Category Archives: General

Do we have great potential in our Junior ranks in Bendigo?!
Here are some results from the Vic Secondary Schools Champs in Melbourne last Friday.
Girls 13B
Amber Holmberg (E’hawk Sec) 1st.
G14A
Serryn Eenjes 1st
Caitlyn Steer 2nd (11 seconds)
G14B
Megan Bramley (E’hawk Sec) 1st.
Taylor Mackieson (E’hawk Sec) 10
Georgie Hall (E’hawk Sec) 12th.
G15A
Karina Cherry 1st
Lily Begg 3rd.
Stephanie Trew (E’hawk Sec) 7th.
Sarah Maggs (E’hawk Sec) 8th.
Lian Jackson (E’hawk Sec) 10
Emily Brown (E’hawk Sec) 11th.
G15B
Gemma Holmberg (E’hawk Sec) 3rd.

Boys 13A
Solomon Cameron 2nd.
Boys 14A
Jack Wigney
Boys 16A
Glenn James 2nd.
Henry Cameron 3rd.
Michael Loughnan 5th.
Boys Open
Jimmy Cameron 1st.

Congratulations to everyone who competed!

Clear skies and a cool breeze welcomed orienteers to the Borhoney Ghurk forest near Elaine, SE of Ballarat on Sunday. A moderate crowd of over 170 representing all of Victoria’s O clubs turned out for the annual Middle distance championships. Nillumbik were the organisers, and while it was challenging to fit in the cars around the trees and numerous tracks and battles with the masses of European wasps, the event seemed to run quite well.

Results Tent

Jim provided the O-lynx digital setup and the results tent was an ever popular viewing site(see the photo). Thirty Bendigo club members ran on the day participating in 18 of the 34 classes on offer. Seven club members were first in their categories – Eleanor (W10), Serryn (W14), Karina (W16), Alison (W65), Michael (M16), Don (M50) and Tony (M65). A further 4 achieved 2nd – Caitlyn (W14), Glenn (M16), Darren (M45) and Peter (M75) with 4 also getting 3rd – Henry (M16), Lachlan (M17-20), Ben (M21) and Neil (M60). Well done to all!

The maps all showed quite a bit of green and combined with the old mine workings, numerous bike trails, erosion gullies and sharp steep climbs it was a challenging yet enjoyable event. A few thick patches of scrub and the piles of washed river gravel in the workings made navigation and footwork a physical workout.

Next Bendigo event is at Peter the Great Gully.

Don Cherry

A year to date record of 85 entries today saw really good conditions in the bush south of Crusoe Reservoir, Bendigo. This is mostly fast running bush but the course setter (John Wilkinson) used a lot of old gold mining terrain and eroded gullies to hide his controls. This also made the courses interesting and wet for those brave enough to cross the wide water channel in pursuit of a quicker time.

By early afternoon the rain had cleared. Unfortunately for John it was quite wet when he put out controls on Friday. Fastest in course 1 was Leon Keely with a time of 31.41 min for the 7 km, closely followed by Natasha Key (35.23) and Ben Goonan (35.59).

Course 2 was also close, won by Jimmy Cameron (34.09), Shayne Hill (35.06). The fastest lady on course 2 was Julie Flynn (who also braved the water channel). Course 3 was won by Toph Naunton (25.10). Peter Hill and Leisha Maggs came second and third respectively.

Best in course 4 was Oliver Martin followed by Rick and Alison McDonald.
Lachlan Feuerherdt was fastest on course 5 followed by brother Joshua.

Well done to everyone. We hope you enjoyed yourselves. Thanks to those people who stayed behind to collect controls. This area is really interesting but because it is entirely fenced all controls had to be carried in/out by foot or bike.

Results are HERE Splits are HERE Win Splits are HERE. Next Bendigo event is at Chewton.

Leon’s preparation pre Ultra long, that includes other shoes, just in case, and with the spoils of victory

John Wilkinson/ Jenny Ball

In good weather last Saturday, a  mix of 46 people from Bendigo, Melbourne and Heathcote went of a ‘Back to Mt Ida’ event based at the familiar Dargile Picnic Grounds some 9 km from Heathcote township.

Dargile Picnic Area 2015/16

With the use of a remote start and remote finish, Courses 1 – 3 were able to spend the majority of the time orienteering in reasonably clear and intricate spur-gully terrain along the first ridge to the east of the actual steep Mt Ida ‘mountain’. Flatter areas have seen serious vegetation growth since the current (a non-OCAD) map was surveyed in 1992 and tracks are not now reliably mapped.

The map used for Courses 4 and 5 was a re-use of that prepared for the Heathcote Community Games in 2015 and utilized the flatter area surrounding the picnic ground. Because of the present inaccuracy of the 1992 map, this remap at 1:7500 allowed for the area to be now usable by beginners and newcomers. The difference in the map changes in 24 years is shown in the images shown here.

Dargile Picnic Area 1992

While the venue is some distance from Bendigo, those who orienteer in this terrain to the east of Mt Ida always seem to find it rewarding with a good level of physical challenge. It is worth considering how this area can be used into the future where the standard and convenience of mapping has changed so much over almost quarter of a century.

