The Australian Orienteer – December 2016

D E C EMBER 20 16

Monster leg at WOC AUS Championships RRP $8.50 inc GST

2017

Round 1

2

3

Event

Date

Location

1. Middle Distance

11 March

Pittwater, Hobart, TAS

2. Long Distance

12 March

Pittwater, Hobart, TAS

3. Sprint

25 March

Canberra, ACT

4. Middle Distance

26 March

Canberra, ACT

5. Sprint

14-17 April

Oceania Championships Auckland, NZ

6. Long Distance 7. Middle Distance 4

8. Middle Distance

10-12 June

Australian 3-Days Wagga Wagga, NSW

9. Long Distance 10. Sprint 5

6

11. Ultra-Long Distance

26 August

Canberra, ACT

12. Sprint

27 August

Canberra, ACT

13. Sprint – WRE

23 September –

Australian Championships

1 October

Bathurst/Hill End, NSW

14. Relay 15. Middle Distance – WRE 16. Long Distance – WRE

WRE = World Ranking Event

All race details can be found at www.orienteering.asn.au

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

The President’s Page Blair Trewin

W

e’re fast coming to the end of another year.

For many people, the Orienteering year finishes with the Australian Championships (in Queensland if you’re on foot, in Western Australia if you’re on a bike). The Queensland carnival was highly successful and enjoyed, as far as I can tell, by just about everybody, with a reminder on the final weekend as to why the Stanthorpe region is such a special place to orienteer. The Queenslanders faced many challenges in the leadup, and had more thrown at them during the week thanks to the abnormally wet conditions, but managed to pull everything off with only minor glitches. A great deal of work was done by a great many people to make it happen, but I would especially like to pay tribute to Liz Bourne, who got everything done in the most challenging of personal circumstances, and Anna Sheldon, who was just about everywhere during the week.

On the course there was a lot to celebrate, not least Natasha Key’s stellar year, which brought her another National League title twelve years after her last one, as well as a World Championships top-20 result. After missing out last year thanks to a Relay sprint finish, it was also good to see the ACT returning to the top in the Australian Schools Championships for the first time in a decade. The Schools Championships play a very important role in developing our younger orienteers throughout the country, and from that point of view I was especially pleased to see South Australia take third place in their best result since 2003 – a tribute to a lot of fine coaching work being done by Bridget Anderson with support from Simon Uppill. (It was rightly a very popular result when Bridget got a win of her own on the last day of the carnival, taking her first elite national title). The Schools Championships are also a place where we do a lot of innovation with live online coverage – perhaps emphasised when I heard of the family who were listening online to their son’s run being described as they were in the car driving up to Queensland.

One piece of good news we’ve received is the confirmation in the last couple of weeks that our participation funding from the Australian Sports Commission will be continuing at its current level for the next year, which will allow us to continue projects across all States to further build participation. There was also an election commitment to extend the Sporting Schools program to Year 7 and 8 which, if implemented, will open further opportunities for us. However, there appears to be little prospect of us, as a non-Olympic sport, being eligible for high performance funding in the foreseeable future, so whatever we achieve in that area will have to be achieved through our own resources. The forthcoming Orienteering Australia annual conference will be a good opportunity to discuss how we might go about doing that.

With 2016 almost over, it is time to look forward to 2017. For many, the key part of the first half of 2017 will be the Oceania Championships and World Masters Championships in New Zealand over Easter, but there is plenty to look forward to at home as well. It will be a busy year for New South Wales, with the Australian 3-Days based at Wagga on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, then the Australian Championships week around Bathurst. Some of the less high-profile events are worth a look too; if you’ve never orienteered there (and most mainlanders won’t have done since 2005), the Tasmanian National League weekend in March at Pittwater Dunes – saved for now from the ravages of would-be golf course developers – is definitely worth the trip.

I wish all Australian orienteers all the best for the season, and many successfully located controls in 2017.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

Winning PartnershiP

The Australian Sports Commission proudly supports Orienteering Australia The Australian Sports Commission is the Australian Government agency that develops, supports 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 4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

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.

www.ausport.gov.au

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 ACT 2911 President Blair Trewin Director High Performance Lance Read Director Finance Bruce Bowen Director Technical Jenny Casanova Director Special Projects Robert Spry Director Media & Communications Craig Feuerherdt Director International (IOF Council) Mike Dowling Executive Officer John Harding National MTBO Coordinator Kay Haarsma National Head Coach Nick Dent Badge Applications John Oliver

orienteering@netspeed.com.au w: 02 6162 1200 oa_president@netspeed.com.au lancer@hillbrook.qld.edu.au orienteering@netspeed.com.au h: 02 6288 8501 orienteering@netspeed.com.au m: 0427 605 167 rbspry@gmail.com craigfeuerherdt@gmail.com 0438 050 074 oa_international@netspeed.com.au orienteering@netspeed.com.au 02 6162 1200 m: 0490 048 031 kayhaarsma@hotmail.com 08 8337 0522 nickdent7@gmail.com 02 4384 3627 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

STATE ASSOCIATIONS Orienteering Queensland: PO Box 114 Spring Hill QLD 4004. Secretary: David Firman secretary@oq.asn.au Orienteering NSW: PO Box 3379 North Strathfield NSW 2137. Admin Officer: John Murray, Ph. (02) 8736 1252 admin@onsw.asn.au Orienteering ACT: PO Box 402 Jamison Centre ACT 2614. Secretary: Phil Walker, Ph. (02) 6162 3422 office@act.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Victoria: PO Box 1010 Templestowe VIC 3106. Secretary: Carl Dalheim, voa@netspace.net.au Orienteering SA: State Association House 105 King William St Kent Town SA 5067. Sec: Erica Diment (08) 8379 2914 secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6094. Secretary: Peter Komyshan o_map@iinet.net.au Orienteering Tasmania: PO Box 339 Sandy Bay TAS 7005. Secretary: Peter Cusick secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Susanne Casanova topendorienteersNT@gmail.com

NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE

January 13. Time-sensitive: Jan 20

ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 4/16 (no. 184) DECEMBER 2016

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 pcusworth53@gmail.com Magazine Treasurer: Bruce Bowen Printer: Ferntree Print Centre, 1154 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully.

Contribution deadline: January 13; Time-sensitive – January 20.

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: Competition - Blair Trewin; High Performance - Lance Read; MTBO - Kay Haarsma; Official News - John Harding; Nutrition - Gillian Woodward; Training - Steve Bird; Coaching – Hanny Allston.

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 – batmaps.liz@gmail.com NSW: Ian Jessup – marketing@onsw.asn.au ACT: John Scown – scown@light.net.au SA: Erica Diment – diment@adam.com.au – tel (ah) 8379 2914 VIC, WA and TAS – vacant 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.

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Opinions expressed in The Australian Orienteer are not necessarily those of Orienteering Australia.

CONTENTS T H E P R E S I D E N T ’ S P A G E.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2016 WOC............................................. 6 2 0 1 6 J W O C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2016 WMOC......................................... 14 T I M R O B E R T S O N AT W O R L D C U P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 2 0 1 6 A U S C H A M P I O N S H I P S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 2017 AUS CHAMPS ADVETORIAL............... 28 2016 NOL FINAL REPORT......................... 30 MAPPING FOR WMOC & OCEANIA.............. 32 A U T O G E N E R A T E D M A P S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 D R O N E S I N O R I E N T E E R I N G.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 A U S M T B O C H A M P I O N S H I P S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7 N AV I G AT I N G I N T H E S A D D L E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 PREVENTING CRAMPS............................. 43 O - S P Y .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4 L E T T E R S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 TOP EVENTS......................................... 47

Cover photo: Emrys Rogers (Range Runners – QLD; M/W10N) with his sister Ella at the 2016 AUS Middle Distance Championships. Photo: Tony Hill.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

2016 WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS – SWEDEN

MONSTER leg T

he scene is the Long Distance event at the 2016 World Orienteering Championships in Strömstad, Sweden. The first control for both Men and Women is only a short distance from the Start. It’s a pit, northern edge – simple enough. But then the direct line to control #2 stretches far away across to the other side of the map.

Decisions, decisions – which way to go? The tension is heightened by TV cameras and reporters hovering nearby. So much complex terrain to find a way through, so many options, so little time to choose the best route, and the control is some 3.5km away on a direct line – more through the terrain. Then there’s a nearby creek that’s mainly uncrossable – which bridge to find; possible tracks and roads to pick up, marshes, open fields and rough ground to negotiate.

An epic leg to be sure.

Of the women, Swedish hope Tove Alexandersson chose the more or less direct route but still turned the leg into a 4km #1 to #2

Leg time

Finish place

1

Natalia Gemperle (RUS)

25:18

2

2

Judith Wyder (SUI)

26:17

4

3

Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg (NOR)

27:31

3

4

Tove Alexandersson (SWE)

27:53

1

29

Jo Allison (AUS)

32:55

45

39

Lizzie Ingham (NZL)

35:01

31

48

Imogene Scott (NZL)

38:05

50

53

Natasha Key (AUS)

39:18

52

6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

one. And time spent navigating through the terrain could be costly. Despite her wellrenowned running speed and possible home country advantage her navigation slowed her down and she was only fourth-fastest on the leg. Norway’s Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg took a similar route, only deviating a little south towards the end to record thirdfastest.

Switzerland’s Judith Wyder chose a more northerly option finding better running for a 4.3km route and second-fastest. However, Russian Natalia Gemperle chose to run the roads turning the leg into a 5.25km race with a little terrain running along the way. Gemperle won the leg by 59sec from Wyder despite running about a kilometre further, and gaining a crucial 2:35 on Alexandersson.

Jo Allison – Long Distance.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

2016 WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS – SWEDEN

Men’s course

C

ontrol #2 for the Men was only 100m or so away from the Women’s. Again, it was a Russian who chose to take the roads option. Valentin Novikov hoped the easier running would compensate for the extra distance. But in his case it didn’t. He was only seventhfastest. Timo Sild of Estonia took an extremely northern route to pick up a long track system giving him fastest time by just 2sec over Norway’s Olav Lundanes, the eventual winner. Lundanes chose a more direct route similar to those of Alexandersson and Hausken Nordberg, and eventual silver medallist Thierry Gueorgiou of France also chose a similar route for third-fastest on the leg. Bronze medallist Daniel Hubmann of Switzerland was fifthfastest with 22:40. #1 – #2

Leg time

Finish place

1

Timo Sild (EST)

21:22

10

2

Olav Lundanes (NOR)

21:24

1

3

Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA)

21:43

2

5

Daniel Hubmann (SUI)

22:40

3

42

Christopher Forne (NZL)

27:13

40

43

Gene Beveridge (NZL)

27:15

52

48

Julian Dent (AUS)

27:51

35

8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Middle Distance – Men

Long Distance – Women

Long Distance – Men 15.5 km 68 starters Name 1 Olav Lundanes 2 Thierry Gueorgiou 3 Daniel Hubmann 4 Lucas Basset 5 Carl Godager Kaas 6 Magne Daehli 35 Julian Dent 40 Christopher Forne 52 Gene Beveridge

NOR FRA SUI FRA NOR NOR AUS NZL NZL

11.2km 61 starters Name 1 Tove Alexandersson 2 Natalia Gemperle 3 Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg 4 Judith Wyder 5 Saila Kinni 6 Anastasia Denisova 31 Lizzie Ingham 45 Jo Allison 50 Imogene Scott 52 Natasha Key Time Diff Km time 1:33:27 6:02 1:35:13 +1:46 6:09 1:35:32 +2:05 6:11 1:39:16 +5:49 6:25 1:39:19 +5:52 6:25 1:39:33 +6:06 6:26 1:59:06 +25:39 7:42 2:01:24 +27:57 7:51 2:13:02 +39:35 8:36

Time SWE 1:26:24 RUS 1:26:50 NOR 1:28:25 SUI FIN BLR NZL AUS NZL AUS

1:28:43 1:34:14 1:34:22 1:48:45 2:03:57 2:06:43 2:08:33

Diff Km time 7:42 +0:26 7:44 +2:01 7:52 +2:19 +7:50 +7:58 +22:21 +37:33 +40:19 +42:09

7:54 8:23 8:24 9:41 11:02 11:17 11:27

6.3km 76 starters Name 1 Matthias Kyburz 2 Olav Lundanes 3 Daniel Hubmann 4 Thierry Gueorgiou 5 Lucas Basset 6 Magne Daehli 44 Julian Dent 48 Tim Robertson 52 Toby Scott

Time Diff Km time SUI 37:09 5:51 NOR 37:23 +0:14 5:53 SUI 37:32 +0:23 5:55 FRA 37:44 +0:35 5:57 FRA 37:51 +0:42 5:58 NOR 38:21 +1:12 6:02 AUS 45:27 +8:18 7:10 NZL 46:26 +9:17 7:19 NZL 47:12 +10:03 7:26

Middle Distance – Women 5.1km 66 starters Name 1 Tove Alexandersson 2 Heidi Bagstevold 3 Natalia Gemperle 4 Emily Kemp 5 Maja Alm 6 Marika Teini 24 Lizzie Ingham 36 Vanessa Round 43 Kate Morrison 45 Jo Allison

SWE NOR RUS CAN DEN FIN NZL AUS NZL AUS

Time Diff Km time 33:57 6:40 34:32 +0:35 6:47 34:35 +0:38 6:48 34:50 +0:53 6:51 35:24 +1:27 6:58 35:46 +1:49 7:02 38:36 +4:39 7:35 41:27 +7:30 8:09 44:13 +10:16 8:42 44:54 +10:57 8:50

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9

2016 WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS – SWEDEN

Natasha Key shines in WOC Sprint D

escribing Tash Key as “evergreen” is perhaps not doing justice to her enduring talent as a top orienteer. After leaving the best W45 orienteers in the world floundering in her wake at the World Masters Championships, she came to Sweden in great form for her return to World Championships racing after an 11-year break. And she didn’t disappoint. Tash qualified 7th in the Sprint heats then turned that into a 19th place in the Final running against some who are less than half her age.

