It certainly felt like Spring was here at the Club Relays held at Moon Rocks. The Southern Arrows put on an excellent event which had the best attendance yet. The relays are a great opportunity for orienteers to get together to compete in a team atmosphere. Yalanga Orienteers won the Club Relay Championships, (third time in the last 4 years).
Over 800 people have entered the Australian Champs Carnival, entries for which closed on the 2nd September. However Enter on the Day will be available. A great deal of effort has been put into the preparations by many of our orienteering community, and I am sure their efforts will be rewarded with the offering of events from the Riverland to the Adelaide Hills. It is nearly Game On!
From the editor
Frank Burden
Hopefully, something here for everyone. There is an update on the Australian Championships, and profiles written by Olivia Sprod and Angus Haines in response to topics and questions sent to them. They have also written about their experiences during recent European championship tours. All great reading.
There are also reports on the World Masters Orienteering Championships, which include a gallery of event photos and a description of a fascinating indoor-O event. Results of all European championship events competed in by SA orienteers are listed. These are followed by a number of school reports, updates on some recent SA events, and an article on orienteering techniques written by 14-gold medal, world orienteering champion Thierry Gueorgiou.
A zoom feature has been added to most maps and some photos, which should make details easier to view. Click or tap on an image to enter zoom mode, and then click or spread and drag to see more detail at maximum resolution.
Note: A PDF version of this newsletter is available for download for readers who prefer a printed copy. It has been optimised for printing on A4-sized paper. Some features of the online version (such as zoom and show/hide) do not convert easily to PDF and so are absent. Also, A4 formatting to produce the PDF version results in unavoidable blank areas on some pages.
2018 Australian Championships
Robin Uppill
Entries will have now closed for the events in the carnival, and those involved in the carnival will be involved in the last frantic activities to present all the events. Entries have been above our expectations, which is very pleasing. The carnival bulletin will be available on Eventor in mid-September and will have all the event details. However, I have repeated below a short introduction which will appear in the program bulletin in order to acknowledge some of those who have contributed to the carnival in addition to all those who will be listed (and have been in previous newsletters).
The following will be included in the carnival bulletin
Welcome from Robin Uppill, Carnival Coordinator
On behalf of the organising teams I would like to welcome all competitors to the Australian Championships here in South Australia. The carnival has been presented as an Orienteering SA activity, enabling us to get the best people in the various tasks. Those who have made a major contribution to the carnival are listed in this program, however I would like to make a few special comments and thanks here.
The events in the Riverland were triggered by a suggestion from Warren Key that Crooked Straight was worthy of a major event. At the time we had no other suitable areas nearby. Adrian and Simon Uppill and myself identified some potential areas, and made a visit to look at areas from Waikerie to the SA-Vic border areas. One area identified, Wiela - Bunyip Reach, is being used in this carnival. To extend the events in the area, we are also using the Renmark school campuses for the Australia Sprint.
I would also like to make mention of Stefano Raus, the 2016-17 SA Coach in Residence who helped Adrian Uppill do the initial work with Airborne Research Australia (based at Parafield Airport north of Adelaide) thus starting us on the LIDAR journey. Discussions with ARA enabled us to use their services to fly three areas with LIDAR using an approach suitable for orienteering maps. Following the data acquisition, David George undertook much of the processing of the data, and also took on the challenge of his first major orienteering map at Keynes Gap. Mapping of the areas with LIDAR coverage was also done by our second coach in residence Manu Jurado (Crooked Straight) and Adrian Uppill (Wiela – Bunyip Reach). Both mappers have also been involved in updates to the forest maps used in the Adelaide Hills. Other work by Manu is being presented at the LIDAR mapping workshop during this carnival.
I also want to make special mention of the work by Ken Thompson in managing the entries. Many of you may have made enquiries about your entries, and would always have received a very quick response. Ken is also doing many of the tasks to get all the event details set up in OE and OS. You probably will not see Ken during the carnival as his health may not permit him to work at an event, but his contribution has been immeasurable.
The SEPTEMBER edition of The Australian Orienteer is now available on-line here.
This edition of The Australian Orienteer features major events in most forms of our sport including JWOC, WUOC, WMOC and WMMTBOC (how’s that for acronyms!) and there’s a simply mind-blowing indoor event from WMOC organised by Mikkel Kaae-Nielsen, Victoria’s Coach-in-Residence last year. There’s a preview of the AUS Schools Championships introducing members of all the State Teams and David Poland suggests a more inclusive approach to future Schools Championships. Duncan Currie's "Jeff" learns what an O flag looks like; O-SPY gives us some quite interesting facts (Stephen Fry would again be pleased); Andrew Barnett describes some Great Legs from WUOC and Spot the Difference will test your Sprint map reading skills.
Hill End (NSW) Embargo for National Orienteering League, March 2019
Hill End Historic Site and Hill End Common.
This includes the forest within 3.5km of the Royal Hotel, Hill End, and for approximately 7km north of Hill End township towards Mudgee.
