TOP EVENTS

2006

April 14-17 Australian 3-Days, Castlemaine, Victoria April 22 Australian Middle Dist Champs, Inglewood, Victoria May 7-14 European Championships Otepaa, Estonia www.orienteerumine.ee/EOC2006 July 1-7 WMOC 2006 Wiener Neustadt, Austria www.wmoc06.com/ July 2-7 JWOC 2006, Druskininkai, Lithuania www.losf.lt/jwoc2006 July 8-15 Tour O Swiss www.tour-o-swiss.ch July 9-14 World MTB-O Champs, Joensuu, Finland. mtbwoc2006.orienteering.org July 15-22 Swiss O Week 2006 Zermatt, Switzerland www.sow2006zermatt.ch July 16-21 O-Ringen, Halsingland, Sweden (250 km north of Stockholm) www.oringen.com July 29-Aug 5 WOC 2006 and Danish WOC Tour 6-Days, Aarhus, Denmark www.woc2006.dk/ 29 Sept-12 Oct Australian Championships Carnival York, Western Australia http://wa.orienteering.asn.au/ auschamps 2006 10-12 Oct Australian MTB-O Championships Collie, Western Australia http://wa.orienteering.asn.au/ auschamps 2006 Dec 27-31 Christmas 5 Days, NSW Dec 29-31 APOC 2006, Hong Kong

Continued from page 31.

JMcC: Good question! Some of our best such as Grant Bluett and Tom Quayle lived in Sweden for a long time. They lived there long enough to have some affinity with Sweden and were, or are, both good enough to get substantial support even in a strong Orienteering nation such as Sweden. I guess you’d have to ask them why they didn’t - I suppose neither had a family connection to Sweden as BJ has to Britain. As I said previously it is a personal decision. The difficulties for elites in splitting between Europe and Australia can be seen in other elites also such as Eddie Wymer, Brett Weihart, Steve Craig, Donald Staudte and Alix Young who, with the exception of Eddie, don’t represent Australia anymore but have partners, families and established lives in various parts of Europe.

AO: You will soon complete your Masters in Psychology. Do you plan to apply your skills to developing our top orienteers?

JMcC: I’ll certainly be available to if wanted and I have already worked with many who have represented Australia at WOC or JWOC. I have spent this year working part-time in a Psychology role at the ACT Academy of Sport (ACTAS), where the National Training Centre is based, and have worked with various sports - soccer, hockey, rugby union, rugby league and triathlon to name a few. If our top orienteers or their coaches are interested in improving their performance then I am available to help and apply what I’ve learnt. Although I may need a little lie-down after two years in the HP Manager job!!!

AO: Many thanks for your time. 2007

April 6-15 “Burra to Barossa 2007” Aust 3Days & Middle-dist Champs, SA www.oasa.asn.au/2007 July 7-14 WMOC 2007 Kuusamo, Finland www.wmoc2007.fi/ July 7-15 JWOC 2007 Carnival, incl NSW Champs, Aus Champs & Schools Champs, Dubbo, NSW. http:// orienteering.asn.au/events July 22-27 O-Ringen Sweden July WMTB-O 2007 Milovy, Czech Republic August 16-26 WOC 2007 Kiev, Ukraine e-mail: info@woc2007.org.ua www.woc2007.org.ua October 4 Australian Sprint Championships, Canberra October 6-7 Oceania Championships, Canberra November Australian MTB-O Championships, NSW December Christmas 5 Days, NSW

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