The Australian Orienteer – June 2008 by Orienteering Australia

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The Australian Sports Commission proudly supports Orienteering Australia The Australian Sports Commission is the Australian Government agency that develops, manages and invests in sport at all levels in Australia. Orienteering Australia has worked closely with the Australian Sports Commission to develop orienteering from community participation to high-level performance.

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION 2 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

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w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u Orienteering Australia PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911 orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 President: Bill Jones oa_president@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6258 6362 Director (High Performance): Mike Dowling oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au h: 03 6244 7173 Director (Finance): Blair Trewin oa_finance@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 Director (Development): Ben Rattray oa_development@netspeed.com.au m: 0404 781 032 Director (Technical): Andy Hogg oa_technical@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6125 9962 h: 02 6251 9777 Director (Special Projects): Robin Uppill oa_projects@netspeed.com.au h: 08 8278 3017 m: 0419 037 770 IOF Vice President: Hugh Cameron oa_international@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6027 0885 Executive Officer: Kay Grzadka orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 m: 0421 174 846 Manager (High Performance): Robert Preston oa_headcoach@netspeed.com.au m: 0403 296 516 Badge Applications: John Oliver 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

STATE ASSOCIATIONS Orienteering Queensland Inc: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Admin Officer: Sandy Cantwell, Ph (07) 3379 8238 oqadmin@iprimus.com.au OA NSW: PO Box 3295, North Strathfield NSW 2137. Secretary: Dave Lotty, Ph. (02) 8116 9848 Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402, Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Office: John Suominen, Ph. (02) 6162 3422 orienteering.act@webone.com.au Victorian OA: PO Box 1010 Templestowe 3106. Secretary: Warwick Williams. Ph. (03) 8846 4140 voa@netspace.net.au OA South Australia: State Association House, 73 Wakefield St Adelaide SA 5000. Secretary: Ken Thompson 08 8351 4757 secretary@oasa.net.au OA Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6904. Secretary: Carol Brownlie Ph. (08) 9446 3457 carolnken@ozemail.com.au Orienteering Tasmania Inc.: PO Box 339, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005. Secretary: Cindy Fagg secretary.oti@trump.net.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: David Rolland brolland@bigpond.com

NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE

July 18. Time-sensitive: July 25

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 2/08 (no. 150) JUNE 2008

The national magazine of Orienteering Australia Inc. ABN 77 406 995 497 Published four times a year: First day of March, June, September, December. Print Post Approved PP 236080/00011 Editor: Michael Hubbert, P.O. Box 165, Warrandyte, Victoria 3113 mikehubbert@ozemail.com.au Phone (03) 9844 4878 Magazine Design & Assembly: Peter Cusworth, 8 View Street, Avonsleigh, Vic. 3782. Ph. 0409 797 023 cusworth@netspace.net.au Magazine Treasurer: Blair Trewin Printer: Ferntree Print Centre, 1238 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully. Contribution deadline: July 18. Time-sensitive material, July 25. Deadline dates for contributions are the latest we can accept copy. Publication is normally planned for the 1st of March, June, September & December. Copies are dispatched in bulk to State associations in the week prior to that date. Regular Contributors: Badge Awards: John Oliver; Competition: Blair Trewin; High Performance: Mike Dowling; MTBO: Blake Gordon; Official News: Kay Grzadka; Nutrition: Gillian Woodward; Training: Steve Bird; Psychology: Jason McCrae. Contributions are welcome, either directly or via State editorial contacts. Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions. Guidelines for Contributors are available from the editor or from state contacts. State Editorial Contacts Qld. – Liz Bourne 07 4683 6374 (h) batmaps@halenet.com.au NSW – Alex Davey alexdavey@internode.on.net ACT – Philip Purcell philippurc@hotmail.com Vic. – SA – Claire Davill 08 8226 4381 (w) davill.claire@saugov.sa.gov.au WA – Cath Chalmers 08 9380 4049 catheoin@ozemail.com.au Tas. – Mary Hawthorne 03 6243 8616 (h) editor.oti@trump.net.au Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 inc GST. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A44, Rest of World $A49. Delivery is airmail, there is no seamail option. Please send payment in Australian dollars by bank draft or international postal order, or pay direct by Visa or Mastercard. Quote full card number and expiry date. Subscription renewals (direct subscriptions only). The number in the top right-hand corner of the address label indicates the final issue in your current subscription. Opinions expressed in The Australian Orienteer are not necessarily those of Orienteering Australia.

CONTENTS AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS................................ 4 WA I TA N G I C A R N I VA L , N Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 S I LVA AWA R D S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 T R A I N I N G – G e n d e r P e r s p e c t i v e.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 N U T R I T I O N .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9 G A N G - O B O O K R E V I E W.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 CLUB DEVELOPMENT AWARD.................... 22 W AT E R AT E V E N T S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 HIGH PERFORMANCE.............................. 27 VICTORIAN JUNIORS ............................. 28 A U S T R A L I A N M T B O T E A M .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 L E T T E R S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 TOP EVENTS......................................... 35 N AT I O N A L M T B O S E R I E S, Ro u n d 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1 OA FINANCES ...................................... 45 E X E C U T I V E M AT T E R S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6

Front Cover: Bryan Keely (Vic) winner of Men’s 20 Elite at the Australian 3-Days. Photo: Eric Morris.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

Simon Uppill triumphed narrowly over Southern Arrows teammate, Kerrin Rattray. Photo: Eric Morris

Kathryn Ewels (VIC) won the 3-Days W21E title after a great last day charge Photo: Eric Morris

Hugh Moore nearly won each day in M60, but had a comforatable overall victory. Photo: Bob Mouatt

4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Rachel Effeney (QLD) won the W20 sprint convincingly. Photo: Bob Mouatt

2 0 0 8 AU S T R A L I A N 3 - DAY S

Final Day Dramas at Dubbo Blair Trewin

HERE were dramatic final-day finishes in all four elite classes as Australia’s orienteers returned to the JWOC’07 areas in Dubbo for the Easter Carnival. The last-day chasing start was back for the first time since 2001, and in all four classes the result was still in considerable doubt with a handful of controls remaining.

Laurina Neumann crossing the line on the final day. Photo: Rob Preston

That gave fellow South Australian Rattray his first major Long Distance win by 41secs.

Perhaps the pick of the races was W21E. Jo Allison opened up a useful lead of almost a minute after the Sprint at Western Plains Zoo, an event where many of her opponents (and several in other classes) struck trouble at the spectator control. That advantage was preserved after Saturday was declared a no-race, as a result of identically-numbered final-day controls being out in the same area.

Uppill still led narrowly into the chasing start, but Shepherd and Rattray had caught him by #2 and it looked set to be a three-way pack race. That was reduced to two when Shepherd fell on the way to #6, dislocated his thumb and had to abandon the race. Uppill and Rattray were then together almost to the end, but, as in the women’s race, superior speed over the last two legs was decisive. Uppill pulled away to score by 13secs. Grant Bluett, in his first major event for some time, was best of the rest, catching Rob Preston early and then breaking away on a route choice into the spectator control.

The Long Distance day is often when Easter is won and lost. On a day when eight runners were within just over four minutes of the lead, there was a surprise at the front when Allison Jones, in the early stages of her post-parenthood comeback, hit the front at halfway of a fluctuating race and held it to the end. Anna Sheldon, whose lead-up form had been indifferent, was an equally unexpected second, whilst Jo Allison lost four minutes at #5 and could not get back into contention despite a solid run thereafter.

Rachel Effeney made the first big statement in W20, winning the Sprint convincingly in a time that would have been good enough for second in the Open class, with Laurina Neumann the only other competitor who was even close. A third Queenslander came to the fore on Saturday (W20 was the only elite class in which Saturday’s race stood); Bridget Anderson took the lead on the long fourth leg and was never headed from there, despite a strong finish from Neumann.

In the final-day chasing start, Jones went out with a lead of 1min19sec over Allison, who in turn had six others within three minutes of her. Kathryn Ewels, after steady but unspectacular runs, started the day in fifth place. She and Vanessa Round caught Allison at #2; meanwhile, Jones lost three minutes there as the pack went through her. She was never able to regain it. The remaining three were together until Round dropped off on a longleg in mid-race, but Ewels and Allison ran head-to-head until the Victorian pulled away from the second-last control, winning by 18secs after a great last-day charge. Round was third and Jones fourth.

It was Neumann’s turn to take the honours on a rather erratic Long Distance day, as she swapped the lead with Anderson on a day when all the leaders lost time at various stages. She took the lead for good at #9 and consolidated it over the final controls. Effeney’s overall chances were ended when she lost 15mins on the long leg, and Krystal Neumann came into the picture with a third placing, despite losing 3min30sec at the first control.

Julian Dent dominated the early exchanges in M21E, but he was only ever going to run the short days whilst he recovered from a knee injury. That was expected to make it a two-way contest between Dave Shepherd and Simon Uppill, who were second and third after the Sprint and also had the best times behind Dent on the cancelled second day. A third player was added to the mix on the Long Distance day. Kerrin Rattray had had a slice of luck when his worst day of the weekend (even before the offending control) was wiped from the record books, but he took full advantage on a Long Distance day which fluctuated between the three leaders. Shepherd led early after jumping to a one-minute lead by #3, where Uppill lost time. Uppill then hit the front when Shepherd lost two minutes at #9, and held it for most of the rest of the course, but he was never able to make a decisive break over Rattray, which meant that he had nothing in reserve when losing 1min40sec at the second-last.

Laurina Neumann appeared to be heading for a routine win for the first half of the final day, stretching her initial lead of 1min43sec by another couple of minutes. That was ended by a mistake at the eighth control, which was enough for Anderson to catch her. They were together for the next few controls, before Anderson made the decisive break at the third-last control. Neumann came back at the end, but not by enough to make deep inroads into a lead that ended up at 27secs. Effeney had a solid last day to overhaul Krystal Neumann for third in a race which delivered a Queensland quadrella. Bryan Keely, who went into Easter a warm favourite after his huge win in the opening National League round, continued that form into the Sprint, winning by more than a minute, a margin which was expanded when both Nick Andrewartha and Lachlan Dow lost time at the spectator control. After a fruitless Saturday, he was joined at the front on Sunday by Oliver Mitchell. Mitchell took the lead by #4, and never let it go in a career-best result. James Sheldon, who Mitchell had caught early on, squeezed Keely out of second on the day by the narrowest possible margin; the gap to first of two and a half minutes left Mitchell a narrow leader into the last day. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

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6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

SILVA National Orienteering League Event Calendar 2008 Event number

Date

Event/location

Format

8 March

Victorian Relay Championships

Relay

9 March

Eureka Challenge, Ballarat, VIC

Long

21 March

Australian 3-Days Prologue, Dubbo, NSW

Sprint

22 March

Australian 3-Days Day 1, Dubbo, NSW

Middle

23 March

Australian 3-Days Day 2, Dubbo, NSW

Long

24 March

Australian 3-Days Day 3, Dubbo, NSW

Relay distance

29 March

ASC Galaxy Sprint, Canberra, ACT

Sprint

29 March

ASC Galaxy Mixed Relay, Canberra, ACT

Mixed Relay

30 March

Canberra Cup, ACT

17 May

Sun Coast Classic, St Helens, TAS

Sprint

17 May

Sun Coast Classic, St Helens, TAS

Middle

18 May

Sun Coast Classic, St Helens, TAS

Long

20 Sept

Australian Middle Distance Championships, Maryborough, QLD

Middle

21 Sept

QLD Championships, Maryborough, QLD

Long

23 Sept

NOL Round 14, Maryborough, QLD

Middle

26 Sept

Australian Sprint Championships, Maryborough, QLD

Sprint

27 Sept

Australian Long Distance Champs, Maryborough, QLD

Long

28 Sept

Australian Relay Championships, Maryborough, QLD

Relay

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JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

2 0 0 8 AU S T R A L I A N 3 - DAY S The two leaders were together almost all the way on the final day, with Keely closing the 14sec gap to Mitchell by #2. They were still together with three controls to go, and Mitchell took a narrow lead into the second-last, but Keely had the superior speed and blew his opponent away in the finishing sprint. Nick Andrewartha ran very well for most of the way and at various times threatened to bridge the three-minute gap to the leaders, but never quite did and then lost two minutes at the second-last. He was still comfortably ahead of the pack contesting fourth, in which Lachlan Dow headed a group of six within 90 seconds.

S I LV A N AT I O N A L O R I E N T E E R I N G L E A G U E

Simon Uppill and Bruce Arthur sprint to the line at the NOL event in Canberra.

Todd Neve and Lilian Burrill signalled that there will not be too many years before they are challenging for the upper reaches of the junior elite classes with solid wins in their classes. Neve, who enters M16 after back-to-back national titles in M14, lost 10 minutes at the sixth control on the first day to leave him in fourth place, but won both the last two days by about five minutes, overhauling Ian Lawford on the last day. Burrill was less troubled in W16, finishing 11 minutes clear after two wins and a second. Rebekah Sunley recovered from ninth on the first day to edge out Georgia Parsons and Glennie Nottle for third. The closest veteran finish came in one of its smaller classes – M35. Scott Simson was 11 minutes down after the first day but won the last two. It was almost enough to give him the title, but not quite, as Shane Trotter held on by nine seconds. M40 was also a very close finish, as Magne Knudsen took out his first major event in Australia by 42secs after overhauling Lance Read on the final day, whilst Jenny Enderby, who (as Jenny Anderson) won three national junior titles in the 1980s, returned to national competition after a long break with a win in W40. Some names we are used to seeing at the top were totally dominant in their classes. Geoff Lawford (M50) and Jenny Bourne (W50) both won all three days and had margins well into double figures, as did Alex Tarr (M65), Neil Schafer (M80), Sue Mount (W70) and Maureen Ogilvie (W75). M65 did see a very tight contest for second as Ron Junghans squeezed Darryl Erbacher out by two seconds. A somewhat more unexpected no-contest occurred in the normally very competitive M60 class, where Hugh Moore was only six seconds away from completing a clean sweep. Even more unusually, the front end was so spread out that only six of the 42 competitors managed gold credits. M55 had some of the competitiveness and mixture of fortunes that M60 was missing. David Marshall set up his victory with a win on the first day; Gordon Wilson won the last two days but a 13th on Saturday left him too far back, whilst Adrian Uppill dropped from second to sixth on the final day. W60 was also very competitive with three within three minutes, with Val Hodsdon’s second-day win proving decisive, and Jean O’Neill edging Kathy Liley out by five seconds for second. Ann Ingwersen (W65), Chris Brown (W45) and Tony Mount (M75) all won their last days easily to turn competitive races into comfortable victories, and Sheralee Bailey also had plenty to spare in W35. W55 was a race of fluctuating fortunes. Carol Brownlie led into the final day but crashed out of contention at the seventh control; Jacquie Rand inherited the lead there and held it despite a charge from Lynn Dabbs, who won the day by eight minutes. Mark Nemeth also held off a final-day comeback from Bjorn Mella and Mike Dowling to score by just over a minute in M45. The weekend was not as hot as many had feared (with rain even being a factor for the earlier starters on Sunday), and the terrain, of which most had only had a limited taste during the JWOC week, was generally appreciated as a tough but fair challenge (and the grass seeds weren’t even as bad as advertised). It is difficult to know what further use will be made of the areas, but they should remain a serious challenge for anything which may lie in the years ahead. 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Cockatoos resurgent The Canberra Cockatoos have returned to their traditional frontrunning position in the SILVA National Orienteering League after a disappointing 2007. They lead both the men’s and women’s team competitions after the first nine rounds of the season, bolstered (among other things) by the increased depth given to them by the return of Rob Walter and Allison Jones to Australia, and Grant Bluett to regular competition. The men lead by six points over the Southern Arrows, who should challenge seriously this year, having gone close last year despite the loss of Kerrin Rattray and Simon Uppill for the business end of the season. The women Cockatoos are seven points ahead of defending champions the Victorian Nuggets. Both defending champions are well on top in the junior competition. The Victorian Nuggets have a comfortable lead in the men’s competition, whilst the Queensland Cyclones head the women’s competition (and would be further ahead but for several of their juniors running in senior races). Despite not having yet won a race in 2008, five seconds and a third from six starts have given Simon Uppill (SA) an 18-point lead in the individual National Series, although Dave Shepherd (ACT), who has won three times, has one less scoring race. Jo Allison (ACT), also with three wins, also has an 18-point lead over Kathryn Ewels (VIC), with Susanne Casanova (SA) in third. Only two points separate the four Queenslanders at the front of the junior girls’ competition, with Bridget Anderson a single point ahead of Rachel Effeney and Krystal Neumann, whilst Bryan Keely (VIC) has a strong lead in the junior men’s. Two Relays have been high points of the early National League season. In the first, at Spring Gully in Victoria, Kathryn Ewels and Dave Shepherd pulled away from their opponents on the final leg to give victories to the Nuggets and Cockatoos respectively, whilst the rather chaotic mixed Sprint Relay in Canberra saw the NSW Stingers triumphant after numerous mispunches and other misadventures. Other early-season highlights (outside of Easter) included the first-ever National League dead-heat for first, between Shannon Jones (ACT) and Sophie Barker (VIC) (both first-time winners) in the ASC Galaxy Sprint in Canberra, and Bryan Keely’s 11-minute win in the junior men’s Eureka Challenge in March. Blair Trewin

