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Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce 2020 national team manager and coach positions as follows:

World Orienteering Championships, Denmark, July
Coach: Wendy Read
Manager and Assistant Coach: Stefano Raus
Assistant Coach: Jim Russell

World University Orienteering Championships, Russia, July
Coach: Henry McNulty
Manager and Assistant Coach: Natasha Key

Wendy is rejoining as a WOC official after a few years rest; Stefano joins us after working with Italian teams and as the SA coach in residence in 2016-17; Henry is coaching for the first time while still competing successfully himself at the world level; and this is Tash’s second WUOC so we have an  experienced and talented team. Thanks everyone for volunteering. JWOC appointments will be announced as soon as we sort out a few final details.

In the current Fire (and smoke) situation that is in NSW (and other States), OA and I have decided that the best and only thing to do, is to cancel the upcoming Junior Development Camp that was going to be in the Newcastle area from the 3rd to 8th of January, 2020. As a sport, that has its playing fields in the Forest, this is the only option we had.

We hope you a Merry Christmas, and look forward to the New year, after things have improved

Jim Russell

Orienteering Australia Head Coach

The senior and junior selection panels have named squads for 2020 which can be found here.

These are provisional squads which will be revised after Easter. Additional athletes who meet the standards will be added then and athletes who are not active in high performance activities may be removed to make way for those who are active.

We are also calling for squad coaches. Often these are also team coaches for the year and we have an open call for 2020 JWOC, WUOC and WOC coaches at the moment. Please contact Jim Russell or Ian Prosser if you are interested in being either a squad or team coach.

Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce the Australian team for an elite test match against the New Zealand Pinestars at the Oceania Carnival. The test match will be conducted over Oceania sprint, relay, long and middle races; and the the Australian long champs. The number of competitors in each race is set by NZ as the visiting team.

The team is:
W21
Bridget Anderson (all races)
Natasha Key (all races)
Krystal Neumann (all races)
Belinda Lawford (sprint, Oceania long, middle)
Aisllinn Prendergast (Aust and Oceania long)
Grace Crane (middle)

M21
Matt Doyle (all races)
Brodie Nankervis (all races)
Simon Uppill (all races)
Matt Crane (sprint, Aust long)
Martin Dent (sprint, Aust long)
Aston Key (Oceania long, middle)

W20
Mikayla Cooper (all races)
Zoe Melhuish (all races)
Tara Melhuish (Oceania champs races)
Ella Cuthbert (sprint, middle, Aust and Oceania long)
Caitlin Young (sprint, middle, Aust and Oceania long)
Joanna George (middle, Aust and Oceania long)
Abigail George (Aust long)
Arabella Phillips (sprint)

M20
Dante Afnan (all races)
Alastair George (all races)
Patrick Miller (all races)
Angus Haines  (sprint, middle, Aust and Oceania long)
Alvin Craig (middle, Aust and Oceania long)
Duncan Currie (sprint)

Congratulations to all selected athletes.

The senior selection panel have finalised the Australian team for the World Cup round in China toward the end of October. The selected athletes are:

Women
Bridget Anderson
Mary Fleming
Natasha Key
Belinda Lawford
Krystal Neumann
Anna Sheldon

Men
Jarrah Day
Martin Dent
Matt Doyle
Aston Key
Henry McNulty
Brodie Nankervis

Team manager: Ian Prosser

Congratulations to all selected athletes. This is the largest and strongest team we have sent to a World Cup for quite some time.

Orienteering Australia’s ANZ Challenge selection panel is pleased to announce the team for the age group classes.  The team was selected from the 119 nominations received in Eventor, where the nominees had also entered the same classes in the Oceania races, and was based on form from the last two national carnival events.

The team for each of the 4 disciplines is the same.

Australia’s Challenge Team Manager will be Orienteering Tasmania’s Kim Nankervis. Kim has previously managed an Australia Challenge Team in New Zealand. Kim can be contacted via kim.nankervis@education.tas.gov.au

Kim will be responsible for organising the team and has a number of formal responsibilities under the Challenge rules (mostly relating to agreements between the countries on late team changes, etc.),  and any co-ordination matters of the relay teams, especially to sort out last minute team changes if there are any injuries to selected team members.

