Seasons Greetings
The end of the year is almost upon us; a number of our juniors have already finished school for the year. Congratulations in particular to Justine (Hobson), Natalie (Miller) and Zoe (Terrill), on the completion of Year 12.
This is always a busy time of the year for all of us, particularly families, as there are school celebrations to share and enjoy as well as all of the other seasonal festivities.
We wish you all a safe and relaxing Christmas, New Year and holiday period, whether you are at home or away, working or travelling, orienteering or doing other activities.
A 2023 New Year Swarm and Annual Awards
It would be great to have a Bushflyers Swarm early in the New Year; we might consider a traditional Swarm at a members’ home, or perhaps a pizza get-together after a Twilight event, possibly the Bushflyers event at Commonwealth Park in February. Please feel free to make suggestions to me, or even offer your home.
And at that event, we will be able to make a number of presentations: 2022 OA Merit Badges, the Ian Booth Award for the most improved Bushflyer at Masters level (based on ACT League Events), and the Bushflyers’ own
special annual awards.
Nominations: If you have nominations for the Blue Bottle (Services to Bushflyers) Award and the Fly Swat Award (for the silliest mistake, biggest blunder, heroism under fire, most humorous moment etc.), please email Valerie with these at .
Events – National
Since our last newsletter, in September, a number of Bushflyers participated in the Australian Orienteering Championships (AOC), and the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships (ASOC), in the Goldfields region of Victoria (Kyneton/Daylesford/Castlemaine). After so much rain, we were very fortunate to have no events held in wet weather; the most threatening weather was on the day of the ASOC Long Championships (and the Goldfields Day 2) at Mt Alexander. The rain circled the event, but although it was very wet underfoot, the event was not hindered by rain at all.
There were 27 Bushflyers competing in Victoria, in at least 20 different classes, in both the Australian Open Championships and the Australian Schools Championships. Toni Brown and David Poland were part of the organising group of the Junior Invitational Training and Development Squad, which enabled a number of juniors from across the country to participate at a national level in in both AOC and ASOC, as a pathway to their eventual trialling for selection in the state and territory ASOC teams.
In ASOC, the ACT team, led by Bushflyers officials: Tom de Jongh (Manager), Susanne Harrysson (Assistant Manager), and Paul de Jongh (Coach) came a very creditable 2nd place behind the winners, NSW. In the Australian Schools Honour team, Justine Hobson was selected in the Senior Girls.
Well done to all participants and to all place-getters, in both AOC and ASOC.
2023 Orienteering Australia National Squads
Congratulations to the following Bushflyers who have been selected for 2023 National Squads:
- High Performance Squad (HPS): Caitlin Young
- National Development Squad (NDS): Justine Hobson, Natalie Miller, Toby Lang, David Stocks
Bushflyers Events
Thank you very much to Jo Hobson who is now managing the Bushflyers roster. She has taken over from Matt Stocks, who has given many years to the role. It is timely to thank Matt very much for the considerable time and effort he has put into ensuring that Bushflyers presents events of a high calibre, and where all Bushflyers are able to contribute to the success of these events: course-setting, controlling, organisation, and general help.
Without you all, we would not be able to meet our club obligations.
Recent events presented by Bushflyers include:
- Twilight #3, Campbell Park, 2 November 2022
- Twilight #6, Majura West, 23 November 2022
Thank you to the course-setters (Matt Stocks, Campbell Park, and Peter Antcliff, Mt Majura) and organisers for these events. Thank you too, to all of you who offered assistance in any form during these events.
Club events in the next few months
You will have received a request from Matt and/or Jo for your assistance in several scheduled events in the 2022/2023 Twilight Series.
Unfortunately, the event scheduled for Wednesday 7th December, at Mugga Mugga (Ari Piiroinen, course-setter), has had to be postponed, because of storm in the area. It is hoped that the event may be held at the end of the Twilight season.
The next events that Bushflyers are responsible for are:
- Twilight #13, Campbell Park, 22 February 2023
- Twilight #14, Radford, Gossan Hill, 1 March 2023
I am sure that course setters, organisers and controllers/vetters may still be needed. Don’t worry if you haven’t taken on any of these roles before as we have lots of people who would be happy to help you out with the practicalities.
If you have recently indicated to Jo Hobson your interest in taking on a role for any of these events, thank you!! Contact her on .
Looking ahead – Easter 2023
The Easter 2023 Australian 3 Days (7 -10 April), will be brought to you by Orienteering ACT, who are looking forward to presenting a fun-filled carnival of events in the corroboree frog country of alpine NSW, in the Snowy-Cooma region. Note that the Prologue event (on Good Friday) will now take place in the ACT, because the original venue at Jindabyne has proved unsuitable.
Thank you to those Bushflyers who are taking on major roles in the carnival:
- Matt Stocks & the Stocks family – Day 1 Course-planners
- Valerie Barker – Day 3 Organiser
- Ross Stewart – Day 3 Controller
We will be calling upon the assistance and support of all Bushflyers, especially on Day 3, of course.
The website has just gone live, with Bulletin 1 now available. Check the event website easterorienteering2023.com.
It’s not too early to consider your entries. Do make sure that you secure your accommodation very soon. Not only is the region a thriving tourist area, but the Snowy 2.0 project is also adding to accommodation pressures.
National Events in 2023
- 27-31 Dec 2022, Christmas 5 Days, Lithgow, NSW
- 7-12 Jan 2023, Oceania Championships, Tasmania
- 7-10 April 2023, Easter 3 Days Carnival, ACT/NSW
- 30 Sept-8 Oct 2023, AOC & ASOC, WA
While only a handful of Bushflyers will be at the Christmas 5 Days, there are 16 Bushflyers travelling to Tasmania to participate in the Oceania Championships (Launceston and St Helens), in early January. Three of the club are staying on for the Hobart Shorts events later.
While very different competitions, both are so enjoyable and challenging. Our best wishes go to all competitors at either event – especially to those who are competing for the first time. You are guaranteed a wonderful experience! The Bushflyers flag will be flying all at all of the events too. Do come to join us there.
Other news
- Do check out the OACT Facebook page for 21 November. Bob Mouatt has posted a digitised version of a video of an ACT Bush Relay from 2002, originally created by our own Geoffrey Dabb, ornithologist, photographer and orienteer.
If you look carefully, you will see a number of our Bushflyers competing although we are, of course, twenty years younger, twenty years faster and twenty years less grey! You will note that the event was organised by our own Bushflyer, the late Ian Booth. - Do you subscribe to the OACT weekly e-bulletin? What about the Orienteering Australia monthly e-bulletin? Find the latest OA e-news, November 2022.
- 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.
Did you know…
Bushflyers has a Facebook page. “Like” our page and keep up to date with what’s happening in our club.
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!