The area mapped for orienteering covers 23 sq.km of forest.
However, it IS PERMITTED to visit the township, including the Visitors Centre, Café, Royal Hotel, Northeys Store, Hill End Lodge and the National Parks Camping Grounds, plus the famous 'Golden Gully' walk.
Permission for access into embargoed terrain shall be obtained from the organiser if needed.
I am 22 and have grown up in Adelaide. I am currently studying a double degree at the University of Adelaide, Law and Health Science. I started orienteering in late 2008 when a friend invited me along to a have-a-go day at Belair. I think I beat all the boys there, and as a 13 year old I thought that was pretty cool.
Through school I also did many other sports like volleyball, rowing, cycling, hockey, athletics etc. But for sure it was the Schools team that kept me orienteering (and my parents driving me to events – thanks Mum and Dad!).
Making close friends at the junior camp in my first year, and then making interstate friends at the nationals has meant it's more than just a sport to me, it's the base of many of my friendships. Of course I love the fact that orienteering is such a down to earth sport, it's hard to feel restricted when you're running wildly through a forest!
Olivia in full flight at this year's World University Orienteering Championships
Where I'm at currently:
This is my third year running in the women's elite class. It has taken some time to get used to the step up of course lengths but I feel comfortable now, and hopefully I will have some good results at nationals this year.
Training can sometimes be tricky for me. Full-time uni and part-time work means I have to fit training around a week that has no routine. Sometimes this is fun, doing a strength session at 10pm, or a midday run, but what I most enjoy are the Tuesday group runs with the Southern Arrows. In summer we run the hills of Morialta, and in winter around North Adelaide with the schools team as well.
Weekly I tend to try fit in 3 general strength sessions (doing core, strength exercises or some weights at home), a long run, a tempo session, intervals and hills sessions. Of course this often doesn't happen. But I keep striving for that complete set! It has been nice to see this translated into an improvement in my running speed over the course of this year.
If I'm not running, you are likely to find me cycling, which is my go-to choice for cross training or when I'm injured. Over the years I have learnt about different methods of training and gradually I have pulled these together to write my own training plans. For example, every three weeks the cycle goes: easy week, moderate week and hard week (macro) with increasing intensity, but within each week there are easy, moderate and hard sessions (micro) and a rest day. I think I have always erred on the self-dependent side to training because I enjoy trying to optimise my training plan to suit my irregular routine as much as I can.
The downside to being one's own coach is that it can be hard to improve, and find constructive criticism from an outside perspective. When I struggle with this, I would go to Bridget [Anderson] and Simon [Uppill]. Both are great orienteers. If I ever ask Simon for training advice (navigation or fitness) it's easy to end up having a lengthy conversation, and always leaves me feeling motivated. Bridget is great to talk to about mental and navigational preparation and always manages to make me laugh regardless of the situation (thanks guys!!).
Orienteering highlights:
In July this year I competed at the World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) in Kuortane, Finland. It truly was a highlight, and a step up in my orienteering path. I went to the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in 2014 and 2015, which were events I'll never forget as they were both fantastic learning curves. I was hoping to place higher than I did at the WUOC events [note: Olivia's results can be found below], but it just goes to show the high level of competition that we get in this sport.
WUOC 2018 Women's Middle map with routes Olivia (red), winner Emma Bjessmo, Sweden (blue)
It's easy to get comfortable in Australia at our competitions and in our fast terrain, so going overseas has spurred me on to keep improving.
The obvious difference in Finland was the terrain. Click or tap forest photo to zoom and see more detail. Before the WUOC I had the chance to do a 3-days competition in Kvarken, Finland. For only a 5km course I was exhausted! I stumbled too many times to count (luckily nothing hurts when it’s all moss and blueberries!), lost my shoe temporarily in a marsh but came back each day having learnt something new about Finnish terrain. It's tough, and took me a while to even understand how the contours translated to what I would see, but eventually it clicked. I loved it.
I would recommend to anyone, orienteers or not, to go for a run through a Finnish forest.
Finnish forest (zoom)
Australian women's WUOC team
The future:
For the moment I will keep doing what I'm doing, and enjoy it along the way. Study, work and training. I have hopes to one day soon crack the top 3 in Australia, one day make a World Orienteering Champs team but most of all I simply want to orienteer in as many beautiful places around the world as possible.
My name is Angus Haines, I’m 18 years old and have recently returned from competing overseas at the European Youth Orienteering Champs (EYOC), the Junior World Orienteering Champs (JWOC) and the World University Orienteering Champs (WUOC).
Before Orienteering, I had tried many other sports such as footy, cricket, hockey, little athletics (twice) and tennis. All of which were unsuccessful as I just didn’t have a passion for them (and I wasn’t very good).
I first learnt what orienteering was in 2012 when it was offered as a sport in school and my Mum said, "you should give that a go sweetie, your cousins like it", so I did. My first experience was one of Jeffa and John Lyon’s school training sessions. Later that year at the State Schools Champs I somehow managed to come third (despite only orienteering 3 times in my life prior).
