Category Archives: General

The Bendigo Orienteers second newcomers and training event was again well attended with both novice and experienced orienteers challenging themselves to try something new. The mix of courses and training activities which included key hole and corridor courses, beginners courses, model area and a scatter ‘O’ format, meant that people were able to find something suited to their preference. As a low key pre-season event, people enjoyed trying the novel course formats that they may not have done before and some may have even discovered interesting new ways to get (momentarily) geographically embarrassed – but that’s all part of the fun! It was also great to see new club member Tim Gentle out with his children, see this fun short video about their orienteering map adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n6QYdRQjkk&feature=youtu.be

Richard Goonan

Around forty people turned out for the Bendigo Orienteers first pre-season event held at Brown’s Reef near Kangaroo Flat. A selection of courses and training activities were available. Several budding orienteers were able to try their first ‘bush’ course and navigate their way around a range of different map features.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to their develop skills, many of the club’s junior members also come out to try some training activities. The model map area set up for newcomer map familiarisation provided a micro sprint warm-up race, and other options included keyhole and corridor courses. Activities also catered for experienced orienteers and several people completed a 1hr scatter O course or longer more difficult keyhole and corridor options.

The newcomers/training event runs again next week (March 7th) from the same location (start between 9am and 1pm) with a variety of activities available to suit (challenge) all skill levels.

Richard Goonan

photos by Judy Fitt

Well done to Jim and team for organising and running the Bendigo Today double over the weekend. Every one appeared to enjoy the navigational challenges and the return to Bush orienteering for the year. The 2015 Season opener attracted a number of club and non-club orienteers, including several from interstate and there was a good spread of Bendigo club members across all categories. We also welcomed some new members!
Fifty eight competitors sprinted around Gateway Park at Kangaroo Flat in humid conditions on Saturday evening negotiating streetscapes, flattish park lands and the Bendigo creek with all competitors working up a sweat. Winners in the A course included Bryan Keely (BG) 1st followed by James Robertson (BG) and Simon Uphill (OH), with the first female Lanita Steer (DR) in 12th indicating the high standard of competition. The B course sprint was taken out by Eureka Orienteer Chris Norwood with Jimmy Cameron (BG) and Jensen Key (MFR) barely a minute behind. The Competition in the C course was no less impressive with a strong rivalry between cousins Henry and Solomon Cameron, split by new comer Tim Gentle. A strong rivalry also exists between the up and coming junior girls with Karina, Sarah, Serryn and Caitlyn finishing closely.

The cooler start in the beautiful bush setting at Crusoe Reservoir on Sunday morning had a return crowd of about 46 from the night before, with the addition of many who just came for the longer distance Hagaby swelling the numbers to 69. Navigation on the longer course played havoc with several who posted longer than expected times. Once again the competition was fierce with the mass starts in A and B where competitors had various route choices to the first control – cross the bush to jump the water channel or around the track to the bridge? The splits between common controls are pretty interesting. In A – Bryan Keely (BG) took first followed by Simon Uppill (OH) and Brodie Nankervis (EV) more than 8 minutes behind. The B course was a tighter affair with Chris Norwood clinching first by only 19 seconds over Louis Cameron (BG), followed by Rob Lewis (BK) in third. It is good to see some of the juniors finishing high in this category too. In category C, the competitors started with one minute gaps, and this allowed some to run down and overtake their rivals. Well done to Solomon in first, followed by Henry Cameron and Karina Cherry.

Overall winners in A- Bryan Keely (BG), Simon Uppill (OH) and David Brownridge (BG). B course – Chris Norwood (EU), Jimmy Cameron (BG) and Asha Steer (DR). C course – Henry Cameron, Solomon Cameron and Karina Cherry, all from Bendigo. Thanks also to Judy who has added a number of photos from the Sprint to the club Facebook account.

Results are Here Splits for Saturday, and Sunday

Don Cherry

2015 is now upon us, and so are the next round of Meetings

January Club Meeting

On the 27th Jan, there will be a Club Meeting at the Aths Track, starting at 1930 (7:30).
Main items on the agenda are the the 2015 Calendar, and discussion re fees for the coming year.
We cant set them at this meeting, but can take a recommendation forward to the AGM on the 1st Feb

2015 AGM

This will be on the 1st Feb with the season opening Chicken and Champagne, information on Eventor.
Notice of Meeting, and last years Minutes will be emailed to all members

2015 Membership are due

Already, in 2015, we welcome back pass members, Matt Schepisi, and Judy & Peter Hill. Also new members, Tony & Alison Radford

Please renew your membership on Eventor

And finally

Good to see one of our Club members, helping out another sporting event with a photo shoot.

