Author: craigf

The newly released Bulletin 3 gives the athletes more information about how long the WOC-races will be, and the long distance race will create a historic moment with the longest WOC-courses ever for both men and women.

The men will fight out a course of 18.1 kilometres with 28 controls. This is the first time a WOC-course will pass the 18 Km mark. The previous longest race was in Sweden in 1989, 17.7 Km. Last year’s course in Denmark was also long, 17.5 Km.

The womens course for the long distance race will also be the longest ever at 11.9km. This is just 100 metres longer than the course in Switzerland 2003. There will, however, not be a record for number of controls. The men’s course in Switzerland 2003 had 34 controls.

It remains to be seen if the races will be the fastest ever for a long distance. Petter Thoresen ran close to 5min/km in 1989, and this means the race this year must have a winning time close to 95 minutes to be the fastest race ever. Will it be possible?

Jørn Sundby
Head of international press and information WOC 2007
joern.sundby@gmail.com

It was the Norwegians, Latvians and New Zealanders who first braved the cold, wet and blustery conditions to begin their JWOC preparation amongst the slippery granite of Kahli’s Rocks. Most of the juniors had a ‘map walk’ which allows them to slowly get used to the new terrain and get an idea of how it is mapped. Heavy clouds which brought intermittent showers occasionally parted to allow some sunshine through bringing slight relief to the low temperatures of approx 6°C.

The Australian team, which assembled in Orange overnight, did not visit Kahli’s Rocks instead resting for the morning and conserving energy for the afternoon’s speed session around the Orange campus of Charles Sturt University.

Soon after their arrival the team received their new Trimtex uniforms. Predominantly yellow, the new uniforms are not only comfortable, they provide the team with a real identity that not only lifts team spirit but also allows spectators to easily recognise the stars they will be cheering. Along with the uniforms they also accepted some of their sponsors’ products last night including Skins compression garments — which are already being put to good use, and High 5 energy gels, recovery bars and isotonic drink supplements.

With the final teams arriving over the next couple of days the JWOC atmosphere is building with the teams not allowing the weather to hinder their preparations. Australia will be one of a host of teams visiting Gumble Creek tomorrow for some more granite familiarisation.

Australia-New Zealand Challenge

The Australia-New Zealand Challenge will be contested in October in conjunction with the Oceania Championships week. The formal Challenge events will be the Long Distance and Relay Championships on the final weekend. Teams of three, and reserves, will be selected in all Challenge age groups. The Challenge age groups are:

M/W16, 18, 20, 21, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, and 70. (M/W18 and 20 will both compete on the 17-20E course). Note that it has been agreed, since the notice in the ‘Australian Orienteer’ was published, to contest W70 in addition to all other classes.

The selection trials will be as follows:

M/W21

The M/W21 teams will be Bushrangers teams chosen in accordance with normal Bushrangers selection criteria.

M/W18 and 20

The principal selection trials for these classes will be the JWOC selection trials, as well as performances in JWOC itself for those who are members of the team.

All other classes

The principal selection trials for all other classes will be the Australian 3-Days and Australian Long Distance Championships.

Nomination procedure and eligibility

To be eligible to be a team member you must be an Australian citizen at the time of the event.

No nominations will be required. However, the selectors would appreciate being advised if any of the following apply:

• You know that you will not be available for selection.
• You wish to be considered for selection in a different age group to that in which you competed in the selection races.
• You are not an Australian citizen, or have recently taken out citizenship (if you have been ineligible in the past).

The selection panel may be contacted through the Chair of the Junior Panel, Blair Trewin, atb.trewin@bom.gov.au. The team will be chosen by members of both the Senior and Junior Panels. It is hoped to be able to announce the team (with the possible exception of M/W21) at or shortly after the Australian Relays.

Australia-NZ Schools Test Match

There will also be a Schools Test Match between Australia and New Zealand contested during the Oceania Championships week. Teams of four will be chosen in each of the four Schools age groups (M/W-15 and M/W16-19).

Subject to ratification by School Sport Australia, the selection trials will be the Australian Schools Championships individual event, and the Australian Long Distance Championships.

Under School Sport Australia rules, to be eligible for selection, candidates must be a member of a State team at the Australian Schools Championships (which will have the effect of making any school-aged JWOC team members ineligible).

There is no nationality requirement for this team – anyone attending an Australian school is eligible.

As for the Australia-New Zealand Challenge team, no nominations are required, but it would be of assistance if anyone unavailable for selection could advise the selectors in advance.

Heather Harding and Dave Shepherd used an interview with WIN TV Canberra to show off the new uniforms that will be issued to the JWOC and WOC teams this week.

The blog for the Aussie MTBO team to WOC in the Czech Republic is now open.  WOC is 5-12 August near the town of Brno.  Before then there are a number of lead up races including a Czech 5-day in Pilsen and a Polish 7-day north of Warsaw.  The team will be travelling to Europe over the coming weeks.  The blog can be found at www.ozmtboteam.socialfx.net.

The Queensland Badge event, set in the challenging Cascades, welcomed interstate and overseas JWOC competitors aiming to hone their granite skills prior to the challenges of Dubbo.

In the men’s 21 event (9.4 Km) Duncan Coombs (GB) burst out of the start to lead his fellow countryman, Douglas Tulley, by almost a minute at the 5th control and Ollie Mithchell of Queensland a further 3 minutes behind. Coombs had problems finding the 6th control in a complex set of boulders, which seemed to confuse many in the field, leaving Tulley in the lead for one control. Coombs reasserted his superiority on the long eighth leg and moved away to a massive 13 minute lead by the 16th (with around 800 metres to go) only to make the fatal error of missing the 17th and penultimate control and ruin a potential 9 minute/Km run in this difficult terrain. Coomb’s failure left Tulley with a comfortable lead over the consistent Mitchell.  Look out for Duncan Coombs at JWOC he looks to have granite under control and it is doubtful that he will make the same mistake again.

