Hanny Allston 2007 Athlete of the Year
w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u Orienteering Australia President: Director (High Performance): Director (Finance): Director (Development): Director (Technical): Director (Special Projects): IOF Vice President: Executive Officer: Head Coach: Badge Applications:
PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911 orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 Bob Mouatt oa_president@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6231 2463 m: 0412 312 376 Mike Dowling oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au h: 03 6244 7173 Blair Trewin oa_finance@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 Ben Rattray oa_development@netspeed.com.au m: 0404 781 032 Andy Hogg oa_technical@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6125 9962 h: 02 6251 9777 Robin Uppill oa_projects@netspeed.com.au h: 08 8278 3017 m: 0419 037 770 Hugh Cameron oa_international@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6027 0885 Kay Grzadka orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 m: 0421 174 846 Tom Quayle oa_headcoach@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6207 4388 m: 0415 283 766 John Oliver 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650
STATE ASSOCIATIONS Queensland OA: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Secretary: Angela Hoelzl, Ph. (07) 3325 1165 oq@oq.asn.au OA NSW: PO Box 3295, North Strathfield NSW 2137, Ph. (02) 8116 9848 Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402, Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Office: John Suominen, Ph. (02) 6251 3885 actoa@iimetro.com.au Victorian OA: PO Box 1010 Templestowe 3106. Secretary: Warwick Williams, Ph. (03) 9459 0853 voa@netspace.net.au OA South Australia: State Association House, 73 Wakefield Street Adelaide SA 5000. Secretary: Phil Stoeckel OA Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6904. Secretary: Carol Brownlie Ph. (08) 9446 3457 carolnken@ozemail.com.au Orienteering Tasmania Inc.: PO Box 339, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005. Secretary: Andrea Lawrie Ph. (03) 6245 1997 Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Rose Baartz Ph (08) 8983 1846
SEPTEMBER ISSUE DEADLINE: July 13 Time-sensitive: July 20
ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 2/07 (no. 146) JUNE 2007
The national magazine of Orienteering Australia Inc. ABN 77 406 995 497 Published four times a year: First day of March, June, September, December. Print Post Approved PP 236080/00011 Editor: Michael Hubbert, P.O. Box 165, Warrandyte, Victoria 3113 mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au Phone/fax (03) 9844 4878 Magazine Design & Assembly: Peter Cusworth, 8 View Street, Avonsleigh, Vic. 3782. Ph. (03) 5968 5254 cusworth@netspace.net.au Magazine Treasurer: Blair Trewin Printer: Priden Printing Services, 21 Century Drive, Braeside, Vic. 3195 Next edition: Cover date: 1 September 2007 Contribution deadlines: July 13. Time-sensitive material, July 20. Deadline dates for contributions are the latest we can accept copy. Publication is normally planned for the 1st of March, June, September & December. Copies are dispatched in bulk to State associations in the week prior to that date. Regular Contributors: Badge Awards: John Oliver; Coaching: Gareth Candy; Competition: Blair Trewin; High Performance: Mike Dowling; MTBO: Blake Gordon; Official News: Gareth Candy; Nutrition: Gillian Woodward; Training: Steve Bird; Psychology: Jason McCrae. Contributions are welcome, either directly or via State editorial contacts. Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions. Guidelines for Contributors are available from the editor or from state contacts. State Editorial Contacts Qld. – Liz Bourne 07 4683 6374 (h) batmaps@halenet.com.au NSW – Ken Sinclair 02 9639 9675 sicad@ozemail.com.au ACT – Philip Purcell philippurc@hotmail.com Vic. – SA – Claire Davill 08 8226 4381 (w) davill.claire@saugov.sa.gov.au WA – Cath Chalmers 08 9380 4049 catheoin@ozemail.com.au Tas. – Mary Hawthorne 03 6243 8616 (h) editor.oti@trump.net.au Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 inc GST. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A44, Rest of World $A49. Delivery is airmail, there is no seamail option. Please send payment in Australian dollars by bank draft or international postal order, or pay direct by Visa or Mastercard. Quote full card number and expiry date. Subscription renewals (direct subscriptions only). The number in the top right-hand corner of the address label indicates the final issue in your current subscription. Opinions expressed in The Australian Orienteer are not necessarily those of Orienteering Australia. 2 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
CONTENTS D U B B O P R E PA R E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 EASTER IN BURRA................................... 4 N O L U P D A T E .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 I A N B A K E R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA AWARDS.......... 14 TRAINING – A prescription for health........ 16 SPORT PSYCHOLOGY – JWOC in Dubbo....... 18 NUTRITION – Fibre................................ 19 M E E T Y O U R T E A M – T a s m a n i a n F o r e s t e r s .. . . 2 0 TOP GEAR – Silva Headlamp.................... 22 HANNY’S TIPS...................................... 23 COURSE PLANNING – Winning times.......... 26 H I G H P E R F O R M A N C E R E P O R T .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7 W O C I N U K R A I N E.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 L E T T E R S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 A PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE .................. 33 POLICE & FIRE GAMES............................ 35 TOP EVENTS......................................... 36 O R I E N T E E R I N G D E V E L O P M E N T .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 MTB-O NEWS ...................................... 40 BADGE AWARDS ................................... 46
Front Cover: Cover - Anna Sheldon (QLD) added the Australian Middle Distance title at Easter to the Australian Long Distance Championship she won in WA last year. Photo: Troy Merchant.
JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007
Dubbo prepares for JWOC – the Junior World Orienteering Championships The cream of the world’s junior Orienteering talent will be competing in and around Dubbo in July. Twenty-nine nations have entered teams for JWOC 2007, including (for the first time) Mongolia. At time of writing individual team members had yet to be nominated by the competing countries.
I
n all, 288 athletes and officials will descend on Dubbo for JWOC. Add to that all those competing in the Western Plains Carnival and it’s likely to be standing room only when it comes to refreshments time at the end of each day. Australia has entered a full Team of six women and six men which means two relay teams for both men and women. How will our talented Aussie juniors go against the world’s best? How will the world’s best cope with the complex granite around Dubbo? All will be revealed come July. One thing is for sure – Aussies and internationals alike will enjoy the challenge of navigating in this terrain. Some will have great runs, some will not, but all will learn from their experiences and be better orienteers for it. Some of the international attendees at the first training camp have already enjoyed success this year and, no doubt, will be back in Dubbo looking for more. Jerker Lysell (Sweden) is now the Swedish M18 Sprint Champion. Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Jan Benes (Czech Rep) had good success last year and will likely be back for some more in Dubbo. Australians, Simon Uppill (SA) and Vanessa Round (SA), have been in very good form early in the year with excellent runs in the Australian 3-Days at Easter. This talented pair seem to have the best chances of the Australians for success in Dubbo. Both won the final trials in May in very convincing fashion. Heather Harding (ACT) dominated the junior class at Easter and also can be expected to do well. The full Australian Team for JWOC is named on page 11.
Louis Elson during the Prologue at Easter
Hanny Allston joins the JWOC Coaching Team In a fantastic boost for the 2007 Australian team World Champion Hanny Allston has joined the team for the 2007 Junior World Championships as Coach. Hanny is very much looking forward to working with the team to help our young athletes maximise their potential for success in Dubbo come July. She will bring a superb insight into the technical, physical & mental preparation required to compete with success on the world stage. Hanny met with all team contenders at the Australian 3-Days in Burra at Easter. Michael Dowling
Jim Russell joins Hanny as JWOC Team Coach Jim Russell joins with Hanny Allston as a joint coaching team to prepare the JWOC Team for competition in Dubbo. Both Hanny and Jim attended the final selection trails held on the weekend of May 19-20. Michael Dowling
Australia’s team for JWOC 2007, from left: Rob Fell (Vic), Belinda Lawford (Vic), Morten Neve (Vic), Jessica Davis (Tas), Louis Elson (Tas), Bridget Anderson (QLD), Vanessa Round (SA), Ineka Booth (ACT), Simon Uppill (SA), Heather Harding (ACT), Nick Andrewartha (Tas). Absent: Rhys Challen (WA). JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS
Simon Uppill (SA) will head the Aussie charge at JWOC in July
Hanny Allston (TAS) on her way to a comprehensive win at Easter
TROY MERCHANT
Julian Dent (NSW) kicks up the dust as he leads Kerrin Rattray (SA) at Easter
4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS
Easter in Burra Another dominant performance by Hanny Allston Blair Trewin
In her first major domestic appearance since her World Championships gold medal last year, Hanny Allston predictably dominated the women’s competition at the Australian 3-Days at Burra, South Australia. She started off by winning the opening prologue sprint by more than a minute, and went on to win all four days on her way to a margin of nearly 15 minutes.
T
he only day on which she was seriously challenged was the Long-distance event on Sunday. Jo Allison was within two minutes of her late in the course, but a long, tough leg towards the end of the course saw Hanny double that margin to comfortable levels. Allison was second on the last two days, but that was not quite enough to overcome a slow start on the shorter first two days. Grace Elson was second at that stage, and had just enough in hand to hold off her WOC relay team-mate for second, despite a late wobble at the third-last control. Kathryn Ewels was best of the rest, confirming the return to form she first showed with her placing at last year’s Australian Championships. Julian Dent took a bit longer to take command in M21E but was almost as comfortable in the end. The four who most expected to be at the front – Dent, Matt Crane from Britain, Troy de Haas and Dave Shepherd – were covered by less than 20 seconds after the prologue. While Dent won on Saturday the others were still within striking distance, as was the impressive Simon Uppill, taking a further step upwards as he prepares for a serious JWOC challenge. The issue was more or less finally resolved at the second-last control on Sunday. Troy de Haas lost four minutes there – one of few large errors in the elite classes in the gully-spur terrain – which was the end of his challenge (he later left before the last day to travel to Europe). That gave Dent a comfortable seven-minute lead over Crane which he stretched slightly on the last day. Uppill made some inroads on Shepherd’s two-minute gap on the final day but was unable to quite make it to the placings.
The battle for JWOC places begins With the rare carrot of a home Junior World Championships (JWOC) this year, the competition for places in the team will be more than usually keen. Unlike most years, the team was not decided at Easter (the final trials being in NSW in May), but it was still the first opportunity for contenders to impress. Heather Harding impressed more than most. Despite being unwell in the lead-up, she won three of the four days. Only Rachel Effeney’s 18-second win on Saturday stopped her from getting a clean sweep, but she still had seven minutes in hand over the field by the end of the weekend. Effeney continued the promise she had shown last year in her first year of serious
competition, recovering from losing ground on Sunday to take second place. Jessica Davis’s second place on the Long-distance day was the key to her completing the placings, just ahead of Belinda Lawford, who nevertheless took large steps towards possibly being Australia’s youngest JWOC representative with four consistent days. The results were more up and down in M20 with four different winners over the four days. In the end the decisive result was on the Long-distance day, which Rhys Challen won by six minutes. That was more than enough to overcome a poor prologue and give a comfortable victory to the Western Australian, resuming the promise he showed a couple of years ago. Nick Andrewartha looked to have slipped out of contention on Saturday, when he lost five minutes at #10, but a final-day win saw him edge out Morten Neve and Bryan Keely for second. Tristan Lee led after two days but dropped away after that, whilst prologue winner Kieran Sullivan’s chances were ended on Sunday when his SI stick broke. The younger junior classes were smaller but still competitive. It was a good weekend for the home state in W16, with South Australians taking first and third, Nadia Velaitis’ win coming despite her not winning any of the three days. Joshua Blatchford was the pick of the M16 field, with the final day making only a small dent in his margin after he had built up a break of nine minutes over the first two.
Some big wins in the veteran classes The terrain made for one of the easier Easters technically in recent years. In the older age groups, this tended to mean that the faster runners dominated and there were fewer unexpected results to mix things up a bit; more than half the veteran A classes had the same winner on all three days. Some of these were predictable walkovers in small fields, but others were in classes that might have been expected to be close. Probably the highest standard on display was in M50, where Geoff Lawford was three to four minutes clear of a strong field every day. The battle for the minor placings here was the tightest of the event. Ted van Geldermalsen took a two-second lead over Paul Pacque into the final day. Pacque’s final-day margin was almost as small, but was just enough to take second despite an impressive sprint finish from van Geldermalsen. Another class JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5
BOB MOUATT
TROY MERCHANT
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS
BOB MOUATT
Jasmine Neve (VIC) W21E, Prologue Belinda Lawford (VIC) will make her debut in the Australian Team at JWOC in Dubbo
TROY MERCHANT
Grace Elson (TAS) finished a close 2nd to Hanny Allston in the Prologue
Visitor from the UK, Matt Crane, finished 2nd overall in M21E at Easter
Jose Zapata at a man made “man made feature” at the family relays
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
Kellie Whitfield (WA), Prologue
6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
BOB MOUATT
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS
TROY MERCHANT
Tristan Lee (SA) off to a flying start in the Galaxy Sprint
Eric Morris (NSW) clearing the first fence in style in front of Grace Elson (TAS), Galaxy Sprint
BOB MOUATT
BOB MOUATT
David Shepherd (ACT) sends the dust flying - ‘Shep’ will again represent Australia at WOC in Ukraine
BOB MOUATT
Matt Crane (GB), Galaxy Sprint
Kathryn Ewels (VIC), Galaxy Sprint - Kathryn returns to the AUS Team for WOC after an absence of four years
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS which saw a slightly unexpected – and consistent – hat-trick was W40, where Nicola Dalheim was first and Christine Marshall second on all three days, with the margin always between 2.32 and 3.00. A number of the usual suspects were easy winners. Rob Vincent was particularly impressive in M45, with double-digit margins on the first and third days, whilst Jenny Bourne (W45), Dale Ann Gordon (W65) and Maureen Ogilvie (W70) also had comfortable victories. Whilst many of the veteran classes were one-sided, there were several competitive classes. Predictably, one of these was the always fiercely contested M60. Like last year, this saw considerable reshuffling on the last day (although not to the extent of last year when all three Sunday-night placeholders made major errors in the first few controls on Monday). Trevor Sauer led into the final day, but broke his glasses, lost time at three of the first five controls and missed the placings, whilst Tony Simpkins came from fourth, taking the lead for the first time at the third-last control as he edged out local Rob Tucker. Hugh Moore in M55 and Tim Dent in M65 (who obviously didn’t think the course provided enough exercise and was seen riding to and from the event on Saturday) both recovered from being a little off the pace on the first day to take control over the final two days. There was a final-day lead change in the fluctuating M35 class, where Jon McComb overhauled Scott Simson in mid-course, whilst the final day saw potentially close contests turn into large margins in W50 and W60, where Carolyn Jackson and Jenny Hawkins saw off potential challenges from Lynn Dabbs and Ruth Goddard respectively.
ASC Galaxy Sprint: Crane and Elson take the points Competition resumed on the following Friday afternoon in the National League with the ASC Galaxy Sprint at Nuriootpa. With Julian Dent, Dave Shepherd and Troy de Haas all on their way to Europe, Matt Crane was a clear favourite and ran like it. He was clearly fastest in the field, although Adrian Jackson was within 10 seconds of him until he ran from #13 to #15. The gap was more than a minute in the end. Jackson recovered from his error to take second, just ahead of Simon Uppill. A creek mapped as uncrossable (and thus illegal to cross in sprint races) caused some grief in the men’s race, with several disqualifications. The women’s event was much closer with the top three separated by only six seconds. Jasmine Neve led early, but Grace Elson took the lead by #10. She held it to the end, although she had to withstand very serious challenges over the closing controls from Kathryn Ewels and Anna Sheldon, as the final margin shrank to only five seconds. Sarah Dunnage bounced back from a disappointing Easter to win W20, whilst the junior men’s event was taken out by Nick Andrewartha, continuing his good form late in the Easter week.
Australian Middle Distance Championships: Sheldon adds another title Anna Sheldon added the Australian Middle Distance title to the Long Distance one she already holds after a race of fluctuating fortunes in the rocks at Pewsey Vale. In a race that had four different leaders at various stages, the top four were covered by less than a minute. Grace Elson, the pre-race favourite, looked to have dropped out of contention when she lost three minutes at #8, but she got herself back into the race and was back in front by the fourth-last control. She looked set to take out the event, but lost another 30 seconds at #18, and this time it was too late to recover. Kathryn Ewels also lost an excellent chance when she lost two minutes at #14 when leading, leaving 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Sheldon and Tracy Bluett to fight out the final result. Sheldon prevailed by 15 seconds, with Elson completing the placings. The men were more predictable with Matt Crane in front throughout, as he had been the previous day. His only wobble came at #16, the first control after the spectator area (which also caused trouble for many others), but a minute lost there was of little ultimate consequence and he had two in hand by the end. His nearest challenger was the increasingly impressive Simon Uppill, who ran an excellent final loop to be the lead Australian by a comfortable margin. Kerrin Rattray might have been a contender for that, but lost his chance of second when he lost two minutes at #17, whereupon he just held Bruce Arthur off for third. Morten Neve won his first national title in M20, coming home in a rush after having been behind for all but the last two controls. His battle with Tristan Lee was not settled until the second last, which was also where Bryan Keely, the leader at #14, dropped two minutes and ended up missing the placings altogether as Geoff Stacey benefited from a good second half. Bridget Anderson also made a breakthrough in the small W20 field, showing the effects of a solid summer. Her closest challenger was Belinda Lawford, who finished strongly but was still a minute short at the end. Most of the other classes were significantly thinner than they had been at Easter, and most of the interest came from some dominant individual performances. Perhaps the pick of them were Bob Allison’s four-minute win in a decent M55 field (especially as he was running up) and Carol Brownlie’s sevenminute win in W55, but there were also excellent wins against reasonable opposition by the likes of Carolyn Jackson (W50), Geoff Lawford (M50) and Alex Tarr (M65). M60 was again close, with Robert Smith overtaking Trevor Sauer at the second-last control after Sauer lost two minutes there. In W60 four finished within just over a minute, with Jenny Hawkins coming from seven minutes down at halfway, whilst Rachel Dunnage just edged out Nadia Velaitis by 19 seconds in W16 as time losses on the closing controls cancelled each other out.
National Badge Event: Crane makes it a hat-trick Matt Crane made it three wins out of three on the closing weekend despite an erratic run at Ngaralta Country. The areas of scrub and small rock in between open paddocks provided plenty of traps for the unwary, and he fell into a few of them, losing two minutes at #1, one at #7 and one at #19. His running speed, however, was able to get him between the complex bits faster than anyone else, and once he took the lead at #9 he was never headed – despite a minute very publicly lost at the second-last. Simon Uppill made a rare mistake when he lost three minutes at #7, but gradually worked his way back into the race and ended up a minute behind Crane after a good second half. Another minute back were Eric Morris and Blair Trewin: they led briefly early on but then settled into a tight battle for third, which was not resolved in Morris’ favour until the last control. Grace Elson had her second win of the week, taking a clear lead by one-third of the way through the course and never being headed. Kathryn Ewels had a great final loop, winning the last six legs and taking two minutes out of the lead, but she was coming from too far back and fell 43 seconds short. Kirsten Fairfax completed the placings with her best run of the week, catching Anna Sheldon in mid-course, on another good day for the Victorian Nuggets. Bryan Keely finally put a full run together and showed his speed with an easy six-minute win in M20, with Morten Neve just holding off Geoff Stacey for second. Bridget Anderson made it back-to-back wins in W20, after the early lead of Jessica Davis disappeared when she lost eight minutes at #10. Clare Brownridge had her best result of the week to finish behind Anderson.
