The 2023 update of the OA Competition Rules has been published. There have been a large number of changes, but most of these are to remove redundant provisions or bring terminology into line with IOF rules, and will have no significant impact on the way the events are run.

The most substantive changes are:

• It is no longer required that refreshment points be at controls or compulsory crossing points, although this is still recommended practice. If refreshments are put in other places, they need to be positioned so as not to significantly affect route choice (for example, by putting multiple refreshment points along the length of a track that competitors cross).
• Winning times for the Australian Relays are now expressed in terms of both a fastest leg time and a total time for the winning team. The guideline course/class combinations have been updated to incorporate these.
• The short/long/medium structure of the Australian 3-Days, which has been used several times in recent years (and will be again in 2023) through rule deviations, has been formally adopted into the Competition Rules as an option for all classes.
• There have been changes to guideline lengths for easy and very easy courses, particularly for sprint and middle distance events.

There have not yet been any changes to long distance winning times for events held under OA rules. Following the IOF’s decisions to equalise winning times for men and women at events under their rules, it is expected that OA will finalise a decision on this matter in the first half of 2023 for implementation from 2024 onwards.

A summary of the rules which have changed is included at the end of the document.