Waggaroos Noos
More armchair orienteering
Courtesy of a couple of overseas websites, here are some more opportunities to practice your orienteering skills without leaving home: Hope everyone is staying well and keeping up the exercise, as far as that is possible in the current environment. |
Waggaroos cancel all events until further notice
The Waggaroos Committee has decided to cancel all scheduled Waggaroos orienteering events effective immediately, due to the escalating health situation with the COVID-19 virus.While we accept the ONSW position that the advice from the AHPPC does not preclude conduct of small, local orienteering events we feel that for reasons of social responsibility and to mitigate against the risk of reputational damage to the image of orienteering we need to be seen to be doing the right thing by current community expectations. We need to be seen not to be encouraging unnecessary travel, or as providing a possible conduit for introduction of COVID-19 into the Riverina.While this is very disappointing, it is a consequence of the difficult times we are currently experiencing. Hopefully we can be back in the bush within a few months.If you would like to do some armchair orienteering whilst we unable to do the real thing, have at look at the World of O website. It has many examples of maps and related stories from all over the world. |
COVID-19 update: 2020 Interclub series cancelled
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has recently announced new community sport guidelines to combat the spread of COVID-19. Within it is the recommendation that sporting teams, including school sporting teams, maintain local competitions only, with no inter-district, or inter-club travel (see summary by Sport Australia at https://www.sportaus.gov.au/media-centre/news/minister-for-sport-issues-covid-19-guidelines-for-community-sport ). In lieu of these guidelines the decision has been taken TO CANCEL THE INTERCLUB CHALLENGE COMPETITION AGAINST ALBURY FOR THIS YEAR and just run our respective local competitions. The scheduled Interclub Challenge events to be organised by Waggaroos at Burngoogee on 26 April, Connorton on 14 June, Rocky Hill on 19 July, and Wolfram on 30 August will go ahead as local events but not as Interclub Challenge events. Please remember : Do not come to any Waggaroos orienteering event or activity if • you are feeling unwell; • you have been in close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19 until the 14 days isolation period is over; • you have travelled overseas in the past 14 days. |
COVID-19 and orienteering
We are in the midst of unprecedented disruption and Orienteering Australia and the state associations have been working over the weekend to tread the right balance of calm and change of behaviour required. What we are saying today is not a “close down” message but an encouragement to go orienteering - while modifying behaviour. We have a sport that is essentially alone during execution so it lends itself to distancing, and we believe the risk of going orienteering if we modify behaviours is low. Very large events, such as Easter 2020 at Orange, have been taken out of our hands and have been postponed according to government requirements but the smaller local events, including Waggaroos local events and our Interclub series with Albury, are still viable so let's all work together and enjoy the respite that a bit of sport can give to these anxious times.Unfortunately, the Riverina Schools Championships due to be held in early May, have been postponed, as all school excursions and other out of school activities have been restricted. It is hoped we can re-schedule to a date later in the year. |
Low key start to bush season
John Oliver had a good win in the first of the Waggaroos bush events for 2020 held at Willan's Hill last Sunday. Starting from the picnic shelter opposite the Museum of the Riverina in Baden Powell Dr, a score event format was used in which participants had 45 minutes to find as many control sites as possible. Points were awarded for each control site found and deducted for exceeding the time limit. Control sites varied in points value depending on distance and navigational difficulty. Bob Moore set an entertaining course which contained numerous control sites along the southern part of Willan's Hill and fewer in the northern part. Although the northern controls were closer to the start and formed a logical loop to follow they did require some steep hill climbs to access them. The southern controls on the other hand were more conducive to merely proceeding to the next nearest control and were laid out in a way that higher valued controls tempted one further and further south resulting in a long run home if one did not watch the time. John Oliver decided to take the northern controls first to take on the hill climbs early and to retain flexible options pending on his elapsed time about which controls to take in the southern part. He judged things well finishing a mere 7 seconds inside his time limit and amassing a very good 175 points. Tadeusz Davenport decided to take the southern controls first and he scored freely in that area. However he then found himself with fewer options in the northern part and running out of time which meant a long run back without adding to his tally. Nonetheless he finished second despite collecting almost as many points as John and losing some points for exceeding the time limit. Izzi Hutchinson and Chontelle Dailey ran as a team and picked up many of the controls in the southern area finishing in third place. Next event will be the first of the eight event Interclub Challenges against Albury commencing at 10am on Sunday March 22 at Wallace’s Gully near Chiltern.
