The permanent courses at Gums Oval in Belair National Park have been upgraded and remapped.  All courses start on the western side of the Gums Oval

The map now has improved contour detail that was automatically generated from LiDAR data captured by Aerometrex, an Adelaide based company providing aerial imaging, photogrammetry, 3D modelling and LiDAR surveys. The data also allows additional processing to create various images of educational value such as ‘hillshade’. There is also an image showing an orienteering map overlaid on Google Earth. These two examples may be downloaded.

The Gums courses are popular for walkers, families, school groups and students studying for example geography. The map is also a great resource for learning the skill of map reading.

There are now four courses comprising two hard navigation courses and one each of moderate navigation and easy navigation.

To download the upgraded courses maps go this page  - https://sa.orienteering.asn.au/about-orienteering/new-to-orienteering/diy-orienteering

The 2022 SA Schools Orienteering Championships were held on Monday 23rd May in Belair National Park. 21 Schools took part bringing a total of 152 primary and secondary school aged children from across the state. The courses were set by Jenny Casanova covering the former golf course site and southern parts of Belair National Park, allowing the children to test their navigational abilities in an exciting and safe bush location. The weather was kind to the competitors which made the event arena a lively atmosphere with loud cheering from all who were spectating or finished competing. These loud cheers sometimes lead to over excited competitors missing the last control, a reminder that the race is never done until the finish has been punched! Nonetheless the mispunches and DNF's were few, showing that these students have great potential for a future in our sport.

This year the Williams Shield for Primary Schools was claimed by Stirling East Primary School with a 1 point win over Coromandel Valley Primary School, no doubt stirring on a rivalry to be challenged at the Schools Relays and at the 2023 Individual Championships. The Wale Shield for Secondary Schools was this year taken in an upset win by Adelaide Botanic High School, newcomer to the Schools Championships with a convincing 5 point win over 2021 trophy winner Heathfield High School, no doubt encouraging Adelaide Botanic and Heathfield to bolster their attendance in 2023.

The organiser for the day - Tyson Hillyard from Wallaringa Orienteers - wishes to extend his congratulations to all students on fantastic efforts at the championship. Additionally to thank the multitude of volunteers who, without quarrel or incident, brought a high quality and well organised event to the schools this year. Thanks to Aylwin Lim who acted as event controller and ensured all bases were covered in course setting, control sites and event administration on the day. Rachael Upton too deserves a great deal of thanks for acting as event secretary, administering all of the entries and handling the many equiries in the lead up to the event.
Tyson Hillyard, Wallaringa Orienteers and all of our volunteers wish to thank all the schools who took part in this year's Schools Individual Orienteering Championships.

Full results can be see by clicking on this link

Orienteering Course Planning

A short introduction to course planning for Easy, Moderate and Hard courses has been created by Bridget Uppill. You can view the video here -

In particular for Hard Navigation courses note the course apsects to avoid discussed near the end of the video.

Course planners should then review more documents with details on planning courses for

• The different event types (Long, Middle and Relay)
• The different Navigation standards

on the Technical documents page here  - https://www.sa.orienteering.asn.au/about-us/technical-information

Additionally newsletter articles on this topic are planned, beginning with Long Distance Orienteering in the current newsletter. These articles will aim to provide information to course planners e.g. Long Distance courses are not just a long course, Middle Distance courses are not just middle length, and to give orienteers an idea of what to expect. 

The article on Long Distance course planning can also be downloaded here.

Course planners are also reminded that short hard courses need to be less physically demanding than longer hard courses, remembering that technical difficulty does not necessarily mean physical difficulty. For an article on this subject refer to –

https://www.sa.orienteering.asn.au/images/gfolder/about/technicalinformation/Technical_Guidelines_for_Short_Hard_Courses.pdf

South Australians travelled to QLD to participate in the Prologue and Australian Three Day events near Kingaroy in Queensland, followed by the NOL and Public sprints at various locations on the Gold Coast.

The results of the Prologue are here and the overall results for the 3 Days here.  The prologue was a bush sprint, in open terrain with granite outcrops.  Days 1 and 2 were in relatively friendly open forest (as at the last control below) with granite outcrop and low to moderate climb. Day 3 by contrast was in physically more demanding terrain.

As an introduction to the Gold Coast, an event was held in sand dunes of the Southport Spit, with courses of Middle Distance Format through the dunes and on the beach.  For courses see here

The sprints began with a night relay at Coomera Anglican College, adding to the challenge of being at night was heavy rain before the event and near the end.  The senior team of Evalin Brautigam, Angus Haines, Simon Uppill and Emily Sorensen (below) lead for the whole race with consistent runs by all 4.  The junior team was fourth.

Saturday sprints for the elites were a morning qualifier followed by the final at Griffith University Campus.  Juniors and Seniors ran the same event. Angus Haines (finished 3^rd), Ethan Penck, Simon Uppill and Leith Soden made the men’s’ final. Evalin Brautigam, Zoe Carter, Bridget Uppill, and Joanna and Abigail George made the women’s final.  Results are here.  Non elites ran a selection of shorter hard to easy courses.

 Sunday was a knockout sprint for the elites, with 4 rounds for the men and 3 for the women, with short races from 5 to 8 mins in duration.  For some rounds competitor had to choose a map option for part of the course (as in the example - the start shown was a control during the course and not the actual start).  These events saw many sprint finishes, with Angus, Ethan Simon in the men’s semis, with Angus who was then 2^nd , and Ethan 5^th going to the final. In the women, Bridget, Joanna and Zoe ran in the semis. Zoe went on to win the final, leading the whole race after making a better route choice to the first control.  A fanatastic result for Zoe still being a junior. 

Non-elites also participated in knockout races, or standard shorter sprint courses.

For all the final results see here

For photos see the OSA Facebook page and Evalin’s photography page.

The final results for the Natioanl League season are here - the best was a seond by the senior women. For individuals, Angus Haines and Emily Sorensen were both 4th, Joanna George 5th, and Ethan Penck, Bridget Uppill and Simon Uppill all 6th.