CompassSport editor, Nick Barrable, was moved to write: “I feel some more facts are needed here. This is Natasha’s 5th WOC Sprint and her 4th Top-20 - (10th in 2003, 15th in 2001, 20th in 2004 and now, 11 years after her last WOC Sprint, she finished 19th yesterday).

Only two other Australian Women have ever beaten Tash’s results - Hanny Allston – 1st, 5th, 9th; and Kathryn Preston - 5th. Only three AUS women have made Top20 at a WOC Sprint. So no other Australian Woman has come in the Top-20 in the WOC Sprint more times than Tash.”

The three Australian Relay teams also achieved Top-20 results – 17th for the Women and 19th for the Men in the Forest Relays, and 20th in the Mixed Sprint Relay.

Natasha Key. Photo: CompassSport.

Women’s Sprint Final 1st map Strömstad Scale 1:4000 2m contours Krystal Neumann Sprint Qualification.

10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Women’s Sprint Final 2nd map Strömstad Scale 1:4000 2m contours

Sprint Final - Men

Forest Relay - Men Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 18

19

Norway Switzerland Sweden Great Britain Finland France New Zealand

Leg time

1. Tim Robertson 2. Gene Beveridge 3. Christopher Forne

39:10 41:08 46:28

1. Julian Dent 2. Simon Uppill 3. Leon Russell Keely

38:18 42:01 46:30

Australia

Time 1:47:44 1:49:38 1:52:23 1:53:29 1:53:44 1:56:24 2:06:46

Ctry place

15 18 18

38:18 1:20:19 2:06:49

10 19 19

Time

Ctry place

Forest Relay – Women Country

Sprint - Natasha Key.

1 2 3 4 5 6 17

Russian Federation Denmark Finland Switzerland Sweden Norway Australia

21

New Zealand

Sprint Relay Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 20

Denmark Switzerland Sweden Great Britain Norway Czech Republic Australia

23

New Zealand

Leg time

1. Krystal Neumann 2. Leon Russell Keely 3. Henry McNulty 4. Natasha Key

15:12 14:01 14:49 16:03

1. Julia McMillan 2. Tim Robertson 3. Ross Morrison 4. Laura Robertson

19:04 13:26 15:25 15:22

Time 52:35 52:51 53:36 54:15 54:36 54:42 1:00:05

Ctry place

15:12 29:13 44:02 1:00:05

22 20 21 20

19:04 32:30 47:55 1:03:17

28 25 24 23

1:03:17

Leg time

1. Krystal Neumann 2. Vanessa Round 3. Jo Allison

42:14 42:40 44:04

1. Laura Robertson 2. Kate Morrison 3. Lizzie Ingham

44:40 47:43 47:50

1:48:21 1:48:53 1:49:41 1:50:56 1:51:13 1:53:42 2:08:58 42:14 1:24:54 2:08:58

21 18 17

44:40 1:32:23 2:20:13

23 22 21

2:20:13

SWE SUI SUI GBR SWE CZE NZL AUS

4.1km 45 starters Time Diff Km tm 14:28 3:31 14:31 +0:02 3:32 14:37 +0:08 3:33 14:47 +0:19 3:36 14:50 +0:22 3:37 14:52 +0:24 3:37 15:15 +0:46 3:43 16:22 +1:54 3:59

Sprint Final - Women

39:10 1:20:18 2:06:46

2:06:49

Name 1 Jerker Lysell 2 Matthias Kyburz 3 Daniel Hubmann 4 Kristian Jones 5 Jonas Leandersson 6 Vojtech Kral 13 Tim Robertson 39 Leon Russell Keely

3.7km 44 starters Name 1 Maja Alm 2 Judith Wyder 3 Anastasia Denisova 4 Galina Vinogradova 5 Rahel Friederich 6 Elena Roos 19 Natasha Key 29 Laura Robertson 38 Imogene Scott

DEN SUI BLR RUS SUI SUI AUS NZL NZL

Time 14:27 14:53 15:10 15:41 15:53 15:54 16:51 17:30 18:40

Diff Km tm 3:57 +0:25 4:04 +0:42 4:09 +1:13 4:17 +1:25 4:21 +1:26 4:21 +2:23 4:36 +3:02 4:47 +4:12 5:06

Leon Russell KeelySprint Final.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11

JUNIOR WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

JWOC remembered Lani Steer

A

s the JWOC week in Switzerland came to a close I realised two things. One - the Australian JWOC Team had the best camaraderie of any team I had ever been in and, two - our week had been so, so successful, better than any of us had imagined.

As most of us had arrived in Switzerland a week earlier than the official training week, we had a few solid terrain runs already under our belts by the time training week came around.

Jules (Julian Dent) and Ralphy (Ralph Street) had worked out a

12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

training week plan that saw us spend lots of time on the relevant maps, without tiring ourselves out before race week.

The training week also involved one of the most important sessions of the whole competition; the Swiss appreciation task.

A session of Jules’ invention (typical teacher), we were split into boy/girl pairs and asked to give a presentation on one facet of Swiss culture e.g. army, history, banking, mountains, government and of course, Orienteering. Did you know that approximately

60% of Switzerland is mountainous? Which means that by Pat’s calculations, approximately 40% of Switzerland is not mountainous. This was a good fact to learn. Needless to say, we were staying and running in some of this 60% of Switzerland, and can support Pat’s theory that the gradient of the land is steeper in the mountainous regions, with copious amounts of evidence from the Middle Distance and Relay maps.

Many of the presentations were filled with titbits of information, like this, in order to reach the 5 minute time limit (If we finished early we had to do an interpretive dance). It goes without saying that Kazza (Karen) was essential in making the week run smoothly. She kept us from starving, took some quality pictures of us all and even made friends with the crazy lady who owned our accommodation (the same lady was displeased with wherever and however Karen parked the car).

Our week was full of mixed results but overall it was a proud week for Australia. I don’t think any of the other spectators were prepared for the Aussie cheer squad; we had the Danes cowering in fear at Henry’s medal ceremony, and then managed to drown out the flower ceremony for the Long Distance while cheering Matt home into 18th position. It was fantastic to have so many supporters at the races, especially in the Sprint when you’d come around a corner, away from the Arena, and hear a ‘Go Aussie!’.

The team spirit was one in which everyone was built up by the success of others and I think that culture spread through into our results. Success builds success, and motivation builds motivation.

And I believe having this culture in Australian Orienteering as a whole, will only generate more success in the future for all our teams.

(You can find the JWOC results for Aussie and Kiwi runners in the September magazine, page 14.)

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13

2016 WORLD MASTERS ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Masters medals for Natasha Key and Geoff Lawford Photos: CompassSport

It was the Natasha Key and Geoff Lawford show for the Aussies at this year’s World Masters Orienteering Championships held in Estonia. Natasha dominated the W45 field in both the Sprint and the Long Distance events.

Natasha Key won W45 Gold in both Sprint and Long Distance at WMOC 2016.

2016 WMOC W45 Sprint Final Tallinn Old Town

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

T

he Sprint events were held in Tallinn Old Town. In the W45 Sprint over 2.7km, Tash won 13 of the 18 legs to take the title by 56sec in a time of 13:17; third place was 1:38 down. A substantial win on such a short course.

But more was to come. In M60 Geoff Lawford almost repeated his 2015 Sprint triumph, missing gold by just 5 seconds to finish in 13:48. The importance of checking control numbers was clearly demonstrated when the Dane who was leading by 11sec at the half-way mark was disqualified for mispunching. It’s also interesting to note that Tash Key ran the same course, beating the M60 placegetters by a substantial amount.

In other Sprint results, Anna Sheldon (W35) placed 7th with Amber Tomas (W35) 17th; Wendy Read (W50) took 4th place with Gayle Quantock (W50)

Geoff Lawford – Sprint podium.

Natasha Key – Sprint podium.

12th; Hilary Wood (W60) placed 15th; Jim Russell (M55) was 13th; and Basil Baldwin (M75) 17th.

In the Long Distance Final Natasha Key again dominated the W45 field to win the 6km race by 4:13 with fastest time on 10 of the 14 legs. Liliia Glushchenko (W45) ran into a very creditable 16th place; Anna Sheldon (W35) took 14th with Amber Tomas (W35) 15th; and Geoff Lawford (M60) was 16th.

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Amber Tomas – Sprint.

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DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15

WORLD CUP

Tim Robertson 4th at 2016 World Cup Sprint In his first year as a senior the New Zealander gained his best-ever result in an international Sprint event. Here he describes his jubilation:

S

tanding on the podium in 4th position at the final World Cup Sprint for 2016 was unreal. Only one year ago I was standing on top of the JWOC podium never dreaming that this was possible the following year.

crowd, was starting at the same time so unfortunately instead of hearing the speaker I heard thousands of local Swiss supporters cheering and swinging their cowbells. Although that was also a pretty epic rush!

At the end of 2015, my final year as a Junior, I looked back over my five years of JWOC Sprints. [Ed. all events mentioned are Sprints]. My results had improved every year; 79th in 2011, 21st in 2012, 3rd in 2013, 1st in 2014, and 1st in 2015.

The last part of the course was very simple through a small park and unfortunately my speed was not high enough to match Martin Hubmann and Matthias Kyburz, both of Switzerland. But I didn’t mind at all, standing on the podium in 4th position was the perfect end to a great season.

2016 is my first year as a senior, so I decided that the next two years would be ‘building years’, especially after a 6 month break from competitive orienteering while I recovered from surgery on a dislocated shoulder. I had to think of ways to keep up the motivation for when my results could not be at the competitive end of the field.

I am now travelling to China to compete in the Park World Tour competition. An event aimed to bring the top 25 best sprinters in the world and put them head to head in some very special terrain. I hope to produce some good results there and when I return I will take a break from competing, enjoying the off season before beginning my preparation for next year.

However I had a very good beginning to the season.

Finishing 5th in the World Cup Round 1 in Poland. This was an incredible moment and a turning point for me. I made the decision to focus 100% on the major Sprint events in 2016.

Next was the European Championships / World Cup Round 2 in Czech Republic where I finished 7th equal. This was an equally special moment as I realized Poland wasn’t a ‘one off’. Then the World Championships / World Cup Round 3 in Sweden where I finished 13th. I was disappointed not to make the top-10 as that was a big goal for me. And finally World Cup Round 4 in Switzerland where I finished 4th.

Bring on 2017 !!

(Editor’s note: Tim gained 2nd and 3rd placings in the events in China.)

NZOF post on Tim’s recent WC www.orienteering.org.nz/ news/tim-flies-again-in-world-cup-final/

I was very nervous going into the final World Cup. I had not raced any Sprint events since the World Championships, instead doing two to three sprint training sessions a week both on my own and with my club Fossum. The Sprint start list was based on current 2016 World Cup Ranking with the best starting last. So I was starting in the middle with the twenty World’s best behind me. Being sandwiched between two of my idols, who I used to watch online back home in the early hours of the morning, is still something I am getting used to. But when I pick up the map all those thoughts go away and it is just another race.

The Final was held in the small town of Aarau, a mixture of new town, old town and park. There was a steep hill sloping down to a river that was very technical with many terraces, underpasses and alleyways only narrow enough for one person. I had a good start, orienteering well ahead of where I was in the terrain and not making any hesitations.

However on control #10 to #11, a long diagonal downhill leg, I couldn’t make up my mind between three different options.

So I missed seeing a small staircase thus losing 3 seconds in hesitating and running the ‘slightly’ longer way around. It doesn’t sound like much but three seconds could’ve been a medal. After this leg we had a big climb back up toward the arena.

It was great to have so many people lining the streets cheering every second of the way but also very hard to concentrate. I came through the arena in the current best time but Florian Howald, a Swiss runner in front of his home 16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Tim Robertson and sister Laura discussing his run in the 2016 WOC Sprint Final.

You can run what else will you do?

Photos: Tourism Tasmania and Andrew Wilson; Poon Wai Nang; Kathryn Leahy; Paul Fleming; Rob Burnett

Start planning now!

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Small lone tree Area with very stony surface Building pass-through or isolated canopy (not all Passable wall, retaining wall, concrete bench Impassable wall (forbidden to cross) Impassable fence (forbidden to cross) Area with forbidden access

with input from Anna Sheldon for the Australian National Sprint Orienteering Championships September 2016 Published by and Copyright Orienteering Queensland www.oq.asn.au 2016 AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS Possession of this map does not confer the right to enter this area or organise any event on this area.

This version 17th September 2016.

