The annual OSA Presentation evening was held at Glenunga Hub on Sunday 5^th December.  The following awards were presented, after which attendees enjoyed a picnic tea on the outside veranda and lawns

John Hall Memorial Service Award

Saltbush's Alan Holland received this year's John Hall Memorial Service Award. The annual award is presented to individuals who have "rendered meritorious service to the sport of orienteering within any club affiliated with Orienteering SA". Alan attended his first orienteering event in 1985, after which he became a regular at local events around Whyalla. Described as a "quiet achiever", he has been an active club member for 35 years, winning four club awards, holding several club committee positions, organising events, helping to construct the club trailer and club shed, produced and updated seven maps, and O-training at St Teresa's school. The award was presented via "Facetime" to Alan by John Lyon.

Sue Millard Trophy

The Sue Millard Trophy for the most improved junior orienteers, were female Gemma Burley, male Remi Afnan

Course Planner

Course Planner of the Year: Tyson Hillyard for the Foot and MTBO Courses at Belair NP

Middle Distance Championships (Paradise South)

The Middle Distance Championship trophies were presented to: Champion female Emily Sorensen; Champion male Simon Uppill

Night Championship trophies (Rock Oyster)

The Night Championship trophies were presented to: Club OHOC; Champion female Evalin Brautigam; Champion male Simon Uppill

The following Orienteer of the Year Awards were presented

For full results click on this link

Class                Name

M16A                Mitchell Stephens
M20A                Ethan Penck
M21A                Angus Haines
M35A                Tyson Hillyard
M45A                Kym Barnett
M55A                Steve Cooper
M65A                Paul Hoopmann
M75A                Robert Smith
W16A               Jemima Lloyd
W20A               Joanna George
W21A               Abigail George
W35A               Jenny Casanova
W45A               Kate Marschall
W55A               Zara Soden
W65A               Leila Henderson
W75A               Carol Such
M21AS             Luke Overton
M55+AS           Clive Arthur
W21AS             Lexie Ashforth
W45AS             Lan Kelly
W55+AS           Ruth Nicolson
MOB                 Matthew Maunder
WOB                Janet Hillyard

Twilight Series and Sprint Series – the January – February events were completed on schedule, including a Spring Weekend coinciding with Australian Day where our visiting US coach Evalin Brautigan ran 3 days of sprint competition including a knockout sprint on the Sunday.  The “sprinting” culminated with the Sprint Championships at Waite where Dante Afnan set some challenging sprint courses.

A number of South Australians then attended the Melbourne Sprint Weekend on the March Long Weekend, coinciding with the start of the start of the toilet paper hoarding and other panic buying in the shops.  Bridget Uppill and Olivia Sprod were 2^nd and 3^rd in the overall results in W21E, Simon Uppill was 6^th in M21E.  Two weeks later an event in the South Parklands, held in conjunction with the OSA AGM, was the last scheduled event until mid-June. With COVID-19 lockdowns, all events were cancelled until after the June Long Weekend, with any decision on further events deferred until that time.

No restrictions were placed on individuals or family groups undertaking outdoor exercise, so a number of MapRunF courses were tested and established, including on some additional map areas – West Parklands and the adjacent cemetery and Wittunga Botanic Gardens at Blackwood.  These courses were available for orienteers to do in their own time, and are still available on the OSA website here.

With the Australian Three Days cancelled, Brodie Nankervis organized a Easter challenge including a fixed time tempo run, a Strava art challenge and a hill climb, for people to do in their home locations and submit the results.  Australian animal Strave Art by Evalin and Angus in the South Parklands and Bridget and Simon's Mona Lisa at Blackwood Park and surrounds

As restrictions eased in early June, orienteering events were planned to recommence after the June Long weekend.  The Flinders 3 days of events were cancelled over the June Long Weekend, however a few orienteers still camped at Rawnsley and ran some long self-timed score events (example below by Robin and Adrian Uppill at Prelinna). Bridget Uppill also planned 2 hour score events on maps closer to Adelaide for orienteers to do in their own time. In fact Bridget created this as an Australia wide competition, across the country more than 70 completed the event, with SA the winning state with the highest number of “controls” visited per person!

After the June Long Weekend events resumed as pre-entry only, starting with Foot and MTBO Score event at Anstey Hill.  For the descriptions of the some of the courses at the events refer to an article in the December SA Newsletter. Despite the requirement for pre-entry, a number of new comers and non-members appeared at many events. Highlights included the club relays at Wirra Wirra, the SA Long Championships on an updated Narrinyeri Hills map, the 3 day weekend near Wilpena – rescheduled from the June Long Weekend.  As NSW residents were able to visit SA at this time, we event saw some interstate visitors at this very well attended weekend, which saw both challenging orienteering and weather.