NEWS
New Uniforms for Australian teams Orienteering Australia is very pleased to have reached an agreement with leading orienteering equipment supplier Trimtex of Norway for the supply of all competition uniforms and track suits for our foot orienteering teams. With Australia hosting JWOC we believe our teams both here and abroad will be very distinctive running in the green and gold. The images provide a preview of the competition top. Competition uniforms will be supplemented with green pants and the track suit will feature matching navy blue trousers. Mike Dowling – AO Director, High Performance
Southern Arrows launch new O-suit Sourced from a local Adelaide supplier and first revealed at the Australian 3Days this Easter, according to Ben Rattray they look awesome. The new suit-tops carry logos of the Southern Arrows’ three sponsors – Paddy Pallin (an outdoor clothing and equipment chain), Townhouse Properties (a housing development group) and Veska & Lohmeyer Surveyors & GIS Consultants (a surveying group based in Mount Barker). Right: Tristan Lee wearing the new Southern Arrows uniform at the Galaxy Sprint. Photo: Bob Mouatt The MTB-O team are planning to wear Aussie uniforms based on the Cycling Australia national kit, as above.
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9
Winning PartnershiP
The Australian Sports Commission proudly supports Orienteering Australia The Australian Sports Commission is the Australian Government agency that develops, manages and invests in sport at all levels in Australia. Orienteering Australia has worked closely with the Australian Sports Commission to develop orienteering from community participation to high-level performance.
AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Orienteering Australia is one of many national sporting organisations that has formed a winning partnership with the Australian Sports Commission to develop its sport in Australia.
www.ausport.gov.au
N AT I O N A L O R I E N T E E R I N G L E A G U E
Victorian Nuggets on top in National League Blair Trewin
T
he National Orienteering League trophy is all but certain to change hands in 2007. The team competition has been split into men’s and women’s events this year. Both are currently being led, in contrasting style, by the Victorian Nuggets. The Victorian women are dominating, and have opened up an almost unassailable lead of 28 points over the SA Southern Arrows and Queensland Cyclones. The men also hold the lead, but some excellent performances on WOC trials weekend (May 5/6) by the Southern Arrows narrowed the Victorian lead to two points, with five rounds to go. The Arrows’ depth will be tested in Dubbo with their star performer, Simon Uppill, on JWOC Team duties, but it looks like the competition will go down to the wire. The Canberra Cockatoos have dominated for the last decade, but have struggled to get numbers to this year’s events and are propping up the table. Matt Crane has a firm grip on the individual title after winning the Sprint and Long-distance races at the WOC trials in Victoria, giving him six wins for the year. Uppill is his nearest challenger after an excellent season, including a maiden victory in the Middle-distance trial, but would need three more wins to have a chance (and will probably only run two more races). Julian Dent also still has a mathematical chance. Grace Elson has the edge in the women’s competition after a consistent season in which she has only missed the placings once in ten starts, but Kathryn Ewels, Anna Sheldon, Jo Allison, and perhaps Hanny Allston if she runs enough races, are all still in contention. All of these five, except the absent Allston, had wins on WOC trials weekend, with Elson and Ewels producing a dead-heat for first - the first in National League history - in the Sprint. Victoria and Queensland, the only teams to have substantial junior contingents at the early May races, consolidated their positions in the junior competition and look set to take the team titles. Victoria’s lead of 23 points in the junior men’s competition will be hard to beat; Queensland have twelve points in hand over the Victorian in the junior women’s and their depth should see them through, although the impact of JWOC Team commitments in the final rounds is a potential wild-card. Heather Harding has a useful lead in the race for individual honours, with four wins for the season, and National League standings probably only needs one more after Round 10. good score to make sure MEN of the result, but the men’s competition is completely 1 Victorian Nuggets 86 wide open; Tristan Lee heads 2 Southern Arrows 84 a group of six within 37 points 3 NSW Ultimax Stingers 65 of each other in a season which has seen seven different WOMEN 1 Victorian Nuggets 94 winners in the ten races, with no-one succeeding more than 2 Southern Arrows 66 twice. 3 Queensland Cyclones 60
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAMS
WOC Team The Australian Boomerangs team to contest the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) to be held in Ukraine, August 16 – 26, was named after the trials in early May. The team is: MEN: Julian Dent (NSW), Troy de Haas(VIC), David Shepherd (ACT), Reuben Smith (SA), Rob Walter (ACT). Coach – Brett Weihart WOMEN: Jo Allison (ACT), Hanny Allston (TAS), Grace Elson (TAS), Kathryn Ewels (VIC), Anna Sheldon (QLD). Coach – Sue Neve Seven of the team from last year are back in 2007. Reuben Smith will be making his World Championships debut after an excellent performance in the overseas trials in Sweden, while Julian Dent is back after missing 2006 with injury, and Kathryn Ewels returns after four years away from the team. At the time of writing it had not been announced who was running in each event. Australia will field three in each distance, except for the women’s Sprint where we can field a fourth competitor because of Hanny Allston’s status as the defending World Champion.
JWOC Team The Junior World Orienteering Championships will be held near Dubbo, NSW, Australia, July 7 – 15. The Australian Team will be: MEN: Nick Andrewartha (Tas); Rhys Challen (WA); Louis Elson (Tas); Rob Fell (VIC); Morten Neve (VIC); Simon Uppill (SA) WOMEN: Bridget Anderson (QLD); Ineka Booth (ACT); Jessica Davis (TAS); Heather Harding (ACT); Belinda Lawford (VIC); Vanessa Round (SA) COACHES: Hanny Allston; Jim Russell
MTB WOC Team The 2007 World MTBO Championships will be held at Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, August 5 - 12. The Australian Team will be: WOMEN: Carolyn Jackson (VIC); Thorlene Egerton (QLD); Kath Copland (VIC); Reserve - Kay Haarsma (SA) MEN: Adrian Jackson (VIC); Alex Randall (VIC); Paul Darvodelsky (NSW); David Simpfendorfer (ACT); David Wood (QLD); Tony Clark (VIC); Reserve - Matthew Hope (TAS) COACH / MANAGER: Kay Haarsma (SA) JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11
12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
PROFILE
Ian Baker joins The 2000 Club Former long time Editor of The Australian Orienteer, Ian Baker (BK-V), will soon join “The 2000 Club”, as Australia’s member number three. We had some questions for Ian about his time as an orienteer. AO: How can you substantiate your claim to have run 2000 orienteering events? IB: My very first outing was at Gembrook, east of Melbourne, in winter 1970, something like event four or five in Australia. I got lost through following the red needle on the compass. A farmer gave me a lift back in his ute as it was getting dark. I filed all my maps in ring binders with the dates, and numbered them consecutively. Now I keep a spreadsheet in the computer. The first one thousand events took up to 1990 to do. The most in any one year was 72 starts in 1998. Of course now you can build up your account much faster since with Park & Street Orienteering there can be several events a week. Organising an event is a credit to the account as are the few rogaines I’ve done. Ski-O counts too: I was the organiser of the first ever Ski-O Championships at Lake Mountain near Melbourne in August 1995. AO: You’ve been involved in the management of the sport. IB: In the early days in Victoria, I got dobbed in as newsletter editor since my office had a photocopier; they were not universal as today. The state newsletter grew and grew until in 1979 it became a proper magazine, The Australian Orienteer, and soon was built into the membership of orienteers throughout Australia. I was editor on a completely voluntary basis for six years until after the 1985 World Championships near Bendigo. In 1972 the first clubs were launched and I found myself president of Bayside Orienteers. Later I had a second run in office. In 1974 I’d been in England where The Sweat Shop, run by Chris Brasher, sold gear at events. With the rapid growth in the sport in Australia this seemed a certain way to get very rich very quickly. So Louie the Fly (John Lewis) and I bought a trailer and launched OGear. We towed it to events and staffed it in turns; at big events like Easter we conscripted my wife Shirley and Audrey Lewis to help with all the
When you get to M70, you start looking at ways to earn merit points against the Day of Judgement. Last year I walked the Pilgrim’s Way in the mountains near Salzburg, Austria. Here I am in a holy cave, where Saint Wolfgang meditated.
customers. My son Ben had the lollies stall. After a few years we got tired and, while the business gave us some pocket money, it was not going to lead to a takeover of Myers, so we sold it on (the trailer used by current owner Kevin Maloney is basically the original one). AO: Later, you had another period as magazine editor. IB: I’d been a senior manager at National Mutual and, like many others, found myself offered early retirement without the option following the takeover by AXA. Orienteering Australia gave me some project work and then I found myself again editor of the national magazine for seven years from 1997. A difference was that this time round there was a fee paid, though not at commercial rates: I was more of a ‘paid volunteer’. My policy was “Be a good read/be on-time/be financial.” We managed to pull in some advertising. Silva was always a supporter through Tom Andrews; he was the person who actually made Orienteering a regular sport in Australia. EIGAnsvar (now Ansvar Insurance) came in too as part of a sponsorship package. This underwrote the introduction of colour into the magazine. Later, Warren and Tash Key came in with the Melbourne Bicycle Centre. In 2004 I was beginning to feel some burn-out - in total I was editor for 13 years - so I was glad to be able to hand over the quill to Mike Hubbert. I still help by reading and translating overseas magazines and looking after some of our advertisers. AO: After 37 years in orienteering and a long business career with major companies, what is your one single wish for Orienteering? IB: A combination of two factors. First, a much greater emphasis on marketing promotion both within the sport, and also outward to pull in new members and sponsors. Not many orienteers have the needed specialist skills and experience: we need to update our structures and drive some things from the centre: orienteering organisation is based on the national state/commonwealth model of over one hundred years ago. Times have changed and we need to catch up. Ian has 1992 events on record: it is likely the 2000th event will be during the JWOC/OzChamps Carnival in Dubbo in early July. The other two members of “The 2000 Club” are Dave Lotty (NSW), who has completed 2120 courses and Mike Hubbert (Victoria) who has tottered around 2365 courses.
Last November I took a guided bike tour from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand – 250 km over six days. Age? Defy it: do it now! JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA AWARDS
2007 Silva Services To Coaching Award
A classes, again at all levels with Australian representation in Australian teams for the ANZ challenge. This included representing Australia at the first APOC in the W43 class.
Anthony Scott
As is her way she does nothing with half an effort. Soon after joining Tintookies she was on the committee, was secretary on and off for many years (1981, 1982, 1983), president for three years, and has been editor of the TT newsletter for the last 10 years. She has represented TT on OASA Council. Amongst this she has been organiser and course setter for many club events.
Orienteering ACT nominated Anthony Scott for this Award. Anthony began coaching seriously in 2002, when he was accredited at Level 2 after completing an online Level 2 coaching course and meeting the other accreditation requirements. With assistance from Darryl Erbacher and John Harding, Anthony began coaching the Blue Lightning ACT Junior Squad in 2002. Anthony created many initiatives in coaching, providing regular high-quality extra technical training sessions for the juniors throughout the year. He was an integral part of creating an atmosphere of enthusiasm and team spirit amongst the Blue Lightning squad, increasing the likelihood of squad members staying in the sport and helping with many members to improve their technical skills substantially. He also personally coached Sophie Barker, who saw a huge improvement in 2002, winning the senior girls grade in the National Schools Champs and finishing the year ranked 3rd in W16. Anthony continued to coach the Blue Lightning squad through to 2006. During his five years as coach, the ACT was equal first twice, in 2006 (with Queensland) and 2004 (with Victoria). He continued to be the personal coach for Sophie Barker who twice represented Australia at JWOC and won the 2005 Australian 3-Days W20A class. He was also a confidant to Hanny Allston, who consulted him on many occasions during her development to become a world champion. And he assisted a number of other young orienteers from both the ACT and elsewhere in Australia. In addition to being a coach for the ACT Blue Lightning team and a number of rising stars, during 2002 through to 2006 Anthony was the main mentor at ACT’s Saturday Program, which is the primary introductory program for young orienteers in the ACT. Anthony Scott has demonstrated a huge commitment to Orienteering, in particular to giving young orienteers an enjoyable introduction to the sport and encouragement to improve their skills. He has set an example for others to follow. He would be a worthy recipient of the 2007 Silva Services to Coaching Award.
2007 Silva Services To Orienteering Award Jeffa Lyon The Orienteering Association of South Australian nominated Jeffa Lyon for this Award. Jeffa was introduced to orienteering in the ACT (as Jeffa Shaw), but joined the South Australia club Tintookies in January 1980 with husband John Lyon. Since then she has been actively involved in orienteering at all levels from club to state to national, as well as being a keen participant in 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
This led to significant contributions to orienteering at the state level, both in administrative positions and development of schools orienteering and coaching activities, in particular for juniors and women. Like any sport its survival depends on its attention to young people and encouragement of their involvement in the sport. These efforts have contributed significantly to club and state orienteering membership, this is also of importance to Orienteering Australia with the focus on membership numbers. She was the OASA schools coordinator from 1991 – 2002, and during this period conducted introductory orienteering activities at many schools, often creating black and white maps of the schools she attended for these activities. For many years she has organised and continues to organise the State Schools Relay Orienteering Championship, with personal encouragement to many schools to ensure their participation. To assist in junior coaching, she ran the Year 7 schools coaching camp for many years, and has assisted with junior trips interstate as well as other junior coaching camps and activities. However her coaching activities were not limited to juniors, she initiated and organized, and continues to organise Women’s Coaching Weekends providing a bond for women in the sport to the extent that many who attended are still involved today. As well as the continuing development and coaching activities, Jeffa was the OASA newsletter editor from 1983 to 1986 in the days of cut and paste, was OASA president from 1987 to 1989, and secretary 1990-1991. During the period as president, she managed a major rewrite of the OASA constitution, changing orienteering in SA from being defined as a recreational activity to a competitive sport which was essential to maintain ongoing support financially from the state government. Prior to that she had prepared many successful applications to the state government for funding. Jeffa has also been involved at the national level, as either the SA delegate or councillor to Orienteering Australia over much of the period from 1987 to 2001, and also attending many annual committee meetings of a number of OA committees in particular schools. She has also taken key roles in national carnivals held in South Australia, in particular as the Controller (Jeffa is a Level 3 controller) for the Australian Three Days held around Burra in 1990, and as organiser of the same event in Broken Hill in 1997,. Both offered interstate
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA AWARDS orienteers new areas to visit and new types of terrain for a state with limited areas available for orienteering. In 2002 for the Outback Orienteering carnival held in the Flinders Ranges and incorporating the Australian Championships, as South Australia again offered unique terrain for interstate and overseas visitors, Jeffa organised the travel and accommodation for the state schools teams as well as being the contact point for visitors with respect to available accommodation. In addition she fulfilled the role of controller for the Australian Schools Relays. This role as controller and supporting role for orienteering development all around Australia continued in 2005 as Jeffa and husband John shared the controller’s responsibilities for the inaugural Northern Territory Championships to be held south of Darwin. Jeffa is also contributing to the current major carnival to be held in SA in 2007, as organiser of the National Badge Event to be held in conjunction with the Australian Three Days Carnival.
Now in W70 she is still very competitive, this despite a hip replacement several years ago and a frozen shoulder, which too has now been replaced over this summer break. This competitive streak no doubt continues to give her valuable experience which she uses in her administrative and coaching activities. Without people, such as Jeffa, who are prepared to contribute at all levels of orienteering administration and development of the sport in a voluntary capacity as well as continuing to personally participate at all levels of the sport, orienteering would not be able to continue in its current format. In conclusion with the 2006 Silva Award to be presented in SA in 2007, this represents an ideal opportunity to recognize the contribution of Jeffa Lyon at all levels of orienteering over an extended period. Prepared by Robin Uppill, Jennie Bourne and Gil Hollamby for the Orienteering Association of South Australia
BOB MOUATT
INTERVIEW Lachlan Dow Lachlan Dow (BS.A) has won the Silva Medal for 2006. Lachlan’s excellent year included wins at Easter and the Australian Championships and two firsts in State Championships. A perfect record for the year slipped through his hands when he came second in the NSW Championships. He is the first junior to win the award since Cassie Trewin and Andy Hogg shared it in 1990. The Silva Medal competition is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian Championships, the Easter 3-Days, and all State Championships (Elite and A classes in M/W16 and above). Leading point scorers were: 1. Lachlan Dow
BS.A 27
2. Jenny Bourne
EU.V 23
3. Todd Neve
MF.V 22
National Statistician, Darryl Erbacher, spoke with Lachlan about his win. Statistician. Congratulations Lachlan.
bush terrain. Through the rest of the year I do one or two races a week, one which is similar to the twilight events, and a “red” difficulty course on the Sundays that are held in more technical terrain.
Lachlan. Thanks. I have to admit I didn’t realise I had won the award due to travelling in Queensland, until people started congratulating me at the Ultimax 5-Days, and I had to ask them what award they were talking about.
S. What are your ambitions for Orienteering?
S. To what do you attribute your success?
S. How are your studies going with all this training?
L. Whenever I plan a route choice, I always think, “if I don’t feel very safe, make a safer route choice”, and then let my fitness keep up with the people that take a straighter route choice.
L. I do my best, but I see a few midnights and more trying to catch up. I guess there are sacrifices that have to be made on both sides of the fence. English is one...
L. JWOC is certainly an ambition for the future, but for now I’d love to represent Australia in the Australia - New Zealand Challenge.
S. What is your physical training regime?
S. Do you think you should cut your hair so as to be more streamlined as you speed through the bush?
L. Just doing plenty of things outdoors, making sure I’m enjoying it. I do plenty of mountain biking, athletics and cross-country running, and in the lead up to a carnival, I usually do some more intense running and intervals.
L. I keep trying to tell people its my parachute for the finish chute, but I come back after races with sticks and spider webs in it. Perhaps I should cut it off and save the weight.
S. What O-training do you do? L. In the summer I go to the twilight events held in Canberra, which are “orange” difficulty and in fairly basic
S. Well done Lachlan and good luck for the Oceania Challenge selection, although I think many people will feel they would rather have your chances. L. Ta. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15
TRAINING
Orienteering – a prescription for health
And other studies are beginning to reveal the metabolic and physiological bases of these benefits. Some of these benefits are associated with the acute effects of each bout of exercise, whilst other benefits are accrued through repeating these bouts on a regular basis (chronic benefits).
Steve Bird
In general terms, for our bodies to remain in good health, numerous factors need to be maintained within specific and permissible ranges, thus maintaining homeostasis. Examples of this include the concentrations of glucose and fats within our blood. If these become too high or fall too low, it will lead to illhealth and, in extreme cases, death. However, whilst we need to regulate these factors in our blood, our supply and use of them is not consistent. For example there will be surges in supply when we eat a meal and then periods of fasting between times. So to prevent their levels becoming too high after eating, our bodies have complex regulatory systems that are designed to rapidly store away the excess for later use. This storage also provides an internal source that can be mobilised when our blood levels drop in the hours between meals or when we increase demand for them, as when exercising.
Inactivity is recognised as a major health risk in Australia, and studies have suggested that approximately 20% of the health burden could be reduced if people exercised at the advocated levels. Nationally1, it is estimated that physical activity could prevent: – 33% CHD (coronary heart disease) – 25% Diabetes – 12% breast cancer – 15% stroke – 10 to 16% hip fractures In addition to these there is a growing body of evidence to support the efficacy of exercise in reducing the risk of other diseases, including colorectal cancer. So with all this evidence, does a regular dose of Orienteering represent your best buy for health? Well, although there have been relatively few studies, looking at Orienteering in particular, one study2 on male Masters orienteers in Finland showed that their risk of a heart attack was less than one-seventh that of inactive age-matched controls. Of course it could be argued that orienteers are a self-selected group, who may be less prone to heart attacks due to an innately better level of health. So to consider this further we must expand our discussion to consider walking and running activities in general, for which there is a large body of epidemiological evidence.
