Orienteering in South East Queensland

08:00 Sunday 31st October 2004
"Bunyaville State Forest (West)" 2003 1:10,000 5m
UBD P118 E9 13km NW of Brisbane CBD
4.6km 10 controls 250m (5.4%) climb

"The Last Bush Event of the Year"? Yeah right, tell that to the Mid-Week Oldies.

This was my first "first-thing" event to avoid the heat and we were caught unprepared. I've spent years preparing / hydrating / fuelling for late-morning.

But it was a Goodie, a challenging grovel involving more climb than one would entirely wish, but well set, well mapped, and an excellent area. My only problems were overshooting 5 and 10, although I didn't really enjoy the brutal "up and over" of 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4 to begin the course.

I went way right around the road on 3-4 to avoid green and climb - it seemed to work well. The only other route choice was 5-6, going left to avoid the green (Lantana) and pick up the swerve in the creek where one could get through the green unharmed.

The sight of well-heeled air-conditioned suburbia just across the fence after 7 was disconcerting.

Clive Pope and Trevor Sauer beat me, among others (?Clive describing his age grade as "Ancient".) I was around half way down the field in 64 minutes, which is an underwhelming 14mpk. OK maybe I was a little tired from yesterday's run, but that was largely because of the grunt required.

Thanks to Trevor Sauer, Jon Sutcliffe (Nice One!) and QOA for the map; Tony Zandegiacomo, Nola McIntyre and the Enoggeroos for the event, and presumably the Queensland Government for the use of the land.

PS Wow! Look at those fence lines running magnetic NS / EW!

16:00 Saturday 30th October 2004
"Rocks Riverside Park" 1:5,000 5m
11km SW of Brisbane CBD
3.5km 17 controls 120m climb

The Park-O races are intended to be a uniform series of events with "fast and furious" clipping using the SportIdent system. The formula is still being shaken down and I used this event as an opportunity to develop with Tim McIntyre how we can improve the formula for next week at Ipswich.

There WILL be a few changes, not least because this isn't really a park map and the courses weren't really Park-O courses. Newcomers surely had difficulty on the short course, which also visited the wooded slope.

Two courses are offered using a total of only about 20 special controls, with SI units and clippers lying on the ground next to whatever they are shackled to. Plenty of trees around allowed tonight's setter to place controls just about anywhere. It had been intended to hang flags to assist finding the control unit in the forested area but that didn't work out when time ran short. Consequently many runners spent time milling about looking for some bush controls, and we were told that one unit became covered with leaf litter and you can guess the rest.

Running first, I had only a little trouble finding controls - maybe a total of 1 minute lost - and I spiked nearly everything, with only trivial errors, for a time of 34:08, about half way down the field - the winner did around 25 minutes.

The bushclad slope was very slippery (I made the mistake of running in road shoes) and downright dangerous near 10 and 11.

Splits as follows: 0:44, 1:14, 3:24, 2:13, 1:54, 1:38, 5:02, 1:54, 3:08, 2:47, 1:22, 1:29, 1:41, 1:27, 1:52, 0:49, 1:09, 0:21. The long split to number 7 is partly explained by a very difficult slippery climb out of 6.

Thanks to Jon Sutcliffe and Ugly Gully Orienteers for the map, Queensland's Gamblers for funding, Ian Anderson, Tim McIntyre and Ugly Gully Orienteers for the event, and presumably Brisbane City Council for the use of the land.

PS I hardly dare mention the magnetic NS streets on the south side of the map...

12:00 Thursday 28th October 2004
"Moore Park" 2004 1:7,500 5m
UBD 178 E5 7km WSW of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 4.3km 13 controls 170m climb (4%)

The map printing was a horror but we got by.

The course made excellent use of the area although some control sites weren't very challenging although some were rather vaguely described.

The Butcherbirds at number 2 wanted us badly and one runner finished liberally sprinkled with blood from a scalp wound.

I had no trouble with any control although I got a bit disoriented coming out of 4 and found myself on the offramp. I didn't hear about the culvert crossing under the motorway there or next to number 13 until after the event.

