Nominations have now opened for the 2020 Oz MTBO Team. We’re looking for male and female riders in the Junior (M/W20) or Elite (M/W21) classes to represent Australia at the World Champs, in the Czech Republic in August.
Nominations are open until 21st March. Use this link to submit your details – https://forms.gle/tk6iM5KS2jtr67Kr9
The team selection criteria can be found here –
For questions regarding selection, please contact Kay Haarsma
Orienteering Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of Newcastle Orienteering Club member Russell Blatchford as the new National Manager, Coaching Development. Russell joins the OA High Performance team with a wealth of orienteering knowledge and extensive professional experience.
Before retiring in 2018 Russell was a secondary PDHPE Teacher for 36 years, during which time he had the roles of Head Teacher, PDHPE for 19 years and Head Teacher, Teaching and Learning for 2 years at Hunter River HS.
As many orienteers in NSW will already know, as its Assistant Manager and Coach, Russell was a part of the NSW Schools Team and Development squad management for 6 years from 2007. Along the way Russell also achieved his Level 2 Orienteering Coaching accreditation.
In his role as Manager, Coaching Development Russell’s core responsibilities will be:
As Manager, Coaching Development, Russell will join High Performance Director, Steve Craig, Head Coach, Jim Russell, High Performance Administrator, Ian Prosser, and Manager, Coaching & Officiating Administration, Jim Mackay as part of the High Performance Group.
Russell can be contacted via coaching@orienteering.asn.au
Orienteering Australia is seeking volunteers to fill team manager and coach positions for three world level teams in 2020:
Junior World Orienteering Championships, Turkey, 28 June – 4 July;
World Orienteering Championships (Sprint), Denmark. 5 – 11 July ; and
World University Orienteering Championships, Russia, 14-18 July.
Further details of the events can be found at eventor.orienteering.org.
Team managers and coaches will have their travel costs paid for by OA. For JWOC and WOC it is expected that the team will convene a week before the championships for final training and familiarisation.
If you are interested in any of the positions please contact Ian Prosser (ian.prosser11@gmail.com) or Jim Russell (headcoach@orienteering.asn.au) by January 6 with a brief outline of your experience or qualifications. Jim and Ian can provide more information on the roles if required. It is possible to be team manager or coach for JWOC and WUOC, or for WOC and WUOC, but not for JWOC and WOC.
The Calander of events that make up the 2020 NOL (National Orienteering League) has been released. It can be found HERE
The season starts with Melbourne Sprint weekend on the 7-8 March, before heading to Orange for the Easter 3-days. The next round will be on the Gold Coast on the Anzac Day weekend, before the final round on the Surf Coast of NSW on the 16-17 May.
Information about Selection Criteria for WOC, JWOC, and WUOC will be released in Dec
BTW, If anyone has seen the Women’s equivalent of the photo (NOL trophy) Can you please contact us
Aston Key had one of Australia’s best recent results in a World Cup, as he secured 21st place in the World Cup final held yesterday evening in China.
After a steady start, Aston moved up to 13th place at the 7 control, a place he still held at the 16th control, before losing a little time over the last 6 controls after the Spectator run through
Sunday evening, Australian time was the Sprint Relay, with only the Sprint to go before the World Cup is wrapped up for season 2019.
Nanhai Movie and TV Town was the venue, with the opening leg being a choice of one side or the other of the large hill that dominated the mapped area
World of O article here Results
The Athletes have a rest day, today, before the final event, the Sprint on Tuesday evening
You can follow the Race on the IOF Live Centre
The final races of the World Cup for 2019 are underway in China, Australia has a full team, of 6 Men and 6 Women.
In the Middle today, Brodie Nankervis was the best-placed Australian in the Men, with a place inside the top 50, with Krystal Neumann the best-placed Women, just outside the top 50
Results for the Middle are here
Tomorrow, starting at 8 pm AEDST is the Sprint Relay, where we have 3 teams competing.
You can follow the Race on the IOF Live Centre
At its recent board meeting OA Directors discussed and agreed to extend the terms of the OA Head Coach, Jim Russell, and High Performance Administrator, Ian Prosser, until 2020.
Extending the current terms will allow the current staff to hand over the responsibilities to new appointees after the completion of JWOC, WOC, and preparations for the Australian Championships week in 2020. Since planning for 2021 will start well before the end of 2020, OA’s plan is to commence the Head Coach recruitment in the first half of 2020 and aim for a smooth handover.
2.Changes to current National Orienteering League flagged
Following on from the recent HPG survey (results summary here) it has been decided to introduce a shorter NOL season from 2020. Next year’s NOL will end with the ACT round in May. Where feasible, other enhancements highlighted in the survey results will be encouraged in collaboration with the NOL organisers and state teams. From the survey results some common themes evolved such as more exciting races, increase the team element of the NOL, reduced costs of participation, and a better pathway for younger orienteers.
3. OA HPG and Coaching Committee meeting at Oceania
Orienteering Australia has now formally constituted a High Performance and Coaching Committee. Each state is invited to appoint two delegates to the committee (as foreshadowed in an earlier email to the States) and the national athlete representative is invited as well. The terms of reference for the committee are attached.
The first official meeting of the committee will be held at the Oceania Sprint Champs on Saturday 28th September as soon as the presentation ceremony concludes. Details are in the attached draft agenda. Also attached are the earlier circulated notes from the interim meeting held in April.
The 2019 Junior Championships finished today with the traditional relay events, but the day before’s Middle Distance Final saw Australia’s Aston Key achieve yet another podium finish.
Starting as one of the last three runners in the A Final Aston found how hard it can be at the top. With less than 2 minutes separating the top five men’s placings, Aston secured a 5th place narrowly missing out on a medal after losing less than 30 secs on two legs. In a tight race at the top, Aston was in the hunt for a medal in 2nd/3rd place, but lost time late in the race on leg 11 to 12, with not enough distance left in the race to recover. 
But JWOC 2019 will be an event to remember for Aston with gold and bronze medals and a podium finish to go home with. Orienteering Australia congratulates Aston on three great performances, across the three orienteering disciplines. Well done Aston.
The Middle Distance Final results can be found here, the race splits found here, and the courses here.
Thanks also to Orienteering Tasmania’s Christine Brown (and JWOC2019 Jury member) for these photos from the Middle Distance Finals.
In the relay races, the Mens #1 team finished a creditable 13th, less than 13 minutes behind winners Norway, and the Australian Women finished 21st.
Relay race results can be found here, the splits here, and the courses here.
In the teams event, Australia finished 13th. Full results here. Photos from the relay races can be found here.
Aston Key’s good run of form continued today in the JWOC Middle Distance qualification races, and OACT’s Tara Melhuish showed that the girls can match the Europeans too by finishing her heat in 5th place, just 40 secs down on the winner of race 1. Today’s qualification race results can be found here and the splits here.
Aston completed his 4.1km course in 21m42s to have the fastest time across the three men’s races, while Tara completed her 3.3Km course in 25m36s, just 40 secs behind the winner of her race.
As a result both Aston and Tara will compete in tomorrow’s A finals. The Start List for the finals can be found here .
The A finals will be longer for both Aston and Tara, with the men running a 4.7Km course and the women running a 4.3Km course.
The Men’s A final starts at 10:15 (local time), with Aston starting at 12:11 (local time). The Women’s A final starts at 10:45 (local time) and Tara starting at 12:15 (local time).
Live Results and Live tracking of the races can be found here.