A weighty argument Many people are concerned about their weight, and according to national statistics, nearly half of Australian adults are either overweight or obese. However, despite all the marketing and expensive products being sold to help people reduce their weight, in most cases it is simply a matter of calories in (food) vs calories used (metabolism and exercise), virtually everything else is of minor impact. So to reduce weight, or more specifically, to reduce our fat stores, we need to use up more calories than we take in. And one of the ways to increase the use of calories is through exercise. Whilst the exact calorific cost of a bout of exercise will depend upon the individual; an hour’s vigorous exercise, such as Orienteering, will utilise around 600 - 900 Calories (kcal), depending upon how fast you’re running and how hilly the terrain is, etc. This is the calorific equivalent of about 0.08 – 0.12 kg fat. So if you do around 20 events a year, it equates to about 1.5 – 2.5 kg of fat (values estimated from Robergs and Roberts, Exercise Physiology, Pub. McGraw-Hill). Not a bad way to keep the fat off. But even if you’re losing this battle, don’t despair, because in terms of health, fat isn’t the whole story. For example, very large epidemiological studies have shown that whilst being fit and not overweight is the best combination for health, if you are active and relatively fit despite being overweight, your risk of heart disease is the same as someone who is not overweight but inactive (Lee et al3). And of course, being inactive and overweight is the worst combination. So the message is that being active is good for your health even if you are overweight. And, as indicated above, it may help you to lose those excess kgs, or at least stop you from putting on any more.
It’s in the blood Epidemiological studies have conclusively demonstrated that regular exercise reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. 16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
However, some of our most prevalent chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes are associated with a failure of these homeostatic responses to work as effectively as they should. And consequently glucose and lipid levels are inclined to rise too high after a meal. This can even be seen in some people who have not yet succumbed to the full-blown disease, but are in a pre-disease state; and probably don’t know it. Fortunately exercise has been shown to restore much of this sensitivity. For example, it has been shown that for about 72 hours after a bout of exercise (the length of time does vary depending upon the individual, their age and the exercise), our systems for controlling blood glucose and blood lipid levels after a meal are more sensitive4. This means that they respond more effectively to the ingested food and prevent the levels of glucose and lipids from rising too high, and reaching the disease associated levels. Unfortunately these benefits wear off after a few days, and therefore in order to restore the benefits, you need to exercise again. Hence, exercise needs to be undertaken regularly to gain the full health benefit. Regular exercise also has chronic health benefits, such as producing a healthier blood lipid profile throughout the day (not just after a meal), with lower levels of the atherogenic Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) and a better ratio of LDL-C with the cardio-protective High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C).
Mental health When espousing the health benefits of Orienteering, it is important not to focus solely upon the physiological, and to forget the mental and social aspects. It’s a great sport, with a friendly clientele, and at the end of a hard challenging event, I’m sure many of us feel so much better for having focused on the challenges of our course, whilst forgetting the stresses of other aspects of our lives. And even on the occasions when we didn’t perform at our best, we can probably still coin the phrase that “A bad day’s Orienteering is still better than a good day at work”.
The complete prescription In truth, whilst Orienteering is certainly good for our cardiovascular fitness and health, it probably doesn’t cater for all our health needs. And some muscular strengthening work is needed, particularly as we get older. Interestingly, there is a growing body of evidence for the benefit of strength training in improving our glucose control, insulin sensitivity, and reducing the risk of developing diabetes. Also we must not forget the other factors that contribute to our health, such as healthy eating, not smoking, and not abusing alcohol.
Negative health impacts Of course, as with all activities there is a risk of injury. In Orienteering this is usually in the form of sprained ankles5, 6 or the occasional broken bone. In reality, this risk and the long term impacts are relatively low, compared to the consequences of not exercising, which includes a risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and many other diseases. A point which was nicely made by the esteemed exercise physiologist P.O. Åstrand, when he said “Those who decline to participate should undergo a medical examination to check whether it is safe for them not to do so”. Furthermore, despite popular mythology, being active in sports such as Orienteering does not significantly increase your risk of arthritis in later life, indeed the paper referred to earlier2 also found that compared with age-matched inactive people “Disability due to hip or knee pain after the same everyday activities tended to be less in the runners” .
Conclusion Yes, there is overwhelming evidence that regular Orienteering is good for your health, but: • You need to exercise more than once a week, and so need to do more than just your Sunday event. As advocated by all the health messages, try to exercise for at least 30 minutes on at least five and preferably all days of the week. • For a holistic level of health, you’ll need to do some muscle strengthening exercises as well as cardiovascular work. So visiting the gym once or twice a week is recommended. • Whilst being not overweight, but not too lean, is good; health is not all about weight and independent of your weight, your health will improve with regular exercise. • There are always risks when exercising, but these are relatively low, compared to the large risks of being inactive. And whilst the occasional exercise related incident may grab the headlines it is unfortunate that the converse fails to get similar headlines such as “ 30 people died suddenly yesterday – none of them were out jogging’’
References 1. T he cost of illness attributable to physical inactivity. - Stephenson et al 2000. Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. 2. K ujala UM et al, Heart attacks and lower-limb function in master endurance athletes, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 1999 Jul;31(7):1041-6. 3. L ee S et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness attenuates metabolic risk independent of abdominal subcutaneous and visceral fat in men, Diabetes Care. 2005 Apr;28(4):895-901. 4. G ill JM et al. Moderate exercise and post-prandial metabolism: issues of dose-response, J Sports Sci. 2002 Dec;20(12):961-7. 5. C reagh U and Reilly T, Training and injuries amongst elite female orienteers, J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1998 Mar;38(1):75-9. 6. L inko PE et al. Orienteering competition injuries: injuries incurred in the Finnish Jukola and Venla relay competitions, Br J Sports Med. 1997 Sep;31(3):205-8. Professor Steve Bird is at RMIT University, Melbourne. Steve worked with the Great Britain National Orienteering Squad for over 10 years and is now assisting the Victorian Junior Squad.
Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre
Tea may help Navigation
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ew research shows that tea can help you to focus. Had a bad day, fancy a chat with friends or really need to crack that tricky problem? What do you do? Put the kettle on of course. We have always known that tea gives us a certain something that helps us through, but it’s always been hard to define exactly what’s so special about it. Until now... New research carried out by Unilever could help us understand why taking time out for a cup of tea is beneficial and makes such a difference. They have established that a normal cup of tea typically contains 22mg of the amino acid theanine. Tea is virtually the only dietary source of theanine, apart from the edible bayboletes mushroom, which explains why sometimes only tea will do. A study by scientists at Oxford University found that 50mg of theanine stimulated alpha brain waves which are associated with being relaxed yet alert. 50mg of theanine represents the amount typically present in 2-3 cups of tea. Alpha activity is thought to be important for the ability to focus attention. A further study by Unilever found that people who drank two cups of tea were not only faster but also more accurate at performing tests that measured their ability to focus attention. The odds of a correct response on one test of attention were increased by 40%. This research by Unilever has been supported by a number of independent scientists including Louise Dye, a reader of psychology at Leeds University:”There are a number of studies (published and unpublished) which examine the effects of theanine ingestion on psychological outcomes which suggest that regular tea consumption over a period of hours may maintain relaxation, focused attention and accuracy. Theanine may modulate the more acute effects of caffeine such as found in coffee.” Whereas coffee offers a stimulant from caffeine, tea is the only drink that naturally contains both caffeine and the less common theanine. The level of caffeine in tea is also much lower overall than brewed coffee (approximately half in an average sized cup). Kate Hick, Unilever tea Brand Manager says: “We really wanted to understand the unique effects felt by tea drinkers. We have invested a lot of time and energy in really getting to grips with what makes tea so special when it’s really so simple - just tea leaves, water and sometimes milk.” In the test volunteers performed computerised tests that measured their ability to focus attention. This is the ability to ignore distracting information and is synonymous with concentration. In the laboratory, it is measured by presenting more than one piece of information at a time, but with instructions to process and respond to only one. After drinking tea, there were significant improvements in both the speed and accuracy of their performance. So, can the humble cuppa tea help you to concentrate in the terrain? That’s for individual orienteers to find out, but it may be worth a try. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17
SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
TROY MERCHANT
JWOC in Dubbo Sport Psychology on show! Jason McCrae – Psychologist
J
WOC in Dubbo presents an opportunity to watch elite orienteers from all around the world compete. Such opportunities can be few and far between for the average Australian orienteer with big, world-level competitions only being staged here every 5-10 years. As well as the chance to watch world class orienteers’ do their stuff, it’s also an opportunity to watch how elite orienteers deal with ‘pressure’, or in some cases, don’t! As a consequence in this article I’m going to repeat some of the key principles of sport psychology I wrote about in my first article in The Australian Orienteer, March 2005.
Sport Psych 101 – the Inverted U One of the key components Sports Psychology utilises is the Inverted U theory. The Inverted U theory states that performance is dependent on arousal with arousal defined as a person’s anxiety levels, levels of tension or general excitement before and/or during a race. As a person’s arousal increases their performance increases, until a certain point, when it decreases dramatically (Figure 1). So for example a person who is not very excited about going Orienteering on a local map that they’ve run on 20 times before, will have a below-par performance. Conversely a person who is overly “pumped up” and very tense and excited will be too anxious to perform to the best of their abilities. The zone for getting the best performance is ‘somewhere in the middle’ with each person’s curve slightly different. For example tennis player Lleyton Hewitt’s inverted U is probably further to the right hand part of the graph than most as he appears to need to be really ‘pumped up’ to perform well. Figure 1. Performance
Nick Andrewartha leaving a control at the Australian 3-days.
• Being away from home means away from normal routines. In the lead up competitors are usually on training camps, focussing on maps and terrains for JWOC and as a result not doing the ‘normal’ things they do that stop them focussing only on Orienteering. While school, uni, work, family, friends, social life and other ‘normal’ things might prevent a JWOC competitor from having the ideal physical preparation, these things can actually help to produce a good mental preparation. They keep what happens at JWOC in perspective and ‘distract’ minds from getting tense and overly focussed on the importance of JWOC. Remember whatever the results are at JWOC the sun will still come up tomorrow! • Some of the juniors will be experiencing for the first time being the focus of the Orienteering event. This will mean, for starters, lots of well-wishers. Competitors from overseas will receive emails and phone calls while the Australian team will have friends, family and fellow orienteers wishing them good luck in person. Additionally competitors might be doing media interviews or hearing themselves as the focus of event commentary. While all these things are exciting and enjoyable they don’t help a competitor to orienteer at their best and can have a ‘side-effect’ of building worry, tension, expectation and impact on performance.
JWOC’ers staying in control So what might Amateur-Sport-Psychologist-spectators notice in those JWOC’ers who are keeping ‘in the zone’: • At the start especially, but also the finish, those ‘in control’ will be sticking to the same routines they have every time they orienteer – be it a local club event, Street-O or JWOC. These routines might include chatting with friends before the start, a particular warm up (or warm down) and that these routines happen no matter what well wishers or media are around.
Tension at JWOC
• At spectator controls seeing the juniors who remain focussed on what they are doing in terms of planning the next leg, exiting the control in the correct direction and even checking control descriptions, could indicate a competitor who is ‘in the zone’ and orienteering well.
One of the challenges for JWOC runners will be that it will be very easy for them to get too tense to perform at their best (they will be mentally at the right hand end of their inverted U graph). Factors for the JWOC participants at Dubbo that could lead to them being too tense or excited to perform at their best will include:
• Additionally at the spectator controls you might ask yourself where is the competitor you are watching looking? If they only have eyes for the map, compass and terrain then that can often indicate someone who is orienteering at their best, not tense or distracted by all the ‘hoopla’ that can go with an event such as JWOC.
• Having trained for and focused on JWOC for a long period of time (at least the year since the last JWOC) a runner might focus on how much effort, time and resources they have put into the race, leading to worrying about the result.
The juniors doing those things could well have stuck to their routines, visualised performing well, practiced their concentration routines or just thought through and planned for some of the scenarios presented above.
Arousal / Excitement / Tension
18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
NUTRITION
Fibre – Are you getting enough? Gillian Woodward
M
ost typical Western style diets contain only about 15 grams of dietary fibre a day. According to the latest ‘Nutrient Reference Values’ for Australians, adult women should be having 28 grams and men about 38 grams of fibre per day. How do you know whether your diet contains too little/ sufficient/too much fibre? Well, symptoms might give you the answer to this question! If you suffer from constipation, chances are your diet is low in fibre and or fluids. Fibre needs lots of fluid, especially water, to be handled well by your digestive system. If you produce too many bulky stools and perhaps suffer from excessive wind, then you may have too high a fibre intake. This can happen with endurance athletes or those needing to eat large volumes of food to satisfy the energy requirements of all the extra training on top of maintaining a healthy body mass. Back in the 1970s the word fibre was synonymous with wheat bran, which was liberally sprinkled on (usually low fibre) breakfast cereals by those who wanted to have a healthy bowel. Since then, it has been found that due to its high phytic acid content, too much unprocessed wheat bran (ie more than 2 tablespoons) can bind up important nutrients like calcium, zinc and iron, rendering them unabsorbed by the body. Not only is this undesirable, but also it doesn’t make sense to add bran to a fibre-depleted, refined product, when you could enjoy eating wholegrain bread or cereals in the first place. A common misconception is that fibre refers to just one substance, but this is far from the truth. Dietary fibre includes many different types which have different properties and they include lignin, pectin, cellulose, saponins, polysaccharides, gums, mucilages and gels. They are often generally classified as either ‘soluble’ or ‘insoluble’. Another falsehood is that fibre remains undigested in the intestinal tract – wrong! Good bacteria do most of the digesting of fibre in the large intestine, producing valuable byproducts (called volatile fatty acids) which help protect and nourish the bowel wall. Eating plenty of dietary fibre of all types helps to protect us from not only constipation, but bowel cancer, diabetes, gallstones, heart disease, diverticular disease and even obesity. High fibre foods are generally low in fat – another obvious bonus.
So where is this fibre and how do you get enough? It is only in vegetable/plant foods so fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, breads and cereals (particularly wholegrain varieties) are the major sources. They must be combined with sufficient fluid, however, to have their health promoting effects – approximately 1.5 - 2 litres per day. A half-cup serve of vegetable can have as little as 1.5 grams (eg peeled potato, pumpkin) or as much as 6 - 7 grams of fibre (eg corn, peas or lentils). The recommended number of 5 serves of vegetables daily should provide around 10-15 grams of fibre. Fruits also vary in their fibre content, from about 2 grams in a peach to 9 grams in half a punnet of raspberries or blackberries. Dried figs are the highest fibre dried fruit with 9g per 50g of figs. Thirty grams of nuts will provide about 2-4 grams of fibre, while cereals vary from 9 grams per serve in a bran type down to negligible in a refined flakey or popped cereal. A cup of white rice provides 1.4 grams of fibre whereas brown rice, only 2.8 grams of fibre, surprisingly not a lot more. Pasta has about 3.5 grams per half cup serve. From these figures you should be able to see that one has to eat quite a volume of food in a day to achieve the 28 (female) or 38 (male) grams of fibre. Now you can probably see why 2 fruit and 5 veg as well as at least 5 serves of bread and cereals a day have been recommended for a healthy diet. Fibre can well be lacking from a low carbohydrate diet (which seems still to be fashionable lately). But hopefully active athletes like orienteers know that without carbohydrates, their energy stores are quickly depleted and performance levels drop. Too much fibre can sometimes be experienced, as I mentioned earlier, by those who have large energy requirements and therefore eat larger quantities of food. It is wise for these people to perhaps include some lower fibre (white) breads and more refined cereals as well as restrict their fruit intake to 3-4 serves daily (or replace some fruit serves with juice, which has virtually no fibre). Gillian Woodward is a Practising Dietician and has been providing advice in the field for over 25 years. She has been an orienteer since 1984.
Sport Psychology continued… I certainly wish the juniors competing at JWOC all the best. Enjoy yourselves, because if you do, you will probably also produce the best performance you are capable of. Something on your mind? This column has been appearing in the AO for more than two years now covering a range of sport psychology topics such as goal setting, overcoming distraction, focussing on processes and recovering from mistakes. One of the things I’ve tried to do is provide action plans and tips that can be implemented by orienteers in their training, competing or technique generally. Is there anything however “on your mind” when you compete
that you find challenging? If so, I invite you to drop me an email and see if we can address it in the next or subsequent columns. I’m happy to keep your details anonymous if you wish. Please email me on the address below at least a fortnight before AO submissions are required (see submission date on page 2 of this edition). Jason McCrae is a Psychologist in the ACT, currently working for Lifeline Canberra. He has previously worked as a Sport Psychologist at the ACT Academy of Sport which is also Orienteering Australia’s National Training Centre. Email: jason.mccrae@tpg.com.au JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19
MEET YOUR TEAM
TASMANIAN FORESTERS (compiled by Emma Warren)
Look out mainland – here come the Tassie Foresters
TROY MERCHANT
The Tasmanian Foresters are a developing team in the National Orienteering League. The Foresters currently include several highly successful athletes, nationally and internationally, particularly in the female league. These are promising signs for a State with such a relatively small population base. The years 2007 and beyond will be exciting years in the Apple Isle. Team Name: Tasmanian Foresters 2006 Result: 6th senior, 4th junior
Grace Elson
Highest Ranked Atheletes: Female - 1st Hanny Allston, 2nd Grace Elson Male – 23rd Ryan Smyth Manager: Emma Warren Website: www.tasorienteering.asn.au
The Squad The Tasmanian Foresters’ NOL squad is a widely diverse team with skilled athletes in all junior, senior, male and female categories. The squad includes Hanny Allston, World Senior and Junior (WOC/JWOC) Champion, two members of a podium placing WOC relay team, two current Australian champions and a reigning junior male National League team. Also a significant number of the team have represented Australia at international level. The Tasmanian Foresters have shown strength in the junior divisions of the National League over the past few years. This strength is envisaged to carry on into the senior ranks in coming years, building a solid representation at national events. This is already evident in the youth of the current senior representatives. Orienteering Tasmania have set realistic goals for a full team to represent Tasmania at every round of the National Orienteering League by 2010. The Tasmanian Institute of Sport has taken a keen interest in the progress of the Tassie Foresters, supporting several promising athletes through scholarships to further develop their skills.
Training While the majority of athletes undertake their own personal training programs, group training events are organised each week. Several examples being hill intervals on Monday evenings in the south of the State, ‘Tour de Hobart’ fartlek runs and long weekend runs. This often sees the Foresters training with younger Tasmanian orienteers. 20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Members of the squad also help out at junior training camps held several times during the year. This provides a good opportunity for the athletes to gain some technical training in complex terrain, while also helping to develop the future NOL runners through coaching and one-on-one interaction.
Funding Orienteering Tasmania contributes funds towards the participation of elite athletes in the National Orienteering League. The guidelines for this support are stated in OT policy. Funding is largely determined by the contribution from Orienteering Australia, when Tasmania qualifies for OA funding. Frequently this funding goes towards covering athletes’ travel expenses to interstate competitions. However it is also used to cover occasional uniform costs and to support athletes living interstate but still competing for Tasmania. Financial support to athletes does not always depend on results, but a base amount can be granted to an athlete to reward participation.
