WMOC 2009

provided an old shed in the back that was used as changing rooms and a single shower. The media coverage was unbelievable, despite the event clashing with the last round of the VFL home‑and‑away matches. Both Channels 7 and 9 were there and provided television coverage, plus the Sun, Age and Herald newspapers. The Melbourne scandal tabloid ‘The Truth’ sent their top reporter, Evan Whitton, who took part in the event and wrote a story with photos that ran to a page and a half. One of the participants was MUMC member Annabelle Roth, who competed wearing very brief shorts. Blackberries and bracken left a number of marks on her legs at the end. The Truth’s page 7 headline was ‘The Girl with the Lacerated Legs’. The story continued to page 8, subheaded ‘Shower was Her Reward’. The first event may not have been an outstanding success, judging by the two dozen or so entries, but the interest created by the media and word of mouth from those present laid a sound foundation for subsequent events.

Tom Andrews

The Winner Remembers

Ron Frederick, a veteran of 24-hour walks and a member of the winning team in the inaugural intervarsity `orienteering’ competition, was the fastest finisher:

THERE was significant media publicity about a forthcoming ‘orienteering’ event to be held at Beaconsfield, 45 kilometres south‑east of Melbourne. As I had enjoyed MUMC 24‑hour walks (now called Rogaining), I thought it would be interesting to try participating in a shorter event. The day was fine and on arrival at the assembly area (beside the Beaconsfield Pub) I noticed that Tom Andrews and a number of fellow members from the Richmond Harriers appeared well set up with much bunting and many time‑keepers. The controls consisted of four‑gallon petrol drums painted red and white. Some had self‑inking stamps attached. The map was of course black & white, a scaled‑up version of the 1:63,360 army map. One checkpoint was located in an orchard and I was most impressed to find that each tree had an individual dot on the map with the checkpoint being therefore easily located within the orchard. My attire was t‑shirt and shorts and Dunlop Volleys. I still have kind thoughts for the organisers as I apparently dropped my control card between the last control and the finish. They recorded my time when I first crossed the line but then allowed me to go back and look for my card which I successfully did. The finish of the event was also beside the Beaconsfield Pub. Such a choice was appreciated by many competitors.

On August 23rd this year Bayside Kangaroos will conduct a Victorian State Series event at Ridoni’s Paddock, near Daylesford, commemorating 40 years of Orienteering in Victoria.

World Masters Orienteering Championships 2009

10th – 18th October 2009

Nick Dent - Event Director ndent5@bigpond.com

As the Event Director for the World Masters Orienteering Championships which will be part of the Sydney World Masters Games I would like to firstly provide you with some background as to why we are holding the World Masters Games in Sydney and why Orienteering is part of those Games; and secondly to request your involvement either as a competitor or as a volunteer or as both.

Some Background

In October Sydney will be the host for the 7th World Masters Games. They have previously been held in Australia twice - Brisbane 1994, and Melbourne 2002. The Games involve 28 sports for competitors 35 years and older. Orienteering is considered a “core” sport and as such it is part of the World Masters Games every four years. Edmonton, Canada was the location for the last World Masters Games in 2005. The International Masters Games Association (IMGA) owns the World Masters Games and awards the right to host the event through an organised bidding process every four years. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IMGA comprises 17 members of the General Association of International Sports Federations and their sports form the core of the World Masters Games competition. The International Orienteering Federation is a member of the IMGA. The NSW government has appointed the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee (SWMGOC) to be responsible for organising the Games. The Orienteering Association of NSW on behalf of Orienteering Australia has therefore been invited to participate in the Games. Since the IOF has stated that the World Masters Orienteering Championship which is held every year must be part of the World Masters Games, OANSW has the responsibility for organising the Orienteering events which the IOF rules say are part of the World Masters Orienteering Championships. The OANSW has appointed a committee to fulfil this responsibility. This means that NSW will have hosted two international Orienteering events (JWOC 2007 and WMOC 2009) in just over two years. This is quite a task especially given the amount of effort that went into JWOC 2007. The organising of this event is unusually complex because the committee is required to work with two organisations that are imposing their particular requirements on the committee. SWMGOC have certain conditions which make the normal organising of an Orienteering event go from the straight forward to the complex. We continually have to negotiate around barriers which would not normally be there. Also we do not control the financial side of the event so we are totally dependant on SWMGOC from a financial perspective. They have decided to set one entry fee for all sports, something over which we had no say. The IOF have competition rules which must be followed and also have established “Guidelines for the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC)”. Sometimes there is a conflict between