Magnetic North

Gold Coast to Granite Belt 25

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1 2 24 20

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The Trewin Report – Photos: Ingrid Baade, Tony Hill, Stephen Bird, Michael Hubbert Australian Sprint Championships, Griffith University, 24 September

T

he Australian Championships week began with national-level Orienteering’s first visit to the Gold Coast, the Australian Sprint Championships at Griffith University. This proved to be one of the most technically challenging Sprints seen in Australia, not just because of the complexity of the buildings, but also because vegetation often meant straight lines between buildings were not an option.

Natasha Key has had a tremendous year, and her performance was in keeping with what one would expect of someone with a Top-20 World Championships result at her last major start. She was already 23 seconds up by #5 and had extended her lead to nearly a minute by the middle of the course. Katie Reynolds (UK), in her first major event in Australia, made some minor inroads into that to be best of the rest, but 42secs was as close as she could get. Belinda Lawford got another solid result in her best elite year, taking third with a consistent run in an unusually spread-out field, with only four within two minutes of the lead, and six within three.

The apparently straightforward first men’s control proved to be the most significant of the race. Ian Lawford lost 13 seconds to Simon Uppill there, and was playing catch-up for the rest of the race. The margin got out to 36secs at one stage, and whilst the Canberran was the fastest in the field over the second half of the course, he was only able to cut the gap in half as Uppill won by 18secs. Duncan Morrison was second for most of the first half but 18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

dropped away in the second, leaving another international visitor, Michal Horacek, to come through to complete the placings.

Another race where early time losses were crucial was W20 – Tara Melhuish lost 20-30 seconds at each of #5 and #6, leaving her with a gap which was ultimately too big to close. New Zealand’s Amelia Horne made a flying start and led at #8 before a major blowout on #13 took her out of the picture. By then Lanita Steer had moved into the lead after being slightly off the pace at the start, and although Melhuish edged closer towards the end, the eventual gap was 29secs. Zoe Dowling edged out Caroline Pigerre for third over the closing controls.

M20 looked to have had a runaway winner when Tommy Hayes was more than a minute clear of the field, but he had missed a control. With the New Zealander out of the picture, it was a close fight between Jarrah Day and Patrick Jaffe, who were never separated by more than 12 seconds. The Tasmanian held a narrow lead for most of the way; Jaffe might have seemed set to come over the top when he edged in front at #17 and #18, but Day came again over the final controls and took his first national title at this level by seven seconds.

Probably the most interesting of the other classes was W16, where four were right in contention until the final controls and three eventually finished within 13 seconds. At the end of the day, it was Michaela Maynard, who did not take the lead for the first time until the fourth-last control, who had the day’s equal closest margin of three seconds, over the New Zealand duo of Briana Steven and Jenna Tidswell. The other three-second margin came at the opposite end of the age spectrum, in a wildly fluctuating

2 57

l shown)

3 36 4 37

5 38 AUS Sprint-Zoe Melhuish-W16 (ACT).

AUS Sprint-M60-Bruce Meder.

6 68

AUS Sprint-Clare Brownridge (VIC).

7 40 8 45 9 42 10 66 11 65 12 41 13 43 14 48 15 49 16 50 17 51 18 71 19 53

AUS Sprint-Paul Garbellini M10-Lloyd Gledhill M75.

20 54 21 56 22 46 23 60 24 57 25 31 40 m

Sprint-Duncan Currie.

Caroline Pigerre.

contest between Peter Meyer and John Robinson (NZ) in M75 in which the lead changed seven times (four at consecutive controls), but in the end the time the New Zealander lost at #7 was decisive. Other margins below 15 seconds came in highstandard duels in M40, where Craig Feuerherdt edged out Craig Dufty by five, and M50, where Jock Davis was 13 seconds ahead of Jemery Day. Perhaps the day’s most impressive performance was by Duncan Currie. His sprint potential was clear from some of his early-season performances at National League level, and he blew the usually competitive M16 field away, finishing nearly three minutes clear. Although mistakes by his nearest rivals cleared his path somewhat, he would still have won easily even with perfect runs by everyone else. An even larger margin in a normally competitive class was achieved by Ross Barr, who was much too fast for the rest of the M70 field as he took it out by 3:33.

Large margins were also the order of the day in several of the women’s Masters classes. Most of them came from orienteers who are no strangers to big wins. Jenny Bourne was three minutes ahead of Robin Uppill in W60, and Barbara Hill (W45), Su Yan Tay (W50) and Anthea Feaver (W55) were all at least 1:40 ahead in their respective age groups. Alvin Craig announced himself by finishing 1:28 ahead of the M14 field, and Torren Arthur was nearly two minutes ahead in the normally-close M12.

Australian Relays, Mundoolun, 25 September

T

he Australian Relays were held on an area inland from the Gold Coast, mostly gentle gully-spur but with a bit of rock

and erosion, and enough of that curse of Queensland orienteering terrain – lantana – to introduce a bit of challenge to route choice.

The elite men turned on the day’s most interesting race, culminating in two sprint finishes. The ACT went in as fairly clear favourites, but it was clear by the spectator control on the first leg that things weren’t quite going to plan, and at the end of the leg Mark Gregson came in ten minutes behind early leader, Simon Uppill for South Australia, and five minutes behind the pack, leaving Dave Shepherd and Ian Lawford with some work to do.

Things closed up on the second leg, after which all six finishing teams were within four minutes of each other, but a fine run by junior Toby Wilson left an unheralded NSW team with a threeminute break on the Canberrans. Ian Lawford was still favoured to catch that, but Robert Bennett made him work hard for it; they hit the top of the Finish chute together and Lawford prevailed in a frantic finish. There was also a sprint for third, with Bruce Arthur just claiming it for Victoria after an error early in the leg had left him in a long chase of SA’s John Nieuwenhoven.

Neither M20 nor W20 had sprint finishes, but they had their share of interest with last-leg lead changes in both. M20 had big fluctuations in fortune. Victoria had the two fastest runners through Patrick Jaffe and Matt Doyle, but lost enough ground in the middle that Doyle was left with nearly ten minutes to catch on leaders Queensland. He was able to achieve that, but by then the Queenslanders had lost the lead to Ed Cory-Wright and the New Zealanders held on for the win by a minute.

In W20, Asha Steer put Victoria six minutes up on the first leg and they held that break after two, but then fell away on the final DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19

AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS

AUS Relay M21E finish sequence #1.

#3.

#2.

#4 – Got there!.

leg, meaning that Tasmania took the honours through consistent runs from the Dowlings and Rachel Allen. Caroline Pigerre’s finalleg charge – only Steer got within six minutes of her time – lifted Queensland to second, and was a sign of bigger things ahead.

The most straightforward elite race was the senior women’s; Natasha Key gave Victoria a three-minute lead on the first leg but it was all ACT from there, with new recruit Charlotte Watson putting them in front and Jo Allison running away to extend the margin to 18 minutes.

The younger juniors turned on some excellent races, a foretaste of things to come midweek. The biggest successful comeback of the day came from the Victorians in M14, where Jensen Key came from nine minutes down to overtake the ACT at the death. W16 was a closely-bunched race, with five teams within 90 seconds after the first leg and New Zealand and Tasmania still together after two, but Jenna Tidswell edged away from Mikayla Cooper to give the visitors a narrow win. In M16, Alastair George gave NSW a useful lead and Duncan Currie carried on to have them three minutes up after two legs, but they fell away, leaving Zac Needham and Sebastian Safka to bring ACT and New Zealand through to the top two places.

Most of the older classes were won by substantial margins – the Victorian M55s were especially impressive, with Warren Key, Tim Hatley and Ted van Geldermalsen running the three fastest legs of the race. The closest of them was M65, where NSW were nine minutes in arrears in fourth after the first leg, but Ross Barr continued his great weekend to take them to the lead, and despite good last legs by Paul Hoopmann (SA) and Greg Chatfield

(QLD), they were unable to get closer than two minutes. NSW went one-two in M45; in the battle for second and third, Tony Woolford and Mark Nemeth both ran great last legs, but with Eric Morris and Peter Annetts having given the NSW first team a nineminute lead they were never really threatened. Queensland had comfortable wins in W55 and W65, while NSW added M35 and W45 to their list of honours by comparably large amounts.

20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Australian Long Distance Championships, Amiens, 1 October

A

quarter-century after the Australian Long Distance Championships were in the Amiens forest near Stanthorpe, it was back there for the 2016 edition. As in 1991, most of the courses were in a flattish area which was a mix of pine and eucalypt with plenty of complex rock, with only the longest courses getting into the northern section of the Cascades map.

The technical challenge was considerable, with plenty of green areas with limited visibility, and clean runs were more the exception than the rule.

The starting order in the senior elite classes concentrates the best at the back end of the field. In W21, both Natasha Key and Belinda Lawford struck trouble early. Meanwhile, Jo Allison was making a terrific start, winning five of the first seven legs. By #7 she had caught six minutes on Key; two controls later they had also swallowed Lawford, a further three minutes ahead. The three were together to the end and filled the first three places, with Allison’s resultant margin of 5:57 an impressive one; the only one who might have challenged them for the placings was Charlotte

Alvin Craig.

Sophie Jones.

Careful map study needed amongst the rocks.

Su Yan Tay.

Watson, second at #7, but seven minutes lost at #8 ended any thoughts of that.

The men’s race also developed into a head-to-head battle, as Simon Uppill, the clear local favourite in a forest race, was challenged by the New Zealanders Matt Ogden and Nick Hann.

This race was also essentially over by the seventh control; by then Ogden had caught three minutes on Uppill, and once they were together it was always unlikely that they would separate, despite some long route-choice legs in mid-course. The remaining interest was the battle for second, with Uppill and Hann close together, but Uppill pulled away over the closing controls. They were six minutes clear of the rest of the field, with Ian Lawford leading a Canberran trio in fourth.

Zoe Dowling looked the likely winner for large parts of the W20 race, getting out to a lead of 2:39 at one stage, but lost time on three out of four controls in the last part of the race, leaving Lanita Steer to take what turned out to be a reasonably comfortable win. Dowling was still able to hold onto second over her sister Anna, in one of several races where many in the field made significant mistakes. M20, like the Sprint, looked like being a battle between Patrick Jaffe and Jarrah Day. The Tasmanian led through the early controls, but then started making mistakes, and Jaffe was never headed after #7, with Matt Goodall slipping into second after Day lost time at #14. Toby Wilson, who had shown at the Relay that he has taken a significant step up, was third Australian.

One of the closest races of the day was M55, won by Rob Vincent by three seconds in a strong field. Warren Key looked

to be on his way to a comfortable win for the first two-thirds of the course, getting out to a four-minute lead at #9. A sequence of uncharacteristic time losses brought him back to the field, but it was not until he dropped 45 seconds on the deceptively-tricky last control that he lost the lead for the first time. Whilst it was not so close at the very front, a high-standard W40 field had six of the seven runners within six minutes. Two of the pre-race favourites, Tracy Marsh and Rachel West, both missed the placings, and it was Anna Fitzgerald who emerged at the front ahead of Cathy Hogg and Jenny Casanova.

Another class decided by a single-digit margin was M65.

This is often a close race and 2016 was no exception, with eight within four minutes, and both of the two leaders at the fourthlast control (Pat Bodger and Geoff Peck) missing the placings. At that stage Michael Wood was still in fifth, although only 47secs behind. He took the lead for the first time at the second-last and the Finish chute was the only leg he won, securing a seven-second margin over Steve Flick. The closest class of all was M12, where Toby Cazzolato edged out Torren Arthur by two seconds, with Remi Afnan another 12 back.

The Miller brothers did the double in M16, with Patrick recovered from illness earlier in the week to beat Tristan by just over a minute, while New Zealanders dominated in W16, with Jenna Tidswell and Sofie Safkova eight minutes clear of the first Australian, Amy Enkelaar. It was much closer an age group further down on some of the more challenging 14s courses seen in recent memory. Alvin Craig never led by much after first getting in front by #5 but held steady for a 13-second win in M14. It was much DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21

AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS

AUS Relays-M14 (VIC) Torren Arthur changes to Mason Arthur.

AUS Relays-Alice Bills (VIC).

Sarah Lim.

AUS Relays start.

more up-and-down in W14 with several contenders having major time losses, but once the dust had settled (to the extent that there was any dust to settle in the sodden forest), Ella Cuthbert and Jessica Sewell emerged on top, with the Canberran taking a 54-second win after Sewell lost time on the third-last.

Whilst there were some up-and-down races in the juniors, perhaps the most up-and-down was W50. Su Yan Tay lost five minutes at #3 and was six minutes down on Toni Brown by then, while Nicola Dalheim also looked to be out of the picture after losing time on three of the first six. The Queenslander made some inroads but was still nearly four minutes down before the long ninth leg, which proved decisive. She took enough out of Brown on that leg to get within striking distance, then hit the front at the second-last. Dalheim also finished with a rush but fell just over a minute short. Any of the top five would have won with reasonably clean runs.