Proposed Developments Commencing in 2007 the Tasmanian Foresters are taking steps towards creating a squad focused on further developing the success of Orienteering at a senior level. One part of this process is to hold senior training camps and sessions throughout the year, focused on fine tuning the technical and physical abilities of the squad while creating a supportive team atmosphere. In anticipation of a growing team, the Foresters plan to investigate the possibility of sponsorship and additional fundraising. This shall aid in achieving the goals set for 2010. To demonstrate the new direction of the Tasmanian Foresters, the NOL uniform is being modernised to give the team a new, cutting edge look. This will hopefully help inspire young orienteers to develop into elite athletes through the National Orienteering League.
Jess Davis
Brea Pearce
Lee Andrewartha
Emma Warren
Ryan Smyth
Patrick Saile
Hanny Allston
Louis Elson JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER
21
TOP GEAR
New SILVA headlamp for Night-O & Rogaining Silva Sweden AB has just released the new L1 ‘Midnite’ headlamp specially designed for night orienteering and Rogaining. Powered by one of the brightest LED’s on the market – the 3-watt Luxeon™ - the L1 punches out a night piercing 63m beam from just 4 x AA batteries. This compares approx 4 to 5 times better than the distance offered by an entry level LED headlamp. At its brightest setting the batteries will last up to 4 hrs (or 200 hrs in Power Save mode), but using the supplied external battery pack that takes 4 x C batteries the burn time can be extended by 300%! The L1 ‘Midnite’ comes with a power lead extension cable and battery waistband enabling the 4 x AA batteries to be worn comfortably on the waistband instead of the headband thus reducing the headpiece to a feather-light 70g. Another great innovation automatically switches the light to a power save mode when only 15% of battery life remains. So running out of light is a thing from the dark ages. Waterproof to international IPX6 standard and covered by a 2-year warranty.
Distributed by Macson Trading Company; tel (03) 9489 9766. Priced at $199 and available from leading outdoor adventure retailers and running shops.
22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
HANNY’S TIPS
Don’t let NERVES be your companion
Troy Merchant
Hanny Allston
N
erves can be a good thing or a bad thing. They can make a performance but most likely they can break the performance, causing an athlete to race poorly. Often the poor performance is due to an excessive amount of energy released in the form of stress, anxiety and general jitters in the lead up to the event. As a swimmer I used to suffer terribly from nerves to the point of feeling physically sick. Standing behind the blocks before my race I would feel weak at the knees, sick in the stomach and often lethargic. I would wildly swing my arms around, jump up and down on the spot, bite my nails, play with my goggles over and over again and generally expend ridiculous amounts of energy. And this was all after a onehour warm up! I think suffering in this way reduced my love of swimming dramatically. It caused me to dread racing and sometimes even hard training sessions. I tried seeing a sports psychologist to sort the issue out but found no improvement despite her efforts. Looking back I now realise that the reason why I had no success with her was because I didn’t make the conscious effort to change the situation for myself. When I made the transition from swimming to running I found that nerves immediately became a thing of the past. I have thought about this a lot (and thanked my lucky stars). The reasons that come to mind for this immediate lack of jitters prior to races are numerous but very important: 1. I made a transition into Orienteering because I loved it and found myself competing for myself and my own personal enjoyment. Without the pressure of performing for someone else such as your coach or the pressure of competing because you should compete removed the expectation of achieving results. 2. I was now training myself and had no one else to front up to if things went wrong. So if I ran poorly I only had my own thoughts to worry about. 3. I found my natural spot in the sporting world. I felt at home in the forest and thrived on the challenge of finding each control. At the relatively young age of 15 I took the approach that I wanted to achieve navigational perfection so I was never focussed on the results but rather the process.
As you become a more senior and worldly orienteer where results start to become important again there is certainly a risk that the dreaded nerves take hold. For instance, think Relays - large numbers of competitors, lots at stake and team mates relying on you… = NERVES? NO! This is not a true statement. I don’t think there is any excuse to let nerves become your companion at the elite level. The secret for me in overcoming this risk was to tackle my races head on in training. I began to seek ways in which I would push myself harder than in races, run further than the toughest events, training on technical courses harder than those I was expecting, train in hotter conditions than were forecast… all so that when I stood on the start line of the big race I knew that nothing would be harder than what I had already been through and that no one else in the race was more prepared than me. This brings me to my next major point - the competitors. As my big burly swimming coach used to drum into me, your competitors are only human. They eat the same things as you, talk like you, sleep like you, go to the toilet just like you. So, why do we worry about them? We don’t… that is the secret to success at the top level. When you reach the highest level everyone becomes very close in ability so it is crucial to find small edges over your competitors. I think perhaps the biggest edge you can get over a rival is to learn how to conserve energy prior to races by eliminating nerves. So if you are a sufferer, don’t just sit back and accept the situation as your fate, seek ways to extend yourself beyond your limits and competitors so that when you stand on the start line you know that you are tougher than everyone else in the field - you should never have to worry about results again! JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS – BURRA
t Kirsten Fairfax (VIC) W21E
s Roy Bierton (SA) M80+
s Colin Price (NSW) M50A
BOB MOUATT
TROY MERCHANT
BOB MOUATT
t Carol Young (SA) W45A
t Steve Cusworth (VIC) M17-20E
s Jeremy Green (M21E), an orienteer of many colours
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
t Christine Sinikas (VIC) W55A
24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
BOB MOUATT
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS – BURRA
s Hermann Wehner (ACT) M80+
s Morten Neve (VIC) M17-20E
t Nigel Dobson-Keeffe (SA)
TROY MERCHANT
BOB MOUATT
TROY MERCHANT
t Mace Neve (ACT) W21E
t Blair Trewin (VIC) M21E
TROY MERCHANT
s Bryn McComb getting into the Easter spirit
TROY MERCHANT
TROY MERCHANT
t Phew… last control t
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25
PR C OO U FR ISLEE P L A N N I N G
Australian 3-Days
Winning Times & Relative Speeds Adrian Uppill, Course Planner (Day 3)
O
ne of the main factors in determining the success of an Orienteering event is to get the course winning times right for the respective age classes. This can be a daunting exercise for the course planner particularly for a new map where the crucial factor of running speed may be unknown. There is also the problem of selecting the right running speed for each class so that when applied to the recommended winning time as specified by Orienteering Australia rules, the correct course length is determined. And finally, how many courses need to be planned and how are the age classes to be grouped? A useful tool to assist in this complex task is the determination and application of relative speed factors, or Relative Speed for each class. Relative Speed for an age class is calculated by dividing the fastest run rate in Men 21 Elite by the fastest run rate of that class, for that particular event. Relative Speeds for an event can then be compared to other events. An examination of the 2005 Australian 3-Days event at Jindabyne, ACT, had already been undertaken to determine Relative Speeds for each age class. The data was smoothed and compared to other Orienteering events, including data from Canada (Zissos, A., Course Planning & Route Choice, 2003). In general terms Relative Speeds from other events supported the Jindabyne analysis. The Relative Speed factors were also applied with success to a badge event in SA. It was therefore considered that the Jindabyne data was sufficiently reliable to use for the 2007 Australian 3-Days in determining relative running speeds and course lengths for all classes and ultimately class groupings. Although the terrain differed, the runnability was expected to be similar. The Relative Speeds used were: Age (yr) 16 18 20 21 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Men A 0.743 0.804 0.880 1.000 0.885 0.810 0.763 0.712 0.666 0.621 0.588 0.548 0.460 0.383
Women A 0.576 0.650 0.703 0.848 0.699 0.654 0.615 0.575 0.538 0.508 0.474 0.430 0.378 0.311
M AS *(75%)
W AS *(75%)
0.660 0.750 0.664 0.608 0.572 0.534 0.500
0.527 0.636 0.524 0.491 0.461 0.431 0.404
Graph 1 - Relative Speeds (smoothed) for 2005 Australian 3-Days, Jindabyne
The three course planners then fine tuned the run rates for their event area. Run rates varied from about 5.0 minutes/km for Day 1 & 2 at ‘Twigham’ to 6.0 minutes/km for Day 3 at ‘Worlds End South’. Predicted winning times for men and women 21Elite classes together with actual winning times are presented at Table 2. As can be seen from Table 2 the deviation was well within an acceptable range. Winning times for ‘A’ classes were also within acceptable limits, although for Course 18 on Day 3 class winning times were longer than the previous two days reflecting the steeper terrain & stony nature of the Day 3 area. Day Map
Class
1 1 2 2 3 3
Men 21E Women 21E Men 21E Women 21E Men 21E Women 21E
Twigham Twigham Twigham Twigham Worlds End Worlds End
Predicted winning time (minutes) 31.50 29.41 85.32 59.72 44.22 40.31
Actual winning time Deviation % (minutes) 30.22 -4.1 28.77 -2.2 83.77 -1.8 61.03 2.2 44.65 1.0 42.22 4.7
Table 2 - Predicted winning time to actual time
A comparison of relative speeds for the 2005 Australian 3-Days (smoothed) to the Burra 2007 3-Days event is shown at Graph 2. The dip in the Burra graphs for the 35 and 40 year age groups reflects orienteers that are running “down” for their age in the Elite classes. Similarly the low 20 year factor is due to orienteers running “up” for their age in the Elite classes. If the graphs are adjusted for those running “up” or “down”, then the Burra graphs equate closely to the Jindabyne (smoothed) factors but only up to the 65 year mens and the 55 year womens classes. Above these age classes the relative speeds for the Burra 3-Days was less than expected.
Table 1 - Relative Speeds (smoothed) derived from 2005 Australian 3-Days, Jindabyne.
*In order to satisfy Orienteering Australia course length requirements of ‘AS’ course lengths to be 45-55% of the ‘A’ course length, a relative speed of 75% of the ‘A’ age class was used for the AS classes. Relative Speeds for ‘A” classes in Table 1 are shown at Graph 1. Using a spreadsheet, indicative course lengths were determined by selecting an approximate M21E run rate and applying it to Orienteering Australia winning times and the Relative Speeds as determined. 18 hard navigation courses were considered to be appropriate for the expected entry numbers, with classes grouped according to course lengths. 26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Graph 2 - Relative Speeds: 2005 Jindabyne 3-Day (smoothed) & 2007 Burra 3Day
HIGH PERFORMANCE
Changes to Manager and Coach positions Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance At the Annual General Meeting of Orienteering Australia over the Easter period in Burra, South Australia, member States unanimously approved a change of direction, or more so a return, to the structure of OA paid officers in the areas of high performance management and coaching & officiating development. As a result Orienteering Australia is in the process of seeking appointments for a Manager, High Performance and a Manager, Coaching & Officiating Development to take up duties from July 1st. In an agreement with the ACT Orienteering Association the new Manager, High Performance will be paid to assume some key duties on behalf of ACTOA. The effect of this will be that the Manager, High Performance will be employed on a three-days-a-week basis and the Manager, Coaching & Officiating Development will be employed on a one-day-a-week basis. In the review of OA operations in August 2005, and as a result of the loss of development funding from the Australian Sports Commission, a decision was made to restructure the OA Board and to attempt to manage with two paid part-time officers rather than the four that existed at that time. Time has shown that combining the previous roles of Manager, High Performance and Manager, Coaching & Officiating and passing some of those duties on to volunteers has meant that coach development in particular has suffered. The reality is that there is simply too much to do over too much of a breadth of areas for one single person to effectively manage as a single task model. In addition, coach development is a time intensive activity and in an era of time-challenged work and daily life it is too much to expect volunteers to effectively action such an important role in building competitive outcomes for all levels of orienteers. The financial outcome of this is that there will be no overall change to the OA budget situation or change to the total allocation for high performance and coaching activities. Additional resources will be put into the important area of coach development infrastructure. The consequence of this will require an overall reduction in financial support for national teams in the order of 10% in order to achieve a balanced budgetary outcome. This is an unfortunate situation for our many young people who spend their time and energy in seeking to be the best orienteers they can. However, that can never be truly achieved in isolation in my view. A comprehensive and well developed coach infrastructure that supports mentor coaches to work with athletes in any sport is vital for the health of that sport. A look at the number of active coaches working in Orienteering clearly shows that work is needed at a national level to build that coaching culture.
The Purpose Of Our High Performance Program I am occasionally asked by interested orienteers as to what we are aiming to achieve in our high performance program. For the benefit of all orienteers it is appropriate to provide the following summary overview of our aims, which are to: • develop short and long-term plans for coaching and supporting national squads, and high performance athletes; • prepare and manage relevant budgets for the national High Performance program; • manage the human resources required to prepare Australian teams for their respective world championships and other international competition; • co-ordinate a State-based system of mentor coaches to conduct training camps and to offer support for athletes in regional areas; • determine the composition of team leadership for forthcoming world championships, taking into account special team needs and/or particular priorities, available expertise, and long-term coaching plans; • foster the ideals of orienteering excellence amongst orienteers; • maintain a close working relationship with the ACT Academy of Sport as the National Training Centre in preparing Australian orienteers for international competition; and • support the development of coaching infrastructure at all levels of orienteering in Australia as a core aspect of improving High Performance outcomes in international competition.
Best Wishes To Our World Championship Teams By now all our 2007 World Championship teams have been announced. Those attending the Australian 3-Days in South Australia would have been very impressed with the depth and quality of competition in our junior ranks amongst those seeking to represent their country at JWOC in Dubbo in July. It is a healthy sign for our sport to see so many young people giving it a real dip in wanting to do their country proud in the sporting arena that is so much a part of our cultural make up as Australians. In addition, we have seen some quality performances by our senior elite athletes and a very pleasing growth in the depth of competitive talent by our women no doubt brought about by the inspiring efforts of our World Champion Hanny Allston. Meanwhile, on the MTBO front a great team was again announced to represent us and they are also inspired to know that they too have a world class benchmark in former World Champion Adrian Jackson to measure themselves against. So make sure you get along to Dubbo in July and cheer on our young people representing us at JWOC. Our family will definitely be there. Hope to see you there too cheering on the green and gold. Mike Dowling, 17 High St. Bellerive 7018. tel 03 6244 71773; email mdowling@tassie.net.au
Course Planning continued… The Burra graphs highlight the outstanding performances of two orienteers in the non-elite classes. Geoff Lawford (EU-V) in the M50 class was a clear winner on each day which gave him an overall result well above expectation. Jenny Bourne (EU-V) also won each day in W45 with her relative speed above expectation. The M60A & M65A winners also performed well relative to other
‘A’ classes and reflect the strong field and depth of competition in these age groups. In conclusion the use of relative speed factors proved to be worthwhile particularly for the Elite and ‘A’ classes as actual winning times were generally in accordance with predicted winning times. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ukraine Maps
ERRATA In the March’07 edition we printed a photo of Ingunn H. Weltzien and referred to her as being from Switzerland. Ingunn is, of course, from Norway and is expected to be part of the Norwegian team at WOC 2007 in Ukraine. 28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ukraine to host WOC 2007 Come August 18 - 26, we Australian orienteers will be closely watching coverage of WOC in Ukraine in the hope that our increasingly talented Team can pull off some more great World Championships results. Can Hanny Allston do it again, repeating her Sprint triumph of 2006? Can Julian Dent rise to the occasion? He’s been in scintillating form early in the year. And will Troy de Haas fulfil his potential this year? Will Grace Elson and Jo Allison combine with Hanny in the Women’s Relay to equal or better their amazing 4th place run of last year? No matter what the result, those Australians lucky enough to be actually there in Ukraine are in for a treat of top class Orienteering by our Australian Team and by the international super-stars who will all be vying for glory. Swiss multi-gold medallist, Simone Niggli-Luder, can be expected to shine again this year. But she has challengers hovering in the wings. Hanny is one of them. China’s “pocket rocket”, Li Ji, is another. Li certainly has great speed and her navigation abilities have been improving in recent times. Could she be the dark horse in the Sprint this year? And will the Swedish Sprint-master, Emil Wingstedt, win yet again? Hanny has proven she has both speed and endurance. Though she’s the current Sprint Queen she seems to be more suited to longer distance events. Could she be the one to challenge Niggli-Luder in the Middle or Long-distance Championships this year? And what of Norway’s Marianne Anderson who can be guaranteed to give her all in those longer events. She nearly did it last year. Could 2007 be her year?
The fast terrain will suit Julian Dent, Troy de Haas, Hanny Allston and the other Australians. They will need to be at their navigational best in the complex areas to match it with the Europeans. Intense concentration and confidence in their own abilities will be telling factors. Training on Tasmania’s sand dunes and Victorian gold-mining terrain will certainly help when they get to Ukraine. Example maps from Ukraine (on Page 28) are typical of those our World Championships Team will encounter. Track options abound, yet the green areas are readily runnable as well. Complex contour patterns in many areas provide an abundance of potential control sites for the course setters. And those very same contour patterns could be the undoing of any competitor who relaxes or loses concentration for even a moment. The weather will be a major influence as well. If the weather is fine it’s likely to be hot with energy-sapping high levels of humidity likely too. The Europeans have been training in this kind of weather in preparation and many have been running on Ukraine maps like the ones shown here. If the live coverage to the spectator assembly arena of races in progress is anything like last year in Denmark, those who will be at the events are in for a treat. Hidden TV cameras in the forest feeding back to the Big Screen; SI controls which immediately radio back to the commentary centre when a competitor punches; and Per Forsberg, the doyen of Orienteering commentators. Keep an ear out for some of his signature phrases, such as: “she’s having a very fast time to the spectator control and is likely to get a place – THAT’S FOR SURE”; and “he’s racing up the finish chute trying to get the fastest time – BUT HE’S TOO LATE”. It’s things like that which flavour the experience and stay in your mind for a long time afterwards. If you, like most of us, can’t be in Ukraine to see the action at first hand, tune into the Web at http://www.orienteering.asn. au/ for Orienteering Australia and www.woc2007.org.ua for the World Championships web site to get news of the latest results and even live feed from races in progress.
Who else could do well? The Czech, Dana Broskova, won bronze in the 2006 Long-distance event. There’s a good chance she will do even better this year. She’s a former Junior World Champion so she knows how to win. Rising Swiss star, Daniel Hubmann, won a Sprint silver last year. He can be expected to do well in the fast Ukraine terrain where his speed should be an advantage. Finland’s Jani Lakanen will be out to retain his Long-distance title and his women compatriots, Minna Kauppi and Heli Jukkola, can be expected to finish among the top places. The Swedish Sprint Championships were won earlier this year by David “wrong way” Andersson and Helena Jansson followed by, respectively, Russians Andrey Kramov and Tanya Ryabkina. All four can be expected to do well in Ukraine. We can also expect to see some other former Junior World Champions coming through, such as the Swiss Matthias Mertz and Norway’s Ingunn H. Weltzien (who beat Hanny in the 2006 JWOC Sprint). The terrain is likely to be fast, fast, fast, but hilly – for both the Sprint and the longer events. Only those who can navigate finely at high speed will survive. Route choice is likely to be track-track-track then a confusion of very fine contour detail to pick off on the way to each control. Good navigation and decision making under the influences of both stress and lactic acid will be required for success.
The fast terrain in Ukraine is expected to suit our Australian team members such as Julian Dent, pictured here at Easter. Photo: Troy Merchant
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29
The Australian Orienteer welcomes letters. Preference will be given to letters which are concise and which make positive points. The editor reserves the right to edit letters, particularly ones which are longer than 300 words.
