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THE CHAIRMAN’S PAGE
The Chairman’s Page MIKE DOWLING - CHAIR OA BOARD
B
y all accounts the Easter 3 Days in Queensland was a most successful event. While I was not able to attend, I followed the event online. We have so much to be thankful for all the wonderful work our Queensland people put into making the event a success and I want to thank all the many people who contributed to ensure the event’s success. The terrains chosen provided a wonderful experience for all those who took part to enjoy our sport and the weather was kind also. The following weekend saw the culmination of our 2022 National League season with a series of fantastic Sprint format races on the Gold Coast. Again, I wish to sincerely thank the organising team for putting on a set of high-quality events by all accounts. Congratulations to the overall Individual and Team winners.
Speaking of the National League, I was able to attend the Melbourne Sprint Weekend over the March long weekend which was also part of the 2022 National League. It was a huge effort on the part of the organising team to put on six races in three days. Again, a very sincere thank you for your work. What excited me was the talent on show among our younger elites and the high quality of competition. With a Sprint focus this year in the National League aligned to the World Championships in June in Denmark, that talent is very much evident in the announcement of our national Teams to contest the coming international events of WOC, JWOC, World Cup, World Games and WUOC in our return to the international competition arena. The same goes for our MTBO community as we will also have small team present at the MTBWOC. Congratulations all athletes who have been selected to represent our nation.
Orienteering Australia conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) via the Zoom video conferencing tool in the week prior to the Easter 3 Days in Queensland. At the AGM, Technical Director, Jenny Casanova, and Director at Large, Bill Jones, left the Board. I express my very sincere gratitude to both Jenny and Bill for their service to Australian orienteering and acknowledge their very valuable contributions over many years on the Board and in a range of other roles that has helped our sport be where it is today. We welcomed three new members to the Board. Anna Sheldon (QLD) has taken on the Director Technical role, Clare Hawthorne (TAS) has taken on the Director High Performance and Coaching role and Troy de Hass (VIC) has taken on a Director role in the areas of Marketing and Communication. All three bring deep knowledge and capability to the OA Board and I am very much looking forward to working with them and our continuing Board members of Andrew Lumsden (NSW), Richard Mountstephens (NSW), Craig Steffens (QLD) and Brett Weihart (SA) over the next 12 months to continue to advance our wonderful sport. By the time you read this column, the new Board will have agreed on our 2022 Activity Plan that is aligned to our 4-year strategy. This will guide our work over the next 12 months with a plan of when activities will be undertaken. One key item being undertaken is the establishment of an OA Athletes Commission to develop a more
formal voice and to provide feedback to the Board from our athletes’ perspective. We are very pleased that we have five athletes who will form our inaugural Athletes Commission with a wonderful blend of youth and experience. The Board expresses its very sincere thanks to Olivia Sprod (SA), Emily Sorensen (SA), Alistair George (NSW), Ricky Thackray (VIC) and Will Whittington (TAS) who will make up the Commission.
On a closing note, I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Rob Plowright. I competed against Rob as an elite in the mid to late 80s. Rob was always a very determined athlete, and we enjoyed many a fine race together including the honour of being in the Australian team together at the 1985 World Championships in Bendigo. His greatest legacy for Orienteering was in his mapping work both here and in his adopted home of Japan. Rob had the great and rare skill of being able to produce a map that accurately captured the nature of the terrain in such a way that it was always easy to read and interpret at speed. We are eternally grateful for your legacy Rob, and you will be sorely missed by your family and the wider orienteering community.
Time for a new Editor
All Editors to date have been ‘original orienteers’ from the days when Orienteering was becoming established in Victoria and had still to spread to other States. David Hogg and Michael Hubbert both competed in (and finished) the inaugural Upper Beaconsfield event in 1969, while Ian Baker joined the Orienteering scene soon after. It’s been more than 18 years since I took on the Editor role and I’ve enjoyed every moment. However, it is probably time to hand over the baton to a new and younger Editor who may have some different ideas on the direction the magazine should follow. It’s a paid position with funds from magazine revenue - $4,125 (incl. 10% statutory Super) per edition, plus expenses. I’m happy to carry on until a new Editor can be found so, if any of you out there in Orienteering Land are interested in the role, please get in contact with me (Michael Hubbert).
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3
2021 Athlete of the Year, Aston Key
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w w w. o r i e n t e e r i n g . a s n . a u PO Box 3379, North Strathfield, NSW 2137 Chair & Director – International (IOF) Director – Finance Director – Technical Director – Secretary Director – Operations & MTBO Director – Director Coaching & High Performance Director Media & Communications National Integrity Manager General Manager OA Head Coach OA Assistant Head Coach High Performance Administrator Manager Coaching Development Anti Doping Medical Officer Editor OA Enews National Sporting Schools Coordinator Coach & Controller Accreditation Badge Applications
Mike Dowling Richard Mountstephens Anna Sheldon Andrew Lumsden Craig Steffens Brett Weihart Clare Hawthorne Troy de Haas Andrew Shipton Árpád Kocsik Natasha Key Jim Russell Fredrik Johansson Brodie Nankervis Mark Freeman Linda Burridge Jim Mackay Jim Mackay John Oliver
international@orienteering.asn.au finance@orienteering.asn.au technical@orienteering.asn.au andrew.l@orienteering.asn.au craig.s@orienteering.asn.au brett.w@orienteering.asn.au clare.h@orienteering.asn.au troy.d@orienteering.asn.au
0410 775 799 0412 739 491 02 9412 3545 0418 871 193
gm@orienteering.asn.au headcoach@orienteering.asn.au assistantheadcoach@orienteering.asn.au hpadmin@orienteering.asn.au coaching@orienteering.asn.au markfreeman@hotmail.com oa_enews@orienteering.asn.au sportingschools@orienteering.asn.au accreditation@orienteering.asn.au 68 Amaroo Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650
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STATE ASSOCIATIONS Orienteering Queensland: PO Box 275, Ferny Hills DC, QLD 4055. Secretary: Sue Campbell 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: Stephen Goggs, Ph. (02) 6162 3422 office@act.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Victoria: PO Box 1010 Templestowe VIC 3106. Secretary: Aislinn Prendergast secretary@vicorienteering.asn.au Orienteering SA: 1 Windsor Rd, Glenside SA 5065. Sec: Fi Pahor secretary@sa.orienteering.asn.au Orienteering Western Australia: PO Box 234 Subiaco WA 6904. Secretary: Ceri Pass, oawa.secretary@gmail.com Orienteering Tasmania: Secretary: Julian Roscoe secretary@tasorienteering.asn.au Top End Orienteers (Northern Territory): PO Box 39152 Winnellie NT 0821. Secretary: Susanne Casanova topendorienteersNT@gmail.com
NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE
July 15. Time-sensitive: July 22
ISSN 0818-6510 Issue 2/22 (no. 205) JUNE 2022
CONTENTS NEW GM – ÁRPÁD KOCSIK.......................... 6
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, (100023602 for NSW).
AUS 3-DAYS............................................ 8
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 Printer: Ferntree Print, 1154 Burwood Hwy Upper Ferntree Gully. Contribution deadline: July 15; Time-sensitive – July 22. Deadline dates for contributions are the latest we can accept copy. Publication is normally planned for the 1st of March, June, September & December. Copies are dispatched in bulk to State associations in the week prior to that date. Regular Contributors: Competition – Blair Trewin; Official News – Andrew Lumsden; MTBO – Craig Steffens Contributions welcome, either directly or via State editorial contacts. Prior consultation is suggested before preparing major contributions. Guidelines available from the editor or from state contacts. State Editorial Contacts: VIC, WA and TAS – vacant QLD: Liz Bourne – batmaps.liz@gmail.com NSW: Ian Jessup – marketing@onsw.asn.au ACT: John Scown – scown@light.net.au SA: Erica Diment – ericadiment@adam.com.au – tel: 0408 852 313 Subscriptions: State Association members via State Associations. Contact relevant Association Secretary for details. Other subscribers: Write to The Australian Orienteer, PO‑Box 165, Warrandyte, Vic. 3113. Within Australia: $40 pa. Overseas: Asia/Pacific (inc. NZ) $A49, Rest of World $A58 pa. Delivery is airmail, there is no seamail option. Please send payment in Australian dollars by bank draft or international postal order, or pay direct by Visa or Mastercard. Quote full card number and expiry date. Subscription renewals (direct subscriptions only). The number in the top right-hand corner of the address label indicates the final issue in your current subscription. Opinions expressed in The Australian Orienteer are not necessarily those of Orienteering Australia.
S I A C B A T T E R I E S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3
N AT I O N A L O R I E N T E E R I N G L E A G U E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 G R E AT L E G S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 L E T T E R - H A L L O F FA M E P R O C E S S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 2 0 2 3 O C E A N I A C H A M P I O N S H I P S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 2022 AUS CARNIVAL................................ 16 O U T O F B O U N D S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 2022 MELBOURNE SPRINT WEEKEND............ 19 C O U R S E A N A LY S I S.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 2022 AUS MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS............... 26 1 9 9 2 V E T E R A N W O R L D C U P.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 A U S T R A L I A N T E A M S A N N O U N C E D .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 S I LVA M E DA L 2 0 2 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 OA NEWS.............................................. 38 S P O T T H E D I F F E R E N C E .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 VALE.................................................... 44 O P I N I O N.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 TOP EVENTS........................................... 47 Cover: SILVA Medallist - Marina Iskhakova. Photo: Tom de Jongh. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5
NEW GM – ÁRPÁD KOCSIK OA NEWS
and national events held in and around Hungary; eg Hungarian Five Days 20012018, EOC 2002, EYOC 2007, WOC 2009 where he was also responsible for the production and marketing of the live television coverage, Ski JWOC 2010 Romania, WMOC 2011, WMTBOC 2012 and the Masters in 2018, JWOC 2018.
Introducing the new OA General Manager –
Árpád Kocsik
He was secretary of a Budapest club from 2015-18. He is now a member of Garingal and has worked for ONSW as a coach in primary and high schools. As such he has some insight into the Sporting Schools program and understands the importance and difficulties of promoting Orienteering.
BY IAN JESSUP, ONSW
Á
rpád left Hungary with his family three years ago when his wife was offered a position in Nokia’s Sydney office.
His experience in Orienteering is considerable, starting in 1984 in a Romanian club in the category of M12. Being born in Romania in a Hungarian family had its challenges and after the Iron Curtain fell, he left for Hungary in the hope of a better education just when he was selected into the Romanian National Youth Team. Focusing on studies in a new country left little time for training, still he achieved 33 minutes for 10km and 9 minutes for 3km. After finishing high school and starting his legal studies Árpád was supporting himself while studying, which left him no time for
proper involvement in Orienteering for the coming few years.
In 1996 Hungary hosted the World University Championships. That is when he returned to his club. He became more involved in race organisation and commentary in 2001. In the following years this involvement became more complex including a position in the Hungarian Orienteering Federation as Marketing and Communications Officer, event organiser, commentator for most major international
He has prepared school and bush maps and provided commentary to numerous major events in NSW including last year’s State Championships.
Árpád has a law degree and, while he cannot practise in Australia, believes it can serve to his and OA’s advantage. He has experience as executive level legal counsel in large scale commercial and residential real estate development, contract management, sales, purchasing, negotiation and customer management skills. I recently interviewed Árpád for this magazine:
What are the main differences between orienteering in Australia and Hungary?
potential in me and to the members of the OA Board. I am honoured to have been appointed.
Hi Ian. Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Short answer: there are no differences. Longer but incomplete answer: the geographical location and climate has a defining impact on the race calendar creating a foot orienteering season that starts in late February and lasts until late November with some of the early and late races being held in snow and summer races in August sometimes being held in scorching heat of 40C.
The role of General Manager or Executive Officer is a significant one in any organisation and is regarded as essential to ensure smooth operations. The differences are in the number of staff performing those tasks which is proportional to the level of funding. Needless to say, OA is a small NSO and we have to bring out the best with some extra hours from both the volunteers and paid staff.
Hungary is a founding member of the IOF and has a historical attachment to the development of the sport. This shows mainly on club level where there is heavy focus on “resupply”. Regular recruitments and midweek afternoon training sessions serve as a good basis for continuous refreshment and a much younger demographic aspect of the sport. The results can be seen in recent JWOC and CEYOC performances by young Hungarians. What are the main challenges facing Orienteering in Australia? As I am only beginning to comprehend the complexity of Australian orienteering, it would be premature to answer this question in its depth. I can clearly see a challenge with the large distances in terms of attendance at national events and the resupply/demographics issue mentioned above. These seem to be some of the main challenges. How do you see your role? On a personal level it feels like the “dream job” has found me. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Greg Barbour who saw the 6 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Our goal in Orienteering as individual competitors is to perform well in all circumstances: weather, terrain (new or familiar), map quality or location, because every event is new in a way. It is my goal to take this challenge accordingly and although the end of the tunnel I found myself in seems to be distant, I am confident that the light will appear soon. There is a lot to be done. The vacuum that has been created with the absence of a GM in the time leading up to my appointment seems to be filling up slowly. OA secretary Andrew Lumsden and I are working closely to execute Board decisions and to bring the organisation up to its optimal working capacity. The short-term goals are to get organised, put out a few fires, be up to date, and focus on the three main objectives of OA: to encourage, promote and coordinate Orienteering. The Board went through some changes at the last AGM. Anna Sheldon, Clare Hawthorne, Brett Weihart and Troy de Haas have joined with nearly a hundred years of combined experience in Orienteering. Bill Jones, who stepped down from his long and admirable Board Director position, took with him nearly as many years of experience as the four new Directors brought but times are changing.
What direction do you wish to take OA in? eg technology
Our membership is ageing. What can we do to attract more kids into Orienteering and keep them?
Orienteering Australia has been on a fantastic journey since 1970 and I firmly believe that it is going in the right direction. The introduction of technology started a long time ago and perhaps not with the appearance of SI and computerised events but that definitely was a big step into modern technology.
The Sporting Schools Program across Australia has been extended recently until 2026. It serves as a very good starting point. State federations are doing great work through the program with their accredited orienteering instructors. Educating school teachers to become accredited orienteering instructors is also a very good way to attract the younger generation to the sport. There is work in progress within OA that aims to connect students with clubs and increase the number of young participants.
