CLUB PROFILE – Top End Orienteers

Top End Orienteers –

a brief history

Susi Bertei

ORIENTEERING arrived in Darwin on Sunday 19 March 1978, when Ian Roberts set a bush course of some 15 km on the Marrakai Road near Manton Dam, about 75 km from town. It was a score event with a 5-hour time limit. The map was a B&W photocopy of a 1:50,000 topographic map and controls were marked with coloured electrical tape. The weather was hot and humid. Most of the nine teams and individuals concentrated on easily found points near the track, and finished in an hour or two with scores of 5 to 8 total. Not so the fanatical team of Willis and Taylor who pushed on for almost the full 5 hours amassing a sweaty but winning score of 23.5 … and still not finding all the controls! (Russell Willis still competes regularly at events and has been known to repeat this feat – staying out nearly 5 hours and not finding all controls – except that he’s never won again!)

Most early enthusiasts were members of the Darwin Bushwalking Club or students at Nightcliff High School where Ian had introduced the sport. They learned from their mistakes and future events were shorter and much closer to town. At Holmes Jungle the next event drew 30 competitors, a high for the year. Competitions continued monthly until November using 1:10,000 photocopied topographic maps of close-by areas (and electrical tape controls) with participants averaging about 20. 1979 was a big year. Over the Christmas holidays, Ian had made a trip to Melbourne and collected loads of information and gear – controls, cards, punches, compasses, t-shirts and bumper stickers – all the essentials. “Outback Orienteers” was born and members put up posters around town, attracting double the attendances of the previous year, including a high of 108 at a Botanic Gardens event in September – a record for Darwin to this day. But as the temperature and humidity rose, numbers fell. As well, several of the original movers and shakers left town, and by mid-1980 Orienteering in the Top End had fizzled out.

It re-emerged from hibernation with the arrival of Robin and Adrian Uppill from the Sth Aust Tintookies club. In April 1984 the Uppill’s created a black & white hand-drawn Orienteering map of East Point Reserve and organised three introductory events. There was an encouraging response with 25-30 people attending and subsequently Top End Orienteers came into being, affiliating with the OFA through OASA in 1985.

Activities since 1984 have been fairly consistent. Events are held every 2 to 3 weeks from February to November - a mixture of bush and street/parkland events. Starts are early (between 7am and 9am) to beat the heat. Three courses are offered – short, medium and long (up to 6-7 km). A score event has been traditional at the end of the year and recently we added scatter, relay, night and bike events to the program for a bit of variety.

Attendances have grown, averaging 40-50 people, but there is still a relatively high turnover of participants due to the itinerant nature of the Darwin population. This has kept the atmosphere at TEO fairly social and recreational, with lots of beginners.

One of the “itinerants” was Eric Morris (NSW), who spent 6 months in Darwin in 1999, and kick-started our coaching program. We now have three accredited Level 1 coaches with several others in the process of completing their accreditation, and coaching days are on our calendar. Other “itinerants” who have made significant contributions to the club include Ann Scown (1986-8 from ACT), Norm Eastwood (1990-7 from Tas), the Slade family (1990-still here! from SA) and Tony Galliford (1999-2002 from ACT). Of course there have been many more home-grown contributors as well.

An ongoing challenge for TEO is mapping, and finding new areas to map. The bulk of our members don’t like to travel too far afield, but much of the country close to Darwin is flat. As well, with the steady growth of Darwin several of the contoured close-by areas have fallen victim to property development. We purchased OCAD in 1998 and, with help from various interstate mappers, have converted our hand-drawn black & white maps to colour. It’s a bit scary to look at those old maps now! We have 6 maps within 20 min of Darwin (4 with hills), and 4 others between 45 min and 2 hrs away, including our latest map at Lok Cabay, site of the inaugural NT Championships to be held in July this year.

Local conditions are often a challenge for orienteers – including the weather, vegetation, and wildlife. A very variable climate ranges from warm/hot and dry (dry season - May to August) through hotter and humid (Sept to Dec) to hot/warm humid and rainy (wet season – Jan to April). Running in the wet season is quite pleasant so long as it’s raining or overcast. In one February event the rain was so torrential that maps and control cards were reduced to soggy pulp, but one resourceful competitor punched his controls onto a large leaf!

Competing in the dry is more agreeable for most. Humidity is much lower, and early morning temperatures sometimes go down below 20ºC – chilly for us!

The seasonal variation creates havoc with the vegetation - open savannah woodland with a grassy understorey. Late in the wet season growth is prolific - grasses grow 2 to 3 metres tall. Visibility and runnability are greatly reduced and tracks are the go. With the onset of the dry season the grasses wither and fall over in the “knock-emdown” storms, collapsing to a more respectable height of around one metre. This helps visibility but still is very difficult to get through. Runnability is greatly improved by another dry season activity – the annual burn-off, both controlled and uncontrolled. This conveniently removes the grass, leaves and trees, and instantly creates a fast run environment. Expect to get blackened legs, and beware the prickly pandanus!

Despite what may appear to be adverse conditions for Orienteering in the Top End, course setters have generally been able to create good courses. This year, with the assistance of OASA’s John and Jeffa Lyon as controllers, we are proud to be able to present the inaugural NT Championships, plus associated events.

Why don’t you try the Top End in July?

Above: Seeds from rampant spear grass turned Peter Phillpott’s shirt into something else. Above right: “Moderate" grass and prickly pandanus. Right: Spear grass and cypress pine forest at Howard Springs.

