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The 2022 Victorian MTBO Championships will be held in Ballarat over the weekend of 14-15 May. All three events will use parts of the Nerrina map at Ballarat which has recently been updated by Ricky Thackray. There will be a common assembly area for all events at the Little Bendigo Primary School with Middle (Sat am), Sprint (Sat pm) and Long (Sun am) distance events being contested. These events also form Round 2 of the 2022 National MTBO Series.
The school will be providing for sale some lunch options on the Saturday, so no need to leave the event between races. There will be a casual Championships dinner on Saturday evening at a Ballarat hotel.
For more details, Bulletin 1 is available on Eventor along with a copy of the old map and a map showing the embargoes areas. Entries are now open on Eventor.
Make sure you get your entry in soon and book your accommodation from a large range of possibilities in Ballarat as this is sure to be a fantastic weekend of MTBO.
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The Vic Middle and Vic Long Distance Champs will be held on the weekend of 28/29 May. We have arranged for a common assembly area for both days on this weekend. The event area is near Eldorado in NE Victoria, which is a 3 hour drive from Melbourne.
Sat 11 Sept - Victorian Middle Distance Championships
- This event is being held on Little Kangaroo Crossing
- A brand new map prepared by Leigh Privett (AW)
- Generally it is less steep and less rocky than the Kangaroo Crossing map
- It's perfect for a Middle Distance event and is highly enjoyable terrain.
Sun 12 Sept - Victorian Long Distance Championships
- This event is on the amazing Kangaroo Crossing map.
- Probably one of the best technical granite maps in Australia (the location for the 2019 Oceania Long Distance championships, where the courses were voted the second best in the world that year, largely thanks to the extraordinary terrain)
Entries for both events are now open in Eventor, where an Information Flyer is also available.
We recommend that you book your accommodation now for a fantastic few days in NE Victoria.
Greg Tamblyn (Organising Coordinator)
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The Easter carnival started with the bush sprint prologue in the open, rocky terrain of Taromeo Creek (with fewer grass seeds than many had feared). The main competitive action was in the elite classes for which it was a National Orienteering League event, but large numbers also turned out for the public courses.
The second control proved decisive in M21E. Aston Key lost 24 seconds there, and although he was able to claw back much of the ground he lost to Brodie Nankervis, he fell seven seconds short. They were more than a minute clear of the field; Ewan Shingler's winning time in M20E would have been enough for third in the senior race.
The old hands came to the fore in W21E. Grace Crane, Shannon Jones and Natasha Key all have many years of top-level experience, and they filled the top three places today, with Crane pulling away over the second half of the course to finish 33 seconds ahead of Jones. Nea Shingler's mispunch left W20E wide open and it was one of the youngest competitors who took advantage, with Erika Enderby edging local Mikaela Gray out by three seconds.
Prologue Results
  
The first day of the Australian 3-Days proper was held in gently sloping granite terrain with enough vagueness to catch many unawares.
The top three women were the same as in the prologue yesterday, with Grace Crane opening up a four-minute lead over Shannon Jones and Natasha Key. The top two men were also the same as yesterday but in the reverse order, with Aston Key turning the tables on Brodie Nankervis and establishing a two-minute break.
Perhaps the most impressive result of the day was that of Julia Gannon, who broke through for her first major national win in W20E and did it in style, nearly seven minutes ahead of Nea Shingler, while Ewan Shingler's fast start set up a useful lead over David Stocks in M20E.
Closest result of the day was Owen Radajewski's four-second win over Cooper Horley in M16A, with Lynda Rakpins pushed almost as close by Alison Radford in W70A, while Grant Bluett (M50A) and Warren Key (M60A) were among those whose performances would have been enough for good results in age groups much younger than the ones they were actually running in. Day 1 Results
 
The second day of Easter was the long distance and Aston Key continued to lead the way. With his second successive win, he opened up a lead of over five minutes against Brodie Nankervis which was a good lead to take into the final day’s chasing start. Alastair George edged Nankervis out by two seconds and was third overall.
Grace Crane retained a strong overall lead in W21E, despite being overhauled by Aislinn Prendergast in the second half of the course. Crane extended her lead to just under five minutes, with Shannon Jones next in line.
