Urban Orienteering popular around Australia RRP $8.50 inc GST
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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
Orienteering Australia is one of many national sporting organisations that has formed a winning partnership with the Australian Sports Commission to develop its sport in Australia.
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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): Eric Morris oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au Director (Finance): Blair Trewin oa_finance@netspeed.com.au h: 03 9455 3516 Director (Development): vacant oa_development@netspeed.com.au Director (Technical): Robin Uppill oa_technical@netspeed.com.au h: 08 8278 3017 m: 0419 037 770 Director (Special Projects): Robert Spry rbspry@gmail.com IOF Councillor: Mike Dowling oa_international@netspeed.com.au Executive Officer: John Harding orienteering@netspeed.com.au 02 6162 1200 m: 0427 107 033 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: Frances Powell, Ph (07) 3379 8238 admin@oq.asn.au OA NSW: PO Box 3295, North Strathfield NSW 2137. Secretary: Anthony Darr, Ph. (02) 8116 9848 orienteering@sydney.net Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402, Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Office: Ph. (02) 6162 3422 orienteering.act@webone.com.au Victorian OA: PO Box 1010 Templestowe 3106. Secretary: Geoff Hudson, geoff@orienteering.com.au OA South Aust: State Association House, 73 Wakefield St Adelaide SA 5000. Sec: Ken Thompson 08 8351 4757 secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.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: Sally Wayte, Ph. (03) 6234 8440 secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Emily Prichard emily.prichard@nt.gov.au 0407 180 299
NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE
April 15; Time-sensitive - April 22
ISSN 0818-6510 Issue1/11 (no. 161) March 2011
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, Ph. 0409 797 023 pcusworth@bigpond.com Magazine Treasurer: Blair Trewin Printer: Ferntree Print Centre, 1238 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully. Contribution deadline: April 15; Time-sensitive - April 22. 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 - Eric Morris; MTBO - Blake Gordon; Official News - John Harding; Nutrition - Gillian Woodward; Training - Steve Bird; Psychology - Lisa Lampe. 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 – ACT – Philip Purcell philippurc@hotmail.com Vic. – SA – Claire Davill 0411 065 598 clairedavill@gmail.com WA – Tas. – 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 pa. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A49, Rest of World $A58 pa. 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 ORIENTEERING SHOULD BE FUN ................. 4 N U T R I T I O N .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 S E T T I N G T H E A U S C H A M P S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 P O S T - E X E R C I S E R E C O V E R Y .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 VICTORIAN REBELS................................ 15 C O P I N G W I T H I N J U R Y .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 THE ART OF NOODLING........................... 20 S T R E E T O I N W E S T E R N A U S T R A L I A .. . . . . . . . . . 2 2 STREET NAV IN QUEENSLAND................... 24 O - S P Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 A VIEW FROM THE 19TH HOLE.................. 26 COURSE PLANNING FOR MTBO.................. 30 MTBO TRAINING CAMP........................... 32 M T B O N E W S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 TOP EVENTS......................................... 35 L E T T E R S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 S I LVA M E DA L 2 0 1 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7 2 0 1 0 N AT I O N A L R A N K I N G S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8
Cover photo: 7pm mass start at a Melbourne Park & Street event. Scatter-O really means off in all directions. Photo: Mike Hubbert. MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3 MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5
COURSE SETTING
Orienteering should be FUN ! Rex Niven – Nillumbik Emus
How to set about planning courses for an event? Let’s assume you know the map you will be using. You should be familiar with the terrain – steep or gentle? Scrubby or very open? Technical or classic spur gully?
Course Lengths The course lengths are calculated by making sure the winner has a certain time. First, you need to know how fast an elite M21E would run in the terrain for an 85 minute win time. In undulating open forest near Bendigo in Victoria this might be 6min/km making 14km the ideal length. You can find this out from previous results, ask an experienced orienteer or just email Warren Key to see what time he did in 1996. In steeper or very technical areas the courses will be shorter. The distance of each course in turn is decided from a table compiled over years of experience. For a State Series event the other courses can be found like this: Course One Two Three Four Five Six
Formula for Length 85 mins at 6mins/km 75% relative to Course 62% relative to Course 45% relative to Course 33% relative to Course 25% relative to Course
One One One One One
Length 14km 10.5km 9.3km 6.3km 4.7km 3.5km
This information and the Classes can be found at the Orienteering Victoria website in the “Toolkit for Event Organisers”. Similar information is available on web sites in other States. Obviously this is an average assuming homogeneous terrain. Some maps have a mixture of slow and fast areas, so adjust courses which use mostly the technical or steeper areas accordingly. If you have nationwide or international runners attending times on some courses could be faster than expected.
Finish and Start In countries with high interest in Orienteering, the car parking and assembly requirements can take precedence over all other organisation. In Australia, at present, we are more fortunate and can usually allow the requirements of the best courses to predominate. A paddock can park a lot more cars in a small area as opposed to alongside bush tracks and is usually the better alternative. Experience suggests most country people are happy to let you use their field, you just have to ask. I recommend for best results always present yourself in person rather than telephone or write. Understandably ten-acre-block owners are less likely to be welcoming. Allow about 10m x
4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
3.5 m per car to estimate the area you need for parking, and assume two runners per car. For the best short courses the Finish should be close to the best terrain, but for practical reasons like updating of results it is usually near the assembly area. Sometimes you get a choice, and in that case I suggest making some prototype courses of about W55A and M21E course length, both clockwise and anticlockwise, using each alternative. Before the recent 2010 Victorian Championships I had twelve such courses. Once the choice of best course is made, the choice of Start looms. Being adjacent to some feature-packed terrain is useful, as you need many different first controls. On the other hand being close to the Assembly places less demands on the organising team, and is better for those running short courses (at Blekinge 84 in Sweden by the time I got to the Start I had jogged 5.8km, all for a 5.3km course). In steep areas an ascent to the Start can reduce the climb on the courses. Choosing a spot with walkie-talkie radio communication or mobile phone coverage is also a practical consideration. The pre-Start will ideally have a panoramic view, but definitely not of the route-choices from the Start itself.
Seniors One of our biggest pressure groups, getting larger every day and some of the best club workers: the over-seventies! We need to look after them. One day with a bit of luck you might be one. Remember what you already know: • they like a mental challenge as much as anyone else; but • they have reduced stamina and less agility; and • they need a map which is easy to read.
Senior
The course length will usually be between 2 and 4km which is not very far – the course can only venture 1km from the Start, turn around and head for the Finish. This is a very good reason for placing your Finish near some of the most interesting and complex terrain. Probably you have a number of controls for other courses near the Finish so there is a temptation to quickly join them with a line and call that your course. However in that case you should not be reading this article! Let us plan a good course for this group. Most legs will be short - only 200 to 300m but one long leg of say 750m with good route choice options is also welcome. In good visibility there is a real risk of following, so controls with discrete exits and multiple routes are good. Boulder areas are ideal but only if the controls are accessible without serious gymnastics. Gold mining areas with complex map reading can offer excellent short legs but a control in the bottom of a pit or steep erosion gully can be a major physical obstacle for someone walking with a stick. The control should not need to be hidden – just place it beside the feature on the flat.
to take a bad turn. The control is traditionally placed a few metres up the correct track to give a gentle guide. If the track gets overgrown a few tapes will give reassurance. Some more controls at points of interest like a trackside boulder or pit adds interest and introduces more grown-up orienteering. Listen at the Finish for how they “messed up number three” just like their mum.
Moderate Course I find setting a good moderate course is the hardest of all. Probably you attack it as one of the last, and by that time you already have a lot of “hard” controls and “easy” controls available. The easy option is to make the course a combination of hard and easy legs so the course oscillates between boredom and frustration, but the sensitive newage planner (SNAP) does not do this, and may need several controls just for the moderate group.
Moderate
In any case a fair control should be no easier to find if it is surrounded by runners than not, so the hidden control is doubly damned. Fence crossings can be a real difficulty – try to find at least one easy crossing and mark it on the master map. Green areas and steep hill climbs are tiring and unwelcome. Steep downhills are also a major challenge for many. Water controls are just as needed for this course as any other. When preparing the master maps or maps to be printed be sure to break circles and lines to avoid hiding detail near the controls. Course “Senior” (see map) includes most of these desires, although the Start is a very long way from the Finish.
Easy Course The easiest course will be about 2km in length, mostly along a track network. With a bit of luck your Finish has such a grid of tracks nearby, but juniors can also follow fences, clearings and well-defined gullies. It can be hilly – they have lots of energy! A taped route through open forest is fine too if the track network needs a bit of help. The orienteering is essentially in one dimension. If you place a control at each track junction then the juniors can be subtly assisted not MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5
COURSE SETTING
The ideal moderate leg has at least two route choices, the first more direct with some navigational challenge, but also at least one easier longer route along tracks or linear features. It also needs a strong “collecting” feature behind the control to increase confidence to try the harder route and reduce consequence of disaster. Lost Distance (refer Part One, AO-Sept’10) is not so important. You only need one or two navigational decisions per leg. Course “Moderate” (see map) uses this philosophy. A control feature which is large, unmistakeable and clearly visible will also help, although is not sufficient on its own – I still cringe when reminded of my moderate course at Kooyoora where over half the field retired DNF. I had relied on using very large features about the size of a tennis court to make a tricky area “easy”.
Welcome to
July 23–29th
Welcome to the 47th O-Ringen – the worlds greatest orienteering event – in Mohed (Sweden)! We are offering accommodation which suits you best; tent, caravan, cabin or hotel. The O-Ringen Town is situated 14 km from Söderhamn and 28 km from Bollnäs, two pleasant towns with plenty of restaurants, cafés and shops. And the terrain is offering technical, varied orienteering in a short distance from the O-Ringen Town.
How do you know if you did a good job? If all the controls are correctly sited you are 80% of the way there. Comments at the Finish are worth listening to. Looking at results can be revealing – if all the top people finished in a similar time probably it was not challenging enough. If there is a significant spread then it was good. Sometimes I make a diagram like this:
S1 – long distance S2 – long distance
1,2
The area has varied terrain with two main characteristics: fine detailed and hilly terrain and closer to the arena a pine area.
S3 – long distance S4 – middle distance
3, 4
The terrain for the long distance stage 3 is in general easy running, detailed, flat terrain whist the middle distance stage 4 takes place in moderately hilly, runnable pine forest.
ARN
The top (say) 20% are the more reliable orienteers so any loss of time by this group on a particular control suggests they had problems – try to understand why that was and do it again! It’s fun.
S5 – long distance
5
The stage takes place mainly in the fine detailed and demanding hills near the O-Ringen Town. The area is the same as for the first stage in 2006. Chasing start.
NYO
GOT
CPH
MMX
Ordinary entry up until 1st May!
www.oringen.se 6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
NUTRITION Gillian Woodward
Gillian Woodward is an Accredited Practising Dietician and has been providing advice in the field for over 25 years. She has been an orienteer since 1984.
Setting Appropriate Lifestyle Goals Did you set yourself any goals for the year of 2011? Were they related to your orienteering performance in the months to come? I wonder if they involved goals about how much training you would do or how much body fat you wanted to lose?
I
n my work as a dietician I see many people set themselves up for failure because of the unrealistic goals they set for themselves. Why should anyone think they can suddenly change from doing two half-hour exercise sessions per week to doing seven? Or why should they think that it will be easy to never eat another chocolate when they are used to eating a bar of it every afternoon at 4pm when the ‘munchies’ set in? If you are considering changing a life-long habit, think about it long and hard before you set yourself up to fail. Let’s take an example like weaning yourself off the six cups of sugared coffee you normally drink per day. These are the ones that for the last 20 years you have relied upon to get you through your busy schedule and without which you ‘simply can’t function’.
very realistic time-frame. And hopefully you will have picked up some good new eating habits that will stay with you for life. If your goal is simply to eat more vegetables in a day, then break it up into meal times. At which meal can you eat more vegetables or salad? Do you have any at lunch or breakfast? How about adding tomatoes or mushrooms on your toast for breakfast or adding a cup of salad or veggie soup to lunch? Don’t try and eat your recommended five cups of vegetables (raw amount) at dinner or your stomach may growl all night and you will soon give it up as a bad idea! Making smart achievable goals is the way to go. They need to be things that you can sustain for the long haul, not impossible dreams that work one day and fail dismally the next. And remember that when making lifestyle changes – expect some failures. You are not going to succeed every day in the first month. But if you do fail one day, try not to carry it over to the next. Each day is a new opportunity to live out the goal, so don’t give in easily. Forget the one failure in the last 30 days and look forward to the next 30 days of achieving your new lifestyle habit.
Break it down first. What do you think is the essential ingredient – is it the caffeine hit from the coffee or is it the energy provided in the two teaspoons of sugar? If you don’t know the answer, then it might be best to try just knocking off one thing at a time. Why not try the coffee without the sugar for a start? Either cut the sugar down to one teaspoon or reduce it by some other means such as using a sugar substitute that you find palatable. This is step one – the sub-goal being to try and reduce the sugar intake from 12 teaspoons per day to maybe 6 or less. If you have been able to achieve this in a period of about three weeks without too much drama in your life, then perhaps it is now time to make a second sub-goal. How about aiming to reduce the number of cups of real coffee per day from six to a more reasonable three? You can either do this by drinking something completely different to coffee at three of the occasions that normally involve it or perhaps by substituting a decaffeinated coffee/beverage in its place. Consider first the times of day that would be easiest to do this. Perhaps it won’t be the first one of the day (the one that gets you out the door in the morning) but maybe it is possible to skip the afternoon or evening one first. Again, break it down into ‘doable’ steps. It is just the same with goals about losing weight. If you have 10kg to lose, don’t try and do it in a month or even two. You are likely to suffer considerable side effects if you do, not to mention the possible gall stones or gout attacks it could cause. A more realistic goal would be to aim for 2kg weight loss in a month. If you keep this up for six months (because you are not starving), then you will achieve your goal in a MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7
COURSE SETTING
Setting Courses for the 2010 AUS Championships Vincent Loye (Onkaparinga Hills OC-SA)
Courses for the AUS Long Distance Championships, held at Tanunda Creek on October 2, were set by Vincent Loye. Here he explains some of the rationale he used to devise those courses.
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n response to Erica Diment’s recent letter (The Australian Orienteer-Dec’10), I am very happy to outline my general approach to setting the hard navigation courses for the 2010 Australian Championships.
Map positives and constraints The terrain was mostly undulating, open farmland, with complex granite areas and small areas of thick scrub. The Tanunda Creek gorge area, although steep, offered interesting possibilities. The map area consisted of about 16 fenced paddocks. While most of the fences were crossable, albeit with some difficulty, gates were likely to provide a safe crossable option. This was a major consideration for the general ‘flow’ of the courses.
Finish/Start areas A suitable Finish area was suggested by the organizer, Jeffa Lyon. The Start area was also suggested by Jeffa with the gravel pit in mind to provide a short first control for all the “A” courses. Although not particularly complex, the pit area required immediate concentration, especially with many competitors criss-crossing the area (and hopefully not lost).
Control areas With Start and Finish pencilled in, I circled the main areas on the map where there were the most interesting control sites – granite rock areas mainly - and with one more complex contour area around the big hill in the NW section. Please see map. I looked for interesting long leg opportunities offering, hopefully, three or more route choices (which proved difficult
Tanunda Creek Copyright September 2010 Yalanga Orienteers Inc.
8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
on this map). I then joined the control areas to establish a general ‘flow’ for the courses so that I could incorporate the long legs, offer route choices, maximize map reading, and minimise the fence crossings. For example, a complex granite area on the side of a hill was chosen once competitors left the gravel pit area. A track led to a fence crossing area, then a broad spur where map contact could be lost amongst the rocks encountered on approach to control sites on the slopes below.
