel West, Ceri Pass, Sandra Tarr

Long

1st place: Quinn Lommers (M12A), Aldo Bosman (M20AS), Oliver Martin (M21AS), Peter O’Loughlin (M55AS), Peter Hamilton (M85A), Daisy McCauley (W21AS), Veronica Vavrova (W35A), Christine Howitt (W55AS), Anthea Feaver (W60A).

2nd place: Fraser Brownlie (M10A), Tim Sharp (M40A), Peter Komyshan (M65AS), Russell Wade (M70A), Liisa Hirvonen (W40A).

3rd place: Kellie Whitfield (W21E), Troy Kingma (M12A), Jaco Bosman (M45AS), John Toomey (M50A), Ruth Toomey (W10A), Sarah Richards (W20AS), Rachel West (W45A), Sandra Tarr (W45AS).

Sprint

1st place: Edmund Toomey (M12A), Ruth Toomey (W10A), Rachel West (W45A).

2nd place: Quinn Lommers (M12A), Mike Howe (M80A), Daisy McCauley (W21A), Liisa Hirvonen (W40A).

3rd place: Archie Brownlie (M12A), Lily McFarlane (W21A), Jen Graham-Taylor (W45A).

Kambarang Classic

After the ASOC events held in the mornings, the courses were opened in the afternoons for anyone wanting to compete on the Kambarang Classic courses set on the same maps. Six classes were available for both men and women (Hard A – D, Moderate E and Easy F). Although the events could be entered individually, anyone completing the course in the same class in all 3 days had their times added up.

Eight male and 11 female Western Australians completed the whole 3-day competition. Podium places were achieved by Quinn Lommers, 1st in Moderate E;Tony Simpkins, 2nd in Hard D; and Liisa Hirvonen, 2nd in Hard A.

Kambarang Classic start

WA CLUBS – 2023 WRAP UP

Albany and Denmark Hinterland Orienteering Club

John Toomey, President

In 2023 we held 14 events, mostly Sprint-style to make the most of the many school maps we have access to, but we also had a day of Kenine Hill near Beaufort River to organise, and a Primary School Teams event on Star Wars day. Membership was steady, low (n=25) but a nice core of regulars with 15 or so coming to most of our local events, and 10 of those even have their own SportIdent stick! For the first time in our 10 years of existence we had members generated in Albany compete at an event outside of Albany: Kenine Hill. Notable things from this year:

• 189 participants at the Primary Interschool Teams event – set and organised by Edmund with assistance on the day from Jen G-T, Caroline Evans and Tracey Menegola,

• winning the Bengtsson-Offrell Trophy for Champion OWA Club (may the odds be in our favour!),

• addition of orienteering to the Great Southern Secondary Schools Sporting Association Interschool Sports calendar for 2024 onwards,

• recipient of a decent grant from Rio Tinto to assist with the GSSSA event next September,

• Ruth Toomey W10A ranked #1 in Australia after discovering a love of orienteering during this year’s Aus Champs Carnival. Next year we will conduct fewer events (the usual volunteer burnout issues) but will likely increase the informal peg-tape events so that members have more to participate in but less organisation needed.

Ruth Toomey on the podium

Bibbulmun Orienteers in 2023

Sue Dowling, Club Covenor

BO setters and organisers had a busy year. The Club kicked off the year with a MetrO event at the scenic Woodbridge Riverside Park. Then we moved to NavDash mode at Russells Gully in Brigadoon. An MTBO event in Roleystone provided challenges for the bike riders amongst us. Another NavDash event (where BO provided support for setter Nick Dale) was next at Araluen. A bush event at Ngangaguringguring followed. The final pre-Kambarang event was the Long Distance Championships at Umuna. Then came Kambarang! PostKambarang BO put on another 3 MetrO events – Koondoola, High Wycombe, and Karawara. BO was represented interstate at the Oceania Championships in Tasmania, and at the National Junior Development camp that preceded it. Then there were BO members competing in the Easter Three Days hosted by Orienteering ACT. Two of these members, Riley and Liam, were selected for the Bushrangers team to travel to New Zealand to compete against the NZ Pinestars. In June, Liam and Riley were part of a Western Nomads team that competed in the Transcend Trails 65 km Ultra Relay. The team took 2nd, and Riley was ‘King of the Mountain’ for the fastest time on a 3 km section of the final leg.