Jenny Enderby, returning to national competition after a long break, won W40. Photo: Bob Mouatt The two competitors in M80 going head-to-head on Day 3, Hermann Wehner (left) and Neil Schafer. Photo: Bob Mouatt

JWOC team

The Australian team to go to the Junior World Championships was announced at Dubbo. Front: Rachel Effeney (QLD), Aislinn Prendergast (VIC), Krystal Neumann (QLD), Belinda Lawford (ACT), Laurina Neumann (QLD), Bridget Anderson (QLD) Back: Max Neve (VIC) Reserve, Geoff Stacey (ACT) Reserve, Oscar Phillips (TAS), Leon Keely (VIC), Oliver Mitchell (QLD), Bryan Keely (VIC), Nick Andrewartha (TAS), Lachlan Dow (ACT). Photo: Bob Mouatt JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

N E W Z E A L A N D – W A I TA N G I C A R N I VA L

9 Events in 9 Days Words & photos: Paul Prudhoe (Central Coast Orienteers)

2008 saw the running of the third Waitangi Carnival on New Zealand’s North Island. The Waitangi Carnival was the brainchild of NZ elite orienteer Greg Flynn, who started the Carnival to coincide with New Zealand’s long weekend celebrating the signing of the Waitangi Treaty on February 6th. In 2006 Greg was coordinator for the complete event and controlled all five races. A year later, with a little more help from other NZ elites, Greg was again overall coordinator but still managed to set one race and control another. In 2007 and 2008 Simon Addison assisted Greg with many of the coordination tasks (and re-mapped Waikato University for the World Ranking event and Test match with Australia).

Map: Hedley Road, 1:10,000 Above: Dave Shepherd Right: Mace Neve

Dave Meyer at the Aramiro event

10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Jim Russell

Map: Univarsity of Waikato. Scale 1:4000

Bridget Anderson and Oliver Mitchell at Waikato.

Bryan Keely at Waikato

In 2007 the Carnival was based around Taupo in the Central District, and most events held within a short drive of the town. The main feature of the Waitangi Carnival has been the number of events held in a short period – perfect for orienteering junkies. In 2007, if some thought that the organisers had stretched themselves a little too far, then 2008 was going overboard – with 9 events in 9 days. To add to the challenge for the 2008 organisers, this year’s Carnival would be held in three regions – Taupo, Hamilton and (just north of) Auckland. Not satisfied with 9 events in 9 days the Waitangi Carnival organisers also added to the mix two World ranking events, a test match series with Australia, and a 5-man and 7-man night Relay event (primarily for New Zealand club teams). With so much to offer it was not surprising to see the events well attended by New Zealand orienteers, with competitors also from Australia, U.K, Finland, Russia, New Caledonia and elsewhere. Considering the proximity to Australia, the quality and number of events, it was surprising not to see more orienteers from Australia – perhaps the clash with the start of the new Australian school year deterred many. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA Jo Allison, Kirsten Fairfax & Simon Uppill, tangle under a fern at Kairangi

Dave Shepherd jumping at Kairangi.

Map: Kairangi Scale 1:10,000

Kairangi – Carsten Joergensen

Map: Waihora Scale 1:7500

12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

N E W Z E A L A N D – W A I TA N G I C A R N I V A L 2 0 0 8 The 2008 Carnival Event 1 - The Buff (NZ) CD Middle Distance Championships The Carnival opened with an afternoon event adjacent to Taupo airport. Part of the map was new, with a section previously used as the warm-up before Katoa Po 2007. The terrain was typical Taupo erosion gullies on fast open farmland with a few patches of forest. Of course, farmland in New Zealand means fences, and for those who have never orienteered in New Zealand, fences mean two things – they’re not marked on the map and, more importantly, they might be electric and switched on! (Is this why there weren’t so many Aussies?) New Zealand elite Karl Dravitzki won the elite Middle Distance race, with Dave Shepherd Australia’s best placed elite in third place just 31secs behind Dravitzki. Australia’s Jo Allison won the women’s elite race in 23min07sec.

Event 2 - Katoa Po Night Relays Katoa Po is a Maori word which translates to “all night”. The Katoa Po Relay is an annual interclub night event hosted by the Taupo Orienteering Club and is usually held on the Saturday closest to Full Moon in February or March. The event was the brainchild of Graham Teahan, a past TOC club member (and IOF Event Adviser for the World Masters Orienteering Championships to be held in NSW in October 2009). Teams of 5 and 7 runners are made up of members of mixed abilities, and mixed ages. The first event was held in 1981. The terrain for the Night Relay was described in the program as “a farm map with rolling-to-steep hills that are incised with complex gullies and other negative terrain features. There are a number of small forestry blocks in the bigger gullies”. With Australia’s elites forming three-person teams, the remaining few Australian “non-elites” at the carnival were left to put together a team. This saw Newcastle’s Margaret Peel run the first leg (against many of New Zealand’s up and coming elite’s – actually they were 10~12 year olds!). The rest of the team consisted of Australian master-mapper Eric Andrews, Australian Junior Development squad member Emily Prudhoe, QOA’s Liz Bourne, Central Coast’s Paul Prudhoe, Newcastle Orienteer Geoff Peel and running the last leg was Victorian Ted Van Geldermalsen. Suffice it to say, the team took its time getting to grips with the terrain and the map, resulting in Geoff Peel not getting to bed until after 3:00am, while Ted who ran the last leg actually went out (and finished) before Geoff! Anyone interested in a more colourful version of the race report (and the Carnival) should look up Geoff Peel’s web-blog.

Event 3 - Chasing Start - Waihora The third event, on the morning after the night race, was a chasing start based on the times from the first event at Taupo and made for some close competition especially as the terrain was again open farmland. New Zealand’s Ross Morrison overcame a 45sec deficit to win Day 2, while the women’s overnight leader, Jo Allison, dropped to third behind two runners from Estonia. The races were made more interesting for the competitors with clever use of butterfly loops.

Event 4 - The Bivouac/Outdoor CD Sprint Distance Champs - Waikato University The Waikato University Sprint race doubled as the first test match in the series of four between Australia and New Zealand and the first World Ranking Event for 2008. Ross Morrison dominated the men’s proceedings for the second day in a row, winning the race by 26sec. Morrison was followed in by Christchurch’s Carsten Joergensen and Australia’s David

Jasmine Neve at the Waikato University Sprint

Shepherd in a race which saw temperatures in the thirties and the lead change numerous times. New Zealand’s Greta Knarston fought off Estonia’s Liis Johanson to win by 3secs and both were well ahead of Australian Jo Allison in what was the closest race of the carnival so far. Australia left New Zealand to play catch up winning the first test match 56 to 46. The match was a close battle with a draw accounting for the men’s race, 26 each, but the Australian women were too strong coming home with 30 to New Zealand’s 20.

Event 5 - Loop Race - Kairangi Kairangi is on the edge of Mt. Manatrauti in the Waikato region and the loop race was designed to be a fun event, aimed to create fast, tight, head-to-head racing, packed with spectator value. Once again the Kiwi’s delivered on their pre-race promise. Ross Morrison stamped his authority on the Waitangi Summer Carnival winning his third race in a row. Ross’s time of 55min54secs was too much for Australia’s Simon Uppill and Glenn Meyer who finished 12secs and 42secs respectively behind Ross on a course which demanded high levels of endurance in scorching sun and strong winds. Estonia’s Liis Johanson stepped up from second place the day before to lead the women’s race from start to finish relegating New Zealand’s Piret Klade and Australia’s Jo Allison to second and third. Johanson looked at home on the Waikato hills as she completed the four loops in 59min54secs while Klade was only just off the lead in 60min10secs with Allison more than a minute back in 61min17secs. The loop race (often known as Hagaby) saw the athletes begin the race together which made tight head-tohead racing and tested nerves as the leaders ran with their rivals breathing down their necks. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

N E W Z E A L A N D – W A I TA N G I C A R N I V A L 2 0 0 8 Event 6 - Central Districts Championships – Aramiro New Zealand’s orienteering test team fought back against Australia by winning the second test match held in conjunction with Event 6 at Aramiro in the Waikato. The race, played out in a mature pine plantation on steep hills, made for hard racing as the orienteers battled through undergrowth, marshes and streams to complete the toughest course so far. Dave Shepherd took out the men’s race ahead of New Zealander Carsten Joergensen and Australian compatriot Simon Uppill; however the New Zealand men topped the Australians in points 26 to 23. In the Women’s race Rachel Smith came in four minutes ahead of fellow Kiwis Lizzie Ingham and Rebecca Smith beating the Australian’s 29 to 23. The New Zealand team’s total of 86 brought them to within one point of the Aussies 87 after two of four test matches.

Event 7 - Auckland Summer Series – One Tree Hill While not part of the Waitangi races, with the Carnival moving north to Auckland competitors had a chance to sample an ultra short Sprint at Auckland’s Summer Series event at One Tree Hill in addition to the normal range of Summer Series courses. Ross Morrison continued his dominance of the Waitangi Carnival winning the Sprint with a time of 7min2sec for the 1.7km with little more than 30secs separating the top five runners. Geoff Peel used the Sprint course to gauge his level of “eliteness” declaring in his blog “I have placed equal 7th in this impressive field (disclaimer: equal 7th on leg 8-9) and I’m pretty happy with myself”.

Event 8 - Middle Distance - Hedley Road The Carnival moved to the South Kaipara peninsula, north west of Auckland. The second World Ranking Event and third test match was held on the flat to rolling Woodhill sand-dunes with areas of intricate contour detail. The forest was a mix of mature pine with good visibility and younger pines with low visibility which tested most competitors early on in their courses. The terrain suited the home team more than the visitors, and as a result New Zealand won the third test match by a convincing 63-34. It was noted in the program mapping comments that the area contained some large open areas which used to be lakes but were now overgrown with vegetation and although they appeared as open they were in fact impassable and as a result had been mapped as solid green. Despite this warning, after losing contact with the map in a particularly tricky area, ACT’s Hugh Moore, another veteran Waitangi competitor, decided to prove both the mapper and course setter wrong by successfully going straight though the middle of one such area! Ross Morrison continued his winning ways finishing in 31min35sec, almost two minutes clear of fellow countryman Darren Ashmore on the 4.9km course. David Shepherd was the fastest of the Australians taking third place in 34min15sec. New Zealand’s Lizzie Ingham blitzed the women’s field with an impressive 34min51sec, nearly four minutes ahead of Australia’s Anna Sheldon who took second place.

Event 9 - Multi Day Distance - Karepiro Beach After seven days of great orienteering in great weather, the last day was marred a little by poor weather but more so by cancellation of the two elite courses held on the Weiti Station Forest map north of Auckland. Carnival event organiser Simon Addison said both teams had complained about control placement and inconsistent mapping which had resulted in an unfair competition. The jury upheld a complaint lodged by both teams. The final test match score was based on the first three races giving New Zealand the win 149 121 and the Key-Aspin Trophy. As suggested by the map name, the area was bounded on one side by Karepiro beach, and while the weather remained cool and damp throughout the morning and early afternoon, some competitors still found it warm enough to take an ocean dip after their race. Having competed in the 2007 Waitangi Carnival we were looking forward to this year’s event and the expanded competitions, especially the Night Relay, and we were not disappointed. Apart from the last day elite course cancellations, the Carnival was a great success and a testimony to the dedicated number of New Zealand’s elite orienteers involved in the core organisation and to the assistance of the various clubs who helped run the events. With the staging of the 2009 Oceania Championships on New Zealand’s South Island next January, the Waitangi organisers have decided to rest the carnival for a year, but are planning to hold the event again in 2010, possibly a little earlier in January, so as not to clash with New Zealand’s return to school (and Australia’s). 2010 can’t come soon enough! Acknowledgement: Simon Addison for article material.

Simon Uppill getting his feet wet at Aramiro 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

SILVA Awards At it’s meeting in Dubbo at Easter, Orienteering Australia confirmed the following awards:

SILVA Award for Services to Orienteering – Tony Simpkins

Competitive orienteer: As a competitor Tony has always been at the top of his age group with numerous wins in WA events and a longterm hold on the WA male orienteer of the year. Tony has represented Australia in the ANZ Challenge in 2003 & 2006. Tony was Domestic Australian Champion in 2002 (M55) and won the M60 Australian Championship in his highly competitive age group in 2006, after many years of running close. At the Australian 3 Day Tony won the M60 Champion title in SA in 2007.

OOrienteering Western Australia nominated Tony Simpkins for the 2008 Silva Award for his long and dedicated service to the sport in Western Australia.

SILVA Award for Services to Coaching – Jim Russell

Tony has been a stalwart of the association since soon after its foundation and his impact over the years is second to none in the overall development and promotion of Orienteering in Western Australia. As a passionate and dedicated promoter Tony has initiated many of the activities that we now take for granted.

Jim is one of our few accredited Level 3 Coaches, and he has had an enormously successful record over many years of coaching orienteers.

Tony started orienteering in 1974, the year that OAWA began, and quickly made his mark as both a competitor and in the organization, helping with mapping, setting and administration. Over the ensuing 33 years Tony has maintained a high profile role in the sport and some, but by no means all, of his many achievements and contributions are noted below: Major events: • Setter of the Spring West Carnival (1984), the first event OAWA nationally advertised. • Mapper and Setter of the Australian Championships at Avon Valley (1988), which was the first WA event on the national calendar. • Mapper and setter ANZ Challenge at Pinjarra Hills (1993). • Setter of the Aust Relay Championships (1998) - Yetar Springs. • Australian Middle Distance Champs setter Easter (2003) - Gunapin. • Mapper and Setter of Australian Sprint Championships, York (2006).. OAWA Council membership: Technical Convenor OAWA 1980-1983, Mapping Convenor OAWA 19851990, Coaching Convenor OAWA 1990-1993 Sport Development Officer: Tony has, for the past 6 years, held the position of Be Active Sports Development Officer (BASDO) for Orienteering Western Australia. Tony has introduced around 20,000 school children and corporate groups to Orienteering and taken the Western Australian Schools Championships to new levels with up to 800 school-age competitors now regular attendees at the annual event. Tony has not slowed down as a volunteer, putting hundreds of hours of his time into the sport, developing Metro, Bush and Mountain Bike maps and setting events. Other significant contributions: • Setter of the first Mountain Bike Orienteering event in WA in 1995 • Developed the first controllers courses in WA • Initiated level 1 coach accreditation in WA • Developed the Coach-in-Residence scheme in WA bringing Carol McNeil (1984) and Peter Palmer (1993) to Western Australia • Initiated the Metro Orienteering series which is now a highly successful part of the OAWA program • Started the local O-Shop

Orienteering Victoria nominated Jim Russell for the Silva Award for Services to Coaching.

