Author Archives: Bendigo Orienteers

Another absolutely beautiful sunny Saturday in Bendigo set the scene for the annual Bendigo Club Relays, held at Wildflower Drive in Strathfieldsaye. 3 fast paced competitive courses, with an added non-competitive novice course seen 45 enthusiastic runners head off in all directions on a mass start. A very strong field of orienteers from far afield, including Roch and Judy Prendergast who flew in from Canada, just for the event.

Course 1 was run over 6.9km of varying country and witnessed the ever reliable and quick Australian team representative Bryan Keely blitz the course, followed by the fit Simon Rouse and young gun Louis Cameron.

Bryan Keely 31.21
Simon Rouse 37.19
Louis Cameron 37.37
Ben Goonan 39.06
Nic Cherry 39.54
Andrew Cameron 40.13
Richard Goonan 40.16
Lachlan Cherry 40.18
Laurina Neumann 48.28
Neil Barr 49.33
Paul Leicester 50.24
Julie Flynn 55.11
Roch Prendergast 55.22
Warwick Williams 55.44
Sue Key 1.05.37
Peter Forbes 1.13.12
Andrew Wallace 1.19.52

Course 3 covered 4.2km and was a stroll in the park for Jimmy Cameron from the Cameron stable of runners, however only 2 seconds separated the lead from his Victorian orienteer coach Stephen Bird, then another young Victorian rep in Leisha Maggs.

Jimmy Cameron 24.48
Stephen Bird 24.50
Leisha Maggs 26.29
Nigel McGuckian 26.44
Rob Clark 28.33
Tavish Eenjes 28.45
Phil Robertson 31.08
Don Cherry 32.32
David Jones 33.19
Henry Cameron 34.28
Glenn James 36.08
Bob Cameron 36.34
Katherine McMillan 53.05
Vivienne McMillan 53.20
Heather Jones 57.08
Michael Brench 1.01.54
Bob Leicester 1.03.35
Nola Juniper and Lorraine Leversha 1.08.59

Course 4 was hotly contested over the 2.8km course which seen Amos take out the fastest run.

Amos Walz 24.06
Karina Cherry 24.20
Henry Richardson 30.53
Jason Carter 34.38
Judy Prendergast 40.19
Margaret Lester 53.16
Luke Fisher 55.57

Course 5 non competitive novice course was well attended and had some fantastic runners and navigators out on the course including Miffy, Archie, Eleanor, Jo and some new families who we hope return again.

The Bendigo club relay champions for the 2014 season, is decided in fun spirit, by one runner from each of the three competitive courses (1,3,4), being drawn from each to form a team of three. When all competitors are placed in a team, the team with the fastest time for the three combined courses are the Bendigo Club Relay Champions.

This year the team of Simon Rouse, Nigel McGuckian and Henry Richardson took out the prestigious event, and go onto host the event next year as their prize. Congratulations. Runners up Laurina Roo Neumann, Jimmy Cameron and Karina Cherry were thanked by their parents for not winning and having to conduct the event next year. 3rd place Andrew Cameron, Rob Clarke and Henry Richardson

The next event for the Bendigo Orienteers is this Saturday, starting at 1230pm until 2pm at Apollo Hill near Simpsons Rd in Eaglehawk, and all are welcome. Please see the Bendigo Orienteers website for further details.

Darren Eenjes

Last Saturday the continued good weather saw an excellent turn out with just over 100 orienteers contesting the 15th event in the Bendigo Bush Classic series at Pearces road Mandurang.

A large field of Twenty-three competitors ran course 1 with Bryan Keely winning by over 3 minutes from Ben Goonan and David Brownridge. It was a fast run by Bryan with an average speed of just over 5 minutes/km around the 6.9 km course. Louis Cameron continued his good form and retained the family bragging rights, winning Course 2 by almost 6 minutes from Nic Cherry and dad Andrew Cameron.