LETTERS
AO should go retail Thanks for the mag., the articles are well written and generally of pretty good value, however there seems to be a strong bias towards representing activities of the Elites……..any chance of skewing it back towards the ordinary folk? And, how about the odd ‘O’ suit / shoe test? I found the story a couple of issues back on Evan Barr’s experience with severe physiological distress quite interesting especially since someone near to me had a similar experience. Articles on bio-physiological responses to stress are always good value. On a different note, there is a perennial concerning the public profile of our great sport. Along with the website The Australian Orienteer is the official organ of the sport. Why not make it public? What are the costs of remaining obscure? I see that those who control the availability of this magazine have missed fantastic opportunities to seriously publicise Orienteering which could not have been bought at any price. The success of our Champions both National and International (foot and bike) should be exploited. So too, of course, should be the wide appeal to the young, old and ‘non-athletic’ alike.
time to perhaps end world poverty or did they have a medical emergency? Were they late for their starts? No, they just got out of their car and chatted away. Their vehicle was a rental and one occupant wore a Western Nomads uniform. We began to form a biased opinion of WA drivers that a respectable publication such as yours would never print. We do not believe this sort of thoughtless behaviour is acceptable within our friendly sport. As President of Orienteering Victoria I personally offer a warm welcome to orienteers from all states who are coming to the 2009 national carnival in Victoria. I will try to ensure that all drives in to events are as safe, easy and well signposted as possible. Any Victorians who I hear have indulged in this sort of anti-social behaviour had better beware. Oh, and there are two impatient drivers who should just stay home! Ian Dodd, VOA President
Oceania Mountain Bike Climbing I hear that the Oceania MTB-O Championships held last March didn’t go too well financially, with only 80 riders entered, and substantially fewer (50) in the Sprint.
If this remains in the ‘too hard basket’ we will forgo a lot of potentially positive exposure (leading to interest and new members) and the hackneyed ‘grow or die’ debate will continue to dog the sport.
I was going to enter myself until I looked at the courses in my age class (M60). Long – 17km and 330m climb; Middle – 10km and 220m climb. The entry fee was rather heavy too - $60 for three events.
You have recently written about the increase in popularity of ‘sprint’ / street orienteering at the cost of classic ‘bush’ orienteering. I’m sure this is a result of targeting a particular demographic so maybe some of the marketing has in fact been successful!!! Bush orienteering remains the Acme of orienteering for me, if it fails to receive the highest level of support within the sport then I, like others, will drift away.
I’m a rather slow recreational rider. I enjoy getting out in the bush and sauntering along. My goodness – how long would 17km and 330m of vertical climb have taken me?
Will I be reading more about orienteering in Mountain Bike or adventure sport mags in the future, I wonder? I hope to see our magazine out there, hopefully sooner, in newsagents, promoting our sport like all the other sport and outdoor rec. mags. do for theirs. I know this will sit uneasily with some since public awareness is anathaema to a secret society!! Randall Hope (Tasmania)
There was no provision for recreational riders in the program. I would have liked to see the hot-shots in action but I didn’t want to be pushing my bike up 330 vertical metres of climb. Some shorter, easier and less expensive non-championship courses for recreational riders like myself would have attracted more entrants. Even just 20 or 30 extra riders at $30 each would have made quite a dent in that deficit. Recreational Rider (name & address supplied) Dear Receational Rider,
Editor: I would just love to see The Australian Orienteer go retail, but it just isn’t going to happen. We don’t have the resources to fund or manage such a venture. And if we sought the assistance of a commercial publishing house it’s likely the magazine content would be much more concentrated on the young and the beautiful than on the wider demographic which Randall wants and I try to fulfil.
Sorry to read your thoughts on why you didn’t enter the Oceania MTB-O Champs. True, we were disappointed that the entries were not better than they were, but you and those that were not able to make it there, really did miss a wonderful weekend of riding in a new area for most of us. I suspect the main reason why the entries were lower than hoped for was that the events were not close to a capital city. The Sprint event was held on a working day, so was always expected to attract fewer numbers.
Impatient Drivers NOT WELCOME
When you read that there was 330m of climb on your course, I suspect you may be thinking of that amount of climbing in terms of a Foot-O course of say 4 to 5km. I feel that climbing 330 metres on a bike over a course length of 17,000 metres is not too bad. Added to this is that most of the roads and tracks were in good and fast condition.
Our first interstate orienteering trip was to the 3-days in WA a few years ago. Driving our rental car on a dirt road into the event one morning, my wife and I were overtaken by an impatient local orienteer who no doubt knew the road much better than us. Our car was sprayed with gravel, leaving a line of small chips across the windscreen. After parking near the culprit a few minutes later we vented our annoyance but the driver was unrepentant. Fast forward to the recent AUS 3-Days in Burra, SA. Admittedly the long dirt drives in were frustrating with poor roads and an awful lot of dust. The organisers specifically asked drivers to exercise patience and care but again, on Day 2, we are overtaken at high speed by a 4WD (risking damage to our own car this time). We arrived at the event perhaps, generously, 20 seconds after the vehicle in question. Were they using this valuable 30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
There were several competitors in your class, who I’m sure would not be too offended if I described them as slow recreational riders, and all managed to complete their courses and were still enthusiastic about the events. As for saying it was too expensive, that’s just incorrect. $20 for each event using new maps stacks up really well with any major orienteering event in Australia these days and incredibly good value compared to any other mountain bike race. The only way we can keep fees down is for all of our competitors to support the efforts of event organisers by entering events rather than deciding to stay away. Peter Cusworth, Victorian MTB-O Coordinator
LETTERS
Letter from London Rob Lewis (BKV), who is now living in London, tells the Brits how their Orienteering compares with the sport back home. On arrival we found ourselves living deep in South London. How was I to continue my beloved sport from here? I needed a club. Friends and family had long complained about my tardiness so you can imagine the joy when I found a local club called SLOW. Website links led to a plethora of information about events. The site with the map showing upcoming event locations with the day countdown pins really helped us get our bearings. Judging by the races we have been doing in Surrey and Berkshire, the orienteering in this corner of Britain is not too technical. We are not used to so many tracks. It is not unusual back home to have a whole race where you may cross the odd track but run the whole time in the forest. This is deceptive, though, as I still seem to spend as much time in a state of confusion during a race here as I do in Australia. Living in outer central London I prefer not to have a car and, pleasingly, the train system in England has meant that this is not a problem for getting to Orienteering. I have been enjoying combining the train with cycling, hitch-hiking or a cab to get to events here. Due to the low population density outside of Australian cities trains are spread thinly and you need a car to get to events. The British orienteers have been very friendly and helpful picking us up, looking after our bikes and providing shelter from the rain. I have also found the walk from the last control to the download to be very social and have always had an interesting conversation with someone along the way. You will find the same level of friendliness and helpfulness back home in Australia.
Did you know? After Work Rogaines It could only happen in New Zealand ….. 3-hour After Work Rogaines held by Orienteering Hutt Valley right on the edge of the city, or even in the city. Another innovation is Small Rogaines (with “small” meaning “easy to organise) which rarely use flags and punches, preferring question & answer formats. Only one of these events has been more than 30min drive from the Hutt Valley. The common theme here is “close to home orienteering”. The City Safari was an urban rogaine held right in the city with start/finish in a public place and competing teams highly visible during the event – great publicity. Teams not only ran, but were given bus and train timetables allowing them to also use public transport.
Contemplation-O A new form of orienteering for those of us who are but definitely non-competitive. Participants relax in comfortable armchairs while they contemplate the map and course, visualising which route they would take if they were to actually go out on the course. There are strict rules – no getting up to check out the terrain; participants can only compare route choices after the event; and penalty points are applied to any participant who happens to nod off.
I enjoy running in the bigger fields you have here and have been particularly impressed by my older opponents. Running M40S I have been competing against M55L and M60L. We have some gun runners in these classes back home but the depth of quality at the top of these classes in Britain is outstanding. A few are amazingly fast ! I wonder if your soft forest floor allows more British bodies to keep competing at a higher level for longer? As we have not yet started work we have enjoyed the midweek Army events held in the southeast. The idea of participating in military events seemed quite bizarre to us. We have had no contact with anything military in Australia. At the Gibraltar Barracks event, in the middle of the forest, I came across a unit setting up barbed wire. Some of the soldiers were lying on the forest floor in their camouflage. I came close to stepping on one, just spotting him at the last moment as he lay there smiling at me. The event at Sandhurst seemed particularly bizarre. “ This is a military training exercise. You take part at your own risk. No starting before 12:30 due to live firing. They usually have a watch ….” Reassuring? I decided not to start first and planned to follow the trail of blood to the controls. I started well, stayed low, but crossing a marsh I startled a large animal – a frenzied bird all flap and feathers. I jumped for my life, heart pounding. At home you startle the wildlife and you are filled with venom, lose a leg or get a barb in the heart. But here the animals are your friends. They have pretty feathers and bushy tails. No – in this country your enemy is man, and he has a gun. Maybe that’s why you Brits run so fast – you are running for your lives ! Extract from CompassSport, April 2007
VICTORINOX AWARD The quarterly Victorinox Award goes to Troy Merchant for his excellent photography displayed in recent editions of The Australian Orienteer. Troy will receive a Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/alarm/timer; retail value $109.95. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31
NEWS
Tom Andrews (OAM) retires from Orienteering Service of Australia Tom Andrews began the Orienteering Service of Australia (OSA) in 1973 with the aim of providing all the necessary equipment and resource materials needed for a successful introduction of an Orienteering program in schools and youth groups. Tom was literally the pioneer of the sport of Orienteering in Australia. After observing the Swedish Orienteering Championships in Uppsala in 1968, he organised the first formal Australian Orienteering event. Ably assisted by fellow Richmond Harriers athletics club member, Peter Wills-Cooke, the event took place in Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria, in August 1969. Tom’s involvement in the promotion of Orienteering is well documented, being a founding member of the Orienteering Federation of Australia and for several years a member and, eventually, the Chairman of the Promotion and Education Committee of the International Orienteering Federation. In 1981 Tom was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), in 1982 he was inducted into Sport Australia’s Hall of Fame for his services to Administration of Orienteering, and to top it off, was awarded the Sport Australia medal in 2000. In 1980, at the annual IOF Conference in Germany, together with the then OFA President, Ted Wester, and Secretary, Mike Hubbert, the trio defeated Canada for the right to conduct the World Orienteering Championships in Australia. This prestigious event was held near Bendigo in 1985, with Tom taking on the task of chief organiser. The Orienteering Service of Australia is now well established with a customer base of over 300 schools. OSA has been operating from an office/warehouse owned by Macson Trading Company Pty Ltd in Clifton Hill, Melbourne. Tom is the Managing Director of Macson Trading Company, which is the Australian agent for Silva Sweden AB and other outdoor adventure branded products. In February 2007, Tom decided to retire from the OSA part of the business and its sale was advertised in the last edition of The Australian Orienteer. A number of potential buyers emerged, with relative newcomer to Orienteering, Darren Sandford, a member of Yarra Valley Orienteering Club, and his wife Sam assuming ownership in April. Darren and Sam say they have a great enthusiasm for continuing the tradition of servicing schools, youth groups and individuals with orienteering equipment, teaching aids and development materials. Darren and Sam Sandford They have created a ‘virtual’ store for OSA, covering the entire catalogue of over 70 orienteering related products. Secure website purchases can be made in the Orienteering Service of Australia online store at www.omotivo.com.au The new OSA phone number is (03) 9017 4835. Email info@omotivo.com.au for more information.
32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
What to do when things go wrong Safety Procedures at events In April, Bayside Kangaroos organised a Du-O Run-Ride-Run event at Gilwell Park. It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed the event. The event format was: Leg One: 5 km run - 10 controls any order Leg Two: 18km ride - 10 controls any order Leg Three: 2 km run - 8 controls any order. Most people had finished and it was 30 minutes to the official course closing time of 2.30pm when we realised that one person had not come back from the bike leg. We quickly established his car was still there. He was one of the last runners back from the first run leg. He was wearing a hyradtion pack (so he had water with him). At this stage in any potential search it is important to THINK CLEARLY and do things step by step. 1. Stop any nervous relative going out on their own to look for the missing competitor. If they get lost you may need to look for two people. 2. Inform everybody who is assigned to pick up controls to be aware and look for any possibly lost competitor 3. S end out your people to pick up the controls. When they all come back mark on a master map the routes that they have covered to get the controls. 4. The next stage is to assume the person has gone off the edge of the competition map. As this was a mountain bike event that was very possible. So divide the area into logical sections and get your most experienced orienteers to drive the tracks in each section. It is very important that you give all these drivers the same instructions. “It is now 3.15 make sure you are back here by 4.15. We will not make the next decision till 4.30.” 5. Remember at this stage the competitor had been out for about 4hrs 30 min. So he probably was out of water. 6. At 4.00 I informed the Gilwell Park Ranger. He advised the police that a search may be required and the decision would be made at 4.30 when our track search was complete. He also said we were doing the right thing to keep control of the situation. The police generally prefer to be informed early and then stand down rather than not get informed until it gets dark. 7. At 4.15pm our last track driver returned with the missing competitor. He had made a mistake and ridden off the map. He was not wearing a watch. He was out for just over 5 hours. I informed the Ranger who rang the Police to give the all clear. In this case everything turned out OK. It is important that all event organisers be aware that this may happen at your event. We are very lucky that it does not happen often but it MAY happen. As an event organiser it is very hard to prepare for a search situation. So in a quiet moment after your club’s next successful event, think about how you would go about a search if a competitor had not come back. Could your club cope? Example - Did you have enough experienced people available at the end in case a track search was required? We were within 15 minutes of calling in the Police Search and Rescue. We were lucky. This article is just to make you and your club members think about what can happen in our sport of Orienteering. Greg Tamblyn (BK-V)
A PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
The Second Instalment of the Final Tetralogy Bob Mouatt
T
he second instalment of my final tetralogy is about the media. My experience in working with the media dates back over 40 years when I wrote articles under a pseudonym for The Mirage (the RAAF Base Williamtown newspaper) and contributed items to The Newcastle Morning Herald on the RAAF Williamtown teams in the local Rugby competition. In the 1970s I edited a magazine for the Victorian Combined Services Rugby Club and contributed items to The Herald [Melbourne]. I changed sports in the late 1970s, and in the early 1980s wrote articles on Orienteering for The RAAF News. I have been contributing articles to The Canberra Times since 1986 and to the national media since 1997, so I consider I am well qualified to comment on working with the media.
Be Persistent and Consistent One of the best items of advice I ever heard was at a media workshop in 1987 when Gerry Collins (ABC Radio) stressed the importance of being persistent and consistent. The media strongly dislikes contributors who are not consistent in providing followup information, especially if space has been reserved for a story or results.
Timeliness The second key aspect in working with the media is timeliness. The media works to deadlines and if you want media coverage, you have to work to their deadlines. In seeking coverage in the national press, the key deadline is to get the information to AAP Sydney no later 6.00 pm AEST and preferably by 5.00 pm. This gives AAP time to process results and stories, and to distribute them to the national dailies before they finalise their pages. Achieving the AAP deadline is not easy given the time needed to confirm results and the distance that most major events are from fixed internet connections, but with the advent of wireless internet the task is a little easier. During the recent Australian 3Days I used a MiniMax [CDMA] modem to send the results for both AAP and the OA website from the event or on the road from the event. If you are an organiser always be mindful of the time pressures on the media liaison person to submit information to the media. I was especially grateful of the assistance provided by the SportIdent team during the recent carnival in South Australia. Television has much earlier deadlines, with most wanting to wrap up their stories by about 2.30 pm. While I have hired camera professionals to film major events on Betacam tapes [the main media used by TV networks] my experience is that regional TV stations will use reasonable high quality ‘grabs’ from ‘digicam’ cameras to complement stories as TV needs video to complete a story. Radio works to a much shorter timeframe and can take stories at short notice, but because of this news editors generally want immediate stories. If it is more than a few hours old they might not be interested. Extended interviews on general programs are different as they are often follow-up stories rather than ‘news’ stories.
The lead time for articles in major national magazines for other than regular columns is in the order of 3 to 4 months so a lot of forward planning is required. Approaches to such magazines usually need to be made about 5-6 months ahead of the target date for an article.
Format, Style and Expectations The third key element is providing material to the press in the format that it uses, and this can change from newspaper to newspaper. Each has its own format, as does AAP. It helps to get results and stories published if you provide your submission in the format used by AAP or the particular newspaper. Study the way the target newspaper presents the results and if it hasn’t published orienteering results, look at athletics results. For example, AAP does not include placings for the top three positions and generally publishes times in hours for times longer than 60 minutes. Also, it has specific ways of publishing State/ national abbreviations. Quite often people have unreasonable expectations of what the media might publish or broadcast. When I file stories with AAP or the press I usually provide three comprehensive sentences that cover what, when, why, who, how, etc. I provide all of my possible contact details as if they want more they will contact me, but if I provide too much they might not even look at the story. No more than 250 words is a good rule.
Evaluation As a systems analyst and designer by profession I have two key rules: • Always evaluate outcomes achieved • I t is a capital mistake to theorise without data [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] If money is no concern evaluation is easy as there are media monitors who can provide a good service for a price; however, if cost is an issue other means have to be found. Orienteering Australia is fortunate that a librarian is able to use her work assets to provide a monthly review of information published by the press in electronic form. This is a highly useful source. My other key source is the Woden Public Library (ACT) which stocks copies of the major dailies. A few days after filing stories/ results with AAP I go through each of the papers at the Library checking for material published. This approach can be impeded if particular papers or pages are removed, as happened with copies of the Melbourne Herald Sun after Easter. Also no copies of The West Australian were available. My post-Easter 2007 evaluation revealed: • The Canberra Times – published results on 5 days out of 5 [includes The Sunday Times] • The Sydney Morning Herald – 4 of 4 [The Sunday Sun did not publish any results] • The Daily Telegraph – 2 of 4 [The Sunday Telegraph did not publish any results] JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA •T he Courier Mail – 2 of 4 [this was extraordinary as the CM seldom publishes results] •T he Australian – 1 of 4 • The Age – 1 of 5 [includes The Sunday Age] • The Advertiser – 1 of 5 [includes The Sunday Mail] •T he Herald Sun – none of the relevant pages/papers available •T he West Australian – none of the relevant papers available •T he Mercury – does not publish national results, but publishes stories about local orienteers My objective is a 50 per cent hit rate of the majors, excluding The Mercury, and on this occasion I have had to exclude The Herald Sun and The West Australian as they were not available. The hit rate for the other seven was just above 50 per cent so I was relatively happy, but I was disappointed with the lack of interest displayed by The Advertiser to what were local events and by The Australian as I always consider it to be the jewel in the crown. I was particularly pleased to see The Courier Mail publish results on two days as it seldom publishes Orienteering results.
A Final Perspective Ten years ago I had expectations of improving media coverage of Orienteering. While I consider I have made a difference, I am far from satisfied. The major problem has been the power of the major sports such as cricket, the football codes, and the Olympic and Commonwealth Games sports to command media attention. Hanny Allston’s gold medal and some of Troy de Haas’ escapades have made a difference but we still have a long way to go before we are receiving the level of coverage I would like to see. However, when one considers that there are around 60 to 80 sports seeking media coverage, we can derive some satisfaction from progress over the past decade.
Postscript
Evaluation of national radio is much more difficult and I have to rely on chance or comments from other orienteers.
