Street Orienteering

The rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of those that took part in this 4th Training Event - the start location, under Ray and Dale's car port provided terrific shelter from the light rain that we were experiencing at the time. Ray explained the activity - hereinafter to be called Lott-O - attendees were paired up - with teams drawn out of a hat - one from a set of faster runners and another from a set of slower runners/walkers (I was not sure which hat we were picked from, but I did my best to console Adam and assured him that there was no stigma associated with being drawn from the slower hat). The goal for the night was to send out two runners to get as many controls as possible - making sure that you didn't double up - as you lost points if both people punched the same square. An added wild-card was that points from each control would be determined by the number on the street light - you had to visit each control to see what it was worth. Finally, to compensate teams with a walker rather than a slow runner (i.e. me), walkers were given an extra 10 minutes - finishing at 8:10 instead of 8:00.

As the maps were turned over there was a flurry of activity - most teams drew a line through the map that was obvious to both runners ( e.g. some teams chose a logical separator such as Church Street or Victoria Street) and most headed off within 1-2 minutes of the start. In spite of the small number of participants, I still crossed paths with lots of other runners - and it was clear that everybody was enjoying the activity - 40 controls on a single map (albeit a big one) translates to more fun in less time. The major challenges were keeping your map dry (thank heavens for map bags) - keeping your score card dry - trying to write with a biro that was cold/wet - and, oh yes, the hills surrounding Doncaster Shopping Town.

As I approached my 3rd last control it was obvious that I was going to have to leave out one control, when Adam appeared out of the darkness from behind. Initially, I was surprised and then I realised that he had finished early and was running back along my final controls to see if I needed assistance. He had passed control #1 on the way and so took that from me and offered to get #9 (which I had left out early on) while I got #17 down a dead-end court. His quick thinking (and fast running...) gave us the winning score for the evening.

Congratulations to David Prentice who participated in this first event with Fitz (and Marta) - we look forward to seeing you at future events when you can get there David.

... results were self-calculated, but checked later by our valiant course-setter/scorer - Ray. Thanks for such a terrific event Ray - it was a lot of fun!

Results (out of a maximum of 247 points)


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Where:	Ray and Dale Howe's Howse - Doncaster
When:	7pm, Monday 31st July
Map:	Kindly made available to us by Yarra Valley Orienteers

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Results (out of a maximum of 247 points)