Nea Shingler reversed the first day's result in W20E, with an eight-minute win putting her ahead of Julia Gannon. Ewan Shingler was pushed hard on the course by Grant Reinbott and Sam Woolford, but a second successive win left him five minutes clear of the M20E field.
There are many other classes with close finishes in prospect, with the leaders separated by less than a minute in six A classes. Both of yesterday's closest finishes remain close today, with the pairs of Cooper Horley and Owen Radajewski in M16, and Alison Radford and Lynda Rapkins in W70, separated by seconds. Less than a minute covers the top three in both W10 and W12, and Sue Hancock leads four within 1.18 in W55. Day 2 Results
  
The final day of the Easter 3-Days competition finished at Coomba Falls near Maidenwell, in a tougher and more physical area than the previous days.
Both senior elite leaders held their positions in the chasing start. Grace Crane was untroubled, adding another seven minutes to her lead over Shannon Jones; Emily Sorensen had her best day of the weekend, finishing second on the day, but was still three minutes short of catching Jones overall. Aston Key also started with a five-minute lead but was placed under significant pressure by Alastair George, who got to within two minutes halfway through the course but could get no closer. Brodie Nankervis had an excellent second half and his flying finish almost saw him catch George for second.
The day's closest finish was in M20E. Overnight leader Ewan Shingler looked in total control until he dropped eight minutes on the fourth-last control, putting him in a head-to-head fight with Sam Woolford and Grant Reinbott. It came down to a sprint finish, with Shingler holding Woolford off by three seconds. Julia Gannon started behind but came through Nea Shingler in the second half of the course to take a comfortable win in the best result of her career to date, with Joanna George making up the placings.
Two other classes were decided by less than a minute; Tracy Marsh overhauled Allison Jones to score by 30 seconds in W45, and Miles Bryant held off a fast-finishing Lachlan Braid by 36 seconds in M14. Two noteworthy last-day reversals were in M45, where Bruce Arthur overhauled Rob Walter, and M60, where Warren Key recovered from a poor day (by his standards) yesterday to turn a narrow deficit into a double-digit win. Day 3 Results
Red Roos once again took out the club championship, an impressive performance competing away from home. Overall Results
Thanks to Tom de Jong, Evalin Brautigan and Ken Laws for all the wonderful photos taken over the weekend.
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What a weekend it was!
Five events in three days. Almost 350 competitors. Over 1000 maps printed. 86 heats, quarter and semifinals and finals on the last day alone. A mammoth effort of intricate planning and superb co-ordination by the organization team lead by Brenton Gray and Anna Sheldon. It was a huge carnival with an dedicated and extremely hardworking team and it flowed like clock-work without a hitch (except for the rain!). A huge thank you to all involved.
It was a spectacle of what the new-look sprint orienteering format is all about – map choice, heat choice, forking, rivalry, tactics and race strategy. We were treated to some fabulous exhibitions of super-fast orienteering and there was never a dull moment.
Friday night was the Night Mixed Relays at Coomera Anglican College. Held in the teeming rain, teams of four runners (two male and two female) fought it out for State honours. The winners were:
Senior Elite : 1st SA (E Brautigam, A Haines, S Uppill, E Sorensen); 2nd VIC ( A Prendergast, P Jaffe, A Key, N Key); 3rd ACT ( B Lawford, M Bourne, M Crane, S Jones).
Junior Elite: 1st NSW (N Shingler, S Woolford, E Shingler, E Enderby); 2nd QLD (J Gannon, B Reinbott, G Reinbott, M Gray); 3rd (L de Jong, R Gray, S Garbellini, S Garbellini).
Full results here.
