This newsletter is a record of the nine carnival days. It has an article on the making of the carnival and summarises with highlights the vast quantity of published material on each day's competitions. Results with SA orienteers (highlighted) in the first three, or first six for the school championships, are included in each article together with links to all results for those who want to see more.
Maps and gallery photographs can all be zoomed. Galleries (up to 20 photos in each group) are a small sample of those seen on the web. They were selected to illustrate key features and activities of each championship event, especially those with SA orienteers. Links to more photos are also included in the articles. There was a shortage of action photos from the Long championships so if you have some please send to the editor if you would like them added to this newsletter. Also, please advise the editor of any errors or omissions.
Congratulations to the following SA winners of Australian Elite National League, A and School Championship classes:
Toby Cazzolato (M14A Middle, Relay, Sprint, Long and SA Middle),
Oscar Johnston (M14 Relay)
Remi Afnan (M14 Relay)
Tim Ashman* (M65A Middle, Sprint and Long),
Fern Hillyard (W35A Sprint),
John Nieuwenhoven (M35A Sprint)
George Reeves (M80A Sprint and Long),
Abigail George (Senior Girls School Long and State relay),
Joanna George (Senior Girls School State relay),
Emily Sorensen (Senior Girls School State relay),
Peter Cutten (M80A Middle),
Troy Merchant (M21A SA Middle),
Paul Hoopman (M65A SA Middle), and finally
Simon Uppill (M21E National League winner)
*For those of you who don't know Tim, an article on him will be in the December newsletter.
From the president
Rob Tucker
The Australian Championships Carnival is now over and what a magnificent and full on event over 9 days it has been. The South Australian Orienteering community can be justly proud of what was presented to over 800 participants of the national orienteering community, the result of over two years of preparation including hundreds of hours of individuals time and dedication to providing an excellent programme of events.
This included eight venues of widely varied terrains, impressive South Australian scenery, and challenging courses suitable for all age groups.The string courses for our youngest set a new standard of meaningful orienteering activity.
Catering at the events provided both sustenance and a convivial atmosphere, involving many of our members.
The Australian Schools Championships held as part of the carnival was a major undertaking of organisation for over 200 students. It was most impressive to see so many young and enthusiastic orienteering members involved in our sport.
I thank all the members of the South Australian Orienteering community for their efforts, over the years of preparation and for the myriad of tasks including course setting, venue organisation, technical operations, early morning setups, recurring loading, unloading and setup of equipment, ablutions, traffic management, and transport. In recognition of these efforts a “thank you“ activity will be held on 29th November.
Thank you
Orienteering SA thanks all our volunteers who have been working toward the carnival over the past two years or more. In particular Ken Thompson for all his work behind the scenes managing entries and all the queries from competitors.
And thank you from Robin Uppill (Carnival Coordinator):
"I would like to thank all the volunteers who worked through the carnival. For some this meant really long days. And also to all the participants in the events. Thanks for coming and for helping make a successful carnival."
The Making of a Carnival
Robin Uppill
Orienteering Australian allocates major carnivals several years in advance, and in 2015 SA held the Australian Three Days. At this time we knew we would be holding the Australian Championships carnival in 2018, just three and half years later.
Adrian and I were involved in the 2016 NOL – Ultra Long event to be held in the Flinders Ranges in April 2016. On a planning trip in October 2015 for that event, we visited areas northeast of Hawker to check the potential of this area for some events in the 2018 carnival. At that stage the high level plan was to have possibly one weekend of events away from Adelaide and other events, probably including the schools championships, closer to Adelaide. The areas we visited had been part of a rogaine and had the potential for two events e.g. the Australian Long Championships and the Australian Relay Championships.
Due to the 2016 NOL event, we did not progress this further until the middle of 2016 when Adrian, Simon and myself visited the Riverland to investigate the possibility of a weekend of events in this area. The Crooked Straight area had been mapped many years earlier and no event held there for over 10 years. This area was also suggested to us a possible championship area by Warren Key from Victoria, who visited the area when passing through the Riverland. So the plan was to try and find a second area for another championship event. Simon looked at possible areas on Google maps, whilst Adrian checked out the available topographic data. We visited an area near Waikerie, suitable for orienteering, but the detailed area was too small. A second area on the SA – Vic border was visited, this had some similar features to the area ultimately selected (Wiela – Bunyip Reach), but was more open and with more widely spaced erosion detail. On visiting Wiela, we were fortunate to meet one of the landowners who was not averse to orienteering, and allowed us to walk over the area. We also looked at another area east of Wiela, and north of Loxton (Katarapko) – neither were suitable. The next option was to look at possible areas for a sprint event – both the school/TAFE campuses in Renmark and Berri were visited, the latter was smaller, so Renmark seemed the better option.
