SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY – Distractions in O

Veteran men decide their races in the paddock

Easter may have seen three days of reasonably technical granite orienteering, but M50 and M55 were both decided in the paddock at the end of the final day. Perhaps the biggest turnaround there came in M50. Ted van Geldermalsen had run well over the first two days and took a lead of just under four minutes into the last, but he faded on the third day and had slipped 27 secs behind Ross Coyle by 16, with only the apparently straightforward last few hundred metres to come. It looked a lost cause, but he won five of the last six splits, retaking the lead only at the last control and holding on by thirteen seconds.

M55 was even closer, with only seven secs separating 1st and 2nd, and 25 secs covered the top three. Bob Allison, Terry Bluett and Steve Flick all had chances through a fluctuating last day, with each in turn looking like they had the race in their keeping before making a mistake. Allison looked like he had enough in hand entering the paddock, but he had to withstand a storming finish by Bluett, who took big chunks of time out of the other two in the last few hundred metres, gaining 2nd place but falling just short of the win.

The best race of the rest was in M45, where the two Tasmanians, Darryl Smith and Mike Dowling, were so closely matched that the margins were in single digits on both Sunday and Monday. Smith’s two-minute lead after the first day was the difference in the end; it wasn’t looking that way for a lot of Monday as Dowling wrested the lead by 13, but he couldn’t quite finish it off against the strong-finishing Smith.

Teri McComb (SA)

W45-54A Short

I won yesterday (Saturday) which was a surprise since it took me 15 minutes to the first control. I wasn’t really into the map. I’d run the Family Relay on Friday with my rabbit ears so I should have been a bit more with it. After I found the first control I slowed down and took things more carefully and was alright from then on. Why the ears? Last year we won the Family Relay at Easter, but this year my husband Andrew has an injured knee so cannot be here so I’m out to enjoy myself. I’ve got a fluffy tail too and a little bow tie. We had a good time at the Relays on Friday, even though it was rather chilly. Teri finished 1st in W45-54AS.

Ted van Geldermalsen worked hard right to the finish on day 3 to win M50 by 13 seconds. Photo: Peter Cusworth

Big comebacks and a bizarre finish

The younger end of the veteran female list is not noted for close finishes – the fields are often a bit too thin for that – but 2005 was a conspicuous exception, as the winners of W35, W40 and W45 all came from behind on the last day. W40 saw perhaps the best performance, as Nicola Dalheim won the last day by seven mins to overturn a three-min deficit against Christine Marshall. The victory was set up on the tenth and eleventh controls, where Dalheim took nearly five mins out of the field. The margins weren’t quite as big in either direction in W35, but Linda Sesta still managed to reverse a one-min gap against Sheralee Bailey on the last day. This race also marked the return to Orienteering of Louise Fairfax, although illness and a fair bit of navigational rust kept her out of the placings.

The final come-from-behind result was the most bizarre. Liz Abbott had a two-min break over Carolyn Jackson in W45, and looked to have coasted in on the last day, stretching that lead by another couple of minutes, but it turned out that she had somehow managed to miss the last control, handing an easy victory to Jackson.

The “Sledge” class was big and well contested again with much fun and good natured rivalry had. Here some of them line up for a photo, at an appropriate location, after the final boxer shorts were awarded. Photo: Peter Cusworth

Rod Dominish (QLD)

M60A

I was one of the people who got Orienteering started in Sydney and then in 1974 I helped get it going in Wagga. I was there seven years, so the Waggaroos are just over 30 years old now. I still try to yell “Wagga, Wagga!” as I run down the finish chute but these days the breath is not as good as it used to be. I’m in Queensland now and work as a quantity surveyor/estimator, building power stations that use sugar waste - very green. I’m manager of the Australian Team to the World Championships in Japan in August. I was the first Aussie ever to run in a WOC - that was 1972 in (then) Czechoslovakia. I was the only representative, team manager too! It was the first time I’d ever run on a colour map and the first time I’d ever seen rock detail on a map. It took me three and a half hours to finish 72nd out of about 90. In 1981 I was team manager in Japan when David Rowlands (BK-V) won the Asia-Pacific Championships ahead of the world’s top two orienteers, OyvinThon (Norway) and Jörgen Mårtensson (Sweden). I’m aiming to keep up my record! Rod finished 25th in M60 at the Australian 3-Days.

Wearing Good Looking Gear also Improves Performance

THERE’S no doubt that good-looking uniforms worn by fit young athletes does much to promote a particular sport and sporting activity in general. Everyone has heroes and if the heroes look good others are encouraged to try to emulate them.

The competition outfits worn by swimmers, cyclists, triathletes, gymnasts, basketballers and athletes all promote an image of health and vitality and each promotes the allure of that particular sport. Beach volleyball and even tennis are other excellent examples.

Common images spring to mind – Kathy Freeman in that body suit; the Thorpedo in his racing suit; Emma Snowsill winning the triathlon world championship; sprint cyclist Ryan Bailey at the Athens Olympics; the list goes on.

But as well as creating a great visual image these outfits are giving the athletes a competitive advantage. The swimming suits are designed to cut drag in the water; Kathy Freeman’s body suit was claimed to reduce air drag (as well as to intimidate the opposition). For some years outfits woven from “microfibre” have been generally available and are worn by young and old. The “microfibre” is hollow and serves to wick sweat away from the skin keeping the body cooler than it would be if a simple cotton outfit was worn.

At the World Championships in Sweden last year the Swedish Osuit looked great on both men and women and was clearly designed with promotion in mind. Much of the emphasis at major events is to “bring Orienteering out of the forest” and present it in a very public way to spectators and the media alike. But these new Orienteering outfits also serve another very important purpose – they keep the wearers cool in the forest.

World Champion Karolina A Höjsgaard promotes the Craft range of undergarments specially designed to cool the body during competition. There’s no doubt that these materials will be incorporated into Swedish team O-suits in an attempt to counter the heat and high humidity conditions at WOC 2005 in Japan this August.

An Australian company, Linebreak, has developed a range of form hugging garments which are claimed to absorb sweat and reduce muscle vibration, lactic acid build-up, muscle fibre tears, chafing Left: World Champion Karolina A Höjsgaard promoting Craft cooling undergarments (photo – Skogssport). Right: Linebreak form hugging undergarments claimed to lift confidence and cool the body. Centre: Emil Wingstedt & Karolina A Höjsgaard show off the new Swedish Team outfit at WOC 2004. (photo – Skogssport).

and post-exercise fatigue. Linebreak emphasise that these garments are for elite athletes and weekend warriors alike. Trials with AFL footballers, rugby players and cricketers have all been positive with one well-known fast bowler reporting that he felt much more confident whilst bowling and didn’t seem to tire as much.

Research has shown that these types of fabrics can result in significantly lower heart rates and sweat losses thereby reducing heat strain during exercise. When the body is sweating hard it is using its energy to keep cool - this is energy which could be used to perform. Then if the clothing is soaking up that sweat and does not dry quickly, as with cotton, the wearer carries around more weight and can ultimately get too cold when he/she stops moving, especially in the cooler months.

It seems that the form hugging designs not only provide a physical advantage but also give a psychological lift to the wearer. If an athlete’s confidence level is high it’s very likely that he/she will perform better.

Linebreak garments were trialled by several orienteers at the Aust 3-Days last Easter and there is an on-going evaluation program.

And in another example, the Tassie East Coast Escape and Australian Championships carnival will be offering souvenir garments in Kooldri moisture removal micro-mesh fabric. Even the weekend warriors will be wearing high technology garments.