O BITS
Letters Gidday Ian
(An email to former editor Ian Baker from Eddie Wymer (BK-V)) Hope this finds you well. Just writing to say a belated MERCI for all the wonderful work you have done with the magazine over so many years (including both stints of course). Happy retirement, although I am sure you have many other things in the offing. Eddie Wymer Eddie now lives in eastern France near the border with Switzerland and is still competing at top international level. In 2004 Eddie won Silver in the M35 World Masters event in Italy. He still competes at elite level and took 6th and 8th in the Belgian and French Elite Championships last year. (Ian replied to Eddie saying quite a few Aussies have the 2006 World Masters in Austria in their calendars and look forward to seeing Eddie on the podium again there.) The Australian Orienteer welcomes letters from members. Preference will be given to letters which are concise and which make positive points. The editor reserves the right to edit letters, particularly ones which are longer than 300 words.
Subscribe now in Australia Dramatic top-event stories World-class instructions Independent investigations 2-year experience 7 x 52 pages (36 in COLOUR) $98 for seven issues Contact: The Australian Orienteer PO Box 165 Warrandyte VIC 3113
Classic Injuries Blair Trewin
(Vic)
A
S someone who was missing in action when the fast-twitch muscle fibres were handed out, sprint races have never been my forte. I still enter them, partly because they’re fun and partly so the sprint specialists have somebody to beat. I also have a bit of an unfortunate history competing in metropolitan Auckland, managing to lose ten minutes at a Summer Series race there last summer (whilst there for work) through not finding the way up the cliffs from a beach. Undeterred by all this, I turned up to a university campus on a drizzly day in suburban Auckland for the sprint race (along with many of the others in the Australian contingent). For three-quarters of the race it was reasonably routine, except that the 5-metre contour interval hid a lot of steep grass banks – very steep – that were almost impossible to run up in the wet. Approaching 12, we ventured onto an area of tiled pavement outside a café in the student union building. This was obviously very slippery, particularly in rubber studs, and I slowed down. Not enough – turning into a corner to go into the control, my feet went from underneath me and my left elbow took the full force of the fall. It stung, and I was in a bit of a daze, but it didn’t seem enough to stop me running and I finished the course. (Bizarrely, as measured by placings, 12 was my second-best split of the race). It was at the point that I tried to take my sodden gear off and discovered that I couldn’t lift my arm straight that I suspected I had a serious problem. The end result turned out to be a broken bone just above the elbow, two nights in hospital, and the rest of the week on the microphone instead of running. (It certainly helped that I was taken to hospital by Bruce Peat, father of several NZ junior team members and a surgeon at that hospital – I suspect he might have pulled a few strings to get me operated on that night). I hope to be back in action by March. I wasn’t the only one to come to grief at 12. Amongst others, Carsten Jorgensen hit his head on a sign and Simon Uppill slid feet-first into a rail, fortunately without doing themselves any lasting damage.
Books on orienteering
There are a great number of books on all aspects of orienteering. For a list and prices contact: Orienteering Services of Australia 44 Alexandra Parade, Clifton‑Hill VIC 3068 Phone (03) 9489 9766 Email info@macson.com.au
6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2005