You might have noticed that I omitted mention of websites and related electronic media. I did so because it would have added a completely new dimension to my article. We have some important examples of the impact of the new medium both in the reaction to Hanny Allston’s gold medal and the success of the Orienteering Australia website. Without ignoring the conventional media, more effort and skills will have to be dedicated to the new medium as it is the way of the future.
Executive Matters
The Board foreshadowed presenting papers to the Annual Conference on 1-2 December 2007 on the following matters:
Bob Mouatt
•a strategy for reporting serious injuries and incidents to Orienteering Australia. This is considered necessary to enable Orienteering Australia to provide advice to the State involved and to respond to potential media inquiries
The Board of Orienteering Australia has had a very busy three months, in particular in coping with the loss of two Head Coaches in quick succession. The Board’s response has been to: •A ppoint Kay Grzadka to the Executive Officer position vacated by Gareth Candy when he was transferred to Head Coach. Kay has been involved in Orienteering in the ACT for over 20 years. She has an Associate Diploma in Applied Computing and has considerable experience from working in a number of positions in the Australian Public Service. She retired from full-time work in 2006, after reaching Executive Level 1. Kay has been engaged to work an average of 15 hours per week. Her core days/hours in the OA office will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm. The remaining hours will be spent on handling matters outside of core hours. •A ppoint Tom Quayle as the interim Head Coach to fill the vacancy created by the sudden departure of Gareth Candy to take up a position with the British Orienteering Federation. •R estructure the Head Coach position into two positions: a Manager High Performance and a Manager, Coaching & Officiating Development, with a view to the positions being advertised widely and filled in early July. This action was endorsed by the OA Council at the Annual General Meeting.
Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting was held in Burra on Sunday 8 April. The minutes of the AGM were published on the OA website at www.orienteering.asn.au/administration/ minutes/ during May. There was no change in Board members or Chairs of Committees, and following the AGM the Board co-opted Robin Uppill to the Board as Director, Special Projects for a further 12 months. 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
•c hanges to the Constitution and the Member Protection Policy to bring them into line with the latest ASC Member Protection template, to introduce a conflict resolution process and an tribunal/appeals process for disciplinary/ selection matters, and an appeals process for Member Protection matters Changes will be made soon to the Operational Manual (at www.orienteering.asn.au/administration/op_manual/ ) in regard to: • National Junior Development Squad Selection Policy •A nti-Doping Policy to reflect the advent of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency • Non-elite rankings • Silva Medal (national Orienteer of the Year) • Sponsorships The Annual Report is at www.orienteering.asn.au/administration/minutes/ The Operational Plans for 2007-2010 and some key statistics for 2001-05 are at www.orienteering.asn.au/administration/ stats/
Other Matters Under Action Orienteering Australia is continuing to work with the Orienteering Association of NSW Inc and the International Orienteering Federation to reach an agreement on a contract with the organisers of the 2009 World Masters Games. Work is also in progress in regard to the Australia-New Zealand Challenge that will be conducted in conjunction with the Oceania Championships in Canberra in early October. Notices will be posted on the OA website and in State weekly e-bulletins.
POLICE & FIRE GAMES
World Police and Firemen go Orienteering Craig Colwell - 2007 Police & Fire Games Competition Manager
T
he World Police & Fire Games came to Adelaide, South Australia, during March this year. These international Games are held every two years and rank second only to the Olympic Games in terms of participation and sport events held. It was the biggest sporting carnival ever held in South Australia. The Games attracted more than 8000 competitors representing various Police, Customs, Correctional Services, Immigration, Border control and Fire services from around the world and Adelaide provided more than 2000 volunteers to help run the Games. The Orienteering Association of SA was approached nearly two years ago to organise an Orienteering event as part of these Games. For the Orienteering event, held on Saturday 17th March, we had 80 entries from 14 different countries. Whilst the participation numbers were relatively small as far as Orienteering events go, the organisation to conduct the event in a professional manner was quite extensive. Adelaide based “Onkaparinga Hills ‘O’ Club” was given the responsibility to run the event with Craig Colwell as Games Competition Manager (and course setter) and the technical expertise of Adrian and Robin Uppill as “Mapper’ and “Controller”. The Belair National Park was chosen for the event site given its typical bush setting, public facilities and close proximity to the Adelaide CBD where the majority of the competitors were staying. Apart from the usual ‘behind the scene’ organisation for the O event such as course setting, remapping, computer setup etc, etc, a large portion of the OHOC committee had to become official 2007 Games volunteers. This involved a special 2 hour training session at the Adelaide Convention Centre where they were ‘kitted out’ with bright blue Games uniforms and ID badges. One of the most challenging components of the event was to determine course lengths and degree of difficulty given that we had little idea of the amount of experience, if any, in Orienteering that the competitors had. The Governing body for the Games was asking for courses with set distances as they prescribed, but given the steep terrain of the Park we decided that those course lengths were not practicable. However by working on a ‘winning’ finish time of 50 – 60 minutes for each course group and using graphs and pre-event information on winning times, determined by Adrian Uppill, five courses were set ranging from 3.2 to 6.9km. With respect to the anticipated Orienteering ability of the competitors we increased their expected min/km run rate and used a moderate to hard degree of difficulty. A considerable amount of course planning, resetting, consultation, resetting, resetting etc, etc, took place in the 6 months prior to the event between myself, as course setter, Adrian and Robin. A number of issues forced changes to the courses among them being the restrictions imposed by the Park Ranger and the main Adelaide to Melbourne Railway line which traverses through the Park. Given the high profile of this event and with safety of the
competitors in mind, discussions were also held with the Rail Authority in relation to train movements during the event. This resulted in a manned crossing, with time taken to cross the line between two controls being deleted from the race results, similar to that used in the 2006 Easter Event held in Victoria. It was most heartening to see that our expected winning times were realized in almost all categories and that all the competitors returned to the finish chute before the end of the medal presentations. This was quite a relief for the organisers (especially the course setter), as at previous Games search parties were required to find some of the participants. A model course was organised two days prior to the main event to enable competitors to familiarize themselves with the Belair National Park terrain. Adrian Uppill organised this event with special maps showing locations of the Belair National Park Permanent ‘O’ course controls in the NW corner of the park. This proved to be an enjoyable experience for the participants and their accompanying partners and friends. The local wildlife, especially the koala located in a gum tree adjacent the Belair station, proved quite photogenic. In recent years OASA has held ‘O’ events in the Belair National Park and it seemed a good idea to use all the organisation and setup to hold a local event in the afternoon, after the completion of the main P&F Games orienteering event, utilizing the same courses as well as additional moderate and easy courses. This enabled the local orienteers to compare their course times against the Police and Fire services competitors. As to be expected having two events on the same day proved quite taxing on the OHOC organisers with water stations and final controls being installed pre-dawn, with first start at 9.00am, and final pack-up not being completed until late that evening. The participants showed that they were also used to early starts with the majority of the competitors at the event site prior to sunrise (and before the final ‘O’ event directional signage had been erected, which bode well for their navigation skills). This provided another opportunity for the organisers and the competitors to socialize, with tea and coffee, as the final preparations were taking place. Later in the day the South Australian Junior Orienteering squad provided morning tea and a BBQ lunch for the benefit of the competitors and spectators. The main 2007 Police and Fire Games event proved to be an outstanding success, with an excellent rapport between the organisers and the competitors (especially given the language difficulties). The presentation of the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals was a highlight with the raucous support of the competitors and supporters (especially the Spaniards) flanked by the organising volunteers in their colourful uniforms and matching headwear. continued… JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35
TOP EVENTS 2007 2007
2008
June 27-30 Arctic Midnight Orienteering Ilulissat, Greenland www.iog.gl
June 30 Midnatssolgaloppen - July 4 Arctic Norway www.mg-norway.no
June 28 WMOC 2008 -July 5 Marinha Grande, Portugal www.wmoc2008.fpo.pt
July 2-7 5 Days of the Fortresses Trentini Highlands, Italy www.montagnaconamore.it
June 29- JWOC 2008 July 7 Gothenberg, Sweden www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008
July 7-14 WMOC 2007 Kuusamo, Finland www.wmoc2007.fi/
July 10-20 WOC 2008 Olomouc, Czech Republic www.woc2008.cz
July 7-15 JWOC 2007 Carnival, incl NSW Champs, Aus Champs & Schools Champs, Dubbo, NSW. http:// jwoc2007.orienteering.asn.au/
July 21-25 O-Ringen 2008 Dalarna, Sweden www.oringen.com/dalarna2008
July 15-20 Fin 5 Kankaapaa - Lavia, Finland http://fin5.kansu.fi/
July 22-27 O-Ringen Östergötland, Sweden www.oringen.com
August 5-11 Spey 2007 Scottish 6 Days Cairngorms National Park www.scottish6days.com
August 5-12 MTB-O World Champs 2007 Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Rep www.mtbo.cz/woc2007/
August 11-12 Northern Territory Orienteering Championships Monte Titano, NT www.mtbo.cz/woc2007/
August 16-26 WOC 2007 Kiev, Ukraine e-mail: info@woc2007.org.ua www.woc2007.org.ua
October 5 Australian Sprint Championships, Canberra ACT
October 1-7 Oceania Championships, Canberra ACT
November 3-4 Australian MTB-O Championships, NSW
Dec 27-31 Christmas 5 Days, NSW
Police & Fire Games – continued… As our local orienteers found, the courses were quite physically demanding which highlighted the high fitness levels of the Police and Fire games competitors with Szymon Lawecki of Poland winning the ‘Open Mens’ 6.9km course in 46min24secs. This compared quite well with our best local runners on the day, Andrew McComb and Vanessa Round doing the same course in 60:29 and 52:55 respectively.
March 21-24 Australian 3-Days Dubbo, NSW www. aus3days2008.orienteering.asn.au
July 25-30
APOC 2008 South Korea
July 30- Aug 8
Nordvestgallopen 2008 Voss/Bergen, Norway
Aug 24-31 MTB-WOC 2008 and MTB-JWOC 2008 Ostróda, Poland
Sept 20-28 Australian Championships Carnival Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps Sept 30 Australian MTB-O Championships -Oct 1 Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps
OR I ENTEER I N G PUBL I CATI ON S IOF Publications
Australian Publications
International Specifications for‑Orienteering Maps . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Competition rules for IOF events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Control Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Simple Maps for Orienteering . . . . $11.00 Trail Orienteering (BOF book) . . . . . $30.00 Trail Orienteering (booklet). . . . . . . . $8.25 Trail O (leaflet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.70
Elementary Orienteering Instructors‑Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.20 Level 1 Coaching Manual. . . . . . . . $22.00 Level 1 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $3.90 Level 2 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Level 3 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Among the Best Orienteers (video).$19.75 Sponsorship & Advertising, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . available from states Club Guide, available on disc.
Prices include GST and postage within Australia for single copies. Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@netspeed.com.au
Local ‘Tintookies’ Orienteer, Maarten Nieuwenhoven, representing the SA Fire department won “Gold” in the ‘Grand Masters C’ section on Course 4 in 48:16 and Mark Schammer also of the SA MFS had the best time for the ‘Senior B Men’ winning the Course 2 in 56:06. Other Australian runners to place in the medals were Ken Post (WA Police Dept.) taking the “Bronze” in the ‘Grand Masters A’ section and Robin Werkert from the NSW Fire Dept. winning the ‘Master A Women’s’ division. A full list of the results for both Orienteering Events held on the 17th March can be seen on the OASA web site. 36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority
WORLDS END SOUTH, AUSTRALIAN 3-DAY CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 3. 1:10 000. COURSE 3 M17-21E
TOP END ORIENTEERS present
Advertise your event in The Australian Orienteer
11 - 12 August 2007
You can have a 6 x 8 cm event ad for just $50.
2007 Northern Territory Orienteering Championships ‘Monte Titano’ 80km South of Darwin, near resort area of Lake Bennett For further information contact Chris Slade tel: 08 8942 1945 or susibertei@smartchat.net.au
In colour, if we have room, otherwise black and white.
Send artwork to The Editor: mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au
5 DAYS OF WINE AND WAVES Did the Earth move for you the last time you were in Newcastle? It would have if you were at the 1989 Xmas Five Days. Come back to the Hunter for another earth shattering five days of orienteering interspersed with winery visits and lazing on glorious beaches. Really enjoy the 2007 XMAS 5 DAYS ORIENTEERING in Newcastle this year. December 27 – 31 http://newcastle.nsw.orienteering.socialfx.net
Enquiries:dickogilvie@bigpond.com JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER
37
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
Orienteering Development Ben Rattray, Director (Development)
Thanks for our volunteers – can everyone start showing their support? I have just come back from Easter in South Australia. I had a great time, and the events all ran smoothly and well. It does amaze me how well we orienteers run events. There is inevitably the odd hiccup, and the unavoidable complaints about trivial points, but we do run events well, often very well. Major carnivals require a tremendous amount of work, and to quote a fellow Board member, “the work required provides a few people with what would be equivalent to a full-time job for several months.” What makes it more impressive is that the vast majority, if not all, is conducted by volunteers. Volunteers run our sport, and it is great. It is great to see people passionate to make the sport they love happen. It is great to see that in this world of financial and time pressures, people are willing to donate their time and effort. It is great we have so many volunteers, from organisers to Board members, and start crews to coaches. Volunteers in orienteering cover a wide range of activities. There is a down side however. One of the largest issues we have in Australian orienteering is the large amount of volunteering that a relatively small group of people undertake. These people often get tired, and are too often overloaded or burnt-out. This is particularly true with our major carnivals, and even more alarming, the problem is only likely to get worse in the future with changing attitudes in society, and an increasing ageing demographic involved in the sport. Addressing this issue will include increasing our volunteer base, member and participation numbers as well as supporting our volunteers. There is a popular notion that if we increase our active membership, we will increase our volunteer base. This is true, but I believe only to a limited extent. Many people are not likely to volunteer, and the idea that you have to volunteer may actually deter people from becoming members, or even participating in the sport altogether. I don’t believe that other sports such as athletics or cycling would have the same relative number of volunteers that we have in orienteering. Athletics is a very large sport, yet I doubt every second participant has been a volunteer as seems to be the case with orienteering. There is much more we can do in terms of supporting our volunteers rather than just hoping more appear. We can support volunteers in many forms, thanking them is the most obvious. We show our appreciation regularly by thanking volunteers in person, in event write-ups, at prize-giving and the occasional award. I don’t believe that is enough. Here are some ideas on supporting our volunteers further. 38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Volunteer Support Resources Generally each State has guidelines to assist volunteers with event organisation. This may be in the form of a club guide, or individual guidelines on the different aspects of event management and coaching. I am uncertain how often these guides are used, but I suspect many people are unaware they exist so I encourage States and clubs to ensure they are continually well advertised as a useful resource, acting to reduce the load on individual volunteers. Resources should be continually updated, reviewed and developed as new issues arise (such as with electronic punching). Useful development resources are something I am working hard to develop from a national perspective as well and there is now a number of resources on the Orienteering Australia website. While we do events well, we often don’t do other aspects of the sport well, particularly promotion and advertising. As part of the development resources being established on the website, we are therefore trying to establish better resources for our volunteers in these areas. Another project that we would like to achieve is putting together a resource for organising a major carnival. All these resources are aimed to provide volunteers with a framework in which they can achieve their objectives more efficiently, and that should take some of the stress and load off our volunteers. If you have any ideas or suggestions of resources that would be useful, please be in contact.
Paid officer support Volunteers are predominantly supported by themselves and each other in orienteering. This is great, and in some places a necessity since there is not a paid officer in every State. But volunteers need support from our professionals wherever possible. Effective paid professionals have a list of duties to fulfil as part of their employment, and these duties should be made clear to everyone. As part of these duties, tasks that assist the volunteer structure (either through policy development, administrative or direct support) should be in place. We have some great paid officers that contribute tremendously to our sport, but unfortunately not enough. States should continue to investigate the viability of a paid officer(s) bearing in mind that there is potential for them to pay for themselves through: • Membership and participation numbers • Value for money at an event – and price structuring • Commercial business – jump on the adventure sport bandwagon catering for corporate sectors • Marketing and sponsorship/grants • Running paid events and education for schools The level of support to volunteers will vary depending upon the commitments of the paid position. As for the argument: “why should we pay one (or a few) people when everyone else volunteers?” - Because it increases the professionalism and quality of our sport, and makes the volunteers job easier. It comes down to effective task allocation, prioritisation and management of the paid officer.
Gifts Many organisations provide their volunteers with gifts as thanks for their support. Orienteering is a small organisation and struggles financially to provide volunteers with conventional gifts such as polo shirts, gift vouchers, hats etc. Gifts may include many other items that are more realistic, including event vouchers. This is perhaps the most obvious area in which orienteering could show thanks to its volunteers. Sponsorship arrangements may
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA be a good way of sourcing potential gifts, but this generally only applies to our major events. Small local events are a continual strain on volunteers and recognition from a club could be simply in the form of free entry into the next club event. This provides minimal cost to anyone involved but can be seen as a gesture to better thank our volunteers than at present. It would be interesting to hear if others have ideas on what simple gifts might be effective.
Awards The Silva Services to Orienteering Award is the pinnacle national recognition for our volunteers. There is only one annual award however, and many more volunteers that deserve recognition exist than we formally recognise. For that reason, States and even clubs are encouraged to create their own service or volunteer recognition awards. The ACT for instance has its own services to orienteering award (Ed – as do several clubs). These awards should then take pride of place on websites and in newsletters and magazines. Volunteers run our sport, support them as much as possible. Support may cost money and sometimes just time and a little effort. Please continue to think and implement more ways of showing support, and tell me about it. I am a volunteer, and I need the support.
Development Tips – Catering for the next generation 1. Communications – whilst State and club newsletters have and continue to serve a useful role in orienteering – the next generation are constantly bombarded with graphic and exciting flyers from numerous types of companies. Most notably at the moment Adventure Racing companies. Make sure you adopt electronic forms of communications that have an impact. Look to see the current examples by searching online. 2. Events – time and travel is a big issue with seemingly more activities pulling on people’s times than ever before. Advertise the close events effectively, and don’t assume people are only interested in an hour’s run. Ensure the event is exciting, use loops, a sprint format or mass start when suitable. 3. Advertise events with attractive forms of the media in appropriate places. Schools, universities, other sporting clubs or events, online and in the work place. Online make sure you add your event, with some catchy introduction and graphic on websites, and internet based event calendars. 4. Event entries – make it easy to enter and pay for the event. Events that offer online entry and payment are now commonplace in other sports. Don’t give people another hurdle to entering an orienteering race. 5. Encourage an attractive event. Orienteering should create an environment in which the sport looks professional. This encompasses everything from the quality of the banners hanging up at an event to the gear people wear, and from the speed of onsite and online results appearing to the services (e.g. crèche) and shops (e.g. food and gear) on offer. If you have any tips, PLEASE email them to: oa_development@netspeed. com.au Good tips will be published with acknowledgements in subsequent editions.
Development Resources Orienteering Australia is creating development resources. Everyone can access them through the Orienteering Australia website: www. orienteering.asn.au/promotion/devel/ Please take advantage of them and check regularly for updates.
