Wellington Champs Accomodation

Wellington Champs Accomodation information at the Tararua Country Retreat.

The website is here.

There are still a few beds available if anyone is looking for last minute accomodation. And campers welcome.

The location is here:

The kitchen is fully equipped with cutlery, crockery, etc. Pillows provided but not sheets.

The accomodation is available on Friday night. There are a few of the crew from Wellington orienteering club heading up then.

Auckland Champs Review

Georgia Whitla won the Auckland Champs middle distance last Saturday, but it would have been a hollow victory. The joy of orienteering comes from performance not results, and dropping 7 1/2 minutes to win an elite middle distance is not the performance to tickle a self-respecting elites fancy. She was hardly the only one plunging the depths of Woodhill forest though last weekend.

Auckland Orienteering Club put on three events over the two day weekend, with the Woodhill Middle followed by a Sprint at Farm Cove on the Saturday and a long distance at Woodhill on the Sunday. Everything was much as you expect, and much like many of us have experienced many times. The organisation was friendly and efficient. The maps were good (except the "maze" area which should not be used for serious orienteering), the courses were good (except the sprint distance which needed to use the detail more and provide spectator appeal) and the weather was pleasant. Entirely unremarkable and prodigiously unmemorable. I'm struggling for images and words to bring up in my head to describe.

The Auckland clubs are at risk of losing access to parts, if not all, of Woodhill forest. This is an opportunity, not a calamity. Give us some new experiences please, you live in a beautiful part of the country.

One athlete that is always remarkable though is the irrepressible Chris Forne. How a man who has barely run since his injury in the World Games can complete with the race sharpened Nick Hann and the maestro Matt Ogden on his own terrain is beyond me, but he did winning the middle before losing only in a very close and high level race to Ogden in the long. These three were a long way ahead of the other elites in their split times, brutal navigational efficiency and speed through the terrain. Tane Cambridge and Tim Robertson held on to their boot straps but the others were left eating their dust.

The stand out result in the womens grade was Laura Robertson win in the long distance. One early mistake, but otherwise very consistent, and well clear of Greta Knarston and Penny Kane.

In the junior elite men it was good to see Matt Goodall register a couple of wins in the forest, and Tommy Hayes take out the sprint. Devon Beckman was close every time and Callum Herries was leading both the sprint and long for significant periods before just not finishing it off. The junior elite women was dominated again by Alice Tilley, who has been proving hard to beat recently. Kayla Fairbairn was the next most consistent but only made second in the sprint with Sonia Hollands and Rebecca Gray having a good run each. Lauren Holmes wasn't far off the pace either, just looking for the next level of improvement to get her right up with the others. Good racing.

Auckland Champs Review

There will be an Auckland Champs review on the OSquad Blog, just excuse me while I gather my thoughts. Often orienteering is a good friend, but it still hurts when a good friend kicks you in the guts. I need a bit of time to absorb the splattering that my personal orienteering technique received, and hopefully will catch up with someone that managed to deal with some of the technical challenges.

The results are up on winsplits, here

Will update this post when someone chucks some maps up.

A Quick Exercise

I will hopefully do a final preview of the Auckland Champs once start lists are out, but we are on the road to Auckland as of early this morning, so it may be difficult. Here is a technical exercise for you though.

Get a piece of map - like this one snipped from the long terrain for this weekend:

Complicated right? Now pick a point, perhaps say the high point just north of the centre of the map. Imagine this hill in the terrain forget about the point knolls and depression, just the hill and the ridges going off in three directions. Smooth out the contours of the ridges, iron them like the crinkles in your shirt. Feel the re-entrants coming up between these ridges, put your hand out and carve their shapes in the air in front of you, don't worry about the slight undulations in their bottoms. Rotate your computer slightly to the left and peer up that eastern re-entrant that curves up from the track struggling over a broad saddle and then ploughs down the reentrant on the other side forgetting the U, the form line, and even the tagged depression. Put both hands out this time, tilt the screen back and starting with your hands together at the saddle push each hand out down the edge of the valley feeling its firm shape. Keep your thumbs in, and use them when you feel able to brush the detail on the valley floor. Flow the fingers out feeling the terrain, as the valley fades away and you hit the track.

You've got to be in the right mood.

Two Horse Race

Some interesting results coming through from the weekend, especially from Whangarei where Nick Hann and Matt Ogden had a butting of heads in the Akld double OY....and one former junior world champion came away with a very bruised head...

It was an America's Cup like duel. Two boats very much ahead (though no discredit to their competition), and like the America's Cup the individual races seemed to settle into a pattern, which in this case was Hann 1st, Ogden 2nd.  On this weekend Hann just seemed to have the edge. In the second race Ogden came out firing early, perhaps unsettled by the competition, but couldn't hold it together and the pattern reasserted itself for a similar result. With Ogden missing for the Auckland Champs this weekend sprint excepted) the question is whether the likes of Chris Forne, Tim Robertson or Tane Cambridge can rival Hann...given the terrain it seems unlikely.

Meanwhile further south, Hawkes Bay held an OY at Ranui Farm, and visiting Wellingtonian Shamus Morrison strolled to victory, after Duncan Morrison ran out of steam and Callum Herries was abducted by aliens.

Orienteering on Woodhill (a rough "how to")

The attention of the NZ orienteering world now switches to the 2013 Super Series and first up the Auckland Champs this weekend. to be held on Woodhill and somewhere "out east" for the sprint distance.

Here is a chunk of the embargoed middle distance map (I wish Wellington Orienteering Club would adopt the Auckland Orienteering Club policy of embargoing an area for two weeks before a competition).

