We arrived early to Kurpark Oberlaa, the venue for the last VOC race. We chatted to some of the large Israeli contingent, who were amazed that we’d travelled from Australia, to orienteer in Vienna.
We didn’t know what to expect in terms of complexity today, but as you can see from the maps below, this park had many complications and small features to navigate, including the multi-tiered rose garden, a series of low stone walls, a series of hedges and fences, and many small paths, as well as route choices around lakes and vegetation. You really had to pay close attention to take advantage of the best route – and to not go out of bounds. Half a dozen people were disqualified for climbing over a bed of roses which was mapped olive green; we both read the map correctly and took the correct small path.
Unfortunately I wasn’t always paying as much attention as I should have been, finding myself approaching control 4 before I’d found no 3. Then about half way around, my vestibular packed it in, telling me that 3 days of intense map reading, on top of everything else, was too much. So after that I had to walk the second half, blowing out my time. It made no difference to the overall results, and thanks to attrition, I finished 7th.
Ian fared much better, although he also had a bit of a wander on approach to his 7th control, which easily cost him the 5 seconds between his eventual 5th placing, and 4th. The leader on M60 mispunched, as did quite a few others, no doubt thanks to several clusters of controls (10-11, which were either side of the rose garden, and 12-13-14, which were in the stone wall section). Some people were also disqualified, with marshals out on the course. Ian moved up one more place into 5th overall. He was very happy with how he finished, with no mispunches, no injuries, and a respectable position. We were rewarded with souvenir medals and fridge magnets.
If you want to see the maps on Livelox, or results and photos, click here: https://info.viennaochallenge.com/
It was a very well organised event, as mentioned the maps were excellent, and well worth doing if you are in this part of the world at the right time. We experienced three very different sprint terrains, all of them great fun.
A stroll south through these lovely gardens brought us to the metro, and home for a well-earned afternoon of rest (and washing; the machine here has one setting only, which takes 3 hours!)
dipidydoo 