After the Riverland visit, the following event and location options were considered. A program of 7 or 8 events in 9 days to:
Enable an event to be on the Public Holiday
Create a program that would maximise participation by interstate orienteers.
Date
Event
Option A: First weekend away from Adelaide. Possible Area
Option B: Second Weekend away from Adelaide. Possible Area
Sat
Sep 29
SA Middle or Aus Middle
Crooked Straight
Keynes Gap
Sun
Sep 30
Aus Relays
Wiela New areas
Keynes Gap, Marne Rocks
Mon
Oct 1 (PH – SA, NSW, ACT, ?WA and Qld)
Aus Sprint
Renmark Schools New map
New sprint map for Aus Sprint Existing map for schools
Tue
Oct 2
School Sprint
Area in Adelaide
Rest Day
Wed
Oct 3
Schools Ind
Wirra Wirra – East side WA Map
Wirra Wirra – East side
Thu
Oct 4
Schools Relay
Mt Crawford North (around the mountain)
Mt Crawford North
Fri
Oct 5
Rest Day
Rest Day
Sat
Oct 6
Aus Long L3 Controller
Gumeracha Gold Fields
NE Hawker (Maraby)
Sun
Oct 7
Aus Middle or SA Middle
Keynes Gap
NE Hawker
Ultimately Option A was favoured for the event locations and program, assuming landowner permissions were forthcoming, with the first event being the Australian Middle Distance Championships and the last event the SA Middle Distance Championships. The mapping program for these events would require:
Total remap of Crooked Straight and Keynes Gap
New map of Wiela – Bunyip Reach and Renmark Schools
Updates to Wirra Wirra, Mt Crawford and Gumeracha Gold Fields
The Schools Sprint Championships was initially planned for St Peter College, however permission was not forthcoming so the event was held on Keithcot Farm.
In the spring of 2016, Stefano Raus our first coaching scholar, worked with Adrian Uppill to investigate options for using LIDAR data for preparation of orienteering maps. This lead to them developing a relationship with Airborne Research of Australia (ARA) at Parafield. They obtained some sample LIDAR data for parts of Para Wirra and other small areas in the Adelaide Hills and did some processing of this data with various tool sets. A workshop with ARA was held to discuss the best approach for orienteering maps, with David George and Tyson Hillyard also becoming involved.
ARA were then engaged to collect LIDAR data over Keynes Gap, Crooked Straight and Wiela – Bunyip Reach. The areas were flown in February 2017. David George than processed the data to prepare various data sets to be used as the basis for mapping.
Concurrently with the mapping planning and preparation, other organisational aspects were underway. This focussed on the personnel need for the carnival initially the course planner and controllers for each event. Through 2017, these roles were filled as were many other key roles for the carnival.
The schools championships have additional requirements – finding accommodation for 7 Australian and one New Zealand Team and their officials. In SA this has always been a difficult task, but due to the initial efforts of Kate Marshall and Ben Cazzolato, accommodation at the Renmark Hotel was found for the Renmark events, and West Lakes Shore for the period in Adelaide.
The other main task towards the end of 2017 was to agree the event fees and set up the events for entry in Eventor. Some Eventor technical issues made the latter task harder then it need to be. Ken Thompson’s persistent efforts meant the Eventor entries were ready in early 2018.
