A map to look at...

Have a go at this route choice exercise from World of O here

Trophy broken

The Wellington Champs elite womens trophy is no more having fallen victim to the recent 6.8 on the richter scale earthquake to strike Poverty Bay. Trophy holder Rachel Smith felt a deep sense of regret. "If only I hadn't put it on the shelf"

WOC Training Camp 2

Might be a bit early for most, 1st week of May, but heres the link

Waitangi

And yeah don't forget those Waitangi entries, and make sure to make use of the accomodation being organised in Hamilton by the organisers, should be a blast.

Pinestars Selection Announcement

The 2008 Waitangi Summer Carnival to be held from 2 to 10 February will incorporate an elite Pinestars - Bushrangers Test Match. Individual test match events are: 4/2/08 Sprint, Waikato University 6/2/08 CD Long Champs, Aramiro 9/2/08 Middle Distance, Woodhill 10/2/08 Multiday Distance, Stillwater All athletes interested in selection for the Pinestars team should notify the Convenor of Selectors, Jeff Greenwood, by December 7. Selection for the Pinestars team will be based on performances in the latter half of 2007. All known form will be taken into account. Any further details on team size and composition will be released once they are available, following consultation with Orienteering Australia. The team will be announced by 31 December, 2007. Jeff Greenwood Convenor of Selectors

What a Weekend

All sorts of stuff going down, Kepler and the Goat with squad representation and our dear Neils 30th Extravaganza...excellent Kepler Challenge site here Highlights for squad were La's 2nd place in the big one and Mike Adams smashing the field in the Luxmore Grunt (but not quite the record) Goat results here James and Lizzie representing, with James backing up for Neils party and displaying his face plant stricken forehead The extravaganza was great times, featuring a booze-o won by Simon Addison, increasingly vicious tennis and indoor hockey games and Brent stacking off his bike and smashing his face...

New Mass Start Concept

Norges playing around with loops and forests park maps, looks like fun...here

Kauri Run was good, don't know how the hillbillys went

Penny was the star of the day finishing 3rd, despite a lack of long hill training...she also carried two very bruised looking bananas the entire way! Kauri run was good. Dazza wasted those of us that started with James, Jamie and Neil struggling along behind in that order (just) Photo is of James at our lovely bach for the weekend, Waitete Bay, remember that name There was some o event on down south.

Squad November Email

Yo, Hope everyones good, this is going out to NOS, D Squad and HP List, Just a few random topics please read through: Labour Weekend: Good times in the Hawkes Bay, and good to catch up with heaps of you. Maps now up on Route Gadget, so maybe time to revisit, draw your route in and think about it a bit more :-) South Island Champs: This weekend, good skills to all going, great fun maps should be a blast. Would really appreciate a write up for Endurance Sport Mag complete with photos (deadline 28th Nov). This mag is real good and has done heaps to promote orienteering....say yes, me, I can do that, and give me an email! Otherwise Carsten could you put something together (I'll email you if someone volunteers to write something up) Kauri Run: And see a lot of the rest of you in the Coromandel where a great deal of suffering is going to be done. Adventure Taupo: For those of you who don't know I'm organising an Adventure Race in Taupo on 15/16th Dec. Would really appreciate anyone who might like to come along and help out and do some training and experience something different. Theres a few lovely orienteering maps to train on and collect some controls :-), all remaining roles involve some solid physical exercise in cool places, mainly tail end charlies. I would be eternally grateful and can meet your expenses. Pre Waitangi Training Camp: Have a request from the Aussies to organise a training camp in the week before waitangi 28 Jan - 1st Feb in Manawatu. I would be keen to get behind this and do some organisation if there was a significant yolk of NOS and a lovely meniscus of youse others to justify it. Please register your interest (I'm not really interested in lack of) with me by Tuesday the 20th November 2007, 8pm and we'll see if its a goer. Waitangi: Simon and Greg and others have been busy little bees getting this organised....and its looking awesome! Entries are now open, so go hard. The have organised some group accomodation for Sun night through to .....some other night, book it or miss out. Back to Endurance Sport Mag, I would love the other half of our contribution this issue to be a waitangi preview...covering the philosophy of the event, the organisation, the oucomes, Heli & Tero, encouraging the dynamic junior scene or whatever the hell you want to write about, if you volunteer to write it :-)....again let me know if you are keen. WOC Trials: Forget the exact date for the WOC nominations to be in...if its not past you have till the closing date to register to be in to win the trip of a lifetime for which you must shed much sweat and blood and pay for yourself. Other Squad Stuff: Got a big ugly list of stuff I should be doing will hopefully be actioning at least half of it half as quickly as a halfwit in more than half an hours time. If you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand and nothing, nothing is going right: just call out my name and you know wherever I am I'll come running to see you again, winter, spring, summer or fall all you've got to do is call... Cher Jamie ps: thanks for the SI, Jeni and the pstars, I'm going to use it to smash Ross :-)

Marianne Andersons Training

Just found this link

Displays a brief breakdown of Marianne Andersons Training for the year...theres a lot of running...

Warning: Not all athletes no matter how slowly they build up their training regime would be able to handle such a regime....

Canterbury Champs & Quick Update on other stuff

Hey, finally got round to updating the squad performance sheet. This is now viewable on the web http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p3aloOS-Bz0-ITeA1sZULRw

Canterbury Champs sounded like fun, good race between Aaron and Carsten in the middle with Carsten not quite recovering from a big mistake at the first.

Have been trying to work out some training opportunities for the new year, struggling a bit for dates, particularly unsure of my own availability. Anyone near either Woodhill or Santoft who wants to pick a weekend and make something happen please get in touch

Not sure what those crazy south islanders are up to, I think they technical train any week when there isn't orienteering...and they now have some good maps to train on, woohoo!

Reform to the squad selection policy is proceeding, the next squad review will occur after SI Champs sometime. Also this athlete reporting thing is going to happen I think.

Train hard

Labour Weekend

Hey, wrote a quick report on Labour Weekend this morning, its currently on both maptalk news and sportzhub. I thought the weekend went really well. The races were well contested with Ross, Carsten, Lizzy and Rachel in particular keeping the standards high. The courses were well planned and the areas chosen well suited to the disciplines raced. I even enjoyed the final day classic with some real tough stuff (which I bombed on) and some well thought out route choice. The Italian dinner, pizza and pasta went down well and kudos to those who dressed up. Next time will give more warning and maybe an easier theme. I reckon its important we move away from the standard run and shit talk O weekend and get things more constructive and creative (I'm as guilty as anyone on the shit talk front, need a zipper on this mouth sometime). To those who didn't quite go as well as they have hoped (especially those who are training well) better luck next time and try and keep that training up. Get out there running in terrain and think about navigational habits you need to make the most of your increased fitness. I will probably begin my second ring around for the year soon. It will focus this time on your views on the athlete reporting spreadsheet (perhaps running through an example of what might be expected) your coaching situation and how we can build up some support networks, availability for Europe 08, whether WOC or Tour and other stuff I think of in the meantime. Don't forget that WOC nominations must be in by some date this year....check previous posting or announcement on NZOF site.