Selection news Blair Trewin
Australia-New Zealand Challenge The Australia-New Zealand Challenge will be contested in October in conjunction with the Oceania Championships week. Teams of three, and reserves, will be selected in all Challenge age groups. The Challenge age groups are: M/W16, 18, 20, 21, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, and M70. (M/W18 and 20 will both compete on the 17-20E course). The selection trials will be as follows: M/W21 - the M/W21 teams will be Bushrangers teams chosen in accordance with normal Bushrangers selection criteria. M/W18 and 20 - the principal selection trials for these classes will be the JWOC selection trials, as well as performances in JWOC itself for those who are members of the team. All other classes - the principal selection trials for all other classes will be the Australian 3-Days and Australian Long Distance Championships. Nomination procedure and eligibility - to be eligible you must be an Australian citizen at the time of the event. No nominations will be required. However, the selectors would appreciate being advised if any of the following apply: • You know that you will not be available for selection. •Y ou wish to be considered for selection in a different age group to that in which you competed in the selection races. •Y ou are not an Australian citizen, or have recently taken out citizenship (if you have been ineligible in the past). The selection panel may be contacted through the Chair of the Junior Panel, Blair Trewin, at b.trewin@bom.gov.au. The team will be chosen by members of both the Senior and Junior Panels. It is hoped to be able to announce the team (with the possible exception of M/W21) at or shortly after the Australian Relays.
Australia-NZ Schools Test Match There will also be a Schools Test Match between Australia and New Zealand contested during the Oceania Championships week. Teams of four will be chosen in each of the four Schools age groups (M/W-15 and M/W16-19). Subject to ratification by School Sport Australia, the selection trials will be the Australian Schools Championships individual event, and the Australian Long Distance Championships. Under School Sport Australia rules, to be eligible for selection, candidates must be a member of a State team at the Australian Schools Championships (which will have the effect of making any school-aged JWOC team members ineligible). At the time of writing Orienteering Australia is seeking to negotiate an exemption to this but may not be successful. There is no nationality requirement for this team – anyone attending an Australian school is eligible. As for the AustraliaNew Zealand Challenge team, no nominations are required, but it would be of assistance if anyone unavailable for selection could advise the selectors in advance. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39
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Navigation more Decisive than Route Choice At the MTBO European Middle-distance Championships in Poland last year, route choice was secondary. Navigation skill was really put to the test, as the example of control #11 to #12 shows.
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MB C SUPPORTS M T B O R I EN T EER I NG
On a leg which the fastest competitors would ride in about 100 seconds, there were some ten intersections to cross and just as many decisions to be made. “Stop and Go” technique means a rider needs about ten seconds at each junction for map reading - this would take up the full 100 seconds.
Reduce time lost to the max: What is the solution to lose as little time as possible in decisionmaking? •A route with as few turns as possible, and these should be simple;
b) right turn a) “braking point”
•G et a simplified picture of the map into your head; •C oarse orienteering on contours (up, down, level); •D efine your “braking points”; •N ote significant intersections only. The map extract shows this simplification - riders only need to note one “braking point” (a) and one turn (b). Note the contours for security.
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Beat Oklé in OL (Switzerland), translated by Ian Baker Left: Beat Oklé at the World MTB-O Champs Long Distance race at Daylesford, Victoria, 2004
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MTB-O NEWS Blake Gordon OA MTB-O Coordinator
Australian Team for MTB WOC The 2007 World MTBO Championships will be held at Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, August 5 - 12. The Australian Team will be: WOMEN Carolyn Jackson (Vic), Thorlene Egerton (Qld), Kath Copland (Vic), Reserve - Kay Haarsma (SA). MEN Adrian Jackson (Vic), Alex Randall (Vic), Paul Darvodelsky (NSW), David Simpfendorfer (ACT), David Wood (QLD), Tony Clark (Vic) Reserve - Matthew Hope (Tas)
PROFILES Adrian Jackson
Lives: Ferny Creek, VIC Club: Melbourne Forest Racers Occupation: 23 Occupation: University Student Other interests: Skiing, running and MTB racing Background: I have been competing in foot-O since a young age. Won 3 national titles as a Junior, and represented Australia at JWOC 2002 and 2003. Started riding more in 2004, aiming for MTB WOC in Australia, where I surprised everyone (including myself) by picking up 3 medals. Member of World Championship Teams: 2004-2007 (4 teams) Bike specs: Scott Spark 10 (Fox, SRAM, Avid, Truvativ and Ritchey components) Sponsors: Flight Centre, Scott MTB Team, Netti. Best performance(s): Gold 2004 MTBWOC (Middle), Bronze 2004 MTB WOC (Long), Bronze 2004
MTB WOC (Relay), Bronze 2005 MTB WOC (Long) Motivation for MTB-O: Having the 2004 World Champs in Australia - an opportunity too good to pass up! Overseas Competitions: JWOC 2002-Spain; JWOC 2003 – Estonia; MTB WOC 2005 – Slovakia; MTB WOC 2006 - Finland. I have also competed in Sweden, Poland and Czech Republic. Goals for 2007: Medals Training: After a summer of MTB XC racing I have gone back and started to build up a big base for August and the rest of the year. From now until the World Champioships I will be focussing on building strength and increasing race speed. Orienteering races will be an important part of training to practice technique. Improvements for 2007: Have clean races more often. Plans before / after the World Champs: Not much either side this year, it clashes with my final year at uni.
during 2005 when Adrian and I did 14 border crossings in 3 weeks. Goals for 2007: Realistically I would like to go top 10 - dream is for a medal. Training: More rest to improve benefits from training, plus a more systematic approach to food intake. Improvements for 2007: Other than the usual physical training, I have taken on board some sport psychology consultations after some problems in the trials. These will help me deal with my concentration issues Plans before / after the World Champs: If money allows then I will visit relatives in England who have caught the cycling bug too.
David Wood
Tony Clark
Alex Randall
Lives: Melbourne, VIC Club: Yarra Valley Orienteers Age: 35 Occupation: Horticulturalist Sponsors: Flight Centre, Scott, Netti Other interests: Running Background: Foot-O for as long as I can remember; MTB-O since 1998. Member of World Championship Teams: 2002-2007 (5 teams) Bike specs: New Yeti ASR dually, all the top specs. Best performance(s): Silver 2003 World Cup MTBO; Bronze 2004 MTB WOC Relay at Maryborough. Motivation for MTB-O: Injury forcing me out of foot-O. MTBO allowed me my dream of competing for the green and gold. Overseas competitions: Most of the Europe by now, especially
Training: Mainly train on road bike, core strength exercise with swissball, lots of intensity training and regular racing where possible. Improvements for 2007: Work on route choice and hill climbing. Plans before / after the World Champs: Before World Championships I want to maintain a healthy balance in my life while still training as hard as I can. After the Champs I will have to catch up on all the correction of work my students do when I am away.
Lives: Leongatha, VIC Club: Bayside Kangaroos Age: 40 Occupation: Secondary Teacher Other interests: Road cycling, some triathlons and mountain biking, played a lot of badminton as a kid. Background: Learnt from the best while I was at Uni of Ballarat (Dale Gordon), but never really competed in foot-O. Started MTB-O about 5 years ago and have loved it ever since, competing regularly in State Series and National Champs. Member of World Championship Teams: First MTB WOC team 2007 (though selected in 2005) Bike specs: 2004 Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail, Fox F80RLC forks, Crossmax Wheels, XT groupset. Best athletic performance: First in Men Open Vic 2005 State Series. An experience which motivated you toward MTB-O: Winning M35 at Blair’s Hut in 2002 Overseas competitions: First MTB-O trip overseas; have done many kilometres going to Victorian events. Goals for 2007: Improve my fitness and hill climbing; ride cleanly in all races in WOC.
Lives: Cairns QLD Club: Far North Qld Age: 28 Occupation: Environmental Engineer Sponsors: Flight Centre, Scott MTB Team, Adidas Other interests: Mountain Bike Racing, White Water Kayaking, Bushwalking Background: Competing in Rogaines since early teens Member of World Championship Teams: Mountain Bike Racing team in 1996 (conventional Olympic Distance Racing); First MTB WOC team 2007. Bike specs: Scott Scale with 07 XTR Best athletic performance: Winning a stage of the Crocodile Trophy. Motivation for MTB-O: A love for mountain biking and exploring the natural world. Overseas competitions: New Zealand on numerous occasions. Goals for 2007: To perform at least one clean race during the World Championships. Training: Build a base of long rides and regular short rides with some speed navigation training. Improvements for 2007: Step up to a higher level of racing. Plans before / after the World Champs: To travel with the Tour de France, do a few marathon races and then race at my best in August. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41
OCEANIA MTB-O
Super riding at Shelley The first Oceania MTB-O Championships were held at Shelley in North Eastern Victoria at the end of March. The Albury-Wodonga club put on the three-event MTB-O carnival comprising a Sprint, held at Nail Can Hill in Albury, and Long and Middle Distance events held at Shelley, one hour east from Albury, in lush mountain forests. The events doubled as Victorian Championships as well as selection races for the Australian team, and carried World Ranking Event status as well. The Forest Camp at Shelley was the assembly area as well as start / finish for the Middle and Long races and also provided excellent overnight accommodation for the riders to enjoy a weekend of top quality orienteering without further travel. Adrian Jackson dominated the Open Male class but there was quite a battle for the other podium places in each event between Alex Randall, Paul Darvodelsky, David Simpfendorfer and David Wood. In the Womens Open class, honours were shared with Carolyn Jackson, Thorlene Egerton and Julie Quinn each winning a Championship. A similar result occured in M40 with Fabrizio Andreoni, Tim Hatley and Steve Sullivan each winning one race. Course setters Rick Armstrong and Leigh Privett challenged competitors well on the new maps with a combination of fast forest tracks and some specially created single track through the pine forest. Full results and more photos can be seen on the event website at oceaniamtbo.org Adrian Jackson riding up the finish chute at Shelley. Photo: Peter Cusworth 42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Julie Quinn finishing strongly to win the Middle Distance race. Photo: Janet Buchan
Robert Prentice had a good tussle in M50 over the weekend with Peter Cusworth. Photo: Janet Buchan. Windchill Mapboards manufacturer Ralph Koch seen here finishing the Middle Distance race. Photo: Peter Cusworth Dion Keech battling the 36 degree temperatures and the trails on Nail Can Hill during the Sprint. Photo: Janet Buchan.
MTB-O Kath Copland
Lives: Melbourne VIC Club: Bayside Kangaroos Age: 29 Occupation: Paramedic Other interests: Have been doing adventure races for the last 3 years after officiating for the Coast-to-Coast in NZ for several years - thinking ‘I can do that’ (never have actually done the CTC but started my Adventure Racing experience with a 10day expedition race). Think Eco Challenge, in the outback, with 3 people I had never raced with, one of which we met the day before. Really steep learning curve there, I think we made every mistake it’s possible to make - I liken it to trying to learn to swim by leaping off the pier - not smart. Didn’t put me off though and completed the same race but in Tassie this time last year and had a ball - was on a high for about 3 days afterwards - after I caught up on the sleep we missed, getting only 21 hours in 7 days of virtually non-stop racing. Background: I guess what really got me into MTB-O was doing a few events when all of a sudden I started doing really well. I’d never won any event before so to start coming near the front of the pack was a bit of a shock. Mind you, all those training rides and races with Kevin and Brett (my AR team) and trying desperately to keep up with them probably helped. Great motivation as they are trying desperately not to let me get past them, so works out well. I’ve raced in NZ but I was there on holiday anyway so doesn’t really count. Does Tassie count as overseas? Member of World Championship Teams: First MTB WOC team 2007. Training: yikes, lots to do if I don’t want to get in when they are taking down the finish banner (not fun, although good motivation to train more next time). At the moment I’m using the 12km each way to and from work to practice sprints - lots of small hills so I either have a time to beat or pick
a gear and stay in it no matter what. I try to get into some bigger hills on a weekly longer ride, do street-O once or twice a week, have started back at the gym (when does it stop hurting?). And just for fun try to get out kayaking once or twice a week depending on work and other commitments. Will be trying to get to some bushO events as well to get some more navigation practice. Improvements for 2007: I haven’t really done this before, so this year all areas are up for improvement. I have a problem with going a bit gung-ho at the start though so need to learn to take it easy for the first couple of minutes and get it right. Plans before / after the World Champs: Just solid training. A week after I’m off to the Whitsundays for a 10-day adventure race - just to warm down. Now where’s that pier. Kay Haarsma
Lives: Adelaide, SA Club: Tintookies Age: 50+ Occupation: Secondary teacher/ librarian / AUS Team Coach Other interests: athlete, netballer, basketballer, triathlete, rogainer Background: Started foot-O in 1976. World Championships team 1981; WOC coach 1985; JWOC coach / manager about 7 times. National JWOC coach for many years. Started MTB-O in Aust in 1997 (first event), 2002 MTB WOC, 2004 MTB-O team coach Member of World Championship Teams: 1981 WOC Foot-O; 2002 MTB WOC; 2004 and 2007 MTB WOC coach. Bike specs: Trek 90 with updates Best performance: Winning 2002 Bike Adventure (2-day Polaris type event in elite female category with a Czech woman I was teamed up with the day before). Motivation for MTB-O: Two failed ACL knee reconstructions meaning I could not do foot-O. JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43
MTB-O Overseas competitions: About 20 different countries for foot-O, but only Czech Republic and France for MTBO. Goals for 2007: Will be concentrating on coaching and maximising everyone’s opportunity to perform at their best. Training: Just done a 2-week bike tour lugging trailer through Eyre Peninsula as a rapid get fit scheme. Did 800km plus a week Improvements for 2007: Apply riding fitness on roads to MTB-O; bike speed and navigation speed. Plans before / after the World Champs: Race in Poland, then probably cycle around Turkey afterwards. Thorlene Egerton
Lives: Brisbane, QLD Club: Ugly Gully Age: 40+ Occupation: Full-time PhD student in Physiotherapy looking at balance in older people. Sponsor: Gap Cycles (Brisbane) Other interests: Participate in adventure racing completing over 30 races since 2000 including three expedition length races. Also love ski touring, sea kayaking and bushwalking. Background: Started orienteering in UK in the mid-90s; been a QLD Cyclones member since 2002 with a very occasional top-10 placing in NOL races. Member of World Championship Teams: First MTB WOC team 2007. Bike specs: Bought my Trek Fuel EX9 second hand late in 2006. It’s a dually with disc brakes and by far the best bike I’ve ever had. It is the brunt of many jokes as it fits sideways inside a car with just the front wheel off. Best performance: Making the 2007 AUS team for Czech Republic. Motivation toward MTB-O: Adventure racing has given me a lot of confidence in my ability to navigate at speed on a bike. 44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Overseas competitions: Foot-O in the UK, Sweden, France, Ireland, USA, and NZ. Goals for 2007: I want to come out the other side of this year knowing I did my best. I want to be satisfied with my preparation and performances having made the most of the opportunity. Training: I have had no specific structure to my training which I will be trying to address. Improvements for 2007: I think I should pay particular attention to my mental focus especially on the start line when I tend to get extremely nervous. I want to develop a routine for the start line that I can use in Czech as I’ve never raced in such a big event before. Plans before / after the World Champs: Before MTB WOC I will be a juggling PhD work with race preparation and training. I will be in the USA in July at a conference, which will be the time when my training will have an emphasis on short speed and hill sessions. Prior to that, I’ll be focussing on long sessions including some adventure racing, to build up a solid base of fitness and MTB skill. I think I will have lots of time on planes and trains to study MTB-O maps and practise route choice.
Best athletic performances: MTB WOC 2006; Aus Champs 2006; Oceania Middle Distance 2007, any ride on The Whipstick (Bendigo). Motivation for MTB-O: First ever race (at Bogabilla) was so much fun I was hooked. Overseas competitions: Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia. Goals for 2007: Top-15 in individual races, relay medal. Training: About 15 hours/week of riding, mostly hilly, on and off road. Base/strength through to end of May and then increasing amount of speed work and racing. Keep a good mix of races. Improvement for 2007: Bike speed, navigation speed. Plans before / after the World Champs: Aim to go to Europe late June/early July for the summer season leading into WOC and get lots of racing under my belt. Will head to Bulgaria after WOC to hang out and have a holiday Carolyn Jackson
Paul Darvodelsky
Lives: Sydney NSW Club: Big Foot Orienteers, Northern Sydney Cycle Club Age: 40+ Occupation: Environmental engineer Sponsors: Flight Centre, Scott bikes, Netti Cycling Gear, Adidas eyewear, Cratoni helmets, Accel nutrition. Other interests: Rock climbing, mtb, road riding Background: Started foot-O in 1976; started MTB-O in 2001. Member of World Championship Teams: 2005 - 2007 (3 teams) Bike specs: Scott Spark 10, Crossmax SLR wheels and lots of other bling bling.
Lives: Ferny Creek VIC Club: Melbourne Forest Racers, Dirt Riders MTB Club Age: 40+ Occupation: Librarian Sponsor: Melbourne Bicycle Centre Clifton Hill Other interests: Family, MTB riding. Background: Most experienced member of the squad since 1979 in both Foot-O and MTB-O. Member of World Championship Teams: 2002 - 2007 (5 teams) Bike specs: Scott Genius RC Limited Best athletic performances: Bronze WOC 2004 (Relay); Gold Aus Champs 2006 (Long); Gold Oceania Middle Distance 2007 (Long). Motivation for MTB-O: Strong family commitment to orienteering excellence. Overseas competitions: France, Slovakia, Finland, Czech Republic.
Goals for 2007: Get to Czech injury free and with a strong mental focus. Training: Remain injury free with emphasis on hills and building a base for the August events. Improvement for 2007: Have clean runs more often. Plans before / after the World Champs: Get to Czech with quick return to family. David Simpfendorfer
Lives: Canberra ACT Club: Forest Riders ACT, CCC, Canberra Off-Road Cyclists Age: 33 Occupation: Public Servant Other interests: MTB, road riding. Background: Started MTB-O 2005. Member of World Championship Teams: 2006 - 2007 (2 teams) Bike specs: Scott Scale 20 Best athletic performances: Top-5 in 2007 Oceania Champs (3 races). Motivation for MTB-O: Bring my navigation accuracy up to my riding speed in MTB. Overseas competitions: Finland Goals for 2007: Clean navigational rides at good bike speed. Training: Focus on hill climbing and building a strong base for August. Improvement for 2007: Build on the experience from 2006 in Finland. Plans before / after the World Champs: Compete in Europe before and after WOC.
