SANDGROPERS IN NORWAY

NT Championships Thank-you Top End Orienteers

THE enthusiastic Top End Orienteering club put on a carnival of events, including the inaugural NT Championships. There was a warm-up scatter event in Darwin, a night event and a 24 hour rogaine in crocodile country at Adelaide River. We enjoyed a BBQ before the Championships, with a huge variety of foodstuff (roo, buffalo, barramundi, goose, sugar plums ...) cooked aboriginal style.

I entered W21 to get a look at the whole “Lok Cabay” map and really enjoyed myself. There were unique and detailed rock formations; featureless black soil plains; huge termite mounds; some spur gully terrain that was dangerously rocky underfoot; and just between the last control and the finish, a marshy bog! Most of the terrain had been burnt to make it more runnable, which is an unusual job for a course setter! A little had not been burnt, and had very restricted visibility. “Speedy,” the aboriginal caretaker of the land on which the event was held, was extremely welcoming and said that it was great to show this unique area to so many people. At the presentation, when it was stated that M21 ran 13 kilometres, he piped up with: “You ran 13 kms and still didn’t find my cows!”

Was it worth the effort to journey north? Just for the Orienteering alone, a resounding yes. Throw in some great sightseeing spots (especially Surprise Falls in Litchfield); monotonously tremendous sunny, warm weather; some unique wildlife - an excellent time was had by all, I’m sure. I rode my bike around for two weeks with no tent and a minimum of equipment - great touring area. I sighted up close - buffalo, wild horses, crocodiles, barramundi, boars, dingo, snakes, brolgas, cane toads, kites and a great variety of birdlife.

So a big thank-you to Susi Bertei, Jon Potter and all the other Top End people who not only made the O carnival possible but who put in all the hard yards to make it just that extra bit special. Where else would you get a choice of a buffalo or barramundi burger for your after-event lunch? Or a rogaine starting in a small town (Adelaide River) where you can drop in for a shower and a beer halfway round? So, if you get a chance next year think about going to “the top end” for an O event and holiday - you won’t be disappointed.

Perhaps I’m too much of a dreamer, but wouldn’t it be good to have an Easter or Aus Champs up that way, in the dry season of course! Throw parts of the OA manual away - make it simple and achievable by having less courses and less classes and open up new horizons for the Orienteering masses.

Kay Haarsma

SINCE the day the ACT Minister of Sport congratulated Orienteering on its high levels of female participation moments before announcing the 1999 Australian World Championship Team to compete in Great Britain comprising six men and five women, I’ve felt that something isn’t quite right with elite selection for World Championships. In fact, six years and five WOCs later, Australia has only once sent a team comprising the full quota of six female athletes, yet has sent six men to each event. This equates to 30 men’s positions in our teams compared to just 26 for women.

Not only does this clearly deny some elite women the opportunity to represent Australia at the highest level (and hence impact upon their ability to perform well at future WOCs), sending smaller women’s teams to compete in what is now a four discipline event (sprint, middle, long and relay) leaves those who have been selected more vulnerable to illness or injury, and increases the risk of diminished performance as a result of fatigue.

Whilst I support the policy of selecting less than the permitted number of runners if “insufficient persons of the required standard are available for selection” (OA Operational Manual, Section 3.1, 2.2.9), I find it impossible to believe that Australia has only had six women of the required standard on one occasion in the last five World Championships. A worrying attitude that I have observed through many years of competing in elite races and following elite results (a view often expressed in conversations around the results board) is that when a male competitor wins a trial or race by a number of minutes, he has been ‘dominant’, whereas when a female competitor does the same, it is merely indicative of a ‘lack of depth’ in the women’s field. Is it possible that our selectors share the same double standard? I certainly hope not.

Not only do I consider this situation impractical and inappropriate, I believe it contradicts the OA’s own gender equality policy which clearly states the following:

“The Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA) is committed to encouraging policies and practices which provide equal opportunity for women and girls to participate in all aspects of orienteering. The OFA will encourage its affiliated state organisations to undertake a similar commitment.” (OA Operational Manual, section 4.5)

“All aspects” of Orienteering surely includes representation at the highest level.

Cathy McComb (NSW)

Sandgropers in Norway Eoin Rothery & Cath Chalmers

YES, we have just returned from rambling across Norway and managed to include two Orienteering events - the Norsk O Festival and the Sorlandsgaloppen 6-Day. If good terrain is what you want from Orienteering then this is the place to go. Every day had very challenging map reading in delightful surroundings. Like many multi-day events some of the shorter courses had more track running than the longer ones, as the Assembly / Finish is placed near facilities. One day had a real coffee shop and restaurant at the finish!

The events had several interesting aspects, some of which we can apply in Australia. All of the courses on the 6-Day were fairly short, and three of the days were much shorter than the rest. So for instance M21 Open ran 3 days of 7.5km and 3 days of 4.0km, while W55+ ran 3 x 3.5km and 3 x 2.1km. This left a lot of time for sightseeing unless you got bushed! I think it worked quite well in helping people get through the week. All of the maps were 1:7,500 which reflected both the short courses and the very detailed terrain. With 2,000 competitors starts went from 10 am till about 1:15pm and there didn’t seem to be any order to it. Even if there were only a few people in each class they were still spread through the day. Maps weren’t collected at the finish so they were relying on people’s honesty not to check out the map and course beforehand. Perfectly reasonable.

Entry fees were reasonable too, especially for Norway, with about $10 for kids and $22 for adults each day. The event had many sponsors, some quite heavyweight - Opel (General Motors), Scania and one of the main banks (Sparebank 1). This allowed the organisers to be exceedingly generous with prizes - for each day and the overall (4 best events).

The kids classes were especially looked after. There was a special class for under 10’s - the “Smatroll” or “small troll”. Trolls are little, hospitable, ugly, forest dwelling creatures with a sense of humour. The courses were on magnified maps and were very easy but not stringed all the way. There was lots of parent shadowing going on.

The sheer number of under 10’s participating was staggering and of course there was a “Barnparkering” area where parents could park their barns (children). The Smatroll and all of the 10, 11 and 12 age classes had a red slash through their number and received prizes on reaching the finish - hats, T shirts, games and swimming goggles featured and were very popular. This also applied to the “N--Open” novice class which ran an easy, introductory course and was for any age, entry on the day.

While entry on the day wasn’t available for the other classes, anyone could enter any class up to 8pm the night before on payment of a staggered late entry fee (0 for under 10, $5 for children, $10 for adults). Entry on the day was possible for 3 “Direct” courses which ranged from 2 to 5km. Changes in any entries were also possible, again for the payment of a nominal fee. The emphasis was on enjoyment, flexibility and a wish to cater for whatever the competitors wanted to do. Isn’t that what we all want from Orienteering (most of the time?).