Extract from Oceania Coach/Managers Report

The team got on well and worked well together...which can be difficult when performances aren't good Lessons I learnt as manager....need to be organised, with directions to events :-), quick nightly meetings might be a good idea to ensure proper planning. need to keep athletes interested/avoid staleness on orienteering trip with much down time (ideas: laptops for music etc, stretching/meditation/conditioning sessions, focus on interesting healthy food/cooking, avoiding non hp related orienteering discussions/other times for that. Other amusements, games etc, stuff to keep people sparky...Need to decide beforehand how things will be paid for, particularly petrol, a single credit card would make things much easier. I would also like to see people paying for stuff before they go (eg entry fees/contribution to costs) it is much easier pyschologically. Lessons I learnt as coach....more and more I think that coaching has to be done in the forest one on one. You can talk all you like but if you can't get into the forest and see someone orienteering at race pace you can't mould their habits. You can only keep emphasising to them the need to have a plan, the need to make the most of their looks at the map, the need to run straight and hard, the need to slow down at the edge of the circle/read their descriptions....so much. These need to be habits that all individual athletes form. We need to improve the post race analysis, we need to calm it down, focus on positives...what did I do to get that control well, why did I make that small error. At what moment should I have made that decision to prevent that happening. We need more focus and thought on the subtleties of orienteering technique. Hopefully we can work on this over the next couple of years. I learnt a lot and hope to have the opportunity to put what I learnt into practice in the future.

Squad get together Labour Weekend (the Italian Job)

Hey just organising a couple of activities for the national squad and partners and associates to get together for this weekend, both Saturday based and under the general theme of "Italian" 1) Wine tasting/drinking, will be stopping off at a vineyard or two on the way home for Saturdays event. 2) Italian themed dinner, sift around including spa pool. Saturday night ......so bring some pasta, pizza etc and a bottle of wine (this can be NZ :-) Also special prizes to those who dress up as Italians and talk Italian or with an Italian accent. Have put some italian movie clip in squad blog for inspiration. I recommend the one with the bald guy for amusement! Location for dinner 27a Flanders Ave, Onekawa, Napier ....near Onekawa Aquatic Centre...doors open 6.30...close around 10ish. Location for wine tasting to be announced at event, will be somewhere out nearish the event.

Web address of draft athlete reporting spreadsheet

Here is the web address of the draft athlete reporting spreadsheet...feedback sought.

Bryn wins in tight sprint race

Check out these splits from the mens elite sprint race at the Akld Sprint Champs...top three within 1 second at around control 15 or something.

Bryn wins a battle of attrition with Thomas and Darren taking 2nd and 3rd. Simon also shows his improved mojo, holding the lead for significant parts of the race and finishing a close 4th.

Another Czech Map...from the WOC training camp..

here

Labour Weekend Info

Programme and start lists up.....see here

Required viewing for WOC aspirants

Middle map from Czech Training Week for Norwegian and other teams... man I wish I could walk out my back door and run on a forest similar to this

In Case you Hadn't heard.....

Selection announcement To be held in Olomouc, Czech Republic on July 10-20, 2008. Selection Trials for the 2008 WOC team will take place at the 2008 National Orienteering Championships Long, Middle and Sprint Distance events, to be held in the Wairarapa on March 21-24. All athletes interested in selection for the 2008 WOC team should notify the Convenor of Selectors, Jeff Greenwood, by November 30, and should plan to compete in all of the trial events. Overseas-based athletes who are unable to return to New Zealand for the trial events will be judged on their performance in 2-3 World Ranking Events held during the period (1/1/08-24/3/08). These events must be nominated to the Convenor of Selectors by December 31. The selection fight is shaping up to be a doozy, especially in the guys...may the best men win!!

And what Brents been up to....

Ozzie

Well struggling to get my mojo up to post in the wake of the Aussie trip...mainly cause I have spent a fair bit of time in the last two days sorting out the endurance sport articles. This photo sort of sums things up for a me a bit. Scott McDonald making sure of his bearing at the start of the schools relay....6 of 9 pinestars went on to make a hash of this control in the later public event. As elites we need to pull our heads in and take care of business. Watching someone like Julian Dent orienteer its so simple...straight and hard, picking up the relevant features...but we have to remember this is built off a solid base of physical conditioning, good compass work and disciplined focussed navigation.

Evolving Squad Performance idea...evolves

Hey, have just finished updating the squad performance spreadsheet, here

Has made me even more determined to follow up on that idea regarding continuous improvement of standards. An average in the 120's is not good enough. To overcome the problem of feeding new people into the squad we could keep the entry level standard at 125...they then get exposed to the elite scene and encouragement to improve, they then have targets over the next few years to remain in the squad...while people who are in the squad have to maintain their standards... Neil has expressed an interest in helping develop this, so hopefully we will get a chance to work on it while over in Oz

Welcome to the World Karin Prince!

In big squad news, Karin Prince was born this week, quite big and long apparently and with dark hair. Mum was heard to say, "that was much easier than an adventure race" while Dad was just stoked she has 10 fingers and 10 toes. A very cute little baby by all accounts although she does seem to have inherited the blank stare of Dad rather than the sparkling eyes of Mum. Go you good things!

Some video footage from akld champs

Heres something I found on youtube, some hard men orienteering ;-) at either end with a dorky adventure racer wearing pajamas prattling on the middle.

Whats Going On

Ok, so I'm nice and refreshed after a non o or ar driven weekend, relaxing playing golf/tennis etc, bringing a bit of balance back into life... So not quite sure whats going on, or if there were any events to report from. I do know that with a few others I'm off to Oz at the end of the week, should be a blast. As always wish I was a bit fitter. Route Gadget is up from the Akld Long, please draw your routes, we need to get into the habit of doing so for all of our benefits...I know that other countries use this technology so we can't let ourselves slip behind. Stuff I'm slowly working away on includes: evolving squad standards, timetrials, self assessment sheet, feb training weekend. So keep your eyes open for new developments in the squad. Random picture is Whanakao, the 2nd highest mountain on the east cape and a goal for my next free weekend!

Leg 3: Akld Middle

Ok so you can't win an o race in the first three controls...but you can sure lose it and plenty of the field was out of the reckoning after leg 3 of the akld middle. In my little excerpt the purple line swerving off to the left represents the common mistake made by people without decent plans. They were trying to hit a linear feature (either the line of hills or the depression before the control) on quite an acute angle...ie the lines they were trying to hit were parallel with their direction of travel, so no potential for safety/aiming off etc. My route choice indicated by the pink lines and arrows was slightly better. I decided to read the tracks and used the track bend (admittingly vague and inaccurate) as an ap and a definite place to turn so at least I was hitting those linear features perpendicular (although I foolishly didn't aim off and wasted a little bit of time relocating) Looking back at a better/safer way of doing it, another possibility may be going further right and using a few obvious features,A, B, C along with the vague tracks to read your way into the control. Dudes you have to have a plan!!!