A Halloween event in the West Parklands including the cemetery was run by our coach Evalin, followed by the start of the Twilight Series in mid-November in the South Parklands However due to a small outbreak of COVID-19 in Adelaide, 2 of the 5 pre-Christmas events were cancelled, but 2 more successful events were held at Oaklands and the Northeast Parklands.

Orienteering in 2021 is planned to include the Australian Three Days at Orange and the Australian Championships in Tasmania – both deferred from 2021.  An NOL event is planned for SA in the Riverland on the Anzac Day weekend.  Hopefully orienteers can enjoy these and many other events – competitive and otherwise, in 2021.

Robin Uppill

Summer orienteering continues through January and February on Friday evenings with the Twilight Series followed by the Snap Sprint Series.  All events are listed under upcoming events. Note that events go ahead if the forecast temperature is over 35 degree for the time of the event, but may be cancelled on very hot days (40+) depending on the location.

Additional sprint format events and training are planned for the weekend of 22-23 February. Details are being finalized and are to be listed in our event program on Eventor.

Less formal orienteering training is held on Wednesday evenings, generally at 6 PM – these activities are also listed in upcoming events.

And if you can’t make to one of the scheduled events, the DIY courses are also available – with the newest set now in Shepherds Hill Recreation Park. The start location for these courses is at the National Park sign adjacent to the car park on Ayliffes Rd. All DIY courses are listed hereand maps (PDFs) can also be downloaded free of charge.

A link to a Google Map – Location mapshows you where the various courses are available.

For some armchair orienteering – view this set of videos by several British Orienteers covering the important orienteering techniques. Some terms may vary from Australian usage e.g. "re-entrant" = "gully". From this first video you can access the whole set (will list at the right on the You-Tube page) - https://youtu.be/3r0pQf-Phsc

The 2018 orienteering season ended on a cool overcast atypical summer evening at Glenelg for the final event before Christmas for the Twilight Series. See below for one of the courses. The series resumes on Jan 4 at the Paddocksmap in Salisbury. Some of our juniors and their parents are currently orienteering at the OA junior camp in Victoria.

The highlight of the year was the 2018 Australian Championships carnival – you can revisit all the highlights in the special edition of the newsletter – see link on this page. Also see the other newsletter this year for other highlights.

The SA Schools Team achieved their best results for some years, coming 2^nd behind the ACT at the schools championships events in the carnival. Toby Cazzolato and Abigail George received the Sue Millard junior trophies, largely for their carnival performances.

Another 2018 highlight was the June long weekend in the Flinders Ranges near Wilpena, with excellent courses in the Long OY event were recognised with Craig Colwell awarded course planner of the year for his courses. See Route Gadgetto revisit the courses.

In August, the Southern Arrows club relays at Moonrocks saw the highest participation in the event, and the SA Long Championships were held at Mulga Valley.

The early part of the year shows the continuation of the Friday evening Twilight Series which is followed by the shorter format sprint events in February. Being urban events these are great as introduction of orienteering to new comers, as well as providing opportunity for regulars to keep fit and practice basic orienteering skills. These events culminate in the SA Sprint Championships at Tatachilla College near Maclaren Vale

The Sunday event program commences in late March, with the following highlights

• Urban series to further introduce orienteering to newcomers in May
• Three events near Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges on the June long weekend
• In August the State Long Championships and the SA Night Championships on the areas northeast of Burra used for the 2015 Australian Three Days

The main program ends with the 2018 Australian Championships and Australian Schools Championships. The full program can be seen by clicking this link.

The program begins with three events in the Riverland of South Australia, in reasonable driving distance for those orienteers who wish to drive from the Eastern states. The areas are approximately three hours’ drive from Adelaide. Two areas with unique terrain area are located in the eroded areas adjacent to the River Murray. One area Crooked Straight has been used for orienteering in the past (previous YA map), however the area has been completed remapped along with the nearby Weila Bunyip Reach map using high quality LIDAR data specifically acquired for the map production. Some of the terrain is shown below. These areas are to be used for the Australian Middle Distance Championships and the Australian Relay Championships respectively. The Australian Sprint Championships will be held on the Renmark Schools campuses on Monday 1^st Oct (this day is a public holiday in SA).

The events then shift to the Adelaide region, for the three days of the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships. The associated public events will provide the option for participants to enter three individual events or if entering all 3, a three day event.

The carnival concludes with the Australian Long Distance Championships and the SA Middle Distance Championships. The long distance event is the area of varied terrain comprising Gumeracha Goldfields. The area is spur-gully topography, but with mixed vegetation. Present are pine plantations from mature to younger pines, native forest often tending to be slower run, and some open areas. Rocky detail is common in the latter and some parts of the pine plantations. The native forest areas contain scattered gold mining areas. Route choice decisions will be the key for the longer courses at this event.

The final event which also concludes the 2018 NOL calendar, is the SA Middle Distance Championship at Keynes Gap. The area has been completely remapped based on LIDAR data. The terrain is mostly open farmland with large and extensive rock detail - shown below from the air.