This is typical Woodhill terrain: detailed coastal sand dunes, with a narrow open coastal strip backed by a denser pine trees with some vegetation detail, one or two soft windy motorbike tracks before Coast Rd itself. On the eastern side of coast road there are broad dune landscapes with a consistent amount of detail. The organisers have not stated how old the trees are in this block currently, so runnability and especially visibility will be determined on the day but here are some basic rules for Woodhill navigation.

Rule 1: Straight is great

There is seldom a good reason for varying far from the straight line in Woodhill (long legs in the thick dunes paralleling the coast may be a small exception). Look at the following map from Matt Ogdens DOMA

Every time you take a weak option, looking for a short cut that doesn't exist, or contouring around a hill you have to climb anyway, you are running further, and probably slower, than your opponent keeping tight to the line. Matt Ogden, and the likes of Toby Scott and Gene Beveridge, are the heirs apparent to the former masters of Woodhill, Alistair Landels and Darren Ashmore who first realised going straight was a good first golden rule for orienteering on Woodhill.

Rule 2: Exit is Everything

On Woodhill you must exit efficiently from each control on a bearing directly to the next control. Rough enough is not good enough. Here is a system:

- control spotted (or detail read so you know exactly where it is in the terrain)
- orientate your map
- check rough exit direction
- punch control
- take 3 steps in rough exit direction
- confirm direction and orientation with compass
- run straight

If you exit each control correctly Woodhill is now your oyster. The  detail that seemed murky to you before will roll out in front of you along the red line in crystal clear 3D. Starting on the right line is the equivalent of engaging auto-focus on your camera.

Rule 3: Leave the Line Deliberately

When you do need to vary from the straight line is when doing so will minimise your risk of a navigational error. The variation needs to be deliberate and planned. Consider the following snippet of map, again from Matt's DOMA

No 7. No variation from line. Tricky control but no detail left or right of the control to bounce off. Note double contoured knoll 220metres out that Matt ran straight over (200metres between the grid lines on a 1:10,000 map). The only handrail from there is your compass. Read the two depressions, run up the vague spur to the re-entrant just before the top.

No 10. Variation left through saddle to attack control from top of prominent re-entrant. Note how Matt slowed down in the re-entrant after the saddle to ensure he executed the final part of the leg properly.

No 13.High speed leg with two prominent stepping stones before Coast Rd, the big hill and the clearing, note how Matt skirts both. Attacking 13 Matt veers left to use the large open hill on his left to steer him into the control down the re-entrant.

......So get your exit direction right, and be deliberate about leaving the safety of the straight line. A small recipe for success on Woodhill...

Contributions Welcome

Hey all, there has been a bit of a break for the OSquad Blog over the last week or so after the enjoyment of following the Australian carnival from a distance day after rainy day (the break also coincided with some changed sleep patterns of one Mae Stewart). A fantastic post by Lizzie kept things going though and I hope a few people have taken up the offer of a Tasmanian training camp in January. Going forward to Oceania 2015 (amongst other worthy goals) we need to keep making the most of these training opportunities.

Lizzie also mentioned the fantasticness of contributing to the OSquad blog, and I can only encourage this wholeheartedly. I'm keen as to hear from any one who might be interested in becoming a regular "author" or contributing anonymously, or flicking me photos or links to put up, a "researcher" if you like. In the past Lizzie, Tane and Tom have all contributed regularly and they all seem to have become mighty fine orienteers...it can be done. Contact me: jamesbrianstewart@gmail.com

These photos caught my eye from Anna Robertson. Worth clipping from facebook and placing into the OSquad scrapbook.

Steph Harding hamming it up for the cameras

Thomas Eatson hamming it up for the cameras

World Cup 2015 Tasmania Training Camp

Hey Crew! Yep, it turns out that people other than Jamie can still post here (so if you want to help him keep the blog up to date, just drop him a line!)

Orienteering Australia is holding an elite training camp for it's HP group from the 2nd - 7th January, based around St Helens, Tasmania. This camp will offer vital training in relevant terrain for those aiming to race in the Tasmanian World Cup races in Jan 2015.

After discussions with Nick Dent at Aus Champs, he's kindly agreed to allow some of us Kiwis to join the camp if we wish. Preliminarily there's 5-6 spots in the accommodation open for us, although I'm sure we can negotiate or find alternative accommodation if more people are interested.

Bicheno Sprint Map. Absolutely Stunning map,
unbeatable on a nice day!

And not bad on a terrible day either!

The camp will be staying at good old Queechy Cottages, which many of us will have fond memories of staying at before. Terrain around the area varies from intricate mining to classic Aussie granite terrain. If you want an idea, have an internet stalk for pics from Aus Champs 2012 (the website has expired, lazy...or sneaky protection of clues on WC 2015?!). Anyway, the camp is bound to return to such maps as Little Child Creek, Lively's Bog and hopefully the awesome sea-side sprint map at Bicheno.

So if you're interested, drop me an email or leave a comment here, asap, let's say definitely by the end of October, and we'll go from there! The earlier we get onto it, the cheaper flights will be!

One tough tough map. Lively's Bog.

If you want to extend your trip and get more orienteering for your buck, then there's the X-mas 5 days to incorporate into your trip as well. This year to be held up around Orange 27-31st December, on some wicked maps like Kahli's Rocks.

One of the toughest maps I've been on.
8 yrs after my first visit, finally nailed it last year!

Another awesome Orange map, Gumble's Pinnacles
Not sure 5-days is visiting it. Probably a good thin,
 I'd just get lost again!

So yep, hopefully I'll hear from some of you soon, and won't be the only Kiwi in Tassie come Janurary!
Peace, Love and Orienteering to you all from over the ditch!
xoxo Lizzie