s Qualification map

Final map

the requirements of the two organisations (SWMGOC and the IOF). This is most obvious in the Entry Fee which SWMGOC have determined. This is made up of $220 entry fee plus an additional World Championships Fee $55. The IOF, OA and OANSW have levies attached to international events. These levies are not accepted by SWMGOC and therefore they will not pay them. The only way for the IOF to receive their levy payment was to have the World Championships Levy added to the entry fee. This is an ongoing issue which has existed at least since Melbourne 2002. It is something that the IOF needs to address as a member of the IMGA as it has a significant impact on the event and has proven to be a difficult situation for the committee to be in, trying to negotiate a suitable outcome. Something as Event Director I have not been able to do, hence the two level entry fee for Orienteering. The other area where there has been disagreement is in the promotion and marketing of the World Masters Orienteering Championships among the Orienteering community both internationally and nationally. SWMGOC have been unwilling to allocate money for sport specific promotion and marketing. They are focusing on the promotion and marketing of the World Masters Games not the sports. This is despite the major recommendation from the Edmonton Games that promotion should focus on sport specific promotion and significant funding needs to be allocated for this promotion. The money that we have been given for promotion and marketing is coming out of the World Championships levy ($55) and not from the overall SWMGOC budget. We are effectively spending the OA and OANSW levies on promotion and marketing. This has severely impacted on our promotion and marketing.

The Events

Despite these issues we are focused on organising another world class Orienteering event to follow on from JWOC 2007. We have some very technically challenging areas for the Sprint events both of which are in Sydney - Qualification at Macquarie University and Final at Sydney Olympic Park. The Long Distance events will be in the Lithgow area. Qualification #1 will use an area 15 minutes from Lithgow – gully/spur eucalypt forest with areas of complex sandstone rock (previous map “Long Swamp”). The second Qualification and the Final of the Long Distance events will be new maps in Clandulla State Forest (55 minutes from Lithgow). This forest varies from fast open gully/spur terrain to complex sandstone rock detail. The same arena will be used for both days. There will be an event centre at Lithgow Showgrounds with camping and motor home accommodation. There is more event information available at www.wmoc2009. orienteering.asn.au - this information will be regularly updated.

Special request to all NSW Orienteers

To help us in our aim of organising a world class event we are making a special request to all orienteer’s in Australia to support the event. One way to support the event is to enter and be part of the excitement of competing in the World Masters. The other way to support the event is to register as a volunteer on the World Masters Games website - www.2009worldmasters.com We need to develop a key group of volunteers from the Orienteering community who are willing to give some of their time to help organise this event. Even if you have entered and or plan to enter, there will be opportunities for you to help in the organisation. So please enter and also register as a volunteer. If you do this we will be in contact with you to discuss ways that you can help. SWMGOC are promising that all volunteers will receive the following benefits • Sydney 2009 World Masters Games accreditation pass and sports bag; • Free public transport on Sydney trains, ferries and buses; • An allocated seat at the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games

Opening Ceremony; • Entry to the Sydney World Masters Games Closing Ceremony; • Access to the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games social hubs; • Entry to the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Health and

Lifestyle Expo; • A souvenir style Sydney 2009 World Masters Games

Commemorative Program; • A discount booklet for use at selected Sydney restaurants and tourist attractions; • A certificate of participation; • Uniform and sunscreen; • Meals/refreshments whilst on duty; • Access to free of charge parking allocation. It will be a great event with challenging Orienteering and a chance to meet many overseas orienteers. We would like to see you there competing and if possible we would like your help so please volunteer.