After that I was invited to Jeffa and John's special camp from which I was asked to join the Junior Arrows training squad by Bridget Anderson. From there I made the State Team and went to my first Nationals in 2013 as second Junior boys reserve and had some of the worst races of my life. Including (but not limited to) running from the top of the map to the bottom, then back again only to mispunch at a drinks' control, and picking up the wrong map and running a M21 course when I was in M14 (still finished the course somehow).
Angus punching in the Junior World Orienteering Championships long distance event
A year later after the 2013 Nationals I made the Oceania Schools Team and travelled to Tasmania for the Oceania Champs, which is still one of most memorable trips. It was my first exposure to international competition and I made many amazing friends who I am still very close to this day.
My best performances were probably in 2016 Nationals at the Gold Coast where I placed 1st in the Schools Sprint, 2nd in the Schools Individual and the SA Senior boys relay team came 3rd. I haven’t come close to these results since.
Current
Bridget Anderson has and continues to play a huge role in my orienteering training, experience, participation and success. All 7 years of orienteering would have not been remotely close to how amazing they have been without Bridget and I would not be anywhere near where I am today without her organising running training, camps and our Nationals trips for the Juniors of SA, and I have no doubt that it is the same story for all other SA Juniors.
Currently I am studying a Bachelor of Commerce at Adelaide University, which gives me plenty of time to focus on my training. Currently I have a training plan set by Manu (the Spanish scholar who stayed in SA for six months last year) focusing on the approaching National Champs. A week of training usually includes a daily "morning activation" 3km jog. However I have been a bit slack being easily put off by the poor weather, but also aim to do the following:
Monday: 40mins alternate training (cycling, swimming etc.) 40min strength training
Tuesday: Interval session with the Junior Arrows
Wednesday: O-training organised by Bridget
Thursday: Intervals / Tempo
Friday: Intervals / Tempo and 40min strength training
Saturday: Park run and 65-75mins of trail running
Sunday: Orienteering event
My favourite orienteering discipline would be Sprint races. I have always enjoyed the intensity and speed of the races, the fact that you have no time to think about anything else other than the race at hand, and their short length makes them something special for both competitors and spectators.
Although my recent overseas competitions were not the first, they were the first being a part of the national teams representing Australia. [Note: all Angus' results can be found below] The European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) in Bulgaria was a fantastic journey. The steep, slippery and thick bush (although it was the most like Australia of the three countries I competed in) required a different focus on certain techniques, especially navigating to hillside controls. Like most of Eastern Europe it was a pretty loose country, where almost anything goes.
The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Hungary had both the easiest and most difficult terrain of my whole trip. The long distance was relatively easy to navigate through. However the course setter knew this and set the longest long distance in JWOC history of over 15kms for M20. The middle distance terrain was incredibly technical which I struggled in (placing 23rd in the C final). The relay would be my highlight result of the week. I ran first leg in our second team and came back in 10th position (beating Aston Key who was the first leg runner in our first team).
WUOC 2018 Men's Sprint map with routes Angus (red), winner Tim Robertson, New Zealand (blue)
The World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) in Finland was an exhausting trip, as I had only 2 days to rest from JWOC. I ran in the Middle, Sprint, Long and relay. The Sprint race (see map) would have been my best result and I’m pretty sure it was the fastest I had ever run in an orienteering race ever with an average pace of 3:45 min/km.
[Editor's note: the accuracy of displayed routes on the map was affected by reflections and masking of GPS signals by buildings - competitors did not run through buildings!]
The after party was definitely a highlight of the trip, with a beer relay around our accommodation organised by NZ’s Tim Robinson, watching Natasha tear it up on the dance floor and then have kick-ons outside our rooms on the balcony.
WUOC after party
WUOC beer relay
JWOC after party
Future
After my trip, I have been even further motivated to continue my training and aim for the 2019 JWOC in Denmark and the 2020 JWOC in Turkey, as well as improving results in the National Orienteering League events and other Australian teams, such as the Bush Rangers. I enjoy every aspect of orienteering, the varying difficulty, having to be adaptive to different terrain, learning to push myself to my physical and mental limits and most importantly the spectacular friendships that I have made through this amazing and diverse sport.
World Masters, Denmark, July 2018 – from a supporter’s viewpoint -
Chris Franklin
Europe was in the middle of a hot (for them) and exceptionally dry summer for the WMOC in Copenhagen and North Zealand consisting of nine events - model, qualifying and championships. After our flight it was quite stressful at Copenhagen airport finding somewhere to buy train travel cards to get to the city hotel and for getting to the event buses at Farum. Fortunately the central train station was only a five minute walk from our hotel and the trains ran frequently and on time. We soon got the hang of scanning our cards to enter and exit the trains, but one time an embarrassing loud beep reminded me that my card needed a funding top up with Danish krone.
