Cassie Trewin - Our Norge Bushie

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Cassie started her career when she was 6 after being slowly immersed in the skills of orienteering by following her family around at various events and over hearing discussions on maps, courses, errors, etc. Her first event was the ACT Primary Schools Championships. In the early days her main interest was how many animals she saw on courses with frequent stops for flower picking. She entered her first Australian Championships at age 7 and was told she had to run this event without stopping to pick flowers. She won against a large field that included a number of girls who became orienteering luminaries such as Jo Allison, Cathy Hogg and Alison Jones.

She was hooked from then on and went on to win seven Australian Championships and three New Zealand Championships.
The Australian School Championships were always a highlight in the calendar. The competition was keen but the camaraderie at the camps made them a whole lot of fun.

Cassie first represented Australia at age 14 in the Australia/NZ challenge. This was exciting in itself but going to New Zealand with her friends without any parental supervision was a real thrill. Little did she know that within a few years she would be spending 4 years in NZ as a result of her father taking up employment there. This proved to be an excellent time for developing her orienteering skills especially in her favourite sand dune country.

Right Cassie in 1987 - up against the big guns!

She was keen on trying to be selected for JWOC at age 16 but a broken foot just before the selection trials meant she could not compete in the trials. She was selected in the following four years and finished 20th in Poland in the Middle Distance in 1994 and 13th in Denmark in the following year. At the time these were the best results by an Australian Junior. She also finished 23rd in Romaina in 1996.

She was selected in the WOC team in 1999 for the event in Scotland where she qualified for the Middle Distance Final.

She had one of her best ever results in the 2000 Australian Championships in Queensland when she won the W21 E by nearly 9 minutes. She continued this form into the European season winning a major event in France. Unfortunately disaster struck shortly afterwards. She broke her back in a Park World Tour event near Graz, Austria due to negligent course setting by the organisers.

It was a long way back with a lot of back pain and hard work. One of her major goals was to be selected again in the WOC team. Her selection in the Australian team 2003 Switzerland was one the the highlights of her life and resulted in a lot of pent-up emotion. She missed the Final by one place. It was the only time she had missed out on making the final in JWOC and WOC events.

Left - Still Orienteering in 2011

Shortly after she moved to Norway to live making it more difficult to undertake trials to qualify for selection in Australian teams. She also decided that she didn't want to be just selected for the team but wanted to have sufficient fitness to make the final and perform credibly. Injuries and family commitments have prevented this but she did have a win in the Olso Region Middle Distance Championships a few years back which was probably a stronger field that you get in the Australian Championships.

Cassie still loves the sport but is mostly a recreational orienteer now. The new additions to her family, Max and Esten, are welcome members to the Bushflyers Club and have been recognised as such with  the Carol Harding Bushie Bears creations.

Cassie and her husband Jim, have extended their thanks to our club for our thoughts and gifts.