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.
The Carnival that Never Will Be
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ustralians were extremely disappointed when the Australian Orienteering Championships and the Australian Schools Championships were cancelled for the second year in a row, due to COVID. What surprised me was that there was no mention of the carnival that was staged by OTAS as an alternative for those who were able to safely visit Tasmania. (Perhaps I should not have been surprised as others were doubtless thinking, like me, that someone else would do it). At any rate, OTAS, with good humour and undoubtedly a lot of hard work and last minute changes to their original plans, did provide ‘The Carnival that Never Will Be’. This was a carnival of 6 events that provided good fun and good orienteering for those who participated. These included 32 WA orienteers who decided to stay flexible and make the most of the changed carnival.
Control numbers on maps
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word of warning to all orienteers. The numbering of controls on maps at most events can lead to serious error. While the number 1 is printed European style, with a large serif (tag) at the top, the number 7 is inexplicably printed in English style, i.e. without the crossbar found on the European 7. How this came about I can’t imagine, but the result is that the 1 and the 7 resemble each other, not dramatically, but enough that it is possible to confuse them if the course has crossovers. If you think this is silly, let me confess that twice in a moment of brain fade I have gone to the wrong one because of this resemblance. And there aren’t many orienteers who can claim to have never had brain fade. The obvious answer is to make the 7 a European one with a crossbar, as it should be. Unless this happens, it is wise to be aware of the present danger. Trevor Sauer – Sunshine Orienteers QLD
The events started with a Sprint at UTAS, Launceston. This was followed by the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships at Avoca. The action then moved to Bosses Rocks near St Helens, where an unusual Score event was on offer. Like a regular score event, participants had to visit as many controls as possible in the allocated time. The difference (an additional difficulty) was that runners had to start with only even OR odd numbered controls. They could change from odd to even or even to odd only once, and that was after punching a transition control. Imagine the impact on route choice! The next three events made up the Turbo Chook series. The first was a Sprint along the waterfront at Bicheno with the following two at different parts of the challenging Mt Pearson map. Participants could choose from seven courses ranging from hard to easy navigation standard. Points for places were accumulated to determine the series winner for each course. For the curious: turbo chooks does not refer to orienteers running in circles like headless chooks, but is the name given by Tasmanians to actual, fastrunning, birds. Stuffed toy turbo chooks decorated some of the orienteering sites and some very cute ones were handed out as spot prizes. The WA contingent of orienteers would like to thank OTAS and congratulate all those involved for a well-run and most enjoyable orienteering carnival. It certainly provided us with a different and very pleasant orienteering experience. Janet Fletcher – Orienteering WA Vice President 46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2022
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