There were some large margins elsewhere, although James Bowling (M75) was the only one to hit double digits. Jenny Bourne was sufficiently dominant that even losing six minutes on the second-last was only enough to cut her margin to Lynda Rapkins in half, whilst W55 was all over after the first two controls; Christine Brown and Anthea Feaver both had major time losses, and Carolyn Jackson ended eight minutes clear of a good field. Bruce Arthur and Stephen Craig were both much too good for the fields they faced in M40 and M45 respectively, whilst Mark Nemeth did not take the M50 lead until nearly halfway but finished eight minutes ahead as his rivals fell by the wayside over the second half.

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Caitlyn Steer.

Bridget Anderson.

Australian Middle Distance Championships, Cascades North, 2 October

T

he week finished with the Australian Middle Distance Championships at one of the most challenging areas in Australian orienteering. The north end of the Cascades, with its extensive rock, often subtle contours and sometimes limited visibility, is an area which can swallow the unwary, and there were plenty of unwary to be swallowed on the championships day.

There was no easy introduction to the course and on many courses the first control was the hardest. On some it was decisive, and W21 was one of them. The top two from the previous day both had their chances end there, with Natasha Key dropping five minutes and Jo Allison nine. Bridget Anderson was in front after that control, and although she didn’t win another split, nor did she put much of a foot wrong – 30 seconds at the third-last was as big as it got – on her way to her first elite national title, in a very popular result. Grace Crane, well-suited to this type of race, closed the gap to just under a minute in taking second, whilst Key managed to recover to third, pipping Laurina Neumann over the last couple of controls.

Once again New Zealand took the honours amongst the senior men, and this time they made it a double. Matt Ogden spent the first half of the course looking as if he would make it two wins for the weekend and was a minute clear at #9, but lost the lead with a 45sec mistake at #13. Newly-minted local Matt Crane took the lead briefly before losing it at #16, leaving Nick Hann a second in front of Ogden. It wasn’t much of a lead to build on but build on it he did, extending it gradually over the final controls to be 31

Jo Allison.

Matt Crane.

Angus Powell.

Sprint – Tara Melhuish shows her gymnastics ability.

seconds clear at the end. Crane was the best of the Australians in third.

The junior women turned on an excellent race, with five within just over two minutes and eight within four. Lanita Steer led through the early controls but dropped to fifth with a 90sec loss at #7. Anna Dowling took over the lead at that point and held it almost to the end, but lost small amounts of time on each of the last two controls, which proved very costly. In a repeat of the previous day’s result, her sister Zoe overtook her, and so did Steer, who emerged 16 seconds clear to complete a clean sweep of the three individual championships (a feat matched in contested classes only by Jenny Bourne in W60). The junior men’s race was rather more straightforward; Tommy Hayes had struck trouble of diverse flavours in the two previous individual events, but on this day it all came together and he was much too good for the field, winning 9 of the first 13 legs as he won by more than three minutes. Patrick Jaffe and Matt Goodall were also secure in second and third respectively after reasonably uneventful runs.

Turning the tables was something of a theme in the older classes; several favourites who hadn’t quite made it on Saturday produced the goods on Sunday, including Tracy Marsh in W40, Warren Key in M55 and Anthea Feaver in W55. Another turnaround was in W50, where this time Toni Brown pipped Su Yan Tay by 22 seconds; it was a complete reverse of the previous day, as this time it was the Canberran who launched a successful comeback after being several minutes down early.

Another close class was W70, where it was a case of carnage at the ninth control – 11 out of 14 in the field, including the top

four and seven of the top eight, lost at least three minutes there.

Once that had sorted itself out, it was down to a duel between Patricia Aspin and Jenny Hawkins, with Hawkins leading, but the New Zealander managed to get to the lead at the secondlast and held on by 24 seconds. The M60 class was also decided by less than a minute. For most of the course it was a close three-way battle between Paul Pacque, James Lithgow and Ted van Geldermalsen, but #11 was decisive; van Geldermalsen lost enough time there to fall out of contention, and Lithgow also dropped 90 seconds, which was enough in a race which Pacque won by 43secs.

Many of the juniors found their first introduction to such terrain challenging and the 16s saw some very up-and-down performances. The opportunity was there for someone who had a reasonably clear run to win big, and that opportunity was taken in some style by Sofie Safkova, who was nearly seven minutes clear in W16 – an imposing margin in a Middle Distance. As had been the case the previous day, second prize also went across the Tasman, to Georgina Dibble this time. (While this wasn’t the biggest margin of the day, the bigger ones came in the younger Masters’ classes whose fields lose much of their depth in Middle Distance races to the elites). Patrick Miller did the double in M16, but this time the Canberran who was his nearest challenger was not his brother; rather it came in the slightly unexpected form of Ryan Stocks, who had missed out on the ACT Schools team but pushed all the way this time to fall only 41 seconds short.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Australian Schools Championships 26-29 September

Photos: Ingrid Baade, Tony Hill, Stephen Bird, Michael Hubbert

Jo Anna Maynard (WA).

T

he ACT returned to the top of the Australian Schools Championships for the first time in a decade. They opened up a three-point lead after the opening Sprint and never really looked like losing thereafter, eventually finishing five points clear of Queensland. South Australia, in their best performance since 2003, finished third, while Tasmania dropped to fifth after winning four of the last five years. New Zealand again dominated the Southern Cross Junior Challenge; despite the decision, controversial at home, not to select those who had been to the Junior World Championships, they only dropped three of a possible 96 points during the week.

South Australia got off to a brilliant start when they won three of the four age groups in the Sprint at Palm Beach. The Schools Championships are often a place where a star of the future turns into a star of the present, and Angus Haines started his campaign in spectacular style by blowing away the Senior Boys’ field, winning 20 out of 24 legs. Patrick Jaffe (VIC), with JWOC experience and top-six senior National League Sprint results behind him, did his best to match but was beaten for pace and finished 23 seconds adrift.

Dante Afnan (SA) ended up with a similar winning margin – 22 seconds – but reached it via a different route, not getting to the lead until halfway. At that stage, he, NSW’s Alvin Craig and New Zealand’s Sebastian Safka were only separated by two seconds, and he and Craig were still level with six controls to go, but the South Australian pulled away over the final controls.

The third South Australian Sprint winner was Joanna George.

She did it the hard way, dropping 30 seconds at #5, but ran a great second half. In five legs from #11 to #16 she eliminated a 26-second gap to leader Zoe Melhuish (ACT), and then had just a little too much pace at the end. The one non-South Australian Sprint winner was in the senior girls, where Tara Melhuish (ACT) 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Dante Afnan (SA)

Crowded dais-Senior Girls relay.

Angus Haines (SA).

Patrick Jaffe (VIC).

Schools Relays start.

went in as clear favourite after a long string of good national Sprint results, and never seriously looked like losing, 20 seconds clear by halfway and 21 at the end. Three New Zealanders filled the places behind her, with Jenna Tidswell the best of them.

The action then moved to Cotswold, a hilly map with some interesting cliff and rock lines, for the forest events. Like the Sprint, the Long Distance also saw the emergence of one significant name from the bunch, and this time it was a local.

The word beforehand was that Caroline Pigerre was in excellent form, but with two national Junior team members in the field few picked her for more than a minor placing. Her start was a little uncertain, dropping a minute at #2 and another at #4 to be 2:30 down on early leader Briana Steven, but she settled down and gradually hauled that gap in. By the third-last control she had taken the lead for the first time, and ended up 28 seconds ahead of the New Zealander. Both the JWOC team members, Zoe Dowling and Tara Melhuish, crashed in the first few controls, although Dowling ran a great second half, and her recovery was

Emily Sorensen (SA)

enough for her to edge her Tasmanian teammate Rachel Allen out of third after the latter lost time at the second-last.

After a number of near-misses, Patrick Jaffe (VIC) took his last chance for a first Schools individual title, and did it with ease.

He was already 2:30 in front of the field after the first 15 minutes and eventually stretched his gap to more than five minutes. Angus Haines could not match his heroics from the previous race, but still impressed by being best of the rest after an uncertain start, ahead of the consistent Tasmanian Joseph Dickinson.

The Junior Boys brought together three of the remaining key players from last year. This time, Tristan Miller (ACT) turned the tables on Dante Afnan from the Sprint, taking the lead at #5 and holding it all the way to the Finish, although a wobble at the second-last cut the gap to a minute. Noah Poland (ACT) completed the placings after a tight battle with the New Zealanders Tom Harding and Isaac Egan. New Zealand’s one individual Long Distance title came in the Junior Girls, where Sofie Safkova, a relatively recent arrival from the Czech Republic, ran a consistent race, edging ahead of Zoe Melhuish at halfway DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS and finishing 51 seconds ahead. Emily Sorensen (SA) emerged as third after a close contest with Mikaela Gray (QLD); despite narrowly missing a medal, the 12-year-old Queenslander more than justified the word that she was one to note for future reference, with a fourth and a seventh at her first Australian Schools.

The event finished with the Relays. There were several good races, but the standout was the Junior Boys’ event, which turned on one of the most memorable Relay finishes seen in Australia.

After the early lead that Dante Afnan had given South Australia disappeared on the second leg, the first two legs concluded with four teams – ACT, NSW, Queensland and New Zealand – within seconds of each other. They were all still close through the first half of the final leg before Queensland fell just off the pace, leaving Tristan Miller, Alvin Craig and Sebastian Safka to fight it out. Safka dropped off a little in the climb to the spectator control, with only two more controls to go, and looked like he would have to settle for third, but the two ahead of him were both slightly wide on the next control and he slipped through for the win. To add further drama, it turned out that Miller had mispunched, promoting Queensland to third.

The Senior Boys’ was a race of big fluctuations. After the first leg, led impressively by NSW’s Alastair George, Victoria and the ACT were in seventh and eighth, eight minutes off the pace. The second leg turned that around completely, with Jimmy Cameron and Patrick Miller more than ten minutes clear of anyone else on the leg. That put the two teams in front going into the final leg, only a few seconds apart, with Patrick Jaffe up against Ewan Barnett on the final leg. This contest unfolded amongst uncertainty because Jaffe was not registering at the radio controls due to an SI glitch, but when he emerged in person at the spectator control it was clear he had done the necessary, giving the Victorians a three-minute win.

New Zealand took both Girls’ Relays in fairly similar style, being challenged for the first leg or two but ultimately emerging with fairly comfortable wins. In the Juniors it was the second leg where the break was made, as Jessica Sewell put five minutes between herself and her nearest pursuers ACT and South

ASOC All Australian Team for 2016

Junior Girls Joanna George SA Mikaela Gray QLD Zoe Melhuish ACT Emily Sorensen SA

Senior Girls Rachel Allen TAS Jo Anna Maynard WA Tara Melhuish ACT Caroline Pigerre QLD

Junior Boys Dante Afnan SA Alvin Craig NSW Ryan Gray QLD Noah Poland ACT

Senior Boys Ewan Barnett ACT Joseph Dickenson TAS Angus Haines SA Patrick Jaffe VIC

26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

2016

CHAMPIONS

State

ACT

Senior Girls

Sprint – Tara Melhuish (ACT) Long – Caroline Pigerre (QLD)

Senior Boys

Sprint – Angus Haines (SA) Long – Patrick Jaffe (VIC)

Junior Girls

Sprint – Joanna George (SA) Long – Zoe Melhuish (ACT)

Junior Boys

Sprint – Dante Afnan (SA) Long – Tristan Miller (ACT)

Senior Girls Relay

Queensland

Senior Boys Relay

VIC

Junior Girls Relay

ACT

Junior Boys Relay

NSW

Jubilant ACT Schools Team and running camera-man.

Australia, before Sofie Safkova followed up with an even more impressive final leg. In the Seniors, unusually a composite team (led off by the sole Western Australian, Jo-Anna Maynard) was in the mix, and it took until the third leg for New Zealand to shake them off, but they emerged five minutes ahead in the end. The leading State teams were quite a way further back; it looked as if Zoe Dowling had run down Caroline Pigerre to give Tasmania second, but she had mispunched. Like last year, the ACT were trying to hold on as best they could after being given the first-leg lead courtesy of Tara Melhuish, but this time a third place was more than enough for them to get the necessary points.

The ACT’s strength still lies in the younger age groups, and it would not seem to be too much of a stretch to suggest that this might be the beginning of a dominant era the likes of which they last saw in the early 1990s. (One link between the two is that Tate Needham was in the winning team in 1992 and his son, Zac, was part of the 2016 team). It’s a recurrent theme of this competition that one State takes a turn to hold sway for a few years; the ACT for the first half of the 1990s, NSW for the second half, Queensland through the late 2000s and Tasmania in the last few years.

Senior Boys Relay - VIC.

Caroline Pigerre (Qld)

VIC Team pre-Relays chant.

Joanna George (SA)

the tension rises waiting for the Relays start.

Senior Girls prize giving - so many Teams.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

2017 AUS CHAMPIONSHIPS

23rd September – 1st October 2017 Macquarie Woods.

The Carnival for Everyone!

Barbara Junghans - Carnival Director

M

mmmm. Did I hear you mumble: “But that’s the AUS Championships, and I’m not AUS Champion standard”? It doesn’t matter what standard your orienteering is because there will be courses of all standards. What matters is that these events will be world-quality events in fabulous terrain and in a rural area with a lot to offer – an experience not to be missed!! For many youngsters, the Schools Relay is the highlight event of the year. So, come and SEEK your own type of GOLD. There are 7 events over 9 days (see advertisement with list and map). Most events have a dual purpose. The Australian Long & Middle Distance and Sprint events have World Ranking Event status (the only events to do so in Australia for 2017) as well as National Orienteering League status (NOL).

