ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
Orienteering Development
Fantasy Calendar
Ben Rattray, Director (Development)
It’s the start of a new year in the future, and I must admit I’m pretty excited about the calendar, but I have been like that for months. The full schedule posting (dates and locations at least) came out a full six months before the year started. It has given everyone plenty of planning time, and even better, incentive for other sports such as adventure racing to plan around the orienteering calendar. I will be able to check out most details of events on-line closer to the event, probably when I also enter online, a quick and simple process that saves me time and money.
What follows is a preview of a made-up year, as if it were real.
Internationally The IOF has developed the elite World Cup schedule and many of our top runners are able to attend the full series with the big sponsorship money now in the sport. The money stretches as far as us and between Australia and New Zealand we are looking forward to hosting a spectacular leg of the World Cup, complete with large screens in the assembly area for spectators, GPS tracking, and cameras in the forest and mounted onto runners, with significant television coverage.
A New Year – a New Season This year there is an action packed event calendar. I can’t wait for all the quality orienteering I’m going to be able to fit in. There is Easter in my old stomping ground, the first ever Junior World Championships (JWOC) held outside Europe, and then the Oceania Championships. That’s not to mention the other national league events I will run, a few internationals and the improving domestic state calendar. There is however a continual debate about various aspects of our calendar and the balance between the number of events, event standards and the strain on clubs and volunteers. There is inevitably a balancing act required to provide a quality season, and there are different views on how this should be achieved. I have put my thoughts into a preview of a fantasy event calendar that I hope shows how and why we need to carefully plan our calendars in the future.
34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2007
Australia and New Zealand compete regularly and the majority of major events held in each country do not clash, allowing the keen to attend more races of the highest quality. The Oceania Championships have developed and everyone gets a great opportunity to match themselves against the best in the region every four years. The schools teams (AUS-NZ) do battle every year with alternate countries hosting the “Future Stars” event. The Australian Schools “Future Stars” team, once the Schools honours team, are able to gain valuable international experience in their development towards potential JWOC representation. Elites (Bushrangers) compete in a series every year (sometimes twice) with alternate hosting arrangements allowing valuable experience for our developing senior internationals. MAIN POINTS F World Cup attendance
F World Cup hosting
F Australia - New Zealand calendar F Oceania Championships F Future Stars event F Bushrangers series
Nationally Australia’s regular national carnivals, Easter and National Champions week are flourishing. The state rotation of events continues and the abundance of mappers are well utilised to provide challenges in terms of both areas and mapping interpretation. The major carnivals continue to attract the orienteering faithful but are also now well attended by less experienced orienteers who relish the big event atmosphere. Clubs have a strong presence and are much of the reason for the larger attendances, often travelling by team bus. Start lists are much longer than they used to be ensuring there is always a buzz around the assembly area with all the people. It is now viable for larger catering companies to attend events and a choice is available to eat after the event, even espresso. The National League continues and elite state teams are very distinct in their sponsored outfits. The format has changed little from its current form, with rounds at the major carnivals and two or three other weekends. New Zealand appears regularly at the event and there is pressure to include them as an official team in the competition, with a permanent round in New Zealand each