Starting early on Saturday morning, the qualifying rounds for the NOL sprints and public races were run on the Benowa Schools map. This was followed up in the afternoon with the World Ranking Event NOL sprint finals and public races at Griffith University Gold Coast campus. The final victors were:
Mens Elite: 1st Aston Key, 2nd Alastair George, 3rd Angus Haines
Womens Elite: 1st Nea Shingler, 2nd Tara Melhuish, 3rd Caitlin Young
Mens Public Competitive: 1st Eric Smyth, 2nd Trent Blinco, 3rd Matthew Stocks
Womens Public Competitive: 1st Rachel West, 2nd Sue Hancock, 3rd Jenny Bourne
Benowa Schools Results and Griffith Uni Results
 
Sunday saw the biggest day of all – the Knockout Sprints at Helensvale SHS (AM) and Upper Coomera State College (PM). Large pools of athletes were whittled down through a series of heats and final to the final exciting final races. Eventual winners were:
Mens Elite: 1st Aston Key, 2nd Angus Haines, 3rd Patrick Jaffe
Womens Elite: 1st Zoe Carter, 2nd Milla Key, 3rd Nea Shingler
Mens Public Competitive: 1st Ricky Thackray, 2nd Matthew Stocks, 3rd Paul Garbellini
Womens Public Competitive: 1st Rachel West, 2nd Ana Herceg, 3rd Alice Radajewski
Helensvale SHS Results and Coomera State College Results
And who could forget the mid-week social event event on the sand dunes of The Spit. The organisers had a very difficult job after most of the map was underwater three weeks ago Andy Hill and Mark Roberts who visited the constantly changing terrain many times in the last month. It may seem hard to believe but a few weeks ago the road was closed, and the moderate course was waist deep in water. There was also a last-minute negotiation for a six-hour truce with a heap of excavators digging trenches. Consequently, courses were only finalised and maps printed in the last 24 hours once the location of the construction crew was known so to get 50 controls out at the last minute was a Herculean effort by the team. It was a wonderful, casual event with an amazing beach and skyline on what is not a regularly visited part of the Coast.
Results and livelox are here.
  
Thanks to Tom de Jong, Evalin Brautigan and Ken Laws for all the wonderful photos taken over the weekend.
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Grace Crane and Aston Key took the honours in this year’s individual National Orienteering League titles following the results from the Knockout sprints on the Gold Coast and the Easter 3 Day event held a week earlier at Kingaroy. It was Key’s eighth win from ten rounds, while Crane took four victories over the season, all of them in longer distance races.
Key ended up with a reasonably comfortable win in the final of the Knockout Sprint round, four seconds clear of second placed Angus Haines. The main excitement was in a two-way battle for third place between Patrick Jaffe and Ewan Shingler in a sprint down the finish chute, Jaffe just holding out the fast-finishing Shingler on the line. In the overall 2022 NOL results Key was dominant, with a maximum score of 240 points (counting 8 best races), 35 points ahead of Brodie Nankervis, who unfortunately had to withdraw from the Gold Coast Sprints due to as a close contact of a Covid case in the Tasmanian team.
 
Crane was also a comfortable winner in the final race of the Easter 3 Day event held a week earlier at Kingaroy. She had a convincing 3:50 lead on second place getter and fellow CBR Cockatoo Shannon Jones. Jones had to fight to stave off a strong finish from eventual third position winner Natasha Key. In the overall 2022 NOL results Crane was 33 points clear of Caitlin Young. Third place was taken out by Emily Sorensen, who struggled with a knee injury over the Easter and Gold Coast events but held on for third place in the Easter 3 Day overall competition.
In the overall junior NOL results, Ewan Shingler was dominant in the men’s competition, achieving a maximum 180 point (counting 6 best races), winning all three Easter 3 Day events. David Stocks took out second position from Grant Reinbott and Sam Woolford who tied for third position. Keeping it in the family, Nea Shingler won the junior women’s competition, 21 points clear of Erika Enderby. Queensland’s Julia Gannon took out third with strong performances in the Easter 3 Day events.
 
In the team’s competition, the Victorian senior men were convincing winners over the Canberra Cockatoos, but the senior women’s competition was taken out by the Cockatoos who were well clear of their nearest rival, the SA Arrows. In the closest result for the year, the QLD Cyclones junior women narrowly pipped out the NSW Stingers by a solitary point, but the table were turned in the junior men’s competition with the NSW Stingers taking the win over the Cyclones.
Full points from all NOL events and for the team’s competition can be found here.
