Congratulations to the junior orienteers selected in the 2023 SA Schools Orienteering Team.  The team members will compete in the Australian Schools Championships in WA in October, as well as other Australian Championship events as part of the Kambarang Carnival  For information about the carnival see the carnival website.  The schools competition has individaul Sprtnt and Long Distance events, followed by a relay, each event has races in the 4 classes for which the team has been selected.

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

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

The team to represent South Australia at the upcoming Australian Schools Championships in Tasmania in late September has been announced. Congratulations to all team members.

For information on the championships and for all the events of the Australian Championships week see the event web site.https://aoc2021.tasorienteering.asn.au/

Orienteering events restarted on Sunday June 14th and are continuing with COVID restrictions in place.

To run these events according to the current restrictions we are asking everyone to follow the general guidelines below, and those that are advised with the event information.

These events will follow the OSA Sport Reboot Plan and other specific Event Guidelines to enable events to be managed according to the various social distancing and other government guidelines (Department of Health, Office of Recreation and Sport)

Events will be until advised otherwise:

• Be pre-entry only through Eventor
• Be pre-pay only when you enter

These processes avoid a registration process and payment at events.

All those entering and attending events are asked to

• Read all the event information in Eventor before entering
• Not attend an event if you have any symptoms that may be indicative of a respiratory virus such as COVID-19, or are subject to any current self-isolation requirements
• At the event, read all event information and follow instructions in this information
• You will be responsible for your personal belongings including car keys
• Advise the event registration of your arrival.
• Come and do your course, and then leave. If you want to socialize then get together with your friends away from the event area.

Upcoming events are listed in the Event Calendar.

Also if you cannot or do not want to attend organized events, other options to orienteer in your own time are:

• DIY Permanent Courses
• DIY Mobile Courses with MapRundF

Congratulations to the 2019 SA Schools orienteering team.. 
Junior boys:
Mitchell S (YA)
Mitchell M (TJ)
Toby C(TJ)
Remi A(YA)
Oscar J (TJ)
Tom W(OH)

SA Night Champs and SA Long Champs August 18^th and 19^th

On the weekend of 18^th and 19^th of August Orienteering SA have two events being held north of Burra.  Entries are now open on Eventor and will close on Tuesday 14^th of August.  The events are about 2.5 to 3 hours north of Adelaide.  Continue north of Burra and turn right just after Whyte Yarcowie (follow signs to the respective events)

On the Saturday night the 2018 night championships will be held, with the Long Championships on the Sunday morning. 

OHOC are hosting the Night Champs on Tundarri (used on day 2 of the 2015 Easter Carnival) with mallee coverage, complex creek systems, and few tracks.

 The event will use the flatter eastern part of the map. Pre-entry for the listed classes is required, limited maps will be available for enter at the event.

Event details for the Night Championships are here:

https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/6663

After the night event, the bush camping will be at the Bri-Glen camp ground

TT are hosting the Long Championships on Mulga Valley.  Event details are in Eventor here:

https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/6656

Jeffa Lyon has set the courses for this event with assistance from other TT members with the site checking.  We are treating this as a last practice of a formal start routine before the 2018 National Carnival which SA are holding, so we will be having allocated start times and you can practice your 4 minute start routine. Start times will be published in advance. You will also need to allow for a walk to the start location. There will be limited Enter on the Day courses which will be available after the pre-entries have started.

 Mulga Valley covers some beautiful Mallee country with complex drainage systems and steep erosion gullies and was used on the last day of Easter in 2015. Lots of SA orienteers have been looking forward to another chance of running on this stunning map. There will be a spectator leg and good viewing of the finish run in. There will be 8 Hard courses, 2 moderate courses, an easy and a very easy course available.

SA Junior team will sell drinks and toasted sandwiches at the Mulga Valley event as a fundraiser.

For both events, please enter the course appropriate for your age and gender, to be included in OY and Badge (Long Championships only) results.

You can enter and pay for both events at the same time by selecting each event in the Eventor Calendar (https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events), but please check the details and event fees under each event first at the event specific links above.

Erica Diment on behalf of Tintookies Orienteering Club & Onkaparinga Hills Orienteering Club

Despite the continuing threat of showers and the early crisp air it turned out to be a near perfect day for orienteering. Especially for those faced with climbing to the top of the Park on the longer courses. There were 102 participants who registered for the foot-O and a further 25 for the MTBO, a most pleasing turnout. Many of the people were young or new to orienteering or both.

Even though it didn’t rain the Wallaringa organisers were glad of the use of the large pavilion which kept out the occasional fine misty drizzle. It was certainly the scene of much hectic activity at times, especially when the MTBO group arrived before their 10:30 mass start.

The foot-O people had access to excellent courses planned by Jenny Casanova. These had legs ranging from pleasant easy going alongside crroks on the flats to rather more difficult negotiation of rocks and scrub in steeper sections of the park. The MTBO riders also rode tracks to the top of the park as well as in nearby suburban streets to find as many of the controls as possible in their 3 hour time limit. The locations of their controls were planned by Kaye Haarsma and Peter Mayer.

The event organisers, Mark Overton and Meredith Rasch did an excellent job to pull the event together and thanks are due to all the other Wallaringa helpers who worked under some degree of pressure at times.