The Australian Orienteer – March 2024

• Xmas 5 Days • Australian Junior Development Camp • Oceania Championships 2024 • Urban Orienteering

WINNING PARTNERSHIP

Sport Australia proudly supports Orienteering Australia Sport Australia is the Australian Government agency that develops, supports and invests in sport at all levels in Australia.

Orienteering Australia has worked closely with Sport Australia to develop orienteering from community participation to high-level performance.

Orienteering Australia is one of many national sporting organisations that has formed a winning partnership with Sport Australia to develop its sport in Australia.

www.sportaus.gov.au Cover: Three types of urban orienteering, in: a park, a city’s build-up area and a coastal town. Participants at Australian Junior Development Camp starting their sprint in Beechworth – photo by Hania Lada; Heather O’Donnell at Melbourne City Race punching the last control – photo by Frankie Shin; Jannine Nel on day 5 of Xmas 5 Days in Terrigal – photo by Geoff Peel.

2 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA

The Chair’s column MIKE DOWLING – CHAIR OA BOARD

W

elcome to the 2024 orienteering year which is now into full action mode. As this issue hits your mailbox, we will have just completed the first round of our National Orienteering League season here in my home of Hobart. Our National Orienteering League and our MTBO National Series are our two premier competition series for the orienteering disciplines that are most active in Australia.

I have written extensively in the past as to importance of acknowledging and recognising the amazing amount of volunteer work that goes into our sport. Like all our events Australia wide, these events are dependent on the volunteer efforts of our orienteering community. On behalf of the Board, I extend a huge thank you to everyone who will volunteer in some capacity this year to enable us to enjoy every aspect of our fantastic sport.

Speaking of volunteer effort, by the time this issue is published, we will have hopefully launched our new Orienteering Australia website. This has been a massive effort of volunteer hours over what is now a couple of years to bring to fruition. We owe a massive debt of gratitude to Margi Fremantle, Craig Steffens and Jon McComb for the work in the redevelopment of the site.

Looking ahead on the competition front, our Australian 3 Days will be in the Adelaide Hills/Murraylands region organised by SA, the Australian Championships carnival later in the year will be in the Armidale region of NSW, and our Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships will be in and around Canberra ACT. If you attend, please say thank you to everyone involved in making these events a reality. For our elite we will have Sprint WOC in

Edinburgh Scotland, JWOC in Czechia, the World Cup in Switzerland, Italy, and Hungary, and the WMTBOC in Bulgaria.

For our masters, the WMOC will be in Finland in classical Finnish terrain.

On the OA Board front, we are gearing up for another very busy year. The Board will have agreed its 2024 Activity Plan and finalised its budget for the year. The Board has made some hard decisions to reduce expenditure in some areas to help to return to a balanced budget situation next year. The financial capacities of OA as the NSO of our sport is largely driven by participation. In 2024, we have several important initiatives to promote and engage in participation. Our national Participation Plan, led by Brodie Nankervis, will be released. This is a ‘whole of sport' plan to look at the strategies and practical ways we can enhance participation.

Allied to this, we will be rolling out the full implementation of our Learn to Orienteer program, led by Daniel Stott, after piloting the program late in 2023. We will have engaged a Manager, Communications and Social Media to enhance the way we communicate to better engage the community in what a great sport we have to offer. We also intend to develop a ‘whole of sport’ Inclusive Action Plan to broaden our engagement with sections of the Australian community that are not well represented in orienteering. Looking further ahead, the Board will commence a progress of review of our overall strategy through 2024 in consultation with our member states/territories.

May your route choices take you in good directions through 2024.

2024

Proudly supported by

Round 1

17-18 February

HOBART, TAS 2 x sprint, middle

Round 2

29 March - 1 April EASTER THREE DAYS, SA sprint, middle, long & relay distance

Round 3

25-28 April

BRISBANE, QLD 3x sprint (WRE, relay and knock-out)

Round 4

18-19 May

ACT NOL individual final, middle distance & forest relay

Round 5

28 September 6 October

ARMIDALE, NSW NOL team-only final (Aus Champs), middle, long, sprint distance & relay MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 3

HANIA LADA

Photo: quentinjlang.com

Editor’s contemplations Misconceptions about orienteering

O

ver the years I have encountered various misconceptions about orienteering, ranging from amusing to highly unfair.

Misunderstanding about different types of orienteering may lead to difficulties in increasing participation, in obtaining permits, or in smooth running of events. What could we do to reduce prevalence of misconceptions?

Australia has a great diversity of magnificent orienteering terrain.

First, to conduct events, permits from public land managers or from private owners are needed, then events organised and participants enticed to come. All these stages may be affected by the image and misconceptions about orienteering, such as ‘perception of safety issues’, ‘perception of environmental impacts’ and ‘unfamiliarity with orienteering’.

Private owners who allow orienteering on their properties are a treasure for our sport but they may change their mind and we cannot do much about it. When employed as a scientist I conducted ecological fieldwork on hundreds of private properties, and sometimes, after 20 years, we lost some because of change of ownership, hazards, logistics or land clearing. Could Australian orienteers ever get together and buy a large property for orienteering and carbon offsets, even grow a gigantic maze on a disused paddock? I’m only half joking. The interview on ABC (2023) with the land owner about 2023 NSW Championships is a great promotion for our sport. Could it be used when approaching private owners?

‘Perception of safety issues' - authorities may worry that orienteering is a risky sport because competitors aren’t under constant observation, medical help may be slower to reach those needing attention, and they may fear someone will get lost. The latter reason could perhaps be attributed to lost non-orienteering walkers who require search parties. On the other hand, orienteers are experts in relocation and in finding people who don’t report to the finish on time (most likely still looking for controls). It is in our society’s interest that more people learn how to read maps and don’t solely rely on navigation apps that sometimes encourage travellers to go the wrong way. People may lose cognitive spatial skills if they don’t practise reading maps (Clemenson et al., 2021).

While acute injuries are possible, they are mostly in the form of ankle sprains and bruises, 80% occur in the lower extremity (Linde, 1986). Concussion and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture are relatively rare in orienteering, unlike in football (McNeel et al., 2019) and in soccer (Nawas et al., 2023). The health benefits of not being sedentary, and of instead doing green exercise that is close to what we evolved to do, i.e. moving in the natural environment, should be considered. There are many physical, cognitive and mental-health benefits of green exercise with maps (Haupt, 2023; Tangella, 2023; Waddington and Heisz 2023).

‘Perception of environmental impacts’ originates from misunderstanding about the effects of orienteering on environment.

The effects are minimal (Hogg and Ingwersen, 2012) as people are spread throughout the forest, moving to different controls and choosing their own routes. It is recommended that no more than 300 orienteers pass through a control (Hogg and Ingwersen, 2012).

Orienteers don’t graze and trample vegetation like deer, nor dig up 4 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

soil like feral pigs, nor decimate fallen timber (important habitat) like firewood collectors do, nor create illegal trails like some bike enthusiasts do, although the latter may unjustly inflict reputational damage on MTBO. ‘Unfamiliarity with orienteering’ relates to previous points but also to thinking that it isn’t a real sport, just a treasure hunt, and to not appreciating how detailed and crucial maps are. Any areas can be marked as out of bounds. In a large suburban park, a ranger hadn’t realised the importance of control placement matching locations on the map, and he moved away a control mid-event, because he thought it was in a dangerous spot (at the bottom of a cliff ), and then people spent longer in the original location looking for it.

Unsurprisingly, nobody was impressed. Have we ever tried organising orienteering events for employees of parks, the departments of environment and of primary industries? In Europe there are even orienteering clubs and championships for rangers.

Do these activities increase knowledge about orienteering among land management authorities, and help with getting permits?

Would a simple brochure explaining what orienteering is, its health benefits and lower risk of injury compared to many other sports, plus extremely detailed and spectacular maps, minimal environmental impacts and the potential to assist with conservation by mapping weeds, be helpful when submitting a permit application and in persuading more people to try our sport?

We may need to assume that our audience know little and need clear introduction to the topic, i.e. explanation about various aspects of orienteering. It would be great if we can avoid cancellation of events due to misconceptions, and not be accused of ‘chasing kangaroos’.

References ABC (2023). Central West farm hosts NSW Orienteering Championships. https:// www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/centralwest-breakfast/central-west-farm-hostsnsw-orienteering-championships/102831200 Clemenson et al. (2021). Rethinking GPS navigation: creating cognitive maps through auditory clues. Scientific Reports, 11, 7764 Haupt A (2023). What to know about orienteering the ‘thinking sport’. https:// time.com/6278281/orienteering-health-benefits-brain/ Hogg D and Ingwersen F (2012). Environmental impact of an orienteering event on eucalypt forest and woodland in relation to competitor numbers. https:// orienteering.asn.au/index.php/environment/ Linde F (1986). Injuries in orienteering. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 20,125127.

McNeel et al. (2019). Concussion incidence and time-loss in Australian football: A systematic review. Journal of Science Medicine in Sport, 23, 125-133.

Nawas et al. (2023). ACL injuries in soccer players: Prevention and return to play considerations. Missouri Medicine, 120, 446-450.

Waddington EE and Heisz JJ (2023). Orienteering experts report more proficient spatial processing and memory across adulthood. PLOS One. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0280435 Tangella K (2023). Health benefits of orienteering. https://www.dovemed.com/ healthy-living/wellness-center/health-benefits-orienteering

Orienteering Australia Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy Photographs or video of Children/Young People Policy Correction to policy implementation in relation to The Australian Orienteer.

Photos of under-18s may include their surnames if their parents / guardians grant permission for publication of both photos and full names. In the first instance we will endeavour to seek permission for surnames of award winners and Australian representatives.

Brett Weihart1.

Photos by quentinjlang.com except *by Tony Hill, **Kath Oliver, 1.JWOC2023 website, 2.OA website, 3.anon, 4.AO 2021-4.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 5

Robyn Pallas (ONSW president) with Oskar Mella (NSW 2023 course setter of the year).

Day 1. Emanuel Stuedeli (Switzerland) chased by Cooper Horley.

Day 1. David Beldjilali (New Caledonia).

Day 2. Ant Nolan.

Day 2. Justine Hobson.

Days 2 and 3 Olney State Forest, Dooralong

Day 2. Kwok Sang Lau (Hong Kong).

Day 2. Petra Kolsvik.

COOPER vs RYAN DUEL

Newcastle’s Steve Craig (planner) and Rob Vincent (controller) produced the courses for Day 2 on the western side of Olney State Forest. An uphill walk to the start eliminated some climb on courses although there was plenty of potential to add more if you were not accurate in the steeper sections. Runnability was generally not too bad although the meandering creek section and associated contour twists dominated the second half of all courses and saw reduced visibility and run speed. This complex section provided the main challenge of the day.

Day 3 courses were middle-distance format planned by Hilary Wood and controlled by Colin Price. These were set on the eastern section of Olney Forest and involved many twists and turns through complex meandering creeks. Courses were shorter than Day 2, and all competitors were happy for a low leech count.

Analysis of the route choices for the longest leg (leg 11 Men A, leg 8 Men B and Women A).

Day 4 Rumbalara Reserve, Gosford Saturday’s event was run at Rumbalara Reserve atop a ridge set behind Gosford. The terrain was steep and littered with numerous rock features. Surprisingly for an urban area the vegetation was reasonably friendly. Group mass starts produced some head-to-head style racing. Thanks to course planner Julian Dent and controller Gordon Wilson.

In total 38 out of 58 finishers in Men A, Men B and Women A uploaded their routes to Livelox. Only 10% of the 38 runners chose the northern route for the common longest leg. Alton Freeman (fastest split of Men B, and eighth quickest split among 58 runners) covered the shortest distance, staying mostly off tracks. Alastair George had the fastest split overall, 9 s faster than Ewan Shingler who from the midpoint went on the track rather than the road. Nea Shingler (northern route) the fastest of Women A had the tenth split overall.