MapRun, created by Peter Effeney, is an Australian app for smartphones used for GPS-based orienteering. Peter put Australia in a leading position in technological advancement and I think this trend could be kept up with more innovation. Bush orienteering venues are in remote locations and mobile connectivity is very rare at events which makes it hard to post live results, updates, photos or a live video feed. These are things that have serious marketing value. In the time of satellite internet we have a few options we could explore and major National events with large crowds could be the first among the events that may utilise this technology. And then perhaps a futuristic digital orienteering map? Who knows? How can we lighten or spread the load on volunteers? First I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the volunteers for their tireless and valuable work. It is clear that without their efforts Orienteering would not be the same. I would also like to encourage all volunteers of all ages to keep up the good work. The load is heavy until we learn how to carry it. This work is essential to the very core of our organisation and to all of our events and if all parties involved have processes in place to educate volunteers and simplify tasks, then the load should be evenly distributed. Brodie Nankervis is currently working on an e-learning platform that could incorporate volunteer education as well.
Sport Australia has launched recently a community coaching initiative that could prove very helpful in the long run and could supply coaches for clubs and help start regular training sessions where there are none at the moment. We have relaunched the Coach in Residence Program to attract enthusiastic young orienteers from around the world to do coaching in local communities, make maps and evangelise Orienteering in Australia. Andrew Shipton is working closely with the States and Sport Australia to implement the National Integrity Framework which ensures that Orienteering is a safe environment for children. And we all know: safety first! As a parent I know the challenges that arise when we take the kids to an Orienteering event. I would like to see more activity at universities but as I said in the beginning, I am climbing a very steep learning curve and my knowledge is limited. I am sure that by the time this article appears I will know more. I am here for the long run. Thank you Árpád – the Orienteering community is with you.
Australian WOC, JWOC and MTBO teams are outfitted by
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7
AUS 3-DAYS
EASTER 2022
Aston Key.
The Trewin Report
E
aster returned to Queensland for the first time in a decade in what (so far) is a welcome return to a normal orienteering season, with a turnout at the better end of what was expected. The event was based in the Kingaroy region, a new experience for most nonQueenslanders, with relatively flat and open granite terrain for the Prologue and the first two days, and a hillier and thicker final day. The terrain was a tougher physical test than it might have been in a drier year, but the vegetation growth merely turned the first two days from being lightning fast to being merely fast, and the relatively tough final day sorted out many of the fields. The seasonal heat also broke a couple of days before the event, which was contested in generally pleasant conditions. The Prologue, a bush Sprint this year, is no longer part of the overall competition in the elite classes (fortunate for those who mispunched), but was still a National League round and well contested. Experience counted for a lot in W21E, where the average age of the placegetters was 44; Grace Crane, the youngest of them, took the win over Shannon Jones and Natasha Key. There was a minor upset in M21E where Brodie Nankervis edged out Aston Key by seven seconds. W20E was closer still, with Erika Enderby three seconds ahead of Mikaela Gray. Ewan Shingler impressed in winning M20E, in a time which would have placed him third in the seniors (and likely did him no harm in his ultimate selection for WOC). The Prologue proved indicative of form for the senior women as Crane controlled proceedings throughout the weekend. Saturday repeated the Friday placings but with a winning margin of four 8 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
minutes, and she was also a convincing winner on the last day to stretch a five-minute lead to twelve. Only on the Long Distance day was she challenged when Aislinn Prendergast, out of overall contention after striking trouble on Saturday, ran an excellent second half to claim the stage win. The Prologue was also a precursor to a final result for Jones, who was a comfortable second overall despite losing time on the last day, while with Key sitting out the Long day, Emily Sorensen came through with a final-day second to complete the placings.
M21E looked like it would be a similarly straightforward result for two days. After his narrow prologue loss, Aston Key was a comfortable winner on the next two days, and with a five-minute break it looked like the main interest in the chasing start would be the race between Alastair George and Brodie Nankervis for second. The pair went for it from the gun on the last day, cutting small pieces into the gap, and when Key dropped 90 seconds at #8 it was suddenly game on. The gap closed to just over a minute but that was as close as it got, and any chance of a boilover ended when Nankervis lost time at #12 and #13, followed by George at #18. George had to settle for second, and a first National League stage win. In junior classes a lot can change over one summer. A lot more can change in two and a half years, during which only one major national event had taken place, and the event therefore started with more than the usual number of unknowns. Julia Gannon had taken second overall in W20E last year without running a place on any day, amidst a sea of mispunches, but sent a very clear message that she had taken another step up on the Saturday by opening up a seven-minute
M21E - Easter 2022 - Race 2. Grace Crane.
Brodie Nankervis.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 9
AUS 3-DAYS
W21E - Easter 2022 - Race 3
margin. Nea Shingler reversed that on the Long day and looked to be taking control of the event, stretching her lead to three minutes by the midway point of Day 3, but successive five-minute mistakes switched the course of the event again, and the Queenslander emerged as a convincing winner. Joanna George held off a fast-finishing Erika Enderby for third. The junior men, like the seniors, looked to be taking a predictable course for two days. Ewan Shingler followed a substantial win on Saturday with a smaller win on Sunday. He took a five-minute lead into the last day which he had extended to eight minutes by late in the course, but it all almost came unstuck at the fourth-last control. Losing eight minutes on a one-minute leg erased the gap he had spent three days building up and set up a three-way pack finish, but he was able to regain his composure and hold off Sam Woolford by three seconds in the event’s closest overall finish, with Grant Reinbott a further 14 seconds behind in third. Outside the elite classes, the closest finish was in W45, which provided an intriguing contest for the second successive year. Last year Tracy Marsh was overtaken on the final day, but this year her first-day win was just enough to hold on by 30 seconds despite Allison Jones winning the last two days. Another to hold off a fastfinishing opponent was Miles Bryant in M14; Lachlan Braid won the last day by four minutes but fell 36 seconds short of overall victory.
Cooper Horley and Owen Radajewski were seconds apart on both of the first two days in M16. Both struck some trouble on the last day but Horley struck less of it, extending his narrow lead to about three minutes. W70, often a keenly contested class in recent years, was another class which was very close for two days, but in the end Lynda Rapkins broke away on the last day, turning a seven-second deficit into a nine-minute win. 10 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Julia Gannon.
Rapkins was not the only one to turn a narrow deficit into a big win. Warren Key had been expected to dominate M60, but five-minute mistakes at the first and fifth controls on Day 2 left him in a tough fight with Rob Vincent. Normal service was restored on the final day, which he entered a minute behind and finished 12 minutes in front. A single mistake on the final day was decisive in M45, where Rob Walter had narrowly shaded Bruce Arthur for the first two and a half days, but was not able to get far enough in front to be able to survive losing three minutes at #10 on the last. Lisa Richards in W12 and Tessa Radajewski in W10 also turned narrow deficits after two days into narrow wins after three, but perhaps the biggest reshuffle came in W55; after two days the top four were separated by 78 seconds, and it was the fourth of those, Nicola Dalheim, who came through on Monday for the overall victory. At the other end of the scale, ten competitors won all three days in contested A classes. Perhaps the most impressive of them was Grant Bluett, who dominated a strong M50 field, winning every day by at least five minutes in kilometre rates which would have brought top-five results in M21E. Less expected clean sweeps in competitive classes came from David Marshall in M70 and Debbie Davey – who left Jenny Bourne and Sue Key in her wake – in W65. Lilja Lehtonen showed considerable potential in a convincing W16 win, and Jenny Hawkins was equally dominant in W75. Sledge also saw a clean sweep by Jock Davis, although only by seconds on the first two days; it was a year for the older end of the field, as the results of Greg Barbour and Tony Woolford meant all three placegetters were over 55.
Ewan Shingler.
The event was a great success overall, and looks set to be an introduction to a much more normal season than the last two years. Victoria will host the next major national carnival in the spring, followed by the rescheduled Oceania Championships in Tasmania next January.
Day 2 - M21E - Alastair George - Aston Key - Brodie Nankervis.
Emily Sorensen.
Day 2 - W21E - Grace Crane - Aislinn Prendergast - Shannon Jones. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 11
NATIONAL ORIENTEERING LEAGUE
KO Sprint final - Milla Key - Zoe Carter - Nea Shingler.
2022 results BLAIR TREWIN
T
he honours were spread around in the National Orienteering League in 2022, with the four team titles going to four different States. The season was more heavily Sprint-based than usual ahead of the first Sprint WOC, with half the 12 rounds being in that format; the season started with a Sprint weekend in Melbourne and finished with one on the Gold Coast, with a Forest weekend in Canberra and the Australian 3-Days falling in between.
Both senior team results were a repeat of those from 2021. Victoria, under their new name of the Vikings, swept the early rounds in the men’s competition, and although they found the going harder with a depleted team at Easter, beating the Canberra Cockatoos for second place in the Sprint Relay on the Gold Coast ended any realistic chance of their being caught. The Cockatoos were second, while Brodie Nankervis, returning to running for his original home State, led the Tassie Foresters to their best-ever result of third. The Canberra Cockatoos were even more dominant amongst the women, getting maximum points for every round except the Sprint Relay. The Southern Arrows, whose win there was their season highlight, were second in all but one other round and took second overall comfortably ahead of the Victorians. The closest team competition was that of the junior women, where the decisive moment came early in the season, when the Queensland Cyclones won the Round 3 Forest Relay and the NSW Stingers mispunched. The 18-0 scoreline from that round gave the Cyclones a massive edge, and although the Stingers won most of the remaining rounds, the Cyclones’ second place in the Sprint Relay was enough to give them the title by a single point. With Emily Sorensen having graduated to the senior ranks, the Southern Arrows never looked likely to defend their title and ended up in third. The Stingers had a much easier time of it in the junior men, where they got maximum points from 11 of the 12 rounds; there the close contest was for second place, with the Cyclones’ Sprint Relay result enough to see them edge out the Victorian Vikings.
As with the teams, the senior individual winners were both on top for the second successive time. Aston Key was the dominant figure of the men’s season, winning eight of the ten individual rounds. He only dropped points at the Prologue and day 3 of Easter, won by Brodie Nankervis and Alastair George respectively. Despite missing the final
Milla Key leaps the creek to pass Krystal Neumann. 12 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
round, Nankervis had done enough earlier in the season to hold off George for second.
Grace Crane had had to wait 14 years for her third title but only needed one more for her fourth, with her wins on three of the four Zoe Carter, winner of Gold Coast Knock Out Sprint. days of the Easter weekend proving decisive, following an earlier win on the tough physical Middle Distance at the Gib in early April. Caitlin Young, who won twice during the year, was next in line, just ahead of Shannon Jones, who didn’t win a race but was in the top five at every start. The individual round honours were spread around, with Aislinn Prendergast, Belinda Lawford, Tara Melhuish and Evalin Brautigam all winning races. In the juniors, Ewan Shingler matched Aston Key’s feat of winning eight out of ten rounds, and thus reversed the top two from last year, pushing defending champion David Stocks into second place. Third through eighth were separated by only 18 points, led by a dead-heat for third; Grant Reinbott made it there despite not contesting any rounds outside Queensland, while Sam Woolford put together a consistent string of results, placing in the top five in nine out of ten rounds.
Two of the younger members of the junior women’s field led the way. Although Nea Shingler had the odd bad day, at her best she was clearly ahead of the rest of the junior field (and sometimes the senior field too), and four wins were enough to give her the title comfortably over another rising star, her Stingers teammate Erika Enderby. Julia Gannon’s Easter win was key in lifting her to third, just ahead of Mikayla Cooper and Joanna George. All three won races, but perhaps the most interesting individual result of the season came on its final day; five of the six finalists in the Knock Out Sprint were juniors, and at the front was Zoe Carter, hitherto little-known outside her home State of South Australia. The depth of Sprint performance augurs well for Australian teams over the coming years.
SPORTIDENT
SIAC Batteries
Important information! COLIN PRICE (AUSSIEOGEAR.COM)
•Y ou need to monitor your battery age and voltage! •T he small internal battery in your SIAC is guaranteed for 2 years and should last 3 years. The new SIACs have the battery date on them so that you can monitor the age.
SIAC battery service 1. The SIAC and its battery The SPORTident Active Card (SIAC) is characterized by contactless punching. In contactless mode, the SIAC gives a optical and acoustic signal to confirm that a time stamp has been successfully written on the card. For these functions, the SIAC requires power, which it draws from a built-in battery. Note: The earlier SI-Cards (SI-Card5 - 10) do not have a battery.
•Y our SIAC is switched on for contactless use by dipping it in the CHECK unit. It is possible to not turn it on if you don’t hold it in the CHECK station for long enough. The SIAC will flash faint green when on. • I f you have just cleared your SIAC and your SIAC is flashing (this should not happen) you must wait for it to stop before “checking” otherwise you won’t be turning your SIAC ON. •W ith the SIAC turned on there is no need to touch the control, just pass it within 12 inches (for foot-O), checking as you leave that your SIAC is beeping and flashing (red). •P lease check your SIAC at each event by dipping it in a SIAC Battery Test unit which should be provided at ALL events. If the display on top of the SIAC Battery Test unit shows FAIL and there is no beep or it shows WAxxx and the station beeps 10 times in quick succession, you should look at getting the battery replaced.
2. Battery replacement after 3 years Each battery has a limited lifetime. As a rule, the SIAC battery runs perfectly for at least 3 years. We therefore recommend having the installed battery replaced three years after the production date, or three years after the last battery replacement date. This is done directly at the factory in a qualified service process.
• I f the splits printout shows multiple rows for the same control, this can indicate that your SIAC battery is likely to fail within a few months. • I f the battery fails the SIAC will work as a traditional SI-Card that needs to be punched at each control. The control will then beep and flash, NOT the SIAC! • I t is best to “Clear”, “Check” and then do the “Battery Test”. •B atteries can be replaced by SPORTident and best organised through the place from which you purchased the SIAC.