Focus on Starts

Ok, so a little bit of focus on starts...although maybe we should all be listening to Jack Vincents thoughts judging by how he nailed the first 5-6 controls at the Akld Middle... Haven't been orienteering for a while, what are you thinking about? Some ideas?

1) Making quick positive contact

2) starting slowly to get into the scale, style of the map

3) Making sure you have a plan

4) Staying in the moment to deal quickly with the unexpected

My first two controls, hadn't orienteered for three months...nervous...do I know what I am doing...start beep...1) sweet this is a short compass leg, careful rough compass, look up, run hard to other side of track, check compass enter forest...unexpected detail before control but keep going...sweet. 2) how to do this easy, bearing to clearing, onto track, reading detail, knolls etc, informal tracks everywhere... getting to grips with map, two round hills contour round them to the right, nice. Spike on second hill. Good carefull, yet fast orienteering

Night Nav

The Southerly Storm remnants have been busy organising the annual Night Nav event which fundraises for their super series travel...sounds like tis being a success with numbers growing each week, check out the site at www.madeventz.co.nz/nightnav some maps there also for a bit of route selection practice.

Auckland Champs

Hey yeah, so the Auckland Champs, it happened! It was awesome orienteering, not really an event as such, just plain out awesome, challenging orienteering, then we went home and had lunch. Star of the weekend was Neil, tearing the field apart in the long distance. Rachel was as always, all class in the ladies and the juniors failed to fire in elite...although I'm sure that won't take long.

Waiuku OY

Map kindly provided by Nick Harris after he eased past Mark in the weekend...some comments...

6) Nick aimed of to the right to hit the reentrant, nice plan 7) Nick attempted to attack off end of track, possible alternative top of hill as track ends/bends typically much less precise feature. 8) hard leg, need for disciplined compass straight to control on slope. If not spot on should be able to relocate on slope given the curve. If no backstop then would need to look at soem form of distance judgement...time/paces etc 9) compass leg 10)straight on compass, relocating when cross stream. Possible mental error here from Nick, need to dominate that moment when the stream appears.

Theres a lot of hot air in Taupo

Squad Weekend Taupo

So a quick summary of what went down. Training, a couple of good solid runs round the local Taupo tracks, what an awesome area, wish that was in my backyard. Also a nice interval session which I will write up later on. Socialising a bit of general chatting and beer drinking and watching rugby. Next time I'm going to organise a themed costume party.

Discussion outcomes, plans from here:

1) the shifting squad standard idea. some disagreement mainly from people questioning whether raising standards for the squad would lead to increased motivation. General support from more motivated squad members. Jamie to raise idea with Carsten, others

2) individual continuous improvement idea: general agreement on actions: performance spreadsheet to be kept up, self assessment forms to be developed and athletes to be expected to engage in process, route gadget use to be developed (Martin) and athletes to be expected to record routes for self and peer benefit.

3)squad activities idea: plenty of discussion, people against staying together at nationals, but for it at other times. Like idea annual get together aug/sept maybe associated with tough guy, perhaps focus on physical goals in future rather than O. Jamie to look to organise o weekend late feb, asociated with running race of some kind, preferably one that can be replicated year on year.

4)Developing squad ownership/leadership: General understanding, after some confusion, that we can achieve more with everyone contribution. Its not about building up brownie points, its about contributing to a positive community. Jamie to monitor activities and to continue to encourage squad members to create training opportunities for each other 5) Likelihood of smaller more competitive WOC teams: discussed, general recognition that WOC teams will be hard to get into and perhaps smaller teams with the top athletes running most is the best way forward, although this remains in selectors hands. 6) WOC Training Tour: given competitive nature of WOC selection need to look at more sanctioned opportunities to get people European experience...fall back option if they don't make the world champs team...eg as done by NZ Triathlon etc. Neil keen to help, potential timetable to be created for 2008 tour, Jamie to investigate official sanctioning.

PAPOY

On my request from the Smithsonic.. Here is a brief something for you Jamie.... The Papo OY 5 was held on the tricky sanddunes at Woodend beach. It was a pretty fast course which stayed pretty much in the open forest, with only a couple of legs in hellish blackberry. Both Aaron and I had pretty good runs, with most of the other men making at least one large mistake, putting them out of contention. Georgia had a good run, winning the women's grade. Control #20 near the end of the course seemed to trip up quite a few people. I was aiming to hit the large open depression to the north of the control, but carelessly ended further north than intended and was all confused. Fortunately after a short bit of aimless circling and wandering I identified the light green area surrounding the control and consequently the control itself. Time lost: ~90s aaargh. Aaron too had problems, and went sailing off too far south - all the way to the man made feature 150m away to relocate. Results: (if I remember correctly... I'm sure they will arrive on the Papo website eventually) Michael Smithson 65 Aaron Prince 68 Alistair Cory-Wright 85 Matt Scott 86 Georgia Whitla 92 Dennis DeMonchy 93 Jenni Adams 95 Lara Prince 96

Former squad member produces offspring

Hannah Hudson was born Monday afternoon, weighing 2.66 kg, she was reported as having an unfortunate resemblance to her father.

8) A focussed high quality training environment

Do we have this...certainly not. The way this is worded suggests more team sports, where athletes train together often in a defined place. Our place or environment as a squad is much more dispersed and unstructured. We have constraints on the ammount we can get together and on the specific training we can do. This means, in my opinion, we need to concentrate more on the links that bind us together, common purpose/goals, regional events, and dare I say it the internet. We must create our focussed high quality training environment not by turning up on time to the gym every day but by working together, but apart, towards common goals.

Finally a report on Chris and Em's blog

Worth checking out...gives an idea of the atmosphere at WOC...sounds challenging. I remember at JWOC in Bulgaria those bloody ozzies stole our towels out of our hotel room then there was a massive fuss when we left. Gotta watch those towels. Also looking forward to the report Clem has been threatening on Maptalk.

7)to be challenged and work to the limit

Yeah enough of this pissing around. We need real goals, really fit athletes and success.

NOS membership should not be a right for an athletes career, it should be conditional upon commitment and continuous improvement. Its not about who can win Nationals every year, its about getting on the path to international success, or building that path for others.

Athletes need to be supported, but with increased support comes increased expectations...

