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 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

of the map. Further, I and my team members had no difficulty reading the map, but like others, we were challenged at times by the complexity of the terrain. Eric Andrews did a fine job and reached a useful compromise in dealing with two base maps with different levels of detail. The contours are more detailed on the eastern side because Eric had access to a higher quality base map there. This was of little or no importance for competitors because the checkpoints used were on major features, certainly on features well above the level of fine detail on the eastern section of the map. I can appreciate that some competitors may have been confused by the level of detail on the eastern side of the map, however, this confusion is akin to that experienced by orienteers in some granite areas. Experienced competitors know what to do in this situation; that is, ignore the fine detail and use the big features for navigation. It may be that concern about the accuracy of rogaining maps develops from a misunderstanding of the requirements for Orienteering and Rogaining. For the former, accurate maps showing relatively small features are essential because of the shorter winning times for events. Omission of a patch of thicker vegetation on an Orienteering map could disadvantage some competitors and be the difference between finishing in or out of the placings. While Rogaining also requires accurate maps (particularly accurate contour detail), the extended duration of the event and the size of the competition area make it both unfeasible and unnecessary for the level of detail required for an Orienteering map. Regarding the second criticism: in fact, the administrative hierarchy of Rogaining is quite similar to Orienteering with a national body overseeing the administration of State associations. Rogaining has demonstrated impressive national and international growth in recent years with associations in each of the States and Territories, and is well established in USA, Canada, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Ireland, Estonia and Russia. World Rogaining Championships are held every two years. The 2008 World Championships will be held in Estonia (http://8wrc2008.rogain.ee/). Opinion pieces are valuable but their value lies in the accuracy and the fairness of those opinions. Unfortunately, in my opinion, both of these qualities are lacking in important sections of the article.

Ian Dempsey

Re “Orienteering in Alice Springs”

I refer to the article “Orienteering in Alice Springs” in the Sept’07 edition. The article reports on the Orienteering events organized as a lead up to the Yeperenye Yaw Australian Rogaining Championships 2007 held in the East MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory, and on the Rogaining championships, but unfortunately ends with a number of negative comments which I consider are out of place in The Australian Orienteer. From my experience, enjoying both Orienteering and Rogaining, the 1:33,000 scale map for the Yeperenye Yaw event was of a high standard particularly considering the area covered of approximately 200 km2. Similarly the map for the World Rogaining Championship held in 2006 in the Warrumbungles, at the same scale, is an excellent map. Both maps involve photogrammetry and cartography by people well known in mapping of major Orienteering events including the recent JWOC. Unfortunately two controls at the ARC 2007 were not at the location shown on the map. In my team’s case Murphy’s Law was rampant as we visited the two controls sequentially between 2 and 4am Sunday morning. However we could still admire the magnificent country under a full moon and console ourselves at the time with the belief that we had visited the locations shown on the map. Subsequently, and appropriately, following consideration by the administrative committee, team scores were adjusted when supported by the electronic data of the route followed by the team. Overall rogaining does provide an attractive navigating experience with events of 6, 12 or 24 hours duration. The Northern Territory Rogaining Association is to be congratulated for organizing an excellent ARC 2007. Personally I enjoy both Orienteering and Rogaining, so let’s support each other for the benefit of both sports.

John Anderson Garingal Orienteers and NSW Rogaining Association

VICTORINOX AWARD

The quarterly Victorinox Award goes to Vanessa Round for her excellent performances in JWOC 2007 held near Dubbo last July. Against fierce opposition Vanessa achieved a 6th place podium placing in the Classic Long Distance event. Vanessa will receive a Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/alarm/timer; retail value $109.95.