2007 Archive

Australian orienteers enjoyed the annual Christmas 5 Day orienteering carnival.  This year the event is being held in the Newcastle area north of Sydney.  For the full results each day, the final standings, as well as maps of all courses and photos, visit the event web site’s results page at http://www.newcastleorienteering.asn.au/index.php/results-archive-bush/396-2007-xmas-5-day

Cumulative time results are also available at http://www.newcastleorienteering.asn.au/images/Results/BUSH/2007/Xmas%205%20Days%202007%20-%20Overall%20point%20score%20results.pdf.

The Men A course had close competition after the first 2 days between Dave Shepherd (winner Day 1), Julian Dent (winner Day 2), Eric Morris and Grant Bluett.  However some mispunches and DNS for some of the leading group on subsequent days, saw the final placings as Dave Shepherd (winner on Days 1, 4 and 5), Grant Bluett (Day 3 winner) and Simon Uppill.

In Women A, Jo Allison won each day with Mace Neve and  Allison Jones second and third overall respectively.

Other course winners were (based on best 4 of 5 results)

B – Nicolay Stytov (M), Jenny Enderby (W)

C – Hugh Moore (M), Lilian Burrill (W)

D – Alex Tarr (M), Jacquie Rand (W)

E- Valentin Schepotkin (M), Lisette Schults-Rand (W)

F – Leigh Hoy (M)

National Orienteering League #1 & 2

NOL Relay & Eureka Challenge

8^th-9^th March 2008

Castlemaine – Clunes, Victoria

Invitation/Entry Form 2008NOL1-2invitation.pdf

Orienteering Australia is seeking nominations for the Silva Services to Orienteering and Silva Services to Coaching.  Details of previous recipients are here.

The guidelines relating to the Services to Orienteering Award are set out in Operational Manual leaflet 3.10.  While there is currently no specific leaflet for the Services Coaching Award, the same principles apply.

Our talented Queensland girls have been showing their talent in front of the camera as well as in the forest.

Australian Junior team members Rachel Effeney and Bridget Anderson have shown up on nation-wide television sets as part of Scope TV to educate viewers about orienteering. Scope TV is a children’s science show aimed at providing entertaining ways of teaching scientific concepts. Rachel and Bridget help the viewers learn about orienteering which also leads into some education about the Earth’s magnetic field.

Scope TV shows every Monday at 4pm on the Ten network. You can view the orienteering section online (unfortunately this episode is no longer available)

You can also buy a copy of the show, or if you recorded it and work in a educational insitution, you can use it for students.

The 2007 Xmas 5 Days is being conducted by Newcastle Orienteering Club in the area bounded by the vineyards of the glorious Hunter Valley, the shores of Lake Macquarie and the spectacular surf beaches of Newcastle.

Events commence on Thursday 27th and finish on Monday 31st December.

The area offers challenging orienteering terrain along with enough infrastructure and tourism possibilities to make an enjoyable orienteering holiday. We have added three organised activities (torchlight gaol tour, petanque tournament and a Street Orienteering event) to further enhance your stay. We look forward to seeing you at Christmas.

Entries close on Friday 7 December.

The 2008 National Senior Squad has been selected, including the High Performance Group. Congratulations to the squad members.

Men (13)
Bruce Arthur
Troy de Haas
Julian Dent (HPG)
Adrian Jackson
Matt Parton
Rob Preston
Ben Rattray
Kerrin Rattray
Dave Shepherd
Reuben Smith
Ryan Smyth
Rob Walter
Simon Uppill

Women (12)
Jo Allison (HPG)
Hanny Allston (HPG)
Tracy Bluett
Susanne Casanova
Grace Elson (HPG)
Kathryn Ewels
Kirsten Fairfax
Tash Key
Jasmine Neve
Vanessa Round
Anna Sheldon
Cassie Trewin

Bushrangers 2008

Recent changes to the Bushrangers format for 2008 means Australia will be sending a full strength team to New Zealand for the Waitangi Carnival in February. I request an indication/nomination from anyone in the National Squad who is intending to race in NZ, to contact me via email to oa_headcoach@netspeed.com.au by next Monday 10th December. Details on available funding will be finalised soon.

NZ Training Camp prior to Waitangi

I would also like to request indications from any senior or junior elite who is interested in a 4 day training camp prior to the Waitangi carnival. This would start on Tuesday 29th January, and finish at Taupo for the start of the carnival. I will make a decision on Monday as to whether there is enough interest to hold the camp.

Orienteering Australia has appointed the National Coach and Manager for the Mountain Bike Orienteering team.

Kay Haarsma (SA) has been appointed at Coach. Kay has much experience coaching national foot orienteering and MTBO teams and is one of only a handful of Level 3 accredited coaches in Australia.

James Lithgow (NSW) has been appointed as Manager. James has had a long interest in foot-O and MTBO, and was manager of the 2006 MTBO WOC team. He brings to the position great organisational skills acquired from his career in business.

The OA board would like to congratulate Kay and James on their appointments, and look forward to their help in preparing athletes for the 2008 MTBO WOC in Poland.

The National Training Centre program for Orienteering Australia is delivered through a partnership with the ACT Academy of Sport. The ACTAS / NTC Orienteering program will be offering a number of scholarships for the 2008 year. In 2008 a total of up to 6 scholarships will be offered. The goal of the ACTAS/NTC orienteering program is to support Australia’s best high performance orienteers achieve their full potential as world class orienteers and to provide support to emerging junior orienteers who demonstrate the potential to be future world class orienteers in international elite competition. The squad is not limited to residents of the ACT, however it is noted that athletes based in ACT are likely to receive the most benefit from the squad. ACTAS/NTC squad athletes who reside outside of the ACT are still eligible to receive support through national camps to be held in Canberra and/or other locations.

The High Performance Management Group (HPMG) is currently in the process of selecting the 2008 ACTAS Squad. In consultation with ACTAS the attached selection criteria have been developed with a notable change being that squad selection is to be by invitation. The selection criteria can be found here ACTASSquadSelectionCriteria2008.pdf.

The 2008 National Senior Squad will also be announced soon.

Any enquiries regarding the squads can be directed to OA Manager, High Performance, Rob Preston at oa_headcoach@netspeed.com.au.

The AROCSport Adventure Racing season starts next week with a race in Canberra on Friday night (a good lead-in to the Annual Conference).

AROC is a good friend of Orienteering Australia’s encouraging its competitors to attend orienteering events to hone their skills. A large reason for the swelling numbers in orienteering street events is the growing popularity of adventure racing, and adventure based sports.

AROCSport are well known to many orienteers who compete in their events regularly. The most successful has been various members of the NSW Stingers elite orienteering team who have dominated many of the short AROC races in recent years. AROCSport are known for their attention to detail, good course-setting and maps, and having their controls in the right spot!

Entries for next weeks race are still open, and further details about all their events can be found on their website
www.arocsport.com.au

Photo: Ex-JWOC team member Andy Hill (NSW) in an AROC race.