Erika Enderby (southern route) and Nora Westerlund (northern route) covered the same distance but Nora at a faster pace.

Day 4 long leg route choices.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7

XMAS 5 DAYS

Day 5. Erika Enderby.

Day 4. Start. Andreas Strasser and Melissa Robertson at the front.

Day 4. Different styles of descent – David Bowerman on the left, Bruce Meder on the right.

Day 5. Siblings.

Day 4. Jenny Friend.

Day 5. Cherryl Bluett.

Day 5. Steven Roberts.

Day 5. Emily Sorensen.

Day 5. Nora Westerlund (Sweden) and Miles B.

It is never too early to start navigating on Rowdy Flat map.

Photo by Jon McComb.

Night-O team getting controls ready. Photo by Bridget Uppill.

View from one of the controls.

Waiting for mass start of High-O relay.

Day 2 long course, leg 15 route choices

Participants Alton Freeman and Oliver Freeman Nick Mousley and Nick Stanley Elin Olsson and Max Carr Clare Brownridge and Mark Freeman

Oliver and Alton Freeman at the start of the long course.

Photo by Vanessa Freeman.

Time 21:58 28:08 29:52 30:31

Dist (m) 3051 2145 1948 3238

Pace (min/km) 7:12 13:07 15:20 9:27

Mass start of Oceania Elite Relay.

OCEANIA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Aston Key.

Joseph Lynch (NZ).

Mikaela Gray and Sophie Taverna.

The week had opened with the first Oceania Knock-Out Sprint Championships. This was a better day for the locals in hilly terrain and sometimes heavy rain, as they took both Oceania titles. There was a five-way sprint finish in the women’s event, with Bjessmo first across the line, Ingham (who would be missed when illness kept her out the following weekend) taking the Oceania title in second, and Tara Melhuish, one of two Australian finalists, second Oceania and fourth overall. Joseph Lynch took the first of his two titles for the week with a 9-s margin, comfortable by the standards of this event, with Ewan Shingler winning a close tussle with Angus Haines for the other medals.

Riley McFarlane.

14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

Lizzie Ingham (NZ) in Oceania Knock-Out Sprint.

Jamie Woolford in Oceania Knock-Out Sprint.

OCEANIA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tim Robertson (NZ).

Wallaringa foundation members Paula and Peter Ashforth (left), and Robyn and Peter Cutten.

Yalanga Orienteers Back in 1978, the Lone Orienteering Club had been going for only a couple of years when the chairman decided a name change and recruitment drive were needed to reinvigorate the membership.

A shortlist of 15 Aboriginal words was put forward and it’s believed that the new name – Yalanga for ‘over there’ — was decided by vote at an event at Old Coach Reserve. The kangaroo was chosen as the club emblem, and the club colours as blue and gold. Yalanga is famed for its coveted Barbed Wire Jocks trophy, which originated when an orienteer was shot in the leg early on a run but completed the entire course before seeking medical treatment. The trophy is awarded only when a member demonstrates similar dogged persistence, where a wiser person might give up, and therefore not every year.

pretex Get your orders in for 2024, latest shipment has arrived https://goo.gl/t81zFf Jim Russell Ph. 0411 125 178 jymbois@gmail.com

Advertise You can have a 6 x 9 cm colour advert for just $50 Send artwork to the editor:

magazine@orienteering.asn.au

Tintookies Orienteering Club Tintookies was officially formed, and the name selected, at a meeting held at the State Library on 1 June 1976, chaired by John Hicks. John consulted a book of Aboriginal names and read that a Tintookie was a ‘little man of the forest’, although people of all types and sizes would be more than welcome to join! One of the founding members was Basil Baldwin, who now lives in Orange, and is, with his wife Jean, still very active in orienteering. Robert (Bob) Smith, a Tintookie since 1976, is also still actively involved in the club to this day. Quite a few of the club’s orienteers have been successful at international level. When the World Cup events were held in Ballarat in 1994, there were two Tintookies taking part, but with a twist. Neither of them ran for Australia! Who were they?

Where orienteering meets fun, cheating, and costume mayhem!

TASH THACKRAY. PHOTOS BY QUENTINJLANG.COM

From left: Tash Thackray, Oscar Woolford, Clare Hawthorne, Greg Barbour, Adam Horley.

Serena Doyle.

Jensen Key.

Award ceremony (photo: from Sledge ’23 guide).

than a few Sledgers and many more other competitors off course by eerily tramping through the bush singing ‘follow the yellow brick road…'

Sledge isn't just a race; it's a celebration of camaraderie, creativity, cheating and map-reading abilities. If you're up for an unforgettable Australian 3 Days adventure where you want to let loose then Sledge is your ticket to laughter and legend status. Bored? Unfit? Injured? Returning-

to-orienteering? Sledge is the category for you. So, what are you waiting for? Start plotting your costume and strategising your ‘cheating’ tactics for the next Australian 3 Days Sledge 2024 showdown!

Be sure to join the 21Sledge facebook page for the latest news and updates here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2390359740

Beyond Australian 3 Days 2024 – making the most of your visit LEILA HENDERSON

here’s no end of quirky, fun and delicious things to do in and around the Adelaide Hills and Lower Murraylands, if you’re looking for a place to eat, relax or explore in between orienteering events or if you plan to extend your stay.

T

We decided to ask SA orienteers for their favourite places and experiences they’d recommend to other orienteers. OHOC members Dianne Bergen and husband Colin Burnett moved to South Australia in early 2021 from NSW, where they organised SI for the Garingal Club. Since then they’ve been progressively seeing the sights from their beachside base at Marino.

1. The Marino Coastal Walkway extends 7.2 km from Marino to the Hallett Headland Reserve, taking in Hallett Cove Conservation Park and its sugarloaf and amphitheatre. According to Colin: ’A bit strenuous and rough in parts but nothing orienteers couldn't handle, with a nice cafe, The Boatshed, at the end to recuperate.’

2. Water lovers can experience free diving off Port Noarlunga – Dianne’s orienteering guests were also keen divers who went looking for the leafy sea dragons at Rapid Bay. There’s also the Star of Greece dive site, a submerged wreck off Port Noarlunga, and Aldinga Reef for the less ambitious.

Leafy sea dragon. Photo by Istvan Kertesz.

Morialta Conservation Park. Photo by Michael Waterhouse.

3. For those with kids and less time on hand, Tjuringa’s Keren Faulkner suggests TreeClimb in the Adelaide Parklands or Kuitpo Forest: ’Younger children will love the playgrounds along South Terrace in the city but I agree with Dianne that the very best option is Morialta Mukanthi Conservation Park Playground which is only 10 min from Adelaide, incorporating the best of nature play with some fabulous walks through Morialta Gorge. Bring a picnic you won't want to leave. I hope your family loves this one as much as mine does.’ Dianne adds: ‘You should check out the spectacular Giant’s Cave while you’re there, always a hit with the kids.’

4. The Hahndorf Farm Barn isn’t free, but it does offer a hands-on farm experience, from pony and tractor rides to handfeeding goats. Open year-round except Christmas. www.farmbarn.com.au 5. Nearby, Erica and Trevor Diment took their Danish orienteering houseguests to Cleland Wildlife Park and say they really loved their visit and the photo opportunities. Cleland is one of Adelaide’s best kept secrets, only half an hour from the CBD. Highlights include the chance to hold or feed the incredibly soft koalas (make sure you book ahead). There’s also a large walk-through area of yellow-footed rock-wallabies offering a rare chance to get a really good look at these very cute, but also endangered animals.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19

Monarto Safari Park.

Photo: Zoos SA.

Abigail and Kieran playing Number-O.

HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS

50 years of Easter 3-Days DAVID HOGG

Beginnings in Sydney he 2024 Australian 3-Days in South Australia marks 50 years since Australia’s first 3-day event was held. Conceived and organised by the Sydney club, Kareelah Orienteers, during Easter 1974, it built on interest created in 1973 among Australian orienteers in travelling interstate for some Easter competition.

During Easter 1973, two separate events were held in the ACT, using the second and third coloured orienteering maps produced in Australia, and attracted many orienteers from Sydney and Melbourne. The move to a full 3-day competition in 1974 was seen by the organisers as emulating, on a more limited scale, the Swedish O-Ringen 5-Day competition, an event which Australians were to experience the first time later that year.

T

The inaugural Kareelah 3-Days was held in Royal National Park in the south of Sydney and attracted about 120 competitors, including many from the ACT and Victoria. The winners in the open classes were John Oliver and Andrea Harris, both of whom were living in Victoria at the time. Dave Lotty tells the story behind this event in a separate item.

This success of the event encouraged Kareelah to repeat it in 1975, again in Royal National Park. This time there were about 200 competitors for the full three days, plus more than 100 single-day entries.

Moving interstate In 1976, Victoria offered to host the event, and the Bambara 3Days was based at the Camberwell Grammar School camp of that name, located north of Melbourne. Organised by VOA President, Hal Dalheim, the event attracted several Scandinavian orienteers, as well as large contingents from NSW and the ACT, and a handful from the other states, where orienteering was starting to become established.

This began a process of rotating the Easter 3-Days around the three states that had the technical capacity to stage the event – NSW in 1977, the ACT in 1978 and Victoria in 1979. In 1980, the event was described as the Australian 3-Days and was based in Goulburn at the start of a week-long carnival which included the inaugural Pacific Orienteering Championships (POC), conducted by the ACTOA, and a badge event near Wagga Wagga. Numbers were swelled by visiting overseas orienteers, who had come for POC and the Australia – New Zealand Challenge. For both POC and the 3-Days, there were so many entrants in the M35 age group that two separate M35 classes of equal status were conducted to fit into a reasonable timing schedule.

Until 1980, only Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT (the ‘major states’) were considered to have the resources for hosting national events. That mould was broken later that year when

Tasmania became the first ‘minor state’ to host not only the Australian Individual Championships but also the Australian Relay Championships on the same weekend. In 1981, the Easter 3-Days also moved to one of the ‘minor states’, with South Australia conducting the event at Wirrabara Forest in the Southern Flinders Ranges. Basil Baldwin separately describes the organisation of that event, the details of which differed in many ways from how the current events are organised.

While the Easter 3-Days began as a NSW club event, its widespread popularity interstate led to the Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA) adopting it as part of the national calendar and coordinating its hosting on a rotational basis. In 1982 the OFA adopted the name Australian 3-Days (rather than Easter 3-Days) as the official title for the event.

Australia’s most popular event By the 1980s, the Australian 3-Days had become the most popular event on the national orienteering calendar. In 1985, it was integrated with one of the official training camps for the 1985 World Orienteering Championships, which were held later that year in Bendigo. Some of the training camp maps in the Wagga Wagga area were used for the 3-Days, and the Australian competitors had plenty of opportunities to see top European orienteers in action.

As the Australian 3-Days continued, the organisers endeavoured to make the elite classes more interesting for spectators. In 1987, a chasing start in the M21A class provided probably the most exciting finish in the event’s history, but also the greatest anticlimax, when Rob Vincent and Rob Plowright crossed the finish line together in a tie for first place, only to be disqualified when it was discovered that both had punched the wrong last control.

Particularly in its earlier years, communal family camping was a key social element of the Easter orienteering experience. This was commonly managed by the organisers, using playing fields, showgrounds or school grounds in the town where the competition was based. Camping tended to become less common as orienteers aged and families grew up, but can still offer a great experience for the next generation of orienteers when the opportunity presents itself.

More and different classes As the numbers participating at Easter grew, so did the number of classes offered. This resulted partly from the ageing of the competition population, with new (older) age classes added every five years, and partly to make the experience more enjoyable for those seeking shorter or easier courses.