The three midweek events comprise the Schools Championships as well as the Bathurst 3-Day (just two out of the three events to count) which is for adults and children not in State Schools teams. The School Sport Australia Long Distance, Sprint & Relay Schools Championships offer four classes: Boys/ Girls Senior (16 and above), and Junior (12-15 years), and concurrently a NZ/AUS Schools ‘Southern Cross Challenge’ will be conducted.

‘AS’ courses will be on offer (=A-grade Short? No, let’s make it A-grade Social!). Also, enter-on-the-day will be available for recreational O-er’s. Of course, we would love to see you for the entire Carnival, but it is possible to enter fewer events. So mark your diaries now for the best events in Australia next year.

Geographically, the event centre is Bathurst, although accommodation constraints may scatter people far wider than this. Bathurst and Hill End are a beautiful part of Australia in springtime, with much to do apart from Orienteering (you could

go seek gold literally?). All event areas are steeped in mining, political, automotive or art history (search ‘Bathurst’ on www. visitnsw.com/).

Check out our Carnival website (onsw.asn.au/ozchamps2017/ carnival/travel-and-accommodation) and notice we have been allowed to reproduce the Russell Drysdale ‘Golden Gully’ painting - inspired by ‘golden gully’ which is located on our new Hill End map. You can visit museums, galleries, adventure playgrounds, wineries, etc. There are two rest days, or you can push it to three by forgoing one day of the Bathurst 3-Day if you want a two-day side trip, e.g. Dubbo Zoo. It doesn’t have to all be Orienteering!

Five events will be run on brand new maps and another on a never-before-used section of an existing map. Day 1 of the Carnival starts Saturday 23rd September in Bathurst itself with the Australian Sprints set on a newly-created map of Charles Sturt University. This presents typical campus complexity but with a rural outlook. On Sunday, Day 2 of the Carnival, we move to our first day in Hill End for the Australian Middle Distance event.

Garingal Orienteers has funded mapping the heritage-protected Hill End mining area that owes its existence to the gold rush of the 1850s. Alex Tarr, arguably Australia’s top mapper, especially of mining terrain, has already mapped 23 sq km around Hill End which can easily cater for the Middle & Long Distance and Relay AUS Championship events. The courses have been set in principle, and with this in mind the mapping has been doublechecked by Alex. The Hill End area offers interesting open spur/ gully forest with extensive intricate areas of erosion and mining remnants.

Tuesday starts the midweek Carnival Days 3, 4, 5 at Roseberg State Forest for the Schools Individual Long Distance event and Day 1 of the Bathurst 3-Day. This is a new area of spur/gully open eucalypt forest with some rock, lying adjacent to an area used for events some years ago. The Schools Sprints on the Wednesday, Day 2 of the Bathurst 3-Day, will be run on another brand new map of All Saints College in Bathurst. Thursday is the big day of the Schools Relays and Day 3 of the Bathurst 3-Day, and will be held on the oft-used Macquarie Woods map possibly with a new

All Saints College - Bathurst.

Charles Sturt University.

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Where to stay

Hill End.

extension. Macquarie Woods (also known at Vittoria State Forest) offers stands of pine of varying maturities, open eucalypt forest and some complex granite terrain. The second weekend with Carnival Days 6 and 7 goes back to Hill End for the AUS Long Distance on Saturday and Relays on Sunday. Note that all these areas are embargoed (see website).

Accommodation will be extremely tight in Bathurst - book asap. With the Bathurst Car Races the week after us, the workers will already be around to set up. Many orienteers will end up in farmstays and in nearby towns such as Lithgow, Portland, etc.

Forget Hill End. Another good unbelievably cheap option, even if you do not own a tent, is ‘Tent Town®’, a ‘pop-up’ set by a local service organisation on a large area adjacent to Paddy’s Hotel in Kelso, and accesses the football clubhouse showers and toilets (more will be trucked in if required). Power for handheld devices and limited fridge space will be available. It is the same flat price for the entire Carnival no matter how many days you stay (and you can even stretch extra days either side for the same price). In return, it is hoped you give Paddy’s some patronage. Go to www. tent-town.com.au and click on the AUS Orienteering link on the home page. Paddy’s will have a Scout Group supply breakfast (feedback on how many would be interested in breakfast at Paddy’s is sought info.auschamps2017@onsw.asn.au). A supermarket is nearby, but with these unbelievably low campsite prices you could do a good few meals at Paddy’s. Why not make Paddy’s at Tent Town the social hub for clubs to have happy hour to celebrate or commiserate the day’s results whilst poring over maps. Paddy’s is a modern child-friendly hotel with a big adventure-style fenced playground.

Email info.auschamps2017@onsw.asn.au Website: onsw.asn.au/ozchamps2017/

Planning so far Although ONSW is responsible for the conduct of all events during this Carnival, five NSW clubs (Garingal, Bennelong, Big Foot, Western Hills and Goldseekers) are providing 99% of the manpower. The executive comprises myself, Barbara Junghans (GO) as Carnival Director, with Andrew Lumsden (Big Foot) and Paul Prudhoe (Central Coast) as the Level 3 Controllers who also hold IOF World Ranking Controller status. A centralised organisational structure is in place, based on the various functions during an event. Each event will have its own Day Organiser, Course Planner and Controller, but the other important functions such as Registration, Parking, Start, Finish, Equipment/tents, Signage, Toilets, etc will be run each day by the same team using a rotating roster of helpers from the pool of volunteers from the five clubs. All Day Organiser, Course Planner and Controllers have been appointed and a number of other people have already been head-hunted for positions as Team Leaders.

Bathurst Regional Council is very supportive: they are providing their new BMEC Community Hall and Theatre as a registration hall on the Friday afternoon before the Carnival starts, as well as other support. The architecturally historic St Stanislaus College will house the Schools Teams (approx 160 students, team managers and coaches). Facebook and Instagram pages are set up (ozchamps17). The coffee cart is already booked.

Roseberg.

Brisbane

Brisbane

Hill End

Sofala

Orange Melbourne

Blayney Canberra Melbourne

Bathurst event centre

Lithgow

Sydney

Lyndhurst

www.onsw.asn.au/ozchamps2017 The Aus O Carnival including the Bathurst 3 day has something for everyone, even those who are not a champion like me. There’s also so many other things to do, such as goldmining history, arts trails, car museums, adventure playgrounds, food, wine..

Sat 23 Sept Sun 24 Sept Tue 26 Sept Wed 27 Sept Thu 28 Sept Sat 30 Sept Sun 1 Oct

I should probably book accommodation soon, because the car races fill the town early. Or maybe I’ll save money and get cheap lodging at the private Tent Town. There’s even a tent and bedding if I forget to bring my own!

Australian Sprint Champs Australian Middle Distance Champs Australian Schools Champs & Bathurst 1 Australian Schools Sprints & Bathurst 2 Australian Schools Relays & Bathurst 3 Australian Long Distance Champs Australian Relay Champs DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

NOL

Blair Trewin

Cockatoos, Nuggets take the National League

T

he two dominant teams of the National Orienteering League, the Canberra Cockatoos men and the Victorian Nuggets women, were again at the top of the tree in 2016. For the Cockatoos it was their sixth consecutive title, while for the Nuggets it was their seventh in the last decade.

The Cockatoos men spent much of the season playing catchup. The Nuggets got off to a good start at the Melbourne Sprint Weekend, and whilst the Cockatoos turned the tables at Easter, sending a very depleted team to the South Australian round put the Nuggets in front again. The Victorians started the final week seven points in front, but with Canberra having close to its strongest team present in Queensland, they always looked like hauling in the lead. Once Ian Lawford won an Australian Relays sprint finish with the Nuggets well back in third, it was never really in doubt with the final margin being seven.

The women’s competition was never in doubt, with the Nuggets setting up a big lead early and holding it all the way.

Defending champions, the Queensland Cyclones, were never really in the hunt, being unable to cover the loss of Krystal Neumann to Europe (and were further depleted at the end by Anna Sheldon’s organisational commitments).

The Cockatoos finished with a rush, bolstered by the arrival of Charlotte Watson and Katie Reynolds from Britain, and took maximum points from the last five rounds, but taking only a handful of points from the first four rounds meant they were never in the hunt and they had to settle for second, overtaking the Cyclones in the final week.

Natasha Key’s outstanding season was a large part of the reason for the Nuggets’ success.

She came first or second in Natasha Key. ten of the fifteen rounds, and wrapped the individual title up with second in the Australian Long Distance Championships. It was her fifth title – coming twelve years after her fourth – bringing her level with Rob Walter’s record. Jo Allison won five races to Key’s four, but only running nine rounds left her with too little margin for error and she fell 14 points short. Despite missing the last part of the season, Rachel Effeney’s big haul of points from the early-season Sprints was enough for her to hold off Belinda Lawford and Bridget Anderson for third.

Simon Uppill has been first or second in the individual competition in each of the last ten years. This year he came out on top, finishing at the head of the list for the fourth time.

Although he only won three times, he was consistent throughout 30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

with no placings lower than seventh. Missing the last part of the season cost Leon Keely any chance of the title, whilst Matt Crane, like Allison, also suffered from a limited program despite winning three times. The leading racewinner of the season was actually Ralph Street, who swept the four events of the Melbourne Sprint Weekend before heading home.

The two Junior competitions were almost a mirror image of each other.

The Nuggets men beat the Tassie Foresters by 81 points to 69, whilst the Foresters prevailed by exactly the same score in the women’s event.

Simon Uppill.

Both successfully defended titles from 2015 (and in both cases the Cyclones were third).

The Victorian men filled the first three individual places through Matt Doyle – his third win in a row – Patrick Jaffe and Aston Key, and were almost untouchable when all three were on the park. They struggled a bit more later on with Key on the sidelines injured and Doyle running seniors most of the time, but any hint of a late upset was killed off with a come-frombehind final leg by Doyle at the Australian Relays.

At the core of the Junior women’s team competition Matt Doyle. were two pairs of sisters, the Dowlings of Tasmania and the Steers of Victoria. The Dowlings only won one race apiece, but their consistency ensured the Foresters always had a solid base, and they found enough support – most often from Rachel Allen – to give themselves the edge.

The individual competition was close for most of the season with five in serious contention – Lanita Steer, Anna and Zoe Dowling, Tara Melhuish and Winnie Oakhill – but Steer’s sweep of the three national championships gave her a comfortable margin in the end, ahead of Melhuish and Anna Dowling.

Lanita Steer.

The Australian WOC JWOC and MTBO teams outfitted by Trimtex

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

MAPPING

New Zealand’s Woodhill Forest Mapping for Oceania and WMOC 2017 Selwyn Palmer, mapping coordinator

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oodhill Forest is about 45km in length and varies from about 1.5km to 5km in width. Altitude is from sea level to about 160m. Use of the exposed coastal dunes is discouraged for conservation reasons. Next there is a band of non-productive pines which are left to create a wind break. This often includes very detailed dunes that have been untouched by heavy harvesting machinery, but sometimes includes flat featureless areas. Then for up to 1km the dunes are mostly undulating but sometimes with steep areas up to 40m a.s.l. Then there is steady uphill slope to a ridge top that runs most of the length of the South Kaipara Peninsula. This can be quite steep gully-spur terrain often with a clay base deep underneath, but liberally interspersed with small sand dune features.

In the early 1900’s sand dunes were rapidly encroaching over farmland and fully grown trees were being smothered. This was a result of human intervention like clearing forest for farming, fires, and nature doing what it does. Pines were planted as a measure to stabilise the encroaching sand, most work being done during the 1930’s depression years. That the pines flourished and became productive was an unexpected bonus.

From October 2013 most of Woodhill Forest was transferred to private ownership. There are several privately owned blocks of plantation pines that extend eastward from the original sand dune forest. In 2013 the Treaty of Waitangi claim by Ngati Whatua o Kaipara was finally settled. This enabled Ngati Whatua o Kaipara the opportunity to purchase Woodhill Forest from the Crown.

For WMOC Woodhill Forest events we opted for 2.5m contours because there are numerous knolls, depressions, small hills and low ridges that are less than 5m in height. Perhaps 20% of the area would be better suited to 5m contours, but overall I’m confident that 2.5m will give the best result.

32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Woodhill-Into the pines trees.

We decided early to ensure that all mappers, planners and controllers were working in OCAD and arranged a bulk purchase of OCAD Standard licenses and course setting licenses. This helped with easier file exchange among those involved. The OCAD11 has now been superseded by OCAD12.

In Woodhill Forest we have been using four main mappers; Selwyn Palmer, Mike Beveridge, Paul Ireland and Nick Hann.

Some revision has been done by Russell Higham.

Our maps for Oceania 2017 and WMOC 2017, except for Oceania Middle Distance, are in the area governed by Auckland Council for the last six years. Even before the super city amalgamation, Auckland region had cooperated to obtain LiDAR data ahead of many other places around the world and it became freely available, along with orthophotos that slot into mapping software perfectly. Auckland Council can supply 1 metre contours from LiDAR for all its rural areas, and 0.5m and sometimes 0.25m for urban areas and most Regional Parks.

