Carnival Preview by IOF Event Adviser

Big Foot’s Andrew Lumsden is the IOF Event Adviser for the Carnival. As such he has reviewed the map and courses for the 21E Australian Long & Middle Distance and Sprint Championships. He has half a century’s experience in competing and officiating at Australian Championships.

Andrew, how would you rate the events you are overseeing?

All six 21E courses, are excellent. In my experience, if the 21E courses are excellent the other courses will also be excellent.

Which is your favourite?

The Middle Distance at Peterdine. The area is a very friendly granite area. Grazed forest with lots of rock, but very good running.

Noel Schoknecht has remapped the area. The new map is brilliant. It highlights the areas of rock and the more visible individual rocks. By the time I’d reached the first control I realised that the orienteering is sprint like – fast running, ticking off the features as you go. It is now in my top 10 Aussie maps/areas.

The Australian Relays are in an adjacent area, so the first weekend will be a cracker.

What about the Long Distance?

Avon Valley is classic WA terrain with areas of granite and more detailed contours in wandoo forest. The wandoo forest, in particular, is very open and attractive. Unlike almost all NSW forests, Avon Valley is more open than it was in 1988. I wish we had areas this good close to Sydney.

There are few steep hills, areas of green or track alternatives. Going straight will often be the default route choice. The courses exploit the best terrain, pose a variety of orienteering challenges and will test your concentration and endurance.

The sprint is your favourite discipline? How do you rate the Aus Sprint?

Awesome.

The area has lots of buildings built over many years, so there is a lot of complex detail. The courses exploit this to the full – lots of tight navigation mixed with decisive route choices and some open the after burner running.

The Elites will start before the other classes, so arrive early and cheer them on!

Thanks Andrew!

Photos: Map snippets; Andrew checking some rocks at Peterdine, by Noel Schoknecht.

For more photos see the Kambarang Facebook page.