The largest field of the day ran Course 3 where Jimmy Cameron won by an impressive 8 minutes from his cousin Henry Cameron and the experienced Phil Robertson. Amoz Walz headed a field of 15 on Course 4 to win by just over a minute from Cameron Bell and the improving Karina Cherry. Eight runners tackled Course 5 which was won by Torren Arthur from Mason Arthur, both from Melbourne.

It was great to see over 20 competitors travel to Bendigo to take advantage of the great weather and interesting courses set by new course setter Lorraine Leversha who did a terrific job.

Thanks to all those who helped out on the day.

Results and splits are on our Results page Check how you are going in the overall standings. Best 10 of 19 scores to count

Rob Clark

In yesterday’s Wildfire Sports Australian Ultra Long Distance event held at Kooyoora State Park the big winner was the NZ Junior Nick Hann who flew to Victoria especially to run in this event with his ultimate aim being to win the $2,500 valued return air ticket to Europe. The overall winner would be the winner of one of the four elite classes who was closest to or under the winning km rate for their class. The “base km rate” for each of the classes was: M21E 6:13min/km, M17-20E 6:27min/km, W21E 7:24min/km, W17-20E 8:05min/km.

Nick Hann was the winner of the M17-20E class in a time of 1:38:33 for the 14km course which gave him a 7:00min/km rate. This gave him the fastest km rate of all the classes as the winner of the M21E Ian Lawford in a time of 2:24:40 for the 20km course, with a km rate of 7:13min/km.

Perhaps the most exciting class was the M21E class as the lead changed a number of times during this epic long distance event. Jim Russell the course setter had the M21E doing two “short” loops with the runners coming back through the arena to a map change after each loop, with a “long” loop to finish off the course. After the first loop Bryan Keely was in the lead with Ian Lawford in 2nd and Lachlan Dow in 3rd place. From control 17 to 32 Lachlan Dow was the leader before he unfortunately had to withdraw due to an ankle injury. From that point on it was a very close battle between Ian Lawford, David Shepherd and Bryan Keely who were only 16 seconds apart at control 45. However, Dave and Bryan both lost just over 3 minutes to Ian at control 36 which enabled Ian Lawford to come into the finish a winner by 4:12 from David Shepherd in second and a tiring Bryan Keely in third place. There were some epic performances in the M21E class with Ben Goonan, Simon Rouse, Glenn Meyer and Ian Dodd all completing the 20km course in times over the 4 hours.

In the W21E class the favourite and last year’s winner of the return air ticket, Lizzie Ingham had to withdraw due to health issues. Jasmine Neve who is soon to leave to spend a year studying in Slovenia, after a slow start to control 1 was in the lead at control 19 and finished off very strongly to maintain this lead and finish in a time of 2:13:31 for a 10:01min/km rate. Sarah Buckerfield making a comeback to NOL racing was second and Clare Brownridge, third.

In the junior elite classes, our JWOC representatives Matt Doyle and Brodie Nankervis were second and third behind Nick Hann. Matt had a 7:22min/km rate and Brodie a 7:41min/km rate. In the W17-20E class in a very small field the three JWOC team members Anna Dowling, Nicola Blatchford and Michele Dawson filled the first three placing’s.

A very big thank you to the course setter Jim Russell, the controller Neil Barr for all their efforts. These two men were also the controller and course setter for the Victorian Middle Distance Championships on Saturday. Great courses on a famous iconic map and the weather was ideal. To Geoff Lawford and Jenny Bourne along with the Eureka Orienteering Club and Bendigo Orienteering Club a big thank you for all the work that went into the organization of these two great events. Especially to Eureka Orienteers who have provided the major prize of the return air ticket for the last two years.

Results and splits are on our Results page

Mens Start

Written by Nick Dent for the OA website

The forests around Bendigo proved popular for sport last weekend, with two groups competing in close proximity. Craig setup the Orienteers at the northern end of Wildflower Drive and the local University Running Club had their club event nearby, which made parking interesting! I also heard that another running club was competing near the south of the Wildflower Drive area.