In 2007, Jim was joint coach of the Australian JWOC team at Dubbo, coaching Simon Uppill and Vanessa Round to outstanding results, as well as supporting the rest of the young team to achieve good performances in, what was for many, their first international event. This was not the first JWOC coaching role for Jim. Previously Jim has coached the Australian JWOC team in 1996 (Romania), 1997 (Belgium), 1998 (France) and 1999 (Bulgaria). Highlights of this period were top results for Jo Allison and a bronze medal for Troy de Haas. Jim followed that with a stint coaching the New Zealand JWOC team in 2001 (Hungary) and 2002 (Spain). Jim has also coached at the top level, coaching our national elite team at the 2004 World Championships (Sweden) and 2005 (Japan), where Hanny Allston broke through for a podium finish in the Long Distance race. 2007 was also successful for Jim domestically. Jim coached the Victoria Nuggets National Orienteering League team, which won the Senior Men, Senior Women and Junior Men divisions and came second in the Junior Women division. Jim also coached the Victoria Nuggets to their 2003 victory, the only other time that the Canberra Cockatoos have been beaten. Jim is an icon of Bendigo Orienteers. He has coached numerous juniors from Bendigo and turned many of them into keen, high performing orienteers. Several of these have represented Victoria’s schools team, which Jim also coached in 2000 and 2002. Jim’s competitive record stands him in good stead for coaching. Jim is a former Australian Elite Champion in Long Distance (1994 Cantara Dunes), and has a bronze medal from the 2001 World Masters Championships. Jim is still competitive at the top level in Australia, and has over 150 National Orienteering League races now under his belt. Jim Russell has contributed significantly to orienteering coaching over many years, in particular his encouragement and development of junior elite orienteers, many of whom have been highly successful. In fact, Jim Russell has coached the majority of current National Orienteering League participants at some time during their development. He is a worthy recipient of the 2008 Silva Award for Services to Coaching. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

TRAINING

Gender differences in Orienteering; Introduction

HERE are many examples of discrepancies in the physical demands of sporting events undertaken by men and women, even within sports. For example, in major tennis championships men play the best of 5 sets and women the best of 3, in golf women are able to use a tee that is slightly closer to the hole, and it was only in 1984 that the Olympic Games first included a women’s Marathon. In our own sport of Orienteering, a quick glance at the course details for an event will show that for all the age groups, barring perhaps the very youngest and oldest, women orienteers have shorter courses than their male counterparts. By way of example, in the 2007 Australian Championships, the women’s long courses were on average 23% shorter than the men’s. This article will attempt to evaluate whether the observed differences in course length can be justified on physiological basis. This can be a very emotive subject so I would like to establish a couple of points before becoming the target of irate letters. Firstly, in no way does the physiological evidence, or for that matter orienteering results suggest that men and women of the same age couldn’t do the same courses. But what the evidence does suggest is that there should be separate male and female categories, as is the case, and that perhaps by having different length courses for men and women of the same age, the planner is providing an event in which the relative physical demands are the same. To discuss this I’ll present an overview of some of the pertinent physiological differences between sportsmen and sportswomen. In doing so it is clearly evident that there is considerable variation within each gender, and considerable overlap. So, when making these physiological comparisons I’ll be comparing like with like, that is to say top W21E females with top M21E males, or top W40 females with top M40 males, and not elite W21E females with less fit M21 males, the former of whom are likely to have a superior level of fitness and performance than the later. Additionally, it is appreciated that orienteering isn’t just about physical fitness. Navigational skills and the mental sporting attributes of the individual are also of vital importance. But since I am not sufficiently familiar with any research that compares these factors in male and female orienteers, I will leave it to others who are better informed to comment on them. Additionally, I’m also cognisant of the strong influence of historical factors and society’s beliefs of what men and women are physically capable, but will again leave that to others for comment. 16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

A comparison of the orienteering performance of Men and Women In endurance running events of between 15 and 150 minutes, the times recorded by the men are generally around 10% faster than those of the women, with a similar difference being evident from club to world standards. Therefore, given the endurance running nature of orienteering, we may expect to see a similar difference in orienteering performance. Indeed research seems to suggest that this is the case3, and to provide a recent example I conducted a very basic comparison using the results of the Australian 2007 Long Distance Championships. For this I took the top course for each age group, which provided 14 pairs of long courses from 12A to 75A, and the time taken by the first 3 men and first 3 women on each of these courses. I then calculated the average time taken for the top 3 men and top 3 women to complete their courses, and finally converted this into orienteering speed (m/sec) by dividing course distance (m) by time taken (sec). The results are illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Such a rough comparison is obviously prone to a few anomalies, but nevertheless seems to support the general assertions made above, with the women’s orienteering speed being approximately 80% of the men’s across all age groups. Incidentally, the failure to get a smooth decline in speed with age is probably due to the better older orienteers continuing to run in the younger and elite classes. There may also be a few course discrepancies in terms of climb and relative time spent in fast or slow terrain. But

Steve Bird

a physiological perspective nevertheless as previously indicated, for such a gross analysis the results appear quite compelling. So, why do these differences exist, and are the current differences in course lengths justifiable?

A comparison of the orienteering fitness of Men and Women Prior to puberty there is virtually no difference in the physical capacities of boys and girls, indeed the girls may actually move ahead of the boys for a few years before the males enter puberty. After this point the greater levels of anabolic hormones, including testosterone, in males stimulate larger improvements in many of the physiological factors that are associated with fitness. The physiological adaptations to training are virtually identical in males and females but because of certain gender and hormonal related differences the final values attained by males tend to be higher, and for those who wish to read further into this I’ve listed a few references at the end of this article 4,5,6. The key fitness components in Orienteering are a person’s capacity to utilise oxygen (VO2max), and a number of related factors that ultimately dictate the running speed that a person can sustain for a prolonged time. VO2max is determined by a combination of a person’s capacity to get oxygen into their lungs, transport it around their body to the exercising muscles, and their muscles’ capacity to utilise the oxygen when it’s delivered. It is therefore a complex and multi-staged process, and one in which the capacity of males and females can differ at virtually every stage. On average a female’s lung capacity is less than a male’s. Even when accounting for differences in body size there is still a 10% difference relative to body weight. This means that when exercising strenuously, elite male orienteers may be able to breath in and out 100 - 180 litres of air a minute whilst elite females are capable of ventilating 70 - 120 litres of air. This therefore means that there is a difference in their capacity to get oxygen into the lungs. Once in the lungs the oxygen diffuses into the blood. Here again there are differences between the males and females. Elite females have about 4 - 4.5 litres of blood compared with elite males who may possess 5 - 6 litres. When adjusted for body weight this gives a female about 65ml of blood per kilogram of body weight as compared with a male’s 75ml/kg body weight. Furthermore, there are differences in the relative composition of the blood. In females, red blood cells make up about 42% of the blood volume and contain about 12 -14g of the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin per 100ml of blood. In males the red blood cells make up about

47% of the blood volume and the haemoglobin concentration is about 14 - 16g per 100ml. This means that the elite male not only has more blood with which to deliver the oxygen, but can also carry more oxygen in each litre of blood. In effect, this means that to deliver 1 litre of oxygen to her muscles the elite female needs to pump 9 litres of blood, whereas the male needs to send only 8 litres of blood to provide his muscles with 1 litre of oxygen. The blood is sent around the body by the pumping action of the heart. A female’s heart is approximately 15 - 20% smaller than a male’s of the same body weight. This means that it has to beat more often in order to send the same amount of blood around the body. Since there appears to be no significant difference in the maximum heart rates of males and females, the overall effect of this means that during strenuous exercise the elite female cannot deliver as much blood, and therefore as much oxygen, to her exercising muscles as her male counterpart. Consequently, elite male orienteers are likely to be able to deliver and utilise in excess of 5 litres of oxygen per minute (70 - 80 millilitres of oxygen per kg of body weight) as compared with elite female orienteers whose values are likely to be around 4 litres of oxygen (60 - 70ml/ kg/min). And because of the link between running speed and the muscles’ need for oxygen, this means that the males can sustain a faster running pace. Another factor that affects endurance running performance is body composition. The human body is made up of water, lean tissue (bones, muscles and various organs) and fat. Fat serves many important purposes within the body; it provides insulation, protects vital organs, is needed in the synthesis of certain chemicals and provides a large source of energy. However, above a certain amount, the fat in the body simply becomes an excess burden which does not contribute to any useful function in the context of orienteering or other running events. Despite the fact that fat is a useful source of energy for running, an excess of fat is not likely to provide any extra energy during an orienteering event. This is because even the very fit, lean endurance runners have enough fat to complete a marathon distance many times, and it is not a lack of energy in the form of fat which limits their running speed, but other factors such as the depletion of muscle glycogen. So carrying additional fat is of no advantage and is simply extra weight, which explains why the top runners, including orienteers tend to be lean. Of course too little fat can also cause problems with fitness as well as health and it is important to attain the right level for JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17

TRAINING optimum performance. When comparing the male and female body composition, the average male’s body is about 18 - 23% fat whereas a female’s is 28 - 32% fat. This difference is in the form of gender related fat which is deposited at various sites around the female’s body. The extra fat tissue that the female possesses is additional weight, which she must carry. Even in the leanest of orienteers this difference in body composition still exists with the males getting as low as about 6 - 8% fat and the leanest females 11 - 16% fat; which is somewhat leaner than many males, but still not as lean as her elite male counterparts. Simplistically this means that when comparing elite females with elite males, the elite female may be carrying an extra 5 - 10 kgs of fat, which would be like asking an elite male to run an event carrying a 5 – 10kg ruck-sac. Other differences between males and females include the average male being slightly taller with a longer stride length. This may be an advantage when crossing rough terrain but in reality the significance of this, if there is any, may be very slight. If it was significant then we might expect all our top female orienteers to be tall, which is not the case. Another difference between the average male and female is the amount of muscle. Elite males may possess 10 – 15kg more muscle than elite females, but unlike fat, the additional muscle tissue contracts to provide the power for running and is not therefore an inert additional weight burden. So in summary, much of the observed differences in orienteering speed between men and women can be explained by differences in their capacity to deliver and utilise oxygen, and their percentage body fat.

Are the gender differences in course lengths justifiable? As mentioned above, the courses for women orienteers tend to be shorter in length than those for men of the same age. However when we compare the time taken to complete their courses (using the top 3 from each course in the 2007 Australian Championships as an example), the finishing times for men and women of the same age group vary from 76% to 140% of the men’s time (Figure 2). And on average these time differences averaged out over the 14 pairs of courses, so that on average the women took exactly as long as the men.

So from the evidence above it would seem that offering separate male and female competitive categories is justifiable, as is the practice in Orienteering and most other sports. Additionally, whilst there is clear evidence that women orienteers could do the same courses as the men, with the best beating many of the men, the physiological evidence suggests if we were to offer the same course lengths, the planner would be setting a somewhat more physically demanding challenge for the women, as they would be required to run for a longer duration. So from a practical perspective, the fairest way to set a similarly demanding challenge is to set course lengths that have the same predicted winning time. By doing so the planner will be setting the same relative physiological demands for the same duration, thereby making the challenges of the men’s and women’s courses as equitable as possible.

Conclusion In reality, our current system utilises the variety of course lengths that are provided in response to age associated declines in fitness, with the older men undertaking the same courses as women around 10 – 20 years younger. In doing so we may not have the relative duration exactly matched, as indicated in Figure 2, where some women’s age classes took considerably longer than the men’s and others considerably less. But to be more precise would require many more courses and far greater difficulties for the planner. And so given the practicalities of trying to minimise the total number of courses a planner has to produce for an event; the economies that are currently achieved by having men and women of different age groups running the same course, may well be the best option. And if we use Figure 1 as a rough approximation, to have the older men run the courses of the women about 15 years their junior is probably about right. Although in the words of Abraham Lincoln, I’m sure it’s a case of, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

References 1. Bird S (2004). Orienteering Fitness (Part 1). Australian Orienteer, no. 136, December 2004, p48. (ISSN 0818-6510) 2. Bird S (2005) Orienteering Fitness (Part 2). Australian Orienteer, no. 137, March 2005, p30. (ISSN 0818-6510) 3. Bird S, Balmer J, Olds T and Davison RCR (2001). Differences between the sexes and age-related changes in orienteering speed Journal of Sports Sciences, 19, pp243-252. 4. Koutedakis, Y and Sharp, C. British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 25 (4) pp188 - 190, 1991. 5. McArdle, W., Katch, F., & Katch, V. 2006, 6th Ed. Exercise Physiology, Energy Nutrition and Human Performance 6. Powers, S., & E. Howley, 2006, 6th Ed. Exercise Physiology Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance - McGraw Hill Publishers.

Figure 2 This means that on average, the top men and women in each age group are taking about the same amount of time on their courses. Physiologically, this is probably an ideal finding, as it means that the men and women are being subjected to similar physiological demands. That is to say that although their absolute orienteering speed and distance run will differ, their relative intensity will be very similar, and for a similar duration.

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Professor Steve Bird is at RMIT University, Melbourne. Steve worked with the Great Britain National Orienteering Squad for over 10 years and is now assisting the Victorian Junior Squad.

Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre

NUTRITION

What is for breakfast Gillian Woodward

O doubt you have heard people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But do you believe it? Are you one of the many who skip this first meal of the day or only have a quick coffee on the way to work? You’d better read on if you are…. Studies have shown that those who do eat breakfast are more likely to achieve their recommended nutrient requirements at the end of the day than those who skip it. And for those who do their training run/workout before breakfast, recovery nutrition and hydration is best achieved by having a bowl of wholegrain cereal topped with low fat milk. In fact any combination of food that has carbohydrates, fluid and protein will help repair and rehydrate after exercise. So a fruit smoothie or milk drink with some toast and a spread will do just as well if that is what you prefer. In my experience, people who try to skip a meal, whether it be breakfast or lunch, end up eating more by the end of the day. The ‘wheels usually fall off’ around mid-afternoon and this is when they grab a quick convenient snack, which is usually high in fat and sugar but low in nutrients. All the kilojoules that were saved by not eating the meal earlier in the day, have now been made up, but without the vitamins and minerals the meal would have contained, being replaced. Breakfast should have at least two food groups represented or, if possible, three. A food from the bread/cereal groups is good to start with and this can be teamed up with the dairy group and possibly fruit as well. Some protein food could also be added from the meat/meat alternatives groups – egg, baked beans, peanut butter etc. There are plenty of combinations to choose from. There are many good nutritious cereals on the market – everything from good old fashioned oats to wholegrain flakes and brans, made from wheat, corn, soy or rice. Don’t worry about fat when you are looking for a good cereal – they don’t contain significant amounts (with the exception of toasted muesli, to which oil has been added). Some people worry when they see that rolled oats contain fat – but it is all unsaturated plant fat. And you need to remember that you don’t eat 100g in a normal serve, so you won’t get the 8 grams listed in this column on the packet. More likely you will consume only 2.5 grams of fat which is half a teaspoon, and it is all good!

from 260-400 kJ (65-100 kcals). Of course, you add either milk or yoghurt to the cereal and put toppings on the toast, so the energy value creeps up from what the basic food supplies My recommendation would be to go for the more whole grain types of breads and cereals if you want a greater feeling of satiety. Most of these will have a low glycaemic index and therefore provide a slower release of energy throughout your morning, hopefully helping you make it to morning tea or even lunch. Cereal with fruit, yoghurt and milk will take you a long way into the day as will some wholegrain toast with baked beans or an egg. Make sure you have a drink as well – even if only water. Hot drinks are fine to hydrate with, but juices, even pure ones, contain a lot of natural sugars and are therefore high in energy. This is fine if you are trying to keep your weight up while you train heavily, but if you are watching the waistline and trying to lose weight, eating the whole fruit rather than drinking the juice is the way to go. It will satisfy you more and provide valuable fibre as well. To check whether your cereal or bread is a high fibre type, look at the amount of total dietary fibre per serving. If this is at least 3-5 grams per serve, then it is quite high. Watch out for the high sodium cereals too. The same food manufacturer makes cereals that contain only 35 mg of sodium per 100grams, while other types may have more than 700 mg per 100grams. There is a huge range, so if you are trying to keep your sodium intake down for the day, don’t choose a cereal at the high end of the scale. Rolled oats (old fashioned, unadulterated type) has none at all. And if you think the oats are boring or need sweetening, why not add dried or fresh fruit (sultanas or banana are good) before you cook it. For those who can’t eat it without the cream, try using a tinned low fat evaporated milk instead. It still can taste creamy, but is only 1.5 % fat (rather than 35% like cream). So no excuses are acceptable – don’t be a breakfast skipper! You’ll have a much more energetic day and a better dietary intake over all if you include this important meal. Gillian Woodward is a Practising Dietician and has been providing advice in the field for over 25 years. She has been an orienteer since 1984.

