Welcome to our July newsletter, I hope you enjoy reading it. |
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This week we meet Sally Wayte and Jeff Dunn, two of our stalwart members. I asked them a few questions about themselves. |
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Sally When did you start orienteering? In the early 2000s, but it took me a while to progress beyond Twilight and Local events.
What attracted you to the sport? Jeff used to do all the navigating on our bushwalks and rogaines, so I decided I would like to learn. Also to escape from the kids occasionally!
What do you like most about orienteering? Everything! The physical and mental challenge, being in the bush, the entire orienteering community (you know who you are), the excuse to travel to nice places interstate and overseas, organising events, running through spider webs, attending Australopers meetings 😀 |
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What achievements in orienteering are you proudest of? Persuading Jeff to take it up! I had an inkling he might be good at it. I’m also proud of our work in organising the Twilight Series for 4.5 years. That was a lot of effort, but very enjoyable. Of course we had lots of help - notably from Martin Bicevskis.
Are there any particularly disastrous events you can remember? It was a bad moment when the back wheel fell off my bike during an MTBO event in Alice Springs.
Any advice for beginners? The ability to concentrate is the most important skill.
What positions have you held and what tasks have you completed in your association with orienteering? I was Australopers secretary for many years (but not as long as Robyn!). I had a stint as OT President which was much more stressful than it should have been as it coincided with the COVID years. The agony of deciding to cancel the Aus Champs two years running was no fun. But I would encourage anyone to join the OT Board - it’s rewarding and gives you a different perspective on the sport. (Sally forgot to mention her stint as Australopers president - editor). |
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| Jeff When did you start orienteering? Around 2007 I started doing lunchtime Corporate Challenge (when Wednesday orienteering had a lunchtime as well as an afternoon session) with a group from CSIRO.
What attracted you to the sport? I guess I was just keen to stop Sally badgering me to give it a try.
What do you like most about orienteering? There is much, of course. I love to run, but can't normally make myself just "go for a run". So an orienteering race is a mechanism for luring me to the start line, and then motivating me to make an absurdly excessive effort through to the finish line. I also love course planning and the whole peripatetic community thing. |
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What achievements in orienteering are you proudest of? I have now had some good results and strong rankings, but for me the pride sensation is usually associated with taking the decision to relocate early, and successfully doing so. It is also very satisfying when I realise that my thoughts have just started to stray and I manage to refocus.
Are there any particularly disastrous events you can remember? The 2012 Aus Champs were held at St Helens. Here are the results for one of the races. I don't remember it being a particular disaster - just another tough day out. At the time people would have found the results pretty much as expected, although some said that I had the potential to do better.
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I DO remember the Relay being traumatic. Alarmingly I was teamed up with two of the best: Paul Pacque and Darryl Smith. Paul put us way out in front on the first leg. As he tagged me he said "be very careful", and I tore out of the start and went well for 2/3 of the course, but very publicly went mad searching for the spectator control. Finally I reclaimed my brain and flew through the last section, until a known follower started following me. I cunningly shook him off and streaked into the finish. Mispunch. It is not very cunning to lose a follower by not going to a control.
Any advice for beginners? Things do go wrong and if later you say "what was I thinking !!", then you are asking the right question. Orienteering tries to make a bumbling fool take over the controls from the ice-cool savant that you normally are. You have to learn the thoughts that occur at the moment the fool enters the room, and learn how to slam the door in their face. Surely this awareness also helps you outside of orienteering.
What positions have you held and what tasks have you completed in your association with orienteering? When we looked after the Twilight series I tried to acquire all the skills involved with running the events. I've also been involved with the Starts and Presentations teams at several carnivals. I now feel I can help out in any capacity at an event, and through the year help a little with Eventor and Sportident. The OT statistician job is pretty esoteric but is the last hangover of my career in data analysis - I do like numbers!
[pics by Louise Fairfax] |
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Learn to Orienteer Program Australopers has successfully applied to Orienteering Australia for a grant to run a Learn to Orienteer Program. The program will consist of four 60-minute sessions (one per week) at different locations around Hobart during January / February 2025 and will immediately precede our Autumn Twilight Series. If successful the program will run before each of our Twilight Series in the future. The target group will be the families of people who participate in our Twilight Series, but anyone will be welcome. This program will give beginners the skills and confidence to enjoy our club events and join our wonderful community. More details will follow. |
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Setters' Corner Our CGO Tara Powell has set a new standard in her course analysis of the Stonehenge event.