The Week thats been

Hey, busy week around the place, none more so than over in Ukraine where our dudes battled it out with the best in the business. While no truly outstanding results in the finals full kudos to Chris, Tan and Ross for making that grade. Maybe next year will see you back up there Rob. It sounded like a hell of a challenging WOC, and while I haven't had time to sit down and analyse any courses yet I'm looking foward to it...maybe we can get a few discussions going and hopefully Ross will be able to bring his maps up to the Taupo training weekend. Other happenings: Brent is nearing the end of the XPD chasing Robbie Prestons team for the win. Bryn ran a half marathon last week which I have officially stopped looking for the results of as they are still not up...unlike the Coromandel Classic results which were available the moment competitors crossed the line, courtesy of sportident and CMOC. The results showed Rachel Smith in her first multisport race finishing 2nd...and that includes riding a shitty old mtb on the roadbike stages.. I better get my A into G with those athlete needs postings...but I seem to spend my NOS time chasing people up about profiles, paying for stuff etc...instead of doing constructive stuff. Take care out there people and train hard Jamie

6)specific, individualised, periodised training programmes

All athletes need individualised, periodised training programs, orienteers in my opinion especially so. We are a diverse bunch of athletes, who race over lengths from 10 minutes to 100. We have many different body shapes and race tactics. Its my goal to see all the athletes in our hp programme on a good programme. One problem we have is a lack of coaches, there are very few. Some squad members are coached by family or people from other sports but some have had very little support at all. Over the next 6 months I plan to work with squad members to help them find appropriate coaches and mentors. As a first step what I have been encouraging is the use of www.attackpoint.org which is an online training log. This at least provides people an online community to which they are in someway accountable for their training. It also provides very handy graphs for looking back at your training to determine the structure you should press forward with. I am also investigating the best way of providing online training programmes which can be slightly modified for individuals. So when it comes down it I can at least help people out a little myself if need be.

Get those Auckland Champs Entrys in!!

Akld Champs entrys close fri, nice online entry system so easy peasy. HBOC's Labour Weekend also has an online system up and running

And other goings on...

Yeah it seems people are busy. Casser himself is heading out of the country for a month on wednesday to visit Europe, Southerly Storm have their annual night nav series coming up, see www.madeventz.co.nz/nightnav and a few of us fronted for the Tough Guy in the weekend. Penny claimed the Tough Gal title, with me and Neil 2nd and 3rd in the Tough Guy. Neil was between by a couple of old brutes (veteran men) while we were both beaten by this skinny kid from Whakatane called Daniel Jones

Michael Adams wins off road race

While we are following the great results at WOC some orienteers still have time to get out and about to do a bit of exercise. Michael Adams won the 3rd race in the The 2007 Leppin Off-Road Run Series, which is based around Auckland.
Results 3rd race in the Leppin Off Road Series
Darren Ashmore raced into a top three place as well and some other orienteering names can be found in the list.
These races look like a good chance to get out and kick some roadrunner butt!
The 2007 Leppin Off-Road Run Series ->Homepage

5)Performance based, individualised, specialist, support services

No ideas! Perhaps the squad members that lose a race should have to massage the legs of the winners....

4) Exposure to cutting edge, innovative coaching that acknowledges research and overseas best practice

Ok great we can make this work! I love SPARCs new framework there seems to be a real focus on "innovation" which is great. For way too long we have had the mindset, we need to do what the Scandis are doing. I need to move to Scandinavia and learn to orienteer like them. What we need to do is take the best bits out of the Scandinavian/Continental orienteering schools, mix them together and add the kiwi spark. On the physical side of things we need to try and hook up with some of the more established endurance sports, triathlon, athletics and try and get some of their secrets, some of their cutting edge coaching practice, based on research. Right, my plans then (some off the top of my head, others not). 1) I'm going to get in touch with some other high performance sports, starting with triathlon to see if we can get some cross code co-operation going. 2)I'm going to take a bit of time next year to go and study some coaching methods around the place, both in Scandinavia and Continental 3) I'm going to encourage innovative thinking. What are you going to do? The least you can do is train bloody hard, preferably on terrain, cause this will still be the bottom line!

WOC Blogs update

Nice reading this morning of Chris and Em's blog, with photos on Aussies blog and Bryns put some Ukranian Cup results up on maptalk, nice.

Bushrangers Team

Better mention this I guess, looks like the gloves are off with the aussies with their mens team being reinforced by top guys Shep and Julian. Looking forward to the battle! Team here

3)Expert technical and tactical coaching-group and individual

ok, not so sure where I'm going to start here (maybe thats why Flynn was bugging me to write this). I think its pretty damn obvious we need more of the above but how to get it...

my first step from here is to get NZ route gadget cranking, get all the maps from the big comps up and cajole/coerce everyone into putting their routes up. Having splits is one thing, but looking at them combined with route choice is going to be an amazing tool for any athlete or coach seriously looking at improving performance

It will allow people to see the legs that they are keeping up, and think about their strengths and weaknesses against other athletes. It will be easier to determine the type of mistakes being made, the time, and with further interrogation the thought processes behind them.

Not the be all and end all, but hopefully it will get people thinking and talking about orienteering technique/tactics and create a clearer picture in coaches/athletes mind on skill development needs and contribute to a greater quality of technical training sessions when the opportunity arises.

Aussie WOC Blog

Maybe there might be some good insights here

2) Input into vision, goals and planning

This is about having athletes taking "ownership". We need this to legitimise the goals we set and strategies we take to achieve them in a small community of amatueur athletes. As an athlete myself I have decided to act proactively to do what I can do to make my and my peers elite careers more focussed and goal orientated. There are also plans to have the wider elite and junior community involved in goal setting/ strategy making for the hp programme, starting at the squads weekend in Taupo 8/9 September.

MTBO Sprint Map

A quick exercise in route choice decisions

1) A Culture of Excellence

Yeah what does this mean?

Our culture is the sum of our combined behaviour and beliefs towards orienteering. We need to shape this towards a search for excellence in our sport.

When I think of excellence I think of the All Blacks catch phrase "continuous improvement". Excellence doesn't standstill, it is dynamic. It's like an orienteering mistakes, your perception of it changes as you and your environment change.

Seeking excellence involves not accepting the status quo, it involves identifying barriers and seeking out ways around them. It involves consciously accepting the challenge of trying to be the best you can be.

A worthy goal I reckon

ideas for developing a culture of excellence

1)positive peer pressure, eg triathlon, accountability to your peers for performance, dedication, courage...how to develop recognise members of squad who always give it their all, set high standards.

2)set clear goals as a group, don't settle for mediocrity, continuous improvement. Us against the world mentality, we are a small community but we can achieve big things, again look at the kiwi triathletes or Arthur Lydiards runners, excellence can and does arise from small groups that face big hurdles and accept the challenge of overcoming them.

comments welcome!

SPARC High Performance Athletes Needs

Hey, have spent a little bit of time today checking out the experts advice on what high performance athletes need The points below are straight from the SPARC Coach Development Framework.

At first glance they seem pretty sound. I am keen to get people thinking about these outcomes and how we can provide them in an NZ Orienteering HP context. This is in lieu of our goal setting weekend (evening for SIers) in September. I will discuss my brief thoughts on each point one a day for the next 17 days, starting today (since its always best to start today!).

This probably bores some of you to tears, but oh well, the status quo just isn't good enough anymore.

