NEWCASTLE MAZE-O

Maze Orienteering –

a promotional event in Newcastle

Russell Rigby (NC-N) - Planner

Nearly all orienteers have navigation problems inside the control circle at some stage of their career, but what about a course that fits entirely inside a normal control circle, with navigational challenge and route choice? Newcastle Orienteers have recently organised a MazeOrienteering event that precisely fits this description.

ON Australia Day Newcastle Orienteers ran a free promotional event in the Foreshore Park, as part of the celebrations organised by Newcastle City Council. Thousands of people attended the focus of the Australia Day celebrations in Newcastle, with everything from the naturalisation ceremony to a cross-harbour swim, concerts and food stalls on offer. In 2004 the Club ran a Park-O course, and this year added a Maze-O course as an extra attraction both for club members and the passing public. The Club’s allocated area was between the beach and the performance stage which was in use all day by bands, dance groups and other performers. This ensured the event had plenty of exposure and competitors in the maze added to it. The Maze-O course was approximately 650m long, using an area of 50m by 35m in and around a group of small garden beds and trees. People could run just the maze or a 1.3km Park-O course, or combine them for the “Super Challenge”. The maze was marked by wooden or metal stakes with a single run of plastic tape to define the paths. The rules were simple: keep off garden beds; stay on grass area; no reaching over or crossing tapes; punch controls in order 1 – 9; there are additional controls in the maze which are not part of the course; watch out for other competitors. The maze was laid out with one exit point adjacent to the club display, and the internal pathways were kept to 2-3 metres wide so that couples or family groups could walk side-by–side without causing congestion. Several family groups went around the maze with young children in strollers. Using trees and garden beds as part of the maze improved its appearance and reduced the work in setting-up. The two maps were colour-printed on one A4 page, which was folded and sealed in plastic so the maps were back-to-back. Competitors started at two minute intervals using a beeping O-clock to keep the flavour of a real event. Competitors’ times ranged from 5 to 20 minutes depending on their running speed and map reading ability. Even the faster club members found that they had to balance map reading and running speed, or make a very obvious and “public” mess of their course. Oxygen debt works wonders on detailed navigation skills. As an example, the distance from the entry gate to Control 1 is 70m on the north side of the maze, and 115m on the south side with the obvious long straights, but more than 60% further. The inspiration for the Maze-O came originally from a scene in the TV program “Regency House Party”, with “Pride and Prejudice” look-alikes negotiating a maze made with wooden stakes and ribbons on the front lawn of their country estate. The idea was reinforced when we saw the short article and map in The Australian Orienteer (Sep 2004, p31) about maze orienteering in Moscow, and the club’s Australia Day event was the obvious choice for the first attempt. The encouraging response from club members and the public means that the club will continue to use Maze-O as part of its promotional activities. The club gained several new members from the Australia Day promotion last year, and expects that will be repeated this year. More photos and details of the set-up of the event are available on the club website http://o-newcastle.asn.au/oblog/

Left: Bob Gilbert and Oskar Booth – up the hill again. Below: Malcolm Roberts – that was No. 1 and the fun has just begun. Lower left: Club President (and event organiser) Geoff Peel shows how it should be done.

Swiss O Week 2006

The Foot of the MATTERHORN

THE world-famous holiday resort of Zermatt offers a huge range of possibilities for recreation - mountaineering, walking, climbing the Matterhorn, mountain biking, swimming …… and Orienteering.

Swiss O Week will take place there during July 1522, 2006.

All race areas can be reached from Zermatt within 20 minutes by cable car or mountain railway. The start and finish areas are all within 300m of cable car or railway stations, so there’ll be plenty of spare time to try out everything else that Zermatt has to offer. Zermatt’s car-free centre with its many boutiques, cafés and bars is a shopper’s paradise.

The event will use six previously unmapped areas at altitudes between 1600 and 3100 metres in various forms of highalpine terrain, partially forested, partially open and very runnable. World MTB-O champ, Michaela Gigon, giving Swim-O a try.

Triathlon-O in Austria

SWIM, bike and run are the well-established combination in triathlon; the mix can be in various leg lengths. Last year in Austria an innovation was a Triathlon-O at the Faaker See in the southern province of Carinthia.