Over the period thorough 2017 up to the carnival dates, 11 general planning meetings were held, as well as specific Technical, Equipment and Budget meetings. Several of the course planners and controllers also attended a one day Level 3 Controller workshop. The main roles in the carnival were filled by volunteers as follows:
Carnival Coordinator
Robin Uppill
Committee Secretary
Erica Diment
Finance
Sue Bament, Andrew Kennedy
Technical Directors
Robin Uppill and Jenny Casanova
Merchandise
Clothing – Jan Hillyard Bridget Anderson – coffee cups, logo
Schools Championships Coordinator
Clive Arthur, assisted by Kate Marschall, Ben Cazzolato and Marian Arthur
Equipment Coordinator
Barry Wheeler
Computing/IT/Entries
Ken Thompson, Trevor Diment, Phil Davill
Start Team Coordinator
Craig Colwell
Registration Coordinator
Erica Diment, Ian Grivell
Finish Logistics
Peter Kreminski
Live Centre Coordinator
Chris Naughton, Living It Live
First Aid Coordinator
Jan Hillyard
String Courses
Zita Sankauskas
Names of personnel with the roles of controller, organiser, course planner, IOF event advisor, and mapper for each day's events are given in the event summaries.
From a mild day for the first event the Australian Middle Championships at Crooked Straight, the weather became warmer to the high twenties for the relays at Wiela - Bunyip Reach and the Australian Sprint at Renmark Schools. At Crooked Straight, the sandier terrain at times produced some physically demanding courses set by Robert Smith, whilst at Wiela - Bunyip Reach the challenge for the courses set by Simon Uppill was to find your way through the maze of erosion gullies. The sprint at Renmark schools was a super fast area, some temporary barriers added some technical complexity to the courses set by Robin Uppill.
Sat, 29 Sep - Aus Middle Distance Championships
Crooked Straight, near Renmark
World Ranking Event (Middle Distance discipline) for M/W21 E classes and
National Orienteering League Race 13
Mapper: Manu Jurado
Organiser: Rob Tucker
Course Planner: Robert Smith
OA Controller: Phil Hazell
Crooked Straight
For details of all Middle courses, go to
Routegadget. Routes taken by some competitors can be found by accessing the list on Routegadget here, and scrolling to the required course.
The mapped area comprised a sandy plateau with steep drops to the River Murray (to the north) and the flood plain (to the south). There are numerous steep dangerous erosion gullies especially on the northern edge. Vegetation is light and scrubby. Running is generally fast but with soft loose sand in places. On the plateau the most frequently mapped features are knolls and high points.
Some parts of the mapped area had been frequented by 4WD drivers. Not all of their vehicle tracks, particularly near the assembly/finish area, were mapped as they were changing frequently.
Most of the area used for the Middle Distance Championships was surrounded by fences which were hard to cross in some places. However, most of the easier crossing points had been taped to make them more obvious. Any competitor needing to cross a fence could generally find a crossing point near where they needed one.
Over 800 competitors started and the event was held under blue skies. Most people thoroughly enjoyed themselves with Matt Crane and Tash Key winning the elite classes.
A string course for younger orienteers was organised by Zita Sankauskas at most Championship events. Below are photographs from the 29th and 30th September showing Zita and her many helpers.
Weila – Bunyip Reach, near Renmark, National Orienteering League Race 14
Mapper: Adrian Uppill
Organiser: Craig Colwell
Course Planner: Simon Uppill
OA Controller: Adrian Uppill
Wiela-Bunyip Reach
Relay courses are on Routegadget here, then scroll to the required course.
Relay graveyard ready to go
The Wiela - Bunyip Reach area primarily comprises the sloping area between the Riverland plain and the River Murray, with areas varying between gentle spur/gully to steeper slopes closer to the river and numerous complex erosion networks. A layer of limestone in the plain results in cliff lines and other rock detail at certain elevations above the river. Vegetation is predominantly open land, mallee or low bush, leading to generally good runnability with some localised areas of slightly reduced runnability and/or visibility.
The event proved to be a top day for the Australian Championships Relays, dominated by erosion gullies once passed the spectator control. A great challenge and in perfect conditions.
Australian Relay Championships Course Photo Gallery
World Ranking Event (Sprint Distance discipline) for M/W21 and M/W 20 Elite classes and National Orienteering League Race 15.
Mapper: Adrian Uppill
Organiser: Adrian Uppill
Course Planner: Robin Uppill
IOF Event Adviser: Jenny Casanova
OA Controller: Peter Cutten
Renmark Schools
Details of all Sprint courses, including routes taken by some competitors, can be found by accessing the list on Routegadget here, and scrolling to the required course.
The area was a flat School Campus comprising school buildings and ovals, landscaped garden beds, and an area of dryland low shrub/samphire vegetation.
The event was described as "an action packed morning on a lightning quick course".
