New Coaching Resource

Russell started orienteering at the relatively young age of twenty-five.  I say relatively young, as he has now been orienteering for more than forty years!  Despite his longevity in the sport and his intention is to mirror the likes of the Jim Barrs and Bunny Rathbones of the world (still involved in their eighties), Russell continues to be an enigma to many.  He is not someone regularly medalling in his class at major events, and those that know him tend to be involved mapping or in the administration of our sport.  Despite this, Russell’s job as ONZ Event Liaison is essential to the running of our sport.  To better understand Russell and his role, I asked him a few questions:

Tell us a little about your work background?  In 1996 when I left my job as a manager for Telecom, my wife and I decided to purchase a rose-growing business in Levin.  I had been a member of Wellington Orienteering Club before the move and had been involved in mapping.  Once in Levin, I joined the Red Kiwis Orienteering Club.  When the rose business was up-and-running I found I had a bit of seasonal downtime over the winter and began looking for other activities.  I have always been interested in the outdoors and around 2005 I was at a local petrol station when the Makahika Outdoor Pursuit Centre owner pulled up in her branded car.  I asked her if she wanted an orienteering course and map developed for the centre.  She said yes, and fifteen years later I am still there.  Initially I was teaching things like bush craft, orienteering and navigation.  Over time this evolved into a range of things including taking groups through the Duke of Edinburgh adventurous journey programme.  About 7 years ago I became involved in Land Search and Rescue where I’m currently team leader at the Horowhenua branch.  About six years ago I was asked by the then ONZ GM if I would fill the role of Event Liaison being vacated by Neil Kerrison – I declined.  The position received no applications so the then ONZ Chairperson, Dave Turner approached me directly and asked if I would take on the role, telling me “He always got his person”.  I re-evaluated the role and accepted the ONZ Event Liaison role in 2015.

What was the Event Liaison position like when you started?  When I started, the four Regions (Northern, Central Districts, Wellington and Southern) had long since fallen apart.  I found myself in a role that had very little in the way of systems which was a challenge.  The GM at the time (and the current GM) was not an orienteer so I found myself having a dual role of assisting her with the technical nuances of orienteering.  At the time the role was ten hours a week.  Five years on, I’m still on the same hours. 

What do you do for ONZ?  I guess in many ways I’m a gap-filler, doing stuff at short notice that would put undue stress on clubs.  ONZ has three regular part-time paid staff (myself , Roger our online co-ordinator, and our GM) which means that if something comes up and it is not part of our jobs, someone has to take it up.  Yes, in my time at ONZ I have looked after the scheduling of Major events, but I have also found myself creating the ONZ health and safety plan, including the protocols, creating the guidelines and taking enrolments for the Junior Camp including a stint as manager, running mapping and Controller training, managing film crews covering the NZSS and NISS events and managing the new membership database.  For me orienteering is something I love to do.  I’m lucky that part of what I do in our sport is paid – mapping and the 10 hours per week I spend in the Event Liaison role.  Over and above these roles, I sit on ONZ’s technical committee and the Red Kiwis Club Committee where I’m involved in running events and looking after the website.

What has been the biggest change in your role at ONZ?  Probably the new major events schedule system which was developed by Pete Swanson. This whole issue was really fraught and gave me the most angst. It was a mess and far beyond an official to fix alone. For my role, the ability to have zoom meetings with the regions and determine who can host major events up to three years in advance has been really positive and really good for our sport. 

Why don’t most orienteers know you?  I practise the art of staying under the radar, being naturally shy.  I have limited interest in elite orienteering so am not really involved in that scene other than occasionally helping ONZ Performance Leader Malcolm Ingham out with the odd event.

NZOC 2021

Membership Feedback on Policy Updates

B15 Medals and Certificates – changes highlighted in yellow

Council approved an update to reflect changes to category names that appear in the updated ONZ Rules.  The change replaces the 20A category with the 20E category as a category for which ONZ will supply medals. 

G1 Appendix – International Team Purpose and Selection Criteria  – changes highlighted in yellow

Council approved a small change to this appendix found in the policy section of the ONZ website.  The change allows for a single trial to be used to determine the selection of JWOC teams.  The small change was brought about because of the uncertainty brought about as a result of Covid-19.

G6 International Team Funding – changes tracked in red

Council approved the removal of the flat athlete contribution fee.  It was acknowledged that while the fee provided certainty for athletes, it was unsustainable as it did not limit the amount the contribution that ONZ would be expected to provide.  The policy has been updated to reflect the change in ONZ Council budgeting in with specified amount is approved for each overseas trip..  This amount is to cover expected to cover the official coach(es) and manager expenses.  It these expenses exceed this amount the balance will be evenly shared among the athletes for whom the coach(es)/managers are responsible. 

Please send any policy feedback to Christo our GM.

Happy orienteering!   Editorial deadline: