What a season!

Bendigo orienteers

WORDS CRAIG FEUERHERDT

What a season! Coronavirus threw a spanner in the works for events across the state but early planning by Bendigo Orienteers and our excellent relationship with land managers ensured we were able to run many of our events albeit with some modification.

Once again, the Fowl and Fizz event kicked off our season at the start of February with the Crusoe Heights maps providing an easy start to the season with 27 participants. The AGM followed with Julie Flynn bowing out as President after several years and Craig Feuerherdt taking on the role of President with Jim Russell nominating as Vice.

The weekend of 21 March saw our first formal event at Mt Kooyoora set by Julie Flynn with a training event on Mt Korong on the Sunday. Coronavirus was just starting to take hold in Australia, and these turned out to be the last official orienteering events in Victoria until the end of June!

Bendigo events started back at Smith’s Reef with COVID-19 restricting gatherings to no more than 10 at a time as the bush was not a Prescribed Sports Arena. This meant all entries moved online - no EOD. We had a separate event in 1 hour slots and then divided it into 2 groups of 10 people to start on the half hour. This worked well.

It was a cold wintery day that greeted us to the next event on Birds Reef. Lorraine organised the event making good use of the best gold mining gully in Bendigo. Once again, a good contingent of participants from Melbourne were present pushing the numbers over 70.

The re-introduction of Stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions across the Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Mitchell Shire from midnight Wednesday 7 July saw a flurry of activity to cancel entries and refund payments to those who had entered the event at Crusoe. 61 individuals from outside Melbourne metro area participated and enjoyed the beautiful bush from the recent rain.

Several club members including Nigel McGuckian, Jim Russell and Jimmy Cameron worked together to produce MapRun events on maps affected by COVID cancellations and while there were not many official results, plenty of people took the time to wander around the courses at a leisurely pace admiring the wildflowers.

Proper orienteering returned on 19 September with the final Bush Classic event at Mt Korong set by Daryl Fleay. 55 participants enjoyed the warm, windy afternoon ahead of the change. The courses combined detailed navigation and route choice to ensure all skills were tested.

There were a few short events held prior to the clubs final multi-hour event held on maps adjacent to Maiden Gully. Twilight events have never been well attended in the past - something about the dark, or the time of day, or that we are all tired from the orienteering season. However this year’s event arrived with fine clear weather and saw 38 participants. Frederic Tranchand (OV scholar) visited Bendigo to assist with Sporting Schools activities at Castlemaine, Maldon & Eppalock Primary Schools. Due to COVID he ended up staying in Bendigo until 21 May before moving back to Melbourne and eventually flying home on 2 July. The club made good use of his mapping skills to create and revise several maps including Weeroona College, White Hills Primary School, Epsom Primary School, and the area around the old Golden Square Secondary School.

As club president I would like to thank all orienteers for supporting our events throughout the season, especially the club members who organised and ran the events despite the real possibility of them not going ahead. We look forward to seeing a more normal fixture in 2021 and hope to see more orienteers from other clubs.