At the Easter Three Days long-term member Don Young was announced as a 2023 inductee into the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame in the General Division. Congratulations, Don, a very well-deserved award.

The Kambarang Carnival was the highlight of OWA’s year. This was made possible and successful thanks to the work of many dedicated orienteers including BO members Jack Dowling, Hadrien Devillepoix and Ellie Sansom, and Craig Dufty and Paul Dowling. Also deserving of recognition were the many volunteers who contributed in so many ways in the various volunteer roles. BO members Amy, Liam, Troy and Ruby were part of the Schools Team while Rachel was one of the Team’s coaches.

Coaching for OWA members is becoming an increasingly prominent service, and BO members Rob, Lois, Rachel, Craig, Sharon, Lily and Riley are part of the OWA coaching team.

Three BO members were presented with awards at the OWA Annual Celebration. Collectively BO received the famous? Rutty Rock as winning club in the Club Relays.

In terms of member numbers: BO lost some members but gained some new ones, net increase was 2 members. Welcome to these new members and thank you to all those who continued their memberships. Overall it was another great year for BO: thank you to everyone who contributed in so many ways, often behind the scenes, to ensure our achievements. Looking forward to 2024.

Thanks from Schools Team

Mike Sibbald

Kulgun Orienteers

Heike Behrbohm, Convenor

KO set and organised a total of 10 events in 2023. This included 4 MetrO events, 2 NavDash events, one of which was the Relays at Jorgensen Park, 2 MTBO events and 2 bush events.

Thanks to Graham Braid, Tim Sharp, Sten Claessens, Russel Candy, Ceri Pass, John and Jenny Major, Dave Pass, Debbie McKay, Richard Begley and Heike Behrbohm for either setting, controlling or organising these events. Thanks also to those members who helped to collect controls after events.

KO members played a large part in making the 2023 Kambarang Australian National Championship the success it was. Graham Braid was the Carnival Director, controller for the Australian Middle Distance Champs and he mapped Aquinas College. Susan Coleman handled all the finances, Vanessa Smith was promotions manager, Sten Claessens managed all the SI stuff, Dave Pass was the equipment manager with his team of helpers: Wendy Hobley, Volker Gartz, Heike Behrbohm and others from other clubs. Tim Sharp set the ASOC Long Distance Champs and Ceri Pass was controller for the Australian Sprint Champs. John and Jenny Major were the finish volunteers for every event.

In the Australian Schools Orienteering Championship, KO had 6 Juniors in the state team: Joseph Coleman, Kate Braid, Seth Thomas, Lachlan Braid, Rohan Braid and Ruben Claessens. Congratulations to Kate Braid on being selected into the Honour Team. Rohan and Lachlan Braid (along with Chris Drury) came 3rd in the Australian Junior Boys Relay and Kate Braid (with Amy Dufty and Ruby Phillips) came 2nd in the Australian Senior Girls Relay.

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

Kate Braid

Sten in action at the Carnival

Heike also in action at the Carnival

LOST Report 2023

Anthea Feaver, Convenor

A very busy year for LOST, and indeed all OWA members, is over, with a very successful National Carnival being held in WA in September–October, as well as the usual full range of events.

LOST currently has 54 members, and during the year we were responsible for organising MetrO, NavDash, MTBO and bush events.

A number of club members were also heavily involved with the organisation of the National Carnival: Anna Napier, Jan Fletcher, Tony Simpkins, Liisa Hirvonen and Noel Schoknecht as members of Council, and Noel Schoknecht, Tony Simpkins, Duncan Sullivan, Ian Fletcher, Helen Bailey, Eddie Plummer, Richard Matthews, Nick Dale and Anthea Feaver as Coordinators, Mappers, Controllers and Setters.

Some social highlights for the year were

• the Valentine’s Day picnic at Matilda Bay, where people walked, swam, paddled or ran, before enjoying a picnic,

• a pot-luck picnic at Spice Brook,

• dinner out at Piccolo Trattoria after the WA Middle Distance Champs,

• the legendary LOST Christmas Dinner, held at Rosemary’s.

State selection went to Neve Lommers and Isaac Maddern, who were selected to represent WA in the Schools Orienteering Championships as part of the National Carnival.

Five LOST members travelled to the ACT to compete in the Australian 3-Day Competition at Easter, and there was a large number of LOST competitors at the National Carnival. There were many fine performances, but the stand-out competitors for LOST were Quinn Lommers (M12A) and Liisa Hirvonen (W40A) who were on the podium for all 3 Australian Championships distances –Middle, Long and Sprint.

