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2004 Summer Series

Week 3 - The season is off to a flying start. The first Tuesday night event was run this week with the only issues being a little confusion on the map scale and a couple of questionable control placements; the Western suburbs crew are continuing the social atmosphere that is so popular in that series - providing hot and cold drinks to those that have taken part. With the Eastern Series now in its 3rd week, we had an excellent turnout (about 240) at Yarra Bend but fewer on the Thursday event at Glenfern Run - a shame really, because the start location allowed us to run on the Eastern side of the map - a much nicer area for running in than the semi-industrial area to the West that is normally used.

2004 Night Series

Week 10 - Do you ever have one of those events where everything went wrong, where you thought afterwards that you should have stayed home? Series handicapper/scorer Mark Besley had one at Autumn Night Series event 10 (Boronia Bay). Mark's run started normally enough. However, near control 14, Mark was running along the edge of the road (due to the poor condition of the footpath). He became engrossed in the map and ... BANG! ... ran straight into the back of a parked car. Unfortunately the car was a station wagon, so Mark's nose and upper cheek made contact and started bleeding profusely. Not daunted by the incident, Mark decided to continue his course. About fifteen minutes later, while running along a particularly dark street, Mark's torch refused to turn on - blown globe and of course, no spare. In the confusion, Mark got briefly disoriented on the way to control 16, losing more time. Despite all this and the time getting perilously close to 8:00 PM, Mark still thought himself capable of "popping around the corner and picking up control 15" after crossing the railway near control 10. Needless to say, he returned to the finish, left side of his face covered in dried blood, two minutes late. He would like to thank all those who enquired about his welfare after the event. - - - - - If you were thinking that Mark deliberately put in a bad run to avoid having to promote himself to A Course Division 2, now you know the true story ...

The Street-Orienteering futures meeting held last Friday evening attracted papers from 5-6 people and more than 20 people attended to hear these and discuss same. A brief summary of key points was produced by John Sheahan. This paper will be sent to the VOA for longer-term consideration...but it is likely that the current/short-term recommendations will be actioned in the near future.

Week 9 - We had 125 competitors on this night. This is an all-time record (by a significant margin) and really shows how the night series is growing in popularity.

Results for the very enjoyable 75/150 minute score event organised by Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club. Held in cool, crisp conditions in the picturesque areas north of Ringwood, this event provided an innovative concept known as macro-micro orienteering. Participants were given 150 minutes to navigate their way to a series of suburban controls - interspersed by areas of parkland in which 'finer' navigation skills were required. The overgrown bushland in some of the parks presented a challenge for many of those taking part - a good introduction to bush-orienteering techniques for those that had not done this before.

6th May - Ian James; at Bulleen, Event 6, the map provided more than the average set of challenges. This was reflected in my rather pathetic score on the night. However, one of the more challenging aspects of the course, was provided by the area surrounding the take-aways near the start on Manningham Road.
Those of us foolish enough to get drawn by the apparent short-cut (or the smells wafting from Hungry Jack's) ran across the smooth paved open area and were confronted by a densely vegetated and seemingly impenetrable, terraced series of retaining walls. I recalled this hazard from a previous event in the area, but the memory tablets hadn't 'kicked in' at that stage and I followed Suzy Speirs and John Sheahan towards the base of the walls where it appeared to be more climbable. What transpired next left me in no doubt that chivalry is still alive and kicking, even in orienteering. John leapt up the stone terrace, but not before offering a hand of assistance to Suzy. Ah, I hear you ask, did he extend this service to the rest of us following? No, as it turns out, he didn't! As I stumbled onto the path at the top of the wall and watched the rapidly diminishing forms of John and Suzy, I contemplated the cruel twist of fate and shuffling of genes that caused me to be a bloke!

Why include information about Nillumbik Emus? Because I think (warning personal opinion follows....) they're really nice people trying to build a good orienteering club in the Northern and Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. They take pride in the fact that they are one of the strongest bush clubs in Victoria and their commitment to running well organised events for orienteering participants is well recognised. In contrast to many orienteering clubs - where newcomers come and go without realising how much the club could offer, NE provide a framework for new-members - that offers training, involvement in organising events and mentoring from more experienced club members. In addition, NE provides an excellent environment for families with children - it's no surprise that NE provides 4-6 budding young juniors to our state team each year. Right now, Nillumbik Emus is attempting to play more of a part in the street-orienteering series - if you're not a member of a club yet, then give this club serious consideration. If you're in the Northern/Eastern suburbs - contact Geoff Hudson on (03) 9888 8121 or at any event for a complimentary NE newsletter - this will give you a good overview of the club. (If you're in the inner-Eastern or bayside suburbs - consider Bayside Kangaroos. If outer-Eastern suburbs then Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club is an excellent choice - for information, I'm a member of all three of these clubs - and much of the above applies to all of them).

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