On average, most cereals provide about 420-600 kJ (100-150 kcals) per serve. Whereas, a slice of bread toasted, yields only JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19

BOOK REVIEW

Gang-O Kids: A fun book for a new generation of O-Kids!

In mid-2007, after taking over Orienteering Service of Australia, I was scouring the internet for new titles related to Orienteering. While we stock a great range of various instructional type books and manuals, on the whole, I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t too many titles published recently. On doing a search, I hit upon Hazel Edward’s website which advised that publishing rights to “O Gang” and “O Gang Again” were available. I did a bit more research and learned that these were popular children’s chapter books published in the mid-80’s. Curious to learn more, I emailed Hazel. After finding out that Hazel lived in Melbourne, we had chat over afternoon tea one Sunday and both agreed that if she modernised the manuscript, Orienteering Service of Australia would publish a new edition with new illustrations. The rewrite date was to be by the end of January 2008. Christmas 2007 soon came and went, but we remained in contact. Hazel tackled the rewrite as promised, but then came down with an illness which required hospitalisation. I had been pretty relaxed about the timeframes on the project, until a recovered Hazel advised that we had an opportunity to launch the book at Children’s Literature in the Centre conference in Alice Springs in May. Seeing as I hadn’t yet organised the illustrator, typesetter, cover designer or printer, I was a bit taken aback, but we decided to go for it anyway! I had made a contact while travelling in Ireland in September 2007 who agreed to take on the cover and text design. Once again the internet came in handy, so after reviewing online portfolios and sending out a heap of emails, I selected an illustrator from Brisbane. Her name is Kim Woolley, originally from the UK. Kim had illustrated about 30 children’s books in the past and was excited to take on illustrating “Gang-O Kids” even with the tight timelines. Finally, Hazel’s vast range of contacts put me on

Article by Darren Sandford

t’s been quite some time since there’s been a fiction book based around Orienteering, particularly a children’s junior novel. However, that’s now changed. A new title, “Gang-O Kids”, by Australian author Hazel Edwards has just been released. Gang-O Kids is an easy-to-read children’s chapter book. The book is designed for readers aged from about 7 to 11 and especially those interested in sport. There are four individual chapters featuring the adventures of a gang of five kids. Jamie-the-Brainy, “Mars Bar” Mario, Kate and twins Tina and Emma are all members of the “Bunyip Orienteering Club”. They get together on the weekends at Orienteering events and find themselves in situations where their mystery solving skills are put to the test. Disclosure: as publisher of “Gang-O Kids”, I have a vested interest in seeing the book sell, but I also am keen to help promote Orienteering to a new generation of kids. As such, I wanted to share with the readers of The Australian Orienteer how this book came about and how I hope to ensure that many primary school and local libraries have a copy available for interested kids or even literacy sets for reading groups.

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Interview with Hazel Edwards, author of Gang-O Kids: Where did you get the idea for the book? My family used to orienteer each weekend at a different place. We belonged to Emus Orienteering Club. Orienteers notice stuff. That’s why I thought of making my Gang into sporting sleuths who solve mysteries. As a former national literacy champion, I’m aware of the need for easy-to-read stories where the language and structure may be simple, but the action and mystery will attract varied age readers. An emphasis on incidental fitness while running to solve a mystery is a fun way to gain exercise for body and mind and links to the health curriculum and the current anti-obesity health campaign. Are the kids based on real orienteers? The characters are made-up.They are composites, based on habits I’d noticed in several kids, plus my imagination. But the story is based on real events, like the elastic on the Opants breaking, as the kids ran in at the Finish. How did you make up the characters? When you have a gang, they each need to be good at different things. To make up a character, I create a ‘dossier’ of all their details, like name, height, hobbies, what they are good/bad at doing. How did you meet Darren from Orienteering Service of Australia?

to Ken Linn of Hyde Park Press, Adelaide. Like Kim, he was also willing to help guide me through the maze of tasks, decisions and terminology that is publishing. While working with Hazel we decided to shorten the book and simplify the language to aim at newly independent readers. The illustrator, Kim, and I decided to focus on developing characters that looked like everyday contemporary kids who happened to enjoy Orienteering. The idea was to make the cover eye-catching and show the dynamic, energetic kids really enjoying themselves running in an Orienteering event. The internal illustrations in the book are set in various scenes, such as camping out, running in an event and getting involved in adventures in the bush. Hopefully, the book will be read by thousands of primary school age students over the next few years. I hope that there’ll be a new generation of kids enthused by reading about the Orienteering adventure stories of the Gang-O Kids running through the bush, navigating with map and compass, camping out and helping out at O events, and most of all having fun!

Darren contacted me via my website, www.hazeledwards. com, where I have a list of my current and rights reverted, out-of-print titles as well as book discussion notes and speaking gigs. Darren is an orienteer who owns an orienteering shop too, so he knows the right ‘’O” language. He was keen to publish orienteering stories for children. Darren did the editing and organised an illustrator and a printer for the manuscript. Does anyone check your facts? Usually I ask an ‘expert’ to check my stories to see if I’ve used the right terms. e.g. DNF (did not finish). And I ask a ‘naïve’ reader, usually a kid of the appropriate age, to read it just for the story. I try to write simply, so the story is easy to understand and easy to record for later audio books. Gang-O Kids (ISBN 978-0-646-488479) is published by OmotivO, and can be ordered online from www.osoa.com.au for $11.95 plus postage. Go to www. hazeledwards.com for author discussion notes, literacy links and gigs, plus book launch details.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

Orienteering Australia Club Development Award

Club Officials for 2008

Ben Rattray – Director (Development)

Coaching: . . . . . . . . . . . Debbie Gale

Executive Committee: President: . . . . . . . . . . John Brammall Vice President: . . . . . . . Ian Brown Secretary: . . . . . . . . . . . Jan Mitchell & Carol Phillips Treasurer: . . . . . . . . . . Paul Pacqué Other office bearers: Equipment: . . . . . . . . . Ron Briggs & Peter Hoban Events: . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Brown

Esk Valley Orienteering Club, in Tasmania, has been honoured with a Club Development Award for their highly successful promotion program aimed at schools and the general public. The following is adapted from EVOC’s application for the Award:

Junior representative: . Juniors to be invited to put forward a nomination. Mapping: . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Brown Projects: . . . . . . . . . . . . John Brammall Publicity: . . . . . . . . . . . Valerie Brammall & Lynn Carswell

Our development projects In 2007, EVOC was involved with two specific development projects: 1. T he mapping and setting up of a permanent DIY orienteering course in a local park including a children’s maze. Aim: to produce a permanent public orienteering course in a popular park that will offer the public a quality DIY experience of orienteering. 2. T he furthering of a continuing project with the Launceston State School Sports Association to include orienteering for one term a year as an optional primary school sport. Aim: to provide primary aged children from Grades 5 and 6 with an enjoyable, “quality” orienteering experience.

The Esk Valley Orienteering Club Inc. (EVOC), based in Launceston, was established in 1975 and has been a highly active club since then. The club has a proud history in the sport that is evident both through strong performances by its members of all ages in competition, and through a high level of involvement in administration. A significant number of EVOC’ers have been involved with the major national and international events hosted by Orienteering Tasmania; have held senior positions in Orienteering Tasmania and Orienteering Australia; held and hold positions with the IOF; and have acted as managers and coaches to Australian WOC and JWOC teams. Currently the club has one Level 3 Coach, and a number of Level 2 and Level 1 coaches, and has one IOF Senior Event Adviser, one IOF Event Adviser, three Level 3 Controllers and several Level 2 and Level 1 Controllers. The club has a membership of around 60, but attracts a much wider participant support. During 2007 EVOC conducted 32 orienteering events with a total of 3,352 entrants: 10 Twilight events (655 participants) 13 Sunday events (local/state, etc.) (976 participants) 3 MTBO events (68 participants) 3 special (requested) events (104 participants) 1 Seniors Week activity (20 participants) 7 Launceston State Primary Schools Sports Association events (1529 participants) Total: 32 events (3352 participants) The club meets regularly for business meetings, and has several social functions (BBQs, games nights, etc.) each year, including the annual award presentations dinner. 22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

1. Tailrace Park DIY Public Orienteering Course The club successfully applied for a grant of $1200 from The West Tamar Council to assist with this project which was to include the mapping of a small but very popular park about 3km from the centre of Launceston, the provision of permanent markers and the production of a kit available for purchase by the public. Paddy Pallin (Launceston) also assisted with a sponsorship of $200. A major challenge was the production of the map without any proper base map, but relying on Council photographs and Google Earth photos. The mapping involved a number of club juniors working with experienced club members, thus providing some ‘on the ground’ training. Another challenge was the design of the control plates which needed to be as vandal proof as possible. This was achieved using small aluminium plates with the traditional red and white orienteering flag symbol in printed vinyl, and fastened in place with vandal proof screws. Using printed vinyl also enabled the West Tamar Council logo and the Orienteering Tasmania website to be included on every label. An additional touch to the project was to map a maze situated in the park playground, and include a series of animal plates through the maze.

The map, course and kit were officially launched by the Mayor of West Tamar Council in October 2007. The kit is available for purchase from Paddy Pallin, and indications are that the course is getting reasonable use. Further sales points are being negotiated and several schools have indicated that they intend to make use of the course in 2008.

O-Mazing! Find the animals in the maze There are 14 animals hiding in the maze. Can you find your way through the maze? Can you find the animals? Can you find them in order?

To date all the plates have remained intact. Their design is certainly worth consideration for use in other similar situations. EVOC is now investigating establishing other DIY courses in various Launceston parks, and has the support of the Launceston City Council to pursue this. The project kept to budget of $2400. The $1200 grant from the West Tamar Council was matched mainly through costing-in volunteer labour from club members in all stages of the project. Such budgeting was encouraged by the Council. Budget summary: Item

Cost Notes

Mapping

$450

Control plates and materials

$450

Printing of maps and kits

$400

Project management

$825

Publicity and promotion

$200

Total

$2350

Provided by club volunteers

2. Primary Schools Orienteering. In 2003 EVOC was approached by Launceston State Schools Sports Association to assist in providing orienteering as an optional school sport for primary school sports activities on every Friday afternoon through term three. The program has continued since then (except for 2005) and is being continuously modified and improved with the overall aim to minimise club involvement in ongoing administration, although the club will retain responsibility for the maps and probably the courses.

The project is funded by LSSSA to an amount of about $2,200 each year. This provides an allowance for a club member to be the program coordinator, all administrative costs incurred by the club, map royalty costs (payable to Orienteering Tasmania), the use of some club equipment (LSSSA are building up their own orienteering equipment), and a small reimbursement to club members who assist on the day. In 2007, an average of approx 220 students per week attended from nine schools with a total attendance at the nine EVOC-run events of around 1300 (800 females, 500 males). In total there were 137 (day) adult helpers over the series, including teachers, parents and orienteering club members assisting with the program. The program functions as follows:

The main aim of this project is to provide primary aged children from Grades 5 and 6 with an enjoyable “quality” orienteering experience. We believe the club is clearly meeting this aim.

The club coordinator is responsible (with assistance from club members) for ensuring that maps are current, and three courses are planned for each event (venue).

In 2007, there were 11 weeks in the program with the first two undertaken by the teachers in their own school grounds or a local park. Students attended from 1:15pm to 2:30pm at parks and reserves around Launceston using black & white and colour maps.

Master maps (mainly black & white, but some colour) are forwarded (generally by email) to the teachers responsible in each school. The school has the responsibility to copy the requisite number of maps, to allocate children to the different courses, and to ensure that each child has a map. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

CLUB DEVELOPMENT AWARD Club members are responsible for putting out controls, assisting children on the day, and collecting controls. Teachers are responsible for starting and timing the children. First aid is the responsibility of the schools. This format has been developed and consolidated over the years. Its success is evident from the request by LSSSA to fund the project again in 2008. In response to this request, the following guidelines will be set by the club: • All teachers must participate in a professional development session prior to the commencement of the program. • All schools participating must commit to the full program, thus ensuring that the program can provide for the progressive development of orienteering skills. • Every child must have a map. Both the successes and possible weaknesses rest mainly with the commitment of the teachers, and especially their time spent in preparing their children Feedback from the teachers has been very positive. One teacher reported to EVOC “The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the skills involved with orienteering. They particularly liked last week in the bush!” As indicated above, the club had already been requested by the LSSSA to repeat the program in 2008. Following the 2007 program, teachers were invited to nominate a small number of children whom they considered to show some potential for orienteering. These children have been invited to attend a talent identification day with the club. Future plans for the program including moving more of the responsibility for organisation to the schools and

24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

teachers involved. While the club will need to ensure that maps are up-to-date, in time teachers might well be able to take over the planning of courses and the running of the events on the day. It is also envisaged that an inter-school competition could be included as part of the program. For example, in 2006 a Motala relay was organised for the final event, and proved highly successful. Unfortunately rain washed out this event for 2007 While there has been little transfer of children from the schools’ program to club events, publicising club events directly to the parents of the participating schools has seen some families participating in club events. EVOC, Orienteering Tasmania, and LSSSA are highly satisfied with the quality and outcomes of this project. The program has received good media coverage over the years, samples of which are included below.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

E V E N T S I N I T I AT I V E

Water, water everywhere… so long as you carry it In an initiative aimed at reducing the workload for Bush-O organisers whilst maintaining the safety of competitors, Bayside Kangaroos club in Victoria is asking orienteers to carry their own water. In many other endurance activities it is common practice for competitors to carry water with them in backpacks or bottles. Competitors can then rehydrate whenever they need to do so rather than having to wait until they reach a water drop. Bayside Kangaroos’ Bush-O Coordinator, Greg Tamblyn, has released the following document.

Greg Tamblyn carries his own water in the Oxfam Trailwalker

Water Supplied at Bush Events Much of Victoria is still facing a serious drought and many country towns are still facing serious water restrictions. Bayside Kangaroos is concerned about the future supply of water to the bush events that we organise. Therefore at future events we will continue to encourage you to be responsible for your own water supply at and during events. As organisers our current policy is to supply water at any bush event as follows: • At the finish 20+ Litres •A t selected control sites in the bush, possibly 5 sites x (10 to 20 litres) •B oth of these require lots of plastic cups which can only be used once • I f we have hired toilets, they must be charged with 20 to 30 litres each In the past, we could fill some water containers at the nearest country town or campground. Now it is much harder to do this because there are doubts about the water quality from readily available taps in some country towns, so we must carry all the water from Melbourne.