Thanks to Tom de Jong, Evalin Brautigan and Ken Laws for all the wonderful photos taken over the weekend.
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ATHLETE DIVISION
Jo Allison
Jo Allison represented Australia at eight World Championships (between 1997 and 2008), two Junior World Championships (1995 and 1996) and one World Games (2001). She won the W40 class in the 2017 World Masters Orienteering Championships in New Zealand. She has won five National Orienteering League individual series between 1995 and 2017.
Adrian Jackson
Adrian Jackson’s achievements in mountain bike orienteering are by far the best of any Australian at the elite level. Between 2004 and 2010 he won 5 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships, as well as 2 World Cup events. He held the number one position in the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Rankings for 2008 and 2009.
Carolyn Jackson
Having previously been a member of four Australian World Championship teams in foot orienteering, Carolyn Jackson represented Australia at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships on seven occasions between 2002 and 2014. Her greatest international successes were at the World Masters Championships in Mountain Bike Orienteering, winning 15 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 2 bronze medals between 2012 and 2019. She held the number one position in the W60 World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Rankings for 2017.
 
GENERAL DIVISION
Michael Dowling
Michael Dowling has been an active orienteer for over 40 years and represented Australia at the 1985 World Championships. He has made major contributions at the state, national and international levels. As a former President of Orienteering Tasmania, his contributions have extended also to mapping and coaching at a high level, winning the Silva Award for Services to Coaching in 2017. He was Director High Performance on the Orienteering Australia Board from 2003 to 2009, continuing as an ex officio Board member since then and recently serving as Chair of the Board. He has been a member of the IOF Council since 2009, having previously served on the IOF Foot Commission, and has been an IOF Vice President since 2012.
Rob Simson (deceased)
Rob Simson started his orienteering career in Queensland in 1975, beginning a lifelong commitment to the sport as a competitor, mapper, coach or juniors, event official and administrator. He was associated particularly with the growth of schools orienteering, both in Queensland and at the national level, and was primarily responsible during the 1980s for the establishment of an official Australian Secondary Schools Orienteering Championship. That event was first held in 1989, when Rob was appointed by the Australian School Sports Council as the National Secretary for Schools Orienteering. Rob passed away in 2018.
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Silva Award for Services to Orienteering: Bill Jones
Bill Jones has been a contributor to orienteering at all levels in Australia for decades, initially based at Wagga Wagga in New South Wales and since 1998 in the ACT. He has been an office bearer at state and national levels, rising to serve consecutive terms as President, first of OACT from 2005 to 2007 and then Orienteering Australia from 2008 to 2012. He has just retired as a Director of the OA Board. He was pivotal in the adoption of electronic punching in Australia in 2000 and in the use of SPORTident radio controls, initially as part of the Voice of the Forest commentary team for the 2007 Junior World Orienteering Championships in Dubbo. His knowledge of technical issues with event management software and communications hardware remains indispensable.
Silva Award for Services to Orienteering Coaching: Barbara Dawson
Barbara Dawson of New South Wales is awarded the 2022 Silva Award for Services to Orienteering Coaching in recognition of her long-term work in schools in New South Wales and at local club events, and her national contribution through the National Schools Kit Project. She has been a stalwart at the Southern Sydney River and Bay Orienteering Series as the lead coach for newcomers and in helping other club members in instructing first-timers.
 
David Hogg Medal for Services to Event Management: Ian Rathbone
Ian Rathbone of Tasmania is awarded to 2022 David Hogg Medal for Services to Event Management in recognition of his significant contribution in event administration and information technology at the national and state level. He has been Chair of the National Eventor Working Group since 2016, helping to develop and manage this technology for the benefit of event organisers and participants throughout Australia at the national and state levels. More recently, he has spent a significant amount of time developing the Orienteering Australia Reporting System, which draws on data stored in Eventor to provide information for use by state associations for their own management purposes and in satisfying reporting requirements to various national and state funding bodies.
