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.

Damper Creek Sprint ARDF Report

Report & Results are below the Event Details

Map has been updated with TX locations.

Damper Creek


As per usual now, it’s a MapRun event. No need to eyeball the transmitter – it is deliberately well hidden from public view.

Event Name: /Victoria/OV-Clubs/AmateurRadioDirectionFinding-ARDF/Damper Creek ARDF July 2022.
In fact, if you are quick off the mark you could even squeeze it in today, Friday!

When: Commencing Saturday 16 July, 1:30pm. Transmitters will run daily from 1:30pm to 5:30pm till at least Sunday 24th July (or later on request).

Start is where the dirt path leaves on the south side of the tennis club carpark, in Federal Reserve, Mt Waverley. Melway 61D9.
WARNING: Don’t forget that once you Start, avoid going anywhere near there again till you actually want to Finish.

Frequency 145.300Mhz. 12s Sprint timing, 5TX. Time Limit 90 Minutes. If you want to give yourself the full time-limit, don’t forget to start before 4pm.
It is possible you may not hear all transmitters from the start location, so keep an careful ear out as you head around. I could hear 4 of the 5 at the Start.

Report

Well done to everyone who gave it a go over the week, a total of 13 competitors.

Special thanks to Geoff, who not only managed to win overall, but did it while picking up all the transmitters for me as well. He had no choice but to do it quickly, as he rang me around 4:30pm today saying he was heading to try the event. I pointed out to him that it was less than an hour before the transmitters were due to turn off at 5:30pm. Geoff figured he therefore might have to run. He managed to locate the last one to collect, #4, just before they all turned off! I hope he had a backpack with him, or lots of roomy pockets. Geoff gets the Golden Retriever award (hey it’s gold for 1st place, right?).

Most people chose the nice weather today to attempt the event, but Henk & Di also struck a good afternoon mid-week. Oddly, noone chose yesterday (Saturday). I wonder why? Jack was first off the mark (last weekend in the drizzle), managing to hold on to the winning time till today. Jack is therefore awarded the Beaver award.

Second place goes to Darian, followed by Mark. However, I should mention Mark’s time may be artificially long, as he accidentally ‘started’ before he even got out of his car. I have instructed him as to how to cancel out and restart in Maprun. He might have even nudged Darian out of second place. Along with Jenelle, Mark also decided on an unconventional route choice off the map. I’m pretty sure you aren’t really meant to do that in ARDF, but Jenelle left the maps at home, so I’ll decide to ignore it this time. It does make sense if you are going between #3 and #4, but probably isn’t much shorter. I have decided to award both Mark and Jenelle with OBE awards (that’s OutofBodyExperience, not OrderofBritishEmpire – I’m not Tony Abbott!). Maybe Mark should also get the Tardigrade award, for his late start?

Many reported not hearing #5 from the Start, but you were forewarned. I note also that most took a more complicated route over two creeks to #2, rather than directly in via the path below. A better map may have helped out here. The dithering by Di and Henk just before #2 makes amusing viewing in replay mode. Di & Henk are hereby awarded the Phaff award.

Peter’s result may not be indicative. He decided to willfully ignore my careful warning, imploring competitors to avoid going too close to the Finish before they actually want to finish, so we will never know what became of him after #3. Did he find any other transmitters? We’ll never know, but I have decided to posthumously award Peter the Icarus award, as all that I found left was a smoldering pile of feathers.

Ewen’s result, however, is even more curtailed than Peter’s, in that it is completely absent. I’m told there is some terrible embarrassment there, which he hoped to avoid by not even uploading his result. Unfortunately that has backfired, as now, due to this very report we now all ponder what he might be trying to hide. Ewen is awarded the Bloody Mary ghost award.

Another thing to note is that the most popular order was 3-1-4-2-5, which probably isn’t the most optimal route. I consider that a bonus for the course setting (or likely more just due to the land topology hiding #5 till later).

Next ARDF event is Sat 13th August at Bellbird Dell, by Icarus. He is also setting the next AR run street-O on Wed Aug 10.

Results

Click here to see results, and view each competitors route.

Report on Radio Combo Event 7 May 2022

A Radio “Combo” event was run in conjunction with the Saturday afternoon Orienteering event at Endeavour Greens on 7 May 2022. Unforunately the weather was rather poor but despite that we had eight people competing.

Five 2m Fox-Or transmitters were placed in bush or park areas on the map and competitors had to locate these once they had reached the large red circles on the map. A copy of the map is below with small blue dots indicating approximate transmitter locations. A 75-minute time limit was set with 3 points per minute late penalty. The event was run using MapRun and no flags were set with the Fox-Ors.

Congratulations to Bruce Paterson who got all 20 orienteering controls and 5 Fox-Ors in the time, achieving a perfect score of 120 points. Newcomer Christopher Hall also did very well, getting all five Fox-Ors and all but three of the orienteering controls. Chris also managed his time very well, returning 30 seconds before the 75-minute deadline. Monica Lo Presti came in third with a respectable 91 points. Jack Bramham was feeling a bit unwell following a flu vaccination the previous day but still went out to get one of the radio controls after spending some time getting MapRun set up on a new phone. Scores are copied below (also available on MapRun “Leader Board”):

Results

Bruce, Jack and Kristian climb Mt Fuji

I’ve been a long time reader… I figured it was about time I posted something.

My story starts after leaving Jenelle and Ewen after a fantastic day of kayaking at Shimada. (Jenelle will fill you in soon!)

5 trains after departing Shimada Bruce and Myself arrived at Kawaguchiko at the base of Mt Fuji where we meet up with Jack at our accommodation.

After some much needed rest it was an early rise to catch the first bus to Mt Fuji Subaru line 5th station (the stations are huts along the track – 5th station is much more than a hut though, but it’s where you start walking from. 10 is the top)

The weather gods must have been happy with us, as we had a wonderful view of Mt Fuji in the morning and great weather all day.

Mt Fuji fro Kawaguchiko
Mt Fuji from Kawaguchiko

Trail of lights going up Mt Fuji.
Trail of lights going up Mt Fuji.

Once we arrived at the 5th station we set straight off. Bruce and me climbed 1570m up to the summit (elevation 3776m) in just over 3 hours, then we had a rapid 1.5 hour decent after a journey around the top. Jack made it up to the 8th station (elevation 3100m) and made a couple of radio contacts before heading back down.

6th station
6th station

Climbing Mt Fuji
Climbing Mt Fuji

Bruce at the top of Mt Fuji.
Bruce at the top of Mt Fuji.

Jack starting the Mt Fuji climb
Jack starting the Mt Fuji climb

Bruce and Kristian at the summit of Mt Fuji
Bruce and Kristian at the summit of Mt Fuji

Today we said farewell to Jack who was off on a bus trip with Jenelle, Ewen and Mark and we grabbed a couple of bikes to do a quick tour of the lakes before we returned to Tokyo before we head off to Gunma province where we finally join / rejoin the rest of the team.

Bruce and Kristian at Lake Shoji
Bruce and Kristian at Lake Shoji

And now just a couple more days until the serious stuff starts. 🙂

Kristian