LETTERS 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.
Not Elite I am happy to support Orienteering Australia, but can seldom find anything I want to read in the magazine. I am a W65 recreational Orienteer with no prospects of going to big events or competing with top Orienteers. I Orienteer for fun and fitness and have no access to coaching, but I enjoy the bush and would love to improve my navigation skills. Any chance of including some coaching tips, or general information for the geographically challenged, or am I the only one out there who is not an elite athlete? Sally Grattidge Townsville Ed: I’m trying to broaden the scope of articles but I am limited rather by what people will submit. I hope the Nutrition section is of interest to you, at least. And I think most people like to read about our Juniors doing so well.
Rogaining article (Sept’07) I write in reply to the article that appeared in AO-Sept’07, p35. I do not know who the author was as the article was not credited. In any case, I and many of my colleagues in Rogaining have been astonished by the seeming rancour of the attack on Rogaining contained in the last two paragraphs of the article. I hope that you will give me a right of reply. Firstly, we all know that the maps used in Rogaining differ significantly from those used in Orienteering. In the view of almost all Rogainers, the use of Government Survey maps is an inherent part of the sport, and ‘errors’ and other ‘shortcomings’ in these maps are accepted as part of the sport. An attempt to carry over into Rogaining the expectations of mapping one has from Orienteering is simply wrong – the “fault”, if any, is in the expectation, not in the sport. We all accept that controls should not be misplaced, or located on features where the mapping is doubtful. Errors of this type do, however, occur – in both sports. I have been at (major) Orienteering events where courses have had to be cancelled because of a misplaced control. This has not led me to criticize Orienteering in general, or claim that this limits Orienteering’s “potential to grow”. In Rogaining, the ability to know when it is time to “move on”, rather than to persist with an unfound control, is, in fact, a part of the sport. This is not to minimise the problems associated with misplaced or badly sited controls, nor that we should not take every effort to reduce (ideally remove) the incidence thereof. It is regretted that the occasional example may (as started by the author of the article) “limit the enjoyment factor” of some competitors. But this is certainly not true for most Rogainers I know. My own memories and enjoyment of the many Rogaines I have competed in have certainly not been adversely affected by the occasional misplaced or badly sited control I have dealt with. Secondly, the attack on Rogaining as having “an inflexible administrative hierarchy” left me amazed, and not knowing whether to fume or laugh. Having being involved in both 30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2007
sports for over 20 years, I have, in general, found the administration in Rogaining to be more easy going / less regimented than that in Orienteering. What “red tape”? I can categorically state that I have found very little “red tape” in Rogaining. The author of the article should have provided some substantiation in support of this extraordinary claim. No doubt there are instances in both sports where we are not as “user friendly” as possible, and that efforts should be made to reduce these. Unfortunately, the article in question gives no guide to the Rogaining fraternity as to what the perceived issues are. The reference to Athletics and Swimming in the 60s and 70s is unhelpful to me - and I suspect to most other readers. Perhaps the author had a bad experience at the recent Rogaine Championships. If so, I feel sorry for him/her. But to attempt to tar all of Rogaining is ridiculous. Glenn Bridgart President, ACT Rogaining Association Member, Bayside Kangaroos Orienteering Club Ed: any unattributed text in the magazine is editorial.
Rogaining In AO-Sept’07, you wrote “Rogaining also suffers from an inflexible administrative hierarchy similar to the difficulties seen in Athletics and Swimming in the 60s and 70s. They need to recognise that they are there to help competitors (their customers) rather than bind them with red tape.” Some rogainers have taken offence, drawing comparisons with the red tape they experience at Orienteering events. I would like to offer you some support. Rogaining has a great tradition of seeking feedback from participants and using this feedback to evolve. At the same time, there has been a considerable shift to what you call “inflexible red tape” over the past 25 years. This inflexibility is also seen in Orienteering, netball, swimming, soccer and many other sports. A focus on making Rogaining completely “fair” has led to more restrictive rules on many aspects. One example is the increasing inflexibility of Rogaining rules about teams getting credit for checkpoint visits. The policy now applied may be appropriate to top level competitors (although this can be debated as well) but is often irrelevant to the needs of many other participants. Administrators in many sports have the view that they must follow the rules blindly. They see the rules as an end in themselves. However, Rogaining and other sports are primarily for enjoyment. Rules are adopted firstly for safety reasons, and secondarily as a way to ensure a fair and enjoyable result. They are not an end in themselves. Maintaining flexibility in applying rules is good, not bad. If I am competing in a Rogaine, I trust the organizers to be fair. Applying this to the example above, if they credit points to a team who have no plans to be competitive and who have lost their checkpoint card, this meets the aims of the sport better than rigidly giving them zero. Rod Phillips (VIC)
AUS Rogaining Championships The informative article in AO-Sept’07 was spoilt by some unsubstantiated criticism of Rogaining. I interacted with a wide range of competitors after this year’s event and didn’t encounter a single criticism of the accuracy
