Author: craigf

The annual Orienteering Australia Conference was held over the weekend of 30 November and 1 December at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Highlights included:

• A new High Performance and Athlete Development Pathway Strategic Plan, including new squad structures and plans for foot and MTBO training camps.
• Nick Dent launched Sprint Canberra, 5 sprint races from 23-27 January in conjunction with the first ever national sprint orienteering training camp. Google ‘Eventor Sprint Canberra’ for more information and like ‘Sprint Canberra’ on Facebook
• Exciting new developments by Paul Dowling in WA in use of Eventor presented by Craig Feuerherdt and a national agreement on paying for Eventor in 2014
• Agreement to Eventor becoming the principal national results database from 2014 and to upload historical results from the OA website database into Eventor
• Agreement to establishing an Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame in 2014
• Brain storming of ideas to include in a participation development plan during the next 10 years
• The announcement by Paul Prudhoe that Australia’s newest orienteering club was formed in Coff’s Harbour on Saturday 30 November after a lot of work by Orienteering NSW in creating a set of maps and running a comprehensive local media campaign followed by 6 initial events. This replicated a similar strategy to create the Northern Rivers Orienteering Club based at Lismore and Ballina
• A very informative risk management and legal issues presentation by NSW Technical Director Andrew Lumsden
• A presentation by Andrew Ramsay of the Australian Sports Commission on the work of the Commission in the areas of increasing participation and sustainability, including improvements in governance that Orienteering Australia is taking on board

Conference photos: http://hardingjohn.smugmug.com/Sports/Orienteering/2013-OA-Conference-AIS/
http://hardingjohn.smugmug.com/Sports/Orienteering/2013-OA-Conference/

The Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Team to take on the Kiwis in the North Island of New Zealand in January 2014 has been announced by the selection committee of Craig Steffens, Carolyn Jackson & Kay Haarsma.    The best two riders in the classes nominated by the travelling country (as below) count towards the overall trophy, which is contested over 3 races in the 9 day carnival.   Both countries have agreed to an exception of the Aus v NZ Challenge rules to enable a W70 class to be run with only 1 rider to count.  Craig Steffens is the Australian team manager and also arranging the logistics for a tour group of 30 riders.

Orienteering Australia has endorsed a new squad structure to operate from 2014.

The aim of the new Talent Development Squad Structure is to support a diversity of athlete progressions into and along the High Performance pathway.

At the national level of the Talent Development Structure there will be a High Performance Squad (HPS).This will include committed, talented senior(+21) and junior (17-20) athletes. The consolidation of the senior and junior HP Squads aims to assist the smooth transition from junior to senior elite competition. From this squad will be chosen a smaller Elite HP Squad who have achieved the benchmark of WOC representation.

Below the HPS will be a National Development Squad (NDS) which will comprise athletes aiming to achieve benchmark performances at Oceania Championships, Easter, Aus Champs and NOL events to be eligible for the HPS. There will also be at this level a Australian Junior Development Squad (AJDS) comprising juniors who are progressing from the Australian Schools competition and who will be aiming for benchmark performances at NOL, Easter and Australian Champs events.

The base of the HP program will be a Targeted Talented Athlete Squad (TTA) to enable a smooth transition into the HP program for both senior and junior athletes. Assimilation into the program will happen through invitation to camps and activities appropriate to the age of the Targeted Talented Athlete.

This squad structure will be supported by coaching support that will comprise a National Head Coach, a Talent Development Coach, National Development Coaches and High Performance Squad Coaches (WOC and JWOC coaches).

Squad membership will be determined by eligibility based on benchmark performances. The number of athletes who reach the benchmark performances will determine the number of athletes in each squad. The actual benchmark performances for different age groups and talent stages can be found in the FTEM framework section of the HP Strategic Plan. This will be discussed at the OA Annual Conference in late November and will be featured in articles in the OA magazine in December and March. It will be made available also on the OA website.

The squad memberships for 2014 will be announced by the end of November. This will be based on the information provided by the athletes who have completed the application form ( see earlier article on OA website).