Inspired by the triathlon Olympic gold medal win by Kate Allen (Australian born but ran for Austria), the event attracted about 50 adventurous men and women, who did not want to miss out on this “Austrian Première”.

The course comprised a 350 metre Swim-O section, followed by three kilometres MTB-O and then 2.5 kilometres of Foot-O. For the swim section the map was laminated: competitors had to decide whether to use crawl stroke, which meant it was hard to keep hold of the map, or a slower but easier breast stroke. The fastest took seven minutes to the changeover area.

Like the professionals, many did not change their clothes, but just pulled on MTB shoes, clipped them onto the bike pedals and vanished into the forest. Twenty minutes later the fastest were changing into running shoes to tackle the foot-O section.

After the event the big topic of discussion was relative strengths and weaknesses in the three different disciplines.

The première in Triathlon-O was a fun event. The combination of the fascination of triathlon with orienteering gave everyone a lot of pleasure. The response was very enthusiastic. Courtesy Austrian magazine OEFOL.

Day 1 Gornergrat - The heavenly day – Sun 16th July - at 3000m above sea level, the highest terrain ever used for a multi-day Orienteering event. Day 2 Grüensee - The charming day – Mon 17th July - Alpine meadows and the highest forest in Switzerland. Day 3 Trockener Steg - The icy day – Tues 18th July - Where eternal ice once lay and rocks were polished smooth. Day 4 Schwarzsee - The breathtaking day – Thurs 20th July - Terrain alternates between fast and detailed, demanding exact map reading. Climbers 2000m above on the north face of the Matterhorn will watch every mistake you make! Day 5 Zermatt - The touristy day – Fri 21st July - Through the maze of paths and alleys of Zermatt. Day 6 Sunnegga - The delightful day – Sat 22nd July - Rough mountain forests, meadows filled with alpine flowers, stony ground and a few contours. More at www.sow2006zermatt.ch map of Swim-O section

WANTED – 2000 feet!

Throw away the maps and head for the hills!

IN this the 29th year of Albury’s Nail Can Hill Run, Albury Wodonga Orienteering Club is looking to break the barrier of 1000 finishers on Sunday 1st May 2005. Last year we had over 1000 entrants, but fell short of the magic 1000 finishers.

This 11.3km run over the steep ranges near Albury has become an institution for all serious runners. Recent years have seen a marked increase in entrants with fun runners and walkers challenging themselves to do the tough Nail Can route.

Some high profile winners include Olympians Pat Scammell and Steve Moneghetti. Pat won six times between 1985 and 1996. Oddly though, Pat never actually held the race record, the closest he came was within 6 seconds in 1992 before Greg Webster lowered the mark to 36:55 in 1993. Webster’s record looked impregnable until we lured Steve Moneghetti to the race in 2003. Wise old heads said Moneghetti was too old at 40 (Webster was 25 in 1993) to challenge the record. Steve proved what a class athlete he is in smashing the record by almost 2 minutes. The new mark of 34:57 is expected to remain unchallenged for some time unless the likes of Lee Troop or Craig Mottram is prepared to put it on the line.

The Age Busters has proved a popular personal challenge. Male Age Busters must run the 11.3km course in under their age (e.g. at 50 years you must run under 50 minutes) while females must beat their age plus 20%. Only 5 to 10 of the entire field manage to break their age. Five time Age Busters are presented with the Max Scherleitner Medal. Max is a living legend of Nail Can being the only person to have completed 27 Nail Can Hill Runs and is a seven time Age Buster himself.

AWOC sends a challenge to Orienteering clubs to send in a team. The winning sporting club team time in 2004 was 185:18. (4 fastest times counted) and the local teams need some strong competition.

Nail Can is AWOC’s major fund-raiser of the year with all club members involved in its organisation. The club keeps entry fees low to encourage participation.

So, for a pleasant change away from those maps, but close to the hills, mark 1st May 2005 in the diaries and help us break that 1000 barrier.

Contact: Organiser Norm McCann nmccann@bigpond.com http://www.users.bigpond.com/nmccann/nailcan.htm

The ever popular Steve Moneghetti signing autographs at the Nail Can Hill Run.