Event report: NavRun 3

The third event of the NavRun series was held at Manning Park on Sunday 7th June with eventually lovely weather after an early morning of smoke and fog.

The area was a bit more physically difficult than the previous NavRun events, with hilly and rocky trails but for the most part everyone seemed to get around alright. The twisting trails resulted in various different route choices across the courses including some particularly excited participants plunging into the bush (for better or for worse). 

There were a total of 104 competitors including an astounding 48 newcomers mostly consisting of families with young children after some advertising through Manning Park Trail Runners and at fellow course setter Eli Goodchild’s school. 

Special mention to the Bartlett Family (members of SWOT) who decided to at the last minute to tackle the long course with 2 small children and successfully got around! Another special participant was trail/ultra running aficionado and Manning Park regular Ben Leeson who decided to come and give orienteering a try. Despite his expert knowledge of the trails, the extra challenge of navigating while running caused a couple of issues early on before working it out, eventually finishing in 13th place on the long. 

Congratulations to all the winners, Rohan Braid taking out the Long by 2 seconds over Liam Dufty, Michael Dufty dominating the Short and Anastasiia Maksymova speeding around the Easy. All winners had some previous experience of Manning Park which probably gave them a slight edge over their competitors. 

Plenty of interest from other park users seeing everyone enjoying the courses as well as early in the morning when putting out controls which might hopefully result in further newcomers. 

Thanks to Rachel and Craig for setting up the Kid-O activities. The many children from all the various new families seemed to have a great time as extra activities after their first courses or as a little warm up practice before heading out on the trails. 

Thanks to Graham, Ceri, Mark and Roger for helping out and instructing the newcomers at the assembly area, as well as Rohan, Liam, Susan and Matt, for helping with pack up and control collection. Thanks especially to setters Joseph Coleman and Eli Goodchild. And as always thanks to Melinda and Rosalie for handling event administration. 

We hope that everyone enjoyed orienteering around an area we love so much and look forward to seeing you all at future events. 

Results are in Eventor and routes can be seen and uploaded to Livelox.