And to all the LOST volunteers who set, controlled, organised, instructed, collected controls, towed toilets: many, many thanks

Setter and vetter, Noel and Anthea, doing a final check before their Sprint event

LOST lunching after event

South West Orienteers and Trekkers

Robyn Phillips, Convenor

It was a big year for SWOT with our program of events including the WA Classic at Kenine Hill and volunteering at the Kambarang Carnival. There were 10 events on our calendar, 7 urban and 3 bush events. In general, our attendance ranged from 15 to 35. We revisited Galway Green, having not been there for many years, and with building works still on at Bunbury and Australind Senior High Schools, we opted to return to Grace Christian School which was well attended. Crooked Brook North was another revisit that yielded a good turnout (62) and Evedon/Jenour which was our biggest event attendance of 100. Both of these were bush events that scouting groups also attended to hone their compass skills.

In June we combined with ADHOC to coordinate and set the WA Classic at Kenine Hill. From our club Harry Nicholson was the setter with Cliff Phillips assisting and Robyn Phillips the event coordinator. ADHOC members John, Jen and Tony again assisted. It’s a big job with a small team but we pulled it off – even with the variable weather. We opted for portaloos which we hope the attendees appreciated, though we had a close call with one potentially being inoperable. Cliff managed to apply his handyman skills and saved the day by re-establishing the water system for flushing (very important!!). Most of the weather held off for the event times, though deteriorated a little for the last part of the Long Distance on the Monday. We had a bunch of campers on the Sunday night when a nasty front flashed through the area. Luckily our shelter held up and we appeared to have acquired a temporary new SWOT member with Tony Simpkins settling in his chair with his stew and red wine! The campfire seemed to survive the inclement weather and was enjoyed by the campers. Our sincere thanks to our farming friends who graciously allow us to hold the event and camp on their properties. We hope some remapping can be done in the near future to bring forth a more contemporary map.

We finished our season early to provide our SI bricks and controls for the Kambarang Carnival. What a great Carnival! A few members volunteered; Robyn for the full Carnival assisted McTeam in the download tent; Jill and Peter Elderfield with the parking on various days. SWOT was allocated control collection with ADHOC for the event at Aquinas College, thanks to Jaco and Marlize Bosman and Robyn for assisting.

The National Championships formed part of the Carnival events and SWOT had some great representation. Top 10s for their class included Jill, PeterO, KellieW and Eckart Bosman in the Middle Distance. The Long Distance was a great performance with the majority of SWOTters placing in the top 10. Aldo Bosman and PeterO 1st; Jaco (3); Kellie Whitfield (3); Eckart (4); Rachael Bray (6) and Marlize (8). The Sprint: Rachael (3), Eckart 10). Juniors Eckart Bosman and Arvin Nair also participated as part of the WA Schools team. Congratulations and welcome back to KellieW who managed to take out the State Middle and Long Distance trophies!

Enjoying Kenine’s boulders

Campfire at Kenine

Wullundigong Orienteers of the West

Carol Brownlie, Convenor

Because the Australian National Championships were held in WA this year the number of local events was necessarily reduced, and WOW set only 4: a sprint event at ECU Joondalup, and bush events at Spice Brook, Jumbuck Ridge and Malmalling, the latter being the Middle Distance Championships.

Thanks to all those that made these events happen, including setters: Ken and Helen Post, Carol and Ken Brownlie, Oliver Martin, Robert Boekelaar and Russell Wade. Willing WOW members collected controls, packed up gear and provided instruction at events.

It was great to see Oliver Martin come back to orienteering after quite a break, not only being part of a setting team, but having great success in the State Sprint Champs and the State Middle Distance Champs, winning both. Clearly, he hadn’t forgotten any of his skills.

A number of WOWers ventured east to compete at the Australian 3-Days, with some successes. Russell Wade was third in M70A and Carol Brownlie was second in W70A. With the Australian National Championship being held in WA there was a great opportunity for the local orienteers to shine. Many WOW members gained places in their age classes including, Fraser Brownlie, Russell Wade, Dan Greig, Peter Hamilton, Carol Brownlie, Jonathan Drury, Carolyn Read, Oliver Martin, Peter Komyshan, Sarah Richards, Christine Howitt, Archie Brownlie and Daisy McCauley.