The first day was spent exploring central Copenhagen and checking out the areas to be used for the Sprint Final amongst old fortifications, parliament house, a palace, apartment blocks and canals. The Event Centre was at Farum, a town half an hour by train north of Copenhagen where we went to collect Paul’s [Hoopman] registration pack and do the Model Event but we didn’t stay for the Indoor Event or Opening Ceremony. I heard from Jenny casanova that the indoor event was quite enjoyable.
With 4,200 competitors in age groups from 35 up to 100 the logistics of running fair races must have been a nightmare for the organisers! Paul’s group, M65-70, had 370 competitors so they had to compete in qualifying events in order to be placed in A, B, C or D finals. This meant that much post run discussion was about who’d got into which final.
The Middle Distance events were in the wild plantations in old sand dunes close to the North Sea, while the Long Distance was in the large, deep forests of North Zealand. The Sprint qualifying was at a university science park and the final was based at the historic Christiansborg palace in central Copenhagen.
The Sprint Qualifying was our first chance to catch up with some of the other 52 Aussies entered. A warm hug from ex-SA Andrew McComb was a lovely surprise and helped ease my homesickness. From that day on all the Aussies tried to set up in one or two groups close to each other and near the Aussie flag if possible! With Jenny C. Andrew Mc., Tony and Alison Radford and Kirsten (a Dane who’d spent time in Adelaide and was one of the many event organisers)and her family we celebrated OA President Blair Trewin’s birthday with an enjoyable dinner at a lovely lakeside beach outdoor restaurant and watched the sun set over the lake just after 10 p.m.
By the day of the Sprint Final we were still trying to adjust to daylight hours from 5am to 10pm, as well as being woken until 3 a.m. by the noisy patrons of the ‘Kakadu’ strip club below our hotel. The next morning we travelled to the north coast for the forest model event, where it was very cold and windy for those not competing. At this point Paul, the man who rarely uses a compass, decided he’d better buy a northern hemisphere one which proved to be very worthwhile.
The forests were mostly pine and spruce. The Middle Distance forest had lots of mounds, tracks and logs mapped, whereas the Long Distance forest was thick, difficult and more challenging with plenty of cut wood and trip hazards. One day we had a 1400m walk through forest from the buses to the event arena. Some interesting memories – the long line ups for collecting maps, tables set up for people to stand at with their food & drinks, the line-up for buying beer - so long that people couldn’t get near the food stalls, volunteers bringing trays of water cups around to finishers and the ancient ruins of a 12thC slot (castle)that we passed while walking to the event arena.
World Masters Photo Gallery
Click/tap to zoom. Then click/spread to see at full resolution. Click left/right arrows, or drag, to see the complete gallery.
World Masters, Denmark, July 2018 – from a competitor's viewpoint -
Jenny Casanova
Course 2, indoor-orienteering at Naerum Gymnasium in Copenhagen
I was rather startled to hear from friends who’d already tried it, that the indoor-O at Naerum Gymnasium (a 4-story high school, with a separate 3-story tower) would take 40 min despite being an unspecified distance.
So I invited Natasha from WA to come around with me, because two heads are better than one, right? And also because a shared experience is so much more hilarious...this really was fun, a bit like Cluedo (Ms Orienteer, in the Library, with a Piano) and also really complicated and I kept getting so confused about which stairs it was allowable to go up vs down, especially since some corridors were one-way only.
Couldn't believe how much effort the organisers had gone to, to arrange all the chairs and desks in the most complicated configuration possible and map them accordingly. It was forbidden to shortcut by jumping over the desks, and there were signs saying “NO NINJA BEHAVIOUR”.
And of course there was a control on the grand piano – oh, and in the toilet!
Go to the official website for all WOC 2018 results, and to WorldofO for an analysis of all WOC events. You might need to scroll to the bottom of the WorldofO page and click to older pages to find all event reviews.
The 2018 Schools Invitational Team Camp, October 1st-7th
Aylwin Lim
There's a special Camp at West Beach Caravan Park during the National Australian Orienteering Championships Carnival. All juniors aged 9 to 18 (Years 5-12) who are NOT in the Schools State Teams, and their families, are invited!
You don't have to be great at orienteering to attend, just keen. Make new friends, learn new skills, and have fun together! Learn new skills, make new friends and have lots of fun! It will be a school holiday to remember!
Because it is not part of the official Carnival program, and completely separate from the official Schools State Team Camp, parents will be required to stay at the Caravan Park to help and to supervise the children, and to provide transport to the daily Carnival events, where they will compete as members of the Invitational Team.
You can come just for a few hours, one day or stay for all 6 nights. All program details and entry information are on Eventor
Day visitors of all ages are most welcome. Come drop in and see what it is all about! Come join the 40 juniors and 15 adults from all over Australia and NZ who have already signed up. There is a $5 Caravan Park facilities fee for everyone, which is payable on entry.
After a day at the Carnival, participants will have a chance to relax and play. There will be talks and social activities after dinner.