Athlete of the Year 2021: Aston Key
The Orienteering Australia Athlete of the Year award recognises the most outstanding performances in elite orienteering competition during that year. The award is determined by the votes of an Electoral College consisting of members of the OA Board and the High Performance Management Groups in Foot and Mountain Bike Orienteering, with a Past President of OA as the Returning Officer. Due to COVID restrictions resulting in major event cancellations, the 2021 Athlete of the Year was determined on the basis of performances in the National Orienteering League and the Australian 3-Days. Aston won eight of the 10 M21E National Orienteering League rounds in 2021, with an injury preventing him from starting in the other two.
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This month Brodie sat down with Erika Enderby, fresh off her impressive National Orienteering League 2nd place overall (up from 8th in 2021) and 4th in the Easter 3 days! Erika is another up-and-coming junior talent from NSW, and may not be known well to most of the Australian orienteering community. Brodie was keen to find out a little more about Erika and how she got to where she is now!
Hey Erika, what a season! 2nd overall in the National O League, tell us a little bit about it.
Overall I am super happy with how my NOL season went and I believe I did some of my best (and some not so good) orienteering races. Coming into the NOL races I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself to do well and instead treat it as an experience, learn from it and of course, enjoy it. The first NOL’s at Melbourne Sprint Weekend were really fun and I enjoyed the fast, technical sprint maps. I was happy to finish with two 3rd’s. At ACT, my races were definitely not the best and were slightly disappointing for me. The terrain at The Gib was very rocky and I found myself making many minor and major mistakes. Throughout Easter 3 days, I had mostly good runs. I was especially enjoying the middle on Day 1 until I began to make many mistakes near the end of the course causing me to drop many places. I liked the open terrain in most of the races making it nice and runnable. The Gold Coast Sprints to finish it off were pretty successful. The Sprint Qualifier and Sprint Final both went well despite an approx 30 second mistake in each. I ended up finishing 2nd in the final. In the Knockout Qualifier I had a relatively clean run, being able to choose your own route was also fun but stressful being my first knockout competition. In the Semi Final, however, I thought I had a good race but at the end realised I had mispunched a control, punching the men's pivot instead of the womens. I guess that was a consequence of choosing not to check my numbers on that race.
What a recap! Thanks for giving us an insight to the whole season. If you had to decide, which was your favourite part of the season? And what was your favourite terrain?
The whole season was heaps of fun but Easter 3 Days would probably be the favourite especially with the NOL presentation to finish it off. The Day 1 and 2 of Easter was my favourite type of terrain with the open forest and scattered complex granite. You definitely had to know where you were for almost all of the course as everything can look the same.
That terrain was quite special, and I think the course setters did a great job! Ok, so tell us about your history with orienteering, how long have you been doing it and how did you start?
Like many others, I began orienteering through being born into an orienteering family. My first race I did by myself was when I was 6 at the Australian Sprint Champs in Canberra. Overall, I don't remember it but I did actually finish the course. I was always a little nervous before races over the next couple of years but I managed to go out and finish all of my races, and I began to enjoy it.
You definitely got started early, great to hear you are still enjoying it to this day! So, what do you get up outside of orienteering?
I enjoy athletics and competing on the track often. Other than that, just basically going outside like bush walking or going to the beach.
 
Alright, lets move into some quickfire questions:
Best event you have ever been to? Best map?
There are so many great maps and events, it is hard to choose. I enjoyed orienteering in New Zealand and Victoria in general because I enjoy that type of terrain. I also like Belanglo State Forest in NSW.
Any events, races or maps you would love to do?
I would definitely love to compete at JWOC as that would be an amazing experience, but I also have always wanted to run at O-ringen.
Compass in left or right hand?
Always in left.
Favourite post-race food?
I’m definitely always eating some chocolate or fruit after a race.
Best training session?
A fast interval session with 6x400m.
Thanks Erika, anywhere that people can follow your progress?
Strava: Erika Enderby | Instagram: @_erikaenderby_
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Moving a Control during the event...
Should you or shouldn’t you?
SA Orienteer Editor Erica Diment went looking for the answers.
SOMETIMES, JUST SOMETIMES, a mistake is made when the controls are put out on an orienteering course and a control is not put out in the position shown on a course.
I’ve seen this happen a number of times in my orienteering experience. It always seems to cause a lot of discussion about what to do.
