Category Orienteering in Australia

Five ticks and a cross.

Saturday. 31/3. 43 kms north of Hobart. Day 2/3 of the Australian 3/4 Day began today on the inappropriately named Lovely Banks map. Weather.                                                  Lovely.                                    Tick Assembly area.                                       Lovely.                                     Tick. Extraordinary view.                              Lovely.                                     Tick. Great gathering of good friends.        Lovely.                                     Tick Even better Brownies.                          Yummy.                  […]

It just seemed like a good idea.

Friday 30/3.  Altitude 1260m 5C. We decided to go for a drive to the top of Mt Wellington this morning as a our races didn’t start until after 1.00pm. Getting to the top had seen the temperature fall to 5C and with a 35 knot breeze it brings the wind-chill factor to minus plenty C. […]

What a difference a BAY makes.

Hobart.  Thorsdag 29/3.   Latitude 42.88. What a difference an ocean voyage  of 400 of kms can make. After a quite rough but otherwise uneventful crossing we arrived in Hobart to find that Autumn is in full swing. We picked the Rydges Hotel from Bookings. everything because it had a microwave. What a gem!!!. Yesterday […]

Sprint Canberra Races 4 and 5

The last two races were definitely the most interesting, challenging and fun.  Race 4 was at a small Steiner school, where the buildings were all very irregular shapes, with tiny narrow alleyways in between.  Some of them met in a kind of hexagon, which was reminiscent of both Venice and the Vortex of Doom.  The […]

Sprint Canberra Race 3

The interval between races 2 and 3 was all too short; just time for lunch, a quick shower, and a couple of hours to put the feet up. In no time we were back in the car and on our way.  My legs were asking questions along the lines of “why?” We were back at […]

Sprint Canberra Race 2

The problem with running at AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) last night was the requirement to look like a high performance athlete at all times – the place was full of them, and we stood out like a bunch of sore thumbs.  That pressure was removed at this morning’s venue, the University of Canberra, where […]

Sprint Canberra Race 1

An early start saw the DIP in Dipidydoo (Deb, Ilze, Pete) heading off to Canberra; somewhat appropriately to spend the Australia Day weekend in our nation’s capital. Patriotism was not our reason – it was of course the lure of 5 Sprint races in 3 days; a great little package, done and dusted with one […]

The Grand Final

Not only was it the AFL Grand final (more on that later) but it was ours as well – the week culminating in the Australian Long Distance Champs today.  We were back at Hill End, in the gold mining and erosion gullies of last weekend.  I was quietly hoping for another good result, but as […]

Day in the Forest

We woke to light rain, for the first time this week.  The radar suggested it would clear out during the morning, but it hung around until lunchtime, dampening conditions for the Schools Relays, but not dampening their enthusiasm.  It’s always great fun watching them race so hard, hair dyed, faces painted, and barracking loudly for […]

Playing With the Big Girls

Phew – today we were out of the forest, and back into Sprint mode. In a moment of madness, I’d entered the Womens B course, the equivalent to the Senior Girls Schools Sprint course.  At 3 kms and 27 controls, it was a bit longer than what I’m used to – but what the heck.  […]