2011 Archive

The Victorian Nuggets made a great start to the 2011 National MTBO League after Round 1 races at Korweinguboora, just south of Daylesford, Victoria.

The area, famous for the 1981 foot-o Australian Championship when it snowed, rained, hailed and showed patches of sunshine, lived up to its reputation with a windy Saturday.  Storms and heavy rain over Saturday night turning some tracks to marshes and slowing down riders on Sunday.

The standings after Round One see Victoria on top with 64 points, a surging Tasmania lead by the Junior Boys in second on 18, with NSW and Qld deadlocked on 14 for 3rd  and WA 5th with 10 points. Round 2 will be in Queensland in late July.

After considering a number of applications for vacant panel positions the following people have been appointed to the Junior Selection Panel:
Bridget Anderson (Qld/SA); Susanne Casanova (NT/SA); Jan Hardy (Tas).
Roch Prendergast (Vic) and Blair Trewin – chair (Vic) are continuing members of the panel.

Orienteering Australia would like to thank the previous junior selectors for their time and effort- Julian Dent, Kathryn Ewels and Paul Liggins.

Orienteering Australia is seeking expressions of interest to produce an organiser’s manual for street and park orienteering. This project is being funded by the ASC grant to increase participation in orienteering.

The manual will assist in a planned major expansion of street and park orienteering across Australia in new and existing areas and should include all the information needed for a person who has never organised a street orienteering program or event to successfully do so. Expressions of interest are invited from contributors from different states to reflect both different methods of conducting such events and other possible considerations around mapping, terrain and safety. The manual will include information on:

· Brief overview of orienteering and background of street – park orienteering in each state and territory

· Course formats for street – park orienteering

· Assembly area selection, control types, course planning, safety and risk management issues for both day and night events

· Producing maps for street – park orienteering (area selection, base map and photography sourcing, OCAD, assistance available in producing maps, sample maps, printing)

· Event equipment (including sample control card and control types)

· Target participants (walkers and runners, individuals and groups, wheelchairs and prams) and courses offered

· On the day organisation, labour required, briefing of participants, and options for recording, timing and processing results (including spreadsheets and event management software systems as applicable)

· Marketing, publicity, sponsorship

· Links to state association website information and calendars on street and park orienteering

· Supporting resources available from state associations

The manual will include illustrative photos. It will be in PDF format for ease of download and printing. Copyright will allow download and use by individuals, schools or clubs but not for reproduction for sale. An Orienteering Australia reference group will assist authors by reviewing drafts. The target for completion of the project is December 2011.

Expressions of interest should include information on the street and park orienteering background of the applicant, writing experience, and which street and park programs in which states the applicant will be documenting. Applicants should provide quotes firstly to complete a draft and secondly to finalise after feedback from the reference group.

Expressions of interest should be forwarded to John Harding, Executive Officer, Orienteering Australia (ph 0427 107 033) email orienteering@netspeed.com.au by 19 April 2011.

Orienteering Australia is seeking expressions of interest to produce online information and training guides for street and park, bush, sprint and mountain bike orienteering. These projects are being funded by the ASC grant to increase participation in orienteering.

These guides will build on beginner training information already found on the OA, state and club websites, and be a complementary package to videos being produced during 2011 on how to do street and park, bush, sprint and mountain bike orienteering. The training guides will be targeted at:

• Beginners (walkers, runners and mountain bikers) to give them advance knowledge before their first event and some rudimentary skills to allow their first few events to be positive experiences
• Building up skills as further engagement occurs
• Teachers keen to start an orienteering program in their schools with a resource
• Level 1 coaches to provide a resource to share with beginners they are coaching
• Scout and guide leaders to show their troops what orienteering is about before they bring the troops to participate in club orienteering events

The guides should include

• Overview of orienteering and formats of orienteering events
• Overview of the orienteering map (various formats)
• Basic orienteering skills necessary for the above groups for the various formats
• The guides will be written in plain English and packaged attractively with photos, sample maps and illustrations as appropriate.

Each manual will be in PDF format for ease of download and printing. Copyright will allow download and use by individuals, schools or clubs but not for reproduction for sale. An Orienteering Australia reference group will assist authors by reviewing drafts. The target for completion of the project is December 2011.

Expressions of interest should include information on the coaching background of the applicant, writing experience, and which discipline(s) the applicant will be documenting. Applicants should provide quotes firstly to complete a draft and secondly to finalise after feedback from the reference group.

Expressions of interest should be forwarded to John Harding, Executive Officer, Orienteering Australia (ph 0427 107 033) email orienteering@netspeed.com.au by 19 April 2011.

Grace Crane (nee Elson) competed successfully in the British sprint and middle distance championships last weekend.
After placing 2nd in the sprint heats she had to be satisfied with 5th in the final. Hollie Orr won in 14.33 with Grace recording 15.10.
In the middle event Claire Ward won in 29.41 with Grace 2nd in 31.16 in a strong field.
These events were British team selection races for WOC, Nordic Champs and the Euromeeting and the women’s field had 46 starters.