The new Schools Invitational Headbands
Most afternoons will be unstructured. Come for a swim, play or do the 2.5km DIY course. It is a 'permanent' course set up from Oct 2-6, and classes are <14, Open and >55.
There is also a gold coin donation for participating in organised Camp activities. If you wish to join us for dinner at 6pm, notice is required. Cost is $17 per person (Main +Dessert. Vegan, Vego and GF available).
After dinner, there will be a debrief (discuss how you went) and discussion of the next day's map and event, and a short talk. This will be followed by some group activities. Program (subject to change, see Eventor for latest) is as follows:
Date
Activities
Mon Oct 1.
Intro. Techniques for Terrains. Modify orienteering styles to suit sand, mining, granite, etc. (A Barnett). Ice breaker.
Tues Oct 2.
Injury avoidance. (C Hogg). Trivia Quiz.
Wed Oct 3.
Technology to Train. Using Strava, Garmin etc. to identify strengths and weaknesses. (A Barnett). Kahoot.
Thu Oct 4
Informal night out at Glenelg. No catered dinner.
Fri Oct 5.
Free day. Excursion prices below are for advance group bookings only. Book now! Last minute bookings, if places are still available, will incur a higher fee. SkyChallenge. Mega Adventure Park. 9am. $40 Dolphin Cruise. Port Adelaide. 1pm. Sprint historic precinct after. $7. Night-O Relays. Bring headlight.
Sat Oct 6.
Dare to be the best. But who to lean on in the long haul? (B Lawford). Farewell Party.
Most evening sessions will be held at the Sports SA meeting room, 500m away from the Hub dining room and Bunkhouse.
Photos from last year's Camp below:
For more information, contact Aylwin Lim 0438 322 761 or ayllim at netscape.net
Orienteering SA Schools Teacher In-service Training session
Zita Sankauskas, Orienteering SA Schools Coordinator
The Orienteering SA teaching team ran a teacher training PD session at Tabor College at the start of term 3 on Saturday 4th August. We used a large room with screen, projector, wi-fi and use of the grounds at Tabor College.
The program was run by a group of 4 OSA members. Adrian Uphill ran a very informative Powerpoint presentation introducing orienteering for an hour, followed by Erica Diment, who outlined the basic orienteering coaching methodology for students using excellent dotpoints.
After a delicious morning tea of home cooked treats, Aylwin Lim had the teachers involved in some active participation doing short courses around The Orphanage as well as a highly competitive maze using SI. The group then returned to the room to have a Purple Pen lesson, to learn how to use this program and plan out some of their own courses.
Zita finished off the training session by looking at the OSA website, seeing what is actually on the Schools HOME PAGE for teachers to use, and learning where to order and buy orienteering equipment for their schools. We felt this was an excellent way to introduce teachers to ALL that is necessary to teach orienteering in their schools .
We had 3 teachers who came to the training session and 2 withdrew late due to various reasons.
This was a small but highly engaged group. They gave us very positive feedback, and led to instant input from two of the teachers. Even though it was widely publicised through email, Facebook and personal invitations, we had a relatively small response. But if we can make a difference to 3 teachers, by getting them to become active within their schools, with more student participation, then we have been successful.
Zita Sankauskas, Orienteering SA Schools Coordinator
Term 2 saw a few enquires and one grant request.
Echunga PS had a school map done, and coach Kay Haarsma delivered a series of lessons at the school, helped by Zita Sankauskas as trainee. The final session was an upper school outing at Kuipto Headquarters. Teacher Rowan Blake was keen to set up orienteering as part of the school sport program, and is looking at doing some after school training at the school in term 4 with help from Zita.
Term 3 had many more sporting school grant requests:
Grants were given to Manoora PS. Adrian has completed their school map, and Zita and Al will set up a coaching partnership to do a few days of coaching at the school. Principal Trish Thompson is very keen to set up a partnership with Saddleworth PS and start a Mid North orienteering competition / cluster.
Concordia College (St Johns Campus) requested a school map to be done, and two days of coaching for Year 3 classes. Zita and Al to be coaches working with them. Nicole Fielke came to the teacher training session and has been very enthusiastic to set up orienteering within the school and obtain orienteering equipment.
Walkerville PS had requested a day of orienteering for 4 classes.
Seaview Christian College from Port Augusta requested assistance with obtaining orienteering equipment, and PE Teacher Murray Scholz has requested O level training to be able to deliver his own coaching to the school. Looking at a link with Lincoln Orienteers.
Request from Mundulla PS (near Keith) for school map. Jessica Wise would like coaches for students, and teacher training. Zita and Al are currently working on this. Time to map and distance to travel seems to be main problems.
SA Schools Relay Championships, mass start, 31 August 2018
SA Schools Relay Championships - 32 teams competed with results here
Other school related requests were from:
Norton Summit PS. Bill Lewis requested an orienteering course to be held for a class of students doing a day walk to Wadmore Park. Aylwin agreed to set up and run the session for them.
