Many thanks are due to those who made the Bunbury Weekend events happen. Thanks to everyone who assisted in making the SWOT 40th Anniversary a great night, especially Kayleen for the gift bags, cake and decorations; Robyn for collating a history of SWOT in photos; and Jill and others who brought along articles and photos to make the night a huge success.
A big thank you to Tony with the assistance of Nick, Russell, Jan, Rosalie, Jack, Sue, Robyn and anyone I have forgotten for the Mornington events. Also thanks to Russell who assisted me with the Evedon event over the last few months, along with Peter, Jaco, Nick, Jack and Sue.
Individual reports for each event, along with additional thanks, are presented below.
Peter O’Loughlin
SWOT Convenor
Mornington - Migrating Trees and Boomer Report
A cloudy, but fine day greeted the participants at two different O events on a new map at Mornington Adventure Camp, near Harvey. SWOT originally mapped the camp in 2002 and have updated it several times since, but the map was considered incomplete, with some recent changes and the bush areas capable of being mapped more accurately and with more detail with current mapping technology (aerial imagery, GPS, and using a tablet in the field).
The first race was a re-run of the migrating controls concept introduced by our Czech coaches Veronika and Jiri at Foxes Lair last year. There were 12 sets of 2 or 3 controls with one SI station moving around each set according to a timetable issued before the Start. Controls were worth 1, 2 or 3 points each, with a maximum of 24 points available in a 30-minute time limit. Maps were also issued 15 minutes before the Start allowing competitors some planning time.
Lachy Braid had the best plan, running clockwise around the course and coming home with maximum points with 4 minutes to spare. Craig Dufty was the only other competitor to get all the controls, finishing with half a minute to spare. Kate Braid also took the clockwise route but missed one 2pt control having not consulted her timetable properly! Still, 22 pts was good enough for 1st Woman, ahead of Amy Dufty with 20pts.
We apologise for some stations not arriving at the scheduled time, and therefore deducted the lateness penalties incurred by some competitors.
The Boomer was modelled on the NE USA Billygoat event and was previously held by Simmo at Umuna and Spice Brook. It had not been tried for many years, and never as a sprint event. The Long course was 4kms, with competitors able to skip two controls (non-consecutive) giving an estimated distance of 3.2kms. The Short course was 2.7kms with an estimated optimum length of 2.2kms.
Based on Livelox routes, the most popular skips were 4, 5, 7 and 9. My measurements show that 5 saved the most distance (463m) and climb (15m), with 6 (396/5), 9 (360/25) and 3 (367/0) the next best. Of the leaders, only Liam Dufty (1st in 16:32) skipped 4 with 9 as his other skip. Lachlan Braid (2nd in 16:45) and Joseph Coleman (3rd in 17:24) both skipped 5 and 9. Skipping 4 saved considerably less distance than 5, so Liam was obviously running faster. The first woman was again Kate Braid, who skipped 7 and 9 and finished in 20:51.
The Short course was won by Rob West, 31 seconds ahead of Fraser Brownlie with Peter O’Loughlin 6 seconds further back. Only two routes are currently in Livelox, both showing 7 was skipped, but clearly 4 was the best skip in terms of both distance and climb.
Both events were well-received and there is definitely scope to run them at suitable venues closer to Perth, including both complex sprint maps and smaller bush areas.
A big thank you to Tony Simpkins for organising these different and enjoyable events. Also thanks to Nick Dale for helping with fieldwork, and Sten Claessens and Noel Schoknecht with technical help in producing the map. Helpers on the day were Nick Dale (control placing, collecting and SI station moving), Jan and Russell Candy and Peter O’Loughlin (station moving), Nigel Wade and Trent Siviour (control collecting), and Rosalie McCauley on the more than usually complex computing.
Results are on Eventor for Migrating Trees and Boomer Sprint.
Upload your tracks to Livelox for Migrating Trees and Boomer Sprint, and compare your (more complex than usual!) route choices with those of your fellow orienteers.
Evedon Ridge - Jenour East
Sunday saw a good turnout at Evedon Ridge – Jenour East with 45 orienteers venturing out in wet conditions after a beautiful day on Saturday at Mornington and the SWOT’s 40th Anniversary get together on Saturday night. Although there were quite a few that decided to be fair weather only orienteers.
Most participants wanted to get out early to avoid the predicted storm but unfortunately got caught in a short sharp show. A small group picked their time to perfection and were able to avoid the rain, and everything was packed up before the scheduled course closure.
There were numerous kangaroos seen in the area and a few lucky competitors stumbled across a clutch of 9 emu eggs about 15m from a control on the eastern end of a rocky ridge (click photo for larger image).
The easy course surprised seasoned course setters with 7 out the 11 controls on rock features. The long course included a map flip to take competitors through the rock featured again after a hard slog from the lowest area of the map.
I can hear a golden gumnut in the wind, as a couple of our younger members somehow locked 2 sets of keys in their car and needed to call the RAC. After numerous calls and detailed directions, RAC finally arrived.
Lachlan Braid pipped Liam Dufty by 36 seconds on H1, Archie Brownlie led Kate Braid by 82 seconds in H2, Quinn Lommers showed everyone a clean pair of heels on H3, Noel Schoknecht kicked clear in H4, Ken Brownlie kept Carol at bay in H5, with Ruth Toomey winning in M and Christine Brown winning in E. Fastest females who have not already been mentioned were Liisa Hirvonen in H1 and Jan Candy in H4.
Many thanks are due to those who made the event happen. First – a big thank you to Russell Candy who assisted course setter Peter O’Loughlin. Thanks to Peter Elderfield, Jaco Bosman and Nick Dale who set up the shelters and access to start/finish in the rain. Thanks to Jack Dowling for running the timing system and Sue Dowling for helping with all manner of things. And, of course, thanks to those who collected controls after the event – Ian & Jan Fletcher, Jan & Russell Candy, Jaco Bosman, Nigel Wade, and Sten Claessens. Finally, thanks to Jaco Bosman for towing the toilet.
Full results are in Eventor.
Upload your track to Livelox and compare your route choices with those of your fellow orienteers.
Photos by Rob West, Sue Dowling, Peter O'Loughlin and Liisa Hirvonen.
Ngalak kaaditj nidja Noongar Boodjar. Koora-Yeyi-Kalyakool.