Brisbane would be Utopia if only it had a decent mountain with snow in winter, according to veterinary medicine associate professor and world-class ski orienteerer Jacquie Rand.
Dr Rand makes the most of the hilly terrain around places including Fig Tree Pocket, Brookfield and Kenmore, 'skiing' up to 15km an hour on her roller skis.
Originally from Melbourne, Dr Rand joined the University in 1990 after a decade of skiing which included membership of the Australian Cross-Country Ski Team from 1978 to 1982 and up to five months a year spent overseas.
'In 1982 I decided I needed to further my veterinary career and moved to Canada where I took up a residency and completed a doctorate. I was still ski orienteering and competed in the World Ski-Orienteering Championships in 1984 and 1986. I then took a job at the University of Switzerland before returning to Australia in 1990,' she said.
'I didn't do much more until last year, when I won the Australian Championships in Ski-Orienteering and was chosen for the team to go to the World Championships in Austria early this year.
'The team also went to Nagano where ski-orienteering was presented as a demonstration sport in the week leading up to the Winter Olympics.'
As a member of the winning three-person mixed relay Dr Rand received a gold medal, although she is quick to point out it is not an Olympic medal.
'As far as I understand, ski-orienteering is an official sport for the Winter Olympics but it has never been included in the Games. The Olympic Committee will make a decision next year if it is to be included in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, US, and that is the reason they held the demonstration events in Nagano.
'Ski orienteering is a combination of cross-country skiing mixed with orienteering, with women racing about 20km and men doing about 30km in the long distance events.
'There are also downhill sprints and shorter races of about seven kilometres.'
Dr Rand said the atmosphere at Nagano was great, although it became a blur of 'wonderful hospitality with opening ceremonies, welcoming banquets, races and closing ceremonies and banquets'.
With family and work commitments, Dr Rand is unsure of how involved she will remain in the sport.
'The top people in the world would be skiing on the first snow in Russia by September and then move onto Lapland and then back to their own countries to complete 1500km to 2000km of distance training before they race,' Dr Rand said.
'We left just before Christmas for the World Championships. The huge problem for Australians is that if you want to be serious you need to spend four or five months overseas for three or four years to reach your peak.'
For now Dr Rand is keeping to the streets of Brisbane.
'In Victoria and overseas, roller skiing is the standard way to train when you don't have access to snow,' she said.
'The only problem is that ideally you want to train in the same terrain as world championships are held, and the skis don't have brakes which can make the downhill runs dangerous although I often take the skis off and run down.
'But I pick a quiet area and quiet time and always ski in daylight.
'I also ski on the right-hand side of the road so if a car doesn't see me or if there's not enough room I can jump - although the landing is much harder than snow.'
For information contact Dr Rand (telephone (07) 3365 2122).
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