WOC Nomination Process

Orienteers interested in selection for WOC 2007 should send an email indicating their interest to Paul Liggins (paul.liggins@au.pwc.com) by 31 March 2007.  There are no forms to fill in, however you should provide your contact details (including your address and phone numbers) and, if relevant, any plans you have for overseas orienteering travel this year.

WOC Trials

As previously announced, the domestic WOC trials are all 4 days of Easter plus specific trials to be held in Victoria on 5-6 May.  However, sprint distance aspirants should note that results outside the official trials will carry more weight than for the other disciplines.

Overseas trials have been confirmed to be held on 21 and 22 April in Sweden, for more details email the Head Coach.

Preselection

OA would like to congratulate reigning World sprint champion Hanny Allston who has been preselected in the Australian team for WOC 2007 in accordance with the new selection criteria.

Bushrangers Team

Orienteers who wish to be considered for the July Bushrangers test against NZ at the Western Plains Carnival should advise Paul Liggins at the above email address, also by 31 March 2007.

For more news on how the Bushrangers fared at the Waitangi 4 Day, see the competition website.

Details can also be found in the National League link in the left hand menu.  Go to NOL 2007 and click on events 8, 9 and 10 for more event details and map samples.

Entry form:

2007 Vic NOL-WOC Trials Invitation v2.doc

As per NOL guidelines, entries close one month before the event on April 5, 2007.  Late fees will apply after this date, and entries will only be accepted at the discretion of the organiser.

Niggli-Luder and Allston Are the ONES

Two women have dominated the “Best of Orienteering 2006” Poll staged by the two major sources for international orienteering news – the website World of O and the magazine Orienteering Today. Simone Niggli-Luder from Switzerland and the Australian Hanny Allston completely dominated in the Poll in which voted over 1500 readers of the World of O website and the Orienteering Today magazine. Both Niggli and Allston are gold medalists from the last year’s World Championships in Denmark.

“Achievement of the Year 2006” for Niggli

With the gold medals in Long and Middle distances in Denmark in 2006, the Swiss runner Simone Niggli-Luder completed a collection of incredible 12 gold medals from World Championships in Orienteering between 2001 and 2006. This fantastic achievement was recognized as the “Orienteering achievement of the year 2006″.

When Orienteering Today asked Niggli in an interview about which of the 12 medals she treasures most, the 29-year-old Swiss replied: “I think the four gold medals I won in Switzerland were very special, but also the last gold is always special. For me this is the gold I won in Denmark in Middle distance. It was a very good race for me and again I won after tough fight against Marianne, and again this was followed by this huge crowd of people, which made the atmosphere even more special.”

It was a close call in the “Achievement” category though – with Australian junior Hanny Allston being only 25 votes behind Niggli-Luder. Allston was actually the only one managing to beat Niggli-Luder in an individual World Championships distance this year – and nearly managed to do the same in the poll for the achievement of the year 2006.

Allston is the “Junior of the Year 2006”

Allston was the only orienteer nominated in both the categories of the poll – “The Achievement of the Year” as well as “Junior of the Year”. And finishing in second place behind Niggli in the former, there was no doubt about her clear victory among the juniors. At the Junior World Championships in Lithuania Allston first collected silver in Sprint and then, one day later, she clearly dominated the Long distance, which made her the first non-European Junior World Champion in the history of Orienteering.

Golden Jersey Awarded

Both Allston and Niggli-Luder will be awarded with a special “Golden” jersey from the production of Vavrys company (www.vavrys.cz) based in the Czech Republic, who have become the main sponsor of the Poll.

Best of Orienteering 2006 – Top 6 results:

Achievement of the year 2006                                       Junior of the year 2006

1          Simone Niggli (434 votes)                                   Hanny Allston (727 votes)

2          Hanny Allston (409 votes)                                   Tatiana Kozlova (172 votes)

3          Jani Lakanen (185 votes)                                     Søren Bobach (112 votes)

4          Thierry Gueorgiou (153 votes)                              Olav Lundanes (82 votes)

5          Holger Hott Johansen (95 votes)                         Signe Klinting (66 votes)

6          Valentin Novikov (86 votes)                                 Ingunn Hultgreen Weltzien (61 votes)

For more information contact Jan Kocbach at jan@kocbach.net or Jan Skřička at jan@sportoftoday.com

Results

Men's Elite

NZ 21 AUS 15

Women's Elite

NZ 26 AUS 10

Individual Results

M21E

Julian Dent 77.41
Tero Fohr 80.21
David Shepherd 81.14
Rob Jessop 81.42
Neil Kerrison 82.18
James Bradshaw 83.15
Mark Lawson 84.22
Rob Preston 85.26
Simon Uppill 85.45
Carsten Jorgensen 86.23
Ross Morrison 86.38
Eric Morris 88.10
Beat Berger 89.35
Ian Meyer 92.27
Christopher Naunton 98.57
Dave Meyer 99.30
Tane Cambridge 103.33
Peter Preston 103.46
Murray Scown 115.57
Andrew McCarthy 124.34

Ryan Smyth DNF

W21E

Heli Jukola 60.57
Hanny Allston 61.53
Jo Allison 67.54
Amber Morrison 69.01
Lizzie Ingham 71.21
Anna Sheldon 71.48
Jenni Adams 73.24
Jasmine Neve 74.16
Kirsten Fairfax 75.28
Penny Kane 76.00
Kathryn Ewels 78.23
Susanne Casanova 78.38
Anna Quayle 79.09
Piret Klade 79.25
Vanessa Round 81.09
Valerie Suter 87.13
Tineke Birthelsen 90.27
Briohny Davey 96.24
Sofie Herremans 96.45

Orienteering Australia has begun preparations for the National Development Conference in Canberra, later this year.

