Bjorn Blomstedt, one of the true characters of orienteering, has passed away at the age of 90.
Bjorn was a founding member of Kareelah Orienteers (now called Illawarra Kareelah Orienteers) and later founded another club, Scrubrunners, centred around the south western part of Sydney.
Bjorn arrived in Australia from Sweden in 1969 with Monica and daughter Cecilia. He was keen to see some of the Swedish features of orienteering events integrated into Australia’s new sport of orienteering, so was instrumental in organising the first Three-Day event in 1974, with Dave Lotty and Ian Hassall.
He will best be remembered for introducing, and with Monica organising, the Budkavle teams event (1975-88), commonly known as Bjorn's Midnight Madness, based on the Tiomila.
This event was a relay of ten people, starting at midnight and finishing in the early hours of daylight. Each team had a message stick (budkavle) on a leather lace around their neck that was passed on to the next team member at the changeover. Bjorn made those message sticks, one still surviving as an award in SHOO.