The name LiDAR is sometimes considered an acronym of Light Detection and Ranging’ or ‘Light Imaging, Detection, and Ranging’, but was originally a portmanteau of ‘light’ and ‘radar’.

There are vagaries in the collection of LiDAR data. For rural areas the LiDAR samples are further apart and sometimes significant hills or ridges are missing or features are mysteriously misplaced.

Using a good GPS with an antenna is very helpful.

After some persistent enquiries I found a staff member at Council G.I.S. department who could source the “raw data” DTM (digital terrain model) and supply it an OCAD friendly format, *.asc file. The “terrain” is the last response from the LiDAR signals and therefore is the ground level data. Files were also available with all levels of LiDAR response comprising a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) including responses from tree tops and denser vegetation.

Recent versions of OCAD can generate contours at whatever interval I specify. The results are much more detailed than the Council contours with all sorts of little spots, ovals and details that weren’t there before. The field worker now has more comprehensive data to use, sometimes finding knolls or depressions where the small dots or circles are.

Four illustrations of a very small corner of a Woodhill map show:

(1) Brown contours, 1 metre, as downloadable from Auckland Council web site.

(2) The OCAD generated contours from raw data. The fat brown line is 12.5m for index contour. The thinner brown line is 2.5m contour. The thin purple line is 1.25m contour to help the mapper.

(3) The final Orienteering map. The top corner is blank because it’s off the mapped area.

(4) Segment of the orthophoto with No.2 (OCAD generated contours) overlaid.

This particular segment shown on these illustrations has remarkably good LiDAR detail compared with most other areas.

Woodhill-Coastal Protection strip trees.

Pretex is readily available!

The choice of Champs for maps & bibs

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We provide Pretex map paper, map printing, event chest & bike bibs...

Do you knOCAD?

Ken Dowling

Jim Russell

P Quickly pan map by holding down middle mouse button.

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Australia & NZ OCAD reseller

o ca d.com.au

0411 125 178

PO Box 625 Daylesford VIC 3460

Ph. 03 5348 3792

info@ocad.com.au

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33

MAPPING

Auto Generated Orienteering Maps Stefano Raus – visiting Orienteering SA Coaching Scholar and Mapper

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an we have a very accurate base map to easily start a new map project, and then reduce production time and cost? What do we need to have in this base map? And how can we do Orienteering training in a new unmapped forest? I will now try to answer these questions without going into too much detail; let me begin at the last question.

Three years ago in Finland some friends told me about Karttapullautin, a program capable of auto generating O-maps from LiDAR data (download for free at Ref [3]); I was very curious but at that time I was able only to play with Finnish LiDAR data. In August, just before coming to Australia, I discovered that there were new LiDAR data online in my Region (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy) Land Browser for free. So I selected an unmapped area, and made the program auto generate the map. I set a course on it and I ran this with my girlfriend (elite orienteer); we were both amazed because we really enjoyed that ‘next generation’ orienteering. The forest was actually really nice and we were really satisfied about the map: I would vote it 4.5/5 for a training purpose (see also this report Ref [2]).

information about the shape of the terrain and its surface characteristics.

The first returned laser pulse is the most significant return and will be associated with the highest feature in the landscape like a treetop or the top of a building. The first return can also represent the ground, in which case only one return will be detected by the LiDAR system. Multiple returns are capable of detecting the elevations of several objects within the laser footprint of an outgoing laser pulse. The intermediate returns, in general, are used for vegetation structure, and the last return for bare-earth terrain models. The last return will not always be from a ground return. For example, consider a case where a pulse hits a boulder on its way to the ground and the pulse does not actually reach the ground. In this case, the last return is not from the ground but from the boulder that reflected the entire laser pulse.

Different returns to be able to identify vegetation.

Control 1: cliff – amazing to actually see a small cliff there!

Light Detection And Ranging is a detection system which works on the principle of radar, but uses light from a laser.

A LiDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver. Aeroplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LiDAR data (or more technically: point clouds) over broad areas.

The light pulses - combined with other data recorded by the airborne system - generate precise, three-dimensional 34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

With suitable LiDAR data we can have O-Training just using Karttapullautin (easy to use: drag and drop LiDAR file) and a course setting program. Karttapullautin (Pullauta for short) creates 5m contour vectors (including algorithms for appropriate use of form lines and purple colour for bottom of depressions to distinguish them from others), vegetation (PNG) and cliffs; water areas and buildings, if available in the LiDAR file (normally *.las or *.laz). Then we just need to add some tracks or major roads and to do this we can use OCAD12 to generate hill shading background (DTM – useful to see ground details, tracks, roads and minor watercourses).

Sometimes it is interesting to compare the contours between Pullauta and OCAD. I have noticed that sometimes OCAD has more detail in some areas regarding contours, however it creates the entire form line whereas Pullauta only draws what is needed i.e. the “useful” information.

Finally, before a real walk on the terrain or simple training, we can also check against the aerial images to add some details or new updates (like forest felling). This is everything a mapper can dream to have as a georeferenced base map, and then you decide to print what you prefer.

I am currently living in South Australia thanks to the Australian Orienteering Coaching Scholarship. In addition I have been given lots of mapping projects. Given my experience in making O-maps from LiDAR, Adrian Uppill saw the possibilities of gaining knowledge and specifically using local data for generating Orienteering maps. When it was discovered that Airborne Research Australia was based in Adelaide they were immediately contacted. ARA, established in 1996, is a self-funding, not for profit, Research Institute within Flinders University. The core activity of ARA is the use of airborne platforms for a wide range of applications and projects, mainly in the Environmental Research & Development area.

For an Orienteering map we can easily remove the open land areas, they are really small sometimes, but you can find them on the ground and use them to locate and add other features.

We were both surprised by the accuracy of the contours and vegetation, however we still have to experiment with cliff generation parameters and the LiDAR configuration process.

Stay tuned on OSA and OA websites for news!

Note: Orienteering Australia recently established a working group headed by Noel Schoknecht to investigate the use of LiDAR for Orienteering mapping in Australia. Stefano and Adrian will be providing the results of their ongoing activities in SA to this group.

Field walk to check boulders and green areas.

Map sample from Mount Lofty.

Adrian and I went to Dakota Dr, Parafield Airport (ARA hangar and office) to discuss the application of LiDAR data for Orienteering map making and whether we would be able to test some data. We were given several samples and in particular one of Mount Lofty summit in the Adelaide Hills where we did significant testing and fieldwork. In the image you can see the Pullauta result (without cliffs) in the upper left corner; contours comparison in the upper right corner (Pullauta in brown – OCAD in blue); DTM hill shading in the lower left corner and the final map on the right.

References [1] Airborne Research Australia, www.airborneresearch.com.au/ [2] Scientific Journal of Orienteering, volume 19, issue 1, page 10 (2014) [3] Jarkko Ryppo, www.routegadget.net/karttapullautin/ DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35

MAPPING

Drones (UAVs) in Orienteering Geoff Peck

T

The DJI Phantom 4 drone can take a LiDAR unit. Source DJI.

his is not to claim that making Orienteering maps is boring, as one dictionary suggests that a drone is “A person who does tedious or menial work; a drudge”. On the contrary, anyone who knows me will know that I find the work stimulating and rewarding, and certainly not menial. Indeed making Orienteering maps is one of my passions in life, and another (there are more!) is the theory of flight.

I had a fairly long career in aviation as a military test pilot (well after Chuck Yeager’s era) and latterly as an airline bus driver.

So the combination of mapping and flying is of great interest, especially as old age creeps up on me. Those who know me well will have heard me say that my plan is to continue mapping in my solar powered wheel chair (well, I do live in the Sunshine State), driving sedately along tracks while my drone does all the hard work above :) There is no doubt that the above scenario will be possible in the very near future. My good friend Mikko Salonen (who is former chairman of the IOF Foot-O committee, now a vice president) works on drone (a.k.a. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV) technology in mapping for a GIS company in Finland.

He tells me the capability is almost there already, but for us underpaid drones the cost is prohibitive at the moment. I see Dominos pizza chain is just about to launch drone delivery to the door in New Zealand. It should be interesting to hear how that pans out.

Without going into all the details, drones will have the capability to fly “autonomously” wherever you want them to go. If you don’t have a commercial licence to operate a drone, they need to remain “in sight” which may be a problem for bush maps but not for most park maps or school maps, etc. On board the drone you can have everything you need for mapping: a GPS (although down under it’s not as accurate as in Europe), a high resolution camera, laser sensors, etc. There is already software to analyse the data and produce high quality LiDAR data.

How long will it be before this technology is available to us minions down under? Apart from price, I think there are a few more hurdles to be overcome before we can launch these devices into the sky to make maps for us. The first is safety. The aviation regulators in Australia are not as enlightened (or foolhardy) as their Kiwi counterparts, but have just launched some new rules for drone use. They seem to allow fairly relaxed “amateur” use.

However, I used to work for CASA and I know there are a few

grey areas which could catch us out. One such area is safety. Even if you abide by the rules, the onus is still on the operator to do their own risk assessment and take steps to avoid anything going wrong. And most low cost drones certainly do go wrong. The battery may die or the drone may be attacked by a disgruntled bird. They don’t gracefully glide to the ground like a plane, rather they plummet with enough energy to do serious damage to unprotected humans.

Another grey area is the definition of “commercial” use which term does not necessarily mean “for profit”. Making maps for a third party may well qualify as commercial use and, if so, the rules are much tougher. So, I’m not in a hurry to buy a drone and try it out … yet.

I have already tried to use a drone to help make a map. One of my local schools had just obtained a drone (apparently it is now in the curriculum to let kids program them and see what they can do) so I asked the teacher to send me some photos from his drone flights.

We are not allowed to fly drones over the top of the school (where it could crash) but it is possible to take photos from adjacent playing fields (as long as they aren’t full of kids).

From the low altitudes allowed, we got several excellent quality “oblique” photos of the school buildings. Without sophisticated software to “rubberise” (to use an OCAD term) the imagery it is not yet possible to use as a background map, but I found it extremely useful to complement the usual satellite or standard “aerial photography” we use for making base maps.

That latter aerial imagery only shows roof lines and ground detail that is often obscured by trees and shadows. However, the oblique drone photography was able to provide views “under” the roof lines and trees, enabling me to produce an almost perfect base map with much more detail than the overhead imagery. Have a look at the photo (drone from north, looking south) and you should see what I mean .It is possible to see a lot more detail, especially “under” the roof lines.

In conclusion, drones will herald a new era in Oienteering mapping but it’s not for the faint of heart or shallow of pocket just yet. In the meantime try to get someone else to provide photos to make your life easier.

Related links at digbig.com/5bmtdp

The School overhead image. Source QLD Globe.

The School from N to S. Source Redbank Plains SHS.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING

2016 AUS Championships – West Australia Carolyn Jackson

A

fantastic week of mountain biking was the reward for travelling to the Australian MTBO Championships in WA last October. An already proven team led by Ricky Thackray put on an incredibly varied and fun four MTBO events based around Dwellingup, about 90 mins south of Perth.

For many of us, the added bonus of competing in the iconic 4-Day Cape to Cape mountain bike race just three days later, made for a big 10 days of racing.

The Turner tester was the warm-up event, but the heavens opened just as most were starting, which turned it into a definite ‘cool down’ event. Nonetheless, a fun score event on a good area, with some great single track to ride. It was also a chance for some to revisit, and others to have their first attempt at riding the infamous Wests ‘pea-gravel’. There is definitely a technique to it, particularly on corners, and that technique mostly involves slowing down and being careful.

Sadly the downpour continued into Saturday, and a very cold, wet and soggy assembly area for the Sprint greeted us all, and ‘warming-up’ was nigh on impossible. The Sprint map was the town of Dwellingup, and it had an interesting mix of bush, urban, open parkland and even railway yards to negotiate. Paul Dowling was the Course Setter and had us exploring every nook and cranny around the town. Angus Robinson had an unfortunate altercation with a gutter, while others had to dodge the tourist trains being shunted around and negotiate the rail lines.

Much to everyone’s relief, the afternoon cleared in time for the Middle Distance event. Now here was a unique concept ...... riding on an old golf course! The golf course is now used by a horse and carriage club, hence the map name – Cart Before the Horse?

What a great area this turned out to be and only 2km out of town. Fairways, little link tracks, single track, rough logging tracks, camps and fire roads all combined to challenge your technique and the need to think about ever changing terrain. Clever course setting by Duncan Sullivan made full use of a very tricky area.

Duncan had also made both the Middle and Sprint maps.

The pub was the venue for the Saturday evening function and prize giving. Lots of terrific special edition MTBO socks were given out to place-getters in addition to the badges. The organisers also had many great sponsors’ spot prizes to give out. Also many classes for the National Series were decided this weekend, and Blake Gordon announced these.

A cool, but ‘perfect for riding’ day greeted us for the Long Distance event. What also greeted us, as we drove into the Assembly area, was a steep and enormously scary logged hillside, and it was dawning on us all that the map was UP there!! So those published big % climbs were staring at us! And so it proved to be, with incredibly difficult to pick route choice and trying to minimise climb being the features of the day. Ricky surpassed himself with some of the best course setting you would ever see. Even after the event, you would find yet another hidden route and with much discussion we realised no-one could pick the best route for every leg.

