TOP EVENTS

2008

March 21-24 Australian 3-Days Dubbo, NSW aus3days2008.orienteering.asn.au June 27 WMOC 2008 -July 5 Marinha Grande, Portugal www.wmoc2008.fpo.pt June 30- JWOC 2008 July 6 Gothenberg, Sweden www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008 July 13-18 Fin5 Saarijarvi, Finland www.fin5-2008.net July 13-20 WOC 2008 Olomouc, Czech Republic www.woc2008.cz July 21-25 O-Ringen 2008 Dalarna, Sweden www.oringen.com/dalarna2008 July 25-30 APOC 2008 South Korea www.apoc2008.kr July 30- Nordvestgallopen 2008 Aug 8 Voss/Bergen, Norway Aug 3-9 Creoso 6 Day South East Wales Aug 3-9 French 6 Days Aveyron, France www.cdco12.org Aug 24-31 MTB-WOC 2008 and MTB-JWOC 2008 Ostróda, Poland www.mtbo.pl/woc2008/ Sept 20-28 Australian Championships Carnival Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps Sept 30 Australian MTB-O Championships -Oct 1 Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps

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Xmas 5-Days 2009

January 3-11 Oceania Championships 2009 South Island, New Zealand www.oceania2009.co.nz April 10-13 Australian 3-Days The Royal Easter O, Launceston, Tasmania www.tasorienteering.asn.au June (long AUS MTBO Championships 2009 weekend) (Sprint; Middle; Long) Sth Australia July 5-12 JWOC 2009 Trentino, Italy www.jwoc2009.it July Fin5 Hameenlinna, Finland July 19-24 O-Ringen 2009 Smaland, Sweden www.oringen.com/smaland2009 Aug 2-8 Scottish 6-Days Tayside, Scotland www.scottish6days.com/2009/ Aug 2-8 Swiss O Week Muotatal, Switzerland www.swiss-o-week.ch Aug 9-16 MTB-WOC 2009 Ben Shemen (20km from Tel Aviv), Israel Aug 18-23 WOC 2009 Miskolc, Hungary www.woc2009.hu Sept 26 AUS Championships Carnival 2009 Oct 4 Victoria www.vicorienteering.asn.au/ Oct 10-17 WMOC 2009 Lithgow NSW www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au

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Xmas 5-Days

Experiences of an older Orienteer – continued from page 30.

• In Denmark open yellow areas are to be avoided as they are usually waist high with nettles. • Marshes in Sweden can have trees growing in them. In one case costing me 25mins as I searched for a feature in an extensive marsh I thought was open forest. • A black circle is where there once was charcoal burning, so they say, but it can now have a clump of trees growing out of it. There will be over 15,000 competitors at O-Ringen in Sweden and 4,000 at the World Masters – so be prepared to finish more than 20mins behind the winner in your age class. Expect to revisit the basic orienteering errors list, like: • 180 degree mistakes that go on for a kilometre. • leaving out controls, especially drinks and road crossing ones. • even going to the wrong start control where there’s more than one provided, which makes finding the first control very interesting. Expect to get injured and/or sick, in new and familiar ways. My personal list includes: • Contacting Lyme’s Disease from a tick bite in Sweden. • Spearing my leg on a sharp stick in Austria (pretty ordinary). • Face planting on an asphalt finishing chute in Finland. • Leaving my knee behind between two rocks in Scotland. • Getting a hideous skin disease from bathing in the River

Dee in Scotland. Apart from nearly freezing to death I didn’t realise I was just downstream from a sewer outfall. • And then there’s the usual batch of flu’s and colds.

Finally, Some Tips for Having an Interesting Trip

• Try to avoid learning the local language. You will have more adventures!! • Always travel alone. You will meet more locals, especially drunken ones on trains, boats, etc!! • Always try to get the cheapest deals on travel and accommodation; there’s a reason they’re cheap!! • Accept that the older you are the longer it will take to get over travelling, just like getting over racing, so factor in a holiday when you get back.