Orienteering in South East Queensland

09:00 Sunday 29th June 2009
"Mt Crosby" 2009 1:10,000 5m
UBD 174G15 23km West of Brisbane CBD
"Red 3" 4.4km 260m climb (5.9%)

This was possibly my first successful run on this horrible place. My execution was near perfect, with every split a consistent percentage longer than the winning split.

The forest was very soggy. The first thing I encountered on leg 1 was a long unmapped lake.

Route choice on 4>5 and 6>7 both took a lot of advance deliberation:

I didn't like the S shape of my route 4>5 (12:40) but I couldn't see an alternative; note I have run essentially the same leg "asking the same question" 3 or 4 times at previous events.

6>7 (14:10) was interesting: it looks like a complex route choice but ultimately I ran more or less straight. Tara ran the same leg in the same time but I think went round the track from 6.

My time of 59:33 (13.5mpk) was respectable, beating a few people who often beat me, and 2nd of 26 on the course. Young Oliver led from the start, winning all but two legs to finish in 50:06 (11.4mpk). Red 1 was won in 10.9mpk by Mark N (who is close to my age!) and Red 2 in 11.4mpk. My K rate was 9th overall on the Red courses.

Comparing my splits with Jacquie who was 8 seconds behind me is instructive. They are very close except (a) when Jacquie must have made a mistake on 3; (b) the two long legs where Jacquie's superior track running speed left me behind; and (c) 9 where I dropped back by 44 seconds. I recall aiming off to the right at some expense in climb, finding and recognising the gully system to the south first. There was even a control in it, which caused me to stop and think for a little while.

12:00 Thursday 25th June 2009
"Plunkett Hills Conservation Park" 2007 1:10,000 5m
UBD 304C15 40km South of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 13 controls 5.7km 150m climb (2.6%)

A very clean run taking 60 minutes. Gary was 14 minutes faster, remarkable.

09:00 Sunday 20th June 2009
"Toohey Forest 7" 2005 1:10,000 5m
UBD 200H6 9km S of Brisbane CBD
"Red 1" 13 controls 5.8km 225m climb (3.9%)

Raining hard... road to 1; mistakenly took the spur to the west at 2 but corrected quickly; found an unmapped track halfway to 6; the green half way to 9 took forever. A grovel that took me 82 minutes.

14:30 Saturday 20th June 2009
"Bardon Forest" 2004 1:5,000 5m
UBD 158L6 5km W of Brsibane CBD
"Orange" 9 controls 2.7km 105m climb (3.9%)

I accompanied Daniel (8 tomorrow) on his first orange course.

16:00 Friday 19th June 2009
"BMS Plus" 2009 1:5,000 5m
UBD 178E19 10km SW of Brisbane CBD
10 controls 1.8km 15m climb (.8%)

I didn't want the 6-9 year olds in my son's class to get lost so I specified adult supervision and set a reasonably challenging course through the parkland surrounding the school yet avoiding busy roads. About 15 kids had a go. Son Daniel (8 tomorrow) helped me collect controls and navigated flawlessly.

09:00 Sunday 14th June 2009
"No Bridge" 2009 1:15,000 5m
80km N of Brisbane
"Course 3" 25km 25m climb (0.1%)

After three or four MTBO events I am gaining confidence and strength in the process and the riding and decided that today was the day to win my grade or my course or at least beat one or two Firmans. I managed some of those but only because the Firmans both mispunched; nevertheless I was only 3 minutes slower than David F, which is an improvement.

The course was rugged and took me 106 minutes.

Leaving 2 I couldn't find the nasty little track so I went round.

At 4 I chose to use the power line clearing, which was a ghastly rutted horror that exhausted me, and missed the track I was aiming for despite it crossing the clearing!

At 10 I went into the previous track-by-a-creek and wasted at least 5 minutes. D'oh.

To some extent the track ratings weren't very useful because every track apart from the big roads was a lottery - how much mud would there be? Looking south from 15 I saw plenty of mud so I went east along the shorter muddy route.

12:00 Thursday 11th June 2009
"Gap Creek East" 2009 1:10,000 5m
UBD 157L17 9km W of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 12 controls 4.3km 160m climb (3.7%)

I was feeling strong so I went for broke, ran well and won the course although not against a large field.

09:00 Monday 8th June 2009 (Queen's Birthday)
"Woodlands" 2004 1:10,000 5m
100km West of Brisbane CBD
"Red 2" 8 controls 4.2km 90m climb

Control 1 was disastrous. I recognised the gully formation with termite mound just to the west of the control then spent 10 minutes cursing and staggering around in thick lantana trying to find the control. Unfortunately my attack point was in fact the similar-but-different feature 150m north of the control.

Following the creek south to find the creek junction I immediately relocated and ran reasonably well (and strongly) for the remainder of the course. 4 could have been expensive but I quickly realised I was in the gully to the northeast. 7 to 8 had me fooled a little because I navigated out of 2 instead. The final control was on the wrong termite mound so I wasted time finding it.

My time was 47 minutes (11.16mpk), 15 minutes but only 7 places behind a young buck in a field of 34 runners, of whom 15 also made a mess of the first control!

16:00 Saturday 6th June 2009
"Cotton's Paddock" 2009 1:10,000 5m
55km WSW of Brisbane CBD
"Red 2" 4.4km 95m climb (2.2%)

I stuffed up number 2 and did a very ordinary time half way down the field. Turns out quite a few other folk had the same problem and there's talk of a map distortion.