|
Final Sunday Summer Series
 Starting from the small park at the corner of Mima St and Bindari Ave participants had to find the answers to questions about Glenfield Park within a set time limit. Points were awarded for correct answers and deducted for exceeding the time limit. Questions included identifying specific features on houses and in gardens, numbers on light poles, and details on signs. There were 24 questions worth a total of 210 points but they were spread out in such a way that getting from one to another involved careful consideration of the route to avoid excessive distance in spite of the numerous connecting tracks and reserves in the area. On the 45 minute course most participants focussed on the area north and east of the South City shopping centre attracted by some higher valued questions and as a result scores were close. John Oliver managed to answer just over half the questions and amass 120 points. Izzi Hutchinson and Chontelle Dailey cut it fine finishing just 2 seconds inside their time limit but they used their time well to score 100 points and finish second. The Buchanan family participating on their second event finished third with a very good 110 points. Elius Levin tried orienteering for the first time and managed to collect 40 points but gave most of them away when he incurred a time penalty for exceeding his time limit. 6 year old Jarrah Mestan completed the 30 minute course with his mother and scored a good 25 points. The first bush event for 2020 will be conducted on Willan's Hill next Sunday 8 March starting at 10 am from the picnic shelter in front of the Museum of the Riverina Botanic Gardens Site in Baden Powell Dr.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3-way tie at CSU
 Starting from the Peter Hastie Oval participants had to find the answers to questions about the campus within a set time limit. Questions included identifying the occupant of specific buildings, room numbers, details on signs, and the state survey number on the trig on top of the hill just west of campus. The challenge for participants was deciding whether to tackle the bush land hill section first while the legs were fresh and then collect what they could around the buildings or collect as much as they could around the buildings and then see if they had enough left to tackle the hill. Alex Davey took on the hill early and had enough left to continue on and find all answers within his chosen 45 minute time limit. He finished with a comfortable 5 minutes to spare and maximum score of 210 points. Briohny Seaman also took to the hill early and also managed to complete the course and find all the answers but did it quicker scoring her 210 points in a very fast 31 minutes. Stuart Young worked his way around the southern part of the buildings first, then climbed the hill before completing the northern section between the buildings. However he realised he had missed one control at the far western side of the bush land section and two on the far eastern side of the buildings. At this point he put on the after-burners and ran first west and then east to collect all answers and still finish with 7 minutes to spare. He ran 1500 m further than Briohny and Alex but his effort managed to force a three-way tie for first place. John Oliver was just off the pace missing two questions and scoring 200 points. Deb Davey and Trent Seaman were also in the hunt scoring a very good 195 points. Participants on the 30 minute course just worked their way around the campus buildings. Debbie & Jo McDougall collected 95 points while Logan and Ryder Seaman each finished with 50 points. Hard luck story of the day was Ian McDougall who did not turn off the auto-pause feature on his smartwatch. Of course it stopped whenever he did to consult the map or work out the answer to the question. Thinking he was finishing with plenty of time to spare he was a bit disappointed to find he had actually incurred a 45 point time penalty for being 9 minutes overtime. The next and final event in the Summer Series of Orienteering will commence at 9 am on Sunday March 1 at the playground on the corner of Mima St and the southern end of Bindari Ave, Glenfield Park.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Close result in Tatton
