News

Entries are now open for the 2016 NOL Ultra Long race and associated events being held in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia over the Anzac Day weekend in late April.

The link to entries and the NOL and IOF WRE Bulletin can be found here: http://sa.orienteering.asn.au/2016NOL/

The event will be part of a 3 day carnival with the following events.

NOL and SA Middle Distance Championships – 23^rd April Saturday afternoon, Wilpena Creek/Spurs.

NOL Ultra Long and SA Long Championships – 24^th April Sunday morning, Prelinna – Mannawarra. This event is also a WRE for M/W21E.

Middle Distance format event – 25^th April Monday morning, Rawnsley Park

The prize money for the Ultra Long is as follows (varies from previous years)

• $500 for the winner of each elite age class
• $500 for the elite entrant closest to their base km rate (as in previous years)
• Courses will be longer than for past events as the terrain is very fast and has only low climb over most of the map. Runnability is impeded in parts by closer native pines and low shrubbery.

The event areas are about 450 km north of Adelaide, allowing driving from Adelaide on Saturday morning in time for the first event. Many accommodation options are available including cabins (various standards), powered sites and bush camping at Rawnsley Park, camping, motel and glamping at Wilpena Pound, and motels and the caravan park at Hawker.

Sprint Canberra

23^rd-26^th January 2016

Sprint Canberra will be held in conjunction with an Orienteering Australia High Performance Sprint Training Camp based at the AIS. There will be more than 40 athletes from all over Australia who are members of one of the National HP Squads attending this camp from Friday 222^nd Jan- Tues 26^th Jan.

Sprint Canberra will involve five sprint events to be held over four days. All events are close to the AIS.

Four of the events will be held on urban sprint maps and one will be held at Stromlo Forest Park which is a bush map, with fast running and some intricate erosion detail.

The course setters for these events brings the JWOC 2007 course setters back together. Dave Meyer (JWOC 2007 Sprint) will be setting Event 1 at the Canberra Institute of Technology, David Shepherd (JWOC 2007 Middle) will be setting Event 3 at Stromlo Forest Park (this will be a Sprint Relay for the Elites classes), Phoebe Dent (JWOC 2007 Relay) will be the setter for Event 4 at Australian National University (North) and Julian Dent (JWOC 2007 Long) will set the final event at Australian National University (South). The other event will be at Radford College and the course setters will be the aspiring JWOC candidates Oliver Mill and Ciaran Lane.

We will have some of Australia’s best senior elites and junior elites competing over these five events with some quality overseas competition from the visiting coaches who are currently living in Australia.

The Sprint Training Camp will be attended by over 40 athletes from all states. As well as gaining valuable competition experience they will have sessions during the camp which focus specifically on the techniques and skills required in sprint orienteering. It is a great opportunity for the older elites to work with our younger elites and to share their knowledge and experiences with the next generation of Australia’s senior elite orienteers. The camp will provide the coaches of the National Squads with the opportunity to not only work with the athletes they will be able to assess the training plans that all squad members have and to assess their level of fitness as they start their preparations for the major events which start in early March with the Melbourne Sprint Weekend.

Financial Support for National Squads Training Camp.

Recently the AIS announced that all Whole of Sport Funding for Orienteering Australia will cease. As a result the funding that Orienteering Australia has allocated to the High Performance program has ceased. However, as we want to continue with the High Performance program which provides the opportunity for junior and senior elite orienteers to be part of the National Squad program and to then develop and go on to represent their country in international competitions such as WOC, JWOC, World University Orienteering Championships and also Bushrangers Teams (senior and junior), we are offering the opportunity for orienteers to donate money towards the funding of Orienteering Australia’s High Performance program.

This donation arrangement is in conjunction with the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF). For the Sprint Training Camp donations can be made via Eventor.

http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/3244

Individuals, clubs, State Associations and businesses who want to support the athletes  attending  the Sprint Training Camp financially can choose to donate either $20, $50 or $100.

The names and the amount are then passed on to the ASF and they issue an invoice which allows donors to use as a tax deductible status to claim tax relief for any donation of $2 or more.

SI Air comes to Australia.

The events during Sprint Canberra will be using the SI Air contactless punching system for the first time in Australia (elite classes only). This will be a great opportunity to demonstrate this new punching system which has been approved by the IOF and is now being used in all major sprint races overseas. The equipment for this trial is being provided by AussieO Gear who is the SportI dent representative in Australia

As well we will have live result, video and audio feed to the internet. This service will be courtesy of Living It Live, the business that Toph Naunton has set up and has been used at major events in Australia during the last two years.

Events

Event 1. Sat 23^rd 17:00         Canberra Institute of Technology  – Dave Meyer                                                                                

Event 2. Sun 24^th 17:00         Radford College  -Oliver Mill and Ciaran Lane                                                                             

Event 3. Mon 25^th 9:00          Stromlo Forest Park – David Shepherd                                                                              

Event 4. Mon 25^th 17:00        Australian National University (North) – Phoebe Dent                                                                             

Event 5. Tues 26^th 9:30        Australian National University (South) – Julian Dent

Courses

Course 1: Men/Women Elite

Course 2: Men/Women Open

Course 3: Men/Women Short

Course 4: Men/Women Novice

Entry fees– all five events $60, under 16 $30

Individual Event entry -$15, under 16 $8

Enter on Day – Course 2 and 4

Enter online at

http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/3245

Enquiries: Nick Dent  0428251786, Ron Pallas 0424720165

The selection races and selection criteria for the first 2016 Australia v New Zealand Junior Test-Match, to be held in Wellington NZ, are outlined in the following attachment. These selection criteria will be used to select the 2016 Australian Junior Bushrangers Team. The Test-Match races will be held on complex sand-dune terrain near the venue of the 2013 NZ World Cup races, and offer a great opportunity to develop skills in a unique, world-class terrain type that we do not experience commonly in Australia. These two IOF World Ranking Events, will provide some great experiences in a beautiful area. Athletes who wish to apply for Junior Bushrangers selection and are not a member of a Australian High Performance Squad, will need to also apply to become a squad member as soon as possible.

The Selection Criteria for Round 1 of the AUS v NZ Junior Test-Match series, to be held in Wellington, New Zealand from Sat 4th June – Sunday 5th of June, are found in the link below:

Round 1 Junior Bushrangers 2016 Selection Criteria

All National Squad members who are eligible to nominate have been sent an email from the Athlete Management Platform (AMP)

Nominations are required by the online nomination form below:

Junior Bushrangers 2016 Athlete Nomination Form

A link is also available on AMP under Resources: Selection Criteria. Please note, nominations are due by the 28th February, 2016. All nominations are required through this form above.

All interested Athletes are requested to read through the Selection Criteria carefully. Details and dates of the Australian selection races can also be found in the 2016 NOL schedule.

To apply to become a member of a national squad please see here.

Selection criteria and races for the Australian schools team for the 2017 Oceania Carnival will be released in the middle of 2016.

Best wishes for your preparations.

Lance Read,
OA Director High Performance