I remember in the past one of the competitors moving the control to the correct place once he had found it and then being frowned on, but it did save many of the later starters from wasting a lot of time looking for it.
The problem with moving a control during an event is that those who run early are disadvantaged by the incorrect control placement, whereas those who run later get an advantage (not fair play).
I was very interested to see that the latest information on foot orienteering rules from Orienteering Australia which were sent out to states in December noted that a new rule had been established by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) but had not been added to the Australian rules yet.
The rule states that
a. 19.13 If, during the race, the organiser is made aware of a problem with a control or a course (such as a failed punching unit, incorrect positioning of the control unit or a blocked passageway) the organiser should make every effort to correct the problem as quickly as possible. After the race has ended, the organiser must consider the effect of the problem on the fairness of the results and then take any necessary action. Such action could include voiding the results.
Of course, it is always better that control locations are checked carefully (ideally by two different people) before the event starts to avoid this tricky situation.
Thank you so much to Erica Diment (OSA) for contributing this article answering a question many course setters and controllers have asked.
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Around 20 juniors and a dozen parents enjoyed the first ONSW junior squad camp for 2022 in Armidale earlier this month.
The camp took place immediately after the State League weekend and was an excellent lead-in to the national Easter carnival in Queensland the following weekend.
Sisters Steph and Jess Dun were the first camp attendees we have had from our newest club in Port Macquarie.
"It was super fun and I got along with everyone I met really well right from the start," said Steph.
"I learnt lots of new skills and developed existing ones. I think the most worthwhile thing I learnt more about was how to effectively use contour lines for navigation."
Jess told her dad Andrew it was "the best camp that she had ever been on (not just the best orienteering camp, but the best camp of any kind)."
"She mentioned that she has a much better idea of how to navigate now and it seems crazy that she learnt so much in less than a week."
A big thanks once again to junior squad manager Helen O'Callaghan and her coaches, plus all the parents who helped.
Stay tuned for details of the next junior squad camp, most likely in the July school holidays.
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Sprint Camp 2022 was a demanding program of training and races, designed by Coach-in-Residence Evalin Brautigam and held over 3 days from Feb 2 to 4. The training drew a good crowd, including several interstate orienteers keen to get out of lockdown (Alastair George, Cailtin Young and Aston Key).
Friday started with training at UniSA’s Magill Campus, followed that evening by the Botanic Gardens Snap Sprint, one of the most successful sprints of the season.
Saturday was a mega day of training, first thing at Mt Barker, with the afternoon spent in hot conditions at North Adelaide, where we revisited the new map underpass symbols and much more. Quite punishing if you managed to complete the whole regime but surely good training. Then the cracking Port Adelaide race that night.
The Saturday Port Adelaide race was a head to head style race with 2 runners starting at the same time, on different course configurations of the same length.
Sunday morning saw the Underdale Qualifier in the morning with the Veale Gardens Semi Final and Final later in the day, in the lovely intricate parklands.
Sunday’s knockout used a relegation system. The qualifier put runners into heats for the quarter final. After the second and third race they either moved up, moved down, or stayed in the same heat. The final placing was based on the order runners finished within heats. That means you could only be in the top 6 if you were in the first heat for the final. Find the winners in the pic above with prizes, which were awarded due to the generosity of Oland sport.
Here are the results for Sprint Camp:
Elite: (M) Aston Key, Angus Haines, Remi Afnan; (F) Emily Sorenson, Cailtin Young, Lanita Steer
Open: (M) Kym Barnett, Ben Cazzolato, Nigel Dobson; (F) Jenny Casanova, Zara Soden, Sandra Afnan
Juniors: (M) Ben Marschall, Marcus Cazzolato; (F) Gemma Burley
Thanks to Leila Henderson (OSA) for kindly supplying this story.
 
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Orienteering Australia is delighted to welcome three new members to the Board.
Anna Sheldon for Director (Technical)
Clare Hawthorne for Director (High Performance)
Troy de Haas for Director (Marketing and Communications)
The three were elected at the recent OA AGM and endorsed by the current Board. Mike Dowling was also elected for President (currently called the Chair, in line with the proposed company constitution) and Brett Weihart was also elected as a Director.