There were some exciting finishes in the National Relay Event with Ken Brownlie’s M75 team coming 1st, Archie Brownlie’s M/W12 team 2nd by a very narrow margin and Sarah Richards part of the W21AS team that was 3rd.

Again, it was a quiet year socially for WOW. We seem to have got out of organising social occasions since COVID stopped us doing so.

WOW members were also part of the organising team that ran the Australian National Championships. Rosalie McCauley and Melinda Richards formed part of the ‘computer team’ while Christine Howitt rallied all the volunteers. Tom Brownlie was the National Australian Schools Championships Coordinator and Dan Greig was the Controller for the Schools Long Distance Championships. Ken Brownlie organised the Carnival starts with the help of Ken Post. All contributed to making Kambarang a hugely successful Carnival.

Jonathon Drury

Peter K – they breed them tough in WOW

Rosalie McCauley

FAREWELL TO FOUNDERS

In 2023 we said goodbye to 2 very special people who were among the first orienteers in WA and who played large parts in the establishment of our sport. They were Jeff Whittam and Jo Hiller.

Jeff Whittam (5/8/1934

– 14/8/2023)

Jeff Whittam, his wife Dorothy and their family were among the founding members of Wullundigong Orienteers of the West (WOW). The name Wullundigong was suggested by Jeff, who was the club’s second convenor, filling the role from 1979 to 1983.

Jeff was from Yorkshire. He was a big man with a big heart and a BIG voice. (No microphone was needed when Jeff was around.) He was known for his encouragement of newcomers. He was also known for his apparent imperviousness to prickles. He would run through some of our toughest and roughest bush wearing shorts and a string vest!

Jeff enjoyed rogaining as well as orienteering and formed a formidable rogaining team with 2 orienteering friends: Roy Hiller and Jim Walter.

The Whittam family were also very involved with the social side of the club, opening their homes for ‘Beetle Drives’, which were very popular. (Juniors may have to ask their parents what these were.)

Unfortunately, Jeff had to give up orienteering when his knees could no longer cope. He still kept an interest in orienteering and kindly donated the perpetual trophies for our ‘rising star’ Juniors to encourage them to persevere with their efforts. In his modest way, he did not ask that these awards be named after him, but Council thought it only appropriate that the trophies bear his name to honour the man who gave so much to establishing our sport.

Jeff at APOC ‘88

Jeff with rogaining friends Jim Walter and Roy Hiller

Jo Hiller OAM (30/1/1927 – 26/8/2023)

Jo Hiller and her husband Roy are well described in Around the Contours (OWA’s history from 1974 to 2009) as LOST royalty. They were in the group that founded the club, and together with their daughters were integral to its development. Their home was a hub for LOST social events and many of us will remember gatherings to enjoy badminton or croquet, as well as chat over a meal. Jo was always a welcoming and accommodating host.

Jo was always modest about her orienteering accomplishments, frequently attributing them to good luck, but her results would suggest otherwise. It takes considerably more than good fortune to achieve 17 top 3 placings in the National Championships. These were obtained in age classes between W60A and W75A. Jo also won W75A at the World Masters Championships in 2002.

Orienteering events in places around the world provided a reason for travel, and Jo, with Roy, visited many different countries and made many friends. On one occasion they fitted hiking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route between Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Santiago de Compostela (about 800 km) into 30 days between 2 orienteering carnivals. The need to finish the walk in time for the second carnival determined the rate at which they walked!

Jo was also involved throughout her life in volunteer activities that included work with Men of the Trees (now Trillion Trees) and support of refugees. Her work in these areas was acknowledged in an Order of Australia Medal in 2006.

Jo, a royalist to the core, laughingly spoke of getting a letter from the Queen for her 100th birthday. She fell a few years short of her 100th, but by then the queen had pre-deceased her, so perhaps she wouldn’t have minded so much.

Jo planting a tree

Ready to celebrate in 2024?

It’s the 50th anniversary of orienteering in WA!

Acknowledgements

Cover design: Noel Schoknecht

Typesetter and copyeditor: Josie Duncan

Copyeditor and reviewer: Jan Fletcher

Project managers: Jan Fletcher and Melinda Richards

Major contributing photographers: Pam Yeatman, Rob West, Sue Dowliing, Kay Haarsma, Rachel West, Sharon McFarlane, Graham Braid

Printing advisor: Damien West

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