 Starting from Talbot Pl, Tatton participants had to navigate to specific locations to find the answers to questions within a selected time limit. Questions included finding the names of specific houses, identifying particular garden features, and details on signs. Each correct answer earned points and points were deducted for exceeding the time limit. 34 questions were on offer and with so many options from each location participants had to think 2 or 3 questions ahead to make sensible route decisions. Just moving towards the next nearest question was not always the most efficient approach. Roylene Stanley, John Oliver and Alex Davey had a great battle on the 45 minute course. Each focused their efforts on the southern half of the mapped area but went in quite different directions and although they answered many of the same questions they also differed in which locations they chose not to visit. Alex Davey chose to include some of the flatter sections near Kimberley Dr rather than climb up to the Brindabella Dr and Atherton Cres areas . By contrast Roylene and John did climb to the higher elevations and chose to visit some of the more southern and western locations. Despite their different routes Alex and Roylene both amassed a very good 185 points. Roylene visited one more location than John but because John chose more of the higher valued questions he ended up winning with a score of 190. A tie for second place was then followed with a tie for fourth place. Mel Bradley wheeled Nicholas around in his pusher amassing 140 points the same as the Farquhar family group. On the 30 minute course Deb Davey focussed her efforts on the northern part of the map and amassed an excellent 160 points. Pro rata this was a better performance than those on the 45 minute course. Alison Lloyd finished second with 50 points. Event 7 will commence at 9am from the Peter Hastie Oval in Darnell Smith Drive, Charles Sturt University.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Summer Series resumes
 Starting from Anderson Oval participants had to visit specific locations in the Mount Austin- Turvey Park area to find the answer to questions within a 45 minute time limit. Questions included identifying particular garden ornaments, mail box colours, and specific features at various playgrounds. Points were awarded for correct answers and deducted for exceeding the time limit. Course setter Deb Davey peppered the map with control sites asking 36 questions worth a total of 320 points. With so many options from each location participants had to think 2 or 3 questions ahead to make sensible route decisions. Just moving towards the nearest highest valued question was not always the most efficient modus operandi. Stuart Young chose his route well focusing on the higher valued control locations and picking up lower valued points if they did not require a significant deviation. He amassed an excellent 220 points in spite of a small time penalty for being just one second over time. This was 50 points more than his nearest rival. John Oliver and Alex Davey had an interesting tussle for the minor places. Both focused mainly on the Mount Austin area and although their paths crossed regularly they largely visited different locations. It was John who prevailed by a mere 5 points taking second place with a very good 170 points to Alex’s 165. Imogen Metcalfe and Fiona Hamilton also focused on the Mount Austin area and were the first ladies to finish with a score of 40 points. A number of people tried orienteering for the first time and enjoyed the experience. Tom McAllister went with Tracey Buchanan and her son Mac found about one third of the control locations to score 100 points. Susan Robinson and Tracy, Lexi and Zoe Foyle enjoyed a pleasant Sunday mornings walk scoring 60 points. Next event will commence at 9am from Talbot Place, Tatton next Sunday 9 February.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9th best beach in Australia!
 Commencing from the now famous Wagga Beach (recently rated the 9th best in Australia!) participants had to find the answers to questions about the CBD within a set time limit. Questions included dates of specific events, house names, and particular details on the various murals that decorate the city. Points were awarded for correct answers and deducted for exceeding the time limit. Competing on the 45 minute course Andrew Slattery managed to find answers to 25 of the 31 questions on offer and scored an excellent 200 points despite losing 5 points for exceeding his time limit by 35 seconds. His closest rival was Waggaroos Alex Davey who managed to find 21 answers and scored 170 points. John Oliver was not far behind collecting 165 points. On the 30 minute courses the Metcalfe family scored a very good 85 points but were outrun by Stuart Young who amassed 120 points. The Waggaroos Summer Series of Orienteering will resume on Sunday February 2 in the Turvey Park area.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1-10 of 131