Karkarook Report

It was a blustery but warm day for the Karkarook Park Orienteerng and Sprint ARDF event on Saturday afternoon on 29th August.

Not only was the AR club running the Saturday afternoon Cake-O event, set and organised by Suzanne O’Callaghan, but the numbers were also boosted by AR members having a go at a 2m 5 transmitter Sprint-format ARDF event.

The new Map

Some orienteers were attracted by the new colour park map by AR member Geoff Hudson. This map had as the centrepiece the original 2005 Karkarook Park map by Adam Scammell, but now significantly updated from field checks by Bruce and Geoff. This was then extended by a colour street map of the area north of the bypass road, and extended south into industrial/retail estate. This region had previously been mapped by Steven Dunbar as a B&W street-O map for BK, but the detail was insufficient for park orienteering, so the decision was made instead to make a new colour map of the whole area.

Park O

There is a push to move Saturday Cake-O’s from just another street-O to a bit more park based orienteering, and the new map and the cunning course from Suzanne did not disappoint. She had to avoid much of the newly mapped intricate minor tracks around the lake itself, as this was mid-winter and things had a chance of getting sticky, but expect to see a summer event taking advantage of these in the future.

There was strange indirect hearsay of some discontent from some about actually having to navigate, but this was rumored to be from persons who really should know better anyway (bush-O people), and were really just caught out being lazy.

Notable placings are Lauris Stirling and Ros King in Power Walking, and yours truly & Phil Torode in Run45 (noting that Phil was riding a bike).

Control 9 was one of those controls where concentration was required, unlike depicted here

Sprint ARDF

Five 2m transmitters running 12s each, so the whole cycle takes 1 minute to repeat. The time limit was set to 90minutes, but a soft landing of 5 points/min late was applied instead of the normal ARDF sudden death overtime rule. Each TX was assigned 20 points, but due to a strange MapRun bug, the start and finish both counted as 20 points too.

Transmitter locations

This map segment shows the 5 transmitter locations, but this is hidden from ARDF competitors both on the map and on MapRun when competing.

Some complained that the distance required for this Sprint event were more akin to a full classic ARDF, and though it is true the obstacles did make it longer than a typical Sprint, there were only half the number of transmitters than in a full double-stage Sprint ARDF. Also, here’s what the normal classic ARDF exclusion circles of 500m and 750m look like on this map:

Totally fails classic ARDF exclusion zones

11 ARDF competitors gave it a go on the day of the Cake-O, and Darian completed the event (total 12) only yesterday (Monday 7th). His time has been adjusted to exactly remove the time he spent actually retrieving each of the transmitters (thanks Darian!) as he went. Peter C enjoyed it so much the first time, he revisited Karkarook during the week to try to track down the transmitters he didn’t find the first time around. In that he was 50% successful.

Apologies to Dougie who replied just a tad late.

Here are the results. You can also see the routes taken.

Congrats to the placers: Bryan, Darian and Monica/Rod, just edging out Ewen from the placings, but who also located all 5 TX in time. Bryan also had the extra self-inflicted handicap of not using MapRun, and the transmitters were pretty well hidden from public view.

Here are the 4 routes of those who found all the TXs:

Next Event

Peter Cole is setting the next AR street-O this Wednesday on Academy Hill.

Darian has plans for a Large Sprint format ARDF (or small classic ARDF) possibly using 30s TX timing as a compromise (2.5 minutes per cycle). Those traveling overseas soon should let Darian know when you’ll be back.

We wish Jack (as an official), Peter, Ewen & Jenelle the best of luck in Czech Republic at the World ARDF championships, 2023.

2021 ARDF membership form

If you are a returning Vic ARDF member who has joined via Eventor, and none of your details below have changed, you do not need to fill in a form. Everyone else needs to fill in a 2021 membership form (links below) and send to Kristian and Suzanne, at the address included. Payment details are also in the form.

