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