The M21AS (A Short) class took on a life of its own around the turn of the millennium, as described by Jason McCrae. Originally intended to accommodate those open competitors who were not eligible to run elite and found even the M21A class too demanding, it became a ‘fun’ class for those who valued its novelty aspects. As the universal age class, which was open to anyone irrespective of age or gender, it attracted a regular following, including several female competitors, eventually becoming known as the M21AS Sledge class.

For many competitors, however, the Australian 3-Days has remained a serious event, particularly for those senior and junior elite competitors for whom each day serves as a selection trial for WOC or JWOC teams. Since 1995, selection requirements have dictated the course structure in the elite classes to reflect the varying needs for long distance, middle distance and relay races.

In due course the Elite Prologue, held on Good Friday, became relevant to sprint selection.

Jean and Basil Baldwin.

22 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

A Good Friday event An event on Good Friday first became part of the Easter program in 1983. During the late 1970s, the Family Relays had been held in conjunction with the Australian Relay Championships on a weekend separate from any other competitions. In 1980, when both the Australian Individual and Relay Championships were held on the same weekend in Tasmania, there was no opportunity in the program to accommodate the Family Relays. The same situation arose in 1981 and 1982, much to the disappointment of many families.

In 1983, when the 3-Days was based in Canberra, the Family Relays were revived and held on Good Friday, with unofficial entries accepted also from teams which were not familybased but whose members relished the opportunity of a warmup run. Over the years, the format of the event evolved from a genuine relay (with open and handicap classes) to a cumulative time trial, and became a sprint event (driven by the Elite Prologue sprint requirements) rather than a bush event.

While the 2024 Australian 3-Days is the 50th anniversary event, the number of these events held over that period is just short of 50. In 2017, the World Masters Orienteering Championships and Oceania Championships were held in New Zealand around the Easter, and there was no major Easter event in Australia. Instead, QB3 in Wagga Wagga became Australia’s main 3-day event for that year. Then in 2020, due to Covid restrictions, orienteering took a forced break and there were no national competitions in Australia.

The Easter events which had been planned for 2020 took place in 2021 during a break in the Covid restrictions.

By 2022, the Covid concerns had subsided and Easter attendances were getting back to their typical numbers, with the event maintaining its prime position in the Australian orienteering calendar.

The first 3-Days DAVE LOTTY

he initial proposal to organise a 3-Day competition at Easter came from Ian Hassall and me in 1973. We enlisted the support of Björn Blomstedt, who we knew had been involved in the Swedish 5 Days (O-Ringen) before he moved to Australia with his family. Tom Andrews was starting to organise a 1974 Australian visit to Europe (including the Swedish 5-Days) at the time and this no doubt was an influence on us.

T

We then convinced our club at that time, Kareelah Orienteers, who were also enthusiastic. Björn became the chief organiser, with Ian Hassall and me as his assistants but virtually all the Kareelah Club assisted in some way. The mapping was fairly basic and was undertaken by a club team (Frank Anderson, Gordon Cox, Ian Hassall, Norm Johnston, Dave Lotty, Barry Moore and Chris Wilmott) using standard NSW Government 1:25,000 maps as a base. The map was printed in three colours (black, blue and brown).

Dave Lotty.

Björn Blomstedt.

The Royal National Park was the venue as it was nearby (all the club members lived in the south of Sydney and the park is effectively the southern boundary of Sydney). We also received good support at the time from National Parks staff.

We had no idea what to expect from the event, as Ian Hassall. orienteering was very new but the entry of 110 or so was pleasing, and multi-day events were so much fun! We were all very keen to do it again in 1975, for which we extended and upgraded the map.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 23

HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN 3-DAYS

Easter 3 Day Orienteering 1981 BASIL BALDWIN

outh Australia became a member of the Orienteering Federation of Australia in 1977 and was asked to organise the Australian Easter 3Days in 1981, the first time this event was to be staged outside the three ‘major states’. At that stage, all SA metropolitan events were held close to Adelaide. The organising committee was keen to seek a new event area north of Adelaide. This was rather controversial and did not gain the support of all metropolitan clubs. However, Tintookies (TT) and Onkaparinga Hills (OHOC) clubs took up the challenge. The organising committee comprised Basil Baldwin (chairman and event organiser), Peter Nicholls (treasurer), Jean Baldwin (secretary), John Daenke (publicity), Bob Smith (welfare), Ron Larsson (timing and results) and John Williams (event controller).

S

After much searching, an area near Wirrabara on the eastern side of the Southern Flinders Ranges, about 230 km north of Adelaide, was selected.

Most of the land was owned and managed by SA Woods and Forests Department, who were very supportive of the event. It was mainly plantation pine forest with trees at all stages of growth including some open mature pines. There were also areas of native bush. The terrain varied from relatively flat to moderately small hills with many small gullies and spurs. There were many doubts about the area; would it provide technically challenging terrain? We did not have complex gold mining or rock as was found interstate. Would people be prepared to travel from Adelaide and, more importantly, from interstate?

The local Wirrabara community was very supportive, offering the use of the town’s oval for camping with its change-rooms and toilets. Most people camped, but some brought caravans and one couple brought a yacht to sleep in! The camping fee was $1/ person/night. There were two bakeries in Wirrabara, a grocery store and a greengrocer. Bob Smith had advised them of the proposed event and the number of potential visitors, so they were prepared. All event areas were within 8 km from the oval.

There was a barbecue lunch each day, put on by local community groups. There was a creche at the assembly area with a charge of $2/child per event. Après O included a bush dance and a film night.

The chocolate company, Cadburys, was the major sponsor for the event with other minor sponsorship from SA companies. There were also funds from the Commonwealth and OFA. Mapping was a major task as we wanted a different map for each day. Fortunately, Major Brian Vale of OHOC was able to provide photogrammetry, prepared by the 4th Field Survey Squadron, Royal Australian Survey Corps. Three maps were made by the organising clubs, these were named Ippinitchie Creek, Crews Creek and Walnut Gate. The old Wirrabara Forest Schoolhouse, by then a youth hostel, made a great base for mapping and course planning. Maps were drawn by hand using Rotring ink pens, using a separate sheet of film for each colour. Letraset stencil sheets were used for point features such as termite mounds, native cherry trees, rocks and log piles. The cartographers were Brian Vale, Ippinitchie Creek; Gil Hollamby, Crews Creek, and Alan Gulliver, Walnut Gate. The maps were printed at 1:15,000 scale for all courses. Once maps were printed, there was no chance of making any map corrections. A risk with the Letraset was that the symbols could come off or move when the map sheets were handled. There was one 24 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

misplaced termite mound on the Walnut Gate map. Before the event, the errant termite mound was covered with branches and a new mound created in the correct place! Course setters and vetters were Bob Smith, Joan Jenkins, Peter Nicholls, Brian Wale, Basil Baldwin and Gil Hollamby.

Competitors wore chest numbers, were allocated start times and had pre-printed maps with control descriptions on the maps (in English, as IOF symbols were not yet popular). Control descriptions were also available at registration. The courses were individually overprinted using a large stamp pad, which often resulted in control circles not being perfectly centred over the feature. Starts were 2 min apart. After the race, maps were collected and held until the last person had started. Timing was with digital clocks but Ron Larsson also successfully trialled an electronic timing system, using a small microprocessor, the first time that digital timing was used in Australia. Punch-cards with pin punches on control stands were used to check whether competitors had visited the appropriate controls. Punch-cards were manually checked in the finish tent, a major task requiring many helpers.

There were 534 entries, all of which were manually written in an exercise book by Jean Baldwin. Event programmes and results were sent by Australia Post to all entrants. Age classes were M/W 12, 13, 15, 17, 21A, B and C, 35A and B, 43A and B, 50 and, the oldest class, 56. There were also Short and Long Novice courses. Course lengths ranged from 1.5 to 10 km. Combined results for the three days showed Madeleine Sevior winning the W21A course in 167 min 55 s, closely followed by Jenny Bourne.

Maurice Ongania won the M21A course in 174 min 27 s, very closely followed by Warren Key, Steve Key, Geoff Lawford and Rob Vincent.

A student from Roseworthy College conducted some studies on the impact of the event on vegetation and soils in the area, focussing on control sites. As the weather was dry, impact on the soil was negligible, but also very little damage was noted on the vegetation. The land used for the finish and final controls on the third day was owned by Mr E Lynch, the warden of the local youth hostel. He and Basil Baldwin looked at the finish area after the event. Mr Lynch was amazed and delighted that there was no litter just some tyre marks in the dusty soil. The event area and maps were used for many subsequent events.

The emergence of Sledge JASON MCCRAE RESEARCH AND ARCHIVE RETRIEVAL BY DAVE SEARLE

There are many significant times and dates in history when the world changed. When time stood still. Or perhaps sped up. When life as humanity knew it was changed forever. ne moment when none of these things happened was 11:31am on the 30th of January 2001 – when an email was sent that was, not that we realised, the birth of M21AS Sledge. At that time, while most likely bored at work and contemplating my athletic demise, I sent the email below to several orienteering mates (Andy Simpson, Paul Marsh, Jonno McComb, Rob Plowright, Gareth Prosser and Dave Searle).

O

Sledgers, Daylesford 2001. Dawso (Damian Dawson), Ferg (Fergus Fitzwater), Paul (Paul Heiskanen), Dudbandit (Jonno McComb), Jmc1 (Jason McCrae), Undy (Andy Simpson), Prosser (Gareth Prosser), Searlo (Dave Searle), Stix (Paul Marsh), Headbandit (Dave Colls), Mr April (Darren Meeking), Peppster (Wayne Pepper), Schlock (Matt Sherlock), Burnett (Ant Burnett), Mounty (Richard Mountstephens), Dreaded (John Shelton Agar), Gregson (Mark Gregson). Photo by Anthony Darr.

Subject: Nemises Dear Nemiseseses Easter entry form time is closing fast. What class were all you fellows intending to enter for our bi-annual battle of egos?

There is no hint of length on the entry form. 21A seems appropriate but could be a long way over 3 days which makes AS more attractive (as it was last year). Any responses/ thoughts? jase ps - apologies to those who think they are above me and should not be receiving this email. If you are one of these people then I think you should reassess your self-confidence levels and spend some time in the room of mirrors.

From there Sledge grew quickly with many contributions, nicknames, time wasted at work ‘researching’ the internet, an email list (when email lists were still a thing), a website, a punters’ guide to Sledge competitors and printed t-shirts with various in-jokes on it such as ‘Hear the call of the Burger Pipe’ – a reference to a particular type of fat-laden burger that was recommended diet for the Sledger (note don’t google Burger Pipe now to see what it is – I just did and let’s just say it’s no longer a high fat burger in the shape of a hot dog!)

Peak Sledge for my involvement was 2002 Easter at Goulburn with 74 entries in M21AS, falling short of the aimed for 100 entries in the class, but still a great achievement. 2002 was also the commencement of the boxer shorts modelled on the Tour de France jerseys with the following categories listed in that year’s Form Guide:

pps - for those of you who think you shouldn't be receiving this coz you’re not as good as me - your right. I'm just sending this email to you to make you feel better.

Yellow. Looks way too fit for M21AS? Overall leader wears the ‘golden boy’.

I’m still not sure what the plural of nemesis is but I think the original email has captured quite well what Sledge has turned out to be – a way for those who don’t want to (or can’t!) compete at the elite level, who are too old for juniors and too young for masters classes, but who want to still enjoy and be competitive in their orienteering and enjoy the social connection that sport (orienteering) can bring. Looking back I particularly like the ‘PS’ and the ‘PPS’ in the email as the commencement of Sledge style banter.

Green / sprinter. Saving it for the chute? The fastest finish split wears green.