Thanks to Ray for the lift, Fiona for the event, Heidi Read, Jon Sutcliffe and QOA for the map, Queensland's Gamblers for funding of the map and presumably Brisbane City Council for the use of the area.

PS Oo err - the roads on the eastern side all run magnetic EW!

12:00 Thursday 21st October 2004
"Woodlands North" 2004 1:10,000 5m
75km W of Brisbane CBD
4.5km 9 controls 115m climb (2.5%)

Rain at last! My first wet event in Brisbane. Made me almost feel at home.

This is a damn good course although the fence saved me at 1 and also made 2 rather easy. Back in NZ the fence would have been left off the map - many orienteers would balk at that but it makes sense when there are SO MANY of them.

What a superb area. This forest is generally very runnable but varies in visibility depending on when the last burn went through. Areas with reduced visibility led to very technical navigation and great care. Most legs required compass work (I ran almost all more-or-less straight) and usually that meant aiming off, which worked fine for me except at 6 where I aimed off rather too far to the right. It took a long time to traverse to find the control. Maybe I should have aimed off to the left, as Clive did, to take two minutes out of me on the leg. I considered that as the stream junction is a strong attack point in an otherwise vague area.

I recorded ?47 minutes, around 10mpk, which is OK. Clive Pope beat me by 1 minute to win the event. I was assured there is no shame in being beaten by Clive although he is just a little bit older than me.

This was Don's swansong after 24 years of Mid-Week events, so we shared a very sociable buffet lunch with the highlight of a cake baked by Robyn. Jon Sutcliffe dropped in on his way into the forest for some fieldworking and hung around for a while looking a bit miserable and waiting for the rain to stop.

Thanks to Henk Prins (1992), Jonathan Sutcliffe and QOA for the map, Don Bajenoff for the event, Ray for the lift and Nev for arranging the lift.

PS Guess what about the fencelines?

12:30 Thursday 14th October 2004
"Bluestone Creek South" 2002 1:10,000 5m
UBD 193 P5 26km ESE of Brisbane CBD
3.5km 7 controls 185m climb (5+%)

An awesome area and very nice map which was first created for the World Masters in 1994, and partially remapped in 2002. It's a bit steep and a bit green but I've always said that there are more steep courses than steep maps - and this was one of them.

Nev noted that almost all starters on both courses were choosing to go right via the track for a steady start and a bulletproof attack point. Accepting his challenge, I went straight, quickly discovering that sometimes the best way to get around this area and avoid the Lantana is along the dry stream beds. (It hasn't rained more than a few drops round here for two months.) And it was the stream bed route that took me to 2, then 4-5 and 5-6.

The long route choice leg 2-3 took a bit of planning. I went left round the first big spur and picked up the vehicle track to climb the next big spur avoiding the green.

I held it together until the last leg where to my disgust I paralleled into the gully system immediately north, losing a few minutes but relocating and correcting quickly. I felt better when someone else confessed the same error. The error was caused by contouring round to the left; and as always when contouring I didn't really know where I was when I finished. The direct route would probably have been quicker, certainly more reliable, and at the cost of only 3 or 4 contours.

Despite feeling very fresh and ready at the start, I was beginning to lose it by half way, and the second half of the course was a slog to the finish. This was the hottest and dryest race I have ever completed, and combined with rather more grunt than the typical MidWeek orienteer really wants, there were half a dozen DNFs. Typically, people came home directly along the road from 4 or 5, slipping anonymously into the shade at the Finish.

Once again I was the second youngest runner present in a field of about 20, and had the fastest time on the Long or indeed (I think) the Short - about 50 minutes, which is a shocking K rate.

Thanks to QOA, Eric Andrews and Clive Pope for the map; Nev Cobbold of ?UG for the event (and the water half way round); and Brisbane City for the use of the land.

PS Gosh! Look at the fence lines! Magnetic NS/EW again.

Sunday 10th October 2004
"Karingal" 2004 1:10,000 5m
UBD 224 P9 - 24km SE of Brisbane CBD
4.1 + 2.2 + 1.3 = 7.6km 9 + 8 + 9 = 26 controls
165 + 60 + 20m climb (4%, 2.7%, 1.5%)

A great area, an excellent map, good organisation and courses and I enjoyed my run(s).