The conference is used as a forum to share ideas and tackle issues relating to orienteering development in Australia. This year the conference will be held in Canberra over a Friday and Saturday, with Sunday being an opportunity to stretch the legs and run in a local Badge event.

The conference is often frequented by a guest speaker, and with the Australian Sports Commission in Canberra there are a few opportunities. Issues such as membership and corporate events are likely to be high on the agenda.

The invite sent to states can be viewed here (32k).

Adrian Jackson (Flight Centre Scott Team, Melbourne Bicycle Centre) finished an outstanding race to place 8th in the elite men’s race at the Australian MTB cross country championships at Mt Stromlo last Saturday.  The elite field was one of the strongest in recent years including Olympian Sid Taberlay and Commonwealth Games rider and reigning Australian Champion Chris Jongewaard who only last week was 2nd in a stage of the Tour Downunder.

The race was dominated from start to finish by the powerhouse Jongewaard, who won by a little over 3 minutes from Murray Spink and former international Perren Delacour.  Former two time Australian Champion Sid Taberlay ‘blew up’ on the 4th of 6 laps and rode defensively to the finish. AJ and a group other riders, including National Series leader, Aiden Leffman, were fast closing the gap.

The Mt Stromlo course was a tough 8 km loop with around 200 metres of climb.  The first 3 km of the course rose 160 metres of the total leaving the remainder of the course a mixture of tight, descending switch-back corners and super-fast, flowing single track.  AJ’s result bodes well for this coming weekend’s 100 km MTB race from Apollo Bay to Forrest in the Otway Ranges.

While most people were relaxing during the Christmas-New Year period the Board of Orienteering Australia was busy dealing with some important and urgent issues.

ACTAS

The ACT Academy of Sport has been Orienteering Australia’s national training centre for a few of years and has become a key component of OA’s High Performance program. The recent budget cuts by the ACT government meant that ACTAS had to review and cut a number of squad sports from its program. Sports were invited to submit applications and to justify their continuance. The exclusion of Orienteering from ACTAS would have been a major setback. A key plank in OA/OACT’s submission was that together they funded a full-time coach. On 24 January 2007, Orienteering received the good news that the ACT Minister for Sport had approved the inclusion of Orienteering as a squad sport.

Head Coach

Grant Bluett was the Head Coach who prepared Orienteering’s submission, but during December Grant advised the OA Board that he had decided he wanted a career change and that he was resigning with effect 14 January to start training for his new job. With having a fully funded Head Coach being a key factor in Orienteering retaining Squad status, OA had to move quickly to have another person in place as Head Coach. The Board decided to transfer Gareth Candy to the position on the basis that the vacancy had been advertised just on 12 months previously, Gareth was the next ranked applicant and there was a need to fill the position quickly, so as not to jeopardize Orienteering’s application for ACTAS Squad status.

Executive Officer

With Gareth Candy vacating the EO position, the Board decided to advertise for an EO located in a National Office in Canberra funded by OA and employed on a conventional basis for casual employees. OA needs a proper national office to be a repository for its archives and equipment.  It would be inefficient to keep moving the National Office, with its archives and equipment, aroundAustralia, thus it should be located where the EO could be most effective. OA’s major sponsor is the ASC and OA should continue to have its key administrator based in Canberra to maintain good liaison with the ASC.  Having OA’s two paid officers in the same city has significant benefits. The vacancy will be advertised through State e-bulletins and in The Canberra Times.

Bob Mouatt

President

Orienteering Australia

The 2006 Orienteering Australia Annual Conference was held in Canberra in December.

The minutes from the conference are now available in the administration section of the website here.

With the transfer of Gareth Candy to the position of Head Coach, the position of Executive Officer is now vacant.

The Executive Officer will be located in a National Office, Canberra for the following reasons:

• Orienteering Australia needs a proper national office to be a repository for its archives and equipment.  It would be inefficient to keep moving the National Office, with its archives and equipment, around Australia, and changing addresses, etc thus it should be located where the Executive Officer can be most effective.
• Orienteering Australia’s major sponsor is the ASC and OA should continue to have its key administrator based in Canberra to maintain good liaison with the ASC.  Having OA’s two paid officers in the same city also has significant benefits.

The Executive Officer will be employed on a more conventional basis for a casual employee, than for contractor for the following reasons:

• OA currently has adequate office, equipment and furniture space, an Internet account, PO Box, and a landline phone.
• With Orienteering Australia providing office accommodation and infrastructure there is no need pay a premium for the EO to provide his/her own infrastructure.

Applications are invited for the position of Executive Officer for an initial period from March 2007 to 30 June 2009.

Inquiries and requests for copies of the Job Specification, Employment Arrangements and Selection Criteria should be directed to Bob Mouatt, President, Orienteering Australia, atoa_president@netspeed.com.au or phone 0412 312 376.

Applications should reach Bob Mouatt, President, Orienteering Australia, atoa_president@netspeed.com.au or PO Box 3049 WANNIASSA ACT 2903 by 26 February 2007.

The Board of Orienteering Australia is hoping to make an appointment by mid March.  Given the impossibility of arranging accommodation in Burra and nearby towns during Easter 2007, special arrangements might be made in regard to Minute Secretary for the 2007 Annual General Meeting.