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How and when did you get into orienteering?

Having a relationship with an avid nationally ranked orienteer got me started, with a first event at Castlereagh S.F. in 1981.

When did you join WHO?

After moving to Northmead in 1982, a chance meeting in 1983 with Peter Stevens at a servo on Windsor Road and an impromptu discussion about why there needed to be a club to service us orienteers who lived in the western suburbs of Sydney, we decided to get together in a meeting room in Westfield Parramatta one evening in 1983 with a couple of other orienteers in the area including Steve Dunlop, to have a chat about the pros and cons. Over some cake and port, we decided to accept the challenge and WHO was born – except it wasn’t WHO, it was HWOC (Hills and Western Orienteering Club). We knew it would be difficult but persevere we did and miraculously secured some equipment (and a sponsor) (I have a vague memory that this was down to Steve) to enable us to run our first event at Parramatta Park. Soon after, we decided that HWOC wasn’t that catchy and after a throwing around a few different ideas, WHO was born.

Which class do you currently compete in?

Last class I competed in was M35 before a series of knee operations ended my orienteering career…whilst competitive orienteering may have gone by the wayside, map making still enabled me to spend time in the bush. Then a double knee replacement really put an end to it, followed by a move to Tassie in 2017.

Preferred Terrain? Urban or Bush? What type of bush?

Bush always…..prefer open or lightly forested terrain, especially termite spur/gully like Timberlight, or granite country like Clonalton.

Favourite map in Australia?

Might be biased having mapped it, but loved every minute I spent on Clonalton. What do you do for a job? Finishing up my career here in Tassie working with Parks & Wildlife, managing the research programs that support our management of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Have you held an official WHO position before?

Too many to name.

Have you helped organise, set or control an event before? Which?

An early accredited controller, meant I was involved in setting and controlling many events. Most went smoothly, although there were a few where errors crept in which always detracted from the effort, but never stopped me wanting to do it all again.

What wildlife have you spotted whilst orienteering?

Macropods or all shapes and sizes, echidnas, snakes, pigs……mapping fieldwork gave me even more opportunity to spend some alone time with the Australia’s native animals and some introduced ones as well.

What do you like about orienteering?

I still have dreams about orienteering and being able to run……so many memories and wonderful people and places…..got to see so much of Australia that most people wouldn’t even know about.

Do you have a preferred format? Sprint? Middle? Long?

Bush long events

Most memorable mistake?

One that haunts me from early in my orienteering life was an Aus Champs at Bob’s Farm sand dunes north of Newcastle. A complete navigational disaster from start to non- finish…..having never experienced dune country before, it totally destroyed me.

Do you have any advice for other orienteers?

Win, lose or DNF…..just enjoy the camaraderie and our mind blowing landscapes and terrain….and always show some appreciation for the map maker and all the weeks that they may have spent alone in the bush to enable you to experience that area.

Editor’s Comment

Bruce is a WHO Life Member. His name is on numerous WHO bush maps and he was well known for finding new areas. You may not have seen Bruce at our local events recently. He is our most southern member living in Tasmania.