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
National Merit Badge awards The National Merit Badge Awards aim to recognise orienteers who achieve a consistent orienteering standard relative to their age-group peers and to be a fund raising activity for Australian Teams to World Championships. An orienteer can qualify for a Badge when three Badge credits have been earned within a two-year period. Badge credits can be earned at all Championship and Badge events, including AUS 3-Days. For further information contact: John Oliver, 68 Amaroo St, Wagga Wagga 2650 Tel: 069 226 208 ; e-mail: oliver.family@bigpond.com.au
Peter Ashforth WA.S M50 Silver Tom Bullock WA.S M55 Gold Jenny Casanova WA.S W21 Gold Jenny Casanova WA.S W21 Gold Susanne Casanova WA.S W21 Gold Peter Clark WA.S M50 Gold Peter Clark WA.S M50 Silver Miguel Clark WA.S M21 Gold Miguel Clark WA.S M21 Silver Toby Clark WA.S M14 Silver Robyn Cutten WA.S W65 Gold Warwick Dougherty WA.S M35 Silver Rae Harris WA.S W75 Gold Rae Harris WA.S W75 Gold Peter Kreminski WA.S M65 Gold Regina Mogridge WA.S W45 Bronze Andrew Mogridge WA.S M16 Silver Jim Rathjen WA.S M60 Gold Greg Rowberry WA.S M55 Gold Phil Stoeckel WA.S M50 Silver Frank Tomas WA.S M60 Gold Jasmine Sunley TK.V W16 Bronze Jasmine Sunley TK.V W14 Gold Rebekah Sunley TK.V W14 Silver Christine Marron TE.NT W35 Bronze Jon Potter TE.NT M55 Bronze Christopher Mason-Fyfe TT.S M12 Bronze Riordan Dose TT.S M14 Gold Luke Hazell TT.S M14 Silver Benjamin Diment TT.S M16 Silver Tom Dose TT.S M16 Gold Henry Hazell TT.S M16 Bronze Georgia Hicks TT.S W10 Silver Jemma Hicks TT.S W10 Gold Rachael Sampson TT.S W14 Gold Helen Mason-Fyfe TT.S W16 Gold Stephanie Mason-Fyfe TT.S W16 Silver Don Bajenoff IK.N M70 Gold Tom Carberry IK.N M14 Bronze Ian Froude IK.N M45 Bronze Marianne Froude IK.N W21 Bronze Sue Froude IK.N W45 Silver David Green IK.N M40 Bronze Dayle Green IK.N W35 Bronze Ian Hassall IK.N M70 Gold Libby Hassall IK.N W35 Bronze Keith Jay IK.N M55 Bronze Julie Mann IK.N W45 Silver Barry Pearce IK.N M60 Silver Brian Pettiford IK.N M45 Silver Peter Shepherd IK.N M55 Gold Glenn Bridgart WE.A M45 Bronze Andrew Cumming-Thom WE.A M45 Silver Ross Gilby WE.A M80 Bronze Norm Johnston WE.A M65 Gold Gordon Quantock WE.A M65 Bronze John Suominen WE.A M60 Bronze Hermann Wehner WE.A M80 Gold Martin Wehner WE.A M40 Gold Ken Thompson TT.S M55 Bronze Ross Barr GO.N M60 Gold Margaret Craig GO.N W65 Gold
Aidan Dawson GO.N M10 Gold Barbara Dawson GO.N W35 Bronze Graeme Dawson GO.N M45 Bronze Michele Dawson GO.N W12 Gold Andy Graham GO.N M35 Bronze John Havranek GO.N M35 Silver Melissa Havranek GO.N W21 Bronze Karin Hefftner GO.N W45 Silver Paul Heiskanen GO.N M21 Bronze Barbara Hill GO.N W35 Bronze Daniel Hill GO.N M10 Gold Matthew Hill GO.N M12 Gold Tony Hill GO.N M40 Silver Mike Isbell GO.N M65 Silver Carol Jacobson GO.N W55 Gold Ken Jacobson GO.N M60 Bronze Beverley Johnson GO.N W70 Bronze Brian Johnson GO.N M75 Silver Barbara Junghans GO.N W55 Bronze Ronald Junghans GO.N M60 Gold James Landon-Smith GO.N M40 Silver James Lithgow GO.N M45 Silver Jim Merchant GO.N M60 Gold Christa Schafer GO.N W65 Gold Neil Schafer GO.N M75 Gold Dennis Sparling GO.N M55 Bronze Anne Stewart GO.N W70 Gold Malcolm Stewart GO.N M75 Gold Larry Weiss GO.N M45 Bronze Mike Weller GO.N M45 Bronze Su Lin Weller GO.N W35 Bronze Basil Baldwin GS.N M65 Silver Jean Baldwin GS.N W60 Gold Robert Bennett GS.N M14 Silver Thomas Carter GS.N M14 Gold Bev Parton GS.N W45 Silver Daniel Parton GS.N M10 Silver Kevin Parton GS.N M55 Bronze Liam Parton GS.N M18 Silver Matt Parton GS.N M17 Gold Gregory Smith GS.N M45 Silver Maryanne Smith GS.N W35 Bronze Matt Barratt EV.T M16 Silver John Brammall EV.T M60 Bronze Valerie Brammall EV.T W60 Gold John Brock EV.T M60 Gold Anthony Brown EV.T M18 Gold Christine Brown EV.T W45 Gold Ian Brown EV.T M45 Silver Serena Cartledge EV.T W16 Bronze Nigel Davies EV.T M55 Gold Miles Ellis EV.T M21 Bronze Debbie Gale EV.T W55 Gold Roger Harlow EV.T M55 Bronze Tim Harlow EV.T M21 Bronze Bob Healey EV.T M60 Gold Catherine Hewitt EV.T W16 Gold Peter Hoban EV.T M60 Silver Alastair Mitchelson EV.T M16 Bronze Paul Pacque EV.T M50 Gold Brea Pearce EV.T W16 Gold Oscar Phillips EV.T M16 Gold
46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2007
Rebecca Phillips EV.T W14 Bronze Rebecca Snare EV.T W18 Silver Chanel Tobler EV.T W16 Silver Phil Walker EV.T M45 Silver Sam Webb EV.T M14 Gold Caryl Woof EV.T W70 Silver Sebastian Woof EV.T M18 Silver Sue Bament OH.S W45 Bronze Daniel Bell OH.S M10 Bronze Laura Bell OH.S W16 Silver Roy Bierton OH.S M80 Bronze Jennie Bourne OH.S W60 Gold Michelle Chamalaun OH.S W35 Gold Craig Colwell OH.S M45 Bronze Evelyn Colwell OH.S W45 Bronze Kris Colwell OH.S M17 Gold Talia Colwell OH.S W12 Silver Colin Dodd OH.S M55 Silver Patricia Fairclough OH.S W75 Silver Lauren Gillis OH.S W17 Silver Jenny Hembrow OH.S W45 Bronze Rebecca Hembrow OH.S W17 Silver Mallory Hughes OH.S W17 Gold Stuart Lane OH.S M65 Bronze Heinz Leuenberger OH.S M50 Bronze Catherine Loye OH.S W21 Bronze Vincent Loye OH.S M50 Silver Aaron Maddison OH.S M21 Bronze Andrew McComb OH.S M45 Gold Bryn McComb OH.S M12 Gold Rory McComb OH.S M16 Gold Teri McComb OH.S W45 Silver Ben Rattray OH.S M21 Gold Kerrin Rattray OH.S M21 Gold Michael Roberts OH.S M17 Gold Al Sankauskas OH.S M55 Silver Max Sankauskas OH.S M17 Silver Zita Sankauskas OH.S W45 Bronze Darrin Smith OH.S M21 Silver John Soden OH.S M40 Bronze Zara Soden OH.S W40 Bronze Carol Such OH.S W45 Bronze John Such OH.S M55 Bronze Nicole Such OH.S W17 Silver David Tilbrook OH.S M60 Gold Adrian Uppill OH.S M55 Bronze Robin Uppill OH.S W50 Gold Simon Uppill OH.S M17 Gold Ian Winn OH.S M45 Bronze Maureen Bailey PO.A W50 Silver Cameron Bailey-Price PO.A M16 Silver Catriona Bailey-Price PO.A W16 Silver Stephen Baker PO.A M45 Silver Bruce Bowen PO.A M50 Silver Scott Bowen PO.A M14 Gold Nadine Cejka PO.A W18 Gold Jennifer Clarke PO.A W18 Bronze Ian Crellin PO.A M55 Bronze Patricia D’Abrera PO.A W35 Bronze Richard D’Abrera PO.A M18 Bronze Sandra Erbacher PO.A W45 Bronze Paul Fischer PO.A M21 Silver Sue Garr PO.A W40 Gold Tony Garr PO.A M45 Gold Kay Grzadka PO.A W50 Silver David Hogg PO.A M60 Gold Ann Ingwersen PO.A W60 Gold Frank Ingwersen PO.A M55 Bronze Trevor Mobbs PO.A M21 Silver Luke Monaghan PO.A M16 Silver Samuel Monaghan PO.A M17 Silver Peter Price PO.A M55 Silver Richard Pywell PO.A M17 Bronze Wal Pywell PO.A M45 Silver Geoff Stacey PO.A M18 Gold Jill Walker PO.A W45 Silver Kristen Walker PO.A W18 Gold Geoff Wood PO.A M55 Bronze Brian Ashton LI.S M55 Bronze David Banks BS.A M75 Bronze Sophie Barker BS.A W21 Gold Valerie Barker BS.A W55 Gold
Andrew Blakers BS.A M50 Silver Anna Booth BS.A W60 Gold Ian Booth BS.A M55 Silver Ineka Booth BS.A W17 Gold Hannah Bragg BS.A W14 Gold Toni Brown BS.A W40 Silver Alicia Bruce BS.A W10 Gold Sean Bruce BS.A M16 Silver Phil Creaser BS.A M55 Silver Geoffrey Dabb BS.A M65 Bronze Michael D’Ascenzo BS.A M45 Silver Robert D’Ascenzo BS.A M16 Silver Robyn D’Ascenzo BS.A W50 Silver Ian deJongh BS.A M10 Gold Paul deJongh BS.A M14 Gold Tom deJongh BS.A M45 Silver Coral Dow BS.A W55 Bronze Lachlan Dow BS.A M16 Gold Bonnie Haiblen BS.A W14 Bronze Snowy Haiblen BS.A W18 Silver Carol Harding BS.A W45 Gold Heather Harding BS.A W18 Gold John Harding BS.A M50 Gold Matthew Harding BS.A M16 Gold Bob Hawkins BS.A M55 Gold Jenny Hawkins BS.A W60 Gold David Hay BS.A M45 Bronze David Jenkins BS.A M45 Gold Hannu Mannering BS.A M50 Silver Barbara Martin BS.A W50 Silver Sophie McAllister BS.A W14 Bronze Eino Meuronen BS.A M70 Gold Naomi Mitchell BS.A W14 Gold Alice Moore BS.A W18 Gold Kevin Paine BS.A M75 Gold Jack Palmer BS.A M70 Bronze Georgia Parsons BS.A W14 Gold Pauli Piiroinen BS.A M70 Gold David Poland BS.A M45 Silver Luke Poland BS.A M16 Silver Luke Poland BS.A M16 Bronze Oliver Poland BS.A M14 Gold Matthew Purcell BS.A M21 Silver Alan Sargeant BS.A M55 Silver Ross Stewart BS.A M40 Silver Dennis Trewin BS.A M60 Silver Wes Campbell WR.N M65 Bronze Alex Davey WR.N M45 Gold Briohny Davey WR.N W21 Gold Debbie Davey WR.N W45 Gold Janelle McGarva WR.N W55 Bronze Pauline Moore WR.N W55 Bronze Helen Alexander BK.V W65 Gold Ian Baker BK.V M70 Bronze Steve Bird BK.V M45 Silver Peter Cusworth BKV M45 Silver Mary Enter BK.V W35 Gold Murray Hanna BK.V M55 Bronze Elizabeth Hatley BK.V W45 Bronze Tim Hatley BK.V M35 Gold Penny Hearn BK.V W45 Silver Judi Herkes BK.V W60 Gold Keith Holmes BK.V M75 Bronze Mike Hubbert BK.V M60 Bronze David Knight BK.V M50 Bronze Bob Leicester BK.V M70 Bronze Paul Leicester BK.V M40 Bronze Robert Lewis BK.V M40 Gold Michael Magazanik BK.V M40 Silver Suzanne O’Callaghan BK.V W45 Bronze Jun Okabe BK.V M35 Bronze Bruce Paterson BK.V M40 Silver Stephen Peacock BK.V M55 Bronze Phil Poulton BK.V M50 Bronze David Rowlands BK.V M35 Gold Adam Scammell BK.V M21 Silver Vic Sedunary BK.V M50 Bronze Dianne Shalders BK.V W45 Bronze Jenny Sheahan BK.V W55 Bronze John Sheahan BK.V M65 Silver Charles Zerafa BK.V M55 Silver Rick Armstrong AW.V M55 Silver
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA Wayne Bajenoff AW.V M35 Bronze Alastair Buchan AW.V M40 Gold Janet Buchan AW.V W35 Bronze Hugh Cameron AW.V M55 Silver Robyn Cameron AW.V W60 Bronze Ian Herbert AW.V M60 Bronze Leigh Privett AW.V M60 Gold Rob Simmons AW.V M55 Silver Daniel Worsley AW.V M17 Silver Bridget Anderson UG.Q W20 Gold Emily Cantwell UG.Q W14 Silver Michelle Cantwell UG.Q W18 Silver Stephanie Cantwell UG.Q W10 Gold Rachael Effeney UG.Q W18 Silver Mathieu McGuire UG.Q M20 Silver Morgan McIntyre UG.Q W14 Gold Thomas McIntyre UG.Q M16 Silver Luke Mitchell UG.Q M16 Bronze Oliver Mitchell UG.Q M17 Gold Lisette Schults-Rand UG.Q W12 Silver James Sheldon UG.Q M18 Silver David Tay UG.Q M12 Bronze Julian Taylor UG.Q M16 Gold Hanny Allston AL.T W21 Gold Nick Andrewartha AL.T M21 Gold Karl Bicevskis AL.T M14 Gold Claire Butler AL.T W16 Gold Callum Cusick AL.T M14 Bronze Isobel Cusick AL.T W16 Bronze Jessica Davis AL.T W20 Gold Louis Elson AL.T M21 Gold Kylee Gluskie AL.T W18 Gold Marc Gluskie AL.T M14 Silver Peter Kleywegt AL.T M18 Gold Stuart Lawrie AL.T M14 Bronze Nicola Marshall AL.T W12 Gold Tom Marshall AL.T M14 Silver Sophie Warren AL.T W14 Bronze Jessie West AL.T W14 Gold Grant Bluett AO.A M21 Gold Grant Bluett AO.A M21 Gold Gareth Candy AO.A M21 Gold Gareth Candy AO.A M21 Gold Keith Conley AO.A M40 Silver Edith Gray AO.A W35 Bronze Grant McDonald AO.A M45 Gold Grant McDonald AO.A M45 Gold Heather McDonald AO.A W18 Gold Heather McDonald AO.A W18 Gold Mary McDonald AO.A W45 Gold Mary McDonald AO.A W45 Silver Robert McDonald AO.A M16 Gold Robert McDonald AO.A M16 Gold Michael Pfeifer AO.A M16 Gold Ian Prosser AO.A M45 Gold Jane Saye AO.A W45 Bronze Jane Saye AO.A W45 Gold Ann Scown AO.A W50 Gold Ann Scown AO.A W50 Silver John Scown AO.A M50 Gold John Scown AO.A M50 Gold Murray Scown AO.A M20 Gold Murray Scown AO.A M-12 Gold John Shelton-Agar AO.A M40 Gold John Shelton-Agar AO.A M40 Gold Wally Cavill DR.V M75 Bronze Debbie Dodd DR.V W45 Bronze Ian Dodd DR.V M45 Bronze Peter Grover DR.V M60 Bronze Louise Hall DR.V W35 Bronze Pam King DR.V W55 Bronze Allan Miller DR.V M70 Bronze Pat Miller DR.V W70 Silver Ilze Yeates DR.V W21 Bronze Peter Yeates DR.V M60 Silver Dick Barker TK.V M55 Silver Kathryn Barker TK.V W21 Silver Peter Beggs TK.V M55 Bronze Paul Elam TK.V M55 Gold Anne Garvey TK.V W35 Silver Mandy Hennessy TK.V W45 Bronze Jan Moore TK.V W60 Bronze
Ken Moore TK.V M65 Bronze Pam Prime TK.V W55 Silver Peter Prime TK.V M65 Gold Julie Sunley TK.V W40 Silver Jan Thomas TK.V W65 Silver Lindsay Thomas TK.V M55 Bronze Peter Ainscough TF.Q M50 Bronze Fiona Calabro TF.Q W50 Gold Pam Cox TF.Q W65 Gold Peter Cramer TF.Q M45 Bronze Donnita Dougall TF.Q W45 Silver Jamie Dougall TF.Q M21 Silver Jim Dougall TF.Q M40 Gold Kelsey Dougall TF.Q M18 Gold Gary Flynn TF.Q M16 Gold April Freese TF.Q W20 Silver Ben Freese TF.Q M18 Silver Rebecca Freese TF.Q W12 Gold Roy Kalecinski TF.Q M55 Bronze Ned May TF.Q M16 Bronze Peter May TF.Q M45 Gold Harry Mee TF.Q M14 Gold Simon Mee TF.Q M18 Gold Mark Nemeth TF.Q M40 Gold Julie Irvine TF.Q W35 Silver Brooke Pye TF.Q W16 Gold Gayle Quantock-Simson TF.Q W40 Gold Jessica Radstaak TF.Q W21 Bronze Kaitlin Radstaak TF.Q W14 Bronze Neil Simson TF.Q M35 Gold Robin Simson TF.Q M70 Gold Scott Simson TF.Q M21 Gold Natalie Strong TF.Q W18 Bronze Stephanie Strong TF.Q W16 Silver Johanna Tavner-Corner TF.Q W45 Silver Tony Tavner-Corner TF.Q M55 Silver Tom Tollbring TF.Q M75 Gold Erin Wallace TF.Q W17 Silver Jenny Woods TF.Q W45 Bronze Victoria Woolf TF.Q W18 Bronze Tyson Hillyard TJ.S M21 Gold Greg Morcom TJ.S M35 Gold Lee Merchant TJ.S M50 Gold Paul Hoopmann TJ.S M55 Gold Benjamin Lee TJ.S M14 Gold Benjamin Lee TJ.S M14 Bronze Benjamin Lee TJ.S M14 Silver Marissa Lee TJ.S W16 Gold Marissa Lee TJ.S W16 Silver Marissa Lee TJ.S W16 Bronze Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Gold Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Silver Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Bronze Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Silver Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Bronze Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Silver Tristan Lee TJ.S M18 Silver Brett Merchant TJ.S M18 Gold Brett Merchant TJ.S M18 Silver Brett Merchant TJ.S M18 Bronze Krystal Neumann EN.Q W20 Gold Kurt Neumann EN.Q M16 Gold Laurina Neumann EN.Q W20 Gold Mark Neumann EN.Q M75 Bronze Bob Walker PF.T M80 Bronze John Sutton RR.A M65 Silver John Sutton RR.A M65 Gold Neville Fathers SH.N M70 Bronze John Hodsdon SH.N M65 Gold Val Hodsdon SH.N W55 Gold Lyn Malmgron SH.N W55 Silver Dave Meyer SH.N M21 Gold Glenn Meyer SH.N M21 Silver Ian Meyer SH.N M21 Gold Robert Prentice SH.N M50 Gold Brianne Stewart SH.N W14 Gold Garry Stewart SH.N M45 Silver Lauren Stewart SH.N W18 Silver Peter Meyer SH.N M55 Silver Sandra Stewart SH.N W45 Silver Merran Warlters SH.N W65 Gold
You know you are an orienteer when .... • you show off your scratches and bruises with pride; •y ou optimise your route choices to and from the supermarket (even in the car park); • you always orient a street map to magnetic north; • you consider taping the shoelaces on your dress shoes; •y ou can recite your SportIDENT number from memory but have trouble remembering your phone number; •y ou laugh when you realise your pile of dirty clothes looks like a dot knoll; •y ou can’t drive past open forest without saying “That would make a great orienteering area.” •y ou know exactly how many double paces it is from your house to the mail box, the milk bar, your kids’ school, your friend’s house; • you are no longer surprised at finding the controls. adapted from AttackPoint.org
Sports Au s t r a l i a n
F o u n d a t i o n
Support your Sport through taxdeductible donations to the Australian Sports Foundation Check out the details and download the donor’s form from
www.orienteering.asn.au
JUNE 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47
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