Day 3 Australian Sprint Championships Course Photo Gallery
Overview Australian Schools Championships & TriAdelaide
The Australian Schools Championship events were held over three days from Oct 2nd to Oct 4th.
The three events were:
Sprint Championships held on a warm day at Keithcot Farm - complex school buildings with many stairs and different levels, courses by David George.
Long Championships at Wirra Wirra - the day was much cooler for the competitors to navigate the at times low visibility pines, areas of complex rocks and a steeper section for the longer courses. Courses by Andrew Kennedy.
Relay Championships at Mount Crawford - a mix of lower and more open pines and some eucalypt forest. Fantastic effort by the teams to avoid any mispunches. Courses by John Nieuwenhoven.
The ACT won the interstate competition for the 3rd year in a row, with South Australia 2nd, and New Zealand again won the Southern Cross Challenge.
The honour team is:
Senior Girls - Joanna George, Abigail George, Emily Sorensen, Ella Cuthbert (three SA runners dominated the senior girls events)
Senior Boys - Dante Afnan, Noah Poland, Aston Key, Patrick Miller
Junior boys - Alvin Craig, David Stocks, Torren Arthur, Toby Cazzolato
SA cheer squad ...
... and Bridget at school relays
The Surveying and Spatial Science Institute sponsored the Australian Schools Championships as part of the Australian Championship Carnival, and this sponsorship is likely to extend to future years. SSSI is the national body representing and supporting spatial science and surveying professionals across Australia. SSSI professional areas include Land Surveying, Spatial Information and Cartography, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry, Hydrography, Engineering and Mining Surveying, Women in Spatial and Young Professionals in Spatial and Surveying. They provide their members with the platform to support and maximise their skills knowledge and experience.
SSSI is running a Geospatial Information Competition that challenges students to identify an issue in their local area and use geospatial information and technologies to address it. For more details see www.geospatialscience.com.au/competition. Can our students use their orienteering background to address a spatial issue? Geospatial information is the basis of all orienteering maps.
SSSI gave a presentation to state schools teams during the carnival.
Three days of public orienteering events (Heaps Good TriAdelaide) were also held during the Schools Championships.
Tue, 2 Oct - AUS Schools Sprint Championships & TriAdelaide
Keithcot Farm Primary School
Mapper: Ken Thompson
Organiser: Aylwin Lim
Course Planner: David George
OA Controller: Andrew Kennedy
Keithcot Farm
Junior Boy and Junior Girl Sprint courses, are on Routegadget
here, and for Senior Boy and Senior Girl here. Routes taken by some competitors can also be seen.
Start TriAdelaide Sprint
The seven public Heaps Good TriAdelaide sprint courses at Keithcot Farm are also on Routegadget here, and results are here. Some photos of the event are here and here.
The area comprised school buildings and recreation areas.
Outstanding performances were achieved by all of our juniors (and our welcome guests from New Zealand). The race was held on a first class sprint map.
Day 4 Australian School Sprint Championships Photo Gallery
Wed, 3 Oct - AUS Schools Long Championships & TriAdelaide
Wirra Wirra, Mount Lofty Ranges
Mapper: Adrian Uppill
Organiser: Frank Tomas/Peter Kreminski
Course Planner: Andrew Kennedy
OA Controller: Gerry Velaitis
Wirra Wirra
Junior Boy and Junior Girl courses are available on Routegadget here, and Senior Boy and Senior Girls courses are here. Routes taken by some competitors can also be seen.
The nine public Heaps Good TriAdelaide courses at Wirra Wirra are also on Routegadget here, and results are here.
The area used for the event was mainly pine forest with some native scrub on the peaks. Areas of gneissic granite were mainly in the pine forest.
The event brought a change of terrain and temperature. It was cool and green, but there was some really hot running from the juniors in the individual schools event.
SA highlights:
Max Grivell 4th Jnr Boys
Dante Afnan 2nd Snr boys
Emily Sorensen 2nd Snr girls
Abigail George 1st Snr girls!
Day 5 Australian Schools Long Championships Course Photo Gallery
Thu, 4 Oct - AUS Schools Relay Championships & TriAdelaide
Mount Crawford North, Mount Lofty Ranges
Mapper: Adrian Uppill
Organiser: Fi Pahor/ John Such
Course Planner: John Nieuwenhoven
OA Controller: David Tilbrook
Mt Crawford
Junior Boy and Junior Girl courses can be viewed on Routegadget here, and Senior Boy and Senior Girl
here. Some routes taken by competitors can also be seen.
