FROM THE PRESIDENT

FOLLOWING a review of “recognition status”, the Australian Sports Commission reconfirmed its recognition of Orienteering as a sport to continue to receive Commonwealth Government funding during the 2005-2009 quadrennium.

However, the funding level has been significantly reduced and Orienteering Australia is to receive only $80,000 for July 2005 - June 2006 and has received an indicative allocation of $86,000 for each of the three following financial years. This compares with funding of $136,000 received in each of the past four financial years.

The OA Board understands that each national sporting organisation was rated ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ on three key areas: Sports Excellence [international excellence]; Sports Relevance [community interest in the sport]; and Sports Effectiveness [capacity to increase participation throughout the industry by trained personnel]. Orienteering received ‘medium’ ratings for Excellence and Effectiveness, but a ‘low’ rating for Relevance.

Consequently Orienteering Australia has had its funding for development activities withdrawn and the ASC will continue to provide only the High Performance component of Orienteering Australia’s funding. Orienteering Australia can take some small comfort from the knowledge that due to this shift in government funding policy, other sports find themselves in similar circumstances, some with more drastic implications for their future funding than Orienteering.

With an annual budget of around $260,000, the loss of funding of $50,000 per year will force the Board and the State associations to work together closely to establish a new set of priorities for the collaborative work of the federation.

All parties agree that there should be no increase in the registration fees or the event levies contributed by the State associations towards the funding of the activities of the federation and that each current activity will need to be reviewed in terms of the value of its contribution to the benefit of Orienteering across Australia.

In order to satisfy the requirements placed on Orienteering Australia as a consequence of accepting the ASC funding, many parts of its existing High Performance program and some aspects of its Development Program will need to be maintained.

In consultation with the State associations, the OA Board has embarked on a review of all aspects of its activities. Final decisions will be recommended by a nationally representative group of Board members and State Councillors. Plans for 2006 and beyond will be in place during September.

Every organisation needs to take the opportunity every so often to thoroughly review its priorities and the way they are implemented. This reduction in funding has resulted in such a review within Orienteering in Australia.

Keep spiking those controls!

Bob McCreddin

Accidental Doping

– be alert (but not alarmed)

Finnish national Team member, Marika Mikkola, writes in Orienteering Today that our sport cannot afford the bad press which would result from a positive drugs test in Orienteering.

ORIENTEERS have been tested in international championships and World Cup events since 1983. No orienteers have ever tested positive for anabolic agents, hormones or similar doping agents. Neither have any athletes, team leaders, doctors or other support personnel been caught for holding these kind of drugs.

According to the IOF there has been only one positive test and that was at WOC 1993. The athlete had used Rinexin to cure her flu without checking if it was listed among the prohibited substances in competition. It was an unfortunate mistake and, had this test been analysed today, it would have been found clean. Rinexin was removed from the (prohibited) list a year ago, together with several other drugs, since it is not regarded as performance enhancing. But the drug was on the list in 1993 and a national team athlete should know his/her responsibilities.

Similar positive test results – mainly cough, flu and allergy medicines – have been found in doping test carried out in national competitions. Some people argue that we are not tested enough and this is why there have been no other positive results. Maybe, but the number of tests has increased remarkably over the years and testing methods are improving all the time.

It is a great challenge to trace and prevent doping. The latest big change is the “whereabouts information”. National team orienteers have to keep WADA updated of their location and submit their training plans several months in advance. It helps the testers to carry out surprise tests at any time and in any place throughout the year. So far there have been no positive results in these tests.

So orienteers are all clean? I think it would be naïve to believe that no orienteer has ever used any doping agents in order to improve his/her performance; but I do think Orienteering is one of the cleanest sports, especially amongst tough endurance sports. I also believe that top athletes are clean. And why?

First of all, I don’t think there is any athlete that is physically nonhuman. Knowing how most of the top athletes train, I am not surprised by their results. Secondly, you need to be extremely physically fit in Orienteering, but it is only a part of the performance. The mental skills, the competitor’s orienteering skills, play an equally important role. Thirdly, there is a lack of “Money and Glory”. We don’t get any big prize money or have large sponsor incomes and we don’t compete for Olympic medals, so Orienteering does not attract athletes that are ready to win no matter what the cost – even if it would cost their life.

I think most orienteers share my views that intentional doping is not a problem in Orienteering. But I’m worried about the carelessness of the athletes. Far too many elite runners don’t take due care to check the drugs and other substances they use. Anti-doping rules are made for protecting the athletes and to secure fair play, so whether the doping is intentional or not it is not fair.

And even minor doping cases make major headlines and can cause great damage to our sport. The public would remember a headline about a positive test result in Orienteering. Most readers won’t care or bother to read if the result was caused by an anabolic steroid or just an ordinary cold & flu medicine. So it really matters which medicine you use. It is your responsibility to check the list (not the doctor’s, your coaches or Mum’s). This does not only concern elite runners – all competitors can be tested.

Athletes who get caught for doping tend to think that it is their own business – but it sure isn’t. They can cause a lot of damage to the other athletes and to the sport itself. We want to be known as fair sportsmen and sportswomen and having a good image is also vital for Orienteering. We need a lot of volunteers and sponsors to be able to arrange Orienteering events and most of all we need terrain. During the last few years we have lost Orienteering terrain and received restrictions in several areas. We are extremely dependent on the goodwill of the landowners and authorities to be able to practise our sport and a good image sure helps.

Orienteering is known to be a sport of great ethical values and a true “Fair Play” sport. Let’s keep it that way.

Marika Mikkola won gold and silver medals at WOC 2001 in Tampere and silver and bronze medals at WOC 2004 in Vasteras.