Bayside Kangaroos propose to: •E ncourage you to be self-sufficient with your water requirements at an event. Some options are to either wear a ‘camelback’ or carry a bottle of water (or electrolytes) during your foot-0 run. Doing this will allow you to drink anytime on your course not just at a control with a water container. Obviously this is to your advantage. •W e will supply a limited amount of water out in the bush. These drops will be on major tracks or obvious features or at a common control depending on the course setting. Our aim is to reduce the cartage and wastage of water. This will change further as more of you begin to carry your own water supply. •T his proposal will apply to all Bayside Kangaroos’ bush events except Championships where the current procedures will continue. 26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Which way to the water?

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

High Performance Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance

ack in the December 2007 edition of The Australian Orienteer, I wrote that one of our priorities over the coming 12 months was to work to raise the level of fitness in our junior orienteers. High level fitness is one of my three tenets for successful international competitiveness. The other two being strong technical skills and a never give up, calm & positively focused mindset. Therefore, it was most pleasing to see the level of fitness development obvious in our junior elites competing for places in our 2008 JWOC team over Easter at Dubbo.

developing the competitive depth of our domestic orienteering scene. It’s also timely to publicly thank OA Development Director Ben Rattray and OA HP Manager Rob Preston for their great work with our SILVA partners in bringing this sponsorship to fruition. We have just completed the round of races in Tasmania which brings to a close the early part of the National League season. There has been some great racing to date and all teams are no doubt now looking forward to the finale of the League in Queensland in late September.

2008 World Championship Teams

MTBO National Series Kicks Off

By the time this edition hits the streets all our World Championship teams will have been named and team members will be engaged in preparation to represent their country and sporting community at the Junior World Championships in the “home” of orienteering at Gothenburg, Sweden; at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Poland; and at the Senior World Championships in the Czech Republic. This year’s World Championship season is a vital one for Australian orienteering. We are at the end of our current funding cycle and performances will be fresh in the memory of the good people at the Australian Sports Commission when funding is determined for the next four year cycle in early 2009.

As I write this column our first round of the new MTBO National Series has just been run and won in Victoria. This is a new innovation that will hopefully encourage more orienteers and mountain bikers to get into this area of our sport for top level domestic competition. Special thanks are due to national MTBO convenor Blake Gordon for his instrumental work in bringing the series to fruition. It is hoped that the Series will be a catalyst for greater participation at a top level and assist in building this most recent aspect of our great sport.

On behalf of the Australian orienteering community I congratulate all orienteers on their selection and pay tribute to the many hours of hard work and dedication to achieve the standard required to represent your country. As I said to our young juniors selected in the JWOC team, team members need to see their selection as a starting point rather than an end point. The real work starts when you know you are privileged to be chosen to represent your country and know you work extra hard to take your orienteering to another level. Internationally, many countries are developing their orienteering and the depth of international competition is continuing to grow. We have an outstanding group of orienteers both young and older who will represent us in the pinnacle of competition in our sport and I am very confident all will do so to the very best of their ability. Of course all teams have a magnificent support crew of coaches and managers who work damn hard on a purely voluntary basis to ensure organisation and preparation of each team is the very best we can do within our limited financial resource base. Their efforts are often under appreciated.

Thanks to SILVA our National League takes another Step As HP Director I was very gratified with the sponsorship by SILVA for our National League. Their support shows that we do have a great developing competition that forms a vital basis in

Thanks Bob Readers will know Bob Mouatt stepped down as OA President at the recent AGM of Orienteering Australia held at Easter in Dubbo. I want to pay particular tribute to Bob for his many contributions to orienteering, and in particular for his passion towards developing our international competitiveness and his mentorship to me as HP Director. Bob was always there to offer wise words of advice and has a keen understanding of the importance international success plays in developing our sport at all levels. Thanks again Bob. Our sport is all the richer for your long involvement.

A New High Performance Strategic Plan For 2009-2012 We are now in the final year of our current three year plan for our high performance program. As has been mentioned before in this column, the plan is the guiding document of our HP program and as such belongs to all our stakeholders; the member States of OA, athletes, coaches and the wider community of orienteers. The document is a dynamic one and continuously undergoes changes and refinements as circumstances change and evolve. Developing a new plan will be one of the focus tasks over the coming months for endorsement at the 2008 Annual Conference of Orienteering Australia. Got an idea on how to develop our High Performance program over the next four year cycle? My door is always open! Contact me at oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au with your thoughts! Or at 17 High St. Bellerive 7018; tel: (03) 6244 71773 JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

MEET YOUR TEAM

Victorian Juniors

Jasmine Sunley

Max Neve

Ian Lawford

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Rebekah Sunley

Victorian Juniors at Easter Back James Robertson Middle Leon Keely, Max Neve, Bryan Keely, Ian Lawford Front Belinda Lawford, Aislinn Prendergast, Ceira Barr, Mary Fleming, Rebekah Sunley, Jasmine Sunley, Todd Neve. Absent Morton Neve, Shane Keely

Ceira Barr

Junior Orienteering in Victoria

Mary Fleming leads dance in cave

Compiled by Roch Prendergast. Photos: Adam Scammell, Roch Prendergast and Steve Bird.

ictorian Junior Orienteers have always enjoyed a high level of success. 2007 was no exception. The Junior Elite boys took out first place in the National O League and the Girls team was second. On top of this success three Victorians, Belinda Lawford, Morton Neve and Rob Fell represented Australia at JWOC in Dubbo. At the Schools level the Victorian Secondary Schools Team had some success with several top three places at the School Sport Australia National Championships in 2007. From that team Todd Neve, Dave Mallen, Leon Keely and Aislinn Prendergast represented Australia in the Oceania Schools Championships held in Canberra in 2007. These results show that Victoria has juniors who are able to compete and hold their own against the best in country. This has been

Team bonding session… with food!

the case for many years with some of the juniors going on to compete at a senior elite level or even to represent their country at World Championships. In recent years, however the numbers moving on to represent Australia or even to compete at Senior Elite level have not been great. It seems that States like South Australia, ACT and NSW have by far the greater representation. It seems too that Queensland is on the rise. You only have to look at the success of their junior girls at Easter and their subsequent dominance of the JWOC team as evidence of this. Do the other States have this success because they have more families orienteering? Do they have well established development programs with a high level of coaching support? Is there in each State an individual or individuals who are

prepared to spend time with juniors and in so doing increase the numbers involved and create greater depth in juniors involved? The answer must involve some or all of the above issues. In response to a lack of numbers in Victorian junior orienteering, Orienteering Victoria has begun to work towards developing the existing Junior Squad of orienteers and hopefully building on it. A program sponsored by the Yarra Valley Orienteering Club and supported by Orienteering Victoria has ensured that money and resources will be directed towards Junior Development. A very successful schools program managed by Peta Whitford has seen approximately 500 students take part in the secondary schools championships and more than double this number take part in the primary schools championships.

The challenge facing Orienteering Victoria is to get some of these numbers taking part in the sport on a regular basis. 2008 has begun well with excellent junior results at Easter in Dubbo with Todd Neve, Bryan Keely and Jasmine Sunley winning their age classes and Leon Keely, Rebekah Sunley and Aislinn Prendergast finishing in the top five. On top of these results Bryan Keely, Leon Keely, Aislinn Prendergast and Max Neve (as a reserve) were selected in the 2008 JWOC team. These results are excellent and point towards strength in the sport of Orienteering in Victoria. But, the fact remains that only 10 Victorian juniors competed at Easter. Obviously Victoria has the ability to develop its existing juniors’ skills to a high level. Hopefully this ability will be spread over many more juniors in the years to come.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

MEET YOUR TEAM

Australian Team for MTB WOC 2008 compiled by Kay Haarsma

Paul Darvodelsky

Alex Randall

Adrian Jackson

MTBO strength and weakness: Strengths: Riding speed, quick descision making, keeping race momentum through tricky sections. Weaknesses: Concentration lapses, not recognizing danger signs

David Simpfendorfer

Club: Big Foot (NSW) Age: Old, not quite a pensioner O Background: Foot – over 1000 events; MTBO - 100 Riding background: 7 years - ride 10-15 hours per week, started MTB riding in 2001 and road racing in 2004. Other sports: rock climbing Best World Champs performance: 18th Middle Distance, Czech Republic 2007 Best other sporting performance: 2nd M21E Australian 3 Days foot orienteering 1989 Profession: Engineer Looking forward to in Poland: riding fast in technical terrain and nice forests; catching up with orienteering friends MTBO main strength and weakness: I have very good orienteering rhythm and am smooth; not enough speed and I think slowly Something else that we don’t know about you? I don’t like pineapple Other hobbies: no time

30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Club: Yarra Valley (VIC) Age: 36 years O Background: Raced Foot-O until 2000, reserve for World Cup 2000; Member of every world champs team for MTBO since its inception in 2002 – 6th team. Riding background: Mt Bike - have competed in MTB XC since 1996. Now race pro-elite class. Road - I race A-Grade for both criteriums and open stage races. Other sports: occasional golf. Best World Champs performance: Relay Bronze 2004 Best sporting performance other than MTBO: 5th in Central Australian Bike Challenge (Alice Springs) 2006. Profession: Horticulturalist What most looking forward to in Poland: catching up with our Polish MTBO friends (believe me!) MTBO main strength: Can do high pace Time Trial style efforts - perfect for MTBO Weakness: concentration/panic issues if the pressure is on

Club: Melbourne Forest Racers (VIC) Age: 25 years O Background: orienteered all my life including: 2 x foot JWOC, 3 x MTBO WOC Riding background: Mt Bike: Been riding for a long time, but started getting more serious around 2004. Road: Have been doing quite a lot of training and racing on the road in the past few years. Other sports: Apart from riding? Don’t be silly! Did do athletics and cross-country as a junior. Best World Champs performances: 2004 -Gold (Middle Distance), bronzes (Long & Relay); 2005 - Bronze (Long Distance). 2006 - 6th 2006 (Long Distance); 7th (Middle Distance) Best other sporting performances: 2008 – 1st Wildside MTB stage race; 5th Otway Odyssey MTB marathon; 10th Oceania MTB XC Champs (elite) Profession: Aerospace engineer, currently working towards PhD Looking forward to in Poland: Having at least one or two awesome races. Meeting up with all the MTBO crew from around the world again.

Club: Red Roos (ACT) O Background: Started MTBO in 2004. Haven’t done any foot-o before, but intend doing some this year to help my navigation. Riding background: Started doing both mt bike and road riding in 2003. I race in A grade in ACT crosscountry races and also do the 100 km enduro races. I do lots of road kilometres and race either A / B grade regularly. Other sports: I’ve recently started doing adventure races and have had some top 3 places in the AROC series this year. Best World Champs performance: 25th, Middle Distance, 2007 Best sporting performance other than MTBO: My team of 3 won

the Canberra “Rat Race” adventure event this year. Profession: Business analyst Looking forward to in Poland: I can’t wait to race in the nice Polish terrain, after attending the training camp there last year. Hope not to have to eat blueberry pasta this time though. MTBO main strength: speed on major tracks due to roadie background. Weakness: speed of decision making and navigation in complex terrain, especially short legs. Something else that we don’t know about you? Born in Whyalla, South Australia. Other hobbies: playing the stockmarket.

Jen Graham-Taylor

Other sports: Did some paddling and multisport in 2005/6, then did some triathlon (including two halfironmen). First real AR was a 24hr in 2007, came 2nd. Then a couple of Anaconda races and the 5 day Keen race in the Victorian Alps in April. Best World Champs performance: will happen soon. Best other sporting performance: Probably the 10th place (4th mixed) at Keen. Profession: Doctor. Currently working in emergency medicine but training in sports medicine next year.

O Background: Orienteered as a small child then not again until I started MTBO in 2005. Have done about 10 MTBO events, including first place in WA State Champs in 2007. Started foot-O again last year, have only done 3 or 4 bush events since then and a lot of metro/sprint events. Organised the WA Sprint Series in 2008 with some success (has been a steep learning curve, with my first attempts at mapping, setting, event management, website maintenance and sponsor-chasing all combined into one!). Riding background: Started riding mt bike in 2001. Didn’t start racing until after I got into multisport in 2005. Have done two solo 12hrs, a few XC races, 2 or 3 100km races and a 6hr. Mainly commute and race on the road.

Looking forward to in Poland: New terrain, challenging courses. MTBO main strength and weakness: Can navigate well when I concentrate. Tendency to rush stops me thinking about navigating properly. Need to get stronger at riding, especially hills.

(bridge) partner and I were the Australian under-16 Pairs Bridge Champions. Other hobbies: Bobbin lacing, cycle touring, sewing, bushwalking, latin american dancing.

Thorlene Egerton

Other hobbies: 9 month son Aoife

Melanie Simpson

MTBO main strength and weakness:

Club: Ugly Gully (QLD)

Strength: Probably technical riding.

O Background: Foot O for 12 years, and MTBO for 2 years.

Other hobbies: Music - used to teach classical flute in my spare time. Love cooking. Lots of pets at home. The dog is called Hagaby.

Age: 31 years

Profession: Electrical Engineer

Looking forward to in Poland? Can’t wait to have some fun, race on some different terrain, eat some different food, meet some new people, race hard and have a holiday…

Weakness: Navigation - especially on the first control. Tend to get nervous and it takes me a while to settle in.

Club: OW (WA)

Best other sporting performance: 6th Aus Orienteering Champs 2005

Cath Chalmers

Age: 43 years

Club: Newcastle (NSW) Age: 23 years O Background: I started foot oing at 14 and did heaps of events. Started mtb-ing a few years ago. It was not until last year that I combined these two sports. Riding background: Mt Bike – since 2004 when I was invited onto a MONT 24hr team and offered an mtb to borrow and practice on. I’ve done several cross country and endurance events since. Use road bike for commuting and training. Other sports: rogaining and the odd triathlon. Best World Champs performance: watch this space.

Club: LOST (WA) Age: 39 years O Background: Foot orienteering since 1996, competing in NOL since ‘98. Riding background: Road and track racing 1992-1994, Had to give it up due to injury. Then took up foot orienteering. Best World Champs performance: World Masters Orienteering Championships - 2006 18th in W35.

Best other sporting performance: 2007 - 1st in women’s open in Dirt Works 100km, 1st team of 4 females in Scott 24hr

Other sports: Adventure racing and rogaining. Best World Champs performance: 2007 (Long Distance race) placed 33rd. Best other sporting performance: Won Rogaining World Champs in veteran class (with Wendy Read) in 2006. Won 2008 women’s class in Keen Alps to Ocean 5 day adventure race (with Kath Copland). 9th in 2007 XPD Whitsundays expedition length adventure race. Profession: Physiotherapist and PhD student. Looking forward to Poland: because the racing is so much fun in Europe, Jon (partner) will be there and the beer is cheap. Other fact about me? My parents still can’t remember what sport I represent Australia in.