The nine public Heaps Good TriAdelaide courses at Mount Crawford are also on Routegadget here for courses 1 and 2, here for courses 3 and 4, and here for courses 5 to 9. Results are here for all courses, and accumulated time results for all Heaps Good TriAdelaide courses are here.
The area was mostly plantation pine forest, ranging from mature pines with fast running and good visibility to young pines with slow running and poor visibility. There were also areas of native bushland on some courses. The South Para River crosses through the middle of the map and is on the South side of the arena. All courses cross this twice. The top of Mt Crawford (526m) towers 160m higher than the arena.
Congratulations to South Australia placing 2nd in the Australian Schools Orienteering championships, which was their best result in 15 years. Also congratulations to SA honour team members Dante Afnan, Emily Sorensen, Abigail George, Joanna George and Toby Cazzolato. The ACT Schools Team took out the Australian Schools Champs following the relay event.
Well done to the Southern Arrows Junior Girls team who came second in the National league competition. Fantastic work to Alyce, Sarah, Joanna, Meredith, Ana, Abigail and Emily. The junior boys came 4th as did the senior men and women. Looks like a strong future for Orienteering SA in the NOL competitions.
Day 6 Australian Schools Relay Championships Course Photo Gallery
More Schools Relay photos are here, here and here.
Aylwin Lim planned and organised this year’s Schools Invitational Team Camp.
He’d visited the camp run by Toni Brown at the Australian National Championships Carnival in Bathurst, NSW, in 2017, and had seen what a positive experience it was for keen young orienteers, especially those who miss out on State Team selection. He returned home with the idea of doing the same in SA for the 2018 Carnival, in the hope that it would continue to be part of this annual event. Toni supported Aylwin throughout the whole experience.
The Camp was based at the West Beach Caravan Park especially for kids 9-18 and their parents. It attracted 55 full-time participants plus another 32 part-timers (incl. adults, but excluding the visitors from the State Teams). They came from NZ (36), ACT (21), SA (13), Vic (11), Qld (2), WA (2) and NSW (2).
The main aims for the week were to enjoy a week of orienteering, get to meet other orienteers from around Australia and learn and share ideas about orienteering in general.
After attending each day’s event, participants returned to the park for free time and dinner before taking part in the evening’s planned activities. The program for these sessions consisted of an “Icebreaker” getting to know you activity, a presentation by Andrew Barnett focusing on Techniques for Different Terrains, and a talk by Kathy Hogg on Injury Prevention in Adolescent Orienteers.
Both Andrew’s and Cathy’s sessions were inspiring and helpful and were a way of encouraging the kids to improve their runs for the rest of the Carnival and into the future. They involved audience participation and were appropriate for the age group attending. The key points were presented in a simple way that made them easy to remember. Many of the adults also found the sessions beneficial.
The Camp wasn’t all hard work. Fun activities such as Sky Challenge at Mega Adventure Park, Dolphin Explorer Cruise and Sprint-O at Port Adelaide were booked for the rest day as well as a Night “O” Relay at the CP. These attracted between 35-50 participants each.
The Holiday Kids Club Manager at West Beach Caravan Park asked if other kids at the CP could be involved in the program, so Aylwin set up a Come and Try course for them, which ran twice and attracted 42 kids, plus their parents. Its success has prompted the CP to consider setting up a permanent DIY course for their guests, perhaps as part of their Kids Club program.
Families and children who were not attending the camp and staying in the bunkhouse, but maybe camping on-site, or staying elsewhere, were encouraged to join in any of the social activities that had been booked. Several people found out about it only by word of mouth, and commented that more would have come if only it had been included in the Carnival event website.
Aylwin has always been enthusiastic and creative in finding ways to introduce and encourage new people to the sport, not only in his own club, but now also with this Camp at an association level.
As a sporting community I believe it is important to encourage and support all participants, whether they are elite or regular competitors. The success of events at local, state, national and international level depends on many helpers. So it is important to recognise and value participants of all abilities. The Invitational Team Camp is one way of doing this.
There will always be differences of opinions on the best way to operate. However, if there is progress rather than decline, I see this as a positive outcome.