1)A culture of excellence 2)Input into vision,goals and planning 3)Expert technical and tactical coaching-group and individual 4)Exposure to cutting edge, innovative coaching that acknowledges research and overseas best practice 5)Performance based, individualised, specialist, support services 6)specific, individualised, periodised training programmes 7)to be challenged and work to the limit 8)a focussed high quality training environment 9)training opportunities that prepare them for a changing environment and performing under pressure 10)Opportunity to make decisions, innovate and try new ideas 11)Regular access to high quality technology, equipment and facilities 12)Timely and clear technical and performance feedback based on expert analysis - individual/group 13)Clear understanding of where they are at and ideas for improvement 14)A coach who creates a positive environment, provides leadership, and role models expected behaviours and ethics 15)Recognition of efforts and performances 16)Having views and opinions valued and respected 17)Lifestyle and longer term/planning support

Chris F wins Transylvanian Open!

Chris Forne outsprinted the Norweigian Leader (no name has been revealed) in the chasing start to take the overall victory in the Transylvanian Open in Romania. Congratulations on a great effort!
Read the whole exciting story through the words of em on their silly billy blog

JWOC Maps

For those who haven't got round to having a look here the link to the JWOC mens sprint More JWOC maps can be found here

MTBO WOC

The MTBO Champs is underway, with Michal our sole representative, check out the link here

Michal has started of with 45 in the sprint and 58th in the middle. He has also been caught out of position in the opening ceremony. The little girl holding the NZ pole looks very lonely :-)

Chris's secret O training

Those serious orienteering types aren't going to know what hit them when Chris rocks up at WOC, this from Em's blog on their recent trip through the Transylvanian Alps.. "At about 3am it started raining very hard, and the first wave of thunder and lightening came roaring through. It was the loudest thunder I have ever heard, and for 3 hours the three of us did not get much sleep!! It was pretty scary, but finally it subsided and we emerged from our tents unscathed to find it drizzly and grey. We were planning on climbing over the summit of Nigouri and around a steep ridge to Lake Avrig, and from what we could see yesterday this was a very steep route and apparently involved using some fixed chains and ladders. Of course, even though the weather was bad, Chris was super excited to take the harder route, Ed and I a little apprehensive but persuadable, so as everyone else headed down we headed up toward the Strunga Drucului (Dracula's Chimney). Very appealing!! We hauled our way up the chimney, grateful for the fixed chains on the steep slippery rock and onto as misty summit. We were pleased to be on top, but as we descended we encountered another party who warned us of the difficulty of the next section...but it was a bit late now!! Sure enough, the ridge steeped, and we had to climb over and around some very steep ground. Luckily, Chris the pack lugger would climb or descend the tricky section with each of our packs before helping us over it. He ended up climbing some bits 4 or 5 times!! And slowly but surely we made our way along the ridge to safer ground. Eventually we reached a sign pointing back the way we had come which said: Route Forbidden in Bad Weather, opps!" The full story can be found here. Looking forward to the story about the Transylvanian Orienteering Open!

Neil wins a running race

Yes, it happened, check this link. Well actually the link shows neil in a zebra suit but if you look at the results from the 1st of August you will see the glory (sort of)

BillEdwards profile

just stumbled over this on the net while looking for something completely different. Get to know your your selectors!

World Cup Middle Map

From Osterbo's blog, here. One of the best O Blogs for maps and in English too which is great. Interesting to look at those legs and think how they might be generalised, which side is it better to aim off to slightly so you can pick up an attack point on the edge of the circle...

Adventure Racing Russian Style

Greg Barbour reports: Usually a 12 hour adventure race would not scare me but I was a bit curious going to my first race in Moscow what exactly I was in for.

Getting an entry was the start....did they reply to emails or calls...no eventually rang English speaking friend who did the deed. But still wasn't sure even what to bring..so I brought the lot...climbing gear bikes tents wetsuits etc. Driving in Moscow is like an adventure race anyhow so I was prepared... its a bit like driving with no rules...you need traffic lights on the pavement. There has been three deaths on the road outside our house in the last year...another story.

Got to race with plenty of time I thought. But then the fun started...200 competitors could any speak English?... event I discovered was rogaine style with three types of controls, some only on foot, some only on bike and some special(climbing swimming etc) Started at 7 PM finish 7AM. Individuals or teams. First problem...clues in Russian, I can speak but not words like under a rock at the edge of thicket halfway up a tree. Eventually found help but was so late I missed the start.(only 5 mins!)

I decided to start running figuring it was raining and it is always easier to run before biking...good choice.Amazing controls, the map was an old photocopy in two pieces on normal paper...one half the green color was blue...impossible to read and then I found out it was 30 years old. I have never been on such a poor 1;50000 map even the power lines where missing or in the wrong place, tracks where all overgrown if you could find them and the overgrown was nettles!! Yow wee!! Give me NZ native any day.

Amazing found all the controls half by luck and half safe route choice. The controls were placed "near the feature" so on a tree some up as high as 5 m..try climbing that in the rain...I failed and waited for a group to come along and let them punch for me! ( I did try...honest) After 4 hours I had all the foot controls and a girl following me as I found some controls for her!(she did ask if I minded if she came with me) I had also waded a 1km unmarked swamp and ran for an hour or so in nettles.

Now on to the bike for nighttime. Got one control then decided to go for a special control which I discovered was swimming in an unlit lake now past midnight. No lights no safety boat just told to swim about that direction until you hit an unseen island and get unlit control....weed everywhere in pitch black I started to realize we have a built in safety culture.This was reinforced at next control a MTB control where you had to cross a field in long grass that was obscured by a row of trees..... unmarked. Eventually sorted out only to spot control 4m up a tree in head high nettles...abandoned the bike (hoped I could refind it!!)and climbed tree. Things then got worse...took a route choice via a building and down a road found myself on the wrong side of an 8 ft fence(honest I did not climb any fence to get there!!)...and a guard coming up behind me with wild barking dog!! Managed to climb the fence and reach over and retrieve bike just before guard arrived..sprinted away down the road.(maybe the guard was just coming to pen the gate for me?) Missing track and impenetrable unmarked creek blocked next control, gave in and went right round.

Decided on long road leg to make controls easier but light went out. Then things got rough and slow with a little petzl...amazing still found controls in the nettles on my own and then the sun rose...just in time for my next swim in a dam this time had to dive under to 2 m to punch each control which where underwater!! Weed everywhere.

Finally got to the climbing, too late but they had another novelty in an old deserted chemical factory they sent us to find controls following arrows in the dark...building completely derelict sharp metal, corroded metal ladders, crumbling wet concrete, descending in wells and through manholes.... eventually emerges on roof of three story building with no obvious exit route only to realize they wished us to climb unprotected off the side on an old metal ladder (very old very corroded) and then jump on an old balcony with no floor only railing following which a 3 m jump to the ground!!

Nearly finished but time is running out..take easy track back to finish only 2 km on the bike...problem is track is missing and just head high nettles and liana...I hour later and 45 mins overtime the finish at last ...spirit finally broken.

I knew Russians were tough and uncomplaining but this lack of safety and bike controls with no obvious track was something new for me...did not bother to check results...just went home and tried to heel my stinging legs for two days ...skin actually cracked from the nettle stings.

Yep I am m probably stupid enough to do it again ...but will check more carefully the map and area.