The Space Racing season started with a Come and Try It on Tuesday afternoon at Kangaroo Flat Botanic Gardens. A small but enthusiastic group of Space racers enjoyed the course set by Jack Wigney. Being an ex-Space Racer, Jack understands what makes a good Space Race. The season proper starts next Tuesday afternoon (26/4/16) at 4.00 pm next to the Kindergarten in Spring Gully Reserve. Full report, results and details of coming events: www.spaceracing.com.au

Directions: http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/3952

The fantastic weather at Bendigo’s most recent event held at Kangaroo Gully meant that many Orienteers showed up eager for a run. 72 competitors over the 5 courses meant that we even went short a few maps.

David Brownridge held up 1^st place over a 7.1km course 1, closely followed by Jim Russell, 50 seconds down from the winner. Young Louis Cameron came in 3^rd, giving a respectable time only another 3mins 50sec down from Jim.

In the 6km course 2 we saw Jimmy and Andrew Cameron holding 1^st and 2^nd respectively with Nigel McGuckian coming in 3^rd in the wide field consisting of 23 competitors. Neil Barr gave us an insight to his route choices which can be seen DOMA, following the link.

Another wide field in course 3 with 23 competitors didn’t intimidate young Jack Wigney finishing first in the 3.6km course with a time of 37:44 and Jacqui Knee came in only 45seconds behind him, giving her 2^nd place. 3^rd place was achieved by Charles Brownridge with a respectable time only 2mins behind Wigney.

Course 4 winners ‘The A Team’ finished in a convincing win with a lead of close to 7mins over Campbell James, with Raelee Eenjes coming in with a worthy 3^rd place.

Course 5 was won by New Comer Michael Chan followed closely by young Harrison Carter putting in a good show only 4mins 37secs down from Chan. Akira Hill also competing well, bringing in 3^rd place.

From an organising perspective Glenn James, Nic, Don and myself were very happy with how the day unfolded. A big thanks is due to Jim for providing the gear for electronic entering/downloading which allows us almost instant results online, also many thanks to the helpers who collected controls and helped pack up at the end of the day.

Wishing everyone good luck for next weekend’s event organised by Michael Loughnan at Bird Reef.

Results are HERE Splits are HERE Win Splits are HERE. Next Bendigo event is at Birds Reef.

Lachlan, Nic and Glenn getting ready to put out the Controls

Lachlan Cherry

We had a good day yesterday at Dahlia and Arts festival. We had about 40 groups go round which involved about 100 people. A lot of interested adults that didn’t have a go on the course, but are interested in trying orienteering in the bush. I have invited them to a free trial in a fortnight at Spring Gully. The brochures were great too.

Jason Carter

Autumn has arrived, and so has the Bendigo Orienteering season. Mandurang was the setting for the 1st event this year, with a feature of the map, the Coliban Water channel, that the Course Setter Peter Forbes had to ‘bridge’ in a couple of places, so contestants didn’t get there shoes wet.

Craig ‘Fleet of Foot’ Feuerherdt, was to fast for the rest of the field on the 7.2 k course 1, putting more than 3 mins into Ben Goonan in 2nd place, with Simon Rouse (Dandenong Ranges) rounding out the podium. Lachlan Cherry showed us some of the form that we saw at the To-Day, easily winning course 2 by more than 5 mins. So good was his K rate, he would have placed 4th on course 1. Young Jimmy was the only one able to break the Cherry trifecta, with Nic Cherry in 3rd, just 14 secs quicker than his Father. Leisha Maggs showed a clean set of heel to her competitors, getting around the course, 4 mins behind Don.

On Course 3, Warwick Williams was the ‘Trophy hunter’ taking out all comers by nearly 9 mins. Peter Hill was his closest competitor, with young Rueben Cameron taking out 3rd place. Serryn Eenjes won the ‘close one’ just edging out Katherine McMillan, and Raelee Eenjes. There was less than a min covering these 3 girls. The Group of Sam/Mark/James had a easy win on course 4, with the young boys, Ben English just edging out Lachlan Feuerherdt for 2nd place. Jan Baxter wasn’t far behind, was the best of the Girls.

Course 5 saw the Adams sisters challenge each other, with Hannah getting the edge over Claire by 11 secs. Newcomers, Rob and Shirley Fisher did well at there 1st event, getting 3rd place. They even went out again, this time on the harder course 4, coming in about mid field.

No event next week, as the Australian 3 Days are on in Canberra. We wish all Bendigo competitors the best of luck at these Championships.

Results are HERE Splits are HERE Win Splits are HERE. Next Bendigo event is the Golden Sand-shoe.

Jim Russell

The first of Bendigo Orienteering’s Bush Series events is taking place this Saturday the 19th between 12:30 and 2:00pm. Whether this is a warm up for Nerrina the following day, or maybe part of a day out in Bendigo to be combined with the Marilyn exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery or the Bendigo Craft Beer Festival.

Whatever your motivation, make your way up the Calder to experience the relaxed nature of orienteering around Bendigo. As a special treat we are putting on cooler weather. Currently a pleasant 22 degrees is predicted.

Directions from Centre of Bendigo: From the fountain at the centre of town take Mitchell Street towards the south east. Continue to follow as it turns into Carpenter Street, turning left into Spring Gully Road. Continue following Spring Gully Road south, it eventually turns into Mandurang Road, then Sedgwick Road. At the Mandurang Cricket Ground turn right into Nankervis Road, then after approximately 1 km, left into Pearces Road. The start is on the right after 800 metres.

Peter Forbes