The challenging sand dunes of Day 1.
State League events 6, 7 and 8 were held over the Queen’s Birthday weekend in and around Coffs Harbour. Four IKO members headed north joining more than 300 orienteers who were keen to explore the north coast with compass in hand. The weekend was hosted by Bush’n’Beach Orienteers.
Day 1, the middle distance event, was held in the sand dunes south of Coffs Harbour Jetty. The map and terrain were challenging with many mounds and depressions. It was easy to misread the map and/or your control descriptions and be searching for a depression when your control was actually on a knoll. Fortunately there were some tracks that made relocating relatively easy.
Day 2 was the long distance event which was held in Bom Bom State Forest near Grafton (the warmest place in the state that day). The terrain was fast running open spur/gully in spotted gum forest with meandering watercourses, waterholes, some erosion gullies and many minor watercourses. There was a complex network of forest tracks and mountain bike paths.
The final day was a sprint event at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus. The sun was shining and the running was fast. Those of us who took the risk of crossing the grassed area and running the gauntlet of the local plovers were spared the usual dive bombing.
Individual start times were not allocated and you could turn up anytime within the allocated 2 hours start time. This worked very well and at no time did we have to queue more than a few minutes for a start. Having the sprint on the last day with starts beginning at 8.30am meant that we could get away at a reasonably early time for the long journey home.
Four IKON members competed over the three days. Congratulations to Vicki Wilmott who secured first place in W55A with a total time of 1:51:36 over the three days, while Margaret Duguid came second in W70A with a time of 2:23:49. Peter Shepherd was 4th in M65A and Julie Mann 6th in W55A.
