Welcome to our March Newsletter.

We have had a busy start to the orienteering year with the beginning of the Twilight Series. The first two events have had over 220 participants. A huge thank you to all the setters, controllers and helpers in this series. Kate has kindly taken over the running of this series which goes from strength to strength and is enjoyed by participants of all ages. 

The first Southern Local event at Seven Mile Beach had over a hundred competitiors and brought competitors to an area rarely used area. Thanks to Bert and Jan for challenging courses on a small but complex map. 

This was followed most recently by the East Coast 3 Day Weekend in St Helen's. Thanks to Klaas who was the course setter on the OST event at Littlechild Creek/Lively Bog.

Thanks also to Bonnie and Matt for putting their hands up to be on the OT Board and for Ali, Brett, Christine and Klaas for contininuing on the board.

Facebook Group:

‍For those interested in social media, Australopers has a Facebook page where we announce achievements and upcoming events

Find it here

‍Volunteers:

Thanks to all the Australoper's members who have put their hand up to volunteer for the upcoming events. Volunteering is at the core of our sport and allows us to remain an active and vibrant club. In 2025 our club is organising 34 seperate events all of which require volunteers to be run successfully.

We are currently looking for setters and controllers for two Southern Local events. The events are August 3 at Coningham and October 19 at Geilston Gully. If you are able to help it would be much appreciated.

There are a range of other roles for upcoming events requiring volunteers. If you would like to volunteer but aren't confident about a role we will look to provide support for you.

The Australopers Event Volunteer Roster is on the OT website under the Australoper's tab. Direct access to the roster is here.‍

‍Encouragement Awards

‍Mike Calder, having stepped down from the Presidency, has taken on the important role of Development Officer. This role is vital in ensuring the flow of new members/families into the club. Mike has been instrumental in driving the encouragement awards in the club.

Mike has provided the following information on the encouragement awards for 2025.

This year we chose seven promising young juniors to be granted an Encouragement Award for 2025. The award is for free membership for a year and free entry to all local events. Jasmine Morffew, Grace Genford, Hamish Ward, Jonti House, Henry Jordan, Elsie Elson and Walter Butler were chosen on their participation and performances in 2024. We wish them an enjoyable and successful year of orienteering.

Jonti, Henry and Walter answered some questions I asked about them.

Jonti House:

How old are you?

I am 13

How did you get interested in orienteering?

When some people came into school one day, they set up a short course, and I did it pretty well, but wanted to do better. Also, my friend Angus got the fastest time, and I wanted to do better to run with him.

Can you remember your first orienteering event? How did you go?

I can’t remember the details of my first orienteering course, or where it was, but I do remember getting some free maps and doing some courses with my family. I remember wanting to go off on my own, but my Mum and Dad said I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself.

‍What do you enjoy most about orienteering?

I enjoy the running through the bush, with few if any manmade structures, and only knowing where I am based on my own skill. I also like being with friends, and trying to race them from point to point, especially when we both get lost.

In your short career, witch event has you enjoyed the most and why?

I really liked the camp I went on, because I had a few friends with me, and even though I was probably the worst there, I still had a lot of fun running around. It wasn’t that long ago, and I remember doing a short relay course as a team, and a race to get all of your own pictures without accidentally collecting someone else’s.

What are your best and worst achievements in orienteering?

Probably my best achievement in orienteering was when me and my friend Otto where at Pittwater, and we found a control that not many others found, including people who have been doing it a lot longer than us. My worst was when I couldn’t find 3 of the controls in a row, and even though I knew perfectly well where I was and how to get back, I just couldn’t find the controls. After about half an hour, I just gave up on them, and skipped them all, and got a time of something like 1 and a half hours.

Walter Butler:

How old are you? 

9

How did you get interested in orienteering?

I had fun when my family got interested in 2021. I like running through the bush and leaping over things. I like that there is a lot to learn. Encouragement from people in the club makes it fun.

Can you remember your first orienteering event? How did it go?

My first orienteering event was a primary course in 2021 at Kangaroo Bay. I was 5 and mum chased me around the course. I had no idea what my results were but I had a good time running and at the playground afterwards too.

‍What do you enjoy most about orienteering?

I love the challenge of finding my way through the bush with only a compass and a map. I also like being trusted by my parents to go out on the course by myself.

In your short career, which event have you enjoyed the most? Why?

My favourite event was the 2023 nationals relay with Phil and Bass in WA. The mass start was exciting. I was 7 and much shorter than all the adults. Everyone started moving up the hill and I followed them but realised I needed to go in a different direction so I turned. It felt good not to follow everyone else to find my first control. I was relieved to get all my controls. Our team did really well.

What are your best and worst achievements in orienteering?

My best achievement was my first nationals event, I was running in the M10s. I was very nervous because it was my first ever nationals event. I've been lost plenty of times, but one mistake that sticks in my mind was when I ran in the wrong class at the state sprint up north last year. We got mixed up about which map to use and I ended up running the M14 map when I should have done the M10. I was a bit upset until I realised I came 3rd!

‍Henry Jordan:

How old are you?

14

How did you get interested in orienteering?

I got interested in the sport when my high school offered it as one of the sports I could sign up to. I went along and enjoyed it heaps so decided to keep going with it.

