URBAN-O
Scatter-O
– the mass-start format where orienteers dash off in all directions
For an Urban-O course-setter, a certain feeling of satisfaction settles over one when the maps are handed out (upside down), the clock ticks over and you shout “GO!” The field in the Scatter-O turn over their maps… but no-one moves. Seconds pass while they try to discover the best direction to take. The seconds seem like minutes – pressure builds. Then a few move off and others begin to follow, more through fear of losing even more time than of having ‘found the way’. The course-setter allows a faint smile to cross his face. Park & Street-O began in Victoria a very long time ago: • In March 1972, John Oliver organized an event in Warrandyte and 138 competitors turned up. • From 1972 onwards, events were held regularly in Studley Park. • In 1974, Larry Sykes held events in Ballan and Little River. Larry was a Red Kangaroo. When he returned home to New Zealand he formed the Red Kiwis. • In 1976, a series of Park & Street events was run. Mike Hubbert organized two at Blackburn Lake, Ian Baker held one at Beaumaris and another was run in The Domain/Albert Park area. • Steve Key organized the Melbourne 3-Days in 1979 with events in Warrandyte, Mt. Evelyn and Lilydale. • Throughout 1978-80, both evening and night events were held in Lilydale, Mt. Evelyn, Beaumaris, Warrandyte, Valley Reserve, Ringwood and other well-known suburban areas. • The Victorian Night Championships for 1980 were held at Mt. Evelyn. • In 1981, Dandenong Ranges OC began a series of Park & Street events around the Blind Creek area in Knox, held on Wednesday evenings. • Early courses were very simple – 10km line event with 3 controls. By the time the first control was reached the field had spread out well and truly. • As attendances grew more courses were needed, but soon queues at the first control stretched back towards the start. It was a mad rush to get there first. • So “Scatter-O” was developed, with the added bonus that you had a choice of which controls to find. • Soon other series were started on Tuesdays (in 1986) and Thursdays (in 1990). It seemed people couldn’t get enough of this running and navigating sport. 38 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER JUNE 2005
• T here seemed to be a group who preferred to walk so, in 1997, a Power Walkers class was added. PW has grown steadily ever since to now become the leading category accounting for one-third of all participants. • In 2004 a Monday series was started with immediate success. • Participants in the various Summer Series seemed disappointed when daylight-saving finished. They clearly wanted more, so Score-O events on mid-week nights and Saturday afternoons were introduced from April to October. • In the summer of 2004/’05 a total of 81 events were held in Melbourne (another was cancelled due to floods) with 8,669 participations by 1367 people. • Snow and a blizzard once caused the cancellation of an event at Braemar College, on the side of Mount Macedon. On other occasions heavy rain has flooded creeks and caused some frantic late adjustments to courses. Map drawing was initially limited to the skilful few but the advent of OCAD and a PC in every home allowed many more people to get involved with map production. This change was timely because the growth in popularity of Park & Street-O events meant more and more maps were needed. The mapping load was spread amongst many willing helpers who soon found that map drawing on computer wasn’t such a ‘black art’ as they had thought. The contribution of Hans Steinegger and his OCAD software to the development of Park & Street-O in Australia should not be underestimated. A few people stick with Corel Draw and Illustrator but by far the majority of mappers now use OCAD, in Melbourne at least. Part of the strategy for maintaining participation growth has been to keep the costs down. Entry fees are $3 for adults and $1.50 for juniors. Season tickets make competing even cheaper for those who do large numbers of events. Maps are high quality, but black & white, master prints from which copies can be mass produced on any good photocopier (see the Donvale Pines example opposite). Controls are preprinted on the masters. With 82 events in 21 weeks during summer the emphasis is on keeping map production simple. Event organization is kept as simple as possible too. An event held on a pre-existing map will typically take 6 man-hours to organise and
