PARK & STREET-O
Urban Orienteering – Park & Street Orienteering Around Australia, Part 1 by Debbie Dodd (VIC)
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Queensland:
Park & Street Orienteering is relatively new in Brisbane – the Tuesday evening Southside series, run by Toohey Forest Club, is four years old, and the Wednesday evening Northside series, organized by the Enoggaroos, commenced just two years ago. The Sunday morning program of park events also started four years ago. Events are run in Brisbane suburbs and regional towns (last summer these included Townsville, Bundaberg, Buderim and Toowoomba). The Southside series runs for 8 weeks from October to December, and the Northside has two 6-week series from November to February. The events are Scatter-O format, and the 20 controls used are metal plates chained to light poles. Mass starts are at 6.30pm, with 2 minutes allowed for route planning. Queensland’s lack of daylight saving means these events are run in the dark. Competitors choose one of three courses – 3 km (8 controls), 5 km (12 controls) or 7.5 km (18 controls). There are classes for men and women in Junior, Open and Veteran age groups. Participant numbers average around 60 for each series. Spot prizes drawn just before the start, provided by sponsors for the Northside series, have helped attract more competitors recently. Awards are given at a sausage sizzle at the end of each series. Every second Sunday of the month in the season, every Brisbane club and most regional clubs have a local CATI (Come and Try It) events, mostly in parks, providing around 48 park events per year. Formats vary between events, and competitors choose their own distance regardless of age group. Bike events are often run as well. The park events currently attract an average of 40 participants, with higher numbers at some events due to free entry – subsidized by Brisbane City Council’s ‘Active & Healthy Parks’ programme. Events are publicized in local papers, fliers, posters, club newsletters, Brisbane City Council brochures, and the Courier-Mail newspaper.
LL over Australia, on summer evenings, Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, people of all ages and athletic abilities are taking to their local streets, armed with a map and a control card. For some, it’s simply a way of keeping fit between bush competitions, for others it’s a healthy social exercise with friends or family, and for many it’s a highly addictive contest in its own right. Park & Street Orienteering is often their first taste of a navigation sport, with some competitors progressing into the forest through club, then state competition. Participant numbers are increasing around the country. Each State runs a Park & Street competition in some form, with more and more events being added to fixtures to cater for growing demand. However, there is no standard format, which makes for an interesting State by State comparison.
New South Wales:
Participation rates on the rise in Sweden
single events for more than ten years, but the idea of a series was only taken up in 2001.
Swedish orienteering magazine Skogssport reports that 2003 saw a 14% increase in participation over the 2002 figure. This was the second consecutive year of increasing numbers (13% increase from 2001 to 2002). Not since 1992 has the number of participants been as high as in 2003 with over 500,000 entries recorded. After the record highs of the mid 1980’s the trend of declining numbers through the 1990’s seems to have finally turned since 2001. Nearly one-third of entries in 2003 were young people under the age of 16. The number of young people becoming involved in Orienteering 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER SEPTEMBER 2004
is increasing significantly. It seems that the image of Orienteering has improved amongst young people and even those who don’t orienteer themselves see it as a ‘cool’ sport. Swedish officials believe there are a number of factors behind these positive statistics. They feel the upward trend represents increased activity at the club level, especially with more development of youth leaders as well as growth in participation in small local events close to home.
Town-O is growing in Switzerland Stadt-OL (or Town-O) is growing in popularity in Swiss regional cities. Town-O has been organised as
The Sydney Summer Series programme has around 23 events from mid-October to late March. Events are held every Wednesday, with starts any time between 4.30 and 7pm. The start time flexibility and the score format are very popular features. Events are held in Sydney suburban parks, streets and bush areas, with a preponderance on the lower north shore area and inner west. There is always a beachside event as well. The events are run by the five metropolitan clubs. Colour maps are used for Score format events using 30 controls. The controls are red and white painted flower pots with the control number and a letter code painted in black on them. Competitors mark the code on their control cards with a pencil they carry. There are several 'sets' of pots which are mixed to stop anyone remembering the
The Swiss orienteering magazine OL reports that gone are the days when there was a ‘quiet’ season in the Swiss program. Town-O has filled the gaps between major events though attendances do not yet rank with the numbers at forest events. In 2001 a series known as the Town-O Cup was introduced and its popularity soared. “Whenever I put new rankings for the Town-O Cup up on the Swiss federation web site, in a flash we got 200 or more hits,” said Hansjorg Graf, the man who initiated the series. Events have been held in Buelach, Vaduz, Basel and Zofingen. Leaders after the Basel event were
Hansruedi Kohler and Monika Ammann. Monika doesn’t like missing forest events but she also loves Town-O. “In the forest I run unsure of myself – less decisive. But in Town-O I can use all my running abilities. Control points are always clear and route choice less ambiguous”, said Monika. Kohler was formerly a road runner. “I can go fast in the streets but I can also lose time, especially in the middle of towns with lots of control points – accurate map reading is very important. Town-O is almost a different kind of sport.” This version of Orienteering is rapidly growing in popularity in Switzerland. It seems the fascination of local Park & Street-O is spreading across the world.