Can you remember your first orienteering event? How did you go?

I remember my first course was Lambert Park at Sandy Bay in 2024. I only did the easy course but enjoyed it so much I couldn’t wait until the next twilight race.

‍‍What do you enjoy most about orienteering?

The part I enjoy most is challenging myself to run as fast as I can through the bush and challenging myself to go faster than I did last race. I also love weaving through forests and jumping over logs to get to the control.

In your short career, which event have you enjoyed the most? Why?

The event I enjoyed most was definitely the Aus long distance champs in Armidale because of the varied terrain and the distance challenge.

What are your best and worst achievements in orienteering? 

My best achievement was getting into the school’s team and having fun in Armidale with the team. My worst would be when I couldn’t find the control for ages and then losing to my dad by a few seconds in a twilight.

‍Route Choices:

To add something new to the newsletter I have decided to add a column where I ask a recent event participant to discuss some of their route choices and the thoughts behind them. Tara was volunteered to be the first guinea-pig for this so enjoy her ramblings about her run from the OST Long in St Helens.

For our new members these traces come from a program called Livelox. It allows you to see the gps tracks of people on their courses and to look at the times for the different route choices. Find the link to Tara's livelox route here.

Littlechild Creek/Lively’s Bog - East Coast 3 Days - Day 2 OST 1 

Course 3 – Tara Powell

Hi it's Tara, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on my routes, I have also included images of my route plus some doodles of other routes. Overall, I really enjoyed this course. My history in these marshy areas around St Helens hasn’t been anything to boast about so I went into this event with a lot of trepidation. While I won’t say that this run was clean and fast, I didn’t get lost at all and ran more of it than I thought I would. This course had a wide range of route choices and I am going to discuss not only the route I took but the routes I considered.

Leg 4 – 5:

This route went a lot better for me than expected. After crossing the first marsh on the beautifully marked crossing point, I decided to go round the left-hand side of the hill between 4 and 5 as I am a well-known hill avoider. To my luck this worked out well as the big boulders and bare rock patches on the hill were very visible on my right and I was able to use them as collecting features. Going left also allowed me to use the marsh next to 5 as an indication that I was close to the control. I thought about maybe doing the blue route but decided against it. Why, well the smart answer would be something like “it was more complicated as I would have to navigate using contour features which have a high chance of leading me into a parallel error” but the real answer is that I just don’t like hills. Going left around the hill turned out to be a good route where I was able to keep track of where I was at all times.

Leg 5 – 6:

You may ask “Tara why did you take the time to go right to the track rather than going straight”, well dear person asking me, the answer is simply I WANTED TO GET OUT OF THE THICK BRACKEN. Despite what my slightly off gps suggests, I “ran” along the track all the way until I turned off to the right onto the faint track near 6. I will admit that I lost contact with the map a bit after leaving the faint track (as can be seen in my little wiggle just before 6) but managed to spot the control from a good distance away. I was very nervous going into 6 due to the high chance just running off in the wrong way and that is why I decided against cutting over the hill near 6 as I wanted to reduce the chance of errors.

Leg 6 – 7:

On this leg I went back to the main track then used a boulder on the left-hand side of the track as my point to leave the track and head into towards 7. This helped me avoid most of the thick marshes and meant that I always had contact with the map throughout the leg. While going straight may have been a faster route, I always aim for the safer routes in this area. I was also starting to get tired and lose concentration, so it was good to not risk making a mistake.

Leg 7 – 8:

My original plan was to go around the right-hand side of the hill for the whole way but as I started bashing through the marshes I began to worry about not being about to find my control within all the rocks so I decided to face my worst fear, climbing a hill… So I headed up the hill and found the MASSIVE boulder which I used as my attack point. When I was at control 7, I also considered going up the hill straight away but as previously discussed, I don’t like hills. I struggled a bit in the circle as can be seen by my gps track doing a bit of a curve inside the circle. This was my earlier fear of getting confused in all the rocks (something I seem to do a lot) but I believe coming down from the top of the hill was better for me than coming from the side. 

‍Learn to Orienteer Program:

‍In February Australopers was proud to deliver Tasmania's first Learn to Orienteer program. The program consisted of four sessions which were delivered by Mike Calder and Tara Powell over the four Sundays in February and focused on introducing beginners to orienteering. The program was a great success with over 50 expressions of interest. We ended up having 34 participants who attended most or all of the sessions. Participants covered a wide range of ages from children to seniors and the participants also came from all over Tasmania. The goal of the program was to lead the participants into the twilight series and this has been very successful with many (if not most) of the program's participants having gone on to compete in an event. 

Event Participation:

Seven Mile Beach Southern Local: 12

Lambert Park Twilight 1: 17

Kangaroo Bay Twilight 2: 22

Australopers Memberships: 14

St Helen's Orienteering Weekend: 2 (Plus 2 Family Members)

Special mention to the learn to orienteer graduates Helen and Ed who went on to compete at the East Coast 3 Days in St Helens and even brought the rest of their family with them.

This program was a great success and planning is underway to run it again later in the year.

‍‍Next Meeting:

April 10th at 7:30pm at Robyn's - 15 Silwood Ave, Howrah. All members are welcome.

Thanks for reading, have fun orienteering, 

Geoff Powell

Australopers President

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