Welcome
This is our first newsletter using the new 2023 membership list; this may mean that several people in one household receive this separately, or there may be just one email per family – it all depends on the information we have for you. As always, would you please let Valerie know if there are errors, discrepancies or omissions.
We are very pleased to welcome the following new members: Allan Lansdowne, Arlo Foxlee, Daniel Porteous, Martina Broder, Duncan Tailby, James Tailby, Leah Shoebridge, Jack Grose and Nicholas Hall. Do make yourselves known to fellow Bushflyers at any event.
2023 New Year Swarm and Annual Awards
It seems some time since we had our very well-attended Swarm at the the end of the Twilight event at Gossan Hill on Wednesday 1st March. It was great to have about 40 Bushflyers present! The OA Merit badges for 2022 were presented, followed by the special Bushflyers awards.
Congratulations to the following recipients:
- Blue Bottle (Services to Bushflyers) Award – Matt Stocks
- The Fly Swat Award – Alison Inglis (Her story is shared below…)
- Ian Booth Award (Most Improved Master) – Jo Hobson
Events – National
11-12 March, Sydney Sprint Weekend, NSW.
A small number of Bushflyers entered some or all of these Sprint events! I note that some of our juniors had some great results too. See the March 23 OA e-news for lots of stories from this weekend.
7-10 April 2023 Easter 3 Days Carnival, ACT/NSW
The most significant event on the local – and national – orienteering calendar so far this year was the Australian 3- Days Carnival, held over Easter at ANU (the Good Friday Prologue) and in the Nimmitabel/Cooma (Snowy/Monaro) region.
I would particularly like to acknowledge and thank a number of Bushflyers who helped make this such a successful carnival:
- David and Matt Stocks – Course-setters for Day 1 (Middle Distance) at Nimmitabel, on the ‘Highlands’ map
- Ross Stewart – Controller Day 3 on the ‘Teapot Creek’ map (formerly Glenbrook), for our Course planner, Jon Glanville (Parawanga)
- As the Organiser for Day 3, I was fortunate to have the generous and willing assistance of so many club members. You put up bunting, wrestled with tents, arranged Finish chutes and the Start area, built and dismantled four fence crossings (and carted hay-bales); did a number of water drops out on the courses; ensured the toilets were always fully stocked with essential supplies; collected controls (especially our elites!); fetched and carried, and loaded and unloaded, all with good humour and efficiency!
- Patrick Miller – important final mapping of the ANU map – something of a moving feast, with buildings appearing and disappearing almost overnight, it seems!
Important results in the Australian 3-Days were:
| Sprint/Prologue | M20E | Toby Lang – 5th |
| W20E | Justine Hobson – 7th | |
| W16A | Katherine Maundrell – 3rd | |
| W21E | Caitlin Young – 6th | |
| 3-Days | W21E | Caitlin Young – 3rd |
| W16A | Katherine Maundrell – 2nd | |
| W20E | Natalie Miller – 3rd | |
| W20E | Justine Hobson – 5th | |
| W75A | Jenny Hawkins – 1st | |
| W55AS | Jane Barnett – 2nd | |
| M20E | Toby Lang – 5th | |
| M21Sport | Ewan Barnett – 1st | |
| M65AS | Alan Sargeant – 1st |
Well done to all participants and to place-getters in all events.
2023 Representative Teams
OA NEWS: Orienteering Australia is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Australia at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Romania from the 3rd-8th July, 2023. The selected athletes will compete in 3 individual races (Sprint, Middle and Long distance) and the Sprint Relay & Forest Relay competition.
Bushflyers is as delighted to acknowledge its four juniors who were selected in the team or as a reserve:
Men
- David Stocks
- Res 1 Toby Lang
Women
- Justine Hobson
- Natalie Miller
This is a wonderful opportunity for these elites to experience orienteering on an international stage. As far as I know all four will be enjoying a range of training and competition opportunities in Europe both before and after JWOC.
We wish them all successful training and preparation, safe travel, and personal best performances in their competitions. The Bushflyers club is pleased to announce that it will again be providing sponsorship to these athletes, to support them with the significant expenses that travel to Europe involves for athletes in Australia. Closer to the time we will forward you links to the event websites – it is really exciting to be able to ‘watch’ the races in real-time!
Bushflyers Events
Thank you very much to Jo Hobson who is now managing the Bushflyers roster. Thank you too, to the club members who were responsible for the following events:
- Twilight #12, Mt Mugga Mugga, 22 February 2023
Course–setter: Ari Piiroinen Organiser: Valerie Barker - Twilight #13, Gossan Hill, 1 March 2023
Course-setter: Jenny Hawkins Organiser: Susan Hallissy & Greg Wilson
Club events in the next few months
You may have received a request from Jo for your assistance in several scheduled events in the upcoming Junior League (Metro Series) and Winter AL series.
