David Brickhill-Jones (BJ) has announced his intention to compete as a British orienteer from 2006. BJ has been living in Scandinavia for several years, and has shown great potential, particularly in sprint races, winning a silver medal in the World Cup this year. In making his announcement, BJ said:

I wish to announce that from January 1st 2006 I will no longer be available to compete for Orienteering Australia. I have dual nationality with Australia and Great Britain and have decided from 2006 onwards that I will compete as a British orienteer. This decision is based on my personal circumstances, being based permanently in Europe, and the support available to me from British Orienteering to support me in my goal of becoming World Champion.

I recognise the huge amount of support which Orienteering Australia has given me, and the major role they have played in my development as an elite orienteer, which has made this decision extraordinarily difficult. While I will be competing for Great Britain, Australia is still my home, and I intend to put time and energy back into repaying Orienteering Australia for the support they have given me, starting by volunteering to help at the National Junior Training Camp in January.

I have been very proud to represent Australia and wish to sincerely thank everybody from Orienteering Australia who has assisted me in the past.

BJ’s final races for Australia will be the Park World Tour races in China in November.