East Adelaide PS wants an orienteering excursion involving the upper school – 12 classes over two days. (6 sessions per day). Currently in planning stage. Hoping to work on Purple Pen with teachers in the future to get them to be able to run courses on their own school map.
Norwood Morialta HS PE teacher Craig Fraser came to the Teacher Training workshop, and learnt Purple Pen course setting . He has also been attending the Belair Cluster trainings. Looking at re-establishing orienteering within the school.
Max McColl from Thebarton Senior College wants to set up a 1 day activity, possibly a camp, to promote orienteering for a group of year 11 Outdoor Ed students. Currently in planning stage.
Other requests from schools for information, with view to applying for possible grants next term.
The Schools orienteering teachers are also currently reviewing a DECD orienteering guideline policy document for schools. Input is coming from OSA members who are teachers and will be later sent back to DECD for consideration.
Over 130 participants enjoyed the sprint-style event at Waite campus on September 2nd, including several families and Dads dragged away from their Fathers' Day breakfast-in-bed. Conditions were cool but the forecast rain largely held off. Planner Rhys Fogarty set two short and two longer courses, combining the open running of the Waite Arboretum on the western side of the map with the streets and narrow passages on the eastern side.
Course 1
Course 2
Course 3
Course 4
Simon Uppill and Joanna George were quickest male and female around the 3.6 km of course 1, Ian Grivell and Jemima Lloyd won course 2, Andrew Wilson and Ana Penck won course 3, while Marcus Cazzolato and Annabel Lloyd took the honours in course 4. Dads finishing a course were rewarded with a chocolate from Aylwin Lim at the download table.
Thanks to Al and Zita Sankauskas, Zara Soden, Sue Bament, Robin Uppill and the rest of the OHOC helpers at the event.
Waite Campus course finish on McLeod Lawns at end of event
This event was presented by OHOC on Saturday evening 18th August, the night before the SA Long Championships at Mulga Valley. The course maps for the long course and short easy course are below.
Night Champs Course 1
Night Champs Course 6
This area presented a challenge in having courses in an area with very few tracks. However the mallee is open and fast for runners, so few ground level obstacles are present. Most of the area is contained within fences and the first north-south ridge on the map also made a western limit to the courses. The hard courses were designed to be more moderate-hard than hard, with most controls on linear or major features, apart from two rock point features which were a little challenging in the dark.
The night was cool to cold, but fortunately protected from the wind especially in the mallee. The event was also able to make use of the landowners shed for the finish computing which made management easier for organisers. After the event, those who were camping retuned to Bri-Glen camping area to socialise and discuss orienteering around the campfire.
Tintookies won the club trophy, with Olivia Sprod and Brett Merchant taking out the open course trophies.
The Eyre Peninsula Championships annual orienteering competition between Saltbush Orienteers from Whyalla and Lincoln Orienteers was held on Sunday 12th August at Casuarina Ridge on the Myola property south of Iron Baron. The weather was ideal with light winds, cloudy and occasional sunny periods.
The seven courses for the Eyre Peninsula Championships were mainly set by Jason Munday with other courses set by Darren Bergmann and Alan Holland. There were also 3 recreational courses for visitors and members wishing to participate in a group. The area is characterized by hilly ground, rocky outcrops, numerous gullies and creeks and of course the prevalent black oak trees (Casuarina Cristata).
Fourteen Saltbush members and thirteen Lincoln members participated individually in courses split into age and difficulty classes plus there were entrants from Adelaide (8) and one from Canberra.
Standout performances were from Abigail George (Tintookies) with 6.2 km in 62 minutes 13 seconds, Angus Haines (Onkaparinga Hills) with 8.1 km in 48 minutes 51 seconds and Tim Ashman (Lincoln) with 6.2 km in 63 minutes 57 seconds.
Afterwards participants were able to relax and have some food and drink provided by the Saltbush club and then Jason Munday (President) awarded certificates for first place to the Eyre Peninsula Championship participants in their respective classes.
Onkaparinga Hills Night Training – Belair Golf Course
Robin Uppill
With the relatively dry winter, planning a night training event prior to the SA Night Championships seemed fairly likely to have a dry evening. However early August was somewhat wetter than the previous two months, and the rain commenced late afternoon on the scheduled Friday. So the Belair Golf Course was very wet and soggy underfoot, and we all found that head torches have reduced light spread in the rain.
Belair Golf Course 1
The map shows the course offered, and some of the approximately 20 OH members (and others) could complete the whole course or just the first half. Two special controls featuring a new control symbol (Cat) were on the course (see map, and photo with cat between the two girls at ground level).
After the run, everyone dried out in the warmth provided by the fire at the Uppill's enjoying pizza and then staying for the subsequent club committee meeting.