Attention OV members:

  • If you are a member of another Victorian club, please join that club first, then join ARDF in Eventor.
  • In Eventor, you can still enter any OV event with whichever club you wish to. We encourage entering under ARDF, as this helps our stats.
  • If you wish to join OV, and ARDF is the only orienteering club you want to be a member of, please do not use Eventor to join; fill out this form and Bank Transfer the $45.

Your Details that may have changed:

  • New SI stick number (did you buy an SI-Air stick recently?)
  • New address
  • Joined/lapsed OV or WIA memberships
  • New callsign
  • New email
  • New contact phone number
  • Sex/Name changed

PDF document: https://ardf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Victorian-ARDF-Group-Membership-2021.pdf

Word document: https://ardf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Victorian-ARDF-Group-Membership-2021.docx

Both AR relays teams place at Vic Relays

The AR club only entered two teams in the Mixed category (Short,Long,Medium) of the Victorian Orienteering Club Relays, but they placed 2nd and 3rd, so everyone competing got a certificate. Dry and warm autumn conditions at Eppalock.

Control point beside rock

view of the ARDF gazebo & Flag

section of the arena area

view from ARDF gazebo

The AR 2nd & 3rd placed relay teams

Jack’s CATI event at Westerfolds

Vic ARDF scoop at Street-O presentations

The small AR club had an impressively high placings hit rate at the Street-O Monday/Wednesday Summer series presentations on 3rd April.
We even had the 1st/2nd/3rd tri-fector in one of the Power Walking categories !

Congrats to Bruce, Suzanne, Mark, Dianne, Henk, Jenelle, Ewen and Ian (not in picture – he had to head off home earlier).

Gardiners Bend RadiO event – 9 Sep 2017

The Gardiner’s Bend RadiO event on Saturday 9 September 2017 took place on a gloriously sunny spring afternoon and was an opportunity to explore the parkland around Gardiner’s Creek and Ashburton.

6 participants tried out the RadiO combo course – a combination of foxor TXs and street-o controls. 2 went for foxors only.

Darian and Pierre took  a conservative approach and collected 5 foxors without giving in to the lure of more far-flung foxors and controls. Neale did a very efficient course and returned well within the time. It was a long course if you tried to collect them all (over 15 km!). Hamish, Monica and Ian succumbed to temptation and had adventures and were late returning – Monica plagued by an injured ankle and Ian chasing reflections from the Monash Freeway wall.

Jack and Peter enjoyed the sunshine and visited the foxors only – Peter taking the scenic route home.

Thanks to all for coming and helping with the setup and pull down.

GB 9Sep 2017

GARDINERS BEND RESULTS
RADI-O EVENT 9 SEPTEMBER 2017

RADI-O COMBO
NAME 2 PTS 3 PTS 4 PTS 5 PTS RADI-O TIME PENALTY TOTAL
Ian Dodd 8 12 16 25 60 3:19:36 -45 76
Neale Banks 3 12 15 40 3:01:45 70
Darian Panter 4 4 10 50 3:03:10 68
Pierre Brokner 4 4 10 50 3:03:45 68
Monica Lo Presti 6 12 15 50 3:11:05 -21 62
Hamish McDonald 6 3 12 10 50 3:14:10 -30 51
RADI-O
NAME RADI-O TIME PENALTY TOTAL
Jack Bramham 50 2:59:00 50
Peter Cole 50 3:46:00 -84 -34

Suzanne O’Callaghan VK3FSZI

Course setter

Norton’s Park Combo (Sat 27 Aug)

While the weather on the day was blustery but fine,
the heavy rain of the last few weeks, has made it soggy underfoot,
however most competitors made it to all 4 Radio Controls.

We had 9 starters in a combo event, with cakes afterwards.