Aus Champs 2005 Update

Bert Elson – Publicity Manager, Tassie East Coast Escape 2005

TASSIE EAST COAST ESCAPE

Included in this edition of Australian Orienteer is your copy of the Aus Champs 2005 brochure and entry form. Planning continues to progress well for the event and all Tasmanian orienteers are looking forward to welcoming our colleagues from interstate.

There have been some developments in the event program in recent months:

“THE LEA” WARMUP EVENT: This event is scheduled as a friendly warmup on the afternoon of Saturday 24 September and will be followed by an informal BBQ. “The Lea” is one of Hobart’s favourite local maps and offers good bush running with plenty of rock and some deep gullies - and all less than 10 km from the city centre. Assembly is at the Lea Scout Camp with good facilities for an informal post event BBQ. Carnival registration will be available at the event.

TASMANIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Tasmanian Championships will be held in the detailed sand dunes of “Pittwater”, remembered by many from Day 3 of Easter 1999. People either hate or love this map but all agree it is an outstanding navigational challenge.

SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS & ASSOCIATED EVENTS: The Schools Championships have moved to the beautiful “Sandstone Valleys” map just off the Midlands Highway about 45 minutes north of Hobart. The area is being remapped and offers a mix of fast running in open woodland with complex navigation along sandstone escarpments. The proximity of this area to Hobart ensures that a Hobart base is possible from Saturday until Tuesday with daily trips out to events.

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: The carnival moves to St Helens on Tasmania’s north-east coast on Friday 30 September with a sprint event and model event for the Australian Championships. The Aus Champs on Saturday 1 October 2005 will be held on the “Littlechild Creek” map. This is a wonderful intertwined tangle of creeks, buttongrass marshes, thickets and granite hills 15 km north of St Helens.

The new Aus Champs website is now fully operational. Go to the Orienteering Tasmania website at www.tasorienteering.asn.au and click the Aus Champs icon on the home page for full carnival details as well as information on transport, accommodation and things to do.

Send an email to pub.oti@trump.net.au to get on our Aus Champs email list and receive regular emails of carnival developments.

Mapper – Albury-Wodonga OC

AWOC needs a mapper to produce maps of bush and parkland areas close to Albury Wodonga.

Write advising of availability dates, rates, need for accommodation etc. to AWOC, PO Box 461, Albury 2640 email robsim@albury.net.au

Au Pair Needed For Norwegian Orienteering Family

We need an au-pair to help out in house and to take care of our two children. The children are 1 and 3 years old. The elder is attending kindergarten, and the younger will start kindergarten this spring or in the summer. We are living in Bergen, which is the second largest town in Norway. There is plenty of opportunity to combine or prolong the stay with studies at one of the good local universities. There are also several local sport clubs. Opportunities for training Orienteering are excellent! Please do not hesitate to contact Rune Brunborg at aupair@brunborg.com or phone +47 977 78 316

2005 Victorian Championships

SUNDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER

To be held near Chiltern in North Eastern Victoria

Saturday 10th September Start the weekend with a Park/Street event in Beechworth organised by AWOC

Sunday 11th September Victorian Championships at "Barambogie North" Site of the 2003 Australian Championships All usual courses

Entry Form will be included with the next Australian Orienteer. Enquiries to mhanna@redcross.org.au

Banana Boat® 2005 Queen’s Birthday Three Days

11-13 June 2005 NSW State League Events 8 & 9

THIS year’s Queens’ Birthday Three Days will be held at Eugowra, about 60km from Orange NSW. The event consists of a two-day individual competition followed by club relays on the third day.

The map Seldom Seen by Eric Andrews was last used for the 2004 Australian Championships. The terrain is technically challenging with complex granite and intricate gully systems.

Facilities at the event will include catering by local organisations and a Kids Bush Challenge on Day 2 – some fun orienteering activities aimed at kids 7 to 12 years, to be run close to the assembly area after the kids have finished their runs. There is also plenty to do in the local area apart from orienteering, from visiting wineries to touring a gold mine. Suitable accommodation can be found in Forbes or Orange.

Pre-entries close 13 May 2005. Limited enteron-the-day courses will also be available. Full details including postal and online entry forms can be found at www.garingal.nsw.orienteering.asn.au/QBIII

Garingal Orienteers is proud to welcome Banana Boat® suncare products as principal sponsor for QBIII.

Vic Champs 2005 at Barambogie

On Saturday 10 September, Albury-Wodonga OC will stage a Park & Street event on their Beechworth map, then - On Sunday 11 September, Bayside Kangaroos will welcome you to the Victorian Championships.

There’s always plenty to do in and around Beechworth (the famous Bakery, for one) and there’s a great selection of wineries to visit in the area towards Rutherglen. As well, there are plenty of options for accommodation and dining.

Make a week-end of it. You’ll enjoy it – that’s a promise.

BARAMBOGIE – land of rocks and open meadows with gnarled eucalypts leaning at impossible angles. If this were in Norway you might believe trolls lived amongst the granite outcrops.

But Barambogie is near Beechworth and Chiltern in Victoria making the Victorian Championships 2005 as readily accessible to interstate orienteers as it is to Victorians. This is some of the finest granite for Orienteering in the country and without much of the debris underfoot which degrades the enjoyment of Orienteering in some other wellknown granite areas.