Pymton provided the promised rolling hills and boulders together with blue sky rocky paddocks and no threat of rain. The wind was somewhat of a challenge to the organisers but the toilet tents stayed standing until the end, and the marquee provided by the Rockleigh CFS catering functioned as an excellent windbreak, which allowed many to stay and socialise after their events.
There were 107 participants on the day, which was a great turnout. This number included newcomers and some of the children of the Pymton landowners.
The chilling wind and the challenging courses sharpened the appetites of the participants and most stayed on to enjoy the fabulous paddock picnic put on by the Rockleigh CFS enabling their dedicated volunteers to raise much needed funds to support their shed and facilities.
Thanks are due to all the Tintookie helpers who worked hard to put on this event in the face of very windy conditions.
Finally the organisers are grateful to the generosity of the Pymton landowners in making their properties available for everyone to enjoy this unique area.
Photographed at Wallaringa's July Belair event -
a competitor punching in the new Baby Backpack class!
Angus Haines finishing the long distance event at the World University Orienteering Championships in Finland in July this year.
Olivia Sprod during the World University Orienteerig Championship Sprint final.
Do you roll your ankles? You're not alone. First and second in the women's European Orienteering Championships middle distance hopping on to stage to receive their prizes - and with ice packs on their ankles!
Some Thoughts on Orienteering Techniques
Thierry Gueorgiou
Thierry won 14 World Orienteering Championship gold medals between 2003 and 2017, the year he retired. He has been featured in many publications, including once in the New York Times in which he describes an encounter with a bear while orienteering! You can read his life story in English in a 44-page special issue of CO Magazine recently published by the French Orienteering Federation.
I got the idea for this article when watching the GPS replay of the Swedish Ultra long distance championship some days ago.
Thierry in his last major race winning the World Orienteering Championships middle distance event in 2017
The two first men were struggling with their running direction in the very final part of the race – a very common mistake in orienteering whatever the level of the runners. How many times I have been writing « compass! » in my own race’s analysis, meaning that I had to put more focus on it. I would still say that around 60% of my mistakes are due to inefficient use of my compass; the other mistakes being due to too low map reading frequency or wrong map interpretation mostly.
Consistency
I have heard many Scandinavian runners saying that, even if they were carrying a compass, they almost never looked at it. And I think it became even trendier when the extremely skilled Finn Pasi Ikonen managed to win World Championship without a compass at all in 2001.
Of course, I can see the point, especially in very detailed areas, where contours will give you easily the directions to follow. And I can also remember an experience where I broke my thumb compass right after the start, and still had one of my best performances, being even more focused on selecting the most prominent features of the terrain for my navigation. But, in France, where I grew up, most of the maps are so less detailed compared to Scandinavia and your only chance to “survive” with consistency is to follow carefully the direction given by your compass. “Consistency“, that’s definitely the key word when we talked about compass!
After I won my first WOC gold medal in 2003, people became interested to hear about my technique and there was some kind of misunderstanding with Skogsport’s journalist as Swedish readers started to believe that I was just following my compass, and not reading the map much. Of course, it is wrong – a high map-reading frequency is what defines my technique the best, compass acting more like a security belt. But I strongly believe that you can’t orienteer with consistency only with the map.
The usual confusion we have when we talk about compass is only to talk about flat or green areas. Of course, those are the areas where it is the easiest to lose direction. But I would also highlight that parallel mistakes (the most common mistake among elite orienteers?) can almost happen everywhere and the only way to avoid them with efficiency is good compass abilities.
Staying in the tunnel
With this map extract, you can easily see that, for a short leg, 90% of the work is already done if you run with an accurate direction. And if you check your compass regularly, it will apply to your whole performance as you will always stay in a narrow tunnel, making the range of possible mistakes rather small. Thus, at any time, you should know in which precise direction you are running. Especially nowadays, where the position of the features in the terrain are more and more in their correct location on the map due to the new mapping methods (i.e. laser mapping, gps, etc).
Let’s now have a look an example in O’ringen 2013 terrains. I guess that when you think about Boden (Sweden), you mostly imagine steep slopes and think that compass won’t be really important. In fact, it is the opposite.
Here is a leg of a course I ran with the students of Älvsbyn last autumn. I expected the course setters of O’ringen to use a lot of this trick: leaving a detailed area, crossing a flatter hill top and going down to pick a tricky control. My execution for this leg was pretty bad when I didn’t properly check the direction on the middle part of the leg, and I ended too far to the right. I relocated quickly because luckily no feature was really looking the same in the area I was, but I could have lost a lot more time.
Let’s now have a look to a situation where you can definitely lose a lot more time indeed.
Again here, the whole execution is very much dependent on how you handle the middle part of the leg. If you don’t properly check your direction when you pass around the “A” area, there is a big chance to start to deviate, little by little, and break the “tunnel”. And finally find yourself in an area where your mind will have no difficulty to make everything coincide with where you were expecting to be.