The rules of the Club Relays require a Female, a Vet or a Junior in the team; that each runner take at least one map of 5; and that one team member be at the Event Centre "in Bedlam" at all times. Bedlam was described as Jail but of course it was a Loony Bin.

Bron (token female!) ran the Orange, John Cooper (token oldie!) ran Short Red; I as the designated "Young Buck"(!) ran Long Red, Blue and Green. We got our planning just right, Bron and I started together, Bron tagged John and we finished within a few minutes one of another in the mid 70s. Better planned or better manned teams got as low as ?55 minutes but we were only about half way down the field.

Blue and Green courses were well set for those standards; the Long Red map accompanies - an excellent course if once again a little hilly. There was a zoo at number 1, suggesting that the first leg should have been longer to stretch out the leading pack.

I took each leg straight except 8-9 and my only trouble was on 5-6 where I must have veered left climbing the hill and picked up the wrong track to the west. I quickly relocated on the straight N-S track with "stream" alongside north of my route. Losing three minutes or so I finished in 42 minutes for a 4km course, which is about right for me for such grunty terrain.

In the final count, Ugly Gully came second to Toohey Forest.

Thanks Bron and John for teaming with me; Bron for organising the 13 Ugly Gully teams and including me at the last moment; mapper unknown; Tim Apelt and Toohey Forest for organising the event; the Scouts (I guess) for allowing us to race on their land.

PS Would it surprise you if I mentioned that the fence lines are all aligned magnetic NS / EW?

Midday Thursday 7th October 2004
"Nerang" 1992 1:10,000 5m
UBD Gold Coast 27 G20 - 124km SSW of Brisbane CBD
4.3km 9 controls 210m climb (almost 5%)

Once again the map is 12 years old and rather out of date, with many new tracks and areas of changed runnability. However the course predominantly avoided tracks and it used terrain features which of course haven't changed much in the last million years.

The Long Red (4.5km) was steep and grunty and a bit scratchy but I enjoyed it, winning in 61 minutes, which is a fairly slow 13.5mpk. Some of the younger and faster "usual suspects" were absent and I suspect the winning time should have been closer to 45 minutes. I think I was among the youngest of the competitors - I run M45A.

Most runners had a fairly torrid time of it, and the few novices present came off rather badly, which isn't surprising as the Thursday events aren't really intended for novices. Of 17 runners, 4 DNFed, and the median time on both short and long was 113 minutes. Gary was concerned that he may have set the courses too long but I disagree... perhaps too steep, although that's difficult to avoid on Nerang. Almost all runners were experienced orienteers who maybe didn't cope well with the conditions, and knew what they were getting themselves into. I think I was lucky, or perhaps just on form.

1 - 2 Followed the track to the right
2 - 3 Swung left to avoid climb
4 - 5 Ditto
8 - 9 Swung right to avoid climb

My only lost time was exiting 6 where I picked up an unmapped track and relocated from the bridge over the stream to the southwest. Similarly I tried to use unmapped tracks between 9 and 10 resulting in a fast but rather roundabout run.

Thanks to Max Read / Neville de Mistre and QOA for the map and Gary Sutherland and (?Name blurry sorry) for the event.

PS Hmmm... interesting... the fence lines are all aligned magnetic NS/EW...

Thursday 30th September 2004
"Underwood Park" 1994 1:10,000 5m
UBD 222 P8 - 18km SW of Brisbane CBD
4.6km 16 controls 50m climb (1%)

Most of the usual suspects for Thursday lunchtime events turned up but numbers were down below a dozen because so many had yomped down south for the nationals.

The map is 10 years old and rather out of date; and the best area - the runnable forest in the middle - is being bulldozed as I write, so the event was a little restricted.

I chose the Long Scatter (go get all of them in any order) my loop was 4.8km, starting at 6 and ending at 7. I think I finished second in 47 minutes, spiking most controls, except for the vague map at 2 and 17 and a misplaced control at 5 (it was on the depression not the knoll.)

Thanks to Robin Simson and QOA for the map and Jennifer Brett of ?Toohey Forest Orienteers for the event.

PS Have you noticed that the fencelines are aligned magnetic NS / EW?