Battery replacement process The SIAC battery is replaced by SPORTident. The battery replacement process is environmentally friendly, and saves resources, as the SIAC is opened at the factory and only the battery is replaced. Then, the SIAC receives a brand-new housing, and the unit is ready to operate for - at least the next 3 years.
3. Check battery age The age of each SIAC battery can be checked directly on the official SPORTident website: www.sportident.com/siacservice/ To do this, simply enter the individual SIAC number in the query field and click on “Check battery date”. The battery date, the battery age and the recommendation when this battery should be replaced, are displayed immediately.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 13
GREAT LEGS
GREAT LEGS ROSS BARR
NOL Sprints, Gold Coast, Queensland, April 2022 Griffith University, ‘Men Public Competitive’ Course 2a
David May come on down!
A
side) on course 2a. A ‘Great Leg’ in my opinion, and perhaps worthy of a little reporting.
While the elite courses were all longer, and complex, and all with many ‘Quality 2/3’ legs, none had the sheer bravura or 450 metre length of leg #1-2 (fence, E end, to building, W
Across the road into the building canopy or around it, or perhaps running north along the road, still trying to grasp what was ahead of you, had runners in a complex of paths and stair options as you tried to figure a route and way forward. Looking at the splits and some Livelox routes
ccompanying the NOL (WRE) Sprint Final events on this magnificent campus map, were a handful of other courses to cater for the non-elites – among them the 2.6km oddly named ‘Men Public Competitive’ (no, not convenience!). This course, seemingly alone in Lorenzo Calabro’s suite of excellent courses, included a sensational, across the map long leg, that would have scored a ‘Quality 3’ in David May’s Sprint classification system – legs that offer ‘complex route choice/ detailed navigation/many decision points’.
14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
From the map box, in drizzly showery conditions, a short burst to the triangle while folding the map and making the first decision – hard right and the zig zag path, or straight on for a curving approach. The zig zag was the better choice, but kept you concentrating as you approached #1, and then, unfolding the map out again – whoa, look at this!!
suggest there were two camps – those that saw the red line route via the canopy funnel, and those, perhaps the speedsters or the nervous nav brigade, that opted to avoid the thinking and head straight north for a road approach (our course winner Eric Smyth one-such). There was actually a third camp; those that took off one way and ended up going another way, backtracking, ‘s’ tracking, or in Nick Dent’s case, executing a weaving that would have outshone a Persian carpet maker. The quick thinking required after leaving control #1 is what made this leg such a classic, and the fact that the puzzle (and recovery) kept on coming was what makes it ‘Quality 3’.
north, with the small, curved path probably the best of them, but easily missed. This led in the right direction, with a final left/right canopy to reveal the control. Apart from Eric’s huge wide route past #8 and east via the road (2:55”), many other runners, missing the initial east facing paths, worked wide, often too wide (via #7, #9, or #10 are all reported), and then faced outbound to road, or inbound back to the red line decisions – Ted Van G (3:36”) heading east from #9 a notable example, with others of similar mind then finding difficulty in the small paths and blocks east of #6 that offered Chubby Checker (Slow Twisting) lessons if you had ducked back in thereabouts.
For the ‘red-liners’ the early wet stairs and paths that dropped eastwards, slowed the flyers – well, the old ‘flyers’ – as you were embedded in progress, trying not to slip, but still without a clear longer plan. Greenery blocking the view forward on the lower stair path ‘zig’ another factor as you dropped. Many I suspect were running ahead of their navigation – and hoping! This mid-section of the campus was perfect Sprint puzzle territory as there were so many terrain, path and route options to take in, you had little chance to appreciate and plan the whole leg if working here at any speed.
Others began in easterly red-line fashion, and then inexplicably headed off-line – hither and thither might describe it. Rob Rapkins, after a wayward first leg, was on red line track mid leg, but then swung north up past #9! Mark Crowe had fun in the opposite direction. The options available, and taken, are what makes this great course leg so fascinating.
In my own (red line) case, I would have been close to the halfway point in the leg before having some confidence in the whole route, and even then, the mad twisty canopy ‘funnel’ at the two-thirds stage had you concentrating hard and hoping – the stairs here again demanding attention and interrupting running flow. Once through this grey, path options opened
The balance of Course 2a included many other puzzles, loops and path plays that required careful map reading to execute and finish cleanly (the grass ‘tip’ at #7 one of them), but nothing that followed compares with the brilliance of Lorenzo’s #1-2 masterstroke.
LETTER - HALL OF FAME PROCESS
HALL OF FAME PROCESS
Dealing with the Backlog
T
he Orienteering Hall of Fame was established in 2016, 46 years after orienteering started in Australia. I presume it was set up to acknowledge and honour those of our members who made outstanding contributions to the development and promotion of our sport either as athletes or more generally through administration, mapping, coaching, event management etc. I would also have thought that we would intend that, where possible, the induction would be done in the lifespan of the inductee so they might be aware that their outstanding efforts have been noticed and appreciated. Given that the Hall of Fame was established so long after the start of orienteering in Australia our current process of inducting two people into each category per year means that a large number of deserving people from the earlier years of our sport will be dead before they have reached the top of the list for induction, so if I am correct in thinking we would like recipients to receive pleasure from the award, we have missed the opportunity. The other problem caused by our parsimonious number of inductees is that many members of the selection panel may never have known the nominees and so are totally reliant on the research and writing skills of the nominator.
I write this in the hope that those responsible for setting the rules for induction into the Hall of Fame might consider including more worthy people per year until the backlog has been cleared when we could revert to two people per year. Janet Fletcher, Vice President Orienteering WA
Trent Blinko (Goldseekers) was fastest in 2:33”, two seconds from the Garingal treasurer Istvan. High two’s into the four’s covered most of the field, with Rob Preston (at 7:26”) maybe caught waiting for a red light to clear.
A ‘Great Leg’ on a great campus. I loved it.
2023 OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS A reminder that the 2023 Oceania Championships will be held in Tasmania from January 7 to 12. Program: Jan 7 Sprint Jan 9 Long Distance Jan 11 Middle Distance Jan 12 Relay
Launceston St Helens St Helens St Helens
This will be followed by another edition of the Hobart Shorts in and around Hobart from January 15 to 18. The Long Distance and Middle Distance feature new maps and new terrain for orienteering produced by the late Rob Plowright, one of orienteering’s finest mappers. We are pleased to advise that entries are now open in Eventor, including the ability to book Oceania specific camping located in the beautiful Pyengana valley 20 minutes west of the main competition centre of St Helens. Camping is quite close to the venue of the Oceania Long Distance and Middle Distance competitions. To keep up to date with all the news about Oceania 2023 regularly check the Oceania 2023 website and follow us on Facebook. We will be up and running again on Instagram shortly as well. Get on board and book your accommodation now. The East Coast of Tasmania is a popular summer holiday destination and accommodation can be hard to come by if you leave it to the last minute. We look forward to seeing you next January.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15
2022 AUS CARNIVAL
Planning your week at the Australian Orienteering Carnival 2022 WARWICK WILLIAMS (Carnival Director) and DAVID JAFFE (Carnival Communications)
Introduction
The 2022 Australian Orienteering Carnival is based in the Central Highlands area of Victoria and will bring competitors in range of a series of historic towns. This article will help you work out where you might want to stay, what to visit and what to steer clear of, to make this a great holiday as well as a great Orienteering experience. Day 1 - Daylesford: Victorian Middle Distance and Australian Grand Prix
is a good place for that “special dinner” sometime during the week.
The events: The morning event is on the Jubilee Lake map with its intricate Gold mining. This map will offer a great test combining intricate gold mining with some lower visibility just to up the ante.
Day 2 - Blackwood: Australian Middle Distance
For the first time, the Carnival offers a second event in the afternoon; the Australian Grand Prix which will bring Orienteering and racing to the centre of Daylesford. We want to showcase Orienteering to the town and public and it will be head-to-head racing with all the excitement that offers. Don’t miss it. The town: The twin spa towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs are a tourist mecca for Melbourne day trippers, tree changers and those wanting a weekend away. Packed with coffee shops, bakeries, delis, good pubs and restaurants, the town has something for everyone. The botanic gardens offer spectacular views of the area and a great café and the “scenic” lake will feature in the Grand Prix. The local antiques market is the biggest in Victoria and the weekly Sunday market at the old station features bric-a-brac and local produce. The “environs” have become a foodie hub with smokehouses, trout farms, wineries, breweries and cideries all nearby. Consider Daylesford/Hepburn as a base for the week as the other events are a comfortable drive away. This
The event: A brand new gold mining map just out from the picture postcard tiny township. The map has some fascinating diggings and will provide some great racing mixing intricate gold mining and fast open forest. This area has never been mapped and will test us all! The town: A pub and general store will welcome our business as will the caravan park but that’s about it for shops. The main draw card of the town is the Garden of St Erth, one of Victoria’s most interesting gardens and part of the Diggers club network of historic gardens. The adjoining café uses produce grown in the garden. Trentham, just up the road, has a bigger choice of shops, bakeries, cafes and pubs. The Cosmopolitan at Trentham and Radio Spring Hotel at Lyonville will feed you well and have great beer gardens.
Day 3 - Kyneton: Australian Schools Sprint & Goldfields Day 1 The event: A complex school map combined with Kyneton’s stunning botanic gardens. The town: Kyneton’s Victorian strip, Piper Street, draws many day trippers to its range of delightful galleries, boutiques,
Blackwood - mining terrain. Blackwood terrain
Cascades and guest pianist.
Cascades.
Wattle Gully Snip.
Hanging Rock.
Maldon rock.
16 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
antique shops, and cafes. The town features Victorian and Edwardian architecture and offers great alternatives to supermarket shopping with delis and food stores featuring local produce (try Watts Fresh for “flora” and Hardwick’s for “fauna”). Downtown(!) Kyneton offers a range of pubs, cafes on every corner and a number of great bakeries. Bushwalks nearby include Black Hill, Bald Hill and Hanging Rock and some local wineries have become renowned. Historic Woodend and Lancefield are also a comfortable drive away.
Day 4 - Harcourt, Mount Alexander: Australian Schools Individual & Goldfields Day 2 The event: Mount Alexander is one of Victoria’s best Granite maps with spectacular views of the area. The event will use the more open and rarely used part of the map and offer the best of Victorian granite. The town: Harcourt is at the core of Victoria’s apple country and has cideries, wineries and a great general store/deli café. A ten-minute drive back to Castlemaine or head over the back of the mountain to “the Cascades” (Metcalfe) for a picnic at the picturesque waterfall.
Day 5 - Castlemaine, Wattle Gully: Australian Schools Relay & Goldfields Day 3 The event: The Wattle Gully North map offers a mix of everything: spur gully, subtle rock detail and gold mining. One of Victoria’s best maps with something for everyone. The towns: Castlemaine and Chewton are encrusted with gold rush history and now have the shops, cafes and restaurants to match. Castlemaine has galleries galore and the old Mill next to the Botanic gardens now offers art, an antiques market and some great cafes and local produce. The Austrian coffee house is about as authentic as fake Austrian coffee and cake houses can get. The Castlemaine Art Gallery and Buda historic homestead are well worth a visit.
Day 7 - Sunbury: Australian Sprint Championships The event: A brand new map at the school where the Ashes were born. The town: Check out the Rupertswood mansion, there are wineries on the fringes of the town and nearby Bulla has an amazing rose garden dedicated to Alistair Clarke. The highlight of downtown Sunbury may be the station! Enough said. If you’re really desperate you can go and watch those who sit and watch the planes taking off at Melbourne airport. But seriously, for more amazing cafes, pubs or antique shops Gisborne and Woodend are just a short drive away.
Day 8 - Maldon: Australian Long Distance The event: This brand new map features granite and gold mining on the same map. The area is Mount Tarrengower’s baby brother and was hand-picked for the Australian Championships. The town: Maldon is designated as Australia’s first “notable town” and everyone is still trying to work out what that means. It is probably because it is a delightful gold rush town with cafes and shops to match and with a great tourist steam train (the Victorian Goldfields railway) featuring Harry Potter style carriages. For those not tired after the AUS Championships drive up Mount Tarrengower and climb the poppet head for a great view of everyone else having a coffee or a well earned lunch in the high street down below.
Day 9 - Castlemaine: Australian Relays The event: Wattle Gully South. The Wattle Gully map is huge so we will turn to the South of the map for these Relays. Gold mining, spur/gully and some subtle rock detail will be fast and furious. The town: see Day 5.
In summary:
Day 6 - Rest day: You are spoilt for choice: climb Mount Macedon, check out the amazing gardens on Mount Macedon, take the rocky drive to Tooborac to try some of the best pies in the State at the pub, visit galleries in Bendigo and Ballarat or ditch the car and catch the train to Melbourne.
Mt Alexander snip.
Castlemaine.
Rupertswood.
Tarrengower Snip.
These are just a few highlights of the area. We haven’t mentioned the dormant volcano at Mount Franklin, trying the water of the numerous mineral springs in the region, the micro-breweries, two amazing viaducts and the other waterfalls. You had better start planning your week now!
Goldfields railway.
