LETTERS

Dec’06 Cover photo

Our congratulations on the recent Australian Orienteer magazine. The quality of the mag is first class, not to mention that front cover! Awesome colours! Troy is thrilled. So good to see the common person getting some coverage now. For so long the not-so-elite, course setters, organisers, promoters and the general backbone of our sport have been neglected in ‘OUR’ magazine. Long may you guys run the show! Good riding and happy Xmas.

Lee Merchant and family

Errata

Dear Mike We received our edition of the Australian orienteer December 2006 and were delighted to see a great photo of our youngest son, Bryn McComb, running in the Australian relays, on page 6 of the magazine. Unfortunately the caption states that this is Riordan Dose. Riordan is a South Australian orienteer but this is definately Bryn and not Riordan. Thanks for publishing the photo, but unfortunately the caption is not correct. Yours sincerely

Teri McComb

Teri, Sincere apologies for the error. Bryn was wrongly identified using a process of elimination, which was obviously flawed. We’ll print it again in the March edition with correct identification (it’s a great photo). Thanks for letting me know.

Mike H.

Bryn McComb at full speed at the Australian Relays.

Jim Sawkins Award

Recognising their Contributions

With the passing of Jim Sawkins on 4 June 2006, Orienteering ACT not only lost one of its most successful competitors, but also one of its most dedicated and effective officials. Jim was the epitome of the motto, ‘Near enough is not good enough’. Noting the high regard with which Jim was held by the ACT orienteering community, the OACT Board decided to honour his memory with an annual award for ‘Services to Event

Management’.

The first recipient of the award Anthony Scott receiving the first Jim was Anthony Scott, who was Sawkins Award. the event coordinator for the 2005 Australian 3-Days and over recent years had made a significant contribution to the success of the ACT Saturday Program. So in making the award, OACT recognised the contribution of two stalwarts, Jim Sawkins and Anthony Scott. In his acceptance speech Anthony Scott said, “I am deeply honoured to be the first to receive the award in memory of a man I greatly admired. I learnt a lot from him. I regarded him peerless in attention to detail. His absence from the management of future major carnivals will be sadly missed.” The perpetual memento was made by Jim’s son Tim. The triangular base is supported by three feet from a theodolite (recognising Jim’s career as a surveyor) and is crowned by a clear cube with a laser-imprinted impression of the internal workings of a termite mound. Tim considers termites to be highly-efficient, hard-working beings.

VICTORINOX AWARD

The quarterly Victorinox Award goes to Julian Dent (NSW Ultimax Stingers) for his past achievements at Junior World Championships (JWOC), his work as a course-setter for JWOC2007 and his assistance in establishing the regular MEET YOUR TEAM feature in this magazine. Julian will receive a Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/alarm/timer; retail value $109.95.