The New Zealand men took the opportunity to run in M17 -20 and made it a clean sweep with Thomas Reynolds just winning from Simon Jager and Andrew Peat 3rd, just edging out the evergreen Geoff Peck (Queensland/UK via Hong Kong).  This race was decided by small errors with Reynolds leading out only to be overtaken by Jager through the middle section but regaining the lead as Jager tired over the last few controls.

All of the competitive women ran in the W21 course over 5.8 Km.  Bridget Anderson (Qld) began like a sprinter to lead by 20 seconds at the 4th control.  However, she paid the price on the long 5th leg surrendering the lead to Vanessa Round (SA) and even 2nd place to the very consistent Ainsley Cavanagh (Qld).   This leg determined the final result because Round moved slowly away from Cavanagh, to win by nearly 10 minutes and although Anderson made a brave attempt to recover she tired over the last few controls to allow Cavanagh to consolidate 2nd place.  The only overseas runner to come to reasonable terms with the granite was Greta Knarston (NZ) who struggled with the longer legs, compared to the local runners, and finished 4th.

As usual Cascades and the course setter brought all orienteers back to the reality of tough granite country.  On the day there were many long times, cuts and bruises, broken compasses, DNFs and assurances that we will do better next time.  Thanks to the overseas contingent and the sunny Queensland weather it was great day to be in some of Australia’s most amazing bush.

Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce that Rob Preston has been appointed Manager High Performance and Bert Elson Manager Coaching & Officiating Development from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2009.

Rob Preston has been one of Australia’s top orienteers for many years, representing Australia in World Cup races and World Junior Championships, and been a member of the Bushrangers team contesting Test matches against the NZ Pinestars. In addition to his many years experience as a competitive orienteer, Rob will bring to the job his invaluable experience in biomechanics and health sciences. He is a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and has a Masters degree in Health Science (Exercise and Sports Science), which is highly relevant to working with high performance athletes.  Rob also has a keen interest in promoting and publicising orienteering. A condition of his appointment was that he would forgo, for the period of his appointment, any aspirations to represent Australia in international competitions. He will remain living in Sydney but will make regular visits (at least monthly) to Canberra to supervise the activities of the ACTAS squad and undertake liaison responsibilities with ACTAS management and staff.  The position is equivalent to a 0.6 full time position.

Bert Elson has been a senior officer in the Tasmanian public service and a highly effective office bearer of Orienteering Tasmania.  He will bring to the job the administrative skills that are essential to managing, in consultation with the relevant OA directors and committees, the review and revision of curricula for coaching and officiating accreditation, and for arranging the course work of coaches seeking accreditation at Levels 2 and 3, and officials (controllers) seeking accreditation at Level 3.  Bert will operate from his home office in Hobart. The position is equivalent to a 0.2 full time position.

Two of the UK competitors already in Australia for JWOC next month, Duncan Coombs and Douglas Tullie, showed they had no problems handling our complex granite terrain with some good runs over the weekend at Stanthorpe in southern Queensland.

Competing in a two day event on “The Cascades”,  Duncan took out the 3.7km middle distance course on Saturday in a time of 32.19 while his fellow team member, Douglas, was placed second in 33.16. Thomas Reynolds of New Zealand came third in 36.48.

In the badge event the next day, Douglas covered the challenging 9.4km M21A course to win in a time of 95.13, ahead of locals Oliver Mitchell (98.58) and Ian Anderson (105.24). Duncan unfortunately mis-punched the second last control but his time would have been an excellent 84 minutes.

The 7.5km M17-20A class was a New Zealand trifecta with Thomas Reynolds winning in 71.39, followed by Simon Jager (73.15) and Andrew Peat (81.35).

In the junior girl’s competition, the Australian team members had a close tussle in the 3.2km middle distance event with local Bridget Anderson taking out first place in a time of 42.30, just ahead of Vanessa Round from South Australia in 43.30 and former Australian JWOC representative Ainsley Cavanagh in 51.47. Vanessa again demonstrated her abilities by winning the next day’s 5.8km W21A course in a time of 59.08, ahead of Ainsley on 68.53 and Bridget with 73.08.

Holly Kuestner from the USA won the 5.3km W17-20A class in a time of 99.02, with Carol Ross from Canada second in 109.40 and local Brooke Pye, third in 131.27.

20 juniors and their coaches are currently participating in a training camp on the Granite Belt in Queensland this week before heading south for the official JWOC training camp which starts in Orange on the weekend.

Australian orienteer Jo Allison has been named on an IOF commission to represent the views of elite athletes. In announcing the commision, the IOF said: “The formation of Athletes’ Commissions is in keeping with the recommendation of the IOC 2000  Reform Commission that “athletes should be well represented at all levels of the sports  movement” and the IOF Council is very pleased that these world class orienteers are willing to  take an active role in the development of world elite orienteering.”

Other members of the commission are Emil Wingstedt (SWE, co-ordinator), Thierry  Gueorgiou (FRA) and Simone Niggli (SUI).

The World Orienteering Championships wil lbe held in Ukraine this year, and is now less than two months away. The Australian WOC team have announced a blog site for their 2007 campaign, where they will post their personal news, events and training updates. The blog can be found here.