Author Archives: dipidydoo
On The Road Again
The Australian Champs carnival has rolled around again, as it is wont to do. This year it’s based around Bathurst in NSW. Pete and I left Ian and Ilze at home to ensure that streetO ran smoothly in our absence, and along with Pres Pete, pointed the Suby north and drove all day. The Holbrook […]
The Last Sprint
As is often the case, we were just getting into the swing of things, when it was time to come home. The final Sprint was at a TAFE college. The organiser had used some sort of dark art to come up with a chasing start list based on a handicap of some sort. We were […]
Three In One
Day 2 of our Launceston long weekend featured three races – a first for us. Even though sprints are short, they are also intense, and we weren’t sure how we’d pull up. We started at UTAS in Newnham, where we ran in 2015. We knew it would be complex and it didn’t disappoint. The map […]
Launceston Sprint Extravanza Weekend 1
Extravaganza might be an overstatement, but when I happened on this 6-races-in-3-days in Tassie, on Eventor, I was instantly up for it. Luckily Ian agreed that it sounded like fun. Most of the rest of the orienteering community headed to Wagga for the pseudo Australian 3 Days, but we decided sprint orienteering was a better […]
WMOC Long Distance Final
This was it – the big one, the culmination of two weeks of intense orienteering. The race of truth. The moment we’d been training for. OK perhaps I exaggerate … but World Masters finals don’t come around all that often unless you can afford to travel to Europe. We’ve had Melbourne in 2002, Sydney in […]
West Coast Wander
Shelly Beach was at its brilliant best this morning – sunny and still. We sat on the deck for breakfast, which stretched into morning tea. Then we took off for a scenic drive of the Waiterake Ranges, Auckland’s equivalent of the Dandenongs. First stop was a walking trail to the Fairy Falls. The track wandered […]
WMOC Long Distance Qualifier 2
We returned to the same arena for the second qualifying race, though we parked mercifully closer, in amongst the tall fluffy pampas grass which grows in such profusion, and looks amazing with the sun shining on its feathery flowers. We reclaimed our spot on the hill, now dubbed Commonwealth Hill to accommodate the Canadians and […]
WMOC Long Distance Qualifier 1
1800 or so eager orienteers descended on Woodhill Forest en masse, all seeking a parking position at the head of the queue, to avoid the threat of a 3.5 km walk into the arena. The forest gates were not unlocked until 8.30am, which was when we arrived. We sailed past all the earlybirds (which was […]
Dunes
It’s a tough life … sleep in, leisurely breakfast on the lower deck, watching the water and the fishing boats, and hearing the geese honking as they fly overhead in their V formations. Head off around midday to the Model event, designed to show us Dune country. Meander happily through lovely pine forest, visiting controls […]
WMOC Sprint Final
Our last trip into Auckland! It was a lovely sunny day. Pete and I wrestled the parking meter system into submission and we headed across the Domain, home to the Auckland Museum. Last time Ian and I were here was as part of the Coast to Coast Walk – you can hike across New Zealand […]
dipidydoo 