Maldon - views. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 17
OUT OF BOUNDS
‘OUT OF BOUNDS’, ‘SHALL NOT BE ENTERED’, ‘UNCROSSABLE’ – What do these words mean? A tirade from a cranky Controller! - Kathy Liley, Yarra Valley OC
W
e’ve just had the Melbourne Sprint Weekend. 6 Sprint events on great areas – most of them on private property. And now we’re planning Sprints for the AUS Championships Carnival. What assurances can we give to land managers that their gardens won’t be trashed? What assurances can we give to your fellow competitors that walls/fences that are marked as ‘uncrossable’ will remain barriers to all to ensure a fair competition? We have mapping conventions. All those who enter these events should be familiar with the common symbols: olive green (Mapping symbol 520) defined as “An area that shall not be entered”; very dark green (symbol 411) defined as “Uncrossable vegetation”; Solid thick line (symbols 515 and 518) – the fence might not have tags - defined as “Uncrossable wall”, or “Uncrossable fence or railing”. Now you might be very tall or agile and can easily jump the feature; Or small and hardy and can easily force your way through that hedge; Or sight-disabled and not easily seeing the prominent olive green on the map. We know that sometimes gardens are not very wide, and the mapping conventions and paper size don’t allow for a very wide stripe of olive green on the map. We know that the thickness of planting might offer some very tempting gaps through which the control can be seen. But you managed to navigate your way this far – before you plough through that garden, just check the map …… Some instances from MSW: • A solid black-line fence on the map. Everyone else is running around to get to the control behind it. But one orienteer sees that there is a closed gate: it’s only secured by a movable pull-up ground latch. Hey! That’s not ‘uncrossable’ !!! • A n olive green colour on the map covers the hedge-like vegetation which is wide enough for an internal pathway and additional width. The control is on that internal pathway. But rather than run an extra 10m or so, one orienteer shoulders forcefully through the hedge. 18 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
• W e realise that a slightly-sparse garden should have been marked with out-of-bounds tape. By this time we only had enough tape to extend halfway along – but the map clearly shows olive green the full length. Does our reminder-tape deter those determined to ignore the rules? Oh no - some were even seen to lift the tape to run through. If it doesn’t go the full length of the garden, the organisers can’t have been too worried about this bit! Do you really expect the organisers to put out-of-bounds tape around every olive green feature? And along every wall/fence marked as ‘uncrossable’? (If you do, I hope you will forego your run and volunteer to spend hours assisting with this next time your club is organising a similar event). Sometimes ‘uncrossable’ features are manufactured to enhance the route choice options. Why are you here if not to accept the navigational challenge presented by the map and course setter and to perform at your best against your peers in the given circumstances? We can’t guard every garden and every closed gate in the fence that is mapped as uncrossable. We rely on competitors’ integrity and good will. What will you do in your next Sprint event?
2022 Melbourne Sprint Weekend MICHAEL HUBBERT
KO Sprint start. Photo: Mike Dowling
M
SW 2022 – what a weekend. Six events over three days for most orienteers and, for those in the NOL Knock Out Sprint, four high-energy races on the final day. What a program for the Elites demanding both speed and concentration and the exhaustion showed with a DNS or two and a mispunch in the final races. Aside from the physical exertion, two things stood out to the casual observer – black is very definitely the new black in colour choice of racing wear, and in the past two years when COVID limited us attending national gatherings like this many of the junior orienteers have added a good 30cm in height (that’s one foot in the old money). Some even more. Then there was the tribute to Shane Warne in the form of an oversized set of stumps at each of the last controls on Day 3. A nice touch.
Elites - Ewan Shingler, Mikayla Cooper, Caitlin Young and Patrick Jaffe. Photo: Michael Hubbert
The Shingler siblings, Nea and Ewan, had shown signs of vast improvement at the Xmas 5 Days and were expected to do well in the high octane atmosphere of this event. Those expectations were met in Race 1 at La Trobe University with Ewan winning M20E by a minute over Sam Woolford, and Nea 45sec ahead of Mikayla Cooper. Whilst in W21E, Grace Crane and Caitlin Young deadheated, with Shannon Jones just 17sec back. And in M21E Martin Dent had a 6sec win over Brodie Nankervis with Joe Dickinson just 18sec in arrears.
Cricket tribute - Mikayla Cooper runs past the stumps to end Day 3. Photo: Philippa Lohmeyer-Collins
Overall winners amongst the Elites were W20E - Nea Shingler; M20E – Ewan Shingler; W21E – Caitlin Young; M21E - Patrick Jaffe.
So the stage was set for some epic battles as the weekend progressed. Race 2 at Assumption College, Kilmore, saw both Nea and Ewan increase their lead by just over one minute each. In M21E, Aston Key had finished 19th in Race 1 but he made up some of that ground with a 52sec win over Patrick Jaffe in Race 2. In W21E Evalin Brautigam moved up the table posting a 19sec win over Belinda Lawford with Shannon Jones a further 8sec back. At this stage likely 21E winners were anyone’s guess. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19
MELBOURNE SPRINT WEEKEND
Arabella Phillips. Photo: Mike Dowling
Ewan Shingler. Photo: Lincoln Paterson
Patrick Jaffe. Photo: Mike Dowling
Mikayla Cooper. Photo: Mike Dowling
The second day opened with Race 3 at Manor Lakes College. In 20E a pattern was emerging – Ewan Shingler won again, but Nea dropped 36sec in finishing 2nd to Mikayla Cooper. Caitlin Young won W21E by 46sec from Emily Sorensen, and Aston Key had another win by 48sec from Angus Haines with Patrick Jaffe a further 28sec back. Race 4 moved to Gellibrand Hill near Melbourne Airport where the Elites did battle in a forest relay. In M20E Ewan led the NSW Stingers team to a 3:13 win over the Stingers #2 team, with the VIC Vikings a further minute back. Nea’s Stingers team mispunched while in a good position allowing the QLD Cyclones to win comprehensively over the SA Arrows and VIC Vikings. In W21E the Canberra Cockatoos won by 3:02 over the SA Arrows with the Cockatoos #2 in third. The VIC Vikings got their revenge in M21E winning a close fought race with the TAS Foresters where the winning margin was just 19sec. Canberra Cockatoos were running head-to-head with the Foresters with just 4sec in it until the last leg when Brodie Nankervis increased the gap to nearly 9 minutes. Aston Key had the fastest time of the day with 22:01 for the last leg, with Patrick Jaffe recording 22:02 for the second leg. Day 3 started very early for organisers at Yarra Valley Grammar who needed to set up for Race 5 of the MSW as well as qualifying races and quarter finals of the NOL Knock Out Sprint. In M20E Ewan won again from Sam Woolford 20 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
with Ethan Penck in third. In W20E Nea also won again while Sophie Taverna shot to prominence for 2nd just 29sec behind Nea and 21sec ahead of Mikayla Cooper in 3rd. Emily Sorensen had been hovering behind the W21E placegetters and Race 5 was her turn for a win over Aislinn Prendergast and Liis Johanson, while Patrick Jaffe had a 15sec victory over Aston Key in M21E with Alastair George just one second further back.
Shingler (W20E), Connor Dent (M12), Gavin Bennette (M40), Matthew Stocks (M50), and Andrew Slattery (M Open). One aspect from the 11 events over 3 days, and about 275 competitors each day, is that there were 83 mispunches listed in the results – that’s a worry for athletes and coaches alike.
Race 6 took place at nearby Whitefriars College set on a steep sloping spur likely to sap the energy from most runners. Many of the Knock Out Sprint finalists elected not to run the MSW race allowing others to gain valuable places, though Knock Out Sprint points also counted. Ana Penck won W20E from Tara Powell and Maya Bennette while M20E saw victory for Cooper Horley from Ethan Penck and Max Grivell. Liis Johanson won W21E from Clare Brownridge and Anna Sheldon while Martin Dent had a one minute win over Kerrin Rattray with Ricky Thackray a few seconds further back. Overall, the “magic 500” score was achieved by Ewan Shingler (M20E), Elye Dent (Junior Boys), Alice Radajewski (Junior Girls), Sophie Best (Senior Girls), Kathie Dent (W40), Paula Shingler (W50), Victoria Greenhan (W Open); with near misses on 499 by Nea
Callum White. Photo: Mike Dowling JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 21
MELBOURNE SPRINT WEEKEND
M21E 1 Patrick Jaffe 2 Aston Key 3 Martin Dent 4 Angus Haines 5 Joseph Dickinson 6 Grant Bluett 7 Ricky Thackray 8 Kerrin Rattray 9 Bruce Arthur 10 Toby Wilson
12/3 95 82 100 83 98 94 90 100 89 88
12/3 99 100 97 96 92 89 100 88 84 86
13/3 98 100 94 99 92 89 90 88 100 82
14/3 100 99 93 97 94 90 88 89 86 92
14/3 98 100 91 99 96 97 89 90 86 94
Total 490 481 475 474 472 459 457 455 445 442
M20E 1 Ewan Shingler 2 David Stocks 3 Ethan Penck 4 Torren Arthur 5 Cooper Horley 6 Max Grivell 7 Niko Stoner 8 Toby Lang 9 Euan Best 10 Owen Radajewski
12/3 100 96 95 92 97 93 94 89 87 82
12/3 100 98 95 91 94 88 86 84 79 83
13/3 100 98 95 91 87 85 94 86 84 78
14/3 100 95 98 97 87 92 88 83 91 84
14/3 100 99 95 91 96 94 86 98 93 97
Total 500 486 478 462 461 452 448 440 434 424
W21E 1 Caitlin Young 2 Emily Sorensen 3 Shannon Jones 4 Lanita Steer 5 Aislinn Prendergast 6 Arabella Phillips 7 Anna Sheldon 8 Clare Brownridge 9 Anna Dowling 10 Evalin Brautigam
12/3 100 91 98 96 100 90 86 83 84 87
12/3 95 94 98 92 87 89 88 85 81 100
13/3 100 99 96 91 89 92 88 83 84 5
14/3 88 100 95 96 99 94 90 93 89 97
14/3 100 97 94 99 95 90 91 92 89 98
Total 483 481 481 474 470 455 443 436 427 387
W20E 1 Nea Shingler 2 Mikayla Cooper 3 Sophie Taverna 4 Julia Gannon 5 Mikaela Gray 6 Justine Hobson 7 Serena Doyle 8 Natalie Miller 9 Maya Bennette 10 Tara Powell
12/3 100 99 95 93 90 92 89 85 91 86
12/3 100 99 97 94 96 96 91 88 85 86
13/3 99 100 95 93 96 92 88 89 84 85
14/3 100 98 99 97 84 89 96 95 92 88
14/3 100 99 95 96 97 92 94 93 89 90
Total 499 495 481 473 463 461 458 450 441 435
Ingrid Shelton-Agar. Photo: Mike Dowling
Other class winners Connor Dent M12 Layla Dent W12 Junior Boys Elye Dent Junior Girls Alice Radajewski Senior Girls M40 W40 M50 W50 M60 W60 M70 W70 M Open W Open M/W Novice
Sophie Best Gavin Bennette Kathie Dent Matthew Stocks Paula Shingler David Poland Hilary Wood Ross Barr Denise Pike Andrew Slattery Victoria Greenhan Rui Bluett-Jones
Milla Key leads Caitlin Young. Photo: Lincoln Paterson
For a full results list go to eventor.orienteering.asn.au/ Standings/View/Series/176 The Knock Out Sprint Finals created great interest for the watching spectators, many of whom had already run their courses. Broadcast commentary by Asha Steer and Warren Key added to the atmosphere and excitement as the runners came through spectator controls then disappeared back into the school complex to then burst onto the oval, punching their last control at “Warnie’s” stumps on the way to the Finish.
22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Torren Arthur. Photo: Evalin Brautigam
Top results for the Knockout Sprint were: MEN (2.0km) 1 Aston Key 2 Angus Haines 3 Patrick Jaffe 4 Ewan Shingler 5 David Stocks 6 Grant Bluett
07:59:00 08:11:00 08:12:00 08:40:00 08:47:00 08:55:00
WOMEN (1.6km) 1 Nea Shingler 2 Mikayla Cooper 3 Milla Key 4 Caitlin Young 5 Lanita Steer 6 Evalin Brautigam
07:55:00 08:08:00 08:17:00 08:19:00 08:33:00 08:37:00
For a full list of Event 6 and Knock Out Sprint results go to: eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=16747& groupBy=EventClass Congratulations must go to all the organizers, course setters, technical crew and the general helpers who arrived early and left late to ensure all the equipment was erected and later packed up. What a great group of volunteers we have.
National League Event WOC & JWOC Selection Trial Course 1 Course Planner: Bruce Arthur Mapper: Ted van Geldermalsen Event Advisor: Chris Norwood
1 Part 1
Scale 1:4000 Contour Interval 2m
1 Part 2
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23
Course Analysis BY BRUCE ARTHUR
A leg by leg breakdown of the sprint distance course including route choice options, analysis of distances and expected winning times. If you have raced the course, check your route choices and see how you compare. Otherwise study the course layout and make your armchair route choice decisions before viewing the analysis. Legs are rated by length, difficulty and route choice. Length is rated by relative distance. Difficulty is measured by the relative number of times you need to read the map. Route Choice is measured by the number of decision and number of options available with each decision.
3–4 Not much choice here. This is primarily a transport leg to set up the next route choice, and to turn you around in circles to disorientate. Take care to avoid the olive green garden beds.
4–5 2 choices, but the irregular building shape makes this a tricky decision. The grass is open but spongy. The pavement option to the north is a little shorter and faster. It’s enough of a difference to make a difference.
5–6 2 choices again, with more irregular shapes.
S–1
Several twists and turns with both options.
No time to plan with a decision required immediately at the start triangle.
Green is much shorter, saving significant distance.
An introduction to the key features on this map –fences and gates!
6–7
Green is shorter but has a couple of u-turns to negotiate.
First you must check the control description.
It is critical to look ahead to plan the best exit direction for the second leg route choice.
How many turns?
1–2 Numerous route choice options with little time to plan. Most are similar in length, so time variations will be small. Green is shortest and simple with a fast stretch through the car park. Cyan is longest, but allows for fast runners to accelerate along the road until they see the pond. Don’t fall into the trap of running into the dead end through the middle strip of open land.
2–3 You must exit 2 the same way you entered and run left of the first building. Reading your map carefully will prevent you from attempting to exit south. That leaves a minor route choice decision in the second half of the leg. Left seems a bit smoother and simpler. 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Where are the gates and gaps in the fences? Should I take on the light green? Not much in it, as long as you execute your route choice correctly.
7–8 The route choice towards the end of this leg is important to get right. Green has a set of stairs, but it appears shorter and faster.
8–9 Almost the same length. Cyan could be faster with less turns and no stairs.
9 – 10 If you fail to look ahead, pink looks like a good option until you see the fence. Cyan is better, but is longer than green.
10 – 11
17 – 18
2 main choices, but the irregular geometry makes the decision tricky.
3 choices that are very similar. A quick decision is required after the map flip.
Cyan is longer but could be simpler to execute.
Not much difference, but green is possibly best.
11 – 12 The control placement could tempt you to consider the cyan route if you do not read the whole leg carefully. The green route is significantly shorter.