Profession: MedicalStudent Looking forward to in Poland: a new country with a new experience; the international competition. MTBO main strength and weakness: going up hills and going down hills, respectively. Navigation errors also lose me a lot of time. Something else that we don’t know about you? In 1999, my JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

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 A lady called Sally from Townsville (Letters – AO-Dec’07, p30), who is a youngster of 65, would like some ideas about enjoying Orienteering. Firstly, it is not a speed event in spite of all the pictures of darting youngsters. It is a sport of dealing with the natural environment and that includes humans who make maps and set courses. If you want something to be competitive about, be competitive about your minutes-per-kilometre, but it is not important. Each Orienteering environment differs but they can be easily classed into different grades, and the Elites are given some of the hardest possible grades, sometimes too hard for any enjoyment, like being on a never-ending treadmill in a cyclone, level 4. Fortunately, ladies at W65 are given some of the less unpleasant grades of experience and their main problem is being over-ambitious, making mistakes and becoming ‘Grumpy Old Women’ and sitting on handy rocks. I have been orienteering now since Year Dot, plus a couple, in Victoria, as car rally navigating was becoming too elite oriented and like the treadmill in the level 4 cyclone, and though I was no runner I used to do well through what I call navigational skill. This is not running along bearings although that is easy enough in some places, nor aiming off which wastes energy if it is too much to one side. I am skilled in finding what is called, by kangaroos I suppose (although they cannot say much), the natural travel lines. These take the most easy way through the bush for moderate to high speed bounding, and on steep country with lots of rocks wallabies do the same job.

read the course setter’s mind and other control sites may give indications whether he likes hiding markers in slots or whether he thinks that route choice is the challenge. Although I am M80, and not on the ‘going-to-distant-events’ rigmarole, I orienteer most weeks on 4.6km hard courses. Sometimes they are made extra hard to find (with contours only), or a reduced scale, or both, which makes seeing things difficult. So, Young Sally, one does not have to wear coloured clothes and headbands and run like a gazelle to enjoy Orienteering. It is supposed to be a sport for all ages, once they can read. I have not been to a State Event since 1992. I had been headhunted by a Bendigo member as I lived nearby. Since then the competition in my age group comes to Bendigo local events, and I generally go to all of them, although I am not a Sprint addict. When Victorian runners in my age group see me they start to run faster. And during the World Masters in 2002 M75s chugged along near me, comparing route choice no doubt. In our events we are on the same legs in all age groups so I can see runners going elsewhere, which is common. They use their eyes to see markers, not the country. I did go in a State Relay (Mixed – 3.5km). All the other old fogies went in short legs – actually W45. We came 3rd (I was headhunted for that too). I have been ‘carbon friendly’ now for 16 years – it is less expensive too. Ian Johnson (Bendigo, VIC)

I read the contours very carefully, and many are not all that accurate in width, but modification by looking is straightforward. If it is a wider contour than mapped it is evident from vegetation in gullies and often differences on spurs and ridges. As a spare time activity, instead of running in half marathons, take a mathematics grid book with 5mm squares, a pencil and a sharpener with a rubber, take an ordinary common rectangular base compass and map some nearby wild country such as an empty house block or, better still, some unruined bushland. It needs only small trees and some teeny weeny plants. Map on bearings and take paces. An easy scale is one single pace = 1mm. Triangulate to locate objects, which is a frustrating process to the less than very careful. Check and double check. After a couple of hours you may have mapped 10 square metres and located all the special plants which you must decide whether to include. This alone will make you more aware of being finicky and is not very physically tiring. In time you will become better with bigger areas and take a double pace which is easy to make 1.25m which relates readily to the usual map scales. You will have become a great deal more observant and can see more things readily than just orange & white cubes. As you age the map will become harder to see clearly and although the circle may be in the right place one has to work out what the feature is like on the ground. This gives opportunities to 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

VICTORINOX AWARD The Victorinox Award goes to Ian Johnson of Bendigo Orienteers for his informative letter of advice to older orienteers. Ian will receive a Victorinox Voyager with 20 tools and features including a watch/alarm/timer; retail value $109.95.

Promoting Bush Orienteering My profile in Australian orienteering – and Victorian for that matter - is not very high, but Bush Orienteering in Bendigo (Vic) has been my passion for over 33 years. I would like to comment on Ben Rattray’s article about a Newcomer pathway, in the March 2008 edition of The Australian Orienteer. With Park-Street rapidly taking on the public face of Orienteering, Bush Orienteering seems to be doing it hard in the big cities. I would like to share with you what Bendigo Orienteers are doing to attract, and hopefully keep, more people in the sport. Interestingly enough, what we are doing in Bendigo bears an uncanny resemblance to the thoughts put forward by Gareth Candy, as quoted by Ben in his article. As a backdrop to what I am about to say, I will briefly touch on the general O scene here. Bendigo is a city of approximately 100,000 people situated in Central Victoria, 160 kilometres north of Melbourne. We are a strong club, approximately 60 membership units, founded in 1977. We run a winter program of approximately 35 Bush Orienteering events between March and October, and a small Street-O program in the summer months. About six months ago a small group of club members embarked on a program to increase participation in Bush Orienteering in our region. It wasn’t glamorous or high tech – two Newcomer Series of 3 events each with courses specifically aimed at people who have never orienteered before, friendly maps, interesting terrain. The second series was timed to connect with the first event in our 35 event Local Event Series for 2008. We tweaked the entry procedure for our events to make them more friendly and welcoming for Newcomers. As well, at all our events there is an obvious, well signed reporting place for Newcomers, and easily recognisable Newcomer helpers (look for the orange hats!) -- a team of mentors who provide whatever assistance is requested both before and after the run. It is maybe a little too early to start boasting about our results but, from the exercise so far we have a mailing list for our ‘Newcomers Update’ (published monthly), of 30 names (a lot of these are families, each including two or three children), and approximately 15 people from the Newcomers Series have attended each of the first two events in our Local Series. Whatever numbers we attract however, won’t be final because it is intended that our Local Event Series will become, in effect, an ongoing promotion of the sport. Because we have events almost every week during Autumn/Winter/Spring, we can offer a continuing series to the Newcomer. Of course it’s never that simple – there is a lot more work to be done yet. We will develop features within our event series to keep these people interested and coming back -- and we must continue to attract more Newcomers. But we have taken the first and, I believe, the most difficult step. There are many factors in the capital cities presently working against participation in Bush Orienteering: high fuel prices, areas that were originally forest close to town being transformed into housing estates, increasingly easy access to other sports, to name a few. Coupled with this, it is my view that the desire to go out into the bush that once burned so brightly in orienteering clubs based in the capital cities, seems to have been watered down by the distractions of Park-Street Orienteering. Given these circumstances then, I personally believe that the best place to seriously promote Bush Orienteering is in the provincial cities. Access to the bush is so much easier, there are far more Bush-O events, media promotion is more

accessible and cheaper, the general public is more reachable. Fine, let the city clubs look after their two or three Bush-O events each year, as is happening now, but for the promotion of consistent, high quality orienteering on bush maps – go bush. Bendigo, certainly not the biggest club in Victoria (but arguably the best!), is developing a pathway for Newcomers to grow into Orienteering. What are other clubs in regional areas in Australia doing -- in other countries, New Zealand, Britain, USA? Are they promoting the sport – by what means -- is what they are doing working? To those who really want to see Bush Orienteering assume the status it deserves in Australia, I suggest that we stop sitting here gazing at our own navels. Let’s look at other people’s navels, let’s talk about it, let’s exchange ideas and start seeking new directions for the promotion of Bush Orienteering. Peter J. Creely, (Bendigo, VIC) luddcreely@aapt.net.au

State of O Origin The National Orienteering League races achieve their main goal of providing intense competition for elite competitors. However I would like to see a rule brought in whereby elite orienteers run for their State of origin, defined in this case as the State where they initially learnt their orienteering and first represented in interstate events. Young orienteers tend to be a mobile lot, often moving States, lured by better orienteering terrain or competition; for university or employment. Their “State of origin,” which carefully nurtured and coached these as up-and-coming juniors, spending much time, energy and development money on them, rightly feels a little cheated when they pull on another coloured O suit. State-of-origin would create a fairer playing field for the “outer States,” which are already disadvantaged by the tyranny of distance. Elites could still belong to a club in their “State of residence,” and put back into the sport via event organisation, coaching and administration there. For example, the South Australian team, the Southern Arrows, over the last two years has been quite competitive due to “emigrated” orienteers such as Reuben Smith, Zoe Radford (2007) and Ben and Kerrin Rattray choosing to run for their State of origin. In contrast no elite orienteer has ever chosen to move to SA, thus the need for “State of O origin.” Kay Haarsma (Sth Australia)

Southern Arrows’ Simon Uppill and Kerrin Rattray after their close 1, 2 finish at Easter.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

LETTERS

Need for new areas The Victorian and ACT National Orienteering League races this year were all run on areas well known by many of the competing orienteers, and especially those of the host States. While putting our best orienteers together on any area will provide good competition, putting them on unknown areas and maps (like often when they race overseas) will provide quite a different and more pressurised competitive environment. Having run on, and to a lesser extent, prestudied existing maps, takes away the fear / nervousness of the unknown. I believe that at least one map per National Orienteering League round should be on a new area. (I can see the technical officers from each State getting aggro, but please read on.) The use of SI sticks allows smaller areas to be utilised for Sprint, Middle Distance and loop style races, so large tracts of virgin O areas aren’t needed. A new (although perhaps a less technical area), will provide a different and beneficial stimulus for our elites. Also will be appreciated by the rest of the orienteering population too. Kay Haarsma (Sth Australia)

Nordic Walking Poles Well done on a very readable and interesting magazine – the last one I thought one of the best ever and not just because you featured the Nordic Walking Poles! It was one of life’s little coincidences that I had been an enthusiastic consumer of the free lessons provided at the Swiss O Week and had decided to buy a set of poles the very day before my accident. I am still a great fan of the poles, but thought it worth your readers knowing that there are techniques to using the poles most effectively, both in terms of them assisting with stability and also providing an effective workout. For example, I do remember from my week’s worth of lessons that the poles should not usually touch the ground in front of the body, but should be held at an angle of about 45 degrees to the ground and thus hit the ground beside the body. The arms are generally held fairly straight. The technique is then to push off from the pole thus exercising the triceps and shoulder extensors and adding to the upper body workout. There is also an optimal length of pole to suit the individual and the terrain. Whilst I’m sure it takes time to become expert with them, I was impressed how quickly one was able to master some basic techniques with just a little enthusiastic coaching and practice. Thanks again for a great magazine. Lisa Lampe (Uringa, NSW)

Bob Mouatt’s vision It is interesting that Bob Mouatt pursued a vision of Orienteering as a big-money glamour sport. For myself I must admit that I am not sorry that he retires from his presidency with “considerable regrets about not achieving my goals” (The Australian Orienteer, March’08, p14). Perhaps now it is time for a rather different vision of the future. In a long-ago life I pursued elite rowing in an environment where we paid our own way or we did not go. That seemed fine to me at the time, it was only sport after all. As a mature aged competitor today I am involved in Orienteering for recreation. I do some maps, some event and club management, and some participation - all at my own expense, and that is still fine, it is still only sport after all. That Bob failed to turn an enjoyable recreational activity into a commercial entertainment business does not distress me at all. While some sporting codes are heavily oriented toward commercial entertainment and are very lucrative at that, it does not follow that Orienteering should also go that way. There is another possible future in which Orienteering has a low profile and is simply enjoyed by participants who organise themselves, who learn to do things very efficiently and who cover their own costs. More importantly, it is to be hoped that Orienteering administrators and participants are able to clearly discriminate the need we all have for recreation activity which is focussed toward our own personal ‘re-creation’ and does not become confused with our more important life-goals and purpose. In this context we need re-creation so that we are better able to pursue those more important goals. Those few who see their life purpose in providing entertainment through elite sports performance might do well first to choose some other sport which was more entertaining to watch. For the rest of us, recreation can be well achieved without reaching any of the objectives of our former President. It is all a matter of priorities, and clearly mine are very different from Bob’s. I wonder which of us is more representative of the wider membership. Peter Hoban (EVOC-Tas) Ed: Many orienteers I know would consider competing in their sport to be one of their most important life goals.

OR I ENTEER I N G PUBL I CATI ON S IOF Publications

Australian Publications

International Specifications for‑Orienteering Maps . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Competition rules for IOF events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Control Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . $11.00 Simple Maps for Orienteering . . . . $11.00 Trail Orienteering (BOF book) . . . . . $30.00 Trail Orienteering (booklet). . . . . . . . $8.25 Trail O (leaflet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.70

Elementary Orienteering Instructors‑Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.20 Level 1 Coaching Manual. . . . . . . . $22.00 Level 1 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $3.90 Level 2 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Level 3 Coaching Syllabus. . . . . . . . $4.40 Among the Best Orienteers (video).$19.75 Sponsorship & Advertising, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . available from states Club Guide, available on disc.

Prices include GST and postage within Australia for single copies. Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@netspeed.com.au 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

TO P E V E N T S 2008 June 27 -July 5

WMOC 2008 Marinha Grande, Portugal www.wmoc2008.fpo.pt

June 30- JWOC 2008 July 6 Gothenberg, Sweden www.gmok.nu/jwoc2008

July 13-18

July 13-20

July 21-25

F in5 Saarijarvi, Finland www.fin5-2008.net W OC 2008 Olomouc, Czech Republic www.woc2008.cz O -Ringen 2008 Dalarna, Sweden www.oringen.com/dalarna2008

July 25-30 APOC 2008 South Korea www.apoc2008.kr

July 30- Aug 8

Nordvestgallopen 2008 Voss/Bergen, Norway

Aug 3-9

Creoso 6 Day South East Wales

Aug 3-9

French 6 Days Aveyron, France www.cdco12.org

W OC/MTB’08 and JWOC/MTB’08 Ostróda, Poland www.mtbo.pl/woc2008/

Aug 24-31

Sept 20-28 Australian Championships Carnival Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps Sept 30 -Oct 1

Australian MTB-O Championships Maryborough, QLD www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps

Dec 27-31

Xmas 5-Days Central Victoria

Aug 2-8

Swiss O Week Muotatal, Switzerland www.swiss-o-week.ch

Aug 9-16

W OC/MTB’09 Ben Shemen (20km from Tel Aviv), Israel

tba

JWOC/MTB’09 Farum, Copenhagen, Denmark

Aug 18-23

W OC 2009 Miskolc, Hungary www.woc2009.hu

Sept 26 Oct 4

AUS Championships Carnival 2009 Victoria www.vicorienteering.asn.au/

Oct 10-17 WMOC 2009 Lithgow NSW www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au

Dec 27-31

Xmas 5-Days Southern Highlands, NSW

2010

April 2-5

A ustralian 3-Days ACT www.act.orienteering.asn.au

TBA AUS MTBO Championships (Sprint; Middle; Long) ACT July 5-12

JWOC Aalborg, Denmark

2009

January 3-11

O ceania Championships 2009 South Island, New Zealand www.oceania2009.co.nz

April 10-13

A ustralian 3-Days The Royal Easter O, Launceston, Tasmania www.tasorienteering.asn.au

June 6-8 AUS MTBO Championships 2009 (Sprint; Middle; Long) Mt Gambier, Sth Australia July 5-12 JWOC 2009 Trentino, Italy www.jwoc2009.it

July

F in5 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

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

TO P E V E N T S

World Masters Orienteering Championships, 2009

Colin Price, Marketing and Promotion, WMOC2009 In October 2009 the World Masters Orienteering Championships will be held in and near Sydney as part of the World Masters Games. www.2009worldmasters.com Sprint events will be held in Sydney on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th October and you will be able to run past some of Sydney’s great landmarks. While in Sydney take the time to visit our lovely harbour and its foreshores, maybe take a cruise under the Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House. The Orienteering will then move two hours from Sydney to Lithgow, over the Blue Mountains, where you will compete in three Long Distance events. These orienteering areas have sandstone outcrops and complex spur gully areas. On your days off or after your events you will be able to visit some of our World Heritage areas like “The Three Sisters” or Jenolan Caves near Katoomba or take a walk into the magnificent valleys in the area. If you just want to rest then visit one of the many small towns and enjoy the café atmosphere. There are many things to see and

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

do in the area as well as the orienteering functions that we have planned in the event city, Lithgow. Australia is a big and diverse country, offering you many choices for sightseeing before, during and after the “Games”. In an effort to keep you fit in the lead up to the Games we have arranged the “Australian East Coast O Tour” which offers you a range of major events that you may like to attend. You can attend the Queensland Championship on the 19th and 20th September or go to the Victorian Championships for a weeklong carnival starting on 26th September and ending with the Australian Championships on 4th October. From there you can travel towards Sydney with two days of orienteering to be held in Canberra on the 6th and 7th October. More information about these events and where they are to be held is available on the WMOC website www.wmoc2009. orienteering.asn.au under “Australian East Coast O Tour”. As accommodation is limited in Lithgow we suggest you book early. However, there is plenty of accommodation in the Blue Mountains which is within 25 minutes of the event centre. If you have decided to travel in a campervan or are camping then facilities will be available to those who book and reserve a site. After the event you may consider a tour of New Zealand. There will be a 3 Day event held near Dunedin from the 24th-26th October. This is a lovely area and a great way to end your trip. We look forward to seeing you at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in 2009 and expect that you will now be getting on the web to check out the areas in more detail so that you can start planning this great adventure.