The usual 5 orienteering courses were on offer attracting around 70 competitors including several out of towners. In Course 1, Swiss/Austrian visitor Roman Brogli set a cracking pace finishing well ahead of Matt Doyle and Jim Russell. Course 2 was again the most popular with 25 competitors, however the son V father battle continues between Louis and Andrew Cameron tying up 1st and 3rd places with Steve Bird slipping in between them at the finish to collect 2nd. A clear improvement in Michael Loughnan’s times too with him now pushing up the ranks.

Jimmy Cameron claimed 1st in Course 3, well clear of Lawrie Edwards and Glenn James. Matt Jackel, a relative newcomer to the sport is also showing promise finishing 4th. It was also good to see Steve Doyle return to running after time out with injury. Course 4 only attracted 4 competitors, however it was a tough battle between the boys and the girls. Amos Walz took 1st over Jack Wigney, by a little over a minute while Sarah Davies beat Karina Cherry to 3rd by just 3 seconds. In Course 5 Solomon Cameron won by a good 10 minutes over Joanne Cherry and then Solomon Cook another 4 minutes behind. The importance of the social side of the event is also highlighted by the numbers hanging around afterwards to catch up with friends.

As a reminder to all, we have electronic registration at most of our events now, which makes the compilation of results much easier. Please Register at the computer BEFORE YOU RUN and then download at the computer AFTER YOU RUN. You still fill in the card for the Results display and you can printout your splits as normal. If you’re not sure whether you did it correctly, those greyed out in the Winsplits results are the ones that forgot.

Results and splits are on our Results page Check how you are going in the overall standings. Best 10 of 19 scores to count

Don Cherry

A big thank you to Ian Johnson and helpers for course setting and the cake on Saturday. The usual 5 courses were on offer, however with a twist. Course 1 had 16 controls but by doing all the odds first in order then the evens, or by the reverse, or…in fact there were 4 choices! Then Course 2 also had 16 controls to be done in increasing order or reverse. Course 3 was 16 controls in any order, Course 4 was any 12 controls and Course 5 – any 6 controls. The variety gave every one the opportunity to sprint around in otherwise flattish terrain in an almost unlimited number of options. The biggest competition being between several Juniors in Course 2! Full report on the web soon. See you next week at Wildflower Drive. BTW Happy Birthday Ian!

Don Cherry

RESULTS: 9/8/14
IAN’S 86th

Course 1:
Steve Bird: 45:47
Paul Leicester 51:50
Roch Prendergast 57:34
Ross Slater 57:55
Colin Walker 60:24
Andrew Wallace 68:13
Peter Forbes 73:00

Course 2
Louis Cameron 27:20
Leisha Maggs 29:14
Lachlan Cherry 29:25
Glenn James 32:16
Michael Loughnan 32:46
Don Cherry 34:03
Nic Cherry 39:51
Nigel McGuckian 42:13
Heather Jones 43:48
Bob Cameron 46:20
Steve Doyle 48:58
Lawrie Edward 49:29
Jenny Ball 55:29
Lorraine Leversha 69:59
Bob Leicester DNF

Course 3
Warwick Williams 19:53
Lanita Steer 20:08
Jimmy Cameron 22:40
Henry Cameron 24:42
Mark Hennessy 32:12
Reuben Cameron 33:25
Catherine McMillan 41:28
Viv McMillan 41:56
Terry Davidson 43:28
Brad Allan 68:26
Margaret Kertesz 70:37
Judy Prendergast 70:00

Course 4
Karina Cherry 25:53
Levi Frost 63:38

Course 5
Eleanor Williams 24:54
Isobel Byrne 27:00
Miffy Fisher 27:13
Caitlyn Steer 39:26
Fisher 43:28

COURSE 1, 5.7 km
A choice of 4 to give racing without following.
All controls either:
a) All odds then all evens in number order OR
b) c) d) Evens may be before odds & number order may be in reverse.

COURSE 2, 4.0 km
A choice of 2.
a) All controls in number order.
b) May be in reverse.

COURSE 3, 2.6 km (Optimum)
All controls in any order.

COURSE 4
12 controls in any order.

COURSE 5
6 controls in any order.