12 – 13 A couple of wider options to assess. Don’t fall into the trap of attempting to run through the middle open land
13 – 14 Reading the control description is important. Green is much shorter. Early drafts of the course had the gate at the control site open, but the school lost the combination to the lock!
18 – 19 Many options to consider. The three northern options are similar in length. Green should be significantly faster and could be a decisive leg in the race.
19 – 20 Often you try not to cross the purple line in an S shape. On this occasion this route is much shorter than the cyan alternative. A wrong choice here could decide the race.
20 – 21 14 – 15 Only one valid option. Following the fence north leads to a dead end. Recent fencing outside the school eliminated the other route choice.
Both options are similar. Green is slightly shorter but may have a couple of gates to negotiate and sharper corners. Make sure you read your control description.
21 – 22 15 – 16 Not much in it. Green is shorter but has more corners. Careful map reading is required to locate the control.
16 – 17 Identifying the location of the entry gate early helps to ensure you don’t run towards the pre-start. Both green and cyan options are similar.
Plenty of choices on offer, without much difference in distance. Green is shortest but has to pass through playground equipment first.
22 – 23 – F One last decision. A couple of seconds to be gained by taking the green route.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25
2022 AUS MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS
aus tr al i a n
c ha m p i onsh i p s 2022
Kurri Kurri, NSW
Niche sport emerges – Underwater Mountain Bike Orienteering Or should that be sub-merges? BY IAN JESSUP, ONSW
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ecause a perfect storm – in every sense of the word – conspired to make these championships one of the most gruelling of all time ..… for organisers, competitors and travelling family members.
(Above) Heather Leslie avoiding puddles, but (below) not this one. Heather won all 4 races in W60.
COVID and La Nina had already wreaked havoc on the luckless team from Newcastle and Big Foot, who were all set to unveil worldclass new areas to ride on near Cessnock.
First, the Sept 2020 date was moved back a year due to the pandemic, and then to March 2022 when the Delta variant exploded. And just when events restarted in late 2021, the Big Wet arrived. It rained seemingly all summer. Come mid-March and record floods on the east coast put the event in jeopardy once more. But a week out and Greg Bacon declared the tracks rideable, if a little wet in parts. OK, we are on! Then – 36 hours before Friday’s Mass Start – another 60-80mm fell on the Hunter Valley. It was cruel beyond belief and flooded all the event areas, but with all the interstate riders already in town the decision was made to proceed.
If you’d said to Friday’s finishers those were the best conditions they’d get all weekend you would have been met with dropped jaws. It was terrific to see a few juniors having a go on the weekend and I’m sure they had stories to tell classmates on the Monday afterwards!
Their km rates of 3:32 were pretty good considering a lot of single track was underwater – but the fire trails offered the chance to really pump it out. Tasmanian Will Whittington – riding Opens instead of M20 emerged as a bright prospect for the sport with an excellent third placing just six minutes adrift in 1:29:20.
A huge thank you to Greg, Andrew, the Newcastle club and their Big Foot colleagues for a massive effort. While there was the odd grumble about conditions, every participant appreciated how much work went into the carnival.
Marina Iskhakova (RRA) took out W21 by five and a half minutes from Carolyn Jackson (BK), leading at each control.
Mass Start – Neath Fire Trails
In M70, just four seconds split Albury Wodonga clubmates Rick Armstrong and Leigh Privett. Leigh led narrowly for most of the 16km but surrendered nine seconds on the finish. How good that would look in Livelox!
One day, when it’s dry again, we’ll be back to ride these fantastic trails as they are meant to be enjoyed. Setter: Malcolm Roberts
Malcolm organised a Le Mans like start which went down well with all the competitors who faced a long first leg then two large loops before a tight sprint finish for the last few controls – including a 1m deep waterhole that many fell into! In M21, Tim Doman (NC) beat Ricky Thackray (BK) by just eight seconds over the 24km. Doman led all the way and by almost three minutes at #18 but lost all that on #19 to let Thackray in front by 3 seconds. He pulled it back on the last two short legs and the Finish chute. 26 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
The Masters divisions were keenly contested as expected. In M50, less than minute separated Craig Steffens (MTQ), Greg Barbour (BFN) and Hamish Mackie (BFN) who all finished in under 80 minutes (km rate 3:45). The old fox Robert Prentice (NCN) won M60 in a similar time.
Surprisingly there were a dozen mispunches on the day due to clearand-check mistakes and perhaps because riders did not get close enough to the new long-range SI-Air units. Despite the conditions, seven of the age classes had winning times pretty much spot on. A big well done to Veronika Iskhakova (RRA) and Harriet Thompson (NCN) for persevering for two and a half hours in W12 !
March 2020 but unfortunately the complicated single-track network in the southeast was under water and had wheels spinning. By now riders were aware that the bright orange (rideable open area) was best avoided due to prevalent clay and mud – the opposite of what this mapping innovation intended.
The map inset allowed a better look at the single-track section and a few clever riders took advantage of the new black dot symbol (another forward step for the sport) to save time by bush bashing.
The second start group lined-up and ready to go in the Mass Start event – all clean and dry for the first event.
Sprint – Stanford Merthyr Setter: Andrew Haigh
The omens were not good – it rained again overnight and, during an early morning final check, controller Nic Haigh spotted an eel making its way along a track !
Everyone was resigned to getting wet and muddy again, but by now were taking it in great spirit. This map was debuted in the BOSS in
Fedor Iskhakov’s power proved too strong in M21, Greg Barbour had a strong six-minute win in M50, and the W12 girls had another dingdong battle.
I was thrilled to get a fastest split in M50 – until I was reminded everyone was given a minute to safely cross the road from #6-#7. It was that kind of weekend ! A big thank you to the kind elderly couple across the road from the assembly area who gave away copious amounts of produce from their garden – chokos, pumpkins etc.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27
2022 AUS MTBO CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jenny McConachy ploughing through the mud.
28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Middle Distance - HEZ
Ricky Thackray puddling his way to M21 victory in the Long Distance race.
Setter: Hamish Mackie
Due to late notice by National Parks we had to move the Start to a less than ideal location that turned into a watercourse. One of the tracks that crossed the creek was deemed unsafe so it was marked as a forbidden route. You could not see the potholes for the water. Such a shame because the single tracks in here are as good as you’ll find anywhere, and Hamish set testing courses that in dry weather would be a superb ride.
Ricky Thackray roared back to the top of the podium in M21 with a decisive five-minute margin over Tim Doman, and Leigh Privett turned the tables with a four-second win over Rick Armstrong in M70 after making a surprising 5-minute error in the short stretch to the Finish. Marina Iskhakova made it three in a row in W21 and Carolyn Matthews was carving up W50.
Craig Steffens (left), Alan Davis (right) and other riders waiting for Middle start.
At the pointy end, Ricky Thackray smashed M21 as Tim Doman and Joel Young mispunched. Cathy Hogg (ACT) threatened to take out W21 but – with a six-second lead over Marina at #16 – lost eight minutes on the next shortish leg to drop back to third. In M50, Michael Ridley-Smith (GON) in his only ride for the carnival was just two minutes adrift of Craig Steffens, and in W40 Debbie Gordon (SOQ) held off Cassandra Thompson (NCN) by seven minutes after more than three hours fighting the elements. Nicole Haigh (NCN) enjoyed a narrow win in W50 and Rob Prentice, who called it “one of the best ever Aussie Champs”, prevailed again in M60.
But special mention must go to Ann Ingwersen (POA), the only competitor in W80, who spent 7 hours 41 minutes in the saddle over the weekend. What an engine!
Newcomer Edith Chow (GON) drove up from Sydney for her first line course MTBO event and got almost to the last control when she realised the course closure time was up – so went straight to the Finish, not realising they were allowing a little leeway.
And in the final wash-up (pardon the pun) NSW won enough points to retain the OA MFBO Plaque, 121-117, with Victoria 2nd.
In the tussle for the OA MTBO Plaque, Victoria had wrested the lead back from NSW in a see-sawing battle. Who will prevail on the last day?
Long – Washberry Fire Trail Setter: Greg Bacon
Rain overnight, rain during the event .… and did we mention how wet it was?!
The final event was at the pony club campgrounds on a steepish new map with a good mix of fire trails and single track, where the overgrown trails were well taped to aid navigation. Winning times for the best riders were about right, but some of our rookies were out for an eternity: Alon Gudes (M12, URN) took 3 hours 43 minutes; Edith Chow (W21), Kyle Lincoln (M21), Jenny McConachy (W50, SOQ) and Carol Pearce (W50, NCN) more than 4 hours. What great dedication to finish their courses!
Graham Fowler passing the BS11 SPORTident control with a range of 3 metres. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29
2022 AUSMTBO MELBOURNE SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS WEEKEND Ann Ingwersen (W80) handled the conditions well.
2022 Champion MTBO State Plaque NSW VIC ACT QLD WA TAS
121 117 90 73 12 2
Here is a very accurate summary of the Carnival by a loyal Newcastle helper:
“Greg Bacon’s unflagging determination to deliver a special and challenging and above all a carnival worthy of National status is admirable. But the outstanding feature of the weekend was the competitor - every single one of you who went out full of anticipation, possibly trepidation, in the challenging conditions.”
And a massive thank you to Event controller Andrew Power as well. No matter how difficult it was for the competitors, it was 10x harder for the event crew. You can find lots of photos on the MTBO Australia and Newcastle Orienteering Facebook pages along with a short video showing the travails of the Long Distance.
30 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Course 2 - AY Part 2
Australian team selection
C
ongratulations to rookie Will Whittington (TAS) and veteran Ricky Thackray (VIC) on their selections for the World MTBO Championships in Sweden from July 15-20 in the historic copper mining town of Falun. This will be 44-year-old Ricky’s sixth trip to the Worlds but the first for 18-year-old Will who will feature in the JWOC section. Will, what made you branch out into MTBO? “I have grown up both mountain bike riding and foot orienteering. In 2019 I saw the AUS Championships were in Victoria and thought that they would be good fun, so managed to convince my family to take me to the races. Got hooked and wanted to get into the world’s team, and finally, after COVID it’s possible.” What were your expectations ahead of Newcastle? Greg Barbour using the conveniently supplied bike wash at the sprint event.
AUS WMTBOC Team Craig Steffens (OA Director – Operations & MTBO)
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he OA MTBO Selection Team wishes to advise that Will Whittington from Tasmania and Ricky Thackray from Victoria have been selected for the 2022 team. The selection trials took place as part of the Australian MTBO Champs at Newcastle, in challenging conditions, that tested riders and bikes alike. With the World MTBO Championships being held in Sweden in July, the team will now focus on travel preparations, training and other activities to support their campaign.
“Being from Tassie I was expecting hot sunny days, not much rain but humid. Well, that was wrong! Performance-wise I wanted to shake the cobwebs off (my last MTBO event was 2019) and slowly build up the speed, which I felt I was able to do even though mechanicals affected my race as I’m sure people who were there could agree.” How are you feeling now that you’ve been selected? “Proud and nervous. Being able to travel to a world championship to represent Australia is a proud moment for me, having spent hours training, dreaming of the moment, it’s nice to know it will happen in real life. The hard work doesn’t stop now though, this year is all about learning and gaining experience which I’m looking forward to. It is not every day that you get this kind of opportunity, to travel in a team with the amount of experience and knowledge that we have this year with Ricky and Hamish. I can’t wait to get over there and show some proper Tassie grit.” For Ricky, his aim is to finish in the top 50 and avoid the mechanical issues that have plagued his previous WOC campaigns. “Now the Russians aren’t going I might finish a few places higher,” he joked. “It’s very competitive in Europe and my aim is to crack the top 50. I just bought a new bike and hope it might go a bit faster.”
Will Whittington
Ricky Thackray
Hamish Mackie (BF) has been appointed manager and the team will now focus on travel preparations, training and other activities to support their campaign of five races in six days. You can follow them here: www.wmtboc2022.se
MTBO Team Manager Appointed
O
A is pleased to announce that Hamish Mackie from NSW will fulfil the role of Australian MTBO Team Manager for 2022. Hamish is an accomplished MTBO competitor and has team manager experience from previous trips to Europe. With the MTBO World Championship fast approaching, Hamish and the Australian MTBO Team riders. have a busy few months ahead, to plan and prepare for the trip to Sweden.
Will Whittington heading off on the Mass Start
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31
VETERAN WORLD CUP
1992 Veteran World Cup 30th Anniversary WARWICK MOORE (OTAS)
In 1992 the VWC attracted close to 2000 visitors to Tasmania, including almost 1700 competitors, and at the time was the largest sporting event held in Tasmania. Hopefully, many readers will have fond memories of the event.
The VWC was opened by the Governor of Tasmania, Sir Philip Bennett, at a large ceremony at the recreation ground that included the entry of competitors from each of the 26 countries represented, accompanied by their national flags. The flags were raised and then transferred to the foreshore park in St Helens for the duration of the championships. The Opening ceremony was followed by an Australiana Festival with a welcome by the Imbala Aboriginal Dance group and demonstrations of local crafts, such as wood chopping, craypot weaving, and sheep dogs trials.
The St Helens community was a huge help to the organising team and set up a committee of locals that assisted in many ways, including running the social events (the Beef Roast, Aussie BBQ, and Fish Feast) as well as providing food services at the competition venues. Many residents of the town took in guests or vacated their houses for the week to allow them to be hired by the visiting competitors.
The Programme cover
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his year is the 30th anniversary of the Veteran World Cup (now the World Masters Orienteering Championships) that was held in Tasmania in January 1992. To celebrate the anniversary, Tasmanian orienteers gathered in St Helens for the usual March long weekend competition, this time to re-run some of the courses that were used for the VWC Final on the Golden Fleece map, as well as some of the courses on the Littlechild’s Creek map that was used for the associated Forestry Commission Classic. The original course planners for the two events, Mike Morffew and Christine Brown, set the courses again. Once again the terrain and courses proved to be just as challenging today as they were 30 years ago!