Come to Queensland for a Whale of a Time Australian Championships Orienteering Carnival 20 September - 1 October 2008 Maryborough on the Fraser Coast The Carnival events will include the Australian Sprint, Middle, Long Distance and Relay Championships; the Australian Schools Championships; the Queensland Championships and the Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships. All events will be within 40 minutes drive from Maryborough with the foot events being in open eucalypt forest in undulating, spur/gully terrain. Maryborough, gateway to World Heritage listed Fraser Island and the whale watching haven of Hervey Bay, lies 284 km north of Brisbane. ENTRY FORMS & ONLINE ENTRIES NOW AVAILABLE CLOSING DATE 11TH AUGUST

For more information phone 07 4683 6374 or

www.oq.asn.au/2008austchamps half AO magazine june issue.indd 1

5/05/2008 2:28:54 PM

2009 WORLD MASTERS ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

WMOC Sprint — Sydney Saturday 10th Oct - Sprint Qualifier Sunday 11th Oct - Sprint Final WMOC Long — Lithgow Tuesday 13th Oct - Model Event Wednesday 14th Oct - Qualification 1 Thursday 15th Oct - Qualification 2 Saturday 17th Oct - Long Final

Australian East Coast ‘O’ Tour – 2009 19th and 20th Sept - Queensland Championships 26th Sept to 4th Oct - Australian Championships Carnival 6th and 7th Oct - Canberra 2 Day 24th to 26th Oct - Dunedin, New Zealand

www.2009worldmasters.com www.wmoc2009.orienteering.asn.au

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER

nteering Orie

2009

th Island N Z Sou

ceania

Come to the land that time forgot for fantastic terrain and first class orienteering

3 -11 January 2009 - South Island - New Zealand Featuring the

2009 OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS for sprint, middle and long distances, plus relays and incorporating the Australia New Zealand Challenge

Programme

January 2009

Saturday Multiday event Nelson area, Nelson

Sunday Sprint event Brayshaw Park, Blenheim

Thursday Rest day

Monday Oceania Sprint Distance Championship Lincoln University, Canterbury

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

llenge

incl. A-NZ Individual Cha

Saturday Multiday event Naseby, North Otago

incl. A-NZ Schools test : Relays

incl. A-NZ Schools test: Individual Championships

www.oceania2009.co.nz

Sunday Multiday event tago Naseby, North O t

plus MTBO even

Entry forms out late July

, You won t forget your time* at Oceania 2009... *as measured by sportident

Wednesday Oceania Long Distance Championship Craigieburn, Canterbury

incl. A-NZ Relay Challen

Friday Oceania Middle Distance Championship Duntroon, North Otago

Tuesday Oceania Relay Championship Kairaki Beach, Canterbury

APOC 2008

SEOUL, KOREA

APOC 2008

Asia Pacific Orienteering Championships 2008 Asian Orienteering Championships 2008 Seoul, Korea July 25 – 30, 2008 The Korea Orienteering Federation (KOF) are proud to host the 15th Asia Pacific Orienteering Championships (APOC) and the 1st Asian Orienteering Championships (AOC) to be held in July 2008. The event, co-sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organization and Seoul Metropolitan Government, will offer participants a unique orienteering experience and a chance to visit dynamic Seoul. We welcome all of our orienteering friends from around the world to join in the fun and excitement!

Preliminary Program

Contact information

July 25, 2008 (Fri): Model Event, Registration July 26, 2008 (Sat): Sprint, Opening Ceremony July 27, 2008 (Sun): Long July 28, 2008 (Mon): Rest Day July 29, 2008 (Tue): Middle July 30, 2008 (Wed): Relay, Closing Ceremony

The Entry Form is in Bulletin 2 which can be downloaded from the website.

Korea Orienteering Federation Tel 82-2-318-2164    Fax 82-2-318-6005 Email: info@apoc2008.kr website: www.apoc2008.kr

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

Orienteering Service of Australia www.osoa.com.au

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M O U N TA I N B I K E O R I E N T E E R I N G

National MTBO Series

Adrian Jackson coming in to finish at Nerrina where he won the Middle and Sprint races. Photo: Mike Hubbert

Kay Haarsma

TBO’s finest riders came together in Ballarat in April for the World Championship Trials weekend, which also doubled up as the first National Series events and the Victorian Championships. Just like at the 2004 Worlds, Welcome Stranger Holiday Park was again the place to be, with most riders choosing to be accommodated there. Sandra, the caravan park manager reminisced about having to ask many overseas competitors to “cover up” when using the spa in 2004, but our riders were more discreet this time. The training camp was a tremendous success, allowing the “outer Staters” to get a feel for the more detailed Victorian terrain and people getting to know each other being an added bonus. Riders from four different States were thrown together in several cabins and new friendships blossomed. The “newer” guys benefited from Alex Randall’s well-traveled cappuccino machine. Damian Welbourne’s arrival from Newcastle was delayed by airline hassles and then they had the cheek to misplace his bike for an extra 24 hours! We had junior boys from Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria all learning from their older counterparts. They all were really keen and showed heaps of potential. One said that “racing the trials would make all those 6.30am training rides worthwhile.” Another got excited by riding with the traffic down Sturt St (main Ballarat road) “as there aren’t too many vehicles in my country town.”

Taree, NSW (110.50) who had the misfortune of a puncture, while Southern Arrow Susanne Casanova (113 mins) lost 5mins on a wide route choice. Carolyn Jackson (115mins) and Jen Graham-Taylor (125 mins) rounded out the top-6.

We had three New Zealanders in the training mix too. Marquita Gelderman, (8th in Worlds 2006), demonstrated how to do a “ride by” dob with the SI stick, while Rob Garden (M40) and Alison McDonald (W50) loved the detailed Aussie forests. Our squad’s speedy demolition of $500 worth of pasta and pizza impressed the staff at La Porchetta on Saturday night.

The junior elite boys rode the same courses as the women all weekend. In the long event the Braemar College Victorian lads took the quinella. Winner was tall 16 year-old Peter Markworth (109 mins) who rode without cleats. Heath Jamieson (115mins), a 15 year-old pocket rocket, took out most of the fastest splits in finishing second, while Tasmanian Chris Horne (126mins) was 3rd.

Long Distance

Sunday saw a double-header event at Nerrina, just a 5min ride from where most were staying. The morning saw the Middle Distance races over 18km (men) and 14km (women & boys) on 1:10,000 maps while the afternoon Sprint races of 8km and 6km were held on a 1:7,500 edition.

This event was held on a new 1:20,000 MTBO map, Muckleford Diggings, near Newstead. This utilised the existing Blow Mine and Mia Mia foot-O maps. There was a good track network amidst the native bush with some farms along the main road dissecting it. Course setter Geoff Armstrong set challenging courses with plenty of route choice that had riders constantly wondering whether they had made the right choices. He used multiple controls at the end of legs, so riders on different courses couldn’t presume they were heading to the same control. The finish was great for spectators with riders negotiating a dam wall and then a short uphill push. The men scorched around their 36.5kms with first finisher Alex Randall (94.01) being pleased with his time even before knowing what others would record. Adrian Jackson (95.41) and David Simpfendorfer (98.29) took out the minor placing. It was great to have 18 men racing this event. The women’s race saw the most experienced competitors in Marquita Gelderman and Carolyn Jackson both have difficulty with some indistinct tracks en route to one control. Thorlene Egerton (106 mins) had a well deserved victory for the 28.5km course, while WA’s Cath Chalmers (108mins) used both her foot-o and road racing background to place 2nd. Marquita (108.50) squeezed into 3rd ahead of Melanie Simpson, from

Middle Distance & Sprint Adrian Jackson (50.51) had a 2min win over Alex Randall, while Tony Clark completed the trifecta for the local Victorian Nuggets. Tony rode well in all races but unfortunately was unavailable for world champs selection. NSW Stingers Paul Darvodelsky and Rob Preston were 4th and 5th. David Simpfendorfer suffered a puncture, while Anthony Darr was a victim of somewhat faint overprinting, and completely missed a control. The courses had many shortish legs requiring riders to decide their route choice quickly. There was also some very steep and technical ascents and descents to test out skills. AJ completed the double with a win in the Sprint, his time of 21:42 being almost a minute ahead of Alex, while Rob Preston was just 30secs further back in 3rd. Rob, a long time elite foot orienteer commented that: “I would certainly do more MTBO if it was always this detailed and exciting.” Rounding out the top 6 were: Tony Clark, Paul Darvodelsky and Tasmania’s Matt Hope. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

National MTBO Series Round 1 – Castlemaine and Ballarat

) rode well Jen Graham-Taylor (WA in her first d cte sele be to enough n Keech Dio to: Pho Australian team.

Kurt Neumann (QLD was 1st in the Sprint and 2nd in the Middle race in M17-20E. Photo: Dion Keech

Rob Garden, one of several riders who made the trip over from New Zealand. Photo: Dion Keech Alex Randall (Vic) had a good win in the Long Distance race. Photo: Tanya Montgomery

“Muckleford Diggings” – Nillumbik Emus Scale 1:20,000, Contour 5 metres Victorian Long Distance MTBO Champs April 18 2008 42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

The youngest competitor at Nerrina was 4 year old Finn Gordon (Blake’s grandson) being escorted around his course by his dad, Jonathan. Photo: Dion Keech.

There was some good young MTBO talent on display in the M17-20E class. Shown here with Chris Horne (Tas), Peter Markworth (Vic) and Heath Jamieson (Vic). Photo: Kay Haarsma. Another young gun, Morgan Clark (Vic) making short work of this steep descent. Photo: Tanya Montgomery.

James Lithgow (NSW) one of the many very competitive M50 riders. Photo: Dion Keech.

Heath Jamieson shows his non-stop SI dipping technique. Photo: Dion Keech.

National selector Rick Armstrong had a busy weekend but still managed to win all three M60 races Photo: Dion Keech.

Alison McDonald (NZ) had a clean sweep with three wins in W50. Photo: Tanya Montgomery.

JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

M O U N TA I N B I K E O R I E N T E E R I N G In the women’s event Marquita (NZ) demonstrated her class winning both races convincingly. In the Middle Distance she had a 10min win, with WA Nomad Jen Graham-Taylor (60.54) being the first Aussie home, followed by Thorlene (66mins) and Carolyn Jackson (67mins). NSW Stinger Melanie Simpson, took 68.40, Susanne Casanova (69.48) suffered a bent derailleur, which wasn’t beneficial in this hilly area while Cath Chalmers (73 mins) had several errors. In the Sprint Marquita was followed home closely by Melanie Simpson and Thor Egerton, with top foot orienteer Kathryn Ewels demonstrating her multi-skills to be a close 4th. The junior boy’s Middle Distance event saw Peter Markworth gain his second win of the weekend, chased home by Queenslanders Kurt Neumann and Chris Firman. Kurt had a brilliant ride in the Sprint to win by over 3mins, with Peter second and Tasmanian Chris Horne gaining another 3rd place. Heath Jamieson was in the lead in the latter until near the end when he failed to see or visit #9. Overall it was tremendous to see much new talent emerge in both the women’s and junior boys. All have good fitness and physiques, and just need more event experience and navigation training to improve further. The “old” guard remained at the top amongst the men, but it must be remembered that Adrian Jackson (multiple World Championship medallist) and Alex Randall (bronze medal) set a very high benchmark. Tasmanian Matt Hope displayed heaps of promise, with many fast splits but lack of pre-trial races obviously disadvantaged him and other “outer Staters.” This is something that both the States and the MTBO committee need to address when setting future programs.

Prospects for MTB WOC Our prospects for the World Championships in Poland (August 24-31st) look quite good. The return of Adrian Jackson will make our Relay team a definite podium chance, despite the increased depth in men’s MTBO in recent years. All four men have much experience at World Championship level, and three raced in similar Polish terrain last year, so they are ideally placed to ride to their potential. The women’s team has three newcomers to the international stage in Melanie Simpson, Jen Graham-Taylor and Cath Chalmers, while Thor Egerton has already shown the benefit from her 2007 World Championship experience. All have the right “can do” attitude and if they adjust quickly to the Polish terrain some good results wouldn’t surprise. The Polish terrain is described as “a little hilly with various types of roads, lakes and swamps with a 2.5 metre contour interval.” Also unique is the local rule that allows both riding and carrying one’s bike across the blue-berried forest floor between controls. This is usually an option at least once each course, so that aspect will require familiarisation, as will the necessity of riding on the right hand side of tracks.

The combination of the three-event weekend and lead-in training proved popular. Really excellent challenging courses were set by Geoff Armstrong (NE), Mark Valentine and Blake Gordon (EU) and both clubs did well to pull off both events with limited personnel and significant troubles. At 7am Saturday Geoff managed to get his car “stumped” while control setting, and later that night Lesley and Tom Norwood had their car and the Eureka trailer forcibly rammed in the side by another car. Luckily the personal injuries were minor. These happenings do point out how much effort, time and sacrifice go into organizing orienteering events. Elites, and others, should take the time to say a few thank-you’s and also ensure that they take their turn on the organizing side of things each year.

MTBO National Series Further events in the MTBO National Series will take place in Maryborough (Qld) and Canberra later in the year. The present leaders are: Men: Adrian Jackson (87 points), Alex Randall (84), Tony Clark (67), Paul Darvodelsky (65), Matt Hope (59). David Simpfendorfer (52). Women: Thorlene Egerton (84); Melanie Simpson (76), Jen Graham-Taylor (72), Cath Chalmers (68), Carolyn Jackson (65), Susanne Casanova (62) Junior Boys: Peter Markworth (87 points), Kurt Neumann (79), Heath Jamieson (49), Chris Horne (48), Chris Firman (24), Morgan Clark (22).

Vale Bill Chalmers Newcastle Orienteers club member Bill Chalmers died suddenly in early May while holidaying in Western Australia. Bill was out riding in one of WA’s National Parks when his heart failed. Bill was an extremely well loved member of the Newcastle club and his passing is a great blow to all who knew him. He was very active, competing in MTBO and rogaining and also had success as a competitive swimmer. Our thoughts are with Carolyn, Cath, Nadine and their families at this time of great sadness.

Victorian Championships Competition was just as stiff in the non-elite classes. Remarkably, three riders managed to win all 3 titles, these being Kiwi Alison McDonald in W50; Albury’s Rick Armstrong in M60, and Melbournite John Sheahan in M70. Other individual A class winners were: M14 – Morgan Clark & Timmy Jackson; M 16 – Chris Firman (Q); M40 – Rob Davis, Craig Steffens (Q), Jon Sutcliffe (Q); W40 – Anitra Dowling, Suzanne O’Callaghan, Lyn Stichbury (Q); M50 – Eoin Rothery (WA), Lee Merchant (SA) – 2 wins; W60 – Margaret Barker, Kath Liley - 2 wins; W 70 – Joyce Rowlands – 2 wins. (Victorian unless otherwise indicated)

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Bill photographed at the Victorian MTBO Champs at Ballarat in April.