Selection Procedures for Australian Team for 2014 Junior World Orienteering Championships

Orienteering Australia will send a team to contest the 2014 Junior World Orienteering Championships in Bulgaria from 21st to 27th July.

It is expected that a team of at least 4 men and 4 women will be selected. Additional team members (up to a maximum of 6 men and 6 women) may be selected depending on performance in the selection trials.

Nominations 

Nominations are to be made to the Chair of the Junior Selection Panel, Jan Hardy, by e-mail (janhardy@iprimus.com.au). A note advising of your availability for selection is sufficient. Nominations should be received no later than Sunday, 9th March 2014. Verbal nominations will not be accepted. Late nominations may be accepted at the discretion of the selectors.

With your nomination please advise a phone contact for the days after Easter – this will make it easier for us to get the good news to you if the occasion requires.

Selection Criteria 

The primary selection trials are the four races of the Easter weekend, to be held in NSW from 18th to 21st April 2014 .

Secondary selection trials will be the 2014 March National League races on March 22nd and 23rd in Victoria.

All candidates for selection are expected to compete in these events unless they have grounds for special consideration (see below).

In such cases of special consideration, or where selection is exceptionally tight between 2 or more nominees, selectors may refer to the results of other recent major events,including 2013 JWOC and 2013 Australian Championships.

Members of current national squads are expected to have entered into an athlete agreement. Those who have declined to enter into such an agreement, or who have failed to follow it to the satisfaction of the selectors, may be excluded from consideration for selection irrespective of their performance in the selection events.

Classes 

Candidates for selection will normally be expected to compete in M/W17-20E at Easter. Any candidates for selection who want to run M/W21E should seek the approval of the Chair as soon as practicable – this approval will normally be given only to those who are realistic candidates for

selection in senior representative teams or squads. Any such competitors will be considered based on kilometre rates at Easter, and past Junior World Championships performances. 17-20E and 21E will run the same course at the March National League races.

Candidates for selection who are competing or training overseas at the time of the selection events may apply for pre-selection. The Selection Panel has the authority to pre-select one or more individuals at any time if, in the Panel’s opinion, they have clearly demonstrated that they have a realistic prospect of placing in the top 16 of the individual races in the Junior World Championships. Such a decision will be based primarily on previous international championship performances and the candidate’s proposed programme of training and competition overseas. There is no longer any other provision for overseas selection.

Anyone who wishes to seek pre-selection under this clause is advised to contact the Chair as soon as possible.

Other applications for special consideration 

Any competitor who is unable to compete, or whose performance is adversely affected, in one or more selection trials due to injury, or illness, may be considered for selection in the team, providing that they have significantly outperformed one or more members of the team that would have been selected in their absence in recent major events.

Anyone seeking special consideration under this clause should contact the Chair as soon as possible once they become aware of the situation which leads them to seek it. The Chair may require a medical certificate to be produced.

Timing of selection 

The team will be announced in the week following Easter and all nominees will be advised by email.

Other information 

The full rules for the selection of JWOC teams can be found in the Operational Manual on the OA website, in sections 5.1 (Australian Teams) and 5.3 (Junior World Championships Teams). This includes information on the procedure for appeals.

Selection in the team will be conditional on acceptance of an athlete agreement, including relevant codes of conduct.

The selection panel consists of Jan Hardy (Chair), Roch Prendergast (National Junior Coach), Bridget Anderson and Susanne Casanova.

Contacts for further information 

Jan Hardy can be contacted by e-mail at janhardy@iprimus.com.au, and by phone on (03)62342991

Jan Hardy Chair, Junior Selection Panel, 21 September 2013

1. Silva NOL 2014 Program

The full list of Silva NOL events for 2014 are now available  under SILVA National League section of the website. Next year will see the introduction of a sprint weekend in Brisbane including a Sprint Relay, a Sprint Qualification and Sprint Final.  Following Easter on Anzac Day there will be a NOL Sprint Relay using the same format as the sprint relay to be part of WOC 2014. The Ultra Long to be held at Kooyoora will include all the prizes that it had last year and more. So some changes to the format of the NOL program 2014.