Hanny Allston, tips for granite

Got this this link off Nic Gorman on Maptalk. Before our eyes Hanny has turned from a good junior into a world champion, she must have some clues! Also recommended reading is Hanny's article about the "daily process", the need to create good training habits to achieve success in your sport and balance in you life, very well written and thought out.

Auckland Champs entry

Auckland Champs entry form on the Auckland club site here Looks like a great event on technical terrain, hopefully not too much of an Ashmore, Kerrison benefit, only time will tell

Carsten will start posting on the blog soon

and until he does I am going to post revealing photos of him to get him in trouble with the missus

Tania at World Cup

Tan had a tough race straight off the plane yesterday, 2hr mass start race on typical swedish terrain, check out the start of the mens course here. Lots more articles on orienteering world.

What Carsten had to say to the WOC team

The WOC team are starting to head to Ukraine, both Chris and Tan leaving the country this weekend I think, below is some of the thoughts that Carsten sent to them General Comments: The kilometre times that have been raced in races leading up to WOC seem very fast, which in the sandy terrain for the middle distance must mean that the visability is good and it is quite easy to manoeuvre through the undergrowth and for the clay ground of sprint qual, long distance and relay must be rather hard and very runable. On the other hand clay can get quite slippery if wet making room for taking different route choice depending on weather (/clay) conditions? The rumour says that there are quite a lot of smaller and bigger rubbish things in the forest. Often mistakes in orienteering are made when it gets a bit tougher physically (throwing the competitor off the balance that the person has been riding along on very nicely until then), which in the in sprint and middle distance areas probably will occur when fast running has been going for a little while (or when obstacles like little (steep) hills and undergrowth show up) and in the long distance a bit bigger hills (and towards the end of the course). One way to get better at copping with these physical tougher periods in an orienteering race is to train intervals to simulate the stress. Now that you are getting closer to WOC it is time to sharpen up a bit and I would suggest to try to do some intervals simulating fast running on flat and then a short hill up (one that seems like the right size/steepness compared to the distance/terrain that you are focusing on) and then continuing on the flat for bit afterwards. The idea of a training camp a short time before a world champs is not to do a lot of training then (the training has to be done beforehand) but more to check out the terrain and how it is mapped. Like a green thing in England is quite often a rhododendron bush/tree thing and so fort. To try and test orienteering and running at competition speed it is better to do interval type of sessions with shorter bursts of high intensity (5-15 minutes). Heat is quite often a factor at WOC and it is likely to be that again this year and attention has to be drawn to drinking enough water (when racing and before and after (all the time)) and getting electrolytes (when sweating and urinating a lot). It is always a good thing to have lots of fun and staying relaxed (focus, when you need to, the rest of the time build the focus reserve up by having fun and relaxing (look at the positive things)). If you have negative things to let out, go shout somewhere else than close to the team (or find a team official to discuss the subject with, hopefully things can be sorted with out involving the team before events). If the team has to be involved then go through the thing in a matter of fact way and sort it out and end the scenario with something positive for the team to focus on in the continuation. Yep, be onto it and have lots of fun, this is a cool chance to show off what you’re very good at.

News Flash: Karl 2nd at Oz Long Distance

From the Ozzie O site, no further details at this stage, further commentary to come Neil says, "it was an awesome area and very rocky, Karls run was ok , he made a cock-up on a long leg, it was like 10 minutes downhill fast then into a detailed area of rock, there just wasn't a decent attack point and Karl lost 4 minutes". Karl showed real form on the last loop after the spectator leg, it was impressive"

Awesome Georgiou Video

Hey, I really recommend the Thierry Georgiou video on World of O about the recent Norwegian World Cup Win. Has him going through the race leg by leg, really interesting looking at his orienteering technique, ie what features he uses, what he is thinking about when making his route choice etc...take a look!

Some photos

Tineke and Lizzie Outstanding!

Have been loving the JWOC coverage, amusing and quite dramatic live audio...and kiwis doing great, four qualifiers for middle. I'm just sitting here waiting for the final now. Tineke and Lizzie 2nd and 3rd in qual, that must be unprecedented for kiwis! They'll be starting late. Kate M and Tom also fantastic...and must note Gretas awesome results earlier Heres the middle qual map with all controls, pretty simple contours, sounds like a key technique has been to green light/red light the legs...ie plan route choice to avoid slow running technical areas, using the open valleys to get as close to the circle/attack point as possible.

Using Catching Features for Training

I have long thought the orienteering simulator Catching Features has benefits for technical O training...particularly in situations such as NZ where we have limited competitions and top quality maps Heres a link with some comment on the benefit of Catching Features notably by Mattias Merz, one of those gun Swiss, see here Will comment more about this in future as I give it more thought

I Love Maps!

Check out this one from Croatia courtesy of the site of Rachel Elder, GB squad Anyone keen to go orienteer in Croatia before Czech next year? I'm there with bells on.

JWOC Site

The Aussies are doing a pretty good job of the JWOC build-up so far, check out the JWOC Site, if you haven't already...here

Running Drills

The running drills aticle from the endurance coach site is here Running drills or alternatively the old rugby field reps are really underrated by orienteers. I would be really interested in how many of NOS can honestly say they incorporate them regularly in their workouts. Orienteering, prob more than other endurance running needs short bursts of power and speed to move through areas quickly when the navigation allows. We can also use speed and power more as we have greater recovery capacity due to the need to slow down at certain times. I guess O in this regard takes from both typical endurance spots and the more aerobic team sports like hockey. any other thoughts...or links

Norway World Cup - Route Gadget

Check out this Great result by Tero Fohr and watch the battle between Georgiou and Haldin

an inspiring video for winter...watch hanny win WOC!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Tan: Tongue Injury at QB

Chris & Joe take out Heights of Winter

Chris and Joe Jagusch looted and pillaged Heights of Winter, winnning by the equivalent of 3 hours, next were Jenni, Rach and Sia....orienteers kicking butt. If you scroll down the results sheet far enough you see a whose who of NZ multisport and AR, so nice effort...results here

About Jukola

Thierry Georgiou adds yet another memorable moment to his o career anchoring his team to victory, Tero Fohr in NZ over summer, comes in 3rd after making small mistakes...report on this strange little blog which seems to be run by Belgiums

James and Tan take out AOA OY1

Not a big field to challenge Tan, but James made less mistakes than Thomas, Simon, Mark and Greg in taking out the mens, the winsplits link is here

and one of these fellas a controller???

be careful to avoid WOA OY 4 ;-) see link

Wanna see a sprint map from Ukraine

Auckland Club Relay Champs

Check out the map for this awesome race on www.infonews.co.nz here

Will this man be at WOC?