The senior elite selection panel have made the following selection of relay teams for both the ANZ Challenge and the Australian Bushrangers Team for the elite test match.

M21E
Matt Doyle
Brodie Nankervis
Simon Uppill

W21E
Bridget Anderson
Natasha Key
Krystal Neumann

The elite selection panel will look at the teams for the other races within this week. The above elite relay teams selections are being made public first so that the State relay selectors can make their own decisions.

The junior elite selection panel has selected the following athletes for the ANZ Challenge and for the relay in the ANZ elite test match:

M20E
Dante Afnan
Alistair George
Patrick Miller

W20E
Mikalya Cooper
Tara Melhuish
Zoe Melhuish

 Good Luck to all!

Silva Medal 2019

Progress Scores after Australian Easter Carnival in Perth

After the five events in Western Australia that contribute to the determination of the winner of the Silva Medal 34 orienteers from the list below below (but not all of them) can theoretically achieve six victories with four more events to be conducted at the Oceania Championships. That is, they have already achieved two or more victories. With 9 events used to calculate the Silva Medal this year the maximum points can be achieved with less that 6 victories provided significant points are achieved in events other than those won. Theoretically, 89 orienteers can reach maximum points at this time. Of course, it is expected that this list will reduce dramatically as events are concluded.

Three orienteers have achieved five victories. They only need to achieve one victory from the remaining four events to achieve six victories and score the maximum points. In the first weekend of the Oceania Championships 12 orienteers on the list can possibly reach maximum points.

It is highly likely that there will be more than one orienteer who will achieve maximum points and it is therefore expected that that the countback process based on average winning margins will apply.

The average winning margin for the leading three orienteers are:

• Stephen Craig 23%

• Bruce Arthur 16%

• Robin Uppill 1%

Robin has had some narrow wins. Both Stephen and Bruce have had some good wins.

Progressive scores will be announced at the presentation for each event providing time allows between finalisation of the event and the presentation to carry out the calculations. Each night of the event an article will appear under News on the OA website.

Darryl Erbacher

Statistician

A survey about possible changes to the National Orienteering League season was circulated in July. There was a great response to the survey and a summary of the results can be found here. Thanks for all the thoughtful input.

The OA Board will consider making changes to the NOL season for future years at its September meeting.

The senior selection panel have named five men and five women to the Australian team for the final World Cup round in China. The sixth man and woman will be selected immediately after the Oceania Sprint Championships. All remaining nominees will be considered for the last spots in the team.

The selected athletes are:
Bridget Anderson
Mary Fleming
Natasha Key
Belinda Lawford
Krystal Neumann

Martin Dent
Matt Doyle
Aston Key
Henry McNulty
Brodie Nankervis

Team manager: Ian Prosser

Congratulations to all selected athletes. This is the strongest team we have sent to a World Cup for quite some time.

A manager is sought for the Australian team for the 2019 Australia-New Zealand Orienteering Challenge, to be contested as part of the 2019 Oceania Championships from Saturday 28^th September to Sunday 6^th October in NSW and Victoria.

The manager will be responsible for organising the team and has a number of formal responsibilities under the Challenge rules (mostly relating to agreements between the countries on late team changes, etc.).

The manager may also have a role in uniform orders¹. The manager will be responsible for the distribution of uniforms (O-tops) and any co-ordination matters of the relay teams, especially to sort out last minute team changes if there are any injuries to selected team members.

The manager will not be expected to organise any travel or accommodation arrangements for the team.

As compensation for the role, Orienteering Australia will refund the entry fees to the Oceania Championship events of the selected candidate.

If you are interested in taking on this role, please contact Orienteering Australia as soon as possible and absolutely by Saturday, 7 September 2019 through the Executive Officer.

¹ Any uniform order task will be limited in nature as selected team members may already have a Challenge top, and there are only a few tops currently in stock at the OA Office. Current supplier leads times are such that new tops cannot be ordered and received in time once team selection has been finalised. Any ordering of new tops will be shared with the OA Executive Officer.