Changes to the maps have been minimal since 1992 but there were some compromises to the original courses due to thicker vegetation and because the original 26 courses had to be reduced to 8 to cater for our local competition. 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
At this year’s March long weekend, following the Orienteering Tasmania AGM, Event Director, John Brock, arranged for a display of memorabilia, including many of the original maps, the programme and results booklets, the promotional material that was used and a collection of photographs. VWC Director of Mapping, Mike Morffew, brought along the original working drawings of the Golden Fleece map that he produced and that is still in use today. Director of Publicity and Promotion, Valerie Brammall, provided a folder of
The late John Brammall and John Brock with promotional materials, including the red Devil’s hats that were a hit with the Scandinavian visitors.
Christine Marshall (Technical Director) and Mike Dowling (Course Setter).
photographs and a folder of media releases and stories that had been published in the Tasmanian newspapers.
Warwick Moore, who was President back in 1992, and a member of the organising committee, prepared a brief PowerPoint presentation and led a panel discussion reflecting on the significance of the event. Members of the original organising committee were present and commented on the slides and talked about their experiences, highlighting the differences in event organisation between today and 30 years ago. Many of the audience were amazed at how we were able to organise and conduct such a massive event before the days of online entry, the internet, and computer results processing.
John Brock talked about the origin of the idea to apply for the VWC, how he was told that it would never happen, and described the associated marketing trips to Europe. Mike Morffew described the non-digital process of mapping, including field-working, cartography and the offset map printing, which he managed. It was a huge task to prepare the map, do the cartography, set the courses, supervise the printing process and turn out a masterpiece.
Christine Marshall talked about the use of control cards (before the days of e-sticks and electronic punching). Her team had to check and verify every one of the 128,000 punch marks on the control cards before results could be published.
The carnival was one of the first in the world to use computer technology extensively, with special software developed by our own orienteers. Many evenings after work were spent entering all the entry
Event Director, John Brock, at a promotional display in Europe.
Mike Morffew, Director of Mapping and Course Setter VWC Final Race.
data into the computer system that was used to generate start lists, registration and merchandise lists and accounts, and to produce results lists for award ceremonies and for publication in the media. Valerie Brammall, Promotion and Publicity Manager, was successful in attracting unprecedented publicity for the event. The Examiner newspaper sent a reporter and photographer to cover the event. They provided extensive coverage and regular media reports.
One of the significant issues that arose at the carnival was the unseasonal rain that led to the flooding of Littlechild’s Creek. The crossing points became uncrossable. Local Forestry Commission and Parks and Wildlife workers came to the rescue, felling trees across the creek and converting them into bridges. This work necessitated a change in the order of the events and the communicating of this information to the competitors, who had been accommodated all along Tasmania’s East Coast and as far away as Launceston. Remember that this was before the internet, Facebook and the like!
There was no facility for online results available in those days. Results had to be published in a booklet that had to be distributed to the competitors from around the world. The booklets were large and heavy and expensive to post from Australia. Event Director, John Brock, eventually determined that the most efficient and cheapest way to distribute the results was to fly to Heathrow, with the results booklets as luggage, and to post them in the local post office before flying back to Tasmania!
Christine Brown (Centre) with her team of forestry workers and the flooded Littlechild’s Creek. JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 33
VETERAN WORLD CUP
At the conclusion of the event, feedback from the competitors and the tour groups was very positive. One tour group made a substantial donation to Orienteering Tasmania for junior development.
Under Executive Officer, John Brammall’s management the carnival organising team took on a highly businesslike holistic approach that involved government, media, provision of accommodation for tour groups, and the local school, the local community, as well as the normal event organisation. This very professional approach led to Orienteering Tasmania winning the Australian Marketing Institute Excellence in Marketing Award and the Tasmanian Tourism Award for Major Festivals and Special Events.
The influx of so many orienteers during the Veterans World Cup was appreciated by the local people - the postmaster at Bicheno sold over $700 worth of stamps in one day for mail to go to Sweden, and Coles Bay residents who sold refreshments during the second qualifier raised $500 for their volunteer ambulance and fire services. One local wrote to the organisers to say how amazed and pleased they were by the absence of litter on the site the following day. (Note the photographs are scanned from photos taken by the media and from other sources at the time.)
Many of the organising team and officials on stage at the Closing Ceremony. Left to Right: Steve Bittinger and Rod Bilson (Entries, Computers and results), Mike Dowling (Course Setter and mapping), Sue Hancock (Course Vetter), Christine Brown (Course Setter), Mike Morffew (Director of Mapping), Andrew Stocks (Course Vetter), Valerie Brammall (Promotion and Publicity), Christine Marshall (Technical Director), John Brammall (Executive Officer) and John Brock (Director.
Bertil Nordenfelt, the oldest competitor (Sweden; Class M-85) was a hit amongst the media and fellow competitors.
Part of the original Littlechild Creek map
34 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
OA NEWS
Australian Teams Announced FREDRIK JOHANSSON (OA HIGH PERFORMANCE)
World Championships 2022, Denmark
World Junior Championships 2022, Portugal
rienteering Australia is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Australia at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) in Denmark from the 26th-30th of June, 2022.
rienteering Australia is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Australia at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Portugal from the 10th-16th July, 2022. The selected athletes will compete in 3 individual races (Sprint, Middle and Long Distance) as well as the team Relay competition.
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“This is the first-ever World Orienteering Championships in the Sprint format only with Individual Sprint, Knock-Out Sprint, and Mixed Sprint Relay races to be contested. After a tough selection process with many athletes vying for a spot we now have settled on a group of athletes which we feel will do us all very proud. Our women’s team has seen a generational change since our last WOC appearances in 2019 with a strong and energetic young team including a number of our best juniors in the country which is fantastic to see. Our men’s team has more experience on the world stage but is also a relatively young team looking to make their mark internationally once again.” – Natasha Key, WOC & Head Coach. WOMEN MEN Mikayla Cooper Alastair George Nea Shingler Angus Haines Emily Sorensen Patrick Jaffe Olivia Sprod Aston Key Caitlin Young Brodie Nankervis Ewan Shingler As Australian Brodie Nankervis is the reigning Oceania Sprint Champion, he has received and has accepted a personal spot to compete at WOC. Hence the Senior Selection panel was in a position to allocate an extra male spot for the Championships and increase the men’s team to 6 athletes.
Nea Shingler
Angus Haines
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“We look forward to a return to JWOC with great optimism after a forced COVID break. The team is brimming with talent and new runners that will have a chance to demonstrate their talents on the world stage. The selection process was extremely close and of course some had to miss out, to those that did we trust they will continue to be part of the larger group moving forward and hopefully push on for future selection. 2022 is the first step back to normality with plenty more to come in the future” – JWOC Head Coach, Warren Key. WOMEN Mikayla Cooper Erika Enderby Julia Gannon Joanna George Mikaela Gray Nea Shingler
MEN Ryan Gray Jensen Key Ethan Penck Ewan Shingler David Stocks Sam Woolford
1st Reserve: Sophie Taverna 2nd Reserve: Milla Key
1st Reserve: Oscar Mella 2nd Reserve: Andrew Kerr
JWOC Head Coach: Warren Key Assistant Coaches: Brett Weihart, Natasha Key
Mikaela Gray
Ethan Penck
World Games 2022, USA
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rienteering Australia is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Australia at the World Games in USA from 12-17 July. The World Games are contested in Sprint, Sprint Relay and Middle Distance. Australia will field a strong team on the start line with two men and two women in each of Individual events and one team in the Sprint Relay (Mixed). WOMEN Krystal Neumann Milla Key
MEN Aston Key Mason Arthur Reserve: Reserve: Aislinn Prendergast Duncan Currie
World University Championships 2022, Switzerland
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rienteering Australia is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Australia at the World University Championships in Switzerland from 15-22 August. The World University Championships are contested in Sprint, Sprint Relay, Middle and Long Distance and Forest Relay. Australia will field a strong team on the start line with four men and four women in each of Individual events, one team in the Sprint Relay (Mixed) and two teams in the Forest Relay. WOMEN Mikayla Cooper Julia Gannon Joanna George Emily Sorensen Asha Steer Caitlin Young
Mikayla Cooper
MEN Alastair George Ryan Gray Angus Haines Aston Key Ewan Shingler David Stocks
Alastair George
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 35
OA NEWS
SILVA Medal 2021 DARRYL ERBACHER - OA STATISTICIAN
The 2021 SILVA Medal has been won by Marina Iskhakova (RR-A).
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he SILVA Medal competition for 2021 is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian 3-Days Championships (each day considered as a separate event) . In 2021, this award would have been based on the Australian 3-Days, plus the cancelled Sprint, Middle & Long Australian Championships and the Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships. As it is not possible to win the SILVA Medal without attending the Australian 3-Days, the OA Board has decided to make an award for 2021 based on the Australian 3-Days. Points are scored for completing a course as follows: 1st – 4; 2nd – 3; 3rd – 2 and 1 for finishing, 1 point if there are less than 4 starters. Six orienteers won all three days at the Australian 3-Days Championships scoring a maximum of 12 points. To determine the winner of the SILVA Medal a countback based on average winning margins was used. Orienteers who scored 10 points of more are listed below.
Marina Iskhakova
RR A
W40A
12
0.31
Greg Barbour
BF N
M55A
12
0.18
Warren Key*
MF V
M60A
12
0.14
Jenny Hawkins
BS A
W75A
12
0.09
Grant Bluett
AO A
M45A
12
0.07
Chris Brown
EV T
W60A
12
0.06
Sue Key
MF V
W65A
11
Steve Flick
BN N
M70A
11
Milla Key
MF V
W16A
11
Matt Doyle
CC A
M21E
11
Jennifer Enderby
NC N
W50A
11
Gareth Candy
AO A
M40A
11
Wayne Eliot
UR N
M35A
10
Tracy Marsh
BF N
W45A
10
Tom Walter
RR A
M40A
10
Toby Cazzolato
SW S
M18E
10
Mikayla Enderby
ST N
W18E
10
Mace Neve
RR A
W35A
10
Jock Davis
BF N
M50A
10
Istvan Kertesz
GO N
M35A
10
Erika Enderby
NC N
W16A
10
Emily Sorensen
SW S
W20E
10
Briohny Seaman
WR N
W35A
10
*Previous winner of SILVA Medal
36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Marina with Darryl Erbacher. Photo: John Harding
OA Statistician, Darryl Erbacher, interviews Marina Iskhakova Statistician: Marina, you have had an outstanding career and now the SILVA Medal. Congratulations. Marina: Thanks Darryl! S: How does it feel to hold this (heavy) trophy?
M: It feels excellent! First the trophy is very beautiful! And it has so much rich Australian orienteering history in it. When I first heard about the SILVA Medal and Trophy back in 2010 in Sydney when we became members of Bennelong Northside, I dreamt one day I might win it.
S: In a year of reduced relevant events you were one of 6 orienteers to gain maximum points but on a countback you blitzed your class by an average winning margin of 31%. Your fitness and navigation skills must be at a peak?
M: 2021 was very disruptive for all, including me. As the competition was only for a few events, I tried to get the maximum from each of them and put on the best possible performance. I love very technical and very complicated challenging terrain where you need to exhibit the highest technical and mental endurance from the start to the finish. The Gumble Pinnacle courses provided that precise challenge. I was in very good shape and managed to keep a very high level of concentration over all days. Yes, when you are in a SILVA Medal contest with such excellent orienteers as Greg Barbour, Warren Key, and Grant Bluett, who all obtained maximum points after 3 events – you also need a little bit of luck to get on a top and secure the trophy.
S: I, and others, had some trouble with the maps at Easter. How did you conquer the maps?
M: In the earliest years of my career I spent a lot of time at the Scandinavian terrain with a lot of boulders and rocky grounds, so really I was very much looking forward to the Gumble Pinnacle Challenge. I did pre-event preparation work at home with route choice exercises, terrain visualisation, routes analysis and tactical planning for each course. Also before each event I intensively worked with the map at home and spend additional time analysing the terrain, thinking about that terrain and making explicit my thoughts and actions for that terrain. Before each start I had a very clear strategy of what I’ll be doing based on my strengths, but the paramount cornerstones for each race for me were a full concentration from the start until finish, a very reliable and quality route choice and a very confident run based on confident constant knowledge of my current location. S: You were runner up for the Medal in 2018. Now you have your name on the trophy do you think you can repeat the performance? (Ian Hassall’s 9 wins over 18 years is a significant target).
M: Smiles … A great question. In spite the fact I started Orienteering when I was 6 years old together with my twin and knowledge inherited from my parents who brought the sprit of Orienteering to our family since 1963, definitely I got a late start for the SILVA Medal contest. I’ll not be able to repeat the stellar success of Ian Hassall myself, but if I modify the internal criteria, we could try to conquer and host the trophy as result of family efforts, so with the help of my husband Fedor Iskhakov (M40) and daughters Ariadna (W14) and Veronika (W10) there is some potential to host this fascinating trophy on our home shelf for several years in the future. But also my personal very inspiring and uplifting dream is to get the gold medals in the World Masters Orienteering Championships in each age group – W45, W50, W55, W60, W65, W70, W75, W80, W85 and the main W90. So I’ll still will be hoping the SILVA Medal Trophy will return to our home during that journey. S: You have won medals at World Masters MTBO. Do the two disciplines compliment each other for you?
M: Despite the fact I won 2 Gold Medals and 2 Bronze Medals at the WMMTBOC 2018 in Hungary in W40, my main passion is foot Orienteering. I have been doing foot orienteering courses for 37 years now,
and still there is no other thing I love more than foot orienteering. Nothing could compare with that level of joy and full concentration and meditation when you are alone in a very complicated technical terrain only with the map and compass and choosing your own way forward.
But with the accumulated injuries many move to MTBO to get a more balanced skeletal load. The strong Foot-O background gives me very much confidence for my MTBO. I developed the technical side of my biking to the level that it doesn’t constrain my route choice. MTBO is much faster, the risk and price for a mistake is much higher, memory skills are much more in demand and discrete instantaneous decision making brings so much thrill into the game. Foot-O made me a much more confident MTBOer, but MTBO so much enriched my Foot-O abilities, route choice techniques, instant map reading, memory and the strategic importance to play from your strengths.