First Name Second Name 65 min place 01-05
2 Pts
06-10
3 Pts
11-15
4 Pts
16-20
5 Pts
Radi-O
Controls
10 Pts
Return Min
(or part there of)
Final Score
After Late
Tim Hatley 1 4 4 5 5 4 3:02 105
Jim Glaspole 2 3 1 4 4 4 3:04 85
Adam Scammell 3 2 2 3 2 4 3:05 69
Neale Banks 4 3 2 2 1 4 2:58 65
Suzanne O’callaghan 5 1 1 2 2 4 3:10 48
Dianne 6 0 0 0 1 4 2:58 45
Denis Haustorfer 7 0 0 0 0 4 2:57 40 RadiO Only
Junken Okabe 8 0 1 2 0 2 3:03 31
Abi Salek-Beard 9 2 1 1 2 4 3:27 0

(Just remembered 65 Min for the Combo event, scores updated)
Hamish McDonald

Woodlands RadiO

Nine runners enjoyed the ARDF competition and fine weather at Woodlands Historic Reserve on 17 July 2016.   A short 2m Fox-Or course was also set up with three transmitters for people to try.

All went well apart from Tx 4 antenna wire falling out of the limb I’d thrown it over resulting in a weak signal which made everyone think Tx4 was miles away!  This was exacerbated by Tx 5 strong signal, that location was more in the open.  Not having set up 80 m before I was learning on the go and I did not install all of the antennas the same way which added to the variables.  Kris Ruuska instructed novice James Kanjo in the art of ARDF but they still ran the course in 55 minutes, Jack doing very well equalling their time and making a video with the Go Pro.  Some had time to compete in the orienteering as well.

One fox-Or transmitter also had very low power (afterwards I find it was set to low power), this combined with hearing signals from the other two fox-ors, one quite strong due to the topography, made for some extra running about!

Thanks to everyone who assisted and for efficiently collecting the transmitters afterwards.

Grant Jeffrey

Woodlands Historic Park, 17 July 2016
ARDF Orienteering, 80 m, 5 Transmitters, course length approx 5.1 Km
Place Name Start Time Finish Time Elapsed Time Checkpoints
1 Ian Dodd 12:00:00 12:47:30 0:47:30 5
2 Jack Bramham 10:30:00 11:25:00 0:55:00 5
3 Kris Ruuska 10:25:00 11:20:00 0:55:00 5
4 James Kanjo 10:25:00 11:22:00 0:57:00 5
5 Doug Canning 11:00:00 12:44:00 1:44:00 5
6 Peter Maloney 11:15:00 13:17:00 2:02:00 5
7 Janelle Templeton 10:35:00 12:39:00 2:04:00 5
8 Suzanne O’Callaghan 10:40:00 12:11:13 1:31:13 1
2 m Fox-Or, try it – three foxes only.
Place Name Start Time Finish Time Elapsed Time Checkpoints
1 Tim Hatley 11:48:00 12:17:00 0:29:00 3

 

Abbey Walk RadiO combo

The weather gods shone on us at Abbey Walk and so did the sun. A magnificent afternoon for strolling or running through the creeklands and surrounding streets.

With the five fox-or controls each worth 15 points the main incentive was to find them and perhaps pick up a few low value plate controls on the way. Most RadiO enthusiasts did just that and returned within the 75min time limit to enjoy the “CakeO” refreshments at the Finish.

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon

9 July 2016 – Abbey Walk RadiO CombO Results
RUN POINTS
1 Ian Dodd 145
2 Mark Besley 117
3 Darian Panter 100
4 Jim Glaspole 92
5 Neale Banks 75
6 Monica Lopresti 75
WALK
1 Pierre Brokner 95
2 Adam Scammell 85
3 Beard family 69
4 Henk de Jong 67
5 Dianne Shalders 67

Mike Hubbert

Lilydale Heights Radio Combo

Sat, 23 May, 2015

Great weather and an interesting area. Ten people competed in the “Radio Combo” event. Well done to Bruce and Kris who got all the orienteering controls and all the FoxOrs. Unfortunately Kris started a couple of minutes late, otherwise the finish might have been neck and neck. As it was, Bruce finished first by a comfortable margin.

Further down the field, there were some very close scores. Judging from the feedback, I think that everyone had a good time.

Name2 pt3 pt4 pt5 ptFoxOrTotalArrival
Bruce Paterson555551201
Kris Ruuska555551202
Ian Dodd554551165
Ewen Templeton244551076
Pierre Brokner33315828
Henk De Jong23315807
Dianne Shalders13244794
Jenelle Templeton13334783
Jack Bramham23115729
Keith Anker121145710

Boys Brigade training

​​Hi, my name is Samuel and I am participating in the Boys’ Brigade orienteering program.