Fieldwork and setting of courses For each control area I identified and marked up to eight control sites. This allowed all “A” courses to follow similar routes (to incorporate the thinking behind the joining of control areas), but offer sufficient variations. Within control areas I looked to have two to three short legs immediately prior to a longer leg (less opportunity to plan ahead). Often these short legs were within control areas and were sometimes looped (but no butterfly loops). With the first draft of the courses it was necessary to objectively assess each leg of each course for map reading, route choice and control site approach – I refer to the excellent article by Rex Niven in the recent The Australian Orienteer-Sept’10. This review was simplified by having courses with similar legs. My controller, Jenny Casanova, contributed valuable ideas to improve legs by using alternative existing control sites to those initially chosen. The biggest challenge was to set high quality courses on a map which was basically open farmland. The granite areas provided navigational challenges but the legs between granite areas were mostly straight forward. A good attack point was required for these areas, but I expect most competitors found it easy getting to each of the control site areas. Another concern was the ‘boring’ big hill which the longer courses all went over to get to the last few controls. The choice was up or around, but navigationally the leg was easy. Also, a spectator control was provided for the elite courses but the legs immediately before this control were not as navigationally difficult as I would have liked. I welcome and would be interested in any comments or ideas from other course setters.
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9
TRAINING
Post-Exercise Recovery Steve Bird (BKV) 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.
Part 1 – water based recovery Introduction
S
trenuous exercise places a number of physical and physiological stresses on the body. Post-exercise these result in a sensation of fatigue and a temporarily reduced exercise capacity. This reduced exercise capacity will be evident until we’ve been able to recover, and hopefully benefit in terms of health and fitness from the aforementioned bout of exercise. Complete recovery can take a matter of hours or several days, depending on the severity of the exercise. As orienteers we often participate in multiple bouts of strenuous exercise in the form of successive events and/or training sessions. So to perform at our best in subsequent events or training we need to ensure that we’ve recovered from the previous bout, and to do this we must overcome the transient debilitating effects of the previous session. So this article will consider some of the current practices for optimizing recovery after strenuous exercise and how a person may enhance their chances of being in their best possible condition for the next bout of exercise. For some post-exercise recovery strategies, such as rehydrating after exercise and eating carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen there is considerable supporting evidence. But for some others such as water immersion, cryotherapy, contrast bathing, compression garments, massage, and the use of non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAID), it is apparent that despite widely held beliefs and common practices, for some of these there is often equivocal, little, or no evidence to support them 1-3. Or perhaps to be more precise, there is little or no evidence to support the proposed means by which they are supposed to work. So they may or may not be beneficial, but if they are, it may not be through the course of action that’s generally claimed.
Why do we need post-exercise recovery? Exercise causes a number of physiological and metabolic responses, such as increased blood flow, and elevated rates of metabolism. It will also place mechanical stresses on the structure of the muscles. The extent of these stresses and responses are proportional to the intensity and duration of the exercise, and post-exercise these can have a number of consequences, such as: 1. Muscle oedema – fluid retention in the muscle. 2. Microtrauma and inflammation – micro damage to the muscle fibres and inflammation resulting from the body’s response to damage and initiating a repair process. 3. Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) – due to unaccustomed exercise (type or intensity) and caused by muscle micro-damage and the resultant presence of various metabolites associated with repair. 4. The accumulation of metabolites. 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
Given time, the body will naturally recover from the above conditions, but it is often the case that we want to recover more quickly than would occur without assistance. So the aforementioned practices of water immersion, cryotherapy, compression garments, massage and NSAIDs, are commonly advocated as means of reducing the severity of the post-exercise condition and accelerating the rate of recovery. However, when discussing these post-exercise conditions it should be remembered that they are not all necessarily a bad thing. Indeed to some extent they should be viewed as part of the stimuli and processes that cause muscle to adapt and ultimately result in improvements in fitness 1 - 3. So the assumption that they’re a bad thing has to be questioned. And when considering post-exercise strategies to attenuate the extent of these conditions, it is also just possible that we could be attenuating the benefits 3. Of course one of the arguments is that these conditions are probably good in small doses, but if they occur at an excessive level then they may not be such a good thing. This is certainly an area for debate amongst sport scientists and clinicians, and warrants further research. And as a further consideration, whether they are good or undesirable may well depend on when your next bout of exercise will be. For example, it’s a different proposition if you’re intending to compete twice in one day, in which case your immediate performance will be your priority, as opposed to having 48 hrs between training sessions, when maximizing the long term training benefits will be your main concern. So before considering the potential effects of these practices and treatments we need to consider why the body experiences these conditions post-exercise.
Common post-exercise conditions 1. Muscle edema (oedema). Within the body, fluid is located within the cells (intracellular fluid) and between cells (interstitial fluid), as well as forming a major component of circulating body fluids, such as blood plasma (intravascular fluid). During strenuous exercise there is an increase in mean arterial pressure (blood pressure) which causes a redistribution of some of this fluid, as some of the intravascular fluid is forced out of the blood and into the muscles (between 5 – 17%)1, either into the muscle cells or into the spaces between cells. This causes a slight swelling of the muscles, which can constrict the blood capillaries passing through the muscle, and thereby reduce their oxygen supply. Some authorities have suggested that this could increase the extent of post-exercise muscular cell damage, and should therefore be targeted in post exercise recovery strategies.
2. Microtrauma and inflammation. The physical stresses of exercise will cause micro-damage within the muscles, and the subsequent inflammatory processes are associated with the repair of the muscle and adaptations to training. Damage to the muscle fibres may occur post-exercise as well as during exercise, as post-exercise the immune system seeks to break down damaged tissue. It is suggested that during this postexercise time, adverse conditions, such as excessive oedema, within the muscle may increase the amount of muscle cell death and damage: again making the prevention of excessive oedema a target for post-exercise recovery strategies. The inflammatory and repair processes are highly complex and are still being elucidated, and as yet are not fully understood, but they are known to involve neutrophils and macrophages (white blood cells) which can remove damaged muscle tissue and initiate the repair. The key is the balance between removal and regeneration of muscle tissue, and some level of inflammation is almost certainly necessary to invoke the desired improvements in muscle structure 2. So the issue may be the magnitude of inflammation, which may determine whether the result will be beneficial or detrimental, and there is a generally held belief, although possibly questionable, that it’s a good idea to minimize inflammation after exercise 2. 3. Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS). This manifests as pain or discomfort in the muscles 24 – 96 hours post exercise. It’s not felt immediately post-exercise, but becomes noticeable the following day, reaching a peak 24 - 48 hrs post exercise. It tends to occur following exercise that is ‘unaccustomed’, either in the form of its intensity or type. For example, a first visit down to the local gym will often result in DOMS. It’s also associated with eccentric muscle work, so running downhill is a typical cause of DOMS in runners who have not run downhill recently. DOMS is a consequence of muscle damage, and is reflected by increased blood concentrations of myoglobin (which is leaking out of the damaged muscle fibres) and an increase in the enzyme creatine kinase (which is used by physiologists as a marker of muscle damage) in the serum (blood). However, if you have experienced DOMS recently, you’re less likely to suffer from it the next time you undertake the same bout of exercise, and this protective effect lasts several weeks or months, with each successive bout of familiar exercise providing continued protection.
understanding of the processes occurring, the role of lactate as the main cause of fatigue has been questioned, including whether its accumulation is the primary cause of acidosis. So despite it being a well-known metabolite and one that is referred to in advertising as well as physiological journals, it’s not necessarily the best indicator of fatigue post-exercise. Additionally, from a recovery perspective, blood lactate will normally return to resting levels within 90 minutes of very strenuous exercise, which means that it’s not likely to be problematic for orienteers, who would normally have a longer break between exercise bouts. Furthermore, some studies have shown that the presence of some lactate is beneficial to performance, rather than detrimental. So whilst the measurement of lactate continues to provide a useful and practical measure of ‘fitness’ it may not be a valid indicator of recovery or the efficacy of recovery strategies. Unfortunately, for sports physiologists the questions still remain as, “what are the best metabolic indicators of post-exercise fatigue and recovery”, and when they’re identified “how can we best measure them”. So for the moment ‘lactate’ continues to get the bad-press, and it may take a generation before we fully understand what the really fatiguing factors are, but some the current candidates include an imbalance in sodium, potassium and calcium ions in various compartments of the muscle.
The reason for this is believed to be due to improvements in muscle structure that are induced following the initial bout of DOMS-causing-exercise, and these are then maintained with each successive bout. So it’s only when you stop a particular exercise for several weeks or months, and lose the protective effect, that you’re likely to experience DOMS again when you first do that exercise again. In addition to the pain and tenderness felt in the muscle, a consequence of DOMS is a temporary reduction in strength and power, which would be detrimental if you were trying to compete with DOMS. So the best way to avoid DOMS at a critical time (i.e. during the competitive season) is to make sure that your training in the preceding weeks and months has included the kind and severity of downhill running that you’ll do in important races. 4. Accumulation of metabolites. Historically, lactate accumulation and the acidosis that apparently occurs with it have been viewed as the main cause of fatigue during strenuous exercise. And there is no doubt that lactate concentrations do increase in both muscle and blood with strenuous exercise. This makes measuring lactate accumulation a very useful indicator of an athlete’s state of fitness and how he/she is coping with that level of exercise (running speed, etc). However, more recently, with improved technology that has enabled the measurement of other factors within the muscle, and a more detailed MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11
TRAINING
So in reality a combination of factors (oedema, inflammation, damage, metabolites) are likely to contribute to an overall sensation of fatigue post-exercise. And this will contribute to a perception of fatigue, which in itself is likely to impair performance if you were to attempt to exercise in that condition. Indeed, some of the evidence for the benefits of prescribed recovery strategies are that their primary benefit is the reduction in the sensation of fatigue. This will improve a person’s perception of their condition and their readiness to exercise, which will thereby result in a better performance. So in addition to some physiological evidence (unequivocal or otherwise) there may be a psychological benefit, as well as a possible placebo effect. Which means that regardless of any proven or unproven physiological benefit, if you think it’s doing you good, it probably is, simply because you believe that you can perform better after the procedure.
Common procedures for minimizing postexercise fatigue and aiding recovery The areas that I’ll consider in Part 1 of this article are: 1.Water immersion, of which there are a number of variations: a) Immersion per se regardless of water temperature; b) Cryotherapy; c) Thermotherapy; d) Contrast bathing. Plus a passing mention of: 2. Compression Garments; and 3. Active recovery I’ll then consider massage and other strategies in Part 2. (to be published in the next issue).
Water immersion The rationale for water immersion is that the water creates a constricting pressure (hydrostatic pressure), and the deeper a body part is immersed, the greater the pressure. This means that when you’re standing in water your lower leg will be experiencing more pressure than your upper leg, which will be experiencing more pressure than your upper body. This pressure will reduce the oedema in the lower limbs by pushing the fluid that had been forced from the blood into the intracellular component and interstitial spaces back into the blood. Reducing the oedema, means that when you get out of the water, the muscle capillaries are less likely to be constricted, and therefore blood and oxygen supply to the exercised muscle are more likely to be restored to optimal levels. The return of fluid to the blood, has been shown to make the blood a bit more dilute, which it is claimed, can enhance the osmotic gradient and in doing so, may facilitate the removal of metabolites, from the previously immersed muscles 1, 3 . It may also reduce the infiltration of white blood cells associated with inflammation, and thereby reduce the amount of muscle tissue breakdown that occurs post-exercise. The advocated duration of immersion should be at least 10 minutes 1 - 30 minutes. Another possible benefit of water immersion is the effect of buoyancy, with the body partly supported, the sensation of fatigue may be diminished and relaxation of the muscles enhanced 1.
Cryotherapy
1, 2
This is the application of cold, usually <15ºC. It supposedly works on the basis that metabolic reactions, including those associated with inflammation, are inhibited at lower temperatures. Additionally it is suggested that cooling an area will constrict blood flow and reduce swelling/oedema. At this point 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011 12
it’s necessary to distinguish between the application of ‘cold’ as an immediate treatment for a traumatic injury, including that caused by forceful contact in team sports, and in the context that we’re dealing with here, which is its application to aid recovery in less traumatic conditions, such as a hard race or running training session. Even so, the evidence for its benefit in aiding recovery from traumatic injury, DOMS, and/or general training is not overwhelming 2. Also note that here there may be some contradiction in the claimed mechanisms in that the proclaimed, and deemed beneficial, restriction in blood flow due to cold, may also reduce oxygen supply. Even so, some authorities would dispute whether the application of cold does indeed reduce blood flow, as the body can and does react in some cases by increasing blood flow in response to cold. Ice baths, where the participant stands in a container of cold water (often cooled by the inclusion of bags of ice), provide a combination of both cryotherapy and hydrostatic pressure, and some authorities suggest that it’s the hydrostatic pressure rather than the temperature which has the main anti-oedemic effect. Strategies for cryotherapy and ice-baths vary, with the duration of immersion ranging from 30 seconds – 20 minutes, often dictated by the actual temperature and cold tolerance of the participant. One of the key benefits of cryotherapy following injury, DOMS and severe training is likely to be a reduction in the perception of pain (analgesia) 2. This is due to the cold temperature inhibiting the transmission of the nerve impulses that are registered as pain. And a number of studies have reported this as a positive outcome, as well as participants reporting a perception of being more recovered and less fatigued after cold immersion, which means that they are more likely to approach the next exercise bout positively. However, a problem with the theory behind cryotherapy and thermotherapy (next section) is the extent to which the application of external cold or heat can change the temperature of the muscle below the surface. And whilst surface and skin temperatures are clearly changed, some authors would debate as
to whether there is any effect 2 – 4 cm below the surface2. Hence the potential impact of cryotherapy on blood flow and inflammation on structures deeper into the body may be debatable. Additionally, there may be an issue with the post-exercise timing of cryotherapy as opposed to immersion in water at warm or thermo-neutral temperatures, and further research is warranted.
Thermotherapy This is the immersion in warm water (>36ºC), such as a heated pool or spa, often for 10 – 20 minutes. According to some research, immersion in hot water may increase oedema, and possibly inflammation 1, 3. Therefore, it may not be a desirable strategy immediately post-exercise. However, at a later stage it may be beneficial in terms of general relaxation and physiological/metabolic recovery.
Contrast bathing This is the alternate application of heat and cold 2. As indicated above, the efficacy of this is debatable for tissue more than 1 – 2cm below the surface, as it’s questionable whether a temperature change occurs at this depth 3 . The procedure is often in the form of hot and cold water immersion, with each lasting between 30 seconds – 5 minutes, for a total duration of up to 30 minutes. It is claimed to alternately constrict and promote blood flow to an area, thereby enhancing the removal of metabolites. Protocols vary in terms of the temperatures used, time of each immersion, and whether you should start and/or finish with hot or cold immersion. Studies are contradictory as to the possible benefits of contrast bathing, with some claiming that the benefits are primarily due to the hydrostatic pressure, rather than any temperature effect. However, a recent study did find that both contrast water therapy and cold water immersion undertaken immediately post-exercise were effective at reducing perceptions of muscle soreness 24 hrs later 4.
Compression Garments Compression garments are based on the same principles as water immersion, in that they are claimed to reduce oedema. They are also subject to the same concerns in terms of limited evidence for their efficacy. As indicated previously, post-exercise lactate is not a good marker of recovery, and some authors have gone so far as to suggest, that in studies where the garments are worn during the exercise, the lower blood lactate may be due to the generated lactate being retained within the muscle as the compression prevents it from moving out into the blood
for redistribution around the body and oxidation 2, rather than it indicating a lower level of lactate production. However, other studies that have involved the wearing of compression garments post-exercise (rather than during exercise) do suggest that they may aid recovery, produce a perception of less fatigue, and ameliorate a decline in performance 24 hrs after the initial bout of strenuous exercise 5. Other authors report compression garments to have similar positive outcomes to active recovery and contrast water bathing (the benefits of which may be due to hydrostatic compression and/or temperature changes as previously indicated).