The next events that Bushflyers are responsible for are:
Saturday Events – ACT Metro Series
- Junior League #1, Weston Creek, 29th April
- Junior League #4, The Pinnacle, 20th May
- Junior League #7, Mt Ainslie North, 17th June
- Junior League #10, Stromlo, 22nd July
- Junior Leagues #14, Cooleman Ridge, 26th August
Sunday Events – ACT Classic Series
- ACT League #5, ANU (ACT Sprint Championships)
- ACT League #7, Isaacs Ridge
- ACT League #10, Picaree Hill
Many of you have recently indicated to Jo Hobson your interest in taking on a role for one or more of these events. Thank you!! If you feel you could contribute further please contact Jo on Likewise, if you would like to take on a particular role, but feel that you might benefit from some support and mentorship, please let us know.
National Events in 2023
30 Sept-8 Oct 2023 Australian Orienteering Championships & Australian Schools Orienteering Championships, WA.
The first ASOC selection race for the juniors is coming up on 13th May; nominations will be called for very soon.
Other news
- Do you subscribe to the OACT weekly e-bulletin? What about the Orienteering Australia monthly e-bulletin? Find the latest OA e-news for March 2023 here. As always, this edition has a wide range of articles to suit the interests of all orienteers. There are overviews of several major international events, training opportunities, interstate innovations, skills development and more.
- I encourage you to subscribe to these bulletins, to enable you to keep up-to-date at both a local and a national level. They have so many links to interesting and inspiring articles, news items, YouTube videos, health and fitness advice…
- And I continue to remind you that I have a range of Bushflyers’ clothing (O-tops and jackets mostly) for sale. The range of sizes is becoming a little limited, but we will still be able to meet the needs of quite a few of our members. Please check with me if you would like wear our Club colours.
- I have recently put in a new clothing order, and hope that it will not be too long before arriving. I am getting some larger sizes in Men’s O-tops in particular. This will mean that even more of you will be able to wear our Club colours.
Coming Events
KBIII You are invited to the inaugural “Kings Birthday 3-Days” to be contested in the Central Coast and Newcastle areas on the June long weekend.
- Sat 10 June – Middle – Dooralong
- Sun 11 June – Long – Richmond Vale
- Mon 12 June – Sprint – Newcastle Uni (Callaghan)
As always, we shall try to have a Bushflyers swarm/get-together over the weekend
Keep safe; keep well; keep moving; and keep apart!
Valerie Barker (Club Convenor)
6251 5459 / 0410 151 554
For Bushflyers Orienteering – where no-one gets left on the bench!
Alison’s Fly Swat Award Story
So, having had COVID a few weeks earlier, but feeling like I needed a run, and looking forward to Honeysuckle Creek ‘cos it can be so beautiful, I decided to run Red 2, so quite a long run. I headed out, feeling good, a bit behind the yunguns, but I felt like I hit the first few controls really well, bush was a little thick for the first one, then after that beautiful.
Control 4 or 5 I came down the hill, across the creek, up onto the knoll, there was the control, check the number. ..hmm, not what I expected, check the map, oh bother, I’ve taken the butterfly loop the wrong way… (first indication that maybe the brain wasn’t working very well). Question, do I just keep going, or go back around the correct direction? – I couldn’t bear to MP, so decided to retrace my steps and add another couple of km to my course (second indication my brain wasn’t working too well).
Five minutes later it wasn’t looking quite right, check map, I can make it work, I think, keep going… (third brain lapse!) OK, really not in the right place, no idea where I am… Turns out I’d done a 180 without realising.
I eventually worked out where I thought I was, decided to go home (good decision!!). I found the track, went east, (which was actually the correct way) ran along it for about 1 km but it didn’t look quite right, so I turned around and ran the other way…
Really not sure what I was thinking by now, except that I was pretty sure this was the Honeysuckle-Baroomba Rocks track, so maybe I should run to Baroomba (where was my brain!!!). I had a really lovely 20 minute run, very beautiful, then my brain came back and reminded me it probably wasn’t a good idea to run to Baroomba, so I turned around and ran back – when I got close I decided best solution was to call for help!!
Saved by Ryan Stocks, who was doing a warm-down lap, heard my plaintive cries and came and found and me took me the 800m or so further along the track to where the chocolate was (thanks Tate and probably Valerie for that).