We have learned lots and enjoyed the practice it gave us using the maps, compasses and the Sniffers. Our activities have included hiding orienteering stickers around the church and then tracking them using maps and our own ingenuity.

On Friday 21st ​of June 2013 we had people from the ARDF club come to our Boys Brigade night. Dianne, Bruce, Henk, and Pierre set up transmitters and taught us how to use the sniffers. Then they let us out to find them. We had lots of fun searching for and finding the transmitters. At the end of our evening even our visitors had fun tracking a security guard from Mitcham railway station who had taken one of the transmitters.

​So far this year my friends and I have been to two events, one was orienteering, the other was a Radio Sport event. We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So I suggest you try it.

Samuel S.

P1000426

P1000430

Bellbird Dell RadiO

Saturday 20th October, 2012

       

Radi-O Event. Bellbird Dell, Terrara Road. Wantirna.

It was a pleasant day for a run or quiet stroll through the parklands, sniffer in hand.

5 Fox-Or Txs were deployed in the Bellbird Dell parklands. �3 were secreted in the Southern sector relatively close to the start. �The remaining 2 were positioned further North.

8 people participated despite the fact that many (including the course setter) were somewhat sleep deprived following the previous evening�s fox hunt exploits.
Lack of sleep however did not discourage Bruce and Ewen. They covered substantial distances to collect 17 and 12 Orienteering controls respectively, in addition to the 5 FoxOrs.

Newcomers Dennis M (from the UK) and Ian J (a regular orienteer) also tried their hand at FoxOr-ing.

Not having had enough exercise for the day, Ewen then escorted the Stuchbery family (also newcomers to RadiO) around the 3 southern Txs.

Regular RadiO participant, Chalky, completed a regular Street-O course then collected the two northern-most Txs.

 Fox-Or
Txs
Orienteering Controls
�Bruce517
�Ewen512
�Jenelle510
�Pierre58
�Henk58
�Mark B58
�Dennis. M51
�Ian. J33

Control Collection:

�Chalky
�Stuchbery� family��� (under direction of Ewen T)

Thanks to all who participated and helped out on the day.

Thanks to DROC who supplied the colour map.

Dianne (VK3 FVXN).

WMMTBO The long Long!

Yep, it was another hot day, but more wind which made it a bit more bearable.

We simply rode from the Uni accomodation to the Start (about 6km) when it suited our respective start times. No need to drive anywhere today. Start times were spaced all through the day.

My own 1st leg was marred by the fact I had no idea where I was for a while. Carolyn J and Murray W also experienced difficulties, but seems I was most caught out. It was only afterwards that Peter C mentioned to me that the start triangle on the map wasn’t located where we were started that I could figure out how I’d got it all so wrong. Anyway, 10 minutes wasted, which is unrecoverable really in this sort of world competition. Still, I gave the rest (which was a lot, over 30km on my GPS) a good shot. Nearly did my trick of missing controls again, but recovered OK losing only a few more minutes.

There were large areas of grassland to pedal over. Some there simply wasn’t a track option; the control was out in an old  tank hidey-hole or something. The ground was somewhat bumpy. Murray came a cropper on one of the linear ditches.

There were also 2 maps issued at the start, which was novel. You had to pull the other one out when the 1st one ‘stopped’ at a control. There was yet a 3rd map issued at the 2nd tunnel under a railway line which took you back through Veszprem town (with police supervised crossings) to the finish, after a cruel very steep uphill penultimate leg (pictured), in the city centre.

I ended up 36th (out of 45 in M40), so not disgraced at the bottom. Best result was Carolyn J, dissappointed in her 2nd place. Chris F 12th in the juniors. Peter C also a very credible Top 20 finish at 19th in M50.

Unfortunately Tom G was out of luck again with a puncture at the 2nd map change,so he had to run the section through town. He couldn’t undo the valve stem screw to put a new tube in.