After a series of no doubt witty emails amongst the group, and the addition of Fergus Fitzwater and John Shelton Agar to the list, the following email summarised the group’s decision to enter M21AS at Easter 2001, and thus the birth of Sledge as a class at the Australian 3-Days.

Subject: Re: Nemises well on the basis of such responses it appears AS is the G-O. I have already begun my training by eating a caramel slice for lunch and declaring today a rest day. I will be out to reach the pinnacle of my career as DS did in WA. jmc student in banditism studying under Grand Master Prosser (NB jmc is Jason McCrae, DS is Dave Searle and Grand Master Prosser is Gareth Prosser. Also DS won M21AS at Easter 1993 in Western Australia).

Polka dots / KOM. Carrying a bit extra? The fastest DOWNHILL leg wears the polka dots.

Red / lanterne rouge. Packing up the finish tent? The ‘lanterne rouge’ wears red.

Purple / Sledger. Looks like a classic has been? The ‘ideal Sledger’ is the one who runs the closest daily time to Darren Meeking. The winner wears purple.

Dark blue / O.M.G.H.C. Never going orienteering again? Dark blue for the biggest mistake/sob story/excuse. If no real cracker mistakes – voted by the crowd.

Black / forget the G.C. The black boxers are awarded to the Sledger who drops a few places.

Subsequent Easter organisers have contributed greatly to Sledge with additions such as a mass start for Sledgers on day 1, special information in the Easter program, presentations of the boxers at the end of each day, and the legendary annual photo in front of the port-a-loos all added to Sledge.

In my opinion, Sledge has been a great addition to the Australian 3-Days providing an all-ages category for those who want to enjoy orienteering, be competitive (be that battling for fastest finish chute split or trying to beat Joe Bloggs from the other side of the country into 17th place) and have fun in sport.

There is no chance that, when I sent that original email, I thought it would evolve into Sledge and still exist 23 years later, but I’m glad it does.

Editor’s note: the plural of ‘nemesis' is ‘nemeses’. Happy email writing.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 25

Fragment of Telegraph Station map.

Orienteering in Alice Springs.

Fragment of Alice Springs Desert Park map.

NSW King’s Birthday June Long Weekend Whopper Triple Challenge Three quite different areas: three different event formats and another chance to go to Breakfast Creek!

8/9/10 June 2024 The Rylstone area: on the scenic western edge of the wonderful Blue Mountains between Lithgow and Mudgee. The region is a mix of open farming, great running spur gully forests, and rocky outcrops including some boulders the size of a house, plus the occasional pagoda.

Accommodation: A full range of short-term accommodation is available. However, do book now because that long weekend will be busy. The campsite offered at last year’s NSW Champs may be available, but this is yet to be confirmed.

All 3 days: NSW State League events, each approved for 1:7,500 maps.

Day 1: A ‘short’ event (for want of a better word) on Rylstone Common at the edge of town using a map that has been extended to include a section never used before and is ISOM 2017-2 compliant. It will have been six years since the area was used.

To be clear, this ‘short’ course will NOT be a ‘sprint’, not the least because the area was mapped using IOF bush symbols. The event will be on a somewhat ‘busy’ map commanding a style of middle-distance coursesetting. Yet, some of the map features are closer in sentiment to long-distance course-setting and thus require fewer controls. We will abide by the 2024 overarching OA Rules that include a racedistance category called

‘other’, hence our coining of the term ‘short’. And, after driving a long way to Rylstone Common will you not want a course that at least sounds ‘short’?

Day 2 will offer a long distance event at Dungaree State Forest, 15 km north west of Rylstone. The area has not been used for about a decade, and fortunately was not affected by the big fires a few years ago. Dungaree is classic open spur-gully type orienteering terrain, with relatively limited rock which is confined almost exclusively to some of the gullies. This map will also be ISOM 2017-2 compliant.

Day 3 will be held at Breakfast Creek 18 km north of Rylstone, the area used for last year’s NSW Championships. The assembly area will be different to last year so that everyone will be heading into the unknown.

This final day of the King’s Birthday Whopper Triple Challenge will be a middle distance event and will indeed be a challenge! The area will likely be rested after this event, so don’t miss it…

Rylstone Common.

Dungaree State Forest.

Breakfast Creek.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27

Link to quiz / survey / post-print corrections HANIA LADA

Follow this link to post-print corrections, quiz and survey on one form. Check out what mistakes in the current edition have been discovered too late, feel free to attempt some or all quiz questions, and provide data by completing the survey. https://forms.gle/oCa3bZVB6iSWGfLTA

Spot the difference What are the five main differences between the two maps?

Word search Find the words for ‘map’ in different languages in the puzzle: carte (French), harta (Albanian), mapa (Polish, Czech, Spanish), kaart (Estonian, Dutch), kart (Norwegian), karta (Swedish, Croatian), karte (German), kartta (Finnish), kort (Danish, Icelandic), naksha (Hindi), peta (Indonesian, Malay), ramani (Swahili), térkép (Hungarian).

Words can go in any direction and they can share letters.

Quiz 1. On the map above what does the purple thick line at 9C indicate?

A. Best approach to the control.

B. Barrier you cannot cross.

C. Entrance to a tunnel.

2. What does the blue route choice on the map above involve?

A. Going through a tunnel at 9A, making a mistake at 9B, going too far east.

B. Going on the stairs at 9A, making a mistake at 9B, going too far east.

C. Going on the stairs at 9A, running on overpass, turning and running through the tunnel at 9B. D. Going through a tunnel at 9A, running on overpass, turning and running through the tunnel at 9B.

28 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 29

Waiting to start.

2024

Au s tra lian Mo un t a i n B i k e O r i e nt e e r i n g Ca r n ival a nd C ha m p i o n sh i p s

C a n ber ra A CT

We are thrilled to welcome all orienteers to the 2024 Australian MTBO Carnival & Championships, which will take place in and around Canberra on 17-20 OCTOBER, at the rich and beautiful land of Ngunnawal People.

We are preparing a palette of different terrains to ensure that you will experience a wide variety of hilly and spectacular landscapes, amazing ACT Nature parks and the most scenic MTB areas.

The Orienteering ACT MTBO team is very glad to welcome you to a vibrant celebration of Mountain Bike Orienteering and is thankful for your contribution to making it the largest MTBO Championships and Carnival in Australian history!

We are thrilled to welcome a strong cohort of New Zealand MTBOers and host the 2024 Australia-New Zealand Challenge along with the first round of 2025 World Masters MTBO Series.

We aim to arrange an MTBO Carnival which is very Family & Kids & Beginners friendly! MTBO Carnival classes will be designed to be enjoyable for Beginners and First-comers! We aim to use this Carnival to bring many more new people to Mountain Bike Orienteering in Australia, which will develop our sport for future generations.

We are hoping it will be a memorable and very enjoyable MTBO Carnival and Championships!

We will be thrilled to see you in Canberra on 17-20th October 2024.

Marina Iskhakova, Event Director on behalf of OACT MTBO Team

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 31

URBAN O

Summer Shorts – Bridging the gap

Lillydale Lakeside Course 2 Medium

DEBBIE DODD, DANDENONG RANGES ORIENTEERING CLUB

V

ictoria’s two most successful newcomer series, prior to 2020, have been MelBushO, and Sprint Into Spring. While MelBushO returned in 2022 (as soon as we were able to run a proper winter orienteering program without disruption), Sprint Into Spring has remained in hibernation, as after seven years, the organising team wanted to step back.

Meanwhile, Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club realised that it owned several colour maps of large urban parks, which weren’t really working as MelBushO maps. These were languishing in limbo as we lacked a format where they could be put to their best use. So, with a gap in the calendar during October and November, and a group of under-utilised maps, we put two and two together, and came up with our Summer Shorts series.

Why shorts? Short-distance orienteering has been largely superseded by sprints; yet it has an appeal to newcomers and younger orienteers who aren’t quite ready for the complexities of a campus map, or the pressure of fast-paced competition. It also allows use of colour park and urban maps that are not complex enough to meet sprint requirements, nor large or ‘bushy’ enough to appeal to forest aficionados. They offer an easy crossover from MelBushO, and allowed us to bridge the calendar gap by extending our Sunday events schedule beyond September.

We carefully selected four maps, and fixtured them on four consecutive weekends. We called them Summer Shorts, taking liberties with the traditional seasonal dates, and hoping the weather would match the branding (for all but the first event, happily it did). Each event offered three course lengths, choice of start times, Sportident punching, full colour maps, pre-entry or entry on the day, and coaching for newcomers – sticking to the successful MelBushO formula. Course setting was sprint style, ie lots of legs of varying lengths, route choice and direction changes, but in mostly natural rather than built environments. Winning times were approximately 20-25 min.

The maps were sequenced to be more complex each week, and the series was promoted as ideal preparation for the Victorian Primary Schools Championships, the Melbourne City Race, and the Victorian Sprint Championships – providing participants with one or more goals to work towards. With Orienteering Victoria appointing Sophie Taverna as its social media officer, we were able to use Facebook and Instagram - this worked really well, with many newcomers telling us they’d found us on social media. It also helped that all our venues had great adventure playgrounds, which appealed to our target audience!

By the second event, it was apparent that we’d hit on a successful formula, as new families were turning up in droves – we were run off our feet! And they kept coming back - the return rate was really high, even though the venues weren’t particularly close geographically. Many kids came along to gain experience prior to the Primary Schools Championships, beyond what they were being 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

given at the participating schools. We encouraged a progression from the easy course to the harder ones, which resulted in excited kids and proud parents, motivating them to complete the series.

For the final week, we prepared ‘What’s Next’ handout packs, with stickers, flyers, and information about upcoming events. These were well received, and we were very pleased to see that entries flowed over into the Melbourne City Race, and the Victorian Sprint Champs. We also noticed that the kids were building friendships by playing or picnicking together afterwards.

The Summer Shorts were a great opportunity for junior courseplanners to get involved – we had Sally Barlow, James Love and Milla Key take on the job for three of the events, with Ricky Thackray planning the fourth. All of them did a fantastic job. Our club also used the series to encourage members to volunteer in various roles, and to learn more about the technical and organisational requirements of orienteering events. We worked really well together as a team, and were very proud of the outcome after the four weeks. The success of the first season of Summer Shorts will see an expanded series this year, with two more clubs coming on board.

As travel to traditional forest areas becomes ever more expensive and time consuming, both for volunteers and participants, 2024 sees a shift in focus in Victoria, to ‘localising’ our Melbourne and regional series. This means holding orienteering events within the bounds of Melbourne more often, during more of the year; which in turn requires smarter use of existing and potential new locations that are both mappable and accessible. As we start to think differently about what sort of orienteering works in a large, sprawling, car-dependent city, where families are looking for outdoor activities that fit in with their other commitments, formats such as Summer Shorts will appear more regularly on our calendars.

Aislinn Prendergast.

Tag zone.

COACHING AND PARTICIPATION

Learn to Orienteer: ready to rollout nationwide DANIEL STOTT

O

rienteering Australia has been creating a beginner participation program. Learn to Orienteer has been developed from an initial Victorian trial with input from representatives of each state. Valuable information was gained from the pilots run in 2023 and now Learn to Orienteer is ready to be run throughout Australia.

We have created a systematic way of learning how to orienteer. Over a series of weeks participants learn the fundamental skills of orienteering in a supportive and fun environment. The aim is to teach each skill explicitly and then practise it. Each session finishes with a chance to put the new skills together on an orienteering course.

Flexible Through the development and pilot process, we realised Learn to Orienteer needs to be flexible so every club in Australia can run a program. Clubs have the autonomy to tailor the program to their

specific requirements, whether adjusting the number of sessions, participant fees, or the sequence of skills taught. We want Learn to Orienteer to be responsive to the participants’ abilities and the unique features of each map.