Active recovery Active recovery, such as low intensity exercise (easy jogging) immediately following a bout of strenuous exercise is commonly advocated in preference to passive recovery (complete rest). The reason for this is that the exercise will promote blood flow to the exercised muscles, and this coupled with the repetitive contract/ relax cycle of the muscles will help to remove metabolites and excess intracellular fluid. Studies have certainly shown blood lactate levels to decline faster with light/moderate exercise taken immediately post-exercise compared to complete rest, but as indicated earlier, lactate may not be a very good indicator of the efficacy of post-exercise recovery strategies, since it would normally return to resting levels within 90 minutes, and is not a culprit in the perceptions of fatigue and impaired performance that’s seen in the hours and days after very strenuous exercise. It is also often the case that active recovery has been shown to be as beneficial as the other postexercise strategies, such as compression garments and contrast bathing, all of which have in some studies been shown to be more effective in aiding recovery (as indicated by levels of creatine kinase) than passive recovery. However, one concern with active recovery is the additional energy consumption it involves, and in particular the use of additional muscle glycogen. By comparison the non-active recovery strategies of water immersion would enable immediate carbohydrate ingestion, and glycogen resynthesis, without its continued depletion. However, this may only be a significant issue when the time between repeated bouts of exercise is short. MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13
TRAINING
Summary At present there is some evidence to support the claimed benefits of water immersion post exercise, which is likely to work via the effects of hydrostatic pressure reducing muscle oedema, and subsequent inflammation. There is also some evidence that the application of cold, may aid recovery, although an even greater benefit may be its analgesic properties. Likewise, a number of recovery strategies may be effective in reducing the ‘perception’ of fatigue, which in itself is a good thing, even though it may not be measurable in terms of physiological markers of fatigue or certain performance measures. Research into the topic of post-exercise recovery has only recently started to emerge, and the research projects focus on assessing the currently employed strategies and the plethora of variations of each. The reasons why the research evidence in support of some strategies and their claimed underlying mechanisms is scant could be due to limitations of the methods used in the research, such as differences in the study designs: (i) the type of participants (novice or elite); (ii) type, duration and intensity of exercise used to induce fatigue; (iii) the application of the recovery strategy with its timing post-exercise, temperature, duration, etc; and (iv) a limited capacity to identify and assess key markers of fatigue and recovery. Or it could be simply due to the fact that these strategies don’t work – a consideration which is perhaps harder to accept.
Part 2 – “Massage and NSAID”, will be published in the next issue.
References 1. Wilcock IM, Cronin JB and Hing WA (2006). Physiological response to water immersion: A method for sport recovery? Sports Medicine, 36: 747 - 765. 2. Barnett A (2006). Using recovery modalities between training sessions in elite athletes: Does it help? Sports Medicine, 36: 781 796. 3. Robson-Ansley PJ, Gleeson M and Ansley L (2009). Fatigue management in the preparation of Olympic athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27: 1409 – 1420. 4. McGawley K and Tyler K (2010). The effect of water immersion on the recovery of team-sport-specific exercise. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, (Supplement) ASICS conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Program and Abstracts. Abstract #110, pg 61. 5. Gallaher E, Boyd L, Stepto N, Snow R and Aughey R (2010). Compression garments enhance recovery following Australian Football training. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, (Supplement) ASICS conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Program and Abstracts. Abstract #84, pg 48.
BOOK REVIEW
A Few Surplus Maps The History of The Scottish 6-Days Orienteering Event
J
ohn Colls has compiled a history of the Scottish 6-Days on behalf of the Scottish Orienteering Association and the 6-Day Company. With 216 full-colour A4 pages the book is a coffee-table adornment as well as an entertaining read and work of reference. It is divided into three sections - The Series, The Events and The Facts. The Series describes the evolution - always interesting and sometimes turbulent - of the 6-Days during the past 35 years. It quotes extensively from original documents to give a sense of immediacy to the vast range of issues that were arising and had to be dealt with. These extended far beyond technical ‘orienteering’ topics into broader matters of policy and management. In particular, for more than 30 years, the 6-Days has been designed to provide a family-based holiday experience as well as challenging competition. The Events looks at each biennial staging of the 6-Days (18 in all, including Oban in 2011) in some detail. It includes a copy of the map for every day of competition, interspersed with commentary and anecdotes gleaned from records and 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
personal recollections. They are many and varied, with an emphasis on coverage of all aspects of events from a learned article on the geology of Deeside landforms to hilarious snippets from such pillars of the press as the Faskally News, the Loch Lomond Lintie and the Forrest Times. The Facts is a compendium of appendices. It gathers together, mainly in honour-board or graphical format, key facts and figures from the past 35 years. The graphs include numbers and origins of competitors at each event as well as financial data. The honour-boards are similarly wide-ranging, from class winners to those who have taken major roles in directing The Series or organising The Events. A fascinating read for those who have taken part in the Scottish 6-Days and for anyone who is interested in the history and evolution of a major multi-day event on the world Orienteering calendar. Publication will be in July 2011. If you are attending the 2011 event in Oban you can order a copy when you enter on-line at www.scottish6days.com/2011. If not, contact John Colls (colls@bigpond.com) to arrange for a copy to be mailed to you from the UK for the early-bird price of $35.00 incl p&p if ordered before 15 April.
VICTORIAN JUNIOR SQUAD
Victorian Rebels are rising Positive signs for Junior Orienteering in Victoria Mark Hennessy (Victorian Junior Squad Support Crew member)
The competitive highlights for Victorian Junior orienteers at the Australian Secondary Schools Championships in 2010 included a third place in the Senior Girls Relay, and Rebekah Sunley being selected in the Australian Honour Team.
Building on a strong foundation - Rebels enjoying the sights of the Barossa Region
2
010 was a year of transition for Victorian Juniors. Following the transfer of previous squad coordinator Roch Prendergast to national junior coaching duties, Orienteering Victoria appointed a Junior Squad Support Crew of four people: Jim Russell, Julie Sunley, Nicky Stevens and Mark Hennessy. Financial backing was generously offered by Yarra Valley Orienteering Club.
Rebekah Sunley, Mary Fleming and Emily Hennessy celebrate their podium finish in the Senior Girls Relay. Rebekah Sunley was excited to be selected in the Australian Schools Orienteering Honour Team
Over a period of years, the number of juniors competing in regular Orienteering events in Victoria had gradually declined to the point where some junior age classes have no competitors at any events. The problem was not quality, but depth. The immediate challenge for the new support crew was improving both the base of the triangle and the apex â&#x20AC;&#x201C; introducing young orienteers to the sport, and supporting their pathway to enjoyment and achievement.
Victorian junior team coach Steve Bird clarifies some basics to Emily Hennessy, Nicholas Collins, Lachie Moffatt, Tom Duke and Peter Collins at the Creswick training camp.
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15
VICTORIAN JUNIOR SQUAD
Which way did you go? Jim Russell reviews the juniors’ GPS data on the laptop.
Sebastian Winter and Emily Hennessy chalk up a couple of points for the treasure hunt. Victoria tied the treasure hunt with New Zealand but lost on a tiebreaker, which was decided on both teams’ rendition of their national anthem.
The squad branded itself the “Rebels”, went on Facebook, and ran a camp at Creswick in July. Participants in the Victorian Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships were invited to join the squad, aided by a stirring address given by recent Schools champion Max Neve. This event was held last May at the magnificent Tye Estate in the Macedon Ranges – the home of an alternate school established by author John Marsden, whose books include Tomorrow when the War Began, now a movie. John chatted freely with awestruck students from various schools during the event, and also gave an inspiring address at the presentations.
While regular orienteers dominated the placings in the Victorian Secondary Schools Championships, several newcomers emerged, some of whom joined the Victorian Team for the Australian Secondary Schools Championships held in South Australia in September. In the Australian Schools Championships, James Robertson ran fastest first leg in the Senior Boys Relay to hand over to team mate Todd Neve, but third runner Tom Duke was struck down by flu and was not able to start. Tom was eligible to run junior, but was promoted to fill a vacancy in the senior boys team. In the Senior Girls Relay Rebekah Sunley ran a fast first leg to put the team in a good position. Regular participation in Bendigo Bush Classic events this year helped Emily Hennessy to maintain the team’s position, and Mary Fleming ran fast to hold off all States except Queensland.
Tent accommodation at the Williamstown Oval in the Barossa Valley ensured maximum socializing between the different teams at the Australian Schools Championships.
Handstands by a boy and girl outside any winery was a designated points scorer in the treasure hunt.
16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
Junior Boys Relay team Angus Robinson, Nicholas Collins and James Lumsden-Hill ran solidly for sixth place. Seb Winter, one of three newcomers from the Macedon region, put in a tidy run of 41 minutes in the Junior Boys relay. John-Joe Wilson, an accomplished and often lightning-fast distance runner, started the Carnival as a relatively inexperienced navigator, but improved steadily during the week to achieve some respectable times. Junior Girls Lucy Fleming, Rosie Dalheim and Katie Marshall performed consistently for sixth place in their Relay.
Nicky Stevens (Team Manager) and Steve Bird (Team Coach) drove the buses, washed the O-gear, dried the tears and unobtrusively got everyone to the start line on time, properly equipped, and physically and mentally ready to solve the problems presented by the course setter. According to Nicky Stevens, “the team dynamics were great, with all team members bonding well and the new recruits made to feel very welcome. The students enjoyed the opportunity to travel together, meet up with friends from other States and compete at a very high level. They left with great enthusiasm for the week they’d experienced”. The outlook for the future is bright, especially with a steady trickle of enthusiastic young orienteers from Bendigo and Macedon regions, underpinned by Bendigo’s Space Racing program and by some schools with strong outdoor education programs. These are in addition to young members of established orienteering families. Challenges for 2011 include assisting new juniors with transport to events, and keeping the cost of taking up Orienteering to a level consistent with (non-Orienteering) family budgets. This includes event fees, transport, (rapid settling thumb) compass, SI sticks and, eventually, O shoes. Proper Orienteering shoes helped Tom Duke keep his feet during a wet Bendigo winter.
Psyching up for the relay
The Victorian Junior Development Squad – the “Rebels” - are a loose-knit network of young orienteers (and their families). We welcome anyone who likes Orienteering and wants to get better at it. While the squad will help to prepare people for the Victorian Schools Team for the Australian Schools Orienteering Carnival in September, it will also try to help non-team members to enjoy Orienteering throughout the year. Sponsors and helpers are welcome. Further information: Mark Hennessy: markhennessy@bigpond.com
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17
SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Coping with Injury Part 1 Lisa Lampe Lisa Lampe is a psychiatrist and academic with a special interest in anxiety and cognitive behaviour therapy. She works for the University of Sydney and is based at the CADE clinic.
W
ould it be fair to paraphrase Jane Austen by saying ‘It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that an athlete in possession of good health must be in want of an injury’? Perhaps it only seems that way! The fact is, sooner or later, most physically active people will experience an injury. In this and subsequent articles I will look at psychological factors before and after injury, as well as in the longer term recovery phase.
Pre-injury psychological factors As they say, you have to be in the lottery to win it, and whilst getting injured is not the sort of lottery that anyone wants to win, it is something that could happen. We are all now required to sign the form saying we ‘should recognise that the sport of Orienteering has certain inherent risks due to its conduct in the natural environment. Included in these risks are injury due to rough terrain, fauna, obstacles and the effects of heat, cold and exhaustion’. Most of us probably don’t pay much attention to this form, and there are pros and cons to this approach. Life is inherently dangerous. There is no guarantee that we can avoid harm even if we chose never to leave the house – as anyone who has been injured in their own home can attest. Additionally, a highly avoidant and inactive lifestyle will have a significantly negative impact on emotional wellbeing. So clearly the answer is to be active, and the most common psychological strategy we use to cope with the anxiety that thinking about risks will cause us, is to not think about the risks. This is perfectly reasonable, providing that we have at some stage confronted the risks and made some decisions around how to manage them.
Thinking about risk Taking a ‘head in the sand’ approach is not ideal. It is recognised that after exposure to the same potentially traumatic event only some people will develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One factor that might contribute to this was put forward by Edna Foa, a prominent anxiety researcher. She described a concept known as ‘safety violation’. When something bad happens to us in a situation where we felt quite safe, we experience a ‘safety violation’ and may become more psychologically distressed and more generally fearful than had we recognised that we were at some risk. So the first step in coping with injury is to accept that it is a possibility. Next, we each need to decide on our own risk management plan. This will depend on a number of factors including our risk tolerance, our level of pre-existing risk (e.g. previous injuries and ongoing vulnerability), personal resources (e.g. skill and fitness level) and environmental factors (e.g. terrain, weather, domestic or international competition). Riskmanagement grids incorporate the likelihood of a given risk 18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
against the seriousness of the consequences, and one can also add the ease with which the risk could be decreased. For example, having a stick penetrate an eye and injuring it so severely that sight is lost must be a very rare occurrence (I have never heard of it happening in Orienteering) yet it is certainly possible, and would be such an extreme and disabling consequence that I cannot understand why so many orienteers do not employ the cheap and simple preventive strategy of wearing eye protection. Is it because they are taking a ‘head in the sand’ approach? Or the ‘it’ll never happen to me’ approach? This latter is referred to as an ‘optimism bias’, in which individuals underestimate the likelihood of harm occurring, or overestimate their skill in avoiding it. The optimism bias is associated with greater risk-taking. Or perhaps some people get so anxious thinking about risks that they prefer to avoid thinking about it entirely. None of these approaches is well-balanced! Risk-management involves active decision-making. We decide what level of risk we are prepared to tolerate, and how we will mitigate the risks. A non-Orienteering example comes from driving. Motor vehicle transport carries an inherent risk of death or injury, yet most people readily take this risk because (a) we judge it to be remote in likelihood, (b) we feel that the convenience and speed of motor vehicle travel far outweighs the risk and (c) in common with 80% of the population we judge ourselves to be above average in skill!1 We might also choose to reduce our risk by driving a car rather than a motor cycle, and buying the car with the most advanced safety features that we can afford. To apply this to Orienteering we might say, ‘I enjoy Orienteering so much that I am willing to take the risk of sustaining a sprain or even fracture. However, I know I get dehydrated easily so I will carry water/only do short courses when it is hot. I will also ensure I carry a whistle in case I am injured.’
Managing risk Once risk-management decisions have been made, we often cope best by not constantly dwelling on the risks, as this can make us so anxious that we don’t enjoy ourselves or perform at our best. Some years ago when I had only been orienteering for a few years, the June Queens Birthday 3-Day event in NSW was held near Lithgow. On the day of the relay we awoke to find that it had commenced snowing overnight. I expected that the event would be called off, but not so! I started to worry about the risks, and even after I went out on my leg of the relay things like ‘It’s really, really cold. If get lost I could get hypothermia’ were going round and round in my head until I took myself in hand and used some of my own CBT strategies, saying to myself ‘Well, if you just concentrate on navigating well, you’re not any more likely to get lost today than on other days’. This was sound advice to myself (proving that the old adage ‘a physician who treats himself has a fool for a doctor’ is not always true) since by focusing on the task at hand I was actually decreasing my risk as well as my anxiety.
Psychological factors and risk of injury There is some evidence that psycho-social factors can predispose to injury. There is a complex interaction between life events, personality and coping style, and cognitive factors, such as appraisal of risk and task-focused attention described above. A link between everyday life stresses and subsequent injury has been reported, with more injuries being experienced in the periods following an increase in such stresses. A history of more major life events may also be significant. Dave Shaw, in Sport and Exercise Psychology (2005), notes evidence that mood state at the time of competing can influence the risk of
injury, with higher levels of tension and anxiety being associated with higher risk. A number of explanations are proposed for this: anxiety may cause distracting thoughts that reduce focus on navigation and terrain (as in my example above) that may potentially lead to injury through misstep or fatigue; anxiety tends to lead to a narrowing of focus such that important environmental cues are missed; and Shaw also suggests that anxiety and stress may increase muscle tension that could contribute an element of incoordination that increases the risk of injury. In a sport such as Orienteering that involves uneven or rough terrain, and requires constant focus to enable good navigation, it is apparent how important these factors could be. Another factor likely to be of significance is prior history of injury – it would make sense that if an individual had experienced a number of injuries, or perhaps a severe injury, there might be heightened anxiety about sustaining further injury or new injuries. My observations also suggest that this is likely with increasing age, because the history of injuries becomes more extensive, we know it will take longer to recover from an injury, the rose-tinted spectacles of youth (immortality, invincibility etc. etc.) have begun to turn a more jaundiced shade, and the optimism bias to fade...