Hi everyone, Tara here to talk about some lines on a map. Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive, I’ve just been very busy and haven’t been able to make it to many orienteering events. However, one event I did manage to make it to (mainly because I was part of the organising team as the chief gate opener or CGO as I like to call it) was the OST event at Stonehenge on the 26th of May. Gary Carroll and Geoffrey James Powell organised a great event at Stonehenge (and I’m not just saying that because Geoffrey cooks me dinner). The prayers to the weather gods paid off as we were given weather to die for. But anyway, that’s enough of my rambling. On to me talking about some lines on some maps.
Please note that no names will be mentioned in relation to lines. |
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Top line: Fastest and shortest Bottom line: slowest and longest This leg is a clear example of the benefits of staying high in the more flat and runnable terrain. While the lower route looks appealing with its plethora of collecting features it was considerably slower (the top and bottom route here were completed by orienteers of similar speed and with both orienteers making little to no mistakes). The top route was almost 4 minutes faster than the lowest route. However, the top and middle routes provide vague attack points for the control and therefore would require very careful navigation when approaching the control circle. |
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| Yet again another example of how staying high in the flat open areas is faster. In this example the green route was completed almost 3 minutes faster than the red route despite being 30m longer. From the higher elevation the water course and the contours around it can still be used as clear handrails into the control without the need to go down to the watercourse edge. |
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I have had an extensive talk to the person who did the red route (I call it lying awake at night contemplating why on earth I did that). My route looks good on paper, a long handrail and then a nice open area to run through with a track to use as an attack point near the control. However, I failed to consider the terrain, something which in hindsight I should have been doing by this point in the course. The gully was too steep to run on (without fear of a sprained ankle) and to add insult to injury there were rocks and dead branches all over the ground. The green and yellowy green routes were both completed in a time about 6-8 minutes faster than the red route (in my defence though those routes were done by MUCH faster runners than me). The green routes were able to use the track as a collecting feature and they were able to avoid having to lose excessive climb.
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This is a beautiful example of route choice splitting.There is a high route, a straight route and a lower route. Whilst the straight route was 400m shorter than the high (green route) it was over 2 minutes slower. It is worth mentioning that the orienteers on course 4 would have had a chance to see the gully that this leg crosses while they were navigating to number 1 which could have had an impact on the chosen routes. The green route offered a wide range of clear collecting features such as fences and water features to navigate off.
ConclusionAs all my English teachers over the years taught me, everything needs a good conclusion. These routes are clear examples of the philosophy of staying in the high open areas when orienteering in this type of hilly terrain. These routes however pose the challenge that it may be hard to know exactly when to start your descent into the hilly areas to find your control.
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Southern Local Series The 11 events in this series are held on Sunday mornings and are scattered throughout the year. This year we are allocating points based on your placing - from 20 points down to 1. Your best 8 events will count in the final result. The standings are published on Eventor after each event. Here's the latest. |
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SL6 - Waverley Flora Park Event - July 14Peter Crofts and I are organising this event and would love some help collecting controls after the event. On a lighter note, we will have access to a key to let the trailer and portaloo through a locked gate. The conditions of access are that vehicles must travel at a walking pace and use hazard lights, a spotter must accompany moving vehicles at all times and be positioned in front of the vehicle, and the spotter must wear high visibility attire at all times. So a position is available for a spotter to walk in front of the vehicles waving a flag and ringing a bell. Please apply for either position (control collector or spotter) by return email. |
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Australopers Abroad Members Niko Stoner, Jett McComb, Bert Elson and Jan Hardy are currently touring Europe and competing in events. At a recent event in Cansiglio (Italy), Bert described the terrain as "Karst dolomite with innumerable ups and downs and rock outcrops everywhere and much of the time not knowing where you actually were, tracks hard to find but essential for navigation, pace counting almost impossible, compass bearings essential, every sink hole looks the same! Very, very steep and physically exhausting." Niko and Jett performed brilliantly, check out their Livelox traces to see how well they navigated this incredibly complex terrain. In the 3-stage event at the same carnival, Jan came 4th overall and Bert 6th - both were happy with their efforts.
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More Australopers Abroad Australopers are pleased to be able to financially assist Liana Stubbs and Mikayla Cooper, who have been selected to represent Australia overseas. We'll hear more about their performances shortly. |
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Next Meeting August 1 at 7:30pm at Mike and Jane's - 22 Meath Ave Taroona. After the business section (short!), Liana Stubbs will give a presentation of her experiences in New Zealand with the Australian Bushrangers team. All members are welcome. |
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Thanks for getting this far.
Mike Calder Australopers President |
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