Carolyn Jackson was first starter in the Sprint on a cold wet morning in Dwellingup.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37

2016 AUS MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Unfortunately, news came through that Ricky’s partner Tash had been found unconscious out there. Apparently a deep rut, fast downhill and tree branch did their worst. She was taken to hospital for observation, and had a badly wrenched shoulder, but is now on the mend.

It was fantastic to see some new young male riders filling the Junior classes, in particular Connor and Riley Martin from WA. Let’s hope they are able to travel to future events.

Five riders achieved a trifecta by winning all three races. Marquita Gelderman (NZ) in W21; Rhiannon Prentice, W16; Connor Martin in M12; Jacqui Sinclair in W60 and Debbie Mackay in W50.

In other classes the lead and placings were shared between a couple of riders. The veteran men’s classes produced some very tight racing. M60 saw Rob Prentice (2 wins) and Peter Cusworth battle it out; in M50 it was Rob Garden (NZ) (2 wins) and The Sprint event in Dwellingup.

17-117

8-109

7-134

16-116

15-115 19-119

Course 1: M21 18-118

14-114

13-133

20-120

11-111

2-126 22-121

12-110

21-132

3-127

1-101 9-106 23-122

10-112

5-103 4-102

Scale 1:7500 contour int. 5m 0

38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

500m

100m Fieldwork and Drawing Fieldcheck

Duncan Sullivan May 2016 Paul Dowling

Dwellingup bike orienteering map

1, M40, M50 Tony Howes on high ground during the Long race.

Andrew Power. M70 saw Leigh Privett and Keith Wade share the wins. And in M40 Craig Steffens had two wins and Michael Ridley-Smith took the Sprint.

In Elite men Angus Robinson won the Middle and Long Distances, and Ricky Thackray took the Sprint. But being course setter for the Long Distance, who knows how Ricky may have gone, as he is a bit of a Long event specialist. Marquita, being a New Zealander, meant three time runner up Carolyn Jackson was resident Champion.

As mentioned before, many MTBO’ers headed to various Mountain Bike parks and scenic places to rest up before the C2C based around Margaret River. This was a tough and scenic race from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste, amongst 1400 other eager competitors. Just to finish was a wonderful achievement.

A huge thanks to Ricky and his team, some of whom are non MTBO participants and who came just to help.

Ricky Thackray

finishing the Middle 6-123 Distance race.

New Zealand’s Marquita Gelderman won all three races in W21.

It was a downhill finish for the Long Distance.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

2016 AUS MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Lots of contours on the Long Distance map.

The Middle Distance start.

Map reduced to 75%

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

BIKE SHORTS

Cape to Cape survivors

From Peter Cusworth

Australian MTBO Series Round 1: Victorian MTBO Champs – 18-19 March 2017, Ballarat. Also Australian team selection trials.

Round 2: Queensland MTBO Champs – 27-28 August 2017, Brisbane area.

Round 3: Australian MTBO Championships – 7-8 October 2017, Wingello NSW.

2016 World Masters Series scoring

A

number of Australians featured in the final scoring for the 2016 World Masters Series. Tamsin Barnes and Richard Seven MTBO’ers continued on after the MTBO Championships in WA to compete in the 4-day MTB stage race that goes from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste. They were all really pleased to finish the gruelling race that took in some Robinson scored well after amazing trails of the region. Pictured here at the finish wearing their Finishers’ Medals – from left: Bill Vandendool (Vic), competing in this year’s World Peter Cusworth (Vic), Marquita Gelderman (NZ), Rob Garden (NZ), Ricky Thackray (WA), Natasha Sparg (driver), Carolyn Masters Champs and the 2015 Jackson (Vic). Front: Murray Withers (Qld). Photo taken by Carolyn Cusworth – the other driver (drivers were required Australian Champs which as there were remote starts and finishes most days). was the first round in the 2016 series. Tamsin finished 2nd in W45 and Richard was 4th in M60. Other Australians to feature in the final results scored their points just in the two Australian Champs races and included some class wins. They were: Jenny Sheahan 1st W75; Joyce Rowlands 1st W80; las Graeme Cadman 1st M80; Dale Ann Gordon 3rd in W70; nsu eni P de Helen Edmonds 4th ur W60; Carolyn Matthews 5th in W50; o T e Keith Wade =6thL in M75 and Peta Whitford =6th W65.

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Two new classes, M35 and W35, are being added to the World Masters Series for 2017 as a trial, to fill a void for athletes no longer competing in Elite classes but previously too young for the Masters classes.

•1 8-19 November 2016, New Zealand, Rotorua, 2 races (Sprint and Long Distance) •1 -2 April 2017, Portugal, 100 km south of Lisbon, 2 races (Middle and Long Distance) •2 6-30 April 2017, Denmark, MTBO Camp, 2 races (Sprint and Middle Distance) •2 4-25 June 2017, Poland, Wroclaw, 2 races (Middle and Long Distance) •5 -6 July 2017, MTBO 5 Days, Czech Republic, Plzen, 2 races (Middle and Sprint Distance - day 1 & 2 of 5 Days) •1 5-16 July 2017, Austria, Vienna, 2 races (Sprint and Middle Distance)

Contact: Peter Cusworth peter@worthcycling.com Ph 0409 797 023

•2 9 July- 4 Aug 2017, World Masters Champs, France, Orléans, 3 races (Sprint, Middle and Long Distance).

More details: www.mtbo-commission.com DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

PROMOTION

Navigating in the Saddle

In the past couple of years ONSW clubs have thought outside the box to conduct Ski-O and wheelchair O – and now one of our members has put on a horse O event. Dean Williamson, club captain at SHOO, reports.

I

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

CAMDEN BICENTENNIAL PARK 2016 PONY-O ORIENTEERING MAP

Control Descrip�ons 1 Corner of fence 2 Corner of fence 3 Farthest end of horse jump 4 Front of red horse jump 5 Gate 6 Corner of large �n shed 7 Farthest end of horse jump 8 Corner of fence 9 End of small fence

Control Descrip�ons 10 Fence 11 Corner of fence 12 Corner of fence 13 Corner of fence 14 Fence of yard

8

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’m not a horse person and I didn’t know that horseback Orienteering was a thing. After I was asked to set an Orienteering activity for the Oaks Horse and Pony Club at Camden Bicentennial Equestrian Centre, I looked it up and found out there’s even a horseback Orienteering association in the US (Competitive Mounted Orienteering).

The Pony Club was holding a two-day camp, and wanted Orienteering to be one of five activities that up to 50 attendees rotated through. I always find it tough setting a course for beginners, and planning for the speed that horses could introduce made it even more interesting.

We settled on three courses - one for children being led by adults, one for independent early teens, and one for late teens and adults who would likely gallop their way through the course.

My aim was for the two longer courses to feel like riders were on a back-country adventure, with some longer legs for them to ‘open up’ their horses and enjoy the ride, while still being challenged at having to find points of easy-to-moderate difficulty. To assist with navigation and the comfort of Orienteering for the first time, riders participated in pairs.

To simplify the event, each control displayed the name of a famous horse which riders wrote on an answer sheet. With nearly 5 20 controls, I was surprised how quickly I ran out of famous horses. Pegasus, Unicorn (not really horses, technically), The Trojan Horse and the Horse from Snowy River (did he have a name?) all made an appearance. The children’s course had a horse-themed sticker sheet, with stickers collected at each control point.

To my surprise, two senior riders sped through the difficult course in 20 minutes, horses all a-lather. The impressive sight of the horses in full gallop down the Northern hill, map flapping in the lead rider’s hand, was a rewarding experience, and really captured how exciting horseback Orienteering could be as a sport.

The day was a success, with the independent ‘roaming’ experience of Orienteering making it the highlight event for many. The Club is already planning the next event - winning!

12 14

Sheathers Lane

Contour interval: 2 metres

Copyright Southern Highlands Orienteers, Nov 2007 Latest Revision, June 2016 Fieldwork by Peter Meyer Cartography by Peter Meyer using OCAD 10 (Lic #4909)

NUTRITION

Preventing Muscle Cramps Nobel Prize winner Dr. Rod MacKinnon found that pungent and spicy tastes can hinder neurological misfires that cause cramps. (extract from The Wall Street Journal)

C

ould there be a way to prevent muscle cramps? As long as people have played sports, unexpected muscle cramps have been an Achilles’ heel for everyone from aspiring Olympians to weekend warriors. These unpredictable pains seem to arise at the worst possible time.

For decades physicians and other experts in sports medicine have theorized that a cramp was the result of a muscle that was dehydrated, or starved of electrolytes, or suffering tears in its micro-fibres and cell membranes. Conventional wisdom said these caused pain and spasms that could only be alleviated with water and electrolytes. Now, experts are beginning to believe we may have been thinking wrongly about cramps all along.

A dose of spicy liquid - like wasabi or hot chillies - may be a far more effective treatment than an energy drink or a banana.

All it took was a Nobel Prize winner experiencing some untimely cramps while sea kayaking a decade ago for people to begin to understand that the causes of muscle cramps may not have much to do with muscles at all. “The primary origin of the cramp is the nerve, not the muscle,” said Rod MacKinnon, the kayaker and Nobel Prize winning scientist who studies molecular neurobiology and biophysics at Rockefeller University in the US. British runner Paula Radcliffe, still the world record holder in the women’s marathon, famously cramped up at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and failed to finish the race. At Wimbledon this year, tennis player Madison Keys experienced cramps during the third set of her match with Simona Halep and lost. While both Ms. Radcliffe’s and Ms. Keys’s muscles were indeed taxed, that doesn’t necessarily explain why they experienced the pain we associate with cramps.

If muscles cramp simply because they are weary and poorly nourished, why do our muscles cramp when we are lying in bed doing nothing? Why would an elite triathlete like Craig Alexander, a former Ironman world champion, occasionally suffer from leg cramps in the first minutes of a race, when he was fully hydrated and the opposite of exhausted? “You feel so helpless when it happens,” Craig Alexander said, “and the explanation flew in the face of logic.”

Dr. MacKinnon’s hands and arms dangerously cramped up a decade ago when he was kayaking with colleague Bruce Bean, a neurobiologist, roughly 7 miles off Cape Cod in Massachusetts, US. Hydration and electrolytes weren’t issues in that case either.

After making it back to shore, Dr. MacKinnon and Dr. Bean began hunting for an answer. Rather than focusing on his muscles, they hypothesized that something might have caused the impulses the nervous system sent to his muscles to misfire and his muscles to cramp. Perhaps, they thought, people might be able to avoid cramps by regulating excessive firing of motor neurons, which they saw as the origin of muscle cramping.

Exercise science isn’t generally an area that winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry indulge in. Dr. MacKinnon won the Nobel after he and his colleagues provided the first atomic structures of the protein molecules that make electrical signals in living organisms.

Nevertheless, cramps were on Dr. MacKinnon’s mind. After perusing existing research he and Dr. Bean hypothesized that they could modify the nervous system, including the motor neurons controlling muscle, by applying a strong sensory input and by stimulating receptors in the mouth and oesophagus - which is how scientists describe ingesting pungent tasting foods. The pungent-taste overloads nerve receptors, producing a kind of numbing effect. Or, as Dr. MacKinnon explains it, “The strong sensory input causes inhibition of the motor output.”

Might this be dangerous? Does the pain from a muscle cramp have a purpose, like the pain that makes us pull our hand away from a hot stove? After considering this possibility, Dr. MacKinnon concluded there is no benefit to a muscle cramp.

The debilitating pain we experience doesn’t prevent injury. We experience it not to help us survive but because the human body isn’t a perfectly evolved machine.

Using himself as a lab rat, Dr. MacKinnon began concocting spicy drinks in his kitchen with varying amounts of ginger and cinnamon and trying to induce cramps with electrical impulses.

Over time he grew convinced his idea was correct. It was harder to induce the cramps after indulging in the spicy concoctions.

A series of randomized, scientific studies followed. The subjects produced results similar to what Dr. MacKinnon had experienced.

Those studies were presented last year at meetings of the American Academy of Neurology and the American College of Sports Medicine.

The great irony of all this is that for years athletes had already been trying to avoid cramps not simply with water and bananas but also with pungent liquids, such as juice from pickles, beets or sour cherries. They drank the pickle juice believing its high sodium content would replace an important electrolyte, and they drank the beet and cherry juice because they are rich in antioxidants that athletes thought could help prevent cramping.

The idea was to get those ingredients into the bloodstream and muscles. In some cases, the pickle, beet and cherry juice worked, but in the view of Dr. MacKinnon and a growing number of other scientists, not because the nutrients were reaching their muscles since research showed their blood content was largely unchanged.

We often find in science we are doing the right things but for the wrong reason. The sensory experience may have been what was having the effect on the legs.

Dr. MacKinnon helped develop a mix of ginger, cinnamon and capsicum or spicy pepper plants into a reasonably palatable drink. He acknowledges that taking it before a stressful workout, especially first thing in the morning, can feel counter-intuitive.

This isn’t ice-cold, citrus-flavoured water. The taste is hardly refreshing, and it packs a jolt more commonly experienced around a table covered with South Asian food rather than a training table. That’s the point though. It is about shocking the system, not replenishing it.