2. I f you have particular stresses in your life, apply your problem solving skills to these. Fix what you can, and control your worry over what you can’t fix2. Be aware that your concentration may be affected. 3. D evelop your mindfulness skills so that once you’re out on the course, you can give it your full attention. 4. K now when to ease off, because you’re already carrying an illness or injury, sleep deprived or stressed. 5. K now your limitations: avoid being unduly influenced by the optimism bias. Studies have confirmed that between 80-90% of people when surveyed will rate themselves as having above average driving skills. Studies also show that individuals who are the least competent on a task are the ones who overestimate their ability by the greatest margin. This is often referred to as ‘illusory superiority’. 1
Information about structured problem solving can be found at http://www.nevdgp.org.au/info/topics/depression/structured_ problem_solving.htm or in more detail in my book “Take Control of Your Worry”. 2
Action Points So how can we apply this knowledge to reduce psychological risk factors for injury? The following would seem to be sensible suggestions in the light of what we know so far: 1. If you haven’t already done so, prior to the start of the Orienteering season realistically consider the risks that are posed by our sport, especially as they are relevant for you or your children. Decide what steps you will take to reduce your risk of injury.
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER
19
O SKILLS
The Art of Noodling by Ella noo·dle (no͞ odˈl) noun Slang – A weak, foolish, or stupid person. intransitive verb noodled noo·dled, noodling noo·dling, noo·dles Slang – To wander aimlessly or haphazardously. To run around in circles. Esp. to run around in circles and fail to find the first control.
H
mmm, so my last article caused a bit of a reaction, with The Invisible One on the defensive about his bingo control, and threatening to set a BingO novelty course at Kooyoora. I think the novelty would be finding any at all, given how evil that terrain can be (and how vindictive the coursesetter). Perhaps by the time March rolls around he will have carried out his threat, and I will have another article. The art of Noodling is a different beast entirely. Think of a bowl of spaghetti. Start running at one end of a strand of pasta. Follow it into the bowl, up and down, over and under other strands, running endless loops but never quite getting out of the bowl. Now do the same route on an Orienteering course.
A great Noodle leg never announces itself. You never study the map, and think, Yes. I’m going to Noodle this one. In fact, you usually start with confidence. You run directly to your attack point, ticking off features as you pass them. You hit the attack point: a saddle, perhaps. You bound up the gully, over the saddle, and the control is just th… er, okay. Not there. Maybe you came up one gully too early. Which means that it is just around this spur and down in he… hmmm. Not here. Pause. Study map. Well, if it’s not there, and it’s not here, then that hill over there must be this high point on the map, then maybe you’re actually over here, which means the control must be over there. And off you trot in the right direction. Only to find… nope. @#$%!
To Noodle effectively, one must be in vague terrain so there are limited opportunities to relocate. If there are defined features, like a spur, there must be sufficient parallel features so that one is never entirely sure which high point or saddle one is on. We’ve all done it. I’ve done it; you’ve done it; even those at the pointy end have done it. In the days before GPS though, all you had to show for your floundering around was an optimistic set of random squiggles drawn on RouteGadget. You never actually knew where you went, because obviously, if you knew where you were then you wouldn’t be Noodling.
20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
Minutes pass. You get that awful sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that maybe this isn’t going so well. All hope of having a clean run has gone, and all that’s left is to retain some dignity and just get the thing over with.
There’s a track on the map. A big solid dashed line that should be easy to spot. You look around. And yes, you spot it through the trees, down in the gully which you didn’t actually want to go down into. But, nothing for it. Time to relocate. Before you get to the track though, you can see that it veers sharply left. Ah hah, so that track bend just ahead through the trees must be this track bend on the map, which means that you are now here. You thank your deity of choice that you didn’t have to go all the way into the gully. You turn around and run back up again, filled with renewed hope. But alas. The gully that seemed so promising just a few minutes ago has petered out into vague nothingness. It does look quite vague on the map though, so you push on. Before long though, you are back at the top without your control, and ready - if not entirely willing - to have another go.
and reach the top without seeing your elusive control. Yet again. @#$%! @#$%! @#$%! Forty minutes has passed. Thoughts of DNF’ing cross your mind. Thoughts of how you are possibly going to explain yourself to your peers also flit briefly through the tired grey matter. Maybe one more gully. Just one more, and then you’ll call it a day. You’re on the tops. You know you’re on the tops, because, well, there’s nowhere else up to go. And so it begins again. Alas, the brain just isn’t coping. All the spring has gone from your legs, and you’re just over it. Totally over it. Stupid sport. Totally useless. Never doing this again. Who’s dumb idea was it anyway. Safety bearing is east. Time to start walking. Anon, dear reader. Until next time. If I ever come back.
So, if it’s not in this gully, then that hill over there must be this high point on the map, then maybe you’re actually over here, which means the control must be over there. And off you trot in the right direction. Only to find… nope. @#$%! Haven’t you been here before? It’s starting to look horribly familiar for all the wrong reasons. And you get that awful sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Take a deep breath. Gather your thoughts. And head back to the track to look for somewhere totally identifiable to relocate from. Another competitor trots past, looking confident and comfortable. Grrr. You resist the temptation to rip the map out of her hands and torture her for information. But only just. You find a mini erosion ditch that crosses the track, and a gully on the opposite side. So that means you must, er… might, be here. And you slowly trudge up the gully, yet again,
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21
URBAN ORIENTEERING
Street Orienteering in Western Australia Tony Simpkins (OAWA) Metro Series
O
AWA has been running a highly successful street/park series since 1996. 12-13 events are held each year on Saturdays at 5.00pm, from mid-November until the end of February. Average attendance is around 100-110 and has been stable for a number of years. A similar series of 6-7 events is held in Bunbury with average attendance of 30-40. Our street/park series has a very simple organisational structure. Usually our events are mapped, set and organised by a single person, with some help from one or two other people on the day to handle registration and a briefing for newcomers. Events are scatter format using 20-30 control points with three length options (Short 2-3kms, Medium 4-5kms, Long 7-8kms). There is a single mass start, and normal punches are used, attached by wire cable to a lockable control marker. They are light enough to allow setters and control collectors to use bicycles, carrying up to 15-20 controls at a time. A self-regulated result system is used – after finishing and having their time recorded on their control card, people then hang their card in finishing order on a string. One person collects the control cards each week and processes the results for all events during the season using a simple database application that requires minimal data entry, and produces individual event and series progress results for the website. An abbreviated placegetters version is also generated for emailing to the local Control 10, Warnbro Sound (jealous?)
press. Web results, including Routegadget are almost always available the next day (Sunday). Traditionally ‘Be Active’ water bottles provided by the Heart Foundation are awarded to the ‘best performance’ by a male and female on each of the three courses. However no individual can win more than one bottle per series, so by the end of the Series it is possible to win one even if you are not in the top 10 on the day! Also, at the end of each event a spot prize (voucher for Brooks running gear provided by Runners World) is drawn from all the participants. Series prizes of Heart Foundation merchandise (t-shirts, hats, etc.) are awarded for several categories on each course (Junior, Open, and Veteran Men and Women, and Group). Series scores are based on the best 7 out of 12-13 events. Past multiple Series winners include Craig Dufty, Steve Fletcher and Ricky Thackray (Open Men - Long), Rachel West (Open Women - Long), Tony Simpkins (Veteran Men - Long and Veteran Men - Medium), Peter Shanley (Open Men -
22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
Around 3-4 new areas are introduced each year, and most areas are used only once every 2-4 years. All OAWA’s maps are digitally printed by Worldwide Online Print at $0.70 per A4 copy on 115gsm. Black and white map photocopying would save only $0.64 per map and therefore has minimal effect on entry fees. These are currently $10 for adult full members, $15 for adult casual members. Our research and experience have shown that (a) the fee level bears little correlation to participation levels, and (b) participants really appreciate the colour maps.
Eoin Rothery conducts a Newcomers’ Briefing
Medium), Erin Post (Open Women - Medium), Carol Brownlie (Vet Women - Medium), Chip Lundstrom (Vet Men - Medium), and Nicola, Georgia & Daddy Farquhar-Smith (Group - Short). Sten Claessens is perhaps the unluckiest Metro Series Orienteer, having finished 2nd in Open Men - Medium or Open Men - Long over several Series, and usually by the closest of margins, although he did win on the Medium course in one Series back in 2003-04. Event equipment includes two bags of controls, a couple of folding tables and chairs, and some sponsor banners. Everything else fits into a plastic crate, including registration & control cards, pens, event calendars, finish chute, cash box, stopwatch, etc. A portable PA system (Mi-Pro MA707 obtained from a VSEG [Volunteer Support & Equipment] grant) is used for announcements and presentations. At most events, the Development Officer brings a small shelter and a set of display boards (also gained through VSEG) showcasing the Series and Orienteering in general. For the first 5 years (1996-2000) black and white maps were used, but the introduction of colour maps in 2001 proved very popular. Our colour maps nowadays are produced using Nearmap as a base. Several hours are required to draw the map in OCAD, but fieldwork for most areas can be kept to a minimum thanks to the detail provided by Nearmap. Michelle Martin (WOW) stretches to punch
Over the years, the Metro Series has built a strong following of regulars who do not appear to be very interested in bush Orienteering. A few have become members since the introduction in 2007 of a Sprint season of 6-8 events during Autumn, also mainly on Saturdays. This may be due to economic reasons, ie a greater number of urban events for which they can receive members’ event fee discount, but they still tend to avoid the bush. Possible reasons for the lack of take-up to bush Orienteering are (a) most bush events are held on Sunday mornings when people may have other commitments (eg church, children’s sporting fixtures); (b) the extra travel to bush events (up to 1 hour each way); (c) unwilling to make a volunteer contribution; (d) fear of the additional navigational difficulty. Since the beginning of the current (2010/11) Metro Series, OAWA has introduced compulsory casual membership, and it will be interesting to assess the impact on full membership take-up. There is not much scope to expand street/park Orienteering in Perth, so we have developed a Sprint series instead (see below). Western Australia does not have daylight saving, so midweek evening events are not feasible. While the metropolitan area is very large geographically (100km from Quinns in the North to Mandurah in the South), the current participation numbers do not justify splitting the Metro Series to allow for separate events in the North and South, even if these were held on different days. Despite a strong rogaining community, night Orienteering is not at all popular in WA, and no night events have been held since the last one in 2000 attracted less than 20 participants. We have also experimented by scheduling park scatter events during the winter, but attendances were very disappointing with none of our summer ‘regulars’ showing up. The Sprint season (known as the Nav Dash Series) commences a week or two after the final Metro Series event and runs until mid-May, overlapping with the start of the bush season. Events are run from 2.00-3.00pm on Saturdays, and use full Sportident, therefore requiring more personnel and equipment than the Metro Series. Park venues were used in the first couple of years, but have been found wanting in terms of map detail, so we now use mainly university and private school grounds.
Web Links: Metro Series page http://wa.orienteering.asn.au/events/ summer/ (includes current series results and Routegadget); Nav Dash page http://wa.orienteering.asn.au/events/NavDash/
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23
URBAN ORIENTEERING
StreetNav in Queensland Rob Simson
T
oohey Forest has conducted StreetNav for 15 years. We have over twenty B&W maps in local Brisbane southside suburbs. We put out 20 controls under street lights. Runners choose to do the Long Course (18 controls in any order), Medium course (12 controls in any order) or Short course (8 controls in any order). Courses are set so there is no obvious sequence and a lot of decision making is required on the run. That is the secret of a good course. If you choose the best sequence the Long course is usually about 7.5 to 8km. Medium is about 5km and Short about 3.5km.
control then come to the download table. The printer prints out the time like any SI event and the organiser checks that the right number
Orienteering must always be running navigation with lots of decision making. We don’t have twilight in Qld and traffic problems mean it is difficult for runners to get to our start locations by 6.15 for a 6.30 start. Start time is extended to 7pm. This year we are using SI. The club bought a school SI set with computerless printer system and a few extra SI units. The units fit into an aluminium ‘cradle’ that is chained onto the light pole with the control marker plate made from powder coated aluminium with a range contact triangle to make it like one side of a normal marker. We hire SI sticks at $4 each time. Groups may take one SI stick. Everyone pays the entry of $5 adults and $3 for juniors and $12 for families. At the start participants clear their SI stick, receive their map, ‘punch’ the Start unit and go. Some do a lot of planning before setting off. About 20 participants can be started every minute. At the Finish they visit the Finish 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
of different controls have been visited, 18,12 or 8. Then the participant writes their elapsed time on their result card and hangs up their own result. Two people can run the system on the night. Help from others to set up or collect controls afterwards is welcome. We divide results into Male and Female, and Juniors, Seniors and Veterans - so we have up to 18 categories
for awards at the end of the season. An information brochure is available. The Eight Mile Plains map is a good example of a StreetNav event. It’s shown in colour here but we print in grayscale for our events to make production easier and to keep costs down.
Orienteering in Olympics
O-Spy Hugh Moore - YES - IT WAS TBE
A
s a sequel to the adventures Hugh Moore had within the Australian medical system, Hugh has now returned from Sweden where he arranged to be tested for Tick Borne Encephalitis(TBE). The test result confirmed that it was European TBE that nearly killed him a year ago and put him in hospital for three months following a tick bite in Finland. This test vindicated the TBE diagnosis he obtained from a naturopath after discharge from Canberra Hospital, where the doctors had been unable to specifically identify what illness had afflicted him. It also underscores the importance for Australians orienteering in Europe to consider vaccination against TBE. Hugh says he is now around 95% recovered after one year of rehabilitation. But he has been advised by a Swedish nurse that he may still be able to keep recovering for up to 5 years. His ambition is to return to winning form in his age group but using the logic of this information he now believes he may eventually be able to exceed 100% recovery. Watch out Nigel and others! The picture shows Hugh running in the snow when visiting the Quayles at Sundsvall during his Swedish trip. It was only minus 15 degrees that day.
(extract from interview in CompassSport Dec’10 with British World Championships runner, Jon Duncan, who lives in Norway): What would you ban from Orienteering? Ambition to have Orienteering in the Olympics. It will lead to so many changes from the ‘original’ product that I’d be disappointed with the outcome. I’m already frustrated by pointless spectator loops and compromised courses designed to start & finish in an arena that is good for the public. The public rarely come to watch anyway. Only hard core orienteers will watch Orienteering. Take the WOC 2010 (in Trondheim). Three big screens in the arena and 98% of spectators were watching these. Even when runners were coming in or going out of the arena, people continued to watch them on the big screen, rather than see them run past in front of them. Orienteering could make a great edited TV product, but it does not work live. TV shots are most often dull and don’t show the skill of the runner - they just show someone who looks slow, because we are used to watching very fast runners on an athletics track. Even if we are running top speed in the forest, it does not look very fast. In Trondheim they could have had a ‘blimp’ (mini airship) high above the open marshes and shown the runners making route choice decisions over a long leg, for example.
F
Swiss O Week: Adventure in the Swiss Mountains
orests with hundreds of huge boulders, an impressive glacial landscape, chair lift rides to the race areas above 2000m above sea level and a panorama of countless mountain peaks: in the summer of 2011 the Swiss Orienteering Week takes place in the holiday paradise of Flims Laax Falera in the Swiss Alps. Between 30th July and 6th August, 2011, there are seven competitions on the programme; in the week before, from 24th to 29th July, the organisers are offering organised training, and all accompanied by exciting social events. About 3000 participants including the five World champions Simone Niggli-Luder, Helena Jansson, Matthias Müller, Daniel Hubmann and Matthias Merz are expected at this international multiday event. Discover the adventure in the middle of the Swiss Alps: www.swiss-o-week.ch.
