Cold climate training

When the regions were allowed out to... train

WORDS WARWICK WILLIAMS

not much further afield. It’s quick and easy to get out there and set some great courses. And so we did.

11 September 2021 we were back in the bush with only two days lead time. It felt a bit subversive! Scan the QR code. Masks on when you are not running. Get in, play, and get out. How quickly we forget! Nevertheless, we got out there and played, even if we might have been a bit relaxed about getting out again. Nothing on Eventor. Just emailed around EU, BG and CH, and a few Melbourne refugees, like the Jaffes. Pass it on to anyone else who can come and manage the 10 at a time rule. It was only training, but we got out the stands, kites and the SI boxes, to make it feel more like the real thing. The weather played its part with a perfect spring day. Looking back, there were only a dozen or so of us, mostly Ballarat locals, with a few from Bendigo, but it was so good to be out in the bush with a map.

We ran a couple more training sessions at Nerrina and Mt Beckworth, and Bendigo joined in too, before life started to return to something more like normal. Let’s hope we never have to go through that again!

purposes. Masks on. Life under day-to-day control by government proclamation.

I don’t want to think about it again. But nevertheless, the time came when the “health advice” said that outdoor sport could restart - training only mind you. And no more than 10 people were allowed together! Well this was for the regional areas anyway. The majority of our members in Melbourne were still in lockdown, but at least those of us in the bush and the provincial cities could sample orienteering again. It was a case of “Don’t wait. Get something happening while we can!”

Here in Ballarat, we are fortunate in having the Nerrina/White Swan/Chapel Flat/Petticoat Gully map group starting just on the edge of town, taking in some of Australia’s best gold mining terrain, and the high quality granite of Mt Beckworth