Results available from http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2011/BritishSprintMiddle/

Route gadget available from the Southdowns Orienteers website

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and Australian Government Office for Women are looking to develop the next generation of female leaders in sport by offering the 2011-12 Sport Leadership Grants and Scholarships for Women (SLGSfW).

Substantial funding for organisations and individuals is available, with applications now open.  Applications close on 29 April 2011.

Women from all areas and levels of the Australian sports community are encouraged to apply, including women involved in sport as managers, administrators, coaches, officials, and women in sport governance and media/communications.

For more information about the 2011-12 SLGSfW, please visit ausport.gov.au/women or call 02 6214 1111.

Orienteering Australia is seeking applications to undertake a consultancy project to define the requirements for an integrated website and supporting digital communication technologies for Orienteering Australia and State Associations, and consider options for the implementation of these requirements.  The options may involve complete redevelopment of a new website(s), additions of new functionality to the current web site(s), or a maintenance of the status quo with improved management processes.

The application should include details and background of the applicant(s), proposed cost of the project, and a project schedule to produce a draft report by 15 July and final report by 15 September 2011.

The project should include a phase to refer preliminary findings to a sub-committee nominated by the Orienteering Australian Board. The plan will include:

1. Background and overview of current website and digital communications of Orienteering Australia and state associations.

2. Document and prioritise the current and future functional requirements of an integrated national-state website and digital communications system e.g. ability to manage news, event calendars, members area etc.  This may include a Gap Analysis i.e. document current functionality from the current national, state and linked sites (e.g. the Results System, Route Gadget, Blogs etc) and what is lacking.

3. Document the non-functional requirements, e.g. items such as customisable layout and styles, and ability to apply different security levels to management of content.

4. Document state-specific requirements that may not be applicable to a national website, e.g. state-specific online membership systems.

5. Implementation requirements of migrating to a new system. This would cover design of site structure, design of graphics, building of a new site, training of new content managers, migration of existing content, testing.  This would be high level and technology independent at this stage.

6. Operational requirements for the website and linked digital communications media, e.g. content editor, system administrator.

7. Recommendations and priorities e.g. maintain or enhance the status quo, develop a new site system based on specific technologies (or technological options), what features should be included in the new site system.

8. If redevelopment is a recommendation, include a high level project plan (tasks, effort and costs).

For enquiries contact the Executive Officer (ph 0427 107 033) at orienteering@netspeed.com.au. Applications close with the Executive Officer, Orienteering Australia, PO Box 284, Mitchell ACT 2911 on 18 April 2011.

Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce that High Performance Operations and Promotions Manager Rob Preston has been appointed to the additional position of Orienteering Australia Website Communications Manager.

Preston (pictured winning Sunday’s Silva National Orienteering League Long Distance event on Mt Ainslie in Canberra) will primarily be responsible for website maintenance and documentation, coordinating news bulletins on the OA website and social media, and production of a regular OA Enews bulletin.

There are also many event photographs on the OA Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/OrienteeringAustralia

Join the OA Facebook page now to get the latest news, photo reports, and reminders about events coming up.

The Senior Selection Panel would like to announce the 2011 Elite Squad.

* denotes High Performance Group

Congratulations to the squad and good luck for the 2011 season.

 WOC Selection Criteria. 2011WOCSelectionCriteria.pdf

This document sets out selection arrangements for the following elite Australian orienteering teams in 2011:

–   World Orienteering Championships (13-20 August, Savoie Grand Revard, France)

–   Bushrangers challenge (likely to be first weekend in June in NZ and the Oceania carnival in Australia in September/October)

–      World Cup races

They reflect input from Australian and overseas-based elite athletes; coaches, experience from past selection processes and general selection guidelines published by the Australian Sports Commission. They also reflect Orienteering Australia’s rules.

Please read this document carefully it provides detailed advice on how to get selected in the respective teams.

Orienteering Australia is seeking expressions of interest to fill a part-time position of Website Communications Manager responsible for the following tasks:

1. OA website maintenance: reviewing and updating content, archiving old content, creating new pages as required, refreshing photographic displays.
2. Updating the SocialFx user manual for the OA website and maintaining a Question and Answer log of queries resolved by the OA website users group.
3. Coordinate posting of news stories on the OA website of major events (international, national and state).
4. Production of regular editions of a national ENews bulletin.
5. Facebook and Twitter site notices and linkages back to the OA website, and review and coordination of YouTube and Flickr content as required.
6. Editing and approving articles submitted for posting, as required.
7. Advising new contributors on how to submit articles and the approval process.
8. Assisting the Events Committee in maintaining the Event Calendar and adding links to event websites for events on the calendar.
9. Maintaining cross-promotional website links with relevant organisations in fields including rogaining, adventure racing, mountain biking and running.
10. Editing and loading paid advertising as required.

The position requires very good coordination, liaison, writing and IT skills in the areas of modern media. Demonstrated ability in website maintenance and/or SocialFx will be an advantage. The position is part-time, one day a week and will be reviewed after 12 months. Expressions of interest should be sent to the Executive Officer (ph 0427 107 033) at orienteering@netspeed.com.au by 11 March.