On the Comeback Trail
O
riginal record-holder for total courses completed, Ian Baker (Victoria) - now M75, completed 41 events in 2010 (including one as organiser/course-setter) to bring his event tally total to 2084. This was a come-back from 2009 when his event total was zero, due to hip replacement surgery and then a period doing a house-sit in Noosa, Qld. Hugh Moore in Sweden, aiming for 100% + recovery from TBE MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25
COACHING
A view from the 19th… Russell Blatchford (Newcastle OC)
skills to take the risk off the tee, and reap the reward with a putt for birdie. The ‘risk’ and ‘reward’ is there for me as a ‘B’ grade golfer also. If I can hit my driver with a controlled fade, and finish on a quite narrow fairway just after the slight dog leg right, I might find myself only 60 metres from the green .......... but if the fade doesn’t happen and I hit the ball straight, I will be dead in the thick trees left (if I can find my ball). My handicap gives me no shot on the 8th, and I am expected to make a par. I do make more pars on this hole than any other hole on the course - and I have NEVER hit my driver off the tee.
…… as an Orienteer, I make a reasonable ‘B’ grade golfer FOR THE GOLFER IN ME
Risk and Reward (I am not Geoff Ogilvy)
Very early on in my tragic pursuit of smarter golf strategies I came across an excellent article aimed at ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade golfers like myself. The author wrote of ‘THE 90% RULE’ - that is, select the club and play the shot that you would expect to be able to successfully execute 9 times out of every 10 attempts. So on the 8th, I back myself that I can hit my ‘Rescue-Mid’ 160 metres straight 90% of the time - leaving a 7 or 8 iron from the fairway to the green, which I back myself to do 90% of the time. Maybe I might even get lucky in my fantasy golf round and match Geoff’s score for the hole, which would be an absolute thrill.
* FOR THE ORIENTEER IN ME – Risk and Reward (I am not Julian Dent): Amongst most in the Australian Orienteering community, certainly amongst juniors, I believe Julian is our most
I
f I could make a golfing wish, I think I would wish for a round of golf at my home club with Australian Touring Professional Geoff Ogilvy. He has won seven USPGA Tour titles, including the US Open in 2006 and the World Match Play Championship in 2006 and 2009. He was the Australian PGA Champion in 2008 and Australian Open Champion in 2010. Geoff has won over US $22 million in career prize money. Most importantly of all, he supports the mighty St Kilda Football Club in the AFL, and I would argue that he is currently the best golfer in Australia! I wonder how Geoff would play the 8th hole at my club, a 283 metre par 4 (pictured right). This hole plays longer as it is slightly uphill, but it is a classic ‘risk and reward’ golfing hole. The ‘risk’ and ‘reward’ is on the tee. Geoff Ogilvy averaged 287 metres off the tee in 2010, so I reckon he would probably have a go at the green with driver. The shot would need a controlled left to right ball flight (a ‘fade’), and if he didn’t make the green I am positive he would back himself to get onto the green in two, whether from just short of the green, or from a greenside bunker. He has the 26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
recognised elite Orienteer. He has represented Australia at JWOC on four occasions between 2002 and 2005, achieving an outstanding 4th place in the 2005 Long Distance final in Switzerland. Julian won the junior men SILVA NOL title in 2003 and 2004, and the senior men NOL title in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 he won 16 of the 17 contested races. Julian has been the M21 Easter 3-Day champion in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and was the M21 Australian Champion in Sprint, Middle and Long Distance disciplines in 2010 also. He has represented Australia at WOC in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and despite the fact that he does not support the mighty Saints in the AFL, I would argue he is clearly amongst the best orienteers Australia has produced.
In this article Warren wrote “run the easiest route as fast as you can, and whatever your choice is, be one hundred percent committed to making it work for you”. In the previous edition of Australian Orienteer (December 2010), I wrote of the challenge of long legs on the course, and made reference to an article from Rob Lewis, 2009/2010 WOC Coach. In his original article Rob wrote “Straight is great, provided you have the technical sophistication to pull it off. But what are the consequences down the track and is it worth the risk or error? What is the best route? There is no clear answer - the best answer is the one that is best for you”.
As a ‘B’ grader the best route for me is what I can execute 9 times out of 10!!
I am privileged to have the opportunity to work with juniors in NSW, and I have constantly been astounded, and obviously extremely appreciative, of Julian’s willingness to get involved with our junior programs. He has volunteered enormous amounts of his own time, and our NSW juniors respect him immensely. Julian constantly reminds our juniors of the significance of their process, and our juniors have come to understand that they have plenty in common with Julian. Shared language includes attack points, exit direction, reading the contours, simplification of map reading, recognising danger controls.
Great Legs – Route Choice
As a ‘B’ grader I too orienteer just like Julian in theory, but, like the juniors, I have to remind myself that in practice there has to be differences, as I obviously don’t have his superb physical conditioning or his technical expertise.
C
B
A
(from Aust O Sept 2001)
E
D
Consider ‘Great Legs’, Australian Orienteer September 2001. I used to really look forward to these magnificent route choice articles from Warren Key. In this issue Warren presented part of a training exercise conducted with elite Australian men and women as part of World Cup preparations.
Map: Timberlight Scale: 1:15,000
What route would readers take? Me - I would take route A. WHY? It’s the golfer in me, it’s ‘THE 90% RULE’ all over again. It is the tantalising prospect of risk versus reward, it’s about this ‘B’ grade orienteer choosing what I believe I could execute 90% of the time, not what Julian Dent would choose to do on this leg!
Route Metres
Climb Navigation (metres) difficulty
Error chance
Time
14.20
Straight 1770
130
A
60
30%
Very Low
95
45%
Moderate 12.20
2650
B 2050
C 1870 140 60%
High
11.45
D 1920
85
60%
High
11.55
E 2500
55
60%
High
11.55
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27
COACHING
Putting Theory Into Practice A humorous(?) recount of just what happens when the world of theory and world of practice collide (or why an inept ‘B’ grade orienteer of limited ability such as myself needs to adopt the ‘THE 90% RULE’ 100% of the time): The scene is Day 4 of the Xmas 5-days 2010, on Mount Brown, granite orienteering terrain, 1:10,000. The course Red 2, 5.9km, 220m of climb, for competitors in Women A and Men B. The tale involves Steve Doyle (SD) winner MB, Roch Prendergast (RP) second MB, Aislinn Prendergast (AP) 5th in WA and only a very creditable 3:04 off WA winner Anna Quayle and me (RB), the inept ‘B’ grader of limited ability.
SD AP RP RB
Start - #6 30:07 26:48 29:22 29:41
#4 - #5
#5 - #6
#6 - #7
#7 - #8
7:36 4:52 5:33 4:57
3:14 2:53 3:53 3:53
2:47 4:17 4:14 11:06
8:59 9:39 10:41 12:58
course time 58:30 60:54 63:21 77:28
The table above obviously does not make full reference to the entire course, but I suspected I had started well, and
my elapsed course time through control #6 confirmed the feelings I had at the time. Things were at their best #4 to #5 (the dam, sheet of bare rock passed on route to #3, large bare rock before fence, single boulder, edge of clearing, control) and #5 to #6 (thick vegetation surrounding control #2 on right, climb over bare rock, climb past boulder, two sheets bare rock, control). These decisions were working for me, and I really thought these were decisions I could execute 90% of the time. Trouble was my confidence had grown, and given I was making a mockery of the granite challenge and monstering the terrain I morphed into Julian Dent and left control #6 with the intent of straight line aggression. Map to ground and ground to map visualisation wasn’t working, but I couldn’t give a stuff! I was in the zone, feasting on this course as if seated at the finest of International restaurants, and my compass was the waiter providing silver platter table service!! Then, up ahead, on my compass line, I spotted the feature. Around the base of the cliff and there was a control. But it was not mine!!!! I was not the least bit surprised. I got exactly what I had asked for. No plan for the leg, no map contact, how did I actually expect that I had adopted an approach to this control that I could execute 90% of the time? Straight line on a leg like #6 to #7 is only for the best, the ‘A’ graders, and right then I found myself in pitiful random search mode. Managed to gather my thoughts before really excessive time was wasted, and saw climbing east to the fence as my only hope of relocation. Got my head up and couldn’t miss masses of big rock south as I climbed, so headed north and spotted an enormous boulder. Down to the control, but 7 minutes lost in a flash.
Mount Brown Day 4 2010 Xmas 5 Days
As I headed off to control #8 the words of Rob Vincent, fellow Newcastle member and Australian legend of our sport resonated in my ears - “if you had to use that boulder to relocate, then that should have been your route choice consideration all along”. I don’t know what Steve or Roch did for #7, but I know the fence and boulders were the route choice for Aislinn, and even I could follow a fence to a massive boulder attack point 9 times out of 10!! Stunned back into reality, I ditched the Julian Dent suit and returned to my ‘B’ grade methods which served me so well prior to control #7. Roughly south to the fence, masses of large rocks on my left, cross fence and see dam down on my right, slog up open gully ticking off only big features as I continue to climb, one large big rock to fence corner, control #8. Slow and cautious I know, tough climb, hard fence to cross below control, but this represented a return to ‘THE 90% RULE’. But when will I learn to keep to the rule 100% of the time?? Two days on from Mount Brown, and I find myself getting a good laugh out of what I attempted on leg #6 to #7. On his AP log Julian wrote “awesome area, world class”, and added “need an International event here”. He covered 6.9km that day in 45:54, at a rate of 6:39/km. My rate was almost twice that, at a stunning 13:08/km.
28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
And I tried to straight line a leg like #6 to #7 on nothing but a bearing - what an idiot!
* Note to self – (Risk and reward / I am NOT Julian Dent):
P P P P
Use YOUR strengths Do what works for YOU Accept YOUR limitations Don’t think about what others might do
As I sit proof reading this contribution, thinking about the content, the words of David Bowie in his song ‘Heroes’ cycle through that large empty ‘B’ grade Orienteering space in my mind - “We can be heroes, even for one day”. Can we also orienteer like Julian Dent, even for one day? Banish that thought. Have I already forgotten the lesson Day 4 in Armidale taught me?!
Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre
BOOK REVIEW
Around the contours: A History of Orienteering in Western Australia Jennifer Binns (OAWA)
T
he first full season of ten Orienteering events was staged in the autumn and winter of 1974 and the Orienteering Association of Western Australia (OAWA) was founded the same year. But the seeds of Orienteering in the West go back further. In 1973, Gary Aitken mapped and set the first event at John Forest National Park (JFNP) on the eastern outskirts of Perth. This was followed by several night score events over the summer of 1973-1974. The JFNP map played a crucial role in the development of Orienteering in Western Australia as it was large enough to be split into sections and could be used several times in a season. Although not used for competition, WA’s first Orienteering map was an area of Rottnest Island, drawn in 1972 by another early ‘pioneer’ Pat Murray as a training exercise for his student teachers. Gary, along with OAWA’s first President Eric Isaachsen, worked hard to establish the sport, generating media publicity, locating new areas, making maps, acquiring equipment, running cartography courses, securing the
support of government agencies, and liaising with the ‘wise men’ of Orienteering in the East. Four metropolitan clubs were formed in 1978. LOST (‘If we knew why we wouldn’t be’) was allocated the western suburbs, Wullundigong Orienteers of the West (WOW) the northern, Kulgun 225 (KO) the southern and Bibbulmun (BO) the eastern zone. In 1984, South West Orienteering Trekkers (SWOT), based in Bunbury, became WA’s fifth club. And the rest, as they say, is history! You can read the full story, warts and all, by purchasing a copy of Around the contours: A History of Orienteering in Western Australia 1974-2009. This 60 page full-colour book has been professionally designed and printed to library standard. It features numerous photos, maps, interesting facts, competition results, and entertaining anecdotes covering 35 years of Orienteering in the West. The price is just $30 per copy (add $3.50 if book is to be posted). Order your copy from jennifer.binns@iinet.net.au or buy it at the 2011 Easter Carnival. MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29
MTBO
Course Planning for MTBO
Thor Egerton (BK-V)
In the absence of any written guidelines on what constitutes a well planned MTBO course, I am putting forward my thoughts in the hope it will prompt others to think more about the issues and perhaps generate some discussion. It seems to me that everyone has an idea of what makes a good course but there has been little actual discussion and certainly no consensus reached.
T
he assumption of most Australian MTBO course planners, and possibly of most participants as well, is that route choice is the key component of a good leg. What this can lead to, in my opinion is a frustrating course to ride that is at times unfair. The rider can be repeatedly faced with two obvious routes that look like they would take about the same time to ride. The rider is forced to pick one. Invariably, one of them will be faster on the ground and luck then comes into play. I call these legs 50:50 route choice legs. Most of the time, no real harm is done. The faster rider will still get to the CP the fastest, no matter which route they choose. But sometimes these legs can be unfair, costly, frustrating and ultimately reduce the enjoyment of participating in that event.
Thor at the Australian MTBO Champs last October
To me, any leg that has more than one way of getting to a CP is a route choice leg, even if there is only one sensible leg to choose. The rider still has to explore the options. So what constitutes a GOOD route choice leg versus a BAD route choice leg? A bad route choice leg is one where the routes look the same or similar on the map in terms of time to get to the CP, but are very different on the ground. Fortunately major differences in ride times when things look equal on the map are fairly infrequent. An equivocal route choice leg to me is a 50:50 route choice leg on the map that is also 50:50 on the ground. These legs sometimes form the bulk of the legs on courses in Australia. You ride around tossing a coin at each CP. Who knows which the best route is? There is probably little or no difference which one you choose. Apart from having to spend time thoroughly checking out both routes which a good MTBOer will do quickly and effectively, the leg does not offer any more navigational challenge than a leg with no route choice. It could be argued that someone who doesn’t spend the time evaluating their options has just as much chance of getting the fastest route to the CP as someone who does. I don’t see any problem with legs that only have one obviously optimal route. The leg might have many navigational challenges along the way requiring very fast accurate navigation. Sounds like fun to me. I definitely don’t think a course that predominantly has legs with only one optimal route should be criticized. In fact I think this type of 30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
Figure 1 Leg 7-8: An extreme example of a bad route choice leg. In this case it was not so much bad planning but unlucky. The main choice is between going around the hill anti-clockwise or clockwise (although at least one person took the direct route over the top). Clockwise is shorter while anti-clockwise has a faster track. Both have similar climb with neither having any steep sections and both having sections of short dash track. So it was a 50:50 decision based on your riding preferences. However, on the ground, the clockwise route had many unmapped fallen trees and much of the section along the watercourse had become river and was very difficult riding. This meant large differences in times between routes, particularly for the women, and spoilt a few people’s rides on the day.
course should be the goal for Sprint and Middle Distance races. Finally, what do I think is a GOOD route choice leg? As I said before, any leg with a choice is a route choice leg. More options means a more complex route choice leg and this can be a good thing. However, I believe, good navigators should be able to pick which is going to be the fastest on the ground using the information given on the map. This information includes, track length
and rideability as well as more subtle factors such as climb, number of turns and decisions, and complexity of navigation. The best MTBOers will consistently make the correct decisions at speed. But there needs to be a correct decision for it to be a good route choice leg. Competitors will need to decide how much time they need to spend on determining which one is the optimal route. Some will be able to do this on the go, others will need to stop. Should they take a risk and just go for the first one they see? An ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY AWESOME route choice leg is one where the obvious route (shortest route) is not going to be the fastest. Especially, if I get it right! These are pretty rare and they should be rare to have best effect. Importantly, the information you need to determine that there is a faster alternative is all available on the map. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to have supernatural powers. And if you see it, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to toss your coin.
Figure 4 Leg 6-7: Great leg. This route choice leg had one best option if you look at the contours. How quickly can you work it out?
Figure 2 Leg 2-3: A good route choice leg because there are choices to make and the optimal route (solid track to the south) can be determined by considering track speed, distance, and climb. There was still careful navigation required along the route and importantly the faster looking route on the map was the fastest on the ground thanks to good mapping and careful planning.
Figure 5 Leg 11-12: A 50:50 leg. It was set as a route choice leg but no matter how long (or short) you look at it, you cannot tell which one is faster. Toss your coin and hope that there is no difference on the ground or that your rivals go the same way as you. Navigationally unchallenging so of no value to the course.
