Welcome
The winter orienteering season is now well underway, with seven Junior League (Saturday) events, and two ACT League (Sunday) events completed, and weekly Street-Orienteering opportunities; and there is a full program coming up over the next few months as well.
Welcome to our new members especially: Daniel Porteous and Jamie Boyd.
Events – Regional
10-12 June, KBIII, Newcastle Region.
Last weekend we had a great turnout of Bushflyers for the first KBIII. We had beautiful weather, challenging bush maps and the intricate and interesting University of Newcastle sprint map to enjoy over the weekend. Although we did hope to have a Bushies swarm over the weekend, everyone’s accommodation was just too scattered to enable this to happen.
Congratulations to all place-getters, whether it was on an individual day or overall.
2023 Representative Teams
The following Bushflyers have been selected to represent Australia in Europe and New Zealand this year.
Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC), 3-8 July, Baia Mare, Romania
Justine Hobson, Natalie Miller, David Stocks, Toby Lang (Res 1)
jwoc2023.ro
World Orienteering Championships (WOC), 11-16 July, Flims Lax, Switzerland
Caitlin Young (Middle)
woc2023.app
World Cup Round 2, 2-6 August, Czech Republic (Czechia)
Caitlin Young (Sprint, Sprint Relay, Middle, Long)
wcup.cz/en/home
New Zealand Kings Birthday Test Match, 3-5 June, Waikato, NZ
Paul de Jongh (NZ Pinestars v Australian Bushrangers)
This is a wonderful opportunity for these elites to experience orienteering on an international stage. Those travelling to Europe 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 has again be provided sponsorship to these athletes, to support them with the significant expenses that travel to Europe in particular involves for athletes in Australia.
I have included links to the relevant websites for the three European competitions. They are very exciting to watch in real-time, and I do encourage you to follow our own athletes, and all of the other Australian team members, in their competitions.
We have several family members travelling to Europe to support our juniors in person; we wish you all safe travelling. These are such exciting events to be a part of, of course.
Bushflyers Events
Course-planners and Organisers Workshop with Ari Piiroinen – 2 June
Thank you very much to Ari, who organised and ran a very successful workshop at his home on Friday 2nd June (assisted by Maddy and Jesse!). We had 20 people attending, including a number of our newer and less experienced members. Ari prepared extensive notes to accompany his discussion, and then let everyone have a ‘play’ with the most popular course-setting software, Purple Pen. (I was disappointed to find that it is, however, not compatible with my Mac laptop…). Pizzas and socialising completing a most useful and enjoyable evening.
Even more encouraging is that two of the attendees have set or are setting courses over the next few weeks, and there has been one new organiser already!
Club 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:
- Junior League #1, Weston Park, 29 April
Course–setter: The Hobson family/Ari Piiroinen Organiser: The Hobsons - Junior League #4, The Pinnacle, 20 May
Course–setter: Ellen Johnson Organiser: Andrew Johnson - Junior League #7, Stringybark Hill, 17 June
Course–setter: Peter Antcliff Organiser: David, Emma and Naomi Penton
The next events that Bushflyers are responsible for are:
Saturday Events – ACT Metro Series
- Junior League #10, Stromlo, 22nd July
- Junior Leagues #14, Cooleman Ridge, 26th August
Sunday Events – ACT Classic Series
- ACT League #3, ACT Sprint Championships, Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS)
Course–setter: Silke Speier Controller: Matt Stocks Organiser: Valerie Barker - ACT League #5, Isaacs Ridge
Course–setters: Toni Brown and David Poland Organiser: Scott Wilkinson - ACT League #8, Picaree Hill
Course–setter: Ross Stewart Organiser: Chris Andersen
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 . It is encouraging to see the continuing mentorship within the club, and our novice or junior members taking on course–planning roles especially. Remember that there will always be someone to assist you if you would like to take on a role in presenting Bushflyers events.
Thank you too of those who assist on the day, whether it is with setting up, manning the registration desk, packing up or control collection. We cannot do it without you all!
National Events in 2023
30 Sept-8 Oct 2023 Australian Orienteering Championships (AOC) & Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC), WA.
The ASOC selection events are now well underway; as always it is encouraging to see so many of our juniors nominating for the ASOC team.
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 May 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. I recently put in a new clothing order, including 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. However, they are moving quickly!
Keep safe; keep well; and keep moving.
Valerie Barker (Club Convenor)
6251 5459 / 0410 151 554
For Bushflyers Orienteering – where no-one gets left on the bench!