2. HP Squad Applications

Due by 31st October.

All current and future elite orienteers need to apply to be part of the new OA HP Squad Structure that will operate in 2014.

This can be done online at the link below

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QAOTyvaX42j2uRCXdTqciEWLVOmGGqavl38eUgwM-mw/viewform

Or   email  nickdent7@gmail.com

The ACT MTBO titles held last weekend produced some of the best racing of the year on terrain that was well suited for the varying disciplines.  The sprint saw riders negotiating the maze of single track at Sparrow Hill.  The middle had them merely go on the opposite side of the road into Kowen East, which gave a mixture of single track and fire roads.  On Sunday riders assembled in the middle of Kowen Forest at the Homestead Campgrounds and mostly had very fast fire tracks with intriguing route choice options. All courses were master minded by Sean Sunley and Julie Sunley cheerfully handled the admin.

The men’s elite had quite a lot of depth and the podium places were shared around as follows:

Sprint:  Ricky Thackray, Seb Dunne, David Simpfendorfer

Middle: Todd Novack, Seb Dunne, David Simpfendorfer

Long: David Simpfendorfer; Todd Nowack; Ricky Thackray

NSW’s Steven Todkill was just outside the placings on each ride, as was WA’s Ian Dalton.

Women’s elite saw Carolyn Jackson (who had won 3 gold medals in W50 World masters the previous weekend) strongly challenged by Danielle Winslow, a former foot WOC representative and top adventure racer, who was undertaking her first competition after the arrival of her first child.  Carolyn took the honours overall but Danielle certainly made her work hard.  Janet Street grabbed the third places ahead of Jasmine Sunley.

There was some great potential shown by a whole bunch of juniors who rode some fast kilometre times.  Paul Jongh (“fresh” from 3^rd place in the World solo 24 hr Mtb U23 race) shared the spoils in M20 with brother Ian.  Alysha McNee rode fast to win W20, as did Gaby Withers in W16.  Gaby is quite experienced for her age, even having ridden a public race in Estonia recently.   The M16 class saw close racing between Ballarat’s Declan Dickson and Canberra’s Steve Melhuish and NSW’s Eddy Prentice. Declan took the trifecta of wins but was hard pushed by Steve in all of them.  Patrick & Tristan Miller shared the spoils in M14 while Sonya McNee literally grabbed the choccies in W12.

The closest finish of the weekend went to Jennifer Strack, who was thrilled to win the W50 long title by a mere 3 seconds ahead of Heather Leslie.  Congratulations to the  masters who managed to win all 3 events: Malcolm Roberts, Keith Wade, and Dale Ann Gordon.

Victoria dominant state in MTBO in 2013.

Victorian Nugget riders capped off a busy competitive year at the ACT MTBO titles in Kowen Forest by winning back the Orienteering Australia Shield (which is contested over all 3 Australian title events) with Queensland 2^nd and 2012 winner NSW 3^nd.  The ACT sprint title also doubled up as the Australian Sprint Championships.

Victorians were also dominant in the National MTBO Series which was finalised after these championships.

Point summary for placegetters is:

494 Victoria;  286 Queensland;  280 NSW;   106 ACT.

Overall state age class winning states and individual 1^st & 2^nd places were:

State    1^st                                            2nd

M14     ACT     Patrick & Tristan Miller (ACT) draw

M16     VIC      Declan Dickson (V)         Eddy Prentice (NSW)

M20     QLD    Karl Withers (Q)                      Tim Jackson (V)

M21     WA      Ricky Thackray (WA)             Callum Fagg (TAS)

M40     QLD    Craig Steffens (Q)                  Bruce Patterson (V)

M50     NSW   Malcolm Roberts (NSW)        Rob Prentice (NSW)

M60     VIC      Peter Cusworth (V)                 Paul Haynes (NSW)