Sustainable A key objective of the Learn to Orienteer project is to establish a sustainable model. Participants should be charged a fee, enabling coaches to be compensated (we found participants were very happy to pay). Helpful resources have been developed to cut down preparation and organising time (delivery guide, activity cards, templates…). Once established, a local program can be replicated again and again.

Connections A major success of Learn to Orienteer will be if we connect newcomers into club participation. This can be done by having a consistent friendly coach, coinciding with a regular series, include membership with the registration fee and having more than five sessions.

Look out for a Learn to Orienteer program near you soon! Or maybe you could consider working with your club or state to run a Learn to Orienteer for your friends and local community.

Learn to Orienteer pilot WENDY TAVERNA (CENTRAL HIGHLANDS ORIENTEERS)

D

uring Sunday mornings in October and November 2023, four CHOC club members piloted a four-week variation of the OA Learn to Orienteer program in the Woodend Parklands and local secondary school campus. This program led into our summer twilight series with the aim to transition participants new to orienteering to try our club events.

Despite temperatures not reaching double digits some weeks, 12 local participants enthusiastically joined in a range of activities to develop and master fundamental orienteering skills, even if the footwear of choice some weeks were gumboots.

Each session ran for an hour and started off with a warm-up exercise, for example using a small map of coloured cones with the aim to move along them in the correct sequence while practicing orientating and thumbing the map. This was followed by activities to practise key foundational skills including understanding the map symbols, orientation to surrounding features, linear features and attack points to locate controls. At the end of each week a short course (cloverleaf, scatter or line) was used to allow further practice and consolidation of the weekly target skill.

We decided to use SI controls for the program which had lots of positive feedback from participants, and the printouts gave additional information for the coaches to use and discuss with participants.

Initially we used 1:2000 map scale to assist reading and interpreting the

Me and orienteering LAUREL JOHNSON

I

’ve been an orienteer for a relatively short amount of time – I was taken through my initial paces at Park and Street events by Lauris Stirling, just before the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic hit in 2020. She was a great first teacher, and I also got some excellent intro to bush orienteering from Laurie Niven.

More recently, I participated in a couple of Central Highlands Orienteers’ Learn to Orienteer activities, which I really enjoyed and found useful in improving my ‘technique’ in a number of areas, even though I had been orienteering for some time already. It would be great if more clubs were able to offer the same kind of activities – Central Highlands’ areas are accessible from Melbourne, but more local clubs offering the same/similar activities would be great.

I live in Clifton Hill, so I’m spoiled for choice taking my morning walk, but I like the variety of locations/levels of difficulty Park and Street provides – I’ve come to know some beautiful places in and around

map symbols, and over the weeks we changed the scale to 1:4000 to increase the complexity of the map to understand and distance needed to cover during the drills. Having a similar start and finish area for the first three sessions gave participants increased confidence where to return to, and encouraged older children to attempt some of the activities on their own.

Our last session was held at a bush secondary school campus enabling us to challenge and extend participants’ skills at a different venue and encourage them to combine what they had learnt. This was successful with many returning to complete more than one course on the day.

The benefit of the Learn to Orienteer program was having resources that were easily adaptable to teach a range of abilities and ages including adults, teenagers and children at the same time. The advantage of having the same participants each week allowed us to progress at a pace suitable to everyone’s learning and physical abilities, and it was great fun getting to know each other too. I would encourage all clubs to consider how a Learn to Orienteer program could be adapted and used to support new participants learn our sport and develop the confidence to participate in orienteering events.

Melbourne that I never knew were there – sometimes I go back to one of those places on the weekend just because it was such a nice place for a stroll.

I looked into orienteering as a way to get out and about with likeminded people – both for the exercise and the social aspects. I also thought it would be a great activity to have as a hobby going into retirement – I’m only 60 but being at home a lot during COVID made me think about how I would get out of the house regularly when I stop working.

I also had an earlier ‘orienteering-adjacent’ experience with Hash House Harriers during the time I worked in China prior to migrating to Australia. At that time, I was an avid runner so, again, enjoyed it from that standpoint, but also the social connections I made.

I am not competitive, and never have been, so that aspect of orienteering doesn’t figure in why I like it – although the idea of going to Finland one day to witness/be a part of one of those incredible mass starts does appeal! Orienteering is a firm fixture (pun intended) of my lifestyle now, and I hope to get more involved in its organisational aspects as well; in particular, I would love to learn course setting.

COACHING AND PARTICIPATION IN POLAND

Coaching and development in Tricity (Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia) European tour – stop one, Poland Club: PKO Harpagan, Gdańsk LUKE BENNETT

Based on an article from CompassSport Magazine, Vol.44/5 - OCT23 issue

W

e will be taking a deep dive into how clubs in other countries engage with juniors, and develop them into top athletes. PKO Harpagan is a sports club located in Gdańsk, northern Poland.

Whilst hosting many local and regional events, they are most famous internationally for hosting the annual ‘Gdańsk City Race’ weekend around the streets of Gdańsk and the surrounding areas. I first came across Harpagan when I attended the Gdańsk City Race in 2022. My first impression was that they were a very big, organised and ultimately successful club. I enjoyed the races very much and so returned this year for the 2023 Sopot and Gdańsk City races. I was becoming more familiar with the club and began talking to some of their juniors. It was evident that they had all been very well trained and have experienced a very high standard of coaching within the club. As I spoke to them more over the weekend, I was made aware that one of their juniors had even represented the Polish National Team at EYOC this year!

Upon my return to England, I began to research how the club grew and developed their juniors (and the club in general) so much in a relatively short space of time (the club was established in 2005).

Whilst junior development in the UK is heavily reliant on the brilliant work of Junior Regional Orienteering Squads ( JROS) and the regional squads, Polish clubs have to rely on largely their own strategies to develop juniors. Firstly though, and perhaps the biggest problem is attracting juniors in the first place. In Polish schools, they have specialist coaches from football and volleyball clubs who bring juniors from schools into those clubs, and so orienteering, being a naturally small sport, misses out on a number of juniors.

One thing Harpagan does though, to tackle this issue is hosting weekly family events called ‘Harpuś’. These events are open to everyone of any skill or experience level, but mostly aimed at younger juniors and families just looking to stay active and outdoors in the countryside over the weekend. Whilst there is a small entry fee [1 złoty (40 cents) for under 4s, and 10 złoty ($4) for other juniors], it is still very affordable to anyone and is cheaper than a lot of other options like going to the cinema or playing for a football club. Their coach, Maciej, said that it gives the event a value as the families are investing their money and time into the event, which gives the event a better reputation than something that is completely free. There is plenty of coaching for newcomers, and longer courses for the more experienced. After juniors have been to a few events and gained some experience, they are recommended to join the club.

The club also use their social media very well to reach out to people across the city, and publish articles on local news websites, informing people of the sport, upcoming events and what the club has to offer to members [local residents get free entry to ‘Harpuś’ events].

Unlike most British clubs, where there will be only one coach within the whole club, Harpagan have a different coach for the different age groups so the juniors are able to connect with a coach who is more personal to them. Juniors have the opportunity to be coached right from when they join at M/W10 level, however, their policy is that orienteering should not be completely competitive until M/ W16 and so the youngest juniors are just encouraged to join in with as many group sessions as they like. Having this opportunity for the youngest juniors helps them to feel involved with the club right from the start which motivates them to engage with the training and return to events.

36 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

Starting them young. Photo from PKO Harpagan.

Harpagan offer a lot to their juniors on a weekly basis which is a massive factor leading to their success as a club. On Tuesdays, they have gym sessions aimed at the more experienced members. Not only does this develop the athletes and improve their strength which can then be used in a race, it brings the club together more and creates more of a ‘team’ feeling when everyone is exercising in the same room. On Thursdays, they have sessions with an O map and work on technical training, whilst these sessions are usually held in a park or around the city of Gdańsk, it is a chance for the younger and less experienced members to gain experience with a map outside of a race. There is also sometimes training on the weekend, and younger juniors are encouraged to compete at the ‘Harpuś’ events.

Once juniors reach M/W16/18, the training is focussed on competing for places in major competitions. Before this, they would have only had experience at local and regional events with about 100-400 entries (similar to entry numbers in the UK), with the maximum being the Polish Championship events where there will be around 900 people. One of the biggest opportunities for their juniors was their tour to Sweden [in 2022]. Part of the aim of this trip was to show the juniors how big orienteering was in Scandinavia, and every night, they would do a quiz on elite orienteers. By the end of the trip, they were familiar with orienteers like Tove Alexanderson, Gustav Bergman and Kasper Fosser, which I believe is so important as it gives juniors a role model and someone to aspire to be. Not only this, but it shows that there is a path to the top, and orienteering isn’t just a local, recreational sport.

The climax of the week was when their juniors competed in the famous TioMila relay. Maciej told me it was a fantastic opportunity for the juniors to experience an elite competition on elite terrain.

Currently they are building contacts with OK Orion in order to arrange more training weeks in Sweden in the future.

It is evident that Harpagan puts a lot of time into engaging with and training juniors, and it must feel very rewarding when one of their juniors, Stanisław Drapella, was selected to represent the Polish National team at EYOC in Bulgaria earlier [in 2023]. Not only this, but he came fifth in the individual sprint, tenth in the long distance and he ran the first leg of the Polish relay team that came third! These results are incredible and it really goes to show that when clubs put the effort into developing their juniors and creating a fun environment where juniors want to go orienteering, then fantastic results like this can be achieved!

I would like to thank Maciej and Dominika for telling me about how their club runs behind the scenes, and it definitely answers the question I had in Gdańsk when I wondered how their juniors were so good! PKO Harpagan is clearly a very organised club with a fantastic structure and strategy for recruitment for development,

Winter training camp 2023.

Photo by Azymut 45.

Summer training camp 2020.

On the left Grzegorz Porzycz, nephew of JWOC 1991 gold medallist Janusz Porzycz.

Photo by Azymut 45.

Course of the Year 2023 World Orienteering Championships middle distance final COURTESY OF WORLD OF O

very varied middle distance course in Switzerland is the ‘Orienteering Course of the Year 2023’ – the women’s course in the World Orienteering Championships middle distance final! The course really challenged the competitors – with some very tricky orienteering at the start, a challenging route-choice leg, and some faster but still challenging orienteering towards the end.

A

To top it off, the area is truly spectacular – and with a multiple world champion among the two course setters. A very worthy winner!

Long and sprint course of the year The ‘Long distance Course of the Year 2023’ was a very interesting – and maybe somewhat surprising – entry, the Japan Orienteering Championships long distance (overall second) which many readers of World of O got to know well during the Route to Christmas series. The ‘Sprint Course of the Year 2023’ was all the way down in 13th place, the Penamacor International Orienteering Meeting 2023 Sprint.

World Orienteering Championships 2023 middle distance final

Interview with course setters: Simone Niggli and Urs Steiner Q: What was your overall plan for how you wanted to challenge the athletes on this course?

At the very beginning, it must be said that we were very blessed with the terrain, which is quite unique. Not too difficult to set a nice middle distance course, is it? Of course, it was not that easy, and we really tried to give our best to challenge the athletes with an interesting course that included both technical tricky controls and route choices combined with change of speed. We wanted to have a difficult beginning of the course and use the most runnable parts of the terrain. It should be a course that the athletes enjoy running and remember as a highlight of the orienteering year 2023. And of course, the course should be fair so that the best ones win.

Q: Did you have any special worries about the courses in the morning of ‘the big day’?

As we were very well prepared and had a great teamwork, there was not that much to worry about beside the normal nervosity for such a big event. We were a bit unsure about the winning times.