Figure 3 Leg 6-7: This one had a number of options to consider and for such a short leg needed a fair bit of time to fully consider them all. The most southerly route was the best on the map but possibly not the most obvious at first glance. MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31
MTBO
Training camp participants, from left to right: Luke Poland (ACT), Oscar Phillips (TAS), Marc Gluskie (TAS), Heath Jamieson (VIC), Anthony Lynch (VIC), Tom Goddard (TAS), Ian Dalton (WA organiser), Alex Randall (VIC). Missing from the photo: Kay Haarsma (SA organiser), James Robertson (VIC), Matthew Towns (VIC), Grant Lebbink (VIC), and Vanessa Round (SA).
Successful Training Camp Kay Haarsma (coach)
Alex Randall gives Marc Gluskie some advice during the training camp.
T
he January MTBO camp almost didn’t happen because of the flooding in central Victoria affecting some of the areas it was planned to ride in. After consulting orienteers living there as well as meteorological guru Blair Trewin everything was “go”. The next problem was for me to get to Ballarat as Vic Roads had shut down the Western Highway due to flooding in several places. In the end we had mild summer weather, just perfect for riding. However the 4 inches of rain certainly had damaged many of the single tracks, making for tougher and more technical riding. Eureka club members helped the camp along with Roch Prendergast printing maps, Jenny Bourne putting out tapes and Blake Gordon even sourcing a free 10-seater van from the local karate club! An enclosed trailer was hired to cart around the bikes. After a late airport pick-up of five people and their bikes we arrived at our initial accommodation site in the Epsom Caravan Park near Bendigo. Matt Towns and his family were already in residence, having their own caravan parked at that very park! Many thanks to his parents for helping out with food gathering!! Day 1 of training was on the Kangaroo Gully and Break O Day maps mostly riding in pairs and taking it in turns to navigate. It was here that Alex and Tom donated the first blood to the rocks but alas it was the fall onto his coccyx by Ian Dalton that would have more serious consequences later. Racing in a local mountain bike cross country race was an optional extra that night. Anthony Lynch rode a warm up lap for experience, while Marc Gluskie, Tom Goddard, James Robertson and coach Kay opted to compete in the hour long race. This was a handicap race both in terms of laps needing to be completed and in differing start times. Marc was our best performer. The course had good variety, with some long ramps, berms, switchbacks and much rock. For a $5 entry fee we all received a free coke and a gourmet burger voucher. Day 2 saw us train in the morning on the flat Whipstick area doing three or four detailed loops and trying to avoid riding through the smelly leftover water in low lying areas. This was an “animal” day - Alex befriending a dumped kitten who we took to the RSPCA; and Luke had a huge spider crawl out of his helmet and hang in front of his eyes on a web! All riders came back with helmets filled in with spider webs. Later we moved “house” to the Maldon caravan park and did several exercises around the town itself. One was riding in pairs with a course of another area and discussing route choices – thus giving map reading whilst riding practice and having people verbalise what they were navigating by on the map. Several even chose to ride up the steep Mt Tarrengower afterwards, just so they could scoot down! 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
On Day 3 we travelled to Maryborough, passing through the flood damaged towns of Newstead and Carisbrook. Here we rode on one of the best MTBO maps in Australia – Mosquito Creek. Heath Jamieson joined us for this day – being his one free day off from Australian Open tennis work duty. We “warmed up” by doing some track stand practice and then tested this with some elimination “bully boy” games. This required riders to try to force others to put a foot down whilst maintaining their own balance while manoeuvring around a small area. Oscar Phillips and Luke Poland won a game each. Everyone then did a normal course, followed by two mass start races with split courses. Lunch was had in Maldon and the boys even discovered a laundry and did a well needed clothes wash. Meanwhile I was driving around the roads between Newstead and Maldon trying to get access to the middle of the Muckleford map. However all internal roads were closed due to flood damage, so the afternoon long distance practice course was adapted a bit. Tea at the “Kangaroo” pub saw Marc quickly “inhale” his chicken parma and then demolish a big serving of chocolate mud cake in less than a minute. Others displayed more decorum or simply wanted to savour their desserts more. Day 4 saw us start with a session of mechanical advice from Alex. This included the need to carry a spare derailleur on interstate or o/s trips; what to carry on the bike (this includes a chain link); how to use a CO2 canister and much more. This was a moving day again – this time to a large rented house in Ballarat. En route we stopped at Macedon and Woodend for training. In Macedon we used the town and surrounds foot-O map for some “sprint” type training with two mass starts with slightly different courses. On the “Fingerpost” map at Woodend, which has 10 metre
Marc Gluskie zooms downhill at Nerrina. After the sprint around the University of Ballarat campus, Kay Haarsma reviewing route choices with Tom Goddard (TAS) and Marc Gluskie (TAS).
contours, riders were set a course amidst the pine forest area – a new experience for many. Afterwards the group practiced their single track skills in the native bush area. Alex demonstrated how to do a spectacular fall whilst leading the group! Meanwhile Ian had reinjured his coccyx area and was in pain, so went off to hospital for an x-ray. The Doctor reckoned he had two fractures and recommended bed rest, so no more riding for Ian. (On getting the x-ray films at home and seeing his own doctor he was subsequently cleared of any fracture!!!) Our first day in Ballarat was a busy one, bolstered by the arrival of Grant Lebbink, James Robertson and Vanessa Round for the weekend. The first exercise was a full on sprint race, with SI units, around the University of Ballarat campus. Many thanks to Blake Gordon and Andrew Campbell (visiting from Cairns for 36 hours!) for putting the controls out! Everyone enjoyed this enormously. Oscar Phillips was second starter but soon hit the front and navigated almost perfectly to take the win narrowly over Tom Goddard. The “woman runner versus bike” contest saw world masters champion Jenny Bourne 6 minutes in arrears of Oscar (27-33mins) but she did claim two scalps - who shall remain nameless! A 7km easy ride took everyone to the 1:3,000 Lake Esmond map. Here they rode around the varying tracks and roads doing a map memory course, often with two legs at a time. A further 2km ride got them onto the Canadian Forest map. There they had two mass start courses before riding 6km back to the house for a late lunch. The afternoon exercise was abandoned as: a) everyone looked tired, and b) the Tour Down Under crucial Willunga stage race was live on TV! Those few hours were the only “free” time of the camp, as the evening hours were utilised for O talk and map study. Vanessa’s input that night resulted in the concoction of gourmet pasta. The sixth and final day saw everyone taking on the iconic Nerrina map with a timed course. It was another “young gun” in Marc Gluskie who emerged as winner, with Grant Lebbink on his tail. Afterwards they all headed out again to “play” in the single track before a final crossing of the fast flowing creek. Lunch was followed by bike packing and then a welcome shower and swim in the Brown Hill pool just metres from our start. Then everyone dispersed, with some riding to the Melbourne bound train, while I dropped others at the airport.
In summary I thought the camp was a great success. It was very hectic for me doing the dual roles of coach and manager but everyone helped out where possible. It was hugely satisfying to see the growth in interest of the juniors and they all showed heaps of talent. As Grant Lebbink commented to me: “those boys will stir us up when they become elites.” Below are some other participant comments.
Oscar Phillips (TAS): “I really enjoyed this camp. All the training sessions were really beneficial. I appreciated that we sat down and spoke about the exercises so I learnt some new things. I was pleased with my navigation and am now even more keen to fulfil my potential as I am not riding anywhere near as much as others ( through trying to train for running as well and being pretty new to riding). This camp gave me a lot of confidence.” Anthony Lynch (VIC): “What I liked most about the camp was the group atmosphere. Riding with like-minded people and getting ideas from them, discussing their route choices and Orienteering experiences. The most pleasurable exercise was probably riding the single track in Woodend, closely followed by the sprint race at the University of Ballarat. I learned a lot about navigation during the week and preparation for events.” Tom Goddard (TAS): “For me the camp was a great introduction to MTBO and also to meet some new people and have a lot of fun riding my bike! I picked up pieces of information from everyone on the camp. It was great when Alex followed me as he could give me tips and he showed me there is a lot more to MTBO than just following tracks. I really enjoyed how we were basically riding for most of the day, not just half, although I was getting pretty tired on the last day. I also appreciated the Uni sprint race as it provided a bit more of a competition and I got to see how I went with some pressure. The camp was wicked - I learnt heaps and really enjoyed it.” Ian Dalton (WA): “Having access to different maps and especially different terrain was one of my main reasons for attending. WA has limited maps so we have become well used to riding those areas. The camp in VIC allowed my nav skills to be challenged beyond what I am used to. The terrain also caught me out the first day with large jagged rocks causing an injury but I managed to participate most days allowing valuable nav training and also developing riding skills on different track surfaces. The camp also reminded me of the need to practice more the thinking side of competing and including that aspect into my training program.“
Selection Trials The WOC and JWOC trials are on April 9-10, with Daylesford being the closest major town. Blake Gordon is looking at the possibility of providing a transport service (bus and trailer) for riders flying in from interstate, with priority given to juniors. See the Orienteering Victoria website for more details. MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33
MTBO NEWS
2011 Australian MTBO Elite and Masters Series The 2011 Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering schedule will include 4 rounds (9 events) of the 4th Australian MTBO Elite and Masters Series. Round 1 - April 9 (Middle), April 10 (Long) – Daylesford, VIC (Selection Trials for WMTBOC) Round 2 - July 30 (Middle), July 31 (Long) - Yarraman, QLD (Queensland Championships) Round 3 - October 14 (Middle),Oct15 (Sprint),Oct16 (Long) – Beechworth VIC (AUS Champs) Round 4 - October 22 (Middle) Duckmaloi, Oct 23 (Long) Jenolan East, NSW (NSW Champs) Four elite divisions – M21-E, W21-E, M-20E, W-20E – will contest 9 races over the 4-round series. In addition to the youth classes, junior (-14,-16), Eight masters divisions – (40-, 50-, 60-, 70+) will be contested during these events. With the 2011 WMTBOC/JWOC staged from August 20th to August 28th in Italy, Round 1 in VIC will be the WMTBOC and JWOC Selection Trials.
Rules The current OA Protocols, Guidelines and Rules for MTBO will apply. The existing rules successfully used in the NOL foot-o competition will generally apply in this Australian MTBO Series.
Individual Competition Individual scoring in M/W21-E, M/W-20E, and M/W 40-, 50-, 60, 70+ will be the same. The table sets out how points can be scored in each of the 9 races. In each age division, the best five (5) results over the nine events for 2011 will be counted for the individual competition. There is no limit to the number of state competitors who may enter and score points.
Team Competition
Place 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th
Points 30 27 24 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
Place 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26+
Points 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
The state-based teams in the competition are: Canberra Cockatoos, NSW Stingers, Queensland Storm, Southern Arrows, Tasmanian Foresters, Victorian Nuggets and Western Nomads. Since 2011 is the fourth year of the competition, the top two (2) rider’s times from a state in each of the age division will be summed in the official ranking. If only one state rider records a time, that state is ranked based on that result alone – below those with two riders. After each event, points from each of the elite/masters divisions will be summed to give the Australian League Team Scores. 1st = 9 Points
3rd = 5 Points
5th = 3 points
7th = 1 Point
2nd = 7 points
4th = 4 Points
6th = 2 Points
Unplaced = 0 pts
Blake Gordon, OA MTBO Committee Convenor 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
2010 National MTBO Series Results * Best 4 from 7 events
2011 Australian MTBO Squads
M21- Elite Total* 1 Alex Randall VIC Nuggets 114 2 Steven Cusworth VIC Nuggets 102 3 Jamie Dougall QLD Storm 92 3 Grant Lebbink VIC Nuggets 92 5 Joel Young QLD Storm 88 6 Adrian Jackson VIC Nuggets 87 W21- Elite 1 Mary Fien NSW Stingers 114 2 Carolyn Jackson VIC Nuggets 98 3 Thorlene Egerton VIC Nuggets 95 4 Kath Copland VIC Nuggets 86 5 Vanessa Round SA Arrows 65 6 Melanie Simpson NSW Stingers 60 M-20 Elite 1 Chris Firman QLD Storm 103 2 Heath Jamieson VIC Nuggets 102 3 Oscar Phillips TAS Foresters 90 4 James Robertson VIC Nuggets 75 5 Joshua Neumann QLD Storm 60 6 Marc Gluskie TAS Foresters 51 W-20 Elite 1 Jasmine Sunley VIC Nuggets 90 2 Mary Fleming VIC Nuggets 54 M401 Craig Steffens QLD Storm 117 2 Kevin Humphrey VIC Nuggets 101 3 Craig Holland QLD Storm 85 4 Gavin Blissner QLD Storm 80 5 David West NSW Stingers 68 M501 Robert Prentice NSW Stingers 112 2 David Firman QLD Storm 94 3 Peter Cusworth VIC Nuggets 84 4 Tim Hatley VIC Nuggets 76 5 James Lithgow NSW Stingers 73 M601 Leigh Privett VIC Nuggets 111 1 Rick Armstrong VIC Nuggets 111 1 Peter Hill VIC Nuggets 111 4 Reid Moran QLD Storm 85 5 Ray Sheldon VIC Nuggets 81 M70+ 1 Graeme Cadman VIC Nuggets 60 W401 Kay Haarsma SA Arrows 114 2 Louise Hall VIC Nuggets 75 3 Julie Sunley VIC Nuggets 70 4 Tamsin Barnes QLD Storm 60 5 Debbie Gordon QLD Storm 54 W501 Peta Whitford VIC Nuggets 114 2 Susie Williams QLD Storm 111 3 Andrea Harris QLD Storm 96 4 Lyn Stichbury QLD Storm 84 5 Nora Skilton NSW Stingers 76 W601 Dale Ann Gordon VIC Nuggets 84 2 Judy Hill VIC Nuggets 72 3 Kate Chown NSW Stingers 60 W70+ 1 Joyce Rowlands VIC Nuggets 60
Junior Men Callum Fagg Chris Firman Marc Gluskie Tom Goddard Heath Jamieson Oscar Phillips Luke Poland James Robertson
WRT ENQ ALT EVT CHV EVT BSA BGV
Senior Men High Performance Adrian Jackson
MFV
A Squad Steven Cusworth Grant Lebbink Alex Randall
BKV EUV YVV
B Squad Ian Dalton Aaron Dodd Jamie Dougall Hayden Lebbink Rob Preston Joshua Roberts Ricky Thackray
WOW MFV TFQ EUV NCN NCN BOW
Senior Women A Squad Thorlene Egerton Mary Fien Melanie Simpson
BKV BFN MDN
B Squad Kathryn Ewels Carolyn Jackson
CHV MFV
TOP EVENTS
2011
2012 March 12-13
April 22-25
June 17-21
June 18-19
July 1-9
July 1-8
July 10-16
July 11-16
July 23-29
July 30 – Aug 6 July 31 – Aug 6 Aug 13-20
Aug 20-28
Sept 23-28
Oct 1-9
Oct 3-7
Oct 14-16
Nov 11-12 Nov 12-13 Dec 27-31
A Weekend of Orienteering in Canberra. Middle, Sprint & Long www.act.orienteering.asn.au Australian 3-Days West Australia www.aus3days 2011.orienteering.asn.au World Masters MTBO Champs. Dalarna, Sweden www.mtbosweden.se Jukola Relays Virolahti, Finland www.jukola2011.net
April 6-9
JWOC Wejherowo, Poland www.jwoc2011.pl WMOC Pecs, Hungary www.wmoc2011.com 6 DAYS OF AUSTRIA Wiener Neustadt, Austria www.6daysaustria.com Fin5 Lohja, Finland www.fin5.fi O-Ringen Halsingland, Sweden www.oringen.se Swiss O Week 2011 Flims, Switzerland www.swiss-o-week.ch Scottish 6 Days Oban & Lorn www.scottish6days.com WOC Savoie Grand Revard, France www.woc2011.fr World MTBO Champs & Junior World MTBO Champs Vicenza, Veneto, Italy RadiO Asia-Pacific Champs 2011 Region 3 ARDF, Bendigo district, Victoria. www.ardf.org.au Oceania, Australian & Schools Championships VIC, NSW & ACT Puglia 5 Days 2011 Gargano, Italy www.orienteering.it Oceania/Australian MTBO Champs Beechworth, Victoria www.orienteeringalburywodonga.org Adriatic Meeting 2011, Italy (near Venice) www.orienteering.it Venice City Race 2011, Italy. www.orivenezia.it Xmas 5-Days, Central Coast NSW www.nsw.orienteering.asn.au
July 12-27
June 16-17
July 1-8
July 7-14
Dates tba (July 6-13) July 14-22
Aug 19-25 Dates tba Dates tba Dec 27-31
Australian 3-Days, Queensland www.aus3days2012.orienteering. asn.au Jukola Relays Vantaa, Finland WMOC Bad Harzburg, Germany www.wmoc2012.de JWOC Kosice, Slovakia Tour de Halland incl O-Ringen 2012 Halland, Sweden, www.oringen.se Tour O Swiss 2012 www.tour-o-swiss.ch WOC Lausanne, Switzerland www.woc2012.ch WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Veszprem, Hungary WMMTBOC 2012 Australian Championships, Tas Xmas 5-Days, NSW www.nsw.orienteering.asn.au
Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35
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.