M70     VIC      Keith Wade (V)                       Blake Gordon (V)

M80     VIC      Graeme Cadman (V)

W16     QLD    Gaby Withers (Q)

W20     ACT     Alysha McNee (ACT)

W21     VIC      Carolyn Jackson (V)               Danielle Winslow (TAS)

W40     NSW   Carolyn Matthews (NSW)      Julie Sunley (ACT)

W50     VIC      Heather Leslie (V)                   Norah Skilton (Q)

W60     VIC      Kathy Liley (V)                        Julie Fisher (Q)

W70     VIC      Dale Ann Gordon (V)              Jenny Sheahan (V)

W80     VIC      Joyce Rowlands (V)

2014 will see a lot of travel for keen mtb orienteers, starting in January when over 30 are travelling to the multi-day carnival in New Zealand.   The national series has races in 3 states:  Queensland in May -Selection Trials for Junior & Elite World Champs too; Alice Springs in June for Australian MTBO Champs, and to WA for round 3 of the Series in early October.

The six coach / manager positions for Australian teams travelling to World Championships in WOC & JWOC in both foot orienteering and mountain bike orienteering in 2014-15 are now being advertised after the conclusion of the previous two year roles.

Below are the headlines of the advertised roles.

Detailed information on ALL positions is available on this link: OA Coaching Jobs 2014.docx This includes job requirements; selection criteria and application requirements. Applications are due by November 15th.

Two Positions: Australian World Orienteering Championships (WOC) Officials.

Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Position 1 – Coach of the WOC team, with limited management roles.
Position 2 – Manager of the WOC team, and assistant coach, if applicable.

Position: Australian Junior World Orienteering Championship (JWOC) Coach
Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Coach the Junior World Orienteering Championships team. This includes leading training and coaching of the squad/team, and liaise and provide technical assistance to the individual coaches and the squad/team members to assist in their development as orienteers.

Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) Team Manager Position.

Time Period: November 2013 – end October 2015.

Job Requirements:
Provide appropriate information to all potential Australian Junior World Orienteering Championships team members and their parents or caregivers, both directly through email, and indirectly through the OA High Performance website, The Australian Orienteer magazine, state email newsletters etc.
Undertake the co-ordination of squad/team travel arrangements within and outside Australia and distribute detailed itineraries.

Australian MTB Orienteering Coach.

Time Period: November 2013 to September 2015.

Job Requirements:
Primary role:
Coach of the combined WMTBOC & JWMTBOC team, with a management role within Australia.

2014 Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships Australian Team Manager.

Time Period: For 2014 World Championships.

Job Requirements:
Co-ordinate the day to day arrangements of the Australian team (WMTBOC & JMTBOC team members) whilst they are overseas, both at the pre-champs training camp and at WMTBOC itself. This specifically involves food, accommodation and travel needs.

Orienteering Australia will send a team to contest the 2014 Junior World Orienteering Championships in Bulgaria from 21^st to 27^th July.

It is expected that a team of at least 4 men and 4 women will be selected. Additional team members (up to a maximum of 6 men and 6 women) may be selected depending on performance in the selection trials.

Nominations

Nominations are to be made to the Chair of the Junior Selection Panel, Jan Hardy, by e-mail (janhardy@iprimus.com.au). A note advising of your availability for selection is sufficient. Nominations should be received no later than Sunday, 9^th March 2014. Verbal nominations will not be accepted. Late nominations may be accepted at the discretion of the selectors.

With your nomination please advise a phone contact for the days after Easter – this will make it easier for us to get the good news to you if the occasion requires.

Selection Criteria

The primary selection trials are the four races of the Easter weekend, to be held in NSW from 18^th to 21^st April 2014 .

Secondary selection trials will be the 2014 March National League races on March 22^nd and 23^rd in Victoria.

All candidates for selection are expected to compete in these events unless they have grounds for special consideration.

In such cases of special consideration, or where selection is exceptionally tight between 2 or more nominees, selectors may refer to the results of other recent major events, including 2013 JWOC and 2013 Australian Championships.