5 minute read
WESTERN NOMADS
W20 Australian Relay champions in 2005 - from left, Erin Post Kellie Whitfield, Sarah Dunnage Cody Whitfield, York Street O
Ian Dalton, Australian Schools Coordinator
Western Nomads won the Junior National League for the first time in 2005 - from left, Sarah Dunnage, Cody Whitfield, Kellie Whitfield, Ivan Komyshan, Erin Post, Rhys Challen
WA Juniors Win Aus Relay in Tassie 2005
THE Western Nomads will celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2009 !! Our claim to fame would have to be that we have by far invested the most in travel costs and amassed the most Frequent Flyer points of all the teams in the National Orienteering League (NOL). Our proudest achievement is winning the Junior National League (JNOL) in 2005, although we have had plenty of highs to celebrate. These include World Cup representation by Andy Hogg and Karen Staudte, Bushrangers by Craig Dufty and Rachel West, JWOC by Gareth Candy, Erin Post, Kellie Whitfield and Rhys Challen, World Masters Gold for Anthea Feaver and Bronze for Karen Staudte. Our Junior women have also had great success in the JNOL with wins for Erin Post and Kellie Whitfield while Sarah Dunnage has placed 2nd in this competition. Another highlight was the support provided by Orienteering Australia that enabled WA to host a round of the National League in 2005. This was the first time that a National League event had been held in WA outside a major carnival and the attendance at the event by many top eastern states orienteers gave locals the chance to finally see some of Australia’s best orienteers in action. Western Australian orienteers initially competed in the National League as part of the Transcontinental Tigersnakes team. Craig Dufty and Rachel West had keenly competed in some national league events prior to 1998, and the return to WA by Natalie Smith with Andy Hogg, together with good form for John Toomey in 1998, provided the motivation for this group to initiate a new State-based team. OAWA and Orienteering Australia both supported the move to establish a new team for WA and the team first competed in the National League from 1999. Our team suits got their first outing at the Australian Championships carnival held in WA in 1998, and helped to raise the profile of the team amongst the local orienteers. These uniforms were designed by the team members and proudly worn at all events. The team uniform was updated with brighter and more comfortable fabric in 2004, but is still based on the original design. The Western Nomads strive to maintain a good profile with the general orienteering population in Western Australia – many have been active members of the OAWA Council at various times and we make our summer/pre-Easter team training events open to everyone who wants to come along. OAWA and the Department of Sport and Recreation initially provided some funding to assist team members with travel costs and this was supplemented with fundraising by the team. We have run the Perth Metro (or Summer) Series as a fundraising initiative since 1998/99 taking the series from an 8 event series on black and white maps to a 13 event series on full colour maps. The increased participation in the Metro Series over time means that financial support for the team is presently derived solely from the Metro Series. One of the original aims of the team was to encourage greater participation and competition in the open age classes – to foster the development of local orienteers and to provide pathways to encourage junior orienteers to remain in the sport. We also aimed to have complete teams of at least 3 men and 3 women at all events. The Nomads have had an open team structure – anyone who travels and runs in the Elite class gets a guernsey and qualifies for OAWA funding. Again this structure was intended to encourage participation by as many as possible. The fact that a total of 15 men and 14 women have scored National League points for the Nomads over the past 8 years is testament that this philosophy has worked. Our full team goal has been harder to meet of late, but was something that we achieved in the initial years. Babies and adventure racing have taken their toll on the Nomads stalwarts and the 2006 & 2007 seasons have been a bit of a hiatus for the team. We will always struggle with our isolation, and the time taken to travel to events, as well as the cost, makes ongoing commitment difficult, particularly for the younger orienteers. However the current crop of juniors and recent juniors have shown great potential and we certainly hope they continue with the sport and one day take us to the top of the table. What a great way to see Australia!
compiled by Carol Brownlie