S: You mentioned that you were lucky to have found something you were good at (in addition to your career in Economics). What are your personal characteristics that allow you to be a high achiever? M: First, I think it is the real zeal for winning. Second, there are so many incredible and so much inspiring people around me now who do more, who constantly develop and learn new skills and who are so much more capable and willing to reach higher in spite of their age. They are a real inspiration for me and I’m just trying to follow their trailblazer steps. And the third one, I really like challenges and all challenging and hardly reachable tasks are thrilling for me. This combination is the essence of my orienteering. S: You have young children orienteering. What advice do you have for developing orienteers?
M: I strongly believe that to be a very good at something you should love it and you should be really passionate about it. So the main advice for parents and kids – to try to create a very friendly and encouraging environment, where kids would like to return again and again and to steadily work on improvement and building their orienteering techniques and skills from a kid to a junior and then an elite level. Another advice – to ignite a dream in these kids. A 12-years old kid who has a big burning dream and an inspiration to try out for Junior World Champs one day will develop faster and with more joy! S: Thanks for talking with me, Marina, and congratulations again.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 37
OA NEWS
Orienteering Australia HALL of FAME The announcement and presentation of Orienteering Australia honours and awards took place at the Australian 3-Days. The following orienteers were announced as inductees to the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame:
Athlete Division: Jo Allison, Carolyn Jackson and Adrian Jackson General Division: Michael Dowling and Rob Simson Membership of the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame is the crowning achievement of a sporting career in Orienteering in Australia and represents the highest level of peer recognition for an individual’s contribution to Australian orienteering. The Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame recognises and promotes the outstanding sporting achievements of our athletes and officials to acknowledge the rich sporting heritage of Australian orienteering. It is an illustrious group of Australia’s most respected and celebrated orienteers that span the test of time. They are the best of the best, who through their achievements have made a significant contribution to our sporting history and have inspired others to achieve their potential in both sport and life.
Hall of Fame Athlete Division Carolyn Jackson (nee Hooper) (VIC)
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arolyn Jackson has represented Australia as both a mountain bike orienteer at the elite and masters level, and as a foot orienteer at the elite level.
Carolyn represented Australia as a foot orienteer at the World Orienteering Championships in 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1985 (in Britain, Norway, Finland and Australia) competing in Individual and Relay events on each occasion. Her best results were in 1978 when she was 23rd in the Individual event and the Australian team finished eighth in the Relay. During her early orienteering career, she won W21 twice at the Australian Championships, and also at the inaugural Pacific Orienteering Championships near Canberra.
When mountain bike orienteering was introduced to Australia, Carolyn took up this new sport and was a member of the Australian team at the World Championships in MTBO on seven occasions between 2002 and 2014. Her best results were at the inaugural Championships in France in 2002, when she was 16th in the Long Distance event and 15th in the Sprint, with the Australian team finishing fifth in the Relay. Her greatest international achievements were in the World Masters Championships in MTBO. Between 2012 and 2019, she won 15 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in the various events, plus 4 gold medals at a 2016 international event in Portugal, where she was coaching the Australian WOC team. In 2017, she held the number one position in the W60 World Masters MTBO Rankings. Of the seven ranking events she contested that year, she had three first place and four second place finishes.
Carolyn continues to be an active competitor in Orienteering in Australia. She is a regular competitor in State and National events in both FootO and MTBO and has won numerous Australian titles in MTBO, as well as the Australian MTBO Series on six occasions between 2013 and 2019. She has been a regular member of the Australian team for the Australia – New Zealand MTBO Challenge. Carolyn is one of the selectors for the Australian MTBO teams, was the coach for the team at the 2016 World Championships, and is a regular course planner for State and National level MTBO events. 38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Hall of Fame Athlete Division Jo Allison (ACT)
J
o Allison was one of Australia’s top elite orienteers for over a decade, representing Australia at eight World Championships between 1997 and 2008, two Junior World Championships (1995 and 1996) and one World Games (2001). She was the first woman to represent Australia at eight World Championships.
Her best results in the World Championships were: • Long Distance: 23rd. 2004, Västerås, Sweden; • Middle Distance: 17th. 2008, Olomouc, Czech Republic; • Sprint: 28th. 2005, Aichi, Japan; • Relay: 4th. 2006, Aarhus, Denmark (the best ever result by an Australian team).
Jo has been a noted and highly reliable relay runner, often taking on the challenge of being the first leg runner. She was in the women’s relay team at seven of the eight World Championships she attended, with the teams finishing eighth or better at her last four Championships. Jo was one of the four members of the team to represent Australia at the 2001 World Games in Japan, the first time that Orienteering had been included in the Games. She finished 13th in the Individual race and the mixed-gender Relay team of four was a close fifth, 15 seconds behind third.
Her best results in the Junior World Championships were all in Gorova, Romania, in 1996, when she finished 15th in both the Long Distance and Middle Distance events and was in the Australian Relay team that finished 11th.
After retiring from international competition at the end of 2008 season to concentrate on having children, Jo returned to national orienteering in late 2013. She made a cameo appearance at the 2017 Oceania Championships in New Zealand winning the W21E class Long Distance final at age 40 and anchoring the Australian women’s Relay team to victory in the W21E class. She used those races to prepare for the 2017 World Masters Championships, winning the gold medal in W40 in the Long Distance event.
Jo Allison was one of the top female orienteers in Australia for over twenty years. She won her first National League individual series at age 19 years in 1995 and her fifth and last at age 41 years in 2017.
Hall of Fame Athlete Division Adrian Jackson (VIC)
A
drian Jackson has represented Australia as both a mountain bike orienteer at the elite level and as a foot orienteer at the junior level. Adrian’s achievements in mountain bike orienteering are the highest of any orienteer that has represented Australia.
Adrian’s successes in MTBO began at the second World Championships which were held in Victoria in 2004, when he won the gold medal in the Middle Distance event and the bronze medal in the Long Distance event. He competed in the World Championships in most years to 2010, winning four more gold medals (2008 – Poland: Middle; 2009 – Israel: Sprint and Long Distance; 2010 – Portugal: Sprint); two silver medals (2010 – Portugal: Middle and Long Distance) and one bronze medal (2005 – Slovakia: Long Distance). He also won the Middle and Long Distance events at a World Cup event in the Czech Republic in 2005. Adrian held the number one position in the World MTBO Rankings for 2008 and 2009. During his MTBO career, he was also the most successful competitor in Australian elite competition, winning the Australian Long Distance Championship on nine occasions, the Middle Distance Championship on five occasions and the Sprint Distance Championship twice. He won the Australian MTBO Series in 2008 and 2009, and was the Orienteering Australia Athlete of the Year in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Prior to his dominance in MTBO, Adrian represented Australia at the Junior World Championships in foot orienteering in 2002 (Spain) and 2003 (Estonia), competing in Sprint, Long Distance and Relay events on both occasions. Following his Orienteering career, Adrian moved to traditional cross country mountain bike racing, his best result coming in 2014 with 3rd place in the Australian National Championships – Cross Country Marathon.
Hall of Fame General Division Michael Dowling
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ichael Dowling has been an active orienteer for over 40 years and represented Australia at the 1985 World Championships. He has made major contributions at the State, National and international levels in administration, coaching, mapping and event management.
As President of Orienteering Tasmania in 1988 and 2009-11, he led the implementation of a new marketing and promotion strategy to build participation by individuals and families in the 18 - 40 age demographics engaged in the development of participation programs targeting youth, and restructured the associations governance procedures.
His contributions within his home State have extended also to mapping and coaching at a high level. His mapping contributions included the 1988 World Cup and the 1992 Veteran World Cup and
many national competitions within Australia, and he was also a key course planner in these international and national competitions.
He was coach of the Tasmanian schools team from 2011 to 2016, when the team were Australian State champions on four occasions, was Tasmanian Coach of the Year in 2006, 2011 and 2012, and won the Orienteering Australia SILVA Award for Services to Coaching in 2017.
He was involved with the management of the Australian national team between 1993 and 1997. He was Director High Performance on the Orienteering Australia Board from 2003 to 2009, continuing as an ex officio Board member since then and recently serving as Chair of the Board.
In recent years, Michael has been heavily involved in the International Orienteering Federation, being a member of the IOF Foot Commission from 2005 to 2009, then being elected to the IOF Council in 2009. In 2012 he was elected an IOF Vice President and still holds that position. He was the course planner for the 2013 World Games in Cali, Colombia. His contribution for services to the IOF has been acknowledged through being awarded a Bronze Pin in 2014 and a Silver Pin in 2020.
Hall of Fame General Division Rob Simson (deceased)
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ob Simson started his orienteering career in Queensland in 1975, beginning a lifelong commitment to the sport as a competitor, mapper, coach of juniors, event official and administrator. His most significant contributions were in the development of schools orienteering at both State and National levels, in particular in relation to the establishment of the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships. The ongoing success and impact of the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships remains his legacy.
In 1984 Rob began lobbying to have an Australian Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships as part of the annual Australian Championships Carnival. With the help of Kay Haarsma, he was able to get support from the school sport bodies in five States, and the first Australian Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships, including an Individual and Relay event, took place in Canberra in 1989, under the joint banner of the Australian School Sports Council and the Orienteering Federation of Australia.
That year Rob was appointed by the Australian School Sports Council as the National Secretary for School Orienteering. He held that position until 1999, guiding the development and success of the annual carnival as it grew to include all Australian States and to become the highlight of the schools orienteering calendar. It has helped to raise the profile of Orienteering in schools at the national level, and has encouraged many Australian school students to go on to represent Australia at the elite level in world championship events. Rob initiated the Queensland Schools Orienteering Championships in 1976 and was the driving force behind Queensland schools orienteering for the next four decades, convening the Championships from 1976 to 2014. He also organised other interschool relay events, and promoted the formation of a State Junior Squad in 1988, leading to the annual Queensland Junior Camp. Rob started the MiniCyclones squad for younger juniors in 2003, and coached the MiniCyclones until his last years.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39
OA NEWS
In 1979, Rob was instrumental in the formation of the Toohey Forest Orienteering Club in the south of Brisbane before becoming QOA Secretary for 1981 and 1982 and President from 1984 to 1988. During the 1990s and 2000s, he was Chair of Mapping for QOA/ Orienteering Queensland. He was the Manager of two travelling Australian teams for the Australia – New Zealand Challenge (in 1983 and 1989). Rob held a key role in several national or international events held in Queensland, being organiser for the 1982 Australian Championships, course planner for the 1991 Australian Championships, the Asia Pacific Orienteering Championships Relay in 2000, and the 2008 Australian Long Distance Championships. He was the carnival convener, event organiser, mapper and course planner for several Australian Schools Orienteering Championships, his final contribution being as course setter for the Long Distance Event in 2016. He was involved in mapping for at least eight Queensland Championships, the 1987 Australian Three-days at Cherrabah and the 1988 Australian Schools Orienteering Championships, as well as arranging photogrammetry and organising mapping teams for other major events. Rob has been honoured for his enormous contribution to all aspects of Orienteering over the years with several national awards: the SILVA Award for Services to Orienteering presented by OFA in 1995, an Australian Sports Medal and an Order of Australia Medal.
Rob Simson passed away on 15 July 2018. The plaque recognising his induction into the Hall of Fame was received by his sons Arnold, Neil and Scott who began orienteering as juniors and remain active in the sport.
SILVA Award for Services to Orienteering: Bill Jones
B
ill Jones has been a long-time contributor to Orienteering at all levels in Australia for decades. He has vast experience as a competitive orienteer and in orienteering administration, having started his orienteering life as an active member of the Waggaroos club in New South Wales, before moving to Canberra in the late 1990s, where he has made a consistently strong impact for over 20 years as an active member of the Red Roos club.
He held positions for Orienteering ACT as Secretary (2004) and President (2005 to 2007). He was then President of Orienteering Australia for four years (2008 to 2011) and later joined the OA Board as a Director-at-large from 2017 to 2022. He won the Jim Sawkins Award for Services to Event Management in the ACT in 2007, the Mike Cassells Award for Services to Orienteering in the ACT in 2011, and was inducted as a Life Member of OACT in 2017. He has been a Level 3 Controller for numerous events and carnivals, most recently having controlled the Australian Long Distance and Australian/Oceania Relay events at Cootamundra as part of Oceania 2019, the 2021 NOL Carnival at Broulee and the April 2022 NOL Carnival in Canberra.
Extensive professional experience with electronics and radio communications has seen Bill’s major ongoing contribution take the form of working with Orienteering technology. He was pivotal in the adoption of electronic punching in Australia in 2000 and the use of SPORTident radio controls – initially as part of the 2007 ‘Voice of the Forest’ Junior World Orienteering Championship commentary team at Dubbo. Since then he has become indispensable as ‘Mr FixIt’ for OACT for technical issues with event management software and communications hardware.
In 2020-21, Bill was the leading contributor to simplify and automate event administration in response to COVID-19 restrictions. Bill’s 40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
Bill Jones presented with the SILVA Award trophy by Jenny Casanova and Bob Mouatt.
work enabled Orienteering to be one of the first sports in the ACT to resume competition and social events through initiatives that were recognised by the ACT Government with OACT receiving the 2020 ACT Sport Minister’s Award for Innovation. Bill is a tirelessly willing volunteer in all aspects of social and competitive orienteering, always ready to contribute his time and experience, and apply his invaluable skill and unflappable temperament, for the benefit of Orienteering at the school, club, association and national level.
SILVA Award for Services to Orienteering Coaching: Barbara Dawson
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ommunity coaching is often overshadowed by the more prestigious high performance coaching yet it is essential for any sport. Barbara Dawson has been awarded the SILVA Award for Services to Orienteering Coaching for her long-term work in New South Wales schools and local club events, as well as for her national contribution through the National Schools Kit Project.
Barbara is one of ONSW’s most important coaches working in schools, encouraging students not only to learn about orienteering but to have fun, and to come along to club events. Her extensive experience as a coach in ONSW’s schools development programs made her the obvious person to represent New South Wales at the national level on Orienteering Australia’s National Schools Kit Project.