Nobel Prize-winning molecular neurobiologist and biophysicist Rod MacKinnon, left, and Harvard neurobiologist Bruce Bean.

Photo: Wendy Maeda/Getty Images DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

O-SPY

With costs spiraling upwards one wonders just how long the Olympics can survive in their present form, and whether it’s more likely that the number of sports will be reduced for future Olympics rather than new sports being added.

O-SPY Queensland MapRunners – Trial Series

M

apRunners is a new format of running for fun and fitness.

It’s Park-O using a SmartPhone. Find your way to as many controls as you can in 30 minutes. Choose your own route and pace. It’s like Pokemon Go without the monsters!

The aim of MapRunners is to provide a pathway into Orienteering for people who enjoy running – for example those who do a weekly parkrun. Orienteers who like a pleasant 30min run on Saturday morning (followed by coffee or the markets) were welcomed. A trial 8-week Series commenced in October. No need to pre-register - simply meet from 7:30am on Saturday mornings.

See www.maprunners.com.au to download the App and get more information.

Orienteering Kids lead by Example

A

n email from Ray Pratt, Junior Development Officer with Orienteering Queensland:

‘At Johnson Park, Cooroy, last week, we were doing a line map walk. As we came close to the skateboard park, some of the children from our group noticed litter on the ground and spontaneously started to pick it up and place it into the nearby bins. Everyone joined in and in no time, the ground was clear of litter.

Should WMOC be part of the World Masters Games?

A

t their General Assembly in September the IOF Council discussed the value of inclusion of WMOC in the World Masters Games (WMG) in the future as it represented a financial risk to the IOF in WMG years. Feedback had also been received in past years about higher entry costs for participants and the significant organisational challenges met

by WMOC organisers relative to the WMG local Organising Committees. The IOF Council decided to investigate the importance of WMG inclusion to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Based upon the result of this analysis a consultation will be carried out with member Federations regarding future WMOC inclusion in WMG.

Bears force Canadian Championships to take a new bearing

A

t the 2016 Canadian Championships, not only the competitors were met with challenges. Due to an unusually large number of bears in the area for the Long Distance and Sprint events, the organizers had to plan new courses in new areas only three days before the events took place.

Get permission to use new areas; plan new courses; print a stack of new maps and put out controls was the scenario for the organizers just a few days before the Canadian Championships in Long and Middle Distance, Sprint, and Sprint Relay took place a few months ago.

The skateboarding kids watched on in disbelief.

I feel very proud to be associated with children who care about our environment!

Thanks kids!’

New Sports added to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

F

or the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee has approved the addition of an extra 18 events in five sports, including Baseball and Softball which will make their comeback to the Olympics after they were last played at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The four other sports - Karate, along with the youth-oriented sports of Surfing, Skateboarding and Sport Climbing - were adopted for the first time. The new sports were added in conjunction with a series of reforms allowing the Olympic host cities to propose additional events for their own Olympic Games.

These extra sports will apparently be included just for the Tokyo Games.

In other news from Tokyo, there is mounting concern about the likely cost of the 2020 Olympics. Estimates put the cost at Yen 3 trillion (about $A 43 billion). The newly-elected Mayor of Tokyo has proposed that the construction of three new venues for swimming, volleyball, and rowing & canoe sprinting should be re-considered. However, the Japan Rowing Association is demanding the original plan for a new Tokyo venue for rowing and canoe sprinting be retained rather than shifting it to Miyagi Prefecture, more than 400 km away.

44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

Bears are not an unusual sight in Canada, but they are generally not aggressive to humans. Photo: Adrian Zissos

While there are bears on the move in Canada organizers take precautions to make sure that Orienteering is safe. So, when bears attracted to a berry crop were seen in the area for the Sprint, Sprint Relay and Long Distance events, the organizers decided to move the courses, which were meant to take place around the city of Canmore in western Canada. Instead of

cancelling the events, the Long Distance event was held in the same area as the Middle Distance and the Sprints were moved to the University of Calgary.

Technical chief at the event, Adrian Zissos, described the last day: “In the morning we all moved 100km from the Long Distance area to the University of Calgary. We set out the Sprint controls and at 10am we printed the maps for the Sprint Relay, for a 12:30pm start. This is the latest that I have ever printed maps for a major competition – by a long shot!”

that is part of Brazil’s coffee belt. Farmers have been growing robusta - a coffee bean used in espresso and instant coffee - since the 1950s. Records over the past 17 years show that it used to rain on average 1,300 millimetres a year. In the last three years, that number has plunged to just over 400 mm a year. And coffee growers in the region are diversifying into other more drought-resistant crops such as cocoa, tomatoes and coconuts. The bad news for coffee drinkers? They are moving out of the coffee business for good.

In recent years, bear activity has increased in Canada, which has put safety more in focus. This year for instance, adult competitors were required to carry bear spray, and the juniors started later in the start window so that any bears would be flushed out of the competition area before they started.

Coffee and Climate Change: In Brazil a Disaster is Brewing

C

offee lovers, alert! A new report from Australia’s Climate Institute says coffee production worldwide is in danger because of climate change. It cites a study that says “hotter weather and changes in rainfall patterns are projected to cut the area suitable for coffee in half by 2050.”

In the world’s biggest coffee-producing nation, Brazil, the effects of warming temperatures are already being felt in some regions. Brazil’s coffee exports fell to 2.6 million bags last June, a 12 percent drop from a year ago, according to a report by Cecafe, the country’s coffee export council. It’s been three years of drought in Sao Gabriel da Palha, a region

Drought is killing coffee plants.

Sporting Schools Are you up for an adventure?

Do you want to have fun?

H

i, my name is Brody and I am in Grade 6 on the Northside of Brisbane. One Friday at school we were told that we would be participating in Orienteering. At first, I had absolutely no clue what Orienteering was. Then we met a person named Gordon who is an amazing expert at Orienteering.

He taught us a whole bundle of interesting, fun and energetic lessons to do with Orienteering. A couple of exciting weeks into Orienteering we were about to do our first course.

My partner for that week was my friend Thomas. We had a couple of wrong turns but we finally corrected ourselves and got to the finish line.

This is when I became engaged with Orienteering and wanted to pursue this sport outside of school.

Before I joined a club, I went to an after school clinic with my mum. This is when I started asking questions about which club to join. I met a guy called Tony from Enoggeroos club who also attended the clinic. He gave my mum some information about how to join his club and what the upcoming events were.

Since then I have joined and attended several events, which have included Grinstead Park, State Championships at Marist Brothers College, 7th Brigade Park, and I will be attending an upcoming event at Chermside Hills.

This is a sport which again is fun, interesting, and an energetic way to teach you how to use a map and orientate a map, so give it a try. It doesn’t matter how old you are. ‘Cause you’ll be on an adventure of a lifetime.

Hope to see you soon,

Brody.

OQ Sporting Schools Liaison Officer, Gordon Bossley, adds: Brody is a Grade 6 student at Somerset Hills State School in Brisbane, where Orienteering Queensland has now delivered three programs as part of the Federal Sporting Schools initiative and so has developed a strong relationship with the principal and the students. To date Brody and two of his co-students have signed up to Enoggeroos club, and are becoming regular faces at weekend events. Principal Janet Bannah is keen that the school becomes an Orienteering School of Excellence.

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

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.

Watch Your Step

A

n article in The Weekend West, reproduced from The Washington Post, reports research results showing that running while needing to watch where you step improved working memory by 16 per cent. “… the effect may result from the combination of the increased blood flow that running produces and the forced focus that comes from hitting targets.”

Another study “… found that people who stepped outside into a natural or park-like environment showed improvement across a host of cognitive functions including memory, compared with those who were stuck in a city.”

Orienteering not only combines running in a natural environment with watching where you step but also adds the mental effort of navigating, so should be an even better way of improving memory.

Herding cats

H

erding cats would probably be easier than running the Start at a major event. Having had this unenviable task a few times I would like to suggest that competitors would greatly assist the Start team by paying attention to the following points.

1. G o to the Start at least 10 minutes before your start time.

Pay careful attention to the advertised distance and climb to the Start.

2. Read the signs at the Start and do exactly what they say.

3. D on’t ask the Starter to start you earlier than your allotted start time (believe me, it does happen!)

4. T ake the right map. There are multiple checks that should be followed to ensure this happens. The course number for each class will probably be listed in many different places, e.g. in the program, on the signage at the Start, on the control descriptions, on the map box, and on the back of the map. Ideally you should check as many of these as are provided and if there is any inconsistency it should be brought to the attention of an official without delay.

I do hope someone remembers to do that. 

It is remarkable how many competitors don’t follow the above simple protocols (especially the first two). Adherence to them would save the Start team much anguish and expedite matters enormously.

Ken Brownlie, Wullundigong Orienteers of the West – WA

Trevor Sauer, Sunshine Orienteers – QLD

Perhaps this could be used to promote our sport.

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46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2016

HANDYMAN

VICTORINOX AWARD

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This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Duncan Currie for his cartoon series about Jeff, the orienteer who just can’t get it right. Duncan will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $139.

TOP EVENTS 2016

2018 Dec 27-31

Xmas 5 Days, Newcastle & Cessnock areas, NSW www.newcastleorienteering.asn.au/ xmas5day/

March 30April 2

Oceania Carnival near Auckland, New Zealand WMOC near Auckland, New Zealand worldmastersgames2017.co.nz 10Mila Göteborg, Sweden www.10mila.se AUS 3 Days & QBIII, Wagga Wagga, NSW onsw.asn.au/aust3days2017 Jukola Relay 2017 Joensuu, Finland www.jukola.com/2017 European Youth Championships Banská Bystrica, Slovakia www.eyoc2017.com/ WOC Tartu, Estonia www.woc2017.ee

dates TBA

April 5-7

2017 April 14-17 April 22-29

April 29-30

June 10-12

June 17-18

June 29July 2 June 30July 7 July 5-9

July 9-16

July 9-16

Czech MTBO 5-Days Pilsen, Czech Republic www.mtbo5days.eu

June 1-3 dates TBC July 6-13

July 8-15

July 21-27 Aug 3-10 Aug 4-12 dates TBA Dec 27-31

AUS Easter Carnival, Hobart, Tasmania www.eastertasmania2018.net.au Bay of Fires 3 Days, Tasmania www.eastertasmania2018.net.au European Youth Championships Veliko, Bulgaria www.eyoc2018.com/ WMMTBOC Nagykovacsi, Hungary WMOC Copenhagen, Denmark JWOC Kecskemét, Hungary www.jwoc2018.hu/ O-Ringen Höga Kusten, Sweden. www.oringen.se WOC Riga, Latvia woc2018.lv WMTBOC, JWMTBOC, Austria AUS Championships, South Aus Xmas 5 Days, NSW www.onsw.asn.au

2019 July 1-7

JWOC Tampere, Finland www.jwoc2017.fi FIN5 Tampere, Finland

July 6-13 Aug 13-18

WMOC Riga, Latvia JWOC Silkeborg, Denmark WOC Sarpsborg, Østfold, Norway

July 22-28

a us tr a l i a n

M T BO c h a m p i o n ships

20 17

W i ng ello, N SW

O-Ringen Arvika, Värmland, Sweden. www.oringen.se July 25-27 The World Games Wroclaw, Poland July 29WMMTBOC Orleans, France Aug 4 www.mtbo17.fr July 30Scottish 6 Days Aug 5 Deeside, Scotland August 19-27 WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Vilnius, Lithuania. www.mtbo.lt Sept 23AUS Championships Carnival Oct 1 Hill End, Bathurst, NSW http://onsw.asn.au/ozchamps2017 October 7-8 AUS MTBO Championships Wingello, NSW. ausmtbochamps.com Dec 27-31 Xmas 5 Days, NSW www.onsw.asn.au

2017 Australian 3 Days

Wagga Wagga 10-12 June 2017

No Easter 3 Days next year?

WMOC and Oceania crowding out the calendar?

But you still want your annual 3 Day Aussie “O” fix in 2017? Then why not come to Wagga Wagga in June? ONSW is showcasing a mini carnival over the June long weekend. 3 days of excellent orienteering comprising a middle, long and sprint distance events on high quality maps.

Day 1: Connorton, middle distance

Day 2: Burngoogee, long distance

aust3days2017 Contact Wagga Wagga Visitors Centre for accommodation bookings Ph 1300 100 122

Day 3: Charles Sturt Uni, sprint distance

ONSW

Supported by Wagga Wagga City Council

DECEMBER 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

60°19’10”N 12°2’29”E

CREATE YOUR OWN COURSE NEW

RACE COMPASS SERIES

Improved design and quality - Better grip - More transparency

Stockists: Scientific Instrument & Optical Sales sales@sios.net.au Ph (07) 3356 0233 Orienteering Service of Australia info@osoa.com.au PH (03) 9714 8540 Wildfire Sports Brenton@wildfiresports.com.au PH 1300 573 247 XHE Sports stores.ebay.com.au/XHE-SPORTS

www.silva.se For more information contact Fiskars Australia Fiskars Brands (Australia) Pty Ltd. 39-41 Fennell St Port Melbourne VIC 3207 Tel +61 3 8645 2400 Fax +61 3 9646 1722 email: australia@fiskars.com