It barely seems like any time has passed, but tonight is the last night, with Banquet, in Veszprem. Tomorrow Murray and I head off towards Bükkszentkereszt, the other side of Budapest, where Gyuri is competing in the Hungarian ARDF championships this weekend. I don’t know what my internet access might be over the next week or so.

Previous blog: https://ardf.org.au/WordPress/2012/wmmtbo-bk-relay-team-podium-finish/

Murray had my camera today, so these photos are courtesy of him:

 

PS: Let me know if you are reading these blogs !!  Thanks to those who have sent me feedback.    (Only 1 view of the 2nd part of the sprint ? You’re not even trying 🙂)

Cheers, Bruce

WMMTBO BK relay team podium finish !

A long exciting day with many ups and downs.

The relays (3 team members pass onto the next) were held near Osku, not all that far fromn the area I did the model event on the day I arrived in Veszprem.

In the morning the Worlds (open) and Juniors had their go, in the afternoon the Masters. A couple of the juniors were promoted to Open to make up the teams, so we had 2 open teams, 1 junior boys and one M40.

Large open grassy paddocks with drying grass. Riding off tracks is fine, but a bit bumpy in places, so sometimes debatable whether it’s worth cutting a corner or not. Of course some controls weren’t on tracks at all, so riding off was essential.

Good maps will appeat here in time: http://www.mtbo.hu/mtbwoc2012.php/routegadget. In the meantime, here is my relay variant.

M40 Relay map

The junior race was a nail biting performance, with Chris F coming in an amazing 2nd on the 1st leg, followed by a blistering ride by Marc G maintaining 2nd, but with an even quicker time. Tom looked good on the 3rd leg at the first radio control, but then disappeared from all ken. Other riders came in and finished, still no sign. Poor Tom must had had a gut wrenching time as the seconds and minutes slipped by and the chance of a placing faded into the distance. Turns out he’d become navigationally challenged, rather than mechanical breakdown or injury. They still managed a credible 8th, but the tension was hard to take.

Meanwhile the day grew hotter and hotter.It was painful and exhausting to stand in the sun, so we took to slinking about in whatever shade we could find. Now I know those experiencing winter will be thinking “bring-it-on”, but it was 39Deg by the car thermometer as we departed.

Heath J rides past a spectator loop

Heath J tags Karl W to transfer from 1st to 2nd leg

 

So at 1:30pm Richard R started our 1st leg in M40: http://youtu.be/R9o_Le2Ydsc

Peter C and I waited and waited in the sun for his return. We knew he had to come through the spectator loop first, and also followed the radio control progress on my phone with the live web updates (they provide WiFi at the event site, but only to access the MTBO website).

I headed off on my (2nd leg) dead last. Well, nowhere to go but up ! Despite the conditions I rode OK and navigated reasonably well. I really had no concept of how well I was doing, but turns out I took us from 8th place to 5th place. There were 9 M40 teams started, but 2 had miss-punched already, so we were down to a field of 7. I took 57 mins, Richard had taken 64 mins (but had seemed longer as we were waiting). The top gun UK team who had been leading the field had also miss punched !  Only 6 teams left. We watched the phone as Peter C took us all the way to 4th place with a fast first section, but he obviously flagged a little and dropped us back to 5th (by only a 2 min margin) as he finished. Somehow he lost his water bottle on the course, so we were able to throw one at him as he rode past the spectator.

So, since they have all the first 6 up on the podium at the presentations (held back in Veszprem, always with a precurser of usually tedious singing or dancing troupes, in a rapidly heating city hall), we were actually on the podium in 5th place. For a short while the official results even declared us 4th, and one of the Czech teams “nc” (whatever that means), but this seemed to be modified back again later. Oh well. I wore my Australiana ARDF top, as I had it with me anyway for Serbia later.

Incidentally, due to vagaries of the web entry system, the team name was “Bayside Kangaroos”, so it was a BK podium finish for the day. Certainly beat my last 2 event results anyway 🙂

BK podium relay finish !