Some participant comments that relate to the camp’s aims:
Sasha E - It has been so much fun! Loved Kahoot! It was great to make new friends.
Michael, John and Christopher G - Thank you for the friendship and patience, and showing us new tips and tricks.
Sophie R - What the route choice speaker said will help improve my skills.
Dougal S - I will remember to do strength and conditioning (exercises) at least once a week.
Luca E - The night relay was the best thing.
Heather O - Our family really enjoyed the opportunity to meet other families, for the up and coming youth to interact and to participate in the wonderful evening training sessions.
The well attended workshop was held on a rest day during the Carnival at the Para Wirra National Park. The group discussed lessons learnt in using LIDAR for current and future major events, guidelines on specifying LIDAR acquisition and processing for different terrain types, and generally achieved a better understanding of the new ISOM 2017 mapping standards.
Overview of Final Championship days
The Australian Championships carnival concluded with two contrasting terrains. The Australian Long Championships at Gumeracha Gold Fields on Saturday Oct 6th was held on a mixed spur gully terrain with open fast pine forest, slower native forest and young pine plantation and some open areas with rocky detail. Course planner was Vince Loye. Winners of the elite classes were Natasha Key from Victoria and Henry McNulty from WA, his first senior open win at an Australian Championships
World Ranking Event (Long Distance discipline) for M/W21 E classes, and National Orienteering League Race 16
Organisers: James Lloyd, Fi Pahor
Course Planner: Vincent Loye
IOF Event Adviser and OA Controller: Jenny Casanova
Gumeracha Goldfields
For details of all Long courses, go to
Routegadget. Routes taken by some competitors can be found by accessing the list on Routegadget here, and scrolling to the required course.
Also, courses and GPS tracking, provided by Living it Live, can be found at tulospalvelu.fi as follows:
The area comprised undulating to steep spur - gully terrain with an extensive track network. The map had three distinct types of vegetation:
Dense native forest with old gold mining areas in the south;
Fast open pine forest near the arena (running speed depending on age of pines);
Semi-open to bushy areas with rocky detail in the north, including farmland on the Tower Hill ridgeline (where Mt Crawford weather station is sometimes reported as the coldest place in SA)
Some courses covered areas of young pines
String Course Photo Gallery - 6 and 7 October
Some great photos from the last two days of the string course!
For details of all Middle courses go to
Routegadget. Routes taken by some competitors can be found by accessing the list on Routegadget here, and scrolling to the required course.
The Keynes Gap terrain comprised complex rock detail in otherwise open and fast terrain. Course planner Steve Cooper set some challenging courses for this final carnival event. A spectacular view to the rocky ridge from the arena was even shared by those in the Finish tent.
The Natonal League results were also announced at the event, with Simon Uppill from SA 1st in M21E. Other winners were Natasha Key for W21E, Aston Key for M20E and Tara Melhuish for W20E.
Well done to everyone who helped make the Junior Arrows catering stall a possibility at Keynes Gap. Especial thanks to all the people who helped cook and serve food, those who baked yummy cakes, slices and biscuits (in the middle of a carnival) and those who helped with the transport of everything needed. Not only were hordes of hungry orienteers fed but also over $2000 was raised.
A big thankyou to Julia and Sandra who did all the main organising and purchasing of everything and also Adrian who cooked the BBQ all day.
Day 9 South Australia Middle Championships Course Photo Gallery
The Silva Medal competition for 2018 is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian Championships (Sprint, Middle and Long), the Australian 3-Days Championships (each day considered as a separate event) and the South Australian Middle Distance Championship (Elite and A classes in M/W16 and above). One’s best 6 events count towards this award.
Jennifer Enderby (NC.N) won 6 of the 7 events scoring a maximum of 24 points and won on a countback from Marina Iskhakova and Jenny Bourne based on average winning margins. This is the second time Jennifer has taken out the award. All ladies ran a series of excellent races over the Australian Championships. The top five placings were:
The Australian Championships was an excellent experience with new maps and terrain.
The first event in the Riverland was physically challenging because of the sandy surface. It was very important to keep concentration, because there were vague areas and complicated contours, which made it easy to get confused. The Australian Relay was in a series of complicated erosion gullies with a sandy surface. The first half of the courses were long legs followed by a series of short complicated legs which needed you to have high concentration and accuracy. The Australian Sprint was in an open school with artificial barriers put on the map to help create route choice. With these barriers it was important to read ahead and pick the fastest route choice. The Riverland terrain was very different to Adelaide terrain, because it was sandy and there were scratchy bushes, whereas Adelaide maps were classic pine forest.