Wonder if there was a fee involved

Jim Russell

Warm up for Tassie results

Day 1, Green Gully, Results, Splits, by Class, by Course

Day 2, Mt Beckworth, Results, Splits, by Class, by Course

Day 3, Mt Tarrengower, Results, Splits, by Class, by Course

Overall Results

Please note that because of a misplaced control on day 2, which affected the men on course 1 only, we have posting revised results which exclude the leg leading in to the misplaced control, and the leg leading out of the misplaced control. This control was relocated to its correct position before the women on course 1 were affected and hence no alteration to the women’s results will be required.

The year is nearly over, and the New Year isn’t that far away, so while we enjoy the end of the year – and another Orienteering season – I want you to help Peter Galvin out, he is organising the Rockhopper points for the club.

The claim form is on the VOA website, and can be found here Please go to page 3, and send any relevant claims to Peter at pmg41@bigpond.com

While we are recovering from the last years Orienteering, we are also getting ready for next year, both in planning events, and getting fit to do the best we can. The calendar is here Please take some time to see what event you are going to help out at.

On the fitness side of things, you may want to work on your core. Here is a Video showing you the benefits of core strength and orienteering, thanks to Andrew Cameron of N8 Health

And another video about base core strengthening exercises for Orienteering

See you all in the New Year

Bendigo Orienteers

The Golden Leg award was last week awarded to Jim for his 47th control at the Kooyoora ultra-long event earlier this year. Makes me glad I’m not an M21!

World of O picked up the story (aided, perhaps, by a little birdie bardie), and did an analysis on it. Read the full article here: http://news.worldofo.com/2014/12/15/route-to-christmas-day-15-2014/.

Louise.

On Saturday night the grand finale event on our local calendar was held in the Break ‘O’ Day area in Kangaroo Flat. John Wilkinson was the course setter. He chose to use both sides of Lockwood Road so runners could experience variety in both terrain and level of detail on the maps. Areas of the map were marked as out of bounds as the area had recently been blackened by DEPI planned burn offs. Thankfully the rain held off until after packing up.

Although there was a mass start at 7.00, there was a choice to complete a 1, 2 or 3 hour score event. Those choosing the one hour were able to complete the course in daylight, however cloud cover restricted light to a degree. There was no need to cross the busy road but runners had the option if they wanted to. Michael Loughnan, Tavish Eenjes and Tony Radford all found 12 controls in the hour.

The orienteers who selected the two hour course were able to experience both daylight and darkness. Charles Brownridge did well to find 17 controls and Chris Creely found 16 with time to spare. Five people were able to locate all controls well within the given time. The fastest was Bran Keely who completed the course in 86.35mins. Craig Feuerherdt, Jim Russell, Laurina Neumann and Paul Leicester came in well within the time limit.

Tea, coffee and Mars Bars were available after the run but we did miss Peter Creely’s yummy cheese toasties. Thank you to John for the hard work involved in setting a 3hr event and to Lorraine Leversha who came back on Sunday morning to help us pick up controls.

Results are HERE. Follow a replay HERE of Laurina (Purple), Bryan, Jim (Blue) and Craig.

Will include others once they put their courses up on DOMA.

Teamapp

An app for club members to communicate and share. Not designed to replace our other media (Facebook, email or website), but to add and extend it for mobile devices. Available in Android and iOS versions, install it on your phone, tablet or home computer.

Members can receive posts on News and Events, share and comment on photos, join a Chat room, get access to Club minutes and the VOA website. Also has links to Eventor, Winsplits and many other features.

For more information visit : Team App Install the app, search for Bendigo Orienteers and register for access.

Jenny B.

Terry had a vision in 2010 to run an event with part in the bush and part in an urban setting. That vision was realised on Saturday when about 30 orienteers took on the Guys Hill-Battunga Park twilight event.

With a one-hour score event to finish before it got too dark, the competitors HAD to start in the bush and finish around the streets of Battunga Park. But there was another catch… you also had to match the number of controls collected from the bush area with that you would collect in the urban. That was fine if you intended on getting all 30 within the hour, however if you couldn’t manage that, then careful counting was required.

We had some interest from the local residents as they wandered out of their houses wondering who these people were running along their streets. There were a few puzzled looks and many asked what was going on. And it was encouraging to see some new comers too trying out the sport for the first time.

Results are HERE Follow a replay HERE of Lachlan, Bryan, Jim and Craig. Click on 41, and replay from there, such a close race

Don Cherry

Saturday was a beautiful day in the bush! Cool breeze, a little rain, but plenty of sun. Over 70 competitors enjoyed the Courses set by Daryl with plenty of subtle features to challenge navigation in the Mandurang bush.

The courses also attracted a few visitors too with flashes of coloured running gear throughout the forest. In fact 3 of the courses were won by non-Bendigo orienteers, but that didn’t stop the level of fierce competition to gain the best Club points for 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

Don Cherry