A little about each director:
Clare Hawthorne grew up in Tasmania, where she spent many long hours travelling to orienteering events in the back of the family Kingswood. After several years of enforced participation – during which she memorized every lyric of Glenn Campbell’s Greatest Hits from the one cassette tape on high rotation - she surprised everyone in her family by winning W12A at the Australian Championships at Stockton Dunes. Spurred on by this complete fluke, she went on to represent Australia at many international competitions, including the first ever JWOC, held in northern Sweden. She still counts the train trip from Malmö to the Älvsbyn with all the other JWOC teams as one of her best orienteering memories.
Professionally, Clare has an economics background and currently works as a policy advisor for the Australian Government. After living interstate and overseas for many years, she returned to Tasmania where she has been involved in all aspects of orienteering organization and administration. She was Director of Performance on the Board of Orienteering Tasmania before leaving to take up a Director’s role on the OA Board. She is looking forward to working with state and national coaches, board members and athletes to strengthen and expand OA’s high-performance program.
Troy de Haas joins the Orienteering Australia board of directors after two-decades as a sports industry leader and former elite athlete. Troy brings more than 10 years of executive experience and insights, including Global Director of Sports & Marketing at BMC in Switzerland, Director of Sales & Marketing at Thanyapura sports resort in Thailand before founding TDH Sport & Entertainment marketing agency in Hong Kong where he represented various international sports properties including the Tour de France and legends Cadel Evans and George Hincapie. With his deep expertise and knowledge of Marketing and Communications throughout the sports industry, he will bring a wealth of knowledge in these fields to Orienteering Australia.
As a former elite athlete, Troy has represented Australia at the international level in Orienteering, Mountain Running and Tower Running. Pulling on the ‘Green & Gold’ in Orienteering at no less than 7 World Championships and 4 Junior World Championships where he became the first ever Non-European to medal at the World Championship level (Bronze medal, JWOC 1999). In 2001 he became the only Non-European to have won the world’s largest and most prestigious orienteering relay event, Jukola (2001) in Finland, running the long night leg for his club Turun Sunnistajat.
Originally from Melbourne and member of the Central Highlands Orienteering Club, Troy has spent the past two decades competing, studying and working internationally with a proven track record currently as Head of APAC Sport & Entertainment at Odgers Berndtson where he is a head-hunter securing executive talent for governing bodies, leagues, clubs and major events including the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. Having recently returned to Australia Troy mentions “I’m greatly looking forward to giving back and playing a meaningful leadership role to a sport that has given me so much personally over the years whilst having a unique understanding o the challenges and opportunity as to the overall potential our great sport has in this country today”.
Anna Sheldon joins the board of Orienteering Australia as Director – Technical. Anna is a life-long orienteer based in Brisbane, and knows the Australian orienteering scene inside out; whether it be officiating, competing or coaching. She brings the experience of her recently completed eight year term as Technical Director for Orienteering Queensland, extensive event organising experience and 25 years as an elite orienteer. Anna has been an accredited controller for 20 years and is an IOF Event Advisor. She has been the Technical Director for the 2016 Australian Championships Carnival and 2022 Easter Carnival, in addition to many other WRE, NOL and championship races.
As an athlete Anna has represented Australia at 4 World Orienteering Championships, 3 Junior World Orienteering Championships and 2 Mountain Bike World Orienteering Championships (Bronze medal 2004). Anna is also a World Masters Championship Gold and Bronze medalist. Anna competes for the Queensland Cyclones team in the National Orienteering League, and has done forever! When it comes to NOL races and national championship events, there are few that Anna has not attended since she began orienteering competitively as a junior in the 1990s.
Anna is an accredited Performance and Competition Coach and has coached Australian Bushrangers, Queensland Cyclones and Queensland Schools teams.
“Putting on great events is key to building our sport at every level. I look forward to working with Orienteering Australia to build on our capacity to host events, and particularly in working with the High Performance team to put on events which give our athletes the experience they need to perform well internationally, ” says Anna about her new role.
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