 

Rocking horse in Veszprem city square… it actually rocks

Our accomodation at the Uni

Tomorrow is our last day of competition here. The Long Distance race. This one apparently finishes in Veszprem city centre (near the rocking horse above) and with a map changeover, so it could be an exciting race.

Probably another hot one …..

Last blog: https://ardf.org.au/WordPress/2012/wmmtbo-sprints-sprung/

Cheers, Bruce

PS: Did anyone watch the sprints video(s) from yesterday ?  The laptop had to run all night to render and upload them, so apologies that they probably weren’t there when you read the blog orginally. Try again now !

 

WMMTBO Sprints Sprung

Good things about today:

  • The enjoyable ride on the sprint event (this one just for Masters, the others had a rest day)
  • The wonderfully cooling swim in the huge Balaton lake afterwards
  • The new bike mechanicals worked perfectly without a hitch
  • Murray got a ride in the sprints and had a good time
  • The Contour took a great movie of my sprint ride (see below…)
  • Carolyn J got a silver medal
  • Knee was fine
  • Ice cream at the lake

Not so good things about today:

  • The oppressive heat continued
  • The moment as you watch your split ticket being printed and you see two dashed lines
  • The really odd map colouring which the greens looked like yellow, and the near invisible purple control lines
  • The realisation I had (yet again )skipped a little 2 control loop without knwoing it at the time (went directly from 5->8 which are very close to each other)
  • Dinner at the caf (well it was OK, better than Tuesday’s I thought)

 

Carpark in Balatonalmadi town

Swim in Lake Balaton

 

Carolyn J in changing cubby

Sorry for the odd placement of these images, but the wordpress blog just appears to have undergone a “media upgrade” and moving images around now seems to be broken.It also randomly ‘forgets’ captions and titles. All very strange !

Peter C finished 37th and Murray 46th in M50. Carolyn C also rode today finishing a credible 13th in W50.

Previous blog here: https://ardf.org.au/WordPress/2012/wmmtbo-middle-middling/

My sprint video (in 2 parts) :

http://youtu.be/V_lyw0Rfi4Y

http://youtu.be/wqoAtv0x4Hg

See if you can spot the ooops after the long downhill in the 2nd video (as well as the obvious mistake skipping 6 & 7 in the first).  Have a look at the map on Route Gadget to follow the control sequence. http://www.mtbo.hu/mtbwoc2012.php/routegadget, or if not there yet, here is a photo I took of my map:

Sprint map M40

 

 

 

Cheers,

Bruce

WMMTBO Middle Middling

If anyone bothered to watch my ‘live feed data’ today (in the middle of the night in Aus), you have noticed a sudden drop in my speed at around control 7. There’s a very good reason for this, and it basically revolves around the fact that once your rear derailler has broken off, it isn’t possible to pedal anymore. Well at least I was able to ride down hills and walk otherwise, at least untill I then got a puncture.  There has to be something very special about managing to get a puncture once you are walking your bike 🙂

Our car, parked in the Death Valley paddock

Pure bloody mindedness, and the fact it wasn’t a huge detour, made me decide to finish the course walking. Quite amazingly, I wasn’t last, even amongst those who didn’t miss-punch. I felt I was going pretty well up till things broke, possibly mid 20’s sort of placing, but that’s just a guess.

The team blog will appear at http://ausmtboteam.blogspot.hu

Peter C came 23rd in the tough M50 category, but we just went to watch Carolyn J get her gold for W50. Also well done to Chris F, 5th in Juniors, and that means he also got to stand on the podium. Please Slovakia don’t keep doing well, your national anthem is toooo long !

Carolyn Jackson and Advance Australia Fair

Chris on the podium

M40 1st, 2nd & 3rd all Czech Republic !

 

Update: My bike is all fixed up again by the local bike shop, ready for the Masters sprint event tomorrow morning.

Went into the nearby ‘old town’ for Pizza, wine and ice cream cone afters. Delicious, and have to say a lot better than the organised meals at the uni caf.

Lovely spot to dine out

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers, Bruce

Earlier blog: https://ardf.org.au/WordPress/2012/wmmtbo-veszprem-arrival/