On Saturday 20th September the Bendigo Orienteer’s local event was held in the Apollo Hill area near Eaglehawk. Five courses were set on the gently undulating historic gold mining terrain. A great turn-out of 62 competitors enjoyed the warm and sunny Spring weather. Among them were experienced Orienteers Thor Norskov, Eskil Schoening and Jakob Edsen who are visiting from Denmark.
Course 1 was set over a distance of 7.7km with an all-male field of 11 competitors. Another scintillating performance by Bryan Keely saw him claim 1st place in 33:52 at an average speed of 1km per 4:24! Only 14 seconds separated the runners up with Thor Norskov 2nd in 35:24 and Central Highland’s Matt Doyle 3rd in 35:38.
A large field of 20 competitors took on the 5.3km course 2. Jakob Edsen took 1st place in 31:10 by the smallest of margins to 2nd place getter and talented junior Jimmy Cameron in 31:11. Melbourne Forest Racer’s Natasha Key finished 3rd in 32.12. 2nd and 3rd place for the ladies were Janine Steer in 46:50 and Sequoia Weitman in 57:08.
17 competitors tackled course 3 over 3.5km. Louis Cameron claimed a convincing win in 19:09 followed by young rising star Lanita Steer in 23:37. Michael Loughnan came third in 26:19. The dynamic mother and daughter duo of Katherine and Viv McMillan were 2nd and 3rd in the ladies standings.
The intermediate 3.6km course 4 had a small but spirited field of eight competitors. Rapidly improving youngster Karina Cherry was victorious, closely followed by Fergus Selkirk-Bell who claimed 2nd place by a 6:20 margin over 3rd place getter Cameron Bell.
Six very eager competitors blitzed the 2.5km novice course 5. Joanne Cherry took the honors with newcomers Henry and Archie Richardson rounding out the placings.
Overall another very successful event for Bendigo Orienteers and a rewarding experience for this first time course setter. Special thanks to Colin Walker for his support and guidance with course setting, Jim Russell for operating the computers at the event. Don Cherry for on-site photography and Peter Galvin, Warwick Williams and Charles Brownridge for lending a hand to pack up at the end of the day.
Results and splits are on our Results page
Andrew Wallace
Good event and a great writeup Andrew. Thanks.