DID YOU KNOW Competed in Most Countries From Norway, Petter Fure reports that “Peo Bengtsson (Sweden) has orienteered in about 84 countries while Norway’s Invar Braathen and Bernt O. Myrvold have 77 countries to date. Next year the Norwegian travel company PWT (www.pwttravel.com) has a cruise expedition http://www.pwttravel.com/karibien/karibien_ e.htm with competitions on a lot of islands in the Caribbean. Bernt O. Myrvold is entered, and will probably overhaul Peo Bengtsson. Amazing.” We haven’t done a detailed investigation amongst well-travelled Australians but it seems that Blair Trewin would be high on the list with 23 countries: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Kazakhstan, United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Italy. Your Editor can claim only a paltry 15 countries. There are probably plenty of readers who have competed in more countries than that. Please let us know.
Was WOC 2007 fair for all?
Olav Lundanes
Norwegian Juniors in motorway accident in China Sept 27 – Junior World Champion, Olav Lundanes (Østmarka club), Magne Dæhli (Løten club) and Ida Marie Næss Bjørgul (Halden club), were involved in a fatal car crash in China. A local tried to cross an unlit motorway at night and was hit by the car in which the Norwegians were passengers. The local was killed and the O-stars shocked, but fortunately unhurt. They were in China to participate in the Park World Tour series. Lundanes said that they are OK, and needed no “shrink” after the accident. So “back to business” - orienteering. The Norwegian Dagbladet headline read “Sat two hours in the Chinese wilderness with dead man”. It also said that the questioning of the witnesses took “some” time, as none of the Chinese police officers spoke any English.
Reports and sightings of control ‘watchers’ calling in runners to controls leads to the obvious question as to whether runners from some nations had that little extra advantage over their competitors. Those who won medals in all the Finals were clear and well-deserved winners who showed that they were the top performers on the day. But placings well down the list are just as important to those orienteers who are fighting for them. A few seconds saved here and there on the course can mean quite a lot and if those seconds are saved unfairly then those who are pushed down the finish list can rightly feel annoyed. Many lowertier competitors are fighting for a certain top-whatever finish to help obtain or retain funding for next year’s campaign. Calling out the location of controls is often heard of in major events in Europe but it’s been said that it could never happen in a World Championship. Well it has, and it’s high time the sport’s administration took steps to stamp out the practice. The principle of The Silent Forest must prevail in Orienteering.
Brits claim schools cross-country is physical abuse Advising them about their legal rights at school, a Guide to 14–16 years old British school kids tells them “You have the right to be protected from emotional or physical abuse”. Just two examples are given – bullying and cross-country running. The publishers of the Guide have sold more than 30,000 copies to schools around Britain. We wonder what their attitude is to rugby.
O truly is a family sport Two years ago we ran an article describing how local Park & Street orienteers had donated generously to give a fellow orienteering family a much-needed holiday. In an article entitled “Orienteering is a Family Sport” (AO-Dec’05, p3) Peter Yeates described how young orienteer, Lachlan Korvin, was dealing with chemotherapy and radiation treatment to beat a disease which had recently claimed his mother. Peter described how his Dandenong Ranges club had “decided to put in a bit of money and we thought we would “rattle a tin” at the next couple of events and raise a few hundred dollars. We were promptly staggered by the response and in two weeks these wonderful people had donated over $1600, many to a family that they barely knew. I asked one generous donor how this could be so and his simple reply was, “because he is one of us and this could happen to any of us.” Lachie went on that holiday, courtesy of “these wonderful people”, recovered his health and is back at Billanook College. As a result of his ordeal Lachie has become involved with Canteen which supports young people affected by cancer. He recently received their Shooting Star award for living the organisation’s values and he featured in an article in the local newspaper. 22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2007
2007 Melbourne Marathon Tasmanian orienteer Hanny Allston won the Women’s division of the Melbourne Marathon held in October. Her time of 2:40:32 was her best so far. Occasional Park & Street orienteer, Agni Ziogos, won her 5055 category. Her time was 3:12:10 for 1st 50-55 female and 17th Female overall. The Women’s Half Marathon was won by another Park & Street orienteer and 2006 Commonwealth Games Marathon representative, Lauren Shelley (BK-V), in a time of 1:14:54, and Martin Dent (ACT) finished 2nd in the Men’s Half Marathon in 1:03:43.
Snakebite at Rogaine Tyson Hillyard (TJ & Southern Arrows manager)) fell sick during a Rogaine up near Burra in Sth Australia and had to be evacuated to an Adelaide hospital with what turned out to be a nasty snakebite that had him crook for quite awhile.