We predicted them to be somewhat longer [than the guidelines], but [by] how much? Most concerns in the last days were about the

Course-setting team. From left to right Matthias Niggli (technical director), Urs Steiner (cartographer, course setter), Simone Niggli (course setter), Bruno Haldemann (course setter), Stefan Zingg (course setter).

water level of the lake Cauma. When we checked out the terrain in May, the water level was very low and we thought that the runners could run along the lakeside to the TV control at the corner of the lake. Even the locals were surprised when the water level was that much higher only some days later, and they told us that we could not know what it would look like in July. So we followed the developments and were lucky when the water level remained stable after having printed the maps.

Q: Did requirements from TV or media give you any special restrictions which made it more tricky to make a good course?

We had a good collaboration with TV right from the beginning and therefore the concepts were discussed early. There were quite a lot of discussions about the first TV control (control 5) where we didn’t get our favourite variant, but in the end we were all happy with the result.

The longer passage along the lake was a topic as well. In our course-setter team, we first had some dreams about a floating bridge crossing the lake in order to get a shorter running passage (and to get some nice pictures).

Due to logistical and financial reasons the dream didn’t come true.

Q: What is your favourite leg on the course – and why?

Simone: I have a favourite hill where my favourite control (control 9) and favourite leg (leg 9-10) are placed. The terrain around controls 7 to 10 is fantastic, a paradise in the forest! It’s not the most technical part but you can run so smoothly in this area that it is pure pleasure. Originally, we placed control 9 in the northern reentrance which would have been even nicer, but due to a fallen tree we could not put the control there after all.

Urs: Leg 9-10 is an interesting one because there is some micro route choice, and it becomes quite dense into the control which makes it challenging to attack the control. Even after having been there several times, we got some troubles finding the right knoll there.

Q: Did you get any surprises with respect to which routechoices were fastest or where the athletes made mistakes?

We were surprised that so many athletes missed the first control. Actually, we thought that the women’s first control should not cause many problems but of course the beginning of a race is always special and really important.

Leg 1 route choices.

We were very happy to see that there were so many different routes on the long leg to control 4 where execution was crucial, and you should use the runnable parts.

Leg 4 route choices.

Leg 16-17 was another small route choice but as expected there was only one runner going straight. But you could gain some time going out of control 16 by running north-east and avoid some climbing. It was not that easy to put a longer leg in this terrain, and we were aware that the teams would prepare well. But we hope that we gave them something to think about.

Controls 6 to 10.

Q: Did you personally like the men’s or women’s course best?

Urs: I like the beginning of the men’s course somewhat more, but the middle part of the women’s course is better in my opinion.

Simone: – I don’t have a favourite course and I’m happy to say that!

The only advantage with men’s course is that you can run longer in this fantastic terrain! As with women’s course, I like the beginning of the course which is really demanding. In fact, we expected more problems for the athletes with the first control in the men’s race than in women’s race, but the opposite was the case. I really like the third control of men’s course; it is difficult as it is quite dense around the control and precise map-reading is needed.

Q: When did you start planning the courses for WOC middle – and how many hours do you think you spent on it? Can you take us through part of the planning process?

Two years before [the race], we got the updated map and started intensively with course setting. Before that, we had a lot of talks about the concepts of the races. As we had only one arena, we had to arrange the courses of long, middle and relay around the arena in a good way. For the middle distance, it was quite obvious that we should use the tricky part around Lake Cauma, but it was not easy to reach the arena in the last part. We had a big advantage that the mapper (Urs Steiner) was in the course setter team. I (Simone) was several times stunned about how he managed to map this difficult area in a good and readable way. A real piece of art!

We walked around in the terrain for a lot of hours, discussing the best spots for the controls. And in the evening Urs remembered all the details he wanted to correct on the map. We had quite soon a good basic concept, and then it was most about finding the best control sites and involving TV production. We spent a lot of time with the passage around the lake in order to get nice TV pictures while not only [featuring] road running and easily readable legs on the map. Every time we worked in the forest we were happy about the beautiful terrain, and we were eager to share it with the best orienteering athletes in the world.

It was a pleasure to work with the team (Stefan, Bruno and Matthias beside the two of us), because all had their thoughts and inputs and there was always good chemistry in our meetings.

During the last two years, we spent several hours fine tuning the courses, not counting the hours just mentally working on them in the bed or during training sessions.

Thanks a lot for the interview, Simone and Urs. And again congratulations for a great course and a fantastic job!

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 39

TECHNOLOGY

Sports watches COURTESY OF SWISS ORIENTEERING MAGAZINE 07-2023 TRANSLATION BY SUSI STRASSER

Pros: ‘Progress becomes visible and motivates’

N

owadays there is a wide range of sports watches on the market. I am myself the proud owner of a clear ‘watch imprint’ and the only time I don't have the watch on my wrist must have been in quarantine at international competitions where they are not allowed. ‘A training is only done when it is recorded’ is a saying that keeps coming back. For targeted and controlled training, it is important to have control over the training intensity and duration. With a sports watch you receive immediate feedback during training and even after training, results can usually be viewed in an app, which can serve as a training diary. For me, the most important thing is to be able to analyse after intervals or fast training how fast I was going and whether the intensity (heart rate) was right in order to be able to draw conclusions for further training.

It is also an interesting tool for amateur athletes that can be used to track progress.

In order to be able to complete a controlled training program, a watch is necessary to monitor the time and intensity.

Cons: ‘Intuition remains important’

I

n so many things, we always strive for the maximum in sport. For some it is the next victory, for others it is surviving the next long distance in their own category without suffering the next day due to sore muscles. As long as we can compete in orienteering, which we hope will be the case for a long time, we will remain trapped in this need to optimise. The idea that the data collected by sports watches is helpful in getting the most out of something is widespread. Despite all the advantages, the possible negative aspects are sometimes forgotten. It is therefore worth taking a critical look at wearing a sports watch. The weighing up of the advantages and disadvantages also depends on your own performance level. The closer your own level gets to a world championship title, the more the pendulum swings in the direction of advantages. However, a clear majority have other goals and emulate their own idols and the world's best. Maybe that's why we all too often come to the

40 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

What are the advantages of a sports watch in orienteering?

For orienteers, the GPS function is certainly important for evaluation after training and competitions (on platforms such as Livelox). On the one hand, to learn from mistakes, on the other hand, also to see what you are already doing well.

Furthermore, I often use the rate function on the watch to navigate through unfamiliar training areas when I don't have a map at hand. Recording sporting activities with a timer is a huge plus for motivation if progress can be tracked 1:1 and made visible, motivation also increases. You will receive feedback after or even during the training and see what you have done.

For the nerds among us, certain models also offer options that offer features helping to monitor recovery. For example, with my Coros Apex 2 I can measure my heart rate variability (HRV) every morning before I get up and see immediately whether I am sufficiently recovered to complete a quick workout.

In conclusion, it can be said that a watch is necessary if you want to consciously control and analyse your training in order to

conclusion that digitally recording your own training is the right way.

For me, sport has two different functions: on the one hand it is about improving one's fitness, on the other hand it is also a mental balance and a moment of calm in a hectic everyday life. For both aspects, I see benefits when I stop wearing a sports watch. It makes it easier for me to enjoy the moment outside, to experience fresh air without distraction, and to let my thoughts flow freely.

In my opinion, the sports watch increases the pressure to reach a certain pace or a given distance. Escape from this pressure can, in addition to increased well-being, also help with the training itself. You learn to listen to your own body, interpret the various signals and trust your intuition. This helps, perhaps even more effectively than the sports watch with all its data, to detect impending illnesses or possible overload at an early stage. Especially when returning to training after a long break from injury or newly found motivation, wearing a sports watch can create pressure and false incentives. Because if you have moved away from your own goals or previous

achieve a set goal. I see GPS and heart rate measurement as the most important functions. So a lot can be achieved with a simple watch.

Simona Aebersold.

Photo by Remy Steinegger.

Simona Aebersold comes from Brügg near Biel and is a member of the Swiss Orienteering A squad. The successful athlete has already won several European Championships and World Cup medals and crowned her career with the gold medal over the long distance at the home World Championships in 2023 in Flims Laax.

The 25-year-old is studying sport, psychology and educational sciences at the University of Bern.

performance level, you can run more freely and effectively without the constant reminder of mileage and heart rate. As is so often the case in life, in the end the journey remains the destination.

Andrin Way. Photo from Swiss Orienteering Magazine 07-2023.

Andrin Wey grew up in Zürich, is a member of the Zürich Regional Court and came into contact with orienteering as a child, with his family. After years of training in the Zürich/Schaffhausen regional squad, he still enjoys participating in competitions or in international multisport events during his holidays. After completing his bachelor's degree in international relations, the 24-year-old is completing an internship in the area of legal advice for asylum seekers.

TECHNOLOGY

Exploring the intriguing technology behind orienteering so you can use it too!

Technology for orienteering: Mapping COACH TECHO (name known to the editor)

D

o you spend time trying to work out if your route choice was optimal, and marvel at the choices of the course setter?

Or do your eyes track around the map observing all the details and visualising what the terrain would look like?

The advanced features If you love studying maps, you’ll love making a map, and then you’ll love advancing your mapping skills! Following the IOF specifications is one such goal.

Importing GPS tracks can help if you want to map a bush area where the tree canopy covers the ground detail. Mastering the art of what to map and what to leave off is another worthy skill!

Courses can make orienteering fun and it was Coach Tech-O’s focus last issue. But orienteering maps are like the turf of the MCG, meticulously crafted… like a beautiful artwork.

Printed on the Aus Champs Long 2022 Nuggety Range map was the time it took to create the map: 233 h. We are privileged to have exceptional quality maps in Australia.

Some of these maps were made with the same, easy to use, technology that you can use too.

Have a go, help the orienteer Editing map.

the building symbol and draw the buildings.

Keep drawing and eventually you will see your map really come alive when you fill in the correct areas of yellow, green, brown and blue!

The program

Field checking

Two computer programs are used for mapping, OCAD and OpenOrienteering Mapper. Your club may have a subscription to OCAD. But if you are just starting out why not download OpenOrienteering Mapper today and start creating your own map masterpiece. It is another free program, like PurplePen discussed last issue.

A lot of the mapping can be done from your comfortable computer chair. But it is vital to map from the perspective of an orienteer travelling through the terrain. So enjoy the location as you walk through making notes, comparing to your draft map or taking lots of photos to use later.

The process Both programs are very similar (and simple) to use. There are three main processes: importing the base maps; using the symbols and colours to draw the map; and fieldchecking to check terrain and map.

Base maps

Choose a local park you want to map and then download your base maps. The better the base maps, the easier it will be for you.

It’s also good to define your boundaries and scale at this point so your map will fit on a page.

It is best to start with an OpenStreetMap portion by ‘exporting’ your selected map area and ‘Importing’ it into OpenOrienteering Mapper. The beauty of this template is that it is georeferenced, so the scale will be set correctly. You can set the declination by following the prompts.

Then save a satellite image from Google Earth. This can be opened as a template and lined up using the ‘Adjust’ or ‘Move by hand’ tools. Contour vectors from a local/ state government site or LIDAR data can also be used to make your mapping easier.

Drawing

Now the fun begins. You can select the green circle from the ‘Symbol window’ and place on top of every distinct tree. Select

An experienced Australian mapper says: ‘The course setter tries to challenge the orienteer, and the mapper tries to help the orienteer’. Your job is to interpret the terrain so the orienteer can quickly identify everything around them. Making an orienteering map is a fun and wonderful process, have a go and enjoy!

Editor’s note: If after downloading the OpenOrienteering Mapper you receive, on an Apple computer, the message ‘cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified’, see the following link www.lifewire.com/fixdeveloper-cannot-be-verified-error5183898

Finally, format your map by creating a title, border, scale, legend and your attribution details!

