very unlucky ....
Monkey attacks top orienteer
By John Coomber
July 29, 2005
ONE of Australia's leading orienteers has been attacked by a monkey while training in Hong Kong.
Troy de Haas, 25, was running up the bush track on Victoria Peak when a monkey jumped off a rubber tree and attacked his back and neck.
The monkey, which was apparently after an energy bar de Haas had just taken out of his backpack, inflicted bites and scratches that required hospital treatment before de Haas was allowed to return home to rest.
The injury forced him to delay by 24 hours his departure for Japan, where he will be one of 11 Australians competing at the world championships starting on August 7.
Animal attacks are an occupational hazard for orienteers, who run against the clock through bushland and are required to check in at various control points.
De Haas, considered a medal prospect in the long-distance event, has been attacked by ducks, emus and kangaroos in the past.
"He's got a phobia about animals but he seems to get attacked everywhere he goes," team manager Rod Dominish said.
"He flinches every time there's a rustle in the grass. He doesn't even like running past city zoos."
The Australian competitors call themselves the Cassowaries, after the large, flightless birds that run through the tropical forests of Far North Queensland.
No Australian has won a world championship medal in 33 years of competition, but de Haas is considered a leading contender.
Dominish hopes the Hong Kong episode might bring him luck.
"We will win medals as long as we can get the monkey off our back," he said.
AAP