ADHOC Orienteers

A huge Congratulations to the 3 ADHOC juniors who have been selected for the School Sport WA Orienteering team for the Australian Schools Champs in Canberra in October. Jacob Oborne has been selected for the first time, Ruth round 2, and this is Edmund’s 3rd go.

We wish the whole team of 11 juniors all the best with their preparations over the next few months.

Looks like Greg & Jacob are getting the hang of this orienteering lark… placing 1st & 2nd in today’s long-style course in the granite at Peterdine. Ruth did very well finishing both her ‘moderate’ courses, and was fastest on the course on day 1. Edmund was walk-jogging and mid-field on the H2, and John ran the H1 course for the first time in a few years. I’ll add some maps as I find them in the unpacking process.

Day 1 of the wintery Winter Classic at Peterdine Hill near Northam. Ruth on the M, Edmund H2, John H1, Greg & Jacob H3.

The secondary school interschool relay in our Great Southern region is locked in for Friday 11 September at McLean Park in Denmark. Any secondary school will be welcome to enter until we hit our teams limit... Teams of 3 with Year 7 and Year 8 runners having a 1.5km legs, and the Yr 9s, Yr 10s and Yr11/12s with 2km legs. Contact [email protected] for more information.

After the primary school event was over there was a change in focus and ADHOCers headed up to Dryandra for an ad hoc bush training day. Promised numbers dwindled so in the end it was Edmund, Jacob, Greg and me staying in the cottage (and the mice) in the middle of the map.

We used control flags or peg tapes and at Foxes Lair on Sunday morning we swapped roles and Edmund put the tapes out and brought them in. Jacob & Greg learned how to use a compass along with a myriad of tips to navigate efficiently orienteering-style. Greg also took a massive win in the card game Frustration on Sat night.

Friendly open terrain and we all saw echidnas!

Fri May 1st 10am is our primary interschool teams this year and with a couple of new schools coming we should have over 200 students from about 8 schools once again racing around Centennial Park. Our first one of these was way back in 2016!

I am setting, but at this point it is only me on the day so if anyone can offer up 2 hours Friday morning to help set up and then (1) take timing chips from the students; (2) scan them into the computer that would be great.

John

And this map is very much the reason so many orienteers stayed on in Tassie after the Aus Champs events. It’s just a remnant of a much bigger map that is literally being bulldozed for an isolated golf course / marsupial breeding ground 😉

I’ve run on the previous map several times before but many years ago and at (I guess) 1:10000 scale. Constant map contact is the way to handle it as when you lose touch or make wrong assumptions it’s Tasmanian devilishly difficult to relocate… cue our over 60mins for a

A couple of chilly days in Hobart for a sand dune event and then today the Tasmanian Sprint Champs at apparently Australia’s oldest school. Edmund placed 3rd despite feeling a little off, ‘only’ 90s faster than me on the same course. One run to go Sun morning on the tiny remnant of the infamous Pittwater Dunes map.