Ross takes out 1st of Wellington Three Peaks

A follow up to the posting a few weeks ago...see results here

Hawkes Bay Weekend

Thought I'd just post an outline of what we got up to in the recent weekend down in the Hawkes Bay... Saturday Tangoio (am) 90minutes • Warm up, general discussion on orienteering psychology, practising properly, pressure of big events, your map as a comfort zone, “cherish the map and the controls will be a formality” • Observation exercises, feeding the map • Attacking controls from above, distance estimation, height estimation, compass down a slope Maraetotara (pm) 120 minutes • Warm up, continued discussion :controlled racing, if your map is your comfort zone your compass is your friend • Observation exercises, feeding the red line • Dealing with detail: clumping, uniqueness and the power to read. • 1st Leg relay Sunday Sprint Training (am) 60 minutes • Race rehearsal, focus on the starts • Discussion on techniques specific to sprints: planning ahead-simple routes-top end speed.

How the AR panned out

Well whaddya know Chris has another World title and Brent with team Orion finished an outstanding 3rd. While in 6th was Aaron and Balance Vector who suffered the disappointment of being short-coursed in the last 24hrs...check out sleepmonsters for more info

Queens Birthday Impressions

The Santoft forest sand dunes always pose interesting challenges for orienteering even if the Manawatu is a damn boring place to hang around for a long weekend. The Sprint, was fast and easy with thick vegetation reducing the map to basically a track network. Most mistakes were made on the very short 5-6 as people failed to control their speed from the leg before as they moved into a circle with a bit more detail. With that much road running the leg before to plan a safe way of attacking the contro there really was no excuse. The Middle was an interesting race on rough farmland with quite a bit of route choice. Contour interpretation was difficult with what could kindly be called backyard cartography. Rob J handled the WOC (trial) pressure well to have a major mistake free run as did Penny in winning the womens. Comments were that it was a hard map to get into, which emphasises the importance of really "feeding" the map information early in the race. The Long. Huge and varied mistakes on a relatively easy area. Classic mistakes: 1st control, long leg with parallel features, low vis leg and management errors. To me this emphasised the need to get those warning lights flashing when danger is identified and staying focussed. On this terrain most mistakes are made within 50metres of the control, both arriving and leaving, you need to lift the level of intensity when those flags are around. Multi-loop...looked like fun. Highlights: has to be the awesome physical shape of you dudes are in, Ross, Tania, James as well as the speed and skill of the juniors who really made an impact on the elite grades. Check out winsplits for full results and splits

James: Looking strong at QB

ARWC...The boys hunting each other

One day into the ARWC in Scotland squad members are in 3 of the top 4 teams. Aaron in Balnce Vector, Brent in Orion and Chris in Nike... Currently they are chasing down the Swiss/French team of former World Orienteering Champion Alain Berger...see the satellite tracking system here

More Maps than you can shake a stick at

Again from Oystein Kvaal Osterbo's webpage...wouldn't it be lovely to have a few of these floating around NZ...here

QB Info

Programme and Start Lists available here....yeah

NOC Womens Long Distance Map

This looks like fun terrain, check it out

Hawkes Bay Training Weekend

We're meeting on the corner of Tait Rd and the SH, see map below at 10am on Sat, please bring map bags in case its raining and the usual stuff. Camping somewhere sat night, should be nice and relaxing...

JWOC Sprint Area and Womens Course

Its amazing what you can find on google earth, click the map my run link to see the satellite imagery

Endurance Coach Articles

And on a more physical theme a great list of articles from endurancecoach.com...see here and new link to the left. I will probably use some of these for inspiration in future posts.

And this one: GB Ukraine Reconnaisance

Not too much detailed technique assessment, but an interesting read giving a good feel of the Kiev environment.. here

Learning from Experience

I just stumbled over a set of articles from the GB High Performance programme (see new link to the left). Am working my way up from the bottom. The first article is a great account of perseverance from Jon Musgrave, senior squad in 1981, first WOC in 1993, really emphasises how important it is to open your mind, to learn from those around you and to be honest with yourself when analysing your orienteering....see here

WOC Selection Re-opens

1. As a result of a successful appeal against the selection of the NZ team for WOC 2007 on the ground that inadequate notice of selection events, 6-9 April, was given as per the NZOF Selection Policy 2.3.2, the NZOF Council has ruled the selection of the NZ team - as advised to clubs, 24 April -invalid. 2. Moreover, and to also clarify the intent of 2.2.2 of the NZOF Selection Policy, the NZOF Council, under the powers vested in it by the NZOF Constitution Section 9, has resolved that: "Given the necessity to invalidate the original selection of the NZ team for WOC 2007, and therefore the short time frame required to reselect a new team, the NZOF Council approves the selection of the team without recourse to any specific selection trials or events." 3. Accordingly, the selection of the team is re-opened. Nominations by candidates for the team to compete in the World Orienteering Championships, Ukraine 18-26 August, must be with the convenor of selectors, Jeff Greenwood (ali.jeff at xtra.co.nz), no later than 31 May. However, those who have previously advised of their availability do not have to re-nominate themselves. 4. The team will be announced after 4 June and no later than 8 June 2007. Jeff Greenwood Convenor of Selectors

Neil on a high after Nationals

Norwegian Sprint Champs Map

Courtesy of Oystein Kvaal Osterbo...here

Jim Cotter AR Research

Just stumbled upon this on the net while trying to find some more orienteering specific stuff...interesting findings on the physiology of extreme endurance (and pretty pictures) here

NOC Middle

Check out the NOC Middle Distance Map (mens) courtesy of Pasi Ikonens blog Leg 10-11 is a goodie, possible routes left, right and straight...the good guys go straighter a lot more than the rest of us...

Squad Email

Hey people Some squad stuff... Welcome New squad members Lise and Lizzie, you guys rock. Hold your breath and wait for the amazing reality of the National O Sqaud :-) We should start having ceremonys or something to welcome to new members, I might arrange this sometime in the near future. And Tane and Martin are in the squad, this happened last year sometime and was all very vague (as has happened often in the past), but yeah welcome to youse two as well Training Weekend As previously advertisied next weekend in the Hawkes Bay. Combined with D Squad. James and Mark are bringing cars down from Akld so get in touch with them if you are from that part of the world, Wellington dudes you should definitely come up. I will be arranging somewhere for us all to stay...so it should be a blast. Training on Tangoio. Maraetotara and others...also OY race on Sunday. Let me know if you are planning on making an appearance.. QB Entry has probably closed/closing but you could probably wangle something if you haven't entered, should be great weekend, with oceania spots up for grabs. INOV8 Deadline for orders today!! Orders to Carsten, don't skimp on your O shoes, there is nothing that prevents injury more than running in a good pair of shoes. Ring Around The Squad is being sponsored free phone calls (from my home ph) by the Kane foundation, so don't be surprised if you get rung in the near future and asked some questions,eg where you are at with your training, what we can do to help you out...whats your mojo, I am real keen to establish a motivational benchmark so I can try to take some credit when everyone is gagging for more orienteering and training 20hr weeks. Squad Blog I have been quietly working away on this, check out http://osquad.blogspot.com/ the idea is you guys have somewhere to go to find out about high performance o stuff and generally to help you feel part of a community that is working away trying to achieve goals in the big wide world. I recently invited a few of you I thought might be interested to be authors on the blog....to do so you have to set up a blogger account, but the whole process takes about 5 minutes, Anyone who would like to contribute...give me a buzz. Taupo Training Weekend Still working on dates for this with Derek Morrison (JWOC Coach) sometime in June...will let you know soon as possible Summer Camp Am interested in thoughs about a camp this summer....physical or technical?...location? keen not keen? when? I have a few ideas but am keen to see what others think first... Wicked...take care out there Jamie

Map My Run

Finally got round to checking out www.mapmyrun.com, it seems like a really good tool, for seeing just how long those training runs actually are... Heres one of my runs in Gisborne...

