Thirteen IKO members made their way over the Blue Mountains for the three events held over the long weekend. Each day conditions were ideal for orienteering with the early morning fog lifting and the sun shining by the time the first runners started.
DAY 1– Middle distance event on Baal Bone Junction map.Organised by Garingal Orienteers.
Courses were set in classic Western Blue Mountains eucalypt forest surrounding an old farm. The longer courses had some hefty climbs – 235m climb for hard 3b (M60A, M65A), whilst the shorter courses had several barbed wire fences to contend with. A challenge for the 80+ year olds. Two 1sts, a 2nd and two 3rds were achieved – congrats to Phil, Vicki, Michael, Peter and Margaret.
DAY 2– Long distance event in Lidsdale State Forest. Organised by Big Foot Orienteers.
Well who doesn’t love a pine forest to navigate through! Today’s courses offered runnable sections of young and established pine forest and a network of tracks popular also with 4WD and dune buggies. Kangaroos, choughs and wrens were out in force. Winners were Phil in 1st place again, Vicki and Margaret in 2nd and Michael and Pippa in 3rd.
DAY 3– Short distance/sprint event on Rydal Showground map. Organised by Illawarra Kareelah Orienteers
A neat little area of open forest, tracks, parkland and of course the showground itself with a smattering of outbuildings, including one called “The Old Bar”. This was used for the download area, alas there was no beer for the finishers. Thanks to Hamish of Big Foot Orienteers for the new 1:4000 map.
Our volunteers embraced the cold misty morning turning up early to help with parking and general setup and with David and Vicki setting out the controls ahead of schedule people were able to start earlier.
In true sprint fashion times were quick and the overall results for the 3 days were calculated in good time for the presentation of badges by the Bigfoot team. Congrats to all age class winners. IKO’s in the hall of fame were: Phil 1st, Michael 1st, Margaret 3rd.
A big thank you to organiser Sue, and especially to David and Vicki for controlling and course setting and for all the preparation work undertaken beforehand. It was a great finish to an excellent long weekend of orienteering. Thanks to the 3 clubs involved Garingal, Bigfoot and IKO and to Mark Shingler for being the overall organiser.