The Schools Sprint was in a challenging school with many traps in the courses, meaning it was important to read ahead and take time while planning your route. The Schools Individual was next, and it started with some hard controls which needed accurate bearings, then there were some route choice legs. The Schools Relay was like the individuals, where accurate bearings were needed. The trick to not wasting your time if you couldn’t find the control was to go back out to the track, or a feature and retake your bearing. The last day, SA middle, had physical demands but also required a high level of concentration with the technical rock clusters.
Footnote: It was a fantastic carnival and thank you for everyone who made it possible.
Following the completion of the Australian Long Distance Championships in SA, the final point score for the 2018 National Orienteering League was finalized. It was a very successful year for both the Victorian Nuggets and the Canberra Cockatoos with wins in both the teams and individual overall competitions.
Congratulations to the winners and to all athletes for an exciting competition during the year. Thanks to Dave Shepherd for producing the scores so promptly all year.
Following the completion of the Australian Championships in SA, the 2018 rankings in non-elite classes have been determined. These rankings are based on results in the Australian 3-Days Championship (Days 1-3), Australian Championships (Aus Sprint, Aus Middle and Aus Long) and the South Australian Middle Championship.
Points are awarded for each event completed on the basis of 100 points for first place and lesser points for other competitors.
When more than one orienteer in a class has 100 points, the first ranked orienteer is determined by the average of their three best winning margins.
OA Statistician Darryl Erbacher has noted several points of interest in the 2018 rankings:
1. In four classes two orienteers earned maximum points (separated by winning margins): Matthew Cohen (AL.T), Matthew Patten (EV T); Bruce Arthur (MF.V), Craig Feuerherdt (BG.V); John Scown (AO.A), Tim Ashman (LI.S); Tony Mount (AL.T), Kevin Paine (BS.A).
2. 36 clubs had members in the first three places of their respective classes: AL.T, MF.V, NC.N (7); RR.A (6); BG.V, PO.A (4); BB.N, BF.N, EV.T, TJ.S, UG.Q, UR.N (3); BK.V, BN.N, BO.W, BS.A, SH.N, TT.S, WR.T, YA.S, YV.V (2); AO.A, EN.Q, EU.V, DR.V, GO.N, KO.W, LI.S, NT.N, SO.Q, SW.W, WA.S, WE.A, WH,N, WO.W, WR.N (1).
3. The most successful states for first places were: NSW (10) and Victoria (6).
4. Families with two or more members in the first three places were: McComb (Zali W14, Cathy W45), Enderby (Erika W12, Jennifer W50), Arthur (Sophie W12, Torren M14, Bruce M40), Iskhakova (Ariadna W10, Marina W40), Woolford (Alex M12, Sam M14, Tony M55), Dent (Elye M10, Kathie W35), Key (Milla W12, Warren M55), Gray (Mikaela W16, Ryan M16).
5. Victoria orienteers filled the first 3 placings in the M40 class.
A notable inclusion in the registration bag for all competitors at this year's carnival was information about the National Orienteering Carnival next year.
The double-sided brochure, with excerpts shown above and below, was a bit of a taster about events to come. More information on the event can be found on the 2019 Carnival website.
Schedule:
Sat, 28 September 2019 : Oceania Sprint, Wagga Wagga
Sun, 29 September 2019 : Australian Long, Cootamumdra
Mon, 30 September 2019 : Oceania/Australian Relay, Cootamundra
Tue, 1 October 2019 : Schools Sprint/Public Day 1, Wagga Wagga
Wed, 2 October 2019 : Schools Long/Public Day 2, Wagga Region
Thu, 3 October 2019 : Schools Relay/Public Day 3, Wagga Region
Fri, 4 October 2019 : Rest Day
Sat, 5 October 2019 : Oceania Long, Wangaratta
Sun, 6 October 2019 : Oceania Middle, Beechworth
This will involve some wonderful orienteering in rocks, so if you enjoyed the terrific Keynes Gap map used on the last day of the Champs carnival, this will be more of the same.
Bridget is planning to do some coaching in rocks before the event so that the SA orienteers will have had some great practice for it.