Letter Hugh Moore (placed tenth in M60 at WMOC 2008 in Portugal) have just read with interest the info on TBE on page 45 of the AO based on the IOF website info and copying the IOF material. You may not know that I contracted TBE at the Fin 5 in 2009, spent three months in Australia in hospital, had three code blue alerts when you are at imminent risk of death, had a brain seizure, had to learn to walk again and still have ongoing issues including with balance and nerves that have not repaired.

I

The IOF print is hard to read due to size and colour but most importantly the map shown is not consistent with the 2023 map info available via WANDA that shows more accurately the further spread of TBE. I wrote an article for the AO after I left hospital explaining that immunisation is available in Australia. Any reference to TBE in the AO should include info on how to get it.

I am no longer competitive due to my illness effects but now make maps.

Highlands at Easter was my latest.

Editor’s note The map of spread of TBE in Europe can be accessed by following the link below or using the QR code.

Permission to reproduce the map was sought but not received in time for this publication. https://www.wanda.be/en/a-z-index/ tick-borne-encephalitis-map-of-europe TBE vaccines in Australia. ’Safe and effective vaccines are available.

Vaccination is recommended only for people with a high risk of exposure. TBE vaccine is not registered in Australia, but a small stock of vaccine may be available for use under the special access scheme’ (prescribed as an unapproved therapeutic good by health practitioner). https://immunisationhandbook.health. gov.au/contents/vaccination-for-specialrisk-groups/vaccination-forinternational-travellers#vaccinatingtravellers-with-special-risk-factors

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 41

OA NEWS

OA statistician Darryl Erbacher interviews 2023 Silva Medal winner Euan Best Darryl: You had a magnificent win in the Silva Medal competition for 2023. Congratulations.

Euan: Thank you. I'm quite surprised but honoured to have achieved it.

D: Euan, you had nine wins from nine national events. To what do you attribute your remarkable consistency?

E: My pre-race routine - many trips to the portaloos. But also lots of training and hard work and having two really encouraging coaches who have helped me to push myself, and alongside, friends and family have given me a supportive environment to continue my orienteering.

D: These events were conducted over a range of map types and distances. Do you have different techniques for and attitudes to each?

E: It's still in development but at the moment for sprints I concentrate on the technical aspect, doing a lot of running wilds, visualising the map etc, and then trying not to overthink things on race day. For a bush event I like to do a longer warmup and pay attention to the terrain as we drive in and on the walk to the start and I always make sure to avoid music as there is nothing worse than having random lyrics repeating in your head.

D: After physical training, how do you prepare for navigation prior to an event?

E: I used to (and still sort of do) find that my first event at a big carnival is always the one where I have my worst run, so to try and prevent that I like to find nearby maps and lightly jog a course to try and ease nerves and get my head in the right mindset.

D: Your best wins were in the Australian Three-Days. Do you particularly like that country? Do you like Hugh Moore's mapping?

E: Being from Tassie the low temperatures were definitely in my favour, but I also really enjoy open rocky terrain so day 3 and parts of days 1 and 2 were some of my favourite terrain types. Having easy-to-read mapping also helped.

D: While you comprehensively won over the Australians I note that some Kiwis were close to you at times (Jake McLellan piped you by 11 s in the Australian Sprint Championships). What plans do you have to rise above these runners? Do you have a coach?

E: Not entirely sure what they're eating over there but clearly I need to start eating a Kiwi diet, as they are very strong. My main focus at the moment is to simply just improve my orienteering.

New Zealand Orienteering Tour 1st-4th June 2024

Euan Best at 2023 Australian Schools Orienteering Championships Long in WA. Photo: Tom de Jongh, website PhotosByTom.com

D: Thanks for giving us some insights Euan. Congratulations again.

Orienteering Club is working hard to create a festival of quality orienteering in this spectacular region of NZ. Golden Bay, hidden corner of Aotearoa King's Birthday Golden Bay 2024 (oevents.nz)

NOTE: Logistics will be more complicated than in former years (and significantly more expensive). Meet up locations will be Christchurch or Nelson. Ground transport from these locations will be arranged.

Are you keen to test yourself on overseas terrain, to set yourself the challenge of competing in a large field of junior orienteers on maps you have never run before? Are you seriously hungry to develop your orienteering skills this year and to make new friends? Orienteers 1417 years, are invited to join a group to travel to New Zealand and compete in the 2024 Kings Birthday events 1-4 June 2024.

This tour is endorsed by Orienteering Australia. Participants and supporting parent/guardians are expected to meet the requirements as described by the tour leader which will be in line with those set out for ASOC tours in respect of codes of conduct and OA child safeguarding policy.

Participants will be required to self-fund all aspects of this overseas tour (and hence significant notice for planning and fundraising time).

2024 King’s Birthday in Golden Bay | 1-3 June | Orienteering New Zealand

The events are located at Golden Bay, 6 hours north of Christchurch. The Nelson

42 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

A limited number of places will be available on this Tour to ensure adequate supervision and appropriate travel arrangements can be managed. The decision to include a person will not be based on performance but rather commitment to the sport, ability to meet financial obligations and availability of transport and accommodation space.

Interested juniors should provide a brief EOI (including approval from Parent/ Guardian) along with a current training plan as a demonstration of commitment.

NOTE: This tour will require a current passport, and overseas travel. It will likely require 3 days off school due to the event distance from an international airport (Christchurch or Wellington). Parents are welcome to join in with the Tour.

For more details contact Tour Leader Toni Brown totoni@iinet.net.au

OA NEWS

Orienteering Australia announces 2024 national squads OA would like to thank all of those athletes who nominated to be a part of the 2024 National Squads. We were very fortunate to have such a large group of athletes interested in being in a squad, which is a very promising sign for the next few years of elite orienteering in Australia.

High Performance Squad

We have two formal squads to announce, the High Performance Squad and the National Development Squad.

Those that are not named in the two squads will be included as a part of our ongoing communication channels and events, such as event preview zoom meetings. Please note that it is not necessary to be named in a squad to nominate for international teams, and athletes can apply to be a part of a squad at any time throughout the year if they believe they meet the eligibility criteria. We are very grateful to have the assistance of highly experienced and enthusiastic squad leaders, who will be contacting and working with the athletes within their squads.

National Development Squad

Nea Shingler, Emily Sorensen, Olivia Sprod, Caitlin Young Alastair George, Angus Haines, Patrick Jaffe, Aston Key, Brodie Nankervis, Ewan Shingler

Kate Braid, Gemma Burley, Zoe Carter, Mikayla Enderby, Erika Enderby, Mikaela Gray, Justine Hobson, Milla Key, Natalie Miller, Sophie Taverna, Liana Stubbs Torren Arthur, Oscar Brown, Toby Cazzolato, Cooper Horley, Jett McComb, Oskar Mella, Owen Radajewski, Niko Stoner, Jamie Woolford, Sam Woolford, Callum White

(20+ group) Mikayla Cooper, Michele Dawson, Abigail George, Julia Gannon Duncan Currie, Ryan Gray, Toby Lang, Ethan Penck, James Robertson, Leith Soden, David Stocks

Nea Shingler3

Emily Sorensen1

Olivia Sprod5

Caitlin Young1

Alastair George4

Angus Haines3

Patrick Jaffe1

Aston Key1

Brodie Nankervis3

Ewan Shingler3

Kate Braid2

Gemma Burley2

Zoe Carter3

Mikayla Enderby1

Erika Enderby3

Mikaela Gray1

Justine Hobson1

Milla Key3

Natalie Miller1

Sophie Taverna3

Liana Stubbs1

Torren Arthur1

Oscar Brown2

Toby Cazzolato1

Jett McComb2

Oskar Mella2

Owen Radajewski1

Niko Stoner2

Jamie Woolford2

Sam Woolford3

Callum White1

Cooper Horley2

Photo credits: 1 quentinjlang.com, 2 Graham Braid, 3 Tony Hill, 4 Petr Hap, 5 Kristina Lindgren.

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 43

Congratulations to Peta Whitford and Liz Bourne for receiving the Order of Australia Medals THE CITATIONS FROM THE AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS WEBSITE www.gg.gov.au/australian-honours-and-awards

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division

Mrs Peta Whitford Steels Creek VIC 3775 For service to orienteering, and to the community of Steels Creek.

Orienteering Australia • Head Coach, Orienteering World Championship, 1993.

• Deputy Technical Coordinator, Orienteering World Championship, 1985.

• Captain, Australian Team, World Orienteering Championship, 1978.

• Participant, Australian Team, Orienteering World Championship, 1974, 1976, 1978.

Orienteering Victoria • State Coordinator, 1990-2003.

• Founder, Mountain Bike Orienteering for Schools, 2004.

• Former Development Officer.

• Life Member, 1993.

Yarra Valley Orienteering Club • Former President.

• Former coach.

• Member, since 1975.

• Life Member, 1988.

Community • Vice-President, Steels Creek Landcare Group.

• Contributing Author, The Jolly Thing, Steels Creek Community Centre.

• Contributor, Steels Creek Exchange Hub. Awards and Recognition include: • Inductee, Hall of Fame, Orienteering Australia, 2019.

• Service Award, School Sport Australia, 2003.

Peta Whitford. Photo by Izolde Bensch.

Liz Bourne and Pippin.

Photo by Felicity Crosato.

• Australian Sports Medal, 2000.

• Silva Award, Orienteering Australia, 1996.

• Eunice Gill Award, Australian Coaching Council, 1995.

• Level Three Controller, since circa 2004.

• Marketing and Publicity, Queensland Long Distance Championships and Christmas Five Day Carnival, 2001.

• Marketing and Publicity, Asian and Pacific Orienteering Carnival, 1997-2000.

• Life Member, since 2001.

• Winner, Queensland Elite Women's Championships, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1988.

• Coordinator, Mountain Bike Orienteering, 1998-2013.

Bullecourt Boulder Bounders Orienteering Club • Member, since 1996.

• Delegate to Orienteering Queensland, current.

• Technical Officer, current.

• Promotion and Development Officer, current.

• Event Details Coordinator, current.

• Newsletter Coordinator, current.

• Membership Officer, current.

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division

Ms Elizabeth Murray Bourne Stanthorpe QLD 4380 For service to orienteering, and to conservation and the environment.

Orienteering Queensland Inc • Promotion and Development Officer, since 2001.

• Organiser, Orienteer of the Year Event, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

• Organiser/Controller, Queensland Long Distance Championships, 2004, 2007, 2017, 2018, 2021.

• Controller, Queensland Middle Distance Championships, 2013.

Orienteering Australia • Councillor, 2001-2014.

• Controller, Australian Long Distance Championships, 2016.

• Controller and Marketing and Publicity Coordinator, Australian Long Distance Championships, 2008.

Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium • Founder, since 2013.

• Secretary, current.

• Wildflower Walks Coordinator, current.

Conservation and Environment • Founding Member, Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network, since 2019.

• Member, Community Engagement Committee, Macintyre Wind Farm, Acciona Australia, since 2022.

Queensland Conservation Council • Coordinator, 1978-1990.

• Member, Executive Committee, late 1970s.

Professional • Principal Research Officer, Minister for Environment and Heritage, Queensland Parliament, 1989- 1995.

Awards and Recognition include: • Course Setter's Award, Orienteering Queensland Inc, 2010.

• Helen Lahey Memorial Award, Orienterring Queensland Inc, 2009.

• President's Award, Orienteering Queensland Inc, 2001.

• Bullecourt Boulder Bounders Golden Boulder Award, Stanthorpe Orienteering Club, 1999.

Hadrian with his daughter at Churchlands in WA. Photo by Rachel West.

VALE HERMANN WEHNER

Hermann Wehner 1924 to 2023 DAVID HOGG

O

rienteering has often been described as a ‘sport for life’. Nobody in the Australian orienteering community has personified that statement better than Hermann Wehner, who passed away on 31 October 2023 at the age of 99 years and 4 months, Hermann Wehner. Photo by John Harding. ending an orienteering career which spanned more than 50 years.