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

OA Finances in 2008 and beyond Blair Trewin - Director (Finance)

rienteering Australia has a near-balanced budget for 2008, with a deficit of $1200 forecast for the year. This marks the rebuilding of OA’s financial position over the period since 2005, when we had to absorb the shock of losing $60,000 annually in Sport Development funding from the Australian Sports Commission. In 2007 we had a surplus of about $7,000. The ‘real’ budget position was not quite as rosy as that due to timing issues, but if one considered 2007 programs against the budget (irrespective of when the money was actually spent or received), the loss was only a few thousand dollars despite two large one-off hits – the loss of half a year’s event levy income due to the deferral of the due date from December to January, and the writing off of several thousand dollars’ worth of redundant uniforms (despite the energetic efforts of some to sell off the stock).

The most significant medium-term issue at present is the future of Sports Commission support after the expiry of the current funding agreement in mid-2009. It is also plausible that we could incur unexpected expenditure – especially if we find ourselves in any legal battles – although to offset that, in most recent years the final result has been better than the budget, mainly because some planned programs were not implemented in time. ‘The Australian Orienteer’ magazine, whose finances function separately from OA’s, also appears to be in a reasonably sound financial position, with a slight surplus budgeted in 2008. A move to a new printer has significantly decreased printing costs, which may flow through in due course.

OA’s budget is now near-balanced for the three years from 2008 to 2010. We are currently projecting a deficit of $18,000 for 2011 but that includes some reasonably pessimistic assumptions (as well as factoring in the lower levy income resulting from one of our major carnivals – Easter – being in WA). OA typically turns over around $250,000 per year. About half our spending goes towards high performance activities of various kinds – supporting international teams ($72,500 in the 2008 budget, including $40,000 for WOC, $15,000 for JWOC, and $15,000 for MTBO WOC), the High Performance Manager ($25,000) and other high performance development ($19,300). However, about 35% of our income ($86,000 in 2008) is Sports Commission funding specifically tied to High Performance, so the proportion of funds drawn from the States which goes towards High Performance activities is quite small. Other major items of OA expenditure include insurance ($30,000, mostly paid by States), the OA Executive Officer ($21,000), general administration including office rental ($13,500), the annual Conference ($8,000), IOF affiliation and event levies ($7,800) and supporting attendance at IOF meetings ($7,500). Apart from the Australian Sports Commission grants, OA gets most of its funds from state associations in some form or other. The State Registration Fee (divided between the States on the basis of their proportion of national membership over the last five years) will raise $69,700, and event levies are forecast to raise another $44,500. (The latter figure fluctuates around $40,000 depending on where major events take place and their attendance, but will be quite high in coming years because of WMOC 2009 and increased attendance at events associated with WMOC). We receive about $11,000 per year in sponsorship (through Silva for the National Orienteering League and the insurance commission arrangement with Ansvar) and donations through the Sports Foundation, whilst remaining income is mostly drawn from the badge scheme and interest. Whilst OA’s finances are reasonably sound for the present, the potential still exists for us to receive external shocks. JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

Executive Matters Kay Grzadka

Elections and Appointments

National Merit Badge awards The National Merit Badge Awards aim to recognise orienteers who achieve a consistent orienteering standard relative to their age-group peers and to be a fund raising activity for Australian Teams to World Championships. An orienteer can qualify for a Badge when three Badge credits have been earned within a two-year period. Badge credits can be earned at all Championship and Badge events, including AUS 3-Days.

At the Orienteering Australia Annual General Meeting in April the OA Board was formally discharged from its responsibilities and the elections and appointments of officers for 2008 took place.

For further information contact: John Oliver, 68 Amaroo St, Wagga Wagga 2650. Tel: 069 226 208 ; e-mail: oliver.family@bigpond.com.au

The position of President, Orienteering Australia was declared vacant as no nominations were received. In accordance with Constitutional arrangements the OA Board would fill the post by appointment until the 2009 AGM.

Anna Dowling Zoe Dowling Christopher Davill Tyson Hillyard Greg Morcom Paul Hoopmann Douglas Lee Simon Capp Lee Merchant Phil Davill Garry Harris John Williams Claire Davill Rebecca Hatcher Sue Merchant Jan Hillyard Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Tristan Lee Brett Merchant Brett Merchant Brett Merchant Russell Bulman Graeme Cadman Greg Cates Gordon Clarke Sheila Colls Belinda Dale Jackie Dempster John Dempster Tim Dent Margi Freemantle David Goddard Moira Goddard Ruth Goddard Barry Hart Hania Lada Kathy Liley Michael Madden Barb McCrae Barry McCrae John Meeking Libby Meeking Barry Sampson Christine Sinickas Vincent Sinickas Alex Tarr Janet Tarr Sandra Tarr Anneke Top Sebastian Top Thomas Top Blair Trewin Ted VanGeldermalsen Peta Whitford Sarah Goodwin Norm Johnston Emily Quantock Gordon Quantock John Suominen Hermann Wehner Kirsten Wehner Martin Wehner Paul Elam Anne Garvey

The following Directors were re-elected to the Board and Robin Uppill was co-opted as Director (Special Projects) at a meeting of the Board held after the AGM: Director (Finance): . . . . . . . . . . . . Blair Trewin Director (Development): . . . . . . . Ben Rattray Director (Technical):. . . . . . . . . . . Andy Hogg Director (High Performance):. . . . Mike Dowling The following Committee Chairpersons were appointed: Coaching:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M anager, Coaching & Officiating Development (to be appointed) Information Technology:. . . . . . . Robin Uppill Mapping: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adrian Uppill Technical:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny Casanova Mountain Bike Orienteering:. . . . Blake Gordon There were no nominations for Chairperson of the Events and Development & Participation committees. The following appointments were confirmed: Public Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Allison, ACT Badge Scheme Officer. . . . . . . . . John Oliver, NSW Schools Liaison Officer . . . . . . . . Ian Dalton, WA Rankings – Elite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce Arthur, VIC Rankings – Non-elite . . . . . . . . . . Darryl Erbacher, ACT Auditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Zarpalas Other appointments made by the Orienteering Australia Board prior and subsequent to the AGM included: National Women’s Coach. . . . . . . Sue Neve 2008WOC Senior Coach . . . . . . . Mike Dowling 2008WOC Coach (Men). . . . . . . . Rob Preston MTBO Selection Panel. . . . . . . . . Ric Armstrong Hugh Cameron, Senior Vice President, IOF was nominated for re-election to the International Orienteering Federation Council. The minutes of the OA Annual General Meeting held in Dubbo on Sunday 23 April 2008 are available on the OA website at http://www.orienteering.asn.au/administration/minutes/. The Board of Orienteering Australia formally met on Saturday, 22 April. The meeting was adjourned and continued at the close of the Annual General Meeting on Sunday, 23 April.

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2008

Badges awarded during January – March 2008: WR.T WR.T TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S TJ.S YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V YV.V WE.A WE.A WE.A WE.A WE.A WE.A WE.A WE.A TK.V TK.V

W12 W10 M21 M21 M35 M40 M45 M50 M50 M55 M55 M60 W21 W21 W45 W55 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M17 M50 M75 M35 M85 W55 W60 W60 M70 M65 W50 M60 W21 W60 M60 W21 W60 M35 W55 M60 M60 W60 M65 W55 M55 M65 W65 W35 W20 M10 M17 M21 M50 W55 W35 M65 W65 M65 M55 M75 W35 M40 M55 W45

Gold Gold Silver Silver Silver Gold Silver Bronze Silver Silver Silver Bronze Silver Bronze Bronze Silver Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Silver Gold Bronze Bronze Gold Bronze Bronze Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Silver Gold Silver Silver Gold Bronze Silver Silver Silver Gold Bronze Silver Bronze Gold Gold Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Gold Gold Silver Bronze Gold Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Gold Gold Silver

Pam Prime TK.V Peter Prime TK.V Jasmine Sunley TK.V Julie Sunley TK.V Rebekah Sunley TK.V Sean Sunley TK.V Jan Thomas TK.V John Wilkinson BG.V Jake West AL.T Luke West AL.T Karl Bicevskis AL.T Marc Gluskie AL.T Tom Marshall AL.T Callum Cusick AL.T Stuart Lawrie AL.T Tom Palfrey AL.T Nick Andrewartha AL.T Louis Elson AL.T Peter Kleywegt AL.T Rebecca Butler AL.T Nicola Marshall AL.T Emma Campbell AL.T Jessie West AL.T Amy Buckerfield AL.T Claire Butler AL.T Kylee Gluskie AL.T Isobel Cusick AL.T Jessica Davis AL.T Sarah Buckerfield AL.T Christopher Mason-Fyfe TT.S Luke Hazell TT.S Ben Diment TT.S Riordan Dose TT.S Thomas Diment TT.S John Lyon TT.S Ron Larsson TT.S Helen Mason-Fyfe TT.S Stephanie Mason-Fyfe TT.S Erica Diment TT.S Kirsten Moller TT.S Helen Smith TT.S Jeffa Lyon TT.S Callum Fagg WR.T Jessica Fuller-Smith WR.T Pat McGuire WR.T Mike Smith WR.T Patrick Watts WR.T Ainsley Cavanagh EN.Q Dane Cavanagh EN.Q Jacqui Doyle EN.Q Katie Doyle EN.Q Matt Doyle EN.Q Chris Firman EN.Q David Firman EN.Q Chantelle Freebairn EN.Q Daniel Neumann EN.Q David Neumann EN.Q Jack Neumann EN.Q Jacob Neumann EN.Q Joshua Neumann EN.Q Krystal Neumann EN.Q Kurt Neumann EN.Q Laurina Neumann EN.Q Mark Neumann EN.Q Max Neumann EN.Q Melanie Neumann EN.Q Mitchell Neumann EN.Q Vicki Neumann EN.Q Leanne O’Shea EN.Q

W55 M65 W16 W40 W14 M40 W65 M45 M10 M10 M14 M14 M14 M16 M16 M16 M17 M17 M17 W12 W12 W14 W14 W16 W16 W16 W17 W17 W20 M12 M14 M16 M16 M20 M70 M75 W16 W16 W40 W40 W65 W70 M18 W20 W65 M18 M20 W17 M21 W14 W14 M12 M16 M55 W16 M14 M40 M12 M12 M16 W17 M16 W17 M35 M14 W16 M14 W45 W45

Silver Gold Gold Bronze Gold Bronze Silver Silver Gold Silver Gold Gold Silver Bronze Silver Bronze Gold Gold Silver Silver Gold Gold Silver Bronze Silver Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Silver Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Silver Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Silver Gold Bronze Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Bronze Gold Gold Silver Bronze Bronze

NEWS

New OA President Orienteering Australia has announced that Bill Jones (ACT) has been appointed the Federation’s new President.

Bill Jones Bill comes to Orienteering Australia with vast experience as a competitive orienteer and in Orienteering administration. He started his orienteering life as an active member of the Waggaroos club, before moving to Canberra in the late 1990’s. He has made a strong impact in Canberra - culminating in a 3-year term as OACT President which finished this year. Bill’s other major contribution is in the adoption of technology in Orienteering, including the adoption of electronic punching and, more recently, the use of SI radio controls as part of the 2007 Voice of the Forest JWOC commentary team. Bob Mouatt, OA’s Immediate Past President, welcomed the Board’s decision saying, “I thoroughly endorse the Board’s decision to appoint Bill Jones as President. I have known Bill for quite a while and consider him to be an excellent choice. We have spent a lot of time working together on many activities at both ACT and national levels. Over the past 12-18 months we have collaborated on making the OACT website a focal point for both regular and prospective orienteers. The biggest challenge for Bill and OACT will be to find somebody to take over many of the tasks he currently performs for OACT, as he won’t have time to do justice to both. I wish him and Orienteering Australia all the best for the future.”

Vale Bob Northcote Bob Northcote died suddenly on March 17 while out running in Adelaide. He was training for the Australian 3 Days event. Bob was born in New Zealand but moved to Adelaide in 1961. He was a mathematician and headed the Computer Centre at the SA Institute of Technology for many years. In 1991 he joined the University of SA as Dean of Applied Science and Information Technology and was appointed emeritus professor in 1997. Bob was President of OASA from 1997 to 2000 and SA delegate to Orienteering Australia for seven years.

Projects Director. Existing Board members Mark Darvodelsky (Coaching), Robert Spry (Finance), Colin Price (Marketing) and Dave Lotty (Administration) retained their previous positions. The Association thanked outgoing President Mike Weller for his contribution to Orienteering in NSW over the previous two years. The 2008 AGM also saw long-standing Director Dick Ogilvie stand down after many years as the OANSW Board member responsible for Technical matters.

IOF World Rankings The International Orienteering Federation World Ranking Scheme is based on points scored at World Ranking Events, full details of which can be found at http://www.orienteering.org/. The current standings for men and women are given in the following tables: Men – Foot-O 1 Thierry Gueorgiou 2 Matthias Merz 3 Anders Nordberg 4 Daniel Hubmann 5 Valentin Novikov 6 Mikhail Mamleev 7 Emil Wingstedt 8 Mats Haldin 9 Martins Sirmais 10 Andrey Khramov 32= Julian Dent 126 David Shepherd 136 Rob Walter 137 Troy de Haas

FRA SUI NOR SUI RUS ITA SWE FIN LAT RUS AUS AUS AUS AUS

Women – Foot-O 1 Simone Niggli-Luder SUI 2 Minna Kauppi FIN 3 Heli Jukkola FIN 4 Marianne Andersen NOR 5 Helena Jansson SWE 6 Tatyana Riabkina RUS 7 Lena Eliasson SWE 8 Anne Margrethe Hausken NOR 9 Emma Engstrand SWE 10 Hanny Allston AUS 76 Grace Elson AUS 84 Jo Allison AUS 110 Anna Sheldon AUS 113 Kathryn Ewels AUS

Men – MTB-O 1 Matthieu Barthélémy 2 Beat Schaffner 3 Beat Oklé 4 Margus Hallik 5 Jérémie Gillmann 5 Ruslan Gritsan 7 Lubomír Tomecek 8 Mika Tervala 9 Simon Seger 10 Torbjørn Gasbjerg 16 Alex Randall 25 David Simpfendorfer 35 Paul Darvodelsky 39 Adrian Jackson

FRA SUI SUI EST FRA RUS CZE FIN SUI DEN AUS AUS AUS AUS

Women – MTB-O 1 Christine Schaffner 2 Michaela Gigon 3 Hana Bajtošová 4 Päivi Tommola 5 Anna Füzy 6 Ksenia Chernykh 7 Karolina Mickeviciũte 8 Anna Kaminska 9 Anke Dannowski 10 Lisi Hohenwarter 33 Thorlene Egerton 38 Carolyn Jackson 72 Melanie Simpson 84 Cath Chalmers

SUI AUT SVK FIN HUN RUS LTU POL GER AUT AUS AUS AUS AUS

OANSW At their March AGM, and as a result of a number of Board members deciding to stand down, the Association of NSW voted in the following new Board members: Paul Prudhoe as President, Glenn Meyer as Technical Director, Nick Dent as Planning Director, Alex Davey as Communications Director and Phoebe Dent as Special

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority JUNE 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

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An essential you can really afford.

The Australian Orienteer – June 2008

Articles inside

LETTERS

TOP EVENTS

EXECUTIVE MATTERS

NATIONAL MTBO SERIES, Round 1

OA FINANCES

AUSTRALIAN MTBO TEAM

CLUB DEVELOPMENT AWARD

GANG-O BOOK REVIEW

WATER AT EVENTS

HIGH PERFORMANCE

WAITANGI CARNIVAL, NZ

TRAINING – Gender Perspective

NUTRITION

SILVA AWARDS