Married couple Ron and Barbara Junghans have devoted over 50 years to the orienteering community
For married Duffys Forest couple Ron and Barbara Junghans, orienteering has been a major part of life since they were first introduced to the sport in 1975 – more than 50 years ago.
Recently they were each awarded a Distinguished Long Service Award for their individual volunteering and dedication to orienteering. Honoured as part of the NSW Community Sports Awards, held in July, Barbara and Ron were each recognised for their efforts over the last 50 years. “I was really chuffed,” Ron says of receiving the award. “I’ve done a bit but there’s lots of other people in orienteering that do as much as me, maybe not for so long. We’re just two of a great group of people who spend a lot of time volunteering.”
Barbara adds that orienteering often requires competitors to serve as volunteers in helping to run events. “I think a distinguishing thing that we really like about orienteering is that in every event, virtually everybody is a competitor and it might be their turn to be rostered on to help. So the people who are officiating know full well what the competitor needs, because this week, last week…they were the competitor.”
Orienteering is an outdoor sport which sees competitors navigate a course with the use of a special map and compass to find locations called control points.
Over the past 51 years, Ron has been a course setter at all levels of the sport, has spent decades as club coach and over 20 years as a National Level 3 Controller. He introduced orienteering as a sport to St Ives High School in 1975 when he was a maths teacher there. He has also served in various roles on the Garingal Orienteers club’s administration: as president, treasurer, technical officer and more.
Barbara has also served the sport over the decades, as secretary and president at the Garingal club, a role she recently stepped down from. She spent years organising events, contributing to mapmaking, and introducing new competitors to the sport. Barbara was the director of the Australian Orienteering Championships and Schools Championships in 2017.
The Garingal Orienteers run 24 to 26 events each year. The pair also compete in meets held by other orienteering clubs across Sydney and Australia. Ron explains the three types of foot orienteering: sprint, where competitors navigate complex suburban areas, for example university areas; middle distance orienteering which is ‘quite complex terrain and a short, sharp and quick course;’ and the traditional distance orienteering.
Together, Ron and Barbara attend around two to three orienteering events per week. “We’ve done events in the Dolomites in northern Italy, Slovenia and Estonia and in Denmark and Sweden,” Barbara says. “You can go lots of places with orienteering.”
Barbara even competes at times on crutches – the result of a hip tendon injury and subsequent surgery. “I can do short events where the terrain is nice and flat and urban,” she says. “It depends on the distance, but when it gets to more than 45 minutes or so, I’ll do it on crutches.”
Barbara and Ron say everyone is welcome to join in, with age categories up to 90-plus. “You can front up and say, ‘I’ve never done this before, can I give it a go?’ and they will have somebody there who will tell you the grassroots of what you need to do and get you going,” Barbara says.
To find out more, visit: garingal.com.au