Annual Reports?
O
ver the Christmas holidays, I volunteered to do a check and clean-up of the Orienteering Victoria archives. This, and the thinking time it afforded, has led to a number of musings – most will be directed to readers of the Victorian magazine, but one I thought was worthy of a wider airing … I used to reckon that the measure of a good annual report was the number of times my name appeared in it. I must have been pretty desperate in the late 1970s: I see that I was recorded as a member of the VOA Statistics Committee in 1976-77 and the Family O Committee in 1978. I’ve got no recollection of making any contribution to those – but my name appears! (I guess it’s the Local Newspaper Syndrome – you’ll sell more papers if more people get their names/pictures printed.) Looking back over 35 VOA Annual Reports got me thinking about what gets written, and what purpose the report-writers have when they sit down to do that annual task. One of the instructions given to me was to “do a clear out of the meeting minutes: the Annual Reports should have the pertinent information for posterity”. But it’s not at all clear that the report-writers thought that’s what they were doing. We have rants from committee chairs who didn’t get the support they needed; or long lists of thank yous to the named committee members (just checking – is my name there??) – but not much about what actually happened in that function during the year. Then there are the repetitive phrases appearing year after year as long-term office-bearers struggle to meet the annual deadline and word count. (I urge you NOT to go back to the OA Finance Reports for the early 2000s to check this one!) But do we come away with a clear view of the highlights and challenges of the year? Could a person interested in your Association’s development go back in a few years time and get a good picture of Orienteering in your jurisdiction in the reported year? Would you be informed about what your committee and Association achieved in 2010 or what experiences the average orienteer had in that year if you read this report in 2020? The early Victorian annual reports listed the Orienteering maps that were available for events: quite informative now to see the range of areas that were used (provided one knows where White Elephant Gap or Mt Slide were …). As time goes by we seem to focus more on the big picture, the major events, and less is revealed about what happens on a week-by week basis. OK my bias is showing … I urge those who are charged with preparing the annual overview of their ‘domain’ to consider the purpose for an Annual Report – not only for the current audience (who may need a ‘rocket’ to improve local performance in the coming year, or thanks for the year past), but also to please consider the longerterm and wider purposes so that those looking back will know what you’ve been doing this year. Kathy Liley (YV-VIC; and former OA Treasurer) 36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
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VICTORINOX AWARD The Victorinox Award goes to Rex Niven for his Course Setting series of articles. He will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $119.
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ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
Silva Medal 2010
OA Statistician, Darryl Erbacher, interviews Silva Medal 2010 winner, Geoff Lawford: Darryl: Congratulations Geoff.
T
he Silva Medal for 2010 has been won by Geoff Lawford (M55 - AO.A) on a countback from Julian Dent and Jenny Bourne. Geoff also won this award in 1993. This year the Silva Medal is based on points for participating and placing in the following events: Australian 3-Days (each day considered as a separate event); Australian Sprint, Medium and Long Distance Championships; and the State Championship associated with the Australian Championships carnival. Each orienteer who completes 6 of the above events in M/W16 and above is eligible for the Silva Medal. Maximum points available is 24. There were three orienteers who achieved maximum points and a count back system based on winning margins has been used to separate them. In effect, Geoff has performed relatively further ahead of the field in his age class than the others who also gained maximum points. Geoff’s wife Jenny Bourne was the 2009 winner. Families who have had two members as winners of this award in the past were Tarr (Alex, Kathryn); Anderson/Enderby (Frank, Jenny). The Saw family has had three family members win this award (Peter, Andrew, Kathy).
M55 M21 W50 M16 W75 W16 M80 W40 W55 M75 M60 M70 M40
Geoff Lawford Julian Dent Jenny Bourne Brodie Nankervis Maureen Ogilvie Jacqui Doyle Neil Schafer Su Yan Tay Sue Key Barry Hanlon Nigel Davies John Hodsdon Jon McComb
AO.A CC.N AO.A EV.T UR.N EN.Q GO.N UG.Q MF.V WH.N EV.T SH.N AL.T
24 0.6 24 0.49 24 0.38 23 23 23 22 22 22 21 21 20 20
Geoff: Thanks. D: You have been close to the top for a number of years. What does it feel like to put your nose in front? G: It is nice to win the Silva Medal. There are others who I am sure would have been worthy winners but who, for one reason or another, ran multiple age classes throughout the year, in younger age classes than those for which they were eligible, who were unable to attend all races or who just had one or two moments of poor luck during a race, so missed out this time. I had good fortune this year and unlike many my age am lucky I still have good health and no real injury problems which makes it easier to compete well in all the races. It’s certainly going to look good in the records book just pipping such good orienteers as Julian Dent and Jenny but I realise that they had bigger more important races and trophies to chase this year. D: It looks as though, with Jenny winning last year that your family is trying to take a firm grip of this trophy? G: We just try to enjoy our Orienteering. We enjoy being in the forest, running and racing. And we enjoy the friends the sport has given us. Of course we like winning more than losing and we try hard to win, but we have fun regardless. Winning the Silva Medal is hard to plan for as it is determined on so many races. In the end there is a large element of luck. D: To win the Medal you need to not only dominate your class but win by better margins than others who do well. How do you ensure that you win by as large a margin as possible? G: I just try to keep fit and race well. And I try hard to win but I can’t determine how well others run and the outcome and winning/losing margin determines itself. D: How do you maintain such consistency? G: Orienteering requires an ability to run fast in the forest, highly developed navigation skills and good route choice decision making, and a cool head under pressure, for instance in races that are important to you or when a key opponent starts just behind you. I am a reasonable bush runner, can make good route choice decisions and most of the time (but not always) have a cool head under pressure and perform to my optimum. Although I make mistakes my strongest skill is my navigation. This combination of talents tends to lead to consistency – more so for instance than for an extremely fast runner with unreliable navigation skills. D: You are a double winner of the Silva Medal along with Andrew Saw, Dave Lotty and Carolyn Jackson. One more win and you will be there with those great orienteers Alex Tarr and Maureen Ogilvie. Do you think you can do it again? G: I will wait and see what life brings. D: There is still Ian Hassell on 10 wins. I suppose it will be difficult for anyone to live long enough to equal that feat? G: I don’t think this record will stand. I think it will be beaten by Ian Hassell himself on 11 wins. D: What advice do you have for others who would aspire to win the Silva Medal? G: Don’t aspire to win the Silva Medal, per se. Rather, develop your skills and focus on each race at a time and on each control at a time (taking time to plan the legs ahead). Enjoy the orienteering and the people and, if you haven’t won the Medal yet, keep competing regardless of the outcome until you reach my age when the handicap becomes so good! MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37
ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
2010 National Rankings – non-elite
1. T he winner by the largest margin was Asha Steer (DR.V), winning by 13.13%.
Darryl Erbacher – National Statistician
3. 2 8 clubs had members in the first three places of their respective classes: UG.Q (7); BF.N, EV.T,GO.N (5); MF.V (4); AL.T, PO.A, UR.N, WH.N (3); AO.A, BK.V, EN.Q, LO.W, SH.N, TF.Q, TT.S, WE.A, WO.W (2); BN.N, BS.A, GS.N, NE.V, NT.N, OH.S, SO.Q, TJ.S, YV.V (1). The most successful States were: NSW (21), Queensland (13) and Tasmania (9).
2. I n two classes two orienteers earned maximum points (separated by winning margins): John Hodsdon (SH.N) and Clive Pope (UG.Q), M70; Pauli Piiroinen (BS.A), Barry Hanlon (WH.N), M75.
R
ankings in non-elite classes have been determined based on results in the Australian Easter 3-Days (E1, E2, E3), Australian Championships (AS, AM, AL) and the South Australian Long Distance Championships (SA). Points are awarded for each event completed on the basis of 100 points for first place and lesser points for other competitors. An orienteer’s best three events count towards their rankings. The first 10 orienteers ranked in each class are published here. State secretaries have lists of all orienteers ranked between 50 and 100 points inclusive. When more than one orienteer in a class has 100 points, the first ranked orienteer is determined by the average of their three best winning margins. Some points of interest in the 2010 rankings:
Class M10
1 2 3 4 5 6
Aston Key Alastair George Thomas Hyslop Noah Poland Daniel Gray Ryan Gray
MF.V BF.N PO.A BS.A UG.Q UG.Q
100.00 98.31 93.87 73.74 69.31 52.42
ASAMAL E1E3E2 E2E1AS E2E1SA ASSAAL SAALAM
1 Patrick Jaffe MF.V 2 Aidan Tay UG.Q 3 Lachlan McIntyre UG.Q 4 Jake West AL.T 5 Nicholas Burridge UG.Q 6 Jesse Piiroinen BS.A 7 Bradley Bolton GJ.A 8 Samuel Wilkinson BF.N 9 Stephen Melhuish PO.A 10 Max Dalheim MF.V
100.00 99.64 96.58 94.89 87.39 85.29 79.75 76.77 68.50 64.63
ASAMAL E2SAAS E2E3AS E1E3E2 SAALAM E1E3E2 E1E2E3 E3E2E1 E2E3E1 ALE2SA
Class M12
Class M14
1 Matt Doyle EN.Q 2 Henry McNulty LO.W 3 Aidan Dawson GO.N 4 Ashley Nankervis EV.T 5 Daniel Hill GO.N 6 Jarrah Day AL.T 7 Oliver Mill RR.A 8 Nicholas Collins BK.V 9 Scott Charlton NC.N 10 James Fuller TT.S
100.00 E2ASAM 96.84 E1E3AM 92.02 E2ASAL 90.94 E2E3SA 90.48 ALASE2 83.20 AMASSA 81.97 ALE2AM 70.23 ASE2AM 66.65 ASALSA 66.06 ASAME2
Class M16
1 Brodie Nankervis EV.T 100.00 E1E2AM 2 Shaun McDonough EV.T 91.87 E3E2SA 3 Matthew Hill GO.N 90.74 E1E3E2 4 Max Neumann EN.Q 89.84 AMSAAL 5 Bill Mann BO.W 89.39 ASSAAM 6 Jack Oakhill UG.Q 88.57 ASALSA 7 Marius Siaud EV.T 87.42 ASSAAM 8 David Tay UG.Q 85.36 E3ASAM 9 Louis Coad WR.T 80.74 ASE2E3 10 Angus Roberts NC.N 79.58 E2ASE3 Class M35
1 Miles Ellis 2 Brenton Gray Class M40
BF.N 100.00 E1E2E3 UG.Q 96.14 ASALSA
1 Jon McComb AL.T 2 Jock Davis BF.N 3 Scott Simson TF.Q 4 Paul Marsh BF.N 5 Ian Jones UR.N 6 Peter Annetts GO.N 7 Neil Simson TF.Q 8 Mark West AL.T 9 Ruhi Afnan YA.S 10 Damian Welbourne NC.N
100.00 99.34 96.69 92.04 84.19 82.29 80.69 75.02 74.22 73.98
E1AMSA E2E3E1 ALASAM ALASE3 ALSAAM ASE2E3 ASALAM ASE3E2 E2AME3 ASE2E3
Class M45
1 Mark Nemeth 2 Steve Doyle 3 Martin Wehner 4 Tim McIntyre 5 Glenn Burgess 6 Graham Turner 7 Tony Hill 8 Ari Piiroinen 9 Martin Steer 10 Michael Burton
5. The class with the most ranked runners was M60 (30).
TF.Q 100.00 EN.Q 98.67 WE.A 97.95 UG.Q 96.74 NC.N 90.91 RR.A 90.62 GO.N 89.77 BS.A 88.26 DR.V 84.53 BF.N 82.54
AMALSA E3ASE1 E1E2AS ASE1E3 E2E1E3 E1E2E3 ASE1E2 E3E2E1 E2E3AM E2E3E1
Class M50
1 Eoin Rothery BF.N 99.42 E1E2AS 2 Tim Hatley BK.V 98.53 ASE3E2 3 Darryl Smith WR.T 94.74 E3E2E1 4 Grant McDonald AO.A 93.08 ASAME3 5 Michael Dowling WR.T 89.64 E1E3E2 6 Alex Davey WR.N 89.09 E2ASE1 7 Bjorn Mella NC.N 87.85 E1E2E3 8 Russell Blatchford NC.N 86.66 E2E3E1 9 Phil Walker PO.A 82.17 ASE3E1 10 Phil Hazell TT.S 76.50 E2ASE1 Class M55
1 Geoff Lawford AO.A 100.00 E1E2E3 2 Paul Pacque EV.T 91.57 E2E1E3 3 Ted Van Geldermalsen YV.V 91.05 ASSAAM 4 Roch Prendergast EU.V 86.91 AME2AS 5 James Lithgow GO.N 83.44 E2ASE1 6 David Firman EN.Q 74.91 E3E1AL 7 Tony Perrott AW.V 73.61 E1E3E2 8 Gordon Wilson BN.N 73.49 ASALAM 9 Richard Robinson SO.Q 73.38 E2E3E1 10 Nick Dent CC.N 72.13 AME3E1 Class M60
1 Nigel Davies 2 Adrian Uppill 3 Paul Hoopmann 4 Greg Chatfield 5 Robert Allison 6 Steve Flick 7 Greg Hawthorne 8 Hugh Moore 9 Ross Barr 10 Terry Bluett Class M65
1 John Brock 2 Dave Lotty 3 Ken Brownlie 4 Dick Ogilvie 5 Trevor Sauer 6 Mike Howe 7 Ron Junghans 8 John Brammall 9 Phil Dufty 10 Jim Laver
38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2011
4. F amilies with two or more members in the first three places were: Doyle (Matt M14, Steve M45, Jacqui W16), Lawford/ Bourne (Geoff M55, Jenny W50), Tay (Aidan M12, Su Yan W45), Wehner (Martin M45, Herman M85), Mount (Tony M75, Sue W75), Dowling (Zoe W12, Anna W14), Key (Aston M10, Sue W55), Hill (Matthew M16, Joanna W10), McComb (Jonathan M40, Cathy W40), Hodsdon (John M70, Val W60), Steer (Asha W12, Lanita W14), Abbott/Bowen (Liz W50, Kate W16), Brownlie (Ken M65, Carol W55), Schafer(Christa W70, Neil M80).