Barbara recognises the importance of newcomer coaching at club events and volunteers her services at many events, whether by previous arrangement or by stepping up when she sees a need. At events she is always quick to approach newcomers, check that everything is in hand and let them know of the opportunities to do more. She has been a stalwart at the southern Sydney River and Bay Orienteering Series (a joint Uringa Orienteers and Illawarra-Kareelah Orienteers activity) as the lead coach for newcomers and has helped other club members to learn what works when helping first-timers. ONSW recognised Barbara’s contributions to orienteering coaching in 2021 with the ONSW Encouragement Award and in 2019 as joint Volunteer of the Year with Graeme Dawson.
Athlete of the Year 2021
Aston Key
David Hogg Medal for Event Management: Ian Rathbone Ian Rathbone has made significant contributions to event management through his skill and knowledge in administration and information technology. Ian is a quiet achiever, whose work is fundamental to the smooth running of Orienteering events throughout Australia. He has contributed to the sport of Orienteering at a National, State and club level for many years.
Ian has been the Chair of the National Eventor Working Group since 2016. His work on this group has involved significant requirements analysis, development of specifications, management of testing, and liaison with vendors and stakeholders. In this role he has managed many improvements to Eventor of benefit to all States.
T
he Orienteering Australia Athlete of the Year award recognises the most outstanding performances in elite orienteering competition during that year. The award is determined by the votes of an Electoral College consisting of members of the OA Board and the High Performance Management Groups in Foot and Mountain Bike Orienteering, with a Past President of OA as the Returning Officer. The Athlete of the Year for 2021 is Aston Key.
As the Australian Championships Carnival and the Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships were not held in 2021 due to COVID restrictions and no Australian teams took part in international competitions, the 2021 Athlete of the Year was determined on the basis of performances in the National Orienteering League and the Australian 3-Days. Aston won eight of the 10 M21E National Orienteering League rounds in 2021, with an injury preventing him from starting in the other two. The final event was a team Relay in which Aston gave the Victorians a flying start, leading by 5 minutes at the first changeover.
In the last two years Ian has spent a significant amount of time developing the OA Reporting system. This provides reports relating to Orienteering membership and event participation for all States and the ACT, drawing from data that is stored in Eventor. State administrators can request access to information on orienteers in their State, as well as statistical information on all States and the ACT. This information is invaluable in satisfying Orienteering’s reporting requirements and grant applications to various funding bodies.
At the State level, Ian has served on the Board of Orienteering Tasmania for six years, three as Vice President and three as President. He has been the Eventor manager for Orienteering Tasmania since 2014, setting up the annual calendar on Eventor, creating events, uploading results, maintaining an event archive and managing the OT membership database. For the 2015 Oceania/World Cup events, Ian handled the communication systems that allowed live stream commentary and radio control splits to the world via mobile and satellite networks. He was the Entry Manager for several national events held in Tasmania: Oceania/World Cup 2015, Easter 2018 and the Australian Orienteering Championships that were scheduled for 2020 then for 2021 but were cancelled due to COVID. Ian has also played a key role for Orienteering Tasmania in the establishment and management of its website, its first online Collaboration system (ActiveCollab) and its Access-based membership database.
Aston Key receiving the Athlete of the Year award at the Australian 3-Days from Jenny Casanova and Bob Mouatt.
JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41
Spot the Difference
The March magazine gave you a bush map to brush up on your map reading skills again. MAP 1 is essentially the original map. MAP 2 contains 25 changes. Some of the changes will be easy to find and some will not. (You can see the solution on the opposite page). DID YOU FIND ALL 25 ???
42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
THE MARCH SOLUTION. There were 25 differences between MAP 1 and MAP 2. DID YOU FIND ALL 25 ??? The solutions to the March puzzle are shown here.
pretex Jim Russell
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JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43
VALE
Vale Rob Plowright
Vale Tony Mount
rienteering Australia is saddened to share the news that much-loved Australian orienteer and mapper Rob Plowright has passed away. He died suddenly at the age of 59 in Mishima, Japan, where he lived with his wife Masumi and sons Rui and Caio. Rob had recently made several mapping trips to Tasmania to map the areas intended for the 2020 Australian Championships. He also mapped frequently in Canada.
ue (Mount) gave Tony a 40th birthday present of a six-week Adult Ed course in how to orienteer, and their lives were never the same again. He took to it like a duck to water and has been a major force in the development of orienteering in Tasmania.
O
Rob’s contribution to orienteering is considerable. In his 20s, he represented Australia at four World Championships as an elite competitor. His first World Championships was in 1985 at Mt Kooyoora in Rob’s home state of Victoria, where he finished 36th. Rob subsequently represented Australia at the 1987, 1989 and 1991 World Championships. In addition, Rob achieved much success in the domestic Australian elite competition and was famously involved in a sprint to the finish with Rob Vincent on the final day of the 1987 Easter 3-days. A chasing start format was used to decide the winner, and Rob emerged victorious - aided somewhat by a wardrobe malfunction involving Rob Vincent’s o-pants. All those who ran with and against Rob during his elite career knew he was an exceptional navigator and tough competitor. He also coached and inspired numerous juniors and young elite orienteers, both in Australia and Japan.
Most significantly. Rob left us an extraordinary legacy of maps across Australia. He considered mapping more akin to an artform than a skill, and his maps reflected his ability to interpret complex terrain and render it highly readable on the run. He leaves behind many close friends in the orienteering community and will be sorely missed. His maps – Bells Marsh and Hunt Tin Mine – will be used for the Oceania Long Distance and Middle Distance races in January 2023, where a tribute is planned. Our deepest sympathies go out to his friends and family.
S
(from Sally Salier eulogy)
No sooner had he learned the art of O, Tony became involved in every aspect of the sport, and within a few months was President of the State Association, mapping officer, and involved in course setting and coaching. Within 12 years he was made a life member, an honour given to only three other people in the history of Tasmanian orienteering.
Early on, the State Association held a meeting to split into 3 different clubs. Each group went into a huddle for a while to discuss matters, and when we reconvened we discovered that the other two clubs had elected a president and a secretary – our group hadn’t. But we DID have a name, thanks to Tony Mount. He initially wanted the name Southern Strollers, which was vetoed by all, so he came up with Austral, meaning southern, and lopers, which (according to Tony at least) was a Scandinavian word for running.
Tony’s national orienteering career started very early on in the piece, when he came 3rd in the Men’s 43 age class in 1973. His name continued to appear at the top of the list in every age category for the next 40 years, winning every age class from M50 to M80, Australian champion 11 times. He represented Australia against New Zealand on at least 8 occasions, as well as travelling overseas to compete. And, looking though the statistics, I noted that the winner of M12A in 1973 was Christopher Mount, and the winner of M18 in 1978 was Stephen Mount, so obviously it was very much a family affair.
Tony could be best described as an “enabler”, a word that wasn’t invented back in the day. He had the ability to encourage people to believe in themselves and achieve great things. I recall one member who had “volunteered” to map an area and set some courses, muttering to themselves “That Tony Mount, he’s so …. persuasive!” He spent a great deal of his time with newcomers, always sharing his wisdom with enthusiasm, patience and good humour. Whether it be shadowing (following a learner through the bush and then discussing ways to improve) or sharing an extremely mysterious (to me anyway) method of measuring how much time was lost on each leg. And who remembers the advice “If you are looking for a waterhole, listen for frogs” and “don’t stand at the control, pretend to run off in the wrong direction”? Wherever there were Tony and Sue, there was bound to be fun. On one occasion we decided to “dress up” for an event. It was a relay, so Tony wore a tuxedo and bow tie, complete with a white napkin over his arm, as he offered a glass of champagne to runners as they sped up the Finish chute.
And then there was the indoor orienteering event inside the Mount’s house in Taroona. The controls were tiny squares of paper with a letter on them stuck all over the place, behind chairs, under tables, on the ceiling, under the lounge and on top of doors, with people clambering over each other to find them. Even the loo was wallpapered with a lovely bush setting, complete with a control flag in the corner.
Rob at WOC 1985 in Australia.
Rob out mapping in more recent times.
44 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
I don’t think it’s too much to say that Tony was, and will remain, a legend in the world of orienteering in Tasmania. He has left us a wonderful legacy, and I feel privileged to have known him. I suspect that his spirit is somewhere in the heavens, even now, busily mapping the clouds, working out his kilometre rates and plotting his course. We’ll miss him.
OPINION
No O in the Olympic Games IAN BAKER (former Editor of The Australian Orienteer)
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hy orienteering will never get into the Olympics’ is the title of an article by Raphael Mak in this magazine in December 2021. The article gives telling reasons for the failure of any form of foot orienteering to have a chance of becoming a part of the summer Olympic Games, in particular its complexity with specific navigation techniques hardly understood by outsiders. At the end of the twentieth century there was a belief that ski orienteering should aim to be granted a place in the Winter Olympic Games program. There was a place for more sports to be included in the winter program and the criterion of the number of countries practising the sport was lower than for the Summer Games. The thinking was to show the International Olympic Committee that SkiO was a sport in a significant number of countries on several continents. Australia had the chance to be one of these. The overall aim was to gain more recognition and more publicity on the very broadest scale.
SkiO and Australia At this time I was an active cross-country skier as well as a longtime orienteer: I took on the project of organising the first Australian SkiO Championships at Lake Mountain near Marysville, north-east of Melbourne, in August 1995. Robin Rishworth, also a xc skier and orienteer (multiple winner of the Melbourne Rialto Tower and the New York Empire State Building run-ups), a cartographer by profession, prepared a colour map of the area with its 35km of groomed trails and was the course-setter. We promoted the event to orienteers, to xc ski clubs and by posters in Alpine resort areas. 41 participants took part. Feedback was enthusiastic, stimulating later mapping and events at Falls Creek and Mt Hotham in north-east Victoria. However participation never again reached the level of the first Lake Mountain event. Negative factors included unreliable snow seasons and the distances to travel from urban centres. The 1998 Winter Olympic Games were held at Nagano in Japan; SkiO was organised nearby to demonstrate the sport. I remember visiting Ian Chesterman of the Australian Olympic Committee to brief him on planned Australian participation (he has recently been elected president of the AOC). Australian orienteers Jacquie Rand, Hughes Little and Marg Purdham took part, scoring a win in the Mixed Relay. But little further was heard about inclusion of SkiO in the Olympic program and the encouragement to establish it in more countries waned.
the scoring is easy to understand. Be realistic - SkiO is a nonstarter for the Olympics. In Australia SkiO seems to have faded in Victoria, but there have been events in the Perisher ski area of southern NSW. Fedor and Marina Iskhakov, former Sydney orienteers who had moved to Canberra, took over. With OACT involvement, the number of participants grew to nearly 50. Those Perisher events are described as the ACT & NSW SkiO Championships and the 2022 Championships are planned for Sunday 14 August (see Eventor). In Victoria on the whole it’s a fairly sorry story of lack of snow and suitable terrain, and low turnout when events went ahead. Back in the days when we had adequate snow SkiO events were held annually at Mt Baw Baw in Victoria between 1972 and 1978, organised variously by members of the Baw Baw Touring Association, Super Turtles and Latrobe University Mountaineering Club. Much later, attempts were made to hold events elsewhere: •1 995 – held 17 August at Lake Mountain, VIC. Billed as the First Australian Ski-O Championships – 41 participants. •1 996 – held 29 August at Lake Mountain. Billed as Victorian Ski-O Championships. • 1998 – held at Falls Creek, VIC. - 24 participants. •1 998 & 1999 - Mt Hotham - map produced by Alan Davis, but events cancelled due to lack of snow. In the following years more events were planned but then cancelled as snow conditions were too poor. SkiO is just one chapter in a comprehensive history of orienteering development in Australia 1969 - 2019 being compiled by David Hogg, an orienteer since the first event in Australia in 1969, with assistance of many past and present orienteers in providing information and reviewing its 54 chapters. Publication details will be advised in due course.
[Editor’s note: in the Winter Olympics scene, SkiO appears to have been brushed aside by events more exciting and attractive to spectators such as Moguls (where AUS won Gold), Snowboard Half-pipe (where Scotty James, the Wizard from Warrandyte, won Silver), Freeski Half-pipe (where NZ won Gold), Aerials, Freeski Slopestyle & Big Air, Ski Cross, Snowboard Slopestyle (in which AUS and NZ won Bronze and Gold), Snowboard Cross & Big Air (in which NZ won Silver).] These events are all more attractive to television, the major financial support of the IOC. They take place in well-defined arenas, where it is easy for TV to cover the competition and JUNE 2022 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45
OPINION
Why not the Commonwealth Games? IAN BAKER
S
everal regional Victorian centres have been confirmed as co-hosts of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Does this present a worthwhile opportunity for Orienteering? The Commonwealth expects some 72 countries to take part; many of these are ‘small states’. Of the total, eight countries are members of the International Orienteering Federation: South Africa; Asia – India, Malaysia, Singapore; Americas – Canada; Europe – UK (includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man; all of which compete separately at the Comm Games); Pacific – Australia, New Zealand. While Orienteering is not a Commonwealth Games sport, an option could be to organise a major Orienteering event in parallel with the Games at a regional centre (such as Bendigo or Ballarat). The format should be focussed on attracting spectators and could be along the lines of Day 3 of the recent Melbourne Sprint Weekend with a Knock Out Sprint series to showcase our Elites, and an age-class Sprint (or two) to demonstrate the spread of our sport. Participation would be open to Commonwealth orienteers.
The Games are provisionally scheduled for March 2026, so there will be no clash with the 2026 World Orienteering Championships provisionally listed for 7 - 11 July in Italy. Easter 2026 will be April 3 – 6 so there may be an opportunity to link a Comm Games event with our Easter Carnival, if OA were to schedule it in Victoria. “Turn your face to the sun; and your shadows will fall behind you.” (Ancient Egyptian).
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VICTORINOX AWARD It would be too complex and probably too late to seek to have Orienteering an official sport within the Games. The objective is to cross-market to promote Orienteering and to maximise participation in the orienteering carnival.
46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2022
This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Janet Fletcher (WA) for her letter (on page 15) suggesting a way for bringing the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame up to date. Janet will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $139.
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