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

In planning for the upcoming Hawkes Bay training weekend I have been thinking about what I want to achieve as squad coach. As well as creating a good squad bond and helping people find opportunities to maximise their physical potential a big focus has to be assisting squad athletes to develop bulletproof technique. There are rough edges out there and we need to grind them down! Comment 1: Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. Everytime we orienteer whether we are training or racing we are practising for future races. The decision making processes we adopt at crucial times on a course become habit. Notice that experience doesn't necessarily = good technique, it would be easy to name the head cases out there with bad habits. Reflecting on orienteering training I have done I see a theme, sporadic, high quantity, low quality training, often on poor maps. When you train make sure that there is a specific purpose, make sure that you are physically and mentally prepared and ensure that the map is sufficent for the purpose. It is surely better to hit 15 controls bang on, with control than wobble through 25 controls. We will talk more about this at the HB training weekend and look at the principles wider integration into your training. Hope a few of you can make it. All comments welcome, any ideas?

Maps Maps Maps

So the plan now is to start providing links to interesting maps...to get you guys fired up. Try this one Its a Swedish park event with map and corresponding aerial photo and some analysis

Akld Training Weekend

A brief report from James on the Akld training weekend...sounds good, Huriwai has always been a challenge "we started saturday arvo: 1st Exercise: simplification Aim: to try and eliminate all the unnecessary info, especially the intense rock. getting the kids to run across large strecthes of land and rather than identifying the hundreds of rocks, just think of them as big groups of rocks and navigate by using the contours. Then once Attack points have been reached, start reading the rock detail to nail the control. 2nd exercise: Hard out 'red light' navigation Aim: using the most intense rock detail on the map, we set a small course to try and get the kids to navigate through huge boulders and rock formations. Requiring heaps of 'thumbing' and concentration and paying special attention to the control descriptions to make sure they are attacking the controls from the right directions and are also lookin in the right place, rather than just 'in the control cirlce' and ideally saving those crucial seconds entering and exiting the control as they weave through a maze of giant rocks! 3rd exercise: Contour appreciation/Night navigation Aim: Careful map reading while trying to create safe routes using contours and rock formations as handrails. Also paying special attention to the compass as they cross areas of more detailed contours and aim for big attack points. Sunday: Long course: We set a course all over the map to simulate a big race. Aim:To try and put into practice all of the techniques that we worked on saturday."

Southerly Storm Gathering

from Jenni... Southerly Storm Potluck Dinner (don't need to make anything fancy, we'll do lots of pasta and sauce so if you can just bring bread or salad or desert or drink...) 7pm Thursday evening at Jenni and Carsten's Optional training (just running) beforehand 5:30pm (can maybe have showers here and in the surrounding neighbourhood) I could give a ride to 2 or 3 from university and there will hopefully be someone who could give you a ride home (or I can if not - you won't have to stay here!) We'll discuss *training plans, both o-technical and physical so we get ourselves into good shape for the next season (or WOC/JWOC for some) *ordering new Southerly Storm ogear *Night Navigation series *gossip

Running races in Wellington

These races in Wellington look great training for orienteers...harriers thinking outside the square that is scary

Oceania Selection

And just to back up Carstens email the selection notice is here This will be a wicked event for sure

And some orienteering

No results up yet for the PAPO OY at Acheron but some interesting results from NW score event at Shanks Pony James looked like he did well but well there may have been some issues elsewhere?

TWALK: Forne fast Prince spews

We had a bit of a squad battle in TWALK, Chris, Aaron & I, and Tane in different teams. We had a pretty good start and got a 20 minute break after about 7 hours. Chris and team caught us when we couldn't find some hidden ones then Aaron got sick and pulled out after drinking some dodgy creek water about 10 hours into it. I had a nice evening drinking free beer and chatting Tane had a sore knee Results here

Moro Madness

Good to see some of the dudes winning the moro madness relay Can't remember exactly who was in the team... How about some good orienteering promotion instead of some strange arse name!

O Animation

For non maptalk followers Martin Peat has set up route gadget (I think its called that) on the Counties Manukau Site. Route gadget is a simple orienteering animation tool and is great for analysing route choice. Check out the recent thunderball race right here However, it relies on people who race to enter their route...it is simple give it a go...just click on enter route and choose your class and name, then click your way around your route making sure the blue aura around the circles progresses everytime you get to a control.

What Brents been up to...

Some comment recently about how Brent missed nationals (his first miss since 1992). Heres part of what he been up to (and see Brents report on the recent ARC race)

Run of the year by Ross?

I reckon these splits show Ross's PM race on Saturday was one of the runs of the year...the 100kg guy who beat him to number 6 was obviously running too fast;-)

More Coverage on Sportzhub

And check out this

Sportzhub Nationals Coverage

Good on you whoever organised this

Aaron takes 3rd at Mission Marlborough

New multisport race and Aaron in the money ,check it out here

Mad Mike wastes some more Jafas

check out this link for Mike Adams result in the North Shore Coastal Classic

Swiss WOC 09 Training Camp

While some of us are still just stoked that WOC09 is in France, the Swiss have started their training camps already, check out the video below.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Superseries Final

Looks like fun, not often we orienteer in the heart of Wellington, further info at http://www.mapsport.co.nz/hvoc/oyss.html

Highlights from Nationals

Just had a good look at all the splits from nationals, some highlights Penny and Neil in the middle...woohoo Ross (what more can you say, only a loose mistake in the middle prevented further glory) Michael Adams, check out the middle splits, and they say the man can't control his speed. Aaron, MR consistent, maybe starting to fulfill some of that orienteering potential Carsten and Tan, we are lucky to have our senior pros. The new relay format, great to see elite women being put under pressure. Some more analysis of mistakes will come.

Oceania Website

enter online at www.oceania2007.com

freestyle orienteering

I'm just going back through old youtube vidoes and this one amused me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOnRIHR2MtQ

Ukraine Website

Just had a browse through the WOC website, pretty standard stuff, with map excerpts etc www.woc2007.org.ua/

Otago Champs

Results up for Otago Champs, see http://nzorienteering.com/superseries/, awesome to see some of the locals mixing it up with the squad!

Photo: you the man Neil!

Hey there!

I promised a newsletter, but had second thought and went for the blog thing instead, just trying to think which media would suit you guys best. Keep watching and see how it develops. Anyone with any thoughts about how the Squad/NZOF/this blog/Carsten/Me could help them with their orienteering please comment on this post. I think I will eventually make this blog only available to invited viewers, eg squad, and others around the high performance fringe.