Monash Mega Sprint

WORDS & PHOTOS DEBBIE DODD

Last year’s Monash Indoor Outdoor Sprint was so much fun, we did it all over again! This time we invited Victoria’s coach in residence, world class orienteer and all-around good guy Frederic Tranchard (Fredo) to plan the courses. Many of us had great fun and great benefit from attending Fredo’s training sessions, and I especially enjoyed the chance to see how well he related to juniors when helping at the RMIT workshop. I knew he would make the most of the unique combination of indoors and outdoors to create something both challenging and fun for all age groups.

Fredo cleverly combined both elements into a single race, with a map change at the transition point between indoor and outdoor. Competitors had a 1:1000 scale map covering the two lower floors of the Learning and Teaching Building, then after emerging outside, they had to immediately switch mode to a 1:4000 outdoor section, with every trick in the book thrown at them, and every corner of the campus covered. It was high speed, high focus, high intensity, and highly enjoyable!

Fredo chose a cycle racing theme, with the longest course (4.5 km) billed as “Tour de France”; the medium course (3.5 km) the “Paris Roubaix” and the easier course (3 km) the “Velodrome”. The Tour de France course was the most popular. Brodie Nankervis was fastest in a sizzling 21:47, ahead of Bruce Arthur and James Robertson. Callum White and Mason Arthur were the speediest juniors, and Belinda Lawford was fastest female and 8th overall.

On the Paris-Roubaix course, Torren Arthur smashed out a time of 23:32, 5 minutes clear of sibling Sophie in second, while Bruce Paterson took out third. On the Velodrome course, Chris Kent was another who won by a 5 minute margin, from Elliott Trone and Oliver Trone.

Thanks again to Monash Clayton, who continue to provide us with fantastic support and enthusiasm. While Covid restrictions keep us away from indoor events for now, we hope they will make a return in the not too distant future.