Hermann was a telescope engineer at Mount Stromlo Observatory, who enjoyed his first novice orienteering course with his young children, Martin and Kirsten, in 1972, a year after orienteering was introduced as a community sport in the ACT. Mount Stromlo was one of three main hubs of orienteering activity in the early years of the sport in Canberra.

Hermann was then 48 years old, and had no interest in sport or in other outdoor activities such as bushwalking, in contrast to most other early orienteers. However, he took to orienteering with much enthusiasm and soon became very involved in both the competitive and organisational aspects.

Less than a year after he started orienteering, Hermann took part in the Australian Championships on the Hawkesbury River near Sydney, coming third out of eight starters in the Veteran class on a course that took him over 4.5 h to complete. The Veteran class was for anyone over 35. The following weekend, he organised his first orienteering event in familiar pine forest terrain at Mount Stromlo. By then, he was becoming heavily involved in ACT Orienteering affairs, having been elected ACTOA Treasurer in the preceding month.

Hermann finished second in the Veteran class at Australia’s first Easter 3-Days event in 1974. In the school holidays that year, he and his wife, Claire, organised a four-day training course for juniors. That year saw the start of his involvement with the Orienteering Federation of Australia as an ACTOA representative at OFA meetings.

In 1975, he was elected OFA Treasurer, holding that position for two years. That year he began his mapping career, doing the cartography and much of the fieldwork for the Cotter map used for the 1975 ACT Championships, which he and Claire organised. In the space of three years, he had progressed from being an orienteering novice to volunteering and competing in almost all aspects of orienteering that were available at the time.

Hermann continued competing in the Australian Championships most years, initially in the M43 class, when it was introduced, even though he was eligible to run in M50, where there was less competition. In 1979, he moved up to M50 then in 1981 to M56, these being the oldest classes available at the time, and that year won his first Australian Championship title. While there were few competitors in that class, there was still tight competition and winning was a challenge.

Between 1976 and 1979, Hermann served three terms as ACTOA President. On retiring from that role, he made what was probably his greatest contribution to ACT orienteering development, when he and Claire established the ACT Schools Championships. They organised

that event every year from 1979 to 1989, setting courses usually on new or updated maps which Hermann had prepared, sometimes with assistance from Martin. During that period, Hermann also served a term as ACTOA Secretary (1985 to 1988) and supported Claire as newsletter editor, later taking over that role. He and Claire were involved also in the organisation of several national carnivals or events based in Canberra. Hermann spent time teaching orienteering to school groups in the days before there were development officers managing that role, looked after items of ACTOA equipment and was always there to provide help when needed.

As the small group of competitors in the oldest age class grew older, a new class was added periodically to cater for them. Hermann continued to claim his fair share of titles in both the Australian Championships and the Australian 3-Days, as he progressed through M60, M65, M70, M75, M80, M85, M90 and ultimately to M95 in 2019. Over the years he held 24 titles in the Australian (Long) Championships and at least 17 in the Australian 3-Days, in addition to numerous other wins in middle distance and sprint distance events as they were introduced in later years. In nine of his last ten Australian Championship titles, he was the only competitor.

Hermann was a member of the Australian team for the regular Australia – New Zealand Challenge, again competing in the oldest age class. In 1999 at the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) in Denmark, he finished fifth in M75, then in 2002, when the event was held in Victoria, he won the gold medal in that class.

He took part frequently in WMOC, winning a total of five gold, two silver and one bronze medals between 2002 and 2018. His most successful year was 2009, when he won both the Long Distance and the Sprint Distance WMOC in M85 in NSW. Hermann’s contributions and achievements have been recognised in several ways at the ACT and national levels. In 1990, the Wehner Cup was instigated as the perpetual award for the ACT Orienteering of the Year competition, based on a handicap system in the main event program, and Hermann took pride in presenting it to the winner at the annual presentation evenings. Having worked with Claire in many of his roles, they were jointly awarded the Mike Cassells Award for Services to ACT Orienteering in 1995. At the national level, Hermann has been recognised for his international competition successes at WMOC by being inducted into the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame as an Athlete Member in 2018.

While orienteering may appear to have dominated the latter half of Hermann’s life, he also had an important life outside orienteering. As a telescope engineer, he played a key role in telescope design, construction and commissioning at the Siding Springs Observatory near Coonabarabran, a task which involved much commuting between Canberra and the site. He was a respected professional member of the Mount Stromlo community and later a volunteer guide at the Mount Stromlo Observatory Visitor Centre. It was a moment of great sadness when the observatory and the surrounding pine forest, where he enjoyed much of his orienteering, were destroyed in the January 2003 bushfire. The memories of both himself and Claire were recorded in an interpretive display when the visitor centre was rebuilt.

Hermann took part in M95 in the 2019 Oceania Championships in Wagga Wagga and Beechworth, when he was the only competitor in his age class. With Covid restrictions interrupting orienteering for much of the next two years, and forest terrain finally becoming too challenging, Hermann retired to sprint courses in urban campuses and street orienteering. He was often content to just complete part of the course, pushing his wheelie walker under the supervision of his daughter, Kirsten. At the 2022 Australian Championships in Victoria, he completed a special M98 course in the sprint event, accompanied

by Kirsten. He still enjoyed taking part in orienteering for as long as he possibly could – an orienteer for life!

For information on Hermann’s professional career see https:// openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/117119 MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 45

O-SPY

World Ski Orienteering Championships (WSOC) 2024 and Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships (JWSOC) 2024 took place in Austria in January, and were shown on tv in Austria, Sweden and Estonia. Gold medals were won by Estonia (three), Finland (three) and Sweden (two) at JWSOC, and Norway (five) and Sweden (two) at WSOC.

FROM OA WEBSITE

rienteering Australia Hall of Fame Athlete Division member Grant Bluett, one of Australia’s most accomplished orienteers, was in November inducted into the ACT Sport Hall of Fame for 2023. The announcement was made at this prestigious event that coincided with the ACT Athlete of the Year Awards.

O

Photo from The Australian Orienteer, December 2005.

Grant’s stellar career as an orienteer on the world stage has earned him this well-deserved honour. Notably, he secured gold at the 2001 World Games, marking the first senior individual medal by a non-European athlete. His achievements at the World Orienteering Championships, including an eighth place in the sprint in 2003, and a sixth place with the men’s relay team in 2001, further solidify his legacy.

ICDT answers Quiz answers: 1. B; 2. C.

World and Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships 2024

Grant Bluett honoured in ACT Sport Hall of Fame induction

Spot the difference

FISU World University Ski Orienteering Championships 2024 The gold medals at FISU World University Ski Orienteering Championships 2024 were shared between Sweden and the host Switzerland.

Register your orienteering event for World Orienteering Week, May 18 to 26.

Beyond his remarkable competitive achievements, Grant continues to contribute to the sport as his children become involved in orienteering. In 2023, he served as mentor for the OA high-performance squad, imparting his extensive knowledge and experience to the next generation of orienteering elites, and will continue to do so into 2024.

Grant’s enduring impact on orienteering, both as a competitor and mentor, cements his legacy in the ACT Sport Hall of Fame.

Excerpt from an interview with Grant Bluett on the Orienteering Australia website.

Best orienteering experience? Grant’s answer: ‘That is really hard! I think the big relays and the big sprint races in southern Europe and Asia have been my favourite. Tiomila and Jukola are my favourite races.’

Glossary of acronyms AO AOC ASC ASOC DNF / DNS EOC EOD EYOC IOF JWMTBOC JWOC KO MTBO NOL OA

The Australian Orienteer Australian Orienteering Championships Australian Sports Commission Australian Schools Orienteering Championships Did Not Finish / Did Not Start European Orienteering Championships Enter On the Day European Youth Orienteering Championships International Orienteering Federation Junior World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships Junior World Orienteering Championships Knock Out Mountain Bike Orienteering National Orienteering League Orienteering Australia

ONZ

Orienteering New Zealand

WMTBOC

World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships

WOC

World Orienteering Championships

WRE

World Ranking Event

46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2024

HANDYMAN For stockist call 1800 808 971 MAKERS OF THE ORIGINAL SWISS ARMY KNIFE | ESTABLISHED 1884

VICTORINOX AWARD This issue’s Victorinox Award goes to Jan Hillyard for her assistance in distributing the magazine in South Australia.

Jan will receive a Victorinox Handyman which includes 24 tools and features – retail value $139.

Top Events 2025

2024 Mar 29-Apr 1 Easter May 25-26

April 18-21

AUS 3 Days Carnival Lower Murraylands, South Australia World Cup Round 1 Olten, Switzerland

April 28-May 4

July 7-12

World Masters Games 2025 Taipei, Taiwan Orienteering World Cup Round 1 Sweden JWOC 2025 Bormio, Italy Forest WOC 2025 Kuopio, Finland

July 17-20 (prelim dates) Aug 7-13

European Youth Orienteering Championships Czechia The World Games 2025, China

Aug 8-15

WMOC 2025 Girona, Spain

Aug 11-17 (prelim dates) Aug 26-31

WMTBOC & JWMTBOC 2025 Poland EOC 2025 & World Cup Round 2 Antwerp, Belgium

July 4-11

JWOC 2026 Sweden

July 6-11

WOC 2026 Italy

Aug 7-14

WMOC 2026 Poland

May 17-30 29 May 2 June 29 May 2 June June 1-2

June 15-16

June 21-24

June 30 July 7

MTBO World Cup Round 1 & European MTBO Championships Ostróda, Poland European Junior and Youth MTBO Championships Ostróda, Poland

June 19-22 (prelim dates) June 28 - July 4

World Cup Round 2 Genova, Italy Jukola Relays Lakia, Finland European Youth Orienteering Championships 2024, Szczecin, Poland JWOC 2024 Pilsen, Czechia

AUS 3 Days Carnival Loddon Shire, Victoria WMMTBOC 2025 Murcia, Costa Calida, Spain

2026 July 12-16

Sprint WOC 2024 Edinburgh, Scotland

July 21-27

O-Ringen 2024 Smålandskusten, Sweden

August 1-5

World University Orienteering Championships 2024 Bansko, Bulgaria World Masters Orienteering Championships Turku, Finland

August 3-9 August 5-10

WMMTBOC 2024 Viborg, Denmark

August 6-11

North American Orienteering Championships Ottawa, Canada

August 16-20

World Cup Round 3 and EOC 2024, Mór, Hungary WMTBOC & JWMTBOC Bulgaria

Sept 9-16

Sept 27-29

World Cup Final, Kuopio, Finland

Sept 28 - Oct 6 AUS Champs Carnival Armidale, NSW Oct 11-14

South American Orienteering Championships, Colombia

Oct 12-19

Alice Springs Masters Games

Oct 18-20

AUS MTBO Championships, ACT

Nov 21-24

3 Days Orienteering Mauritius

Dec 20-26

Asian Orienteering Championships Chiang Mai, Thailand

MARCH 2024 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47

aussieogear.com

• Pants • Shirts • Socks • Gaiters • Map Boards • Compasses • Spectacles • Flags • Punches

SIAC

SIAC training & school kits

CLUB UNIFORMS

SIAC timing equipment

Club shirts, pants and jackets can be organised by Colin at Aussieogear.

Colin will organise design, manufacture and delivery with all costs covered by one per item costing.

AUSTRALIAN AGENT FOR

SPORTIDENT & TRIMTEX SUPPLIER OF: ORIFIX, VAVRY, SIVEN/BRYZOS, VAPRO, MOSCOMPASS mobile: 0415 210 339 email: colinp53@yahoo.com.au

www.aussieogear.com