The better your habits are, the better they’ll be in a pressure situation
I now realize that I have been talking a lot, but not been giving much advice to improve your compass skills. Well, maybe because there is, unfortunately, no real recipe. At the beginning, I think you have to force a glimpse at your compass the 3rd to 5th time you look at your map, meaning you don’t spend more than 20-30 seconds without looking at your compass. Slowly, it will become a routine and you won’t have to invest energy on this anymore.
But if you want to accelerate the process, you should consider including regularly “corridor” exercises in your training. The goal is to stay inside the corridor of course. But to get the best of it, the corridor has to be as narrow as possible and show just few details (map with only contours works best then), with several bends. You will definitely need to rely on your compass to complete the training. This is my favorite one and the best way I found to keep my compass abilities to an acceptable level.
A hot knife through the butter!
There is a last point why compass is so important in orienteering and especially in a multi-day event like O’ringen. No matter who you are, no matter how good an athlete you are, I have always believed that everyone has a limited amount of focus to invest in a race. You simply can’t maintain a very high focus from start to finish, even if the race lasts only five minutes. Thus, the key is to be able to understand the dynamic of the race and be totally concentrated when it really matters, like when you are attacking a control in a very detailed area. Your compass is also there to help you save some mental energy, time to time, while cutting through the terrain like a hot knife through butter!
April 2013
Details of the original source of the above article have been lost but it is believed to have been Thierry's personal blog, which now appears to be no longer active!
The Sunday event program began in late March and ends in October. Orienteering will move from mainly bush events to park and street events in late October, when a Friday evening program will commence. The main event for SA will be hosting the 2018 Australian Championships and Australian Schools Championships. The program for the period up to the end of the year organised by Adelaide and surrounds clubs is as follows:
Sat, 29 Sep
Aus Middle Distance Championships
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Crooked Straight, near Renmark
Sun, 30 Sep
AUS Relay Championships
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Weila – Bunyip Reach, near Renmark
Mon, 1 Oct
AUS Sprint Championships
OSA
Description:
Sprint orienteering
Location:
Renmark Schools
Tue, 2 Oct
AUS Schools Sprint Championships, Public Event – Day 1
OSA
Description:
Sprint orienteering
Location:
Adelaide School Campus
Wed, 3 Oct
AUS Schools Individual Championships, Public Event – Day 2
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Wirra Wirra, Mount Lofty Ranges
Thu, 4 Oct
AUS Schools Relay Championships, Public Event – Day 3
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Mount Crawford North, Mount Lofty Ranges
Sat, 6 Oct
AUS Long Distance Championships
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Gumeracha Gold Fields, Mount Lofty Ranges
Sun, 7 Oct
SA Middle Distance Championships
OSA
Description:
Bush orienteering
Location:
Keynes Gap, Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges
Sun, 21 Oct
Mt Crawford Forest: Rocky Paddock
WA
Description:
Bush, foot & MTBO
Sun, 28 Oct
The Heights & Surrounds
TT
Description:
Park/street orienteering
Location:
Modbury Heights
Friday evenings: 23 Nov, 30 Nov, 7 Dec, 14 Dec, 4 Jan, 11 Jan and 18 Jan
The National Easter Carnival is coming to WA in 2019
Although this seems a long way off, preparations have already begun and now’s the time to block out your calendars so you can come along to participate in the events, and also spread the word to encourage friends from interstate to come too. All events that are open to everyone to enter – not just the most experienced orienteers. There will be courses for all ages and abilities. It’s a great opportunity to take part in a National Event without having to fly anywhere.
When is it?
Easter weekend for the Prologue and Australian 3-Days is 19-22 April 2019. The Prologue is planned for Scotch College, and the other 3 days will be in the Helena Valley. For the second weekend – 26-27 April 2019 – we will be holding the Australian Sprint and Middle Distance Championships in Narrogin, a totally new area for orienteers to explore.
What’s the logo?
Thanks to Noel Schoknecht and Damien West for their work on the logo for the carnival. The little creature is a woylie, or brush-tailed bettong, which is an extremely rare small marsupial. Although woylies once inhabited much of southern Australia, they are now critically endangered and Dryandra Woodland, close to Narrogin, is one of the three areas left where woylies can be found in the wild. Here you will find more information on the woylie.
Please consider supporting the Australian Wildlife Conservancy in the protection of this and other threatened native animals.
If you’re looking for something to do after the Australian Champs in SA are over, and/or would like to compete in events which you don’t have to be involved with organising, head to Alice Springs for the biennial Masters Games which will include orienteering again, brought to you by Red Centre Orienteers and Top End Orienteers:
Date/Time
Details
Sun Oct 14th 8.30am
Sprint foot orienteering at St Phillip’s College
Mon Oct 15th 4.30pm
MTB orienteering at Telegraph Station
Wed Oct 17th 7.30am
Bush foot orienteering at Telegraph Station
Wed Oct 17th 7pm
Night foot orienteering at Alice Springs Golf Club
Enter at the Alice Masters Games website until Fri Sept 14th. $70 lets you enter as many competitions in as many different sports, as you like!
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