EV.T 100.00 E1E3AS OH.S 99.50 E2ALAS TJ.S 97.37 AMASSA UG.Q 94.90 SAASAM RR.A 91.85 AMSAAS BN.N 91.19 E1E2E3 WR.T 89.97 ALSAE3 RR.A 88.60 AMSAAL GO.N 88.38 ASE1AM BN.N 87.19 ASAMSA EV.T 100.00 E1E2E3 UR.N 99.45 ASALSA WO.W 98.34 AMASSA UR.N 93.55 AME1AS SO.Q 93.13 SAAME1 LO.W 92.40 SAAMAL GO.N 91.58 AMASAL EV.T 84.59 ALASAM BO.W 83.67 E1SAAM AL.T 82.93 AMALSA
Class M70
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
John Hodsdon Clive Pope John Lyon George Reeves Robin Simson Barry Sampson John Sheahan Allan Miller
SH.N UG.Q TT.S TT.S TF.Q YV.V BK.V DR.V
100.00 100.00 92.68 83.74 81.83 70.52 64.58 56.10
E1AMAL E2E3SA ALE3SA ALAME3 ALE1AM SAAME3 ASAMAL ASALE2
Class M75
1 2 3 4 5
Pauli Piiroinen BS.A 100.00 E1E2E3 Barry Hanlon WH.N 100.00 ASAMAL Tony Mount AL.T 97.24 AMASSA Eino Meuronen BS.A 85.38 SAAME1 Graeme Cadman YV.V 57.33 SAAMAL
Class M80
1 2 3 4 5 6
Neil Schafer GO.N 100.00 Ray Kelly UG.Q 98.67 Ron Larsson TT.S 96.51 Hermann Wehner WE.A 73.57 Bill Catchpoole YA.S 56.85 Tom Norwood EU.V 52.24
E1E2AS AMALSA ASE2E1 E2E3E1 SAALAM E2E3AL
Class M85
1 Hermann Wehner WE.A 100.00 ASAMAL Class W10
1 Rachel Osborne BF.N 2 Arabella Phillips EV.T 3 Joanna Hill GO.N 4 Annabelle Mill RR.A 5 Heather Lane PO.A 6 Olivia Stansfield GS.N 7 Zoe Melhuish PO.A 8 Hannah Wilkinson BF.N 9 Claire Burgess NC.N 10 Sarah Davies DR.V Class W12
1 2 3 4 5 6
Asha Steer Zoe Dowling Melissa Annetts Georgia Jones Rebecca George Rebecca Hyslop
Class W14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
96.34 E1E3E2 92.84 AMALAS 90.73 SAASE1 86.65 E2E3E1 80.85 E2E3E1 78.35 ASALSA 78.22 ASALSA 64.46 E2E3E1 54.66 E2E3E1 53.14 ASALAM
DR.V 100.00 WR.T 86.87 GO.N 83.98 UR.N 79.64 BF.N 75.31 PO.A 65.69
E1E2E3 E1E3E2 E1ALAS SAASAL E1E3E2 E1E3AM
Anna Dowling WR.T 100.00 E2E3AS Lanita Steer DR.V 99.15 E1AMAL Heather Burridge UG.Q 94.98 ASE2E3 Hannah Goddard EV.T 86.53 ASSAAL Lucy Fleming CH.V 83.38 ASE3AL Sally Young TT.S 74.78 SAASAM Jessica Hoey BB.Q 70.81 ALAMSA Rosie Dalheim MF.V 61.70 ASALE2 Alicia Bruce BS.A 51.77 ASAMAL
Class W16
1 Jacqui Doyle EN.Q 2 Shea-Cara Hammond BS.A 3 Kate Bowen PO.A 4 Nicola Blatchford NC.N 5 Rebecca Freese TF.Q 6 Kelsey Harvey UG.Q 7 Tahlia Kinrade BB.Q 8 Olivia Sprod TT.S 9 Alison Burrill BB.Q 10 Melanie Fuller TT.S Class W35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Clare Hawthorne MF.V Meredith Gray UG.Q Sandra Tarr YV.V Anna Hyslop PO.A Susie Kluth PO.A Belinda Allison RR.A Mary Enter BK.V
Class W40
100.00 E1E2AS 96.33 AMSAAS 94.35 E3SAAM 92.61 E3E2SA 92.38 AMSAAS 84.91 ALASSA 81.95 SAASAL 81.15 ASSAAM 80.26 SAASAL 77.75 AME3E1 100.00 E1E2E3 95.11 ASSAAL 93.36 AMASSA 90.84 SAAMAS 88.30 E2E1E3 77.01 E1E2E3 56.91 ALSAE3
1 Anita Scherrer RR.A 100.00 2 Jenny Enderby NC.N 96.85 3 Cathy McComb AL.T 95.87 4 Barbara Hill GO.N 95.20 5 Linda Sesta UR.N 85.20 6 Kirsten Wehner WE.A 74.46 7 Carolyn Stansfield GS.N 72.52 8 Tamsin Barnes RR.Q 63.41 9 Nic Plunkett-Cole BF.N 61.10 10 Zara Soden OH.S 53.44 Class W45
1 Su Yan Tay 2 Clare Leung 3 Nicola Dalheim 4 Karen Blatchford 5 Sue Hancock 6 Toni Brown 7 Gayle Quantock 8 Chris Brown 9 Joanna Parr 10 Felicity Crosato Class W50
1 Jenny Bourne 2 Anthea Feaver 3 Liz Abbott 4 Robin Uppill 5 Carol Harding 6 Hilary Wood 7 Debbie Davey 8 Mary McDonald 9 Julia Prudhoe 10 Julie Leung
AMALSA E2E3E1 E1E2E3 ASE2AL E2E1E3 AMASAL AMALSA E2E1E3 E2E1E3 E2SAE3
UG.Q 100.00 E2ASAM UG.Q 95.62 E3E2AS MF.V 92.57 SAAMAL NC.N 91.53 ALSAAS WR.T 91.21 E1E3E2 BS.A 90.78 SAE1AL TF.Q 90.46 SAAMAS EV.T 88.20 E1ALE2 BF.N 71.50 E2E3E1 RR.Q 68.86 E2E3E1 AO.A 100.00 E1E2E3 LO.W 98.08 ALE3AS PO.A 92.05 AMSAAS OH.S 76.74 AME1E3 BS.A 76.46 ALASE2 CC.N 71.96 ASALE3 WR.N 70.93 E3E2E1 AO.A 68.51 ALASAM CC.N 64.89 ALASAM TF.Q 62.64 ASSAAM
Class W55
1 Sue Key 2 Lynn Dabbs 3 Carol Brownlie 4 Liz Wood 5 Jacquie Rand 6 Julia Prudhoe 7 Valerie Barker 8 Fiona Calabro 9 Lynda Rapkins 10 Barbara Tassell
MF.V 100.00 E1E2AS WH.N 97.60 E3E2AM WO.W 97.48 AMSAE2 AW.V 96.18 E3E2E1 UG.Q 94.84 E3E2AS CC.N 93.74 E3E2E1 BS.A 87.68 ASAMSA TF.Q 84.20 AME3E2 EN.Q 83.71 E3E2E1 AL.T 79.52 ASE3SA
Class W60
1 Meredyth Sauer SO.Q 100.00 E2ALSA 2 Judith Hay BN.N 97.63 E1AME3
3 Val Hodsdon SH.N 97.47 4 Debbie Gale EV.T 95.25 5 Anna Booth BS.A 94.57 6 Kathy Liley YV.V 92.72 7 Judy Allison RR.A 92.51 8 Christine Sinickas YV.V 83.67 9 Janet Bush AL.T 79.81 10 Pauline Moore WR.N 77.27 Class W65
1 2 3 4 5
Ann Ingwersen Jenny Hawkins Jean Baldwin Ruth Goddard Judi Herkes
PO.A NT.N GS.N YV.V BK.V
AME3AL ASAMAL E1E3E2 E3E1AM ASE1AM ALE2AM E3E2E1 ASE3E2
100.00 E1E2AL 99.52 AMSAE2 99.00 E3E2AL 94.71 ASAMSA 87.75 E3E2E1
2010 National MTBO Rankings Blake Gordon – OA MTBO Statistician
I
n 2010 Australia staged thirteen ranking events (eight Long Distance and five Middle Distance). The 2010 rankings were based on the same formula as 2009 – the best two races for each rider who rode in more than one state or rode in the Australian Long and Middle Championships. This resulted in more riders from Victoria, NSW and Queensland being ranked, since the seven races were held in these states. The number of riders ranked in the top three: VIC (31), QLD (3), NSW (3), TAS (1), SA (1), ACT (1) with the National titles held in Central Victoria. Winners to repeat their top 2009 form were Adrian Jackson (M21E), Robert Prentice (M50A), Rick Armstrong (M60A), Mary Fien (W21E), Kay Haarsma (W40A), and Joyce Rowlands (W70+A).
6 Janet Tarr YV.V 83.73 7 Sally Salier AL.T 79.93 8 Valerie Brammall EV.T 78.44 9 Penny Dufty BO.W 77.52 10 Robin Spriggs UG.Q 69.79 Class W70
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Christa Schafer Janet Morris Helen Alexander Anne Sawkins Patricia McGuire Merran Warlters Pat Miller
M50A
1 Tim Hatley BKV 1 Peter Cusworth BKV 1 Robert Prentice SHN 4 Heinz Leuenberger OHS 5 Lee Merchant TJS 6 Norm McCann AWV 7 James Lithgow GON 8 David Firman ENQ 9 Duncan Sullivan LOW 10 Bruce Greenhalgh TTS M60A
1 Rick Armstrong 1 Peter Hill 1 Keith Wade 4 Hub Carter 5 Leigh Privett 6 Blake Gordon 7 John Trevivian 8 Peter Hoban 9 Reid Moran 10 Ray Sheldon
Junior women in W-16 and W-20 were ranked for the first time in Australian MTBO history – which promises better competition in 2011.
W-20A
2. The winner of a race earns 100 points with all other riders ranked (above 100) in comparison with the winner. 3. International riders (NZL) raise the competitive standard of the events, but are not included in the National Ranking lists.
SHN 100.00 Am*Sm*
1 Timothy Jackson MFV 100.00 2 Angus Robinson BKV 101.30 3 Matthew Towns ..V 237.70 M-20A
1 2 3 4
Oscar Phillips EVT Heath Jamieson CHV Chris Firman ENQ James Robertson BGV
M21Elite
1 Adrian Jackson MFV 2 Alex Randall YVV 3 Steven Cusworth BKV 4 Grant Lebbink EUV 5 Ricky Thackray BOW 6 Jamie Dougall TFQ 7 Tony Clark BKV 8 Dion Keech MFV 9 Jamie Goddard MFV 10 Johan Sallfors BKV M40A
1 Craig Steffens MTQ 2 Richard Eisner TKV 3 Bruce Paterson BKV 4 Robert Davis BKV 5 Gavin Blissner MTQ 6 Fabrizio Andreoni AWV 7 David West MDN 8 Steve Sullivan YAS 9 Kevin Humphrey BKV 10 Allan Uhlmann MTQ
Vl*Am* Nl*Al* Vm*Sl* Qm*Al Ql*Al VlSl VlAm Tl*Sm QlAl QlAl
1 Emily Hennessy TKV 100.00 Am*As* 2 Laura Baseggio BRV 101.29 AmAs 3 Merl Hannah BRV 102.72 AmAs
W21Elite
Best 2 Events Results *=winner M-14A M-16A
100.00 100.00 100.00 102.39 102.66 110.84 117.54 118.49 118.58 118.66
1 Jasmine Sunley TKV 100.00 Al*Am* 2 Mary Fleming CHV 120.07 AmAs
1 Eddy Prentice
100.00 Vm*Am* 100.00 Nl*Sl* 100.00 Cl*Vl* 100.29 SlAl* 115.73 VlAl 117.09 VmAl 117.23 NlAm 121.47 QlAm 122.68 AlAm 130.93 AlAm
1 Graham Cadman YVV 100.00 Al*Am* 1 John Sheahan BKV 100.00 Vl*Sl* 3 Kevin Paine BSA 107.55 Cl*Vm W-16A
1. A rider must complete two Championship races in 2010 – the final ranking calculated by averaging the best two results from either two Australian Championships or two State Championships. One counted race must come from an interstate or Australian Championship – thus winning two races in one’s home state does not qualify a rider for a national ranking.
AWV BGV TKV SOQ AWV EUV AWV EVT TFQ YVV
E1E3SA ASAME3 AMALE3 E2E3E1 E2E3E1 E2E3E1 E1E3E2
M70+A
The margin was 0 to 5 points in twelve out of 15 classes and there were equal 100 point scores in M50, M60, M70 – showing that the competition is very close in many classes.
2010 Ranking Criteria
GO.N 100.00 WH.N 95.58 BK.V 95.36 RR.A 87.49 WR.T 72.57 SH.N 68.75 DR.V 58.53
E2ALAS SAASAL ASALSA E2ASE3 ALSAAS
Al*Vl* Sl*Al AmAs
100.00 Al*Am* 101.02 Vl*Am 117.25 AlAm 120.18 AlAm 100.00 Al*Am* 102.14 Vl*Am 102.91 Sl*Vm 106.61 SmAl 106.63 Wm*Sl 120.81 QmAl 125.41 AlAm 126.63 Vl Sl 129.46 SlAl 131.11 VlSl 101.51 Qm*Am 102.25 Vl*Am 106.14 VlSm 109.03 VlAl 112.67 QlAl 113.46 AlAm 114.05 VmAl 115.26 SlAl 117.99 AlAm 118.38 AlAm
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mary Fien BFN Thorlene Egerton BKV Carolyn Jackson MFV Caitlin Wade TKV Vanessa Round TTS Kath Copland BKV Jo Williams ..V Jess Davis ALT
W40A
1 Kay Haarsma 2 Louise Hall 3 Julie Sunley W50A
100.00 102.75 102.94 112.43 125.13 131.51 139.64 168.53
Ql*Nl* Vl*Sl Vm*Ql VlAl AlAm AlAm AlAm AlAm
TTS 100.00 DRV 103.04 TKV 128.90
Sl*Am* Vl*Am AlAm
1 Susie Williams MTQ 2 Peta Whitford YVV 3 Heather Leslie BKV 4 Anitra Dowling EUV 5 Helen Edmonds NEV 6 Lyn Stichbury SOQ 7 Carolyn Cusworth BKV 8 Nora Skilton MDN 9 Andrea Harris PLQ 10 Prue Dobbin BKV
100.00 Ql*Am* 105.37 Vl*Am 106.05 VmSl* 109.73 VlAl 109.78 VlAl 115.45 Al*Am 118.29 VlSm 118.62 Nl*Sl 123.96 Qm*Al 138.67 VmAl
W60A
1 Dale Ann Gordon EUV 100.00 2 Jenny Sheahan BKV 102.94 3 Judy Hill BGV 119.55 W70+A
1 Joyce Rowlands NEV 100.00
Vl*Al* VmSm* VmAl Sl*Al*
The full ranking list can be found at orienteering.asn.au/mountainbike/ MTBOResults/
Class W75
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Maureen Ogilvie Sue Mount Sue Healy Pat Miller Joyce Rowlands Jeffa Lyon Anne Stewart
UR.N AL.T NE.V DR.V NE.V TT.S GO.N
100.00 E1E2E3 96.25 ALE1E3 86.31 ASE1E2 73.43 SAALAM 70.20 SAASAM 66.78 ASAME1 50.03 E3E2E1
2010 International MTBO Rankings
T
he MTBO rankings were calculated on the same basis as foot and ski-o for the first ime in 2010. Adrian Jackson won the World Sprint Championships and finished a close second in Middle and Long Distance in Portugal, but only rode 5 MTBO World Ranking Events. Adrian did not finish in the top 10 due to fewer ranked riders in the Australian MTBO Championships, despite winning both the Middle and Long Championships.
Men 1 Anton Foliforov RUS 7877 2 Eric Skovgaard Knudsen DEN 7708 3 Samuli Saarela FIN 7677 21 Adrian Jackson AUS 7124 41 Alex Randall AUS 6392 66 Steven Cusworth AUS 5437 91 Grant Lebbink AUS 3954
Women 1 Christine Schaffner SUI 7733 2 Michaela Gigon AUT 7583 3 Rikki Kornvig DEN 7469 22 Melanie Simpson AUS 6558 39 Mary Fien AUS 5591 68 Marquita Gelderman NZL 2383 80 Thorlene Egerton AUS 2054 86 Carolyn Jackson AUS 1845 87 Vanessa Round AUS 1797 89 Kath Copland NZL 1673 Melanie Simpson jumped 30 places from 2009 to finish in the top 25 of the World Ranked Women - an outstanding result which augers well for 2011.
MARCH 2011 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39
The Victorian Rebels Junior Squad
The Australian Orienteer
the national magazine of Orienteering Australia w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u / a u s t r a l i a n o r i e n t e e r /