MAPLINK

MapLink keeps Orienteering alive during Melbourne’s long locked-down winter

DEBBIE DODD (OV) Photos: Geoff Hudson & Michael Hubbert

Debbie Dodd with QR check-in.

The new Winter fixture was fresh from the printers, and we were putting the finishing touches on our annual summer Awards Night, when the first Lockdown was announced. It was hard to believe we’d just hosted hundreds of orienteers from all over Australia for the Melbourne Sprint Weekend – soon to become a fond memory of better times. Knowing we’d need to get maps online quickly for people to exercise with, a small group sprang into action faster than you can say “vaccine”; within 24 hours, MapLink was born. “Oh, that’s just another collection of old maps for people to print off and use when they like” you say. “We’ve all done that”. In fact, MapLink is so much more than a DIY Library (we rapidly built one of those, too – it has over 700 maps from previous bush, park-street, sprint and MTBO events). Maps of previous events are all well and good, but, well, we’ve done them already. We have short attention spans! We want something new!! The call went out, and within no time, course setters were creating brand new courses; our MapRun team were setting up kml/kmz files at warp speed; we had a MapLink facebook page, an online virtual scoring system, and a Google docs library, which started filling up with maps. We were quickly spoilt for choice. People could use MapRun with their MapLink course, then share and discuss the best (or worst) routes, and sledge each other in fine Melbourne StreetO tradition. And the best bit? You could avoid running on those chilly autumn/winter nights – perfect now that huddling together for warmth was no longer allowed. People took to MapLink with great enthusiasm, and it was good fun; the best part was that without the need for large parking areas, we could start from previously unused locations in unfamiliar sections of some maps, giving a completely new feel to places we’d been many times. MapRun stats tell us that 2000 people used the app in Melbourne between April and September, and we estimate the same number again used MapLink without MapRun – that’s 20 people a day that otherwise would not have been orienteering. Of course we were all desperate to get back together for real events as soon as possible. Our wish was granted in late May, when “training” was allowed for groups of 20. Online pre-entry and staggered starts quickly became our norm, replacing Melbourne StreetO’s famously casual “rock up and chuck $5 in the bucket, and mass start at 7” approach. MapRun allowed us to have contactless punching. We wondered if anyone would want to come; after the first week we had to offer overflow daytime sessions to accommodate the numbers, and events were regularly over-subscribed (a first for Orienteering!) Melbourne crawled agonizingly slowly along its first Roadmap out of restrictions. We had 6 wonderful weeks of some sort of freedom, and had just held our first two competitive events for Winter, when the

MapLink table -maps printed at home, kept face down, and sanitizer ready to go.

MapRun start.

news came through in early July; we were all going back into another 6 week lockdown. MapLink came out of hibernation the next day as we dusted ourselves off for Iso 2.0. Interstaters will no doubt find it hard to understand what that second lockdown was like. I still don’t quite know how to process it. I remember doing my weekly Zoom exercise class in early August, and trying not to cry as they announced over 700 new cases that day. We all became experts on graphs and charts as we watched the numbers slowly fall; we all tried to predict 14-day averages, and figure out what “mystery cases” were. We watched Premier Daniel Andrews front up to 130 long and usually painful press conferences; we couldn’t look away. Looking at Eventor was unbearable, seeing those little blue “results” circles that showed an event had been held somewhere, while Victorian events all had lines ruled through them and “rescheduled dates tba” appended. It’s history now that 6 weeks turned into nearly 4 months. Our world grew increasingly smaller with curfews, border closures, rings of steel, and 5km radii. Some people were lucky – I had 12 different maps within my red circle; others had only a couple, or worse, none at all. We all knew exactly where our boundaries were; how many kilometres we could eke out by running every single street in our neighbourhood; how far we could drive our cars or ride our bikes if we followed the perimeter whilst gazing wistfully across an invisible barrier; and who we could meet up with when 2 people from different households were allowed to spend time together as long as their bubbles overlapped. We wanted to scream, sob, or curl up in a corner with a blanket over our heads. It seemed as if it would never end. Just writing these words is like revisiting a dystopian alternate universe. But new MapLink courses kept coming through the whole time. Mappers used them to learn new skills; novice course setters had time to learn at their own pace, and some turned into regular contributors – three of those have since set bush courses as well, which we used for some recent Sunday Training Sessions. In all, we received over 130 contributions, covering most of metropolitan Melbourne. “Maps Near Me” became our slogan, as we tried to make sure everyone in metro Melbourne had at least one MapLink within reach. We kept a master map, colour coded, and challenged course setters to fill in the gaps. We also put MapRun’s “Start Anywhere” function to great use so that people had as much flexibility as possible. People mapped and set courses in their own neighbourhoods, and on any maps they could get to in under an hour (often on their bikes). All courses had a time limit of 45 minutes, to ensure compliance with the strict exercise rules in place of one hour once per day.

MapRun route.

We were amazed at how many people continued using MapLink for all those long, tough weeks and months. Without it, our return to events would undoubtedly have been nowhere near as successful as it’s been. I recorded 53 MapLink runs personally; others did far more than me. Having some variation in our limited exercise “diets” was a life saver. We worked really hard at making sure Orienteering didn’t drop off everyone’s radar, by constantly pushing out new MapLinks on an almost daily basis. This was invaluable as an engagement tool; it gave us a welcome distraction, something different to talk about, and a reason to get outside for a regular run or a walk, and keep those Covid calories at bay. We hung on every word of every government announcement, waiting for the magic day when community sport could resume, the groups could be bigger than 5, and the distance we could travel was increased to 25 km. We suddenly had a whole world to reconnect with! I could venture north of Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway!! It was exciting and overwhelming all at once. Finally on November 2nd, after weeks of hypothetical planning, we held the first Summer Series Park Street event; and the first event of any kind in Melbourne since July 6. Armed with a new QR code checkin system, a gratifyingly long pre-entry list, our Covid kits of sanitizer and paper towel, our new credit card reader, and our new Covid safe plan, we swung into action. QR codes were unfamiliar to many; lots were using MapRunF or MapRunG for the first time; and many had simply forgotten what to do, it had been so long! We had to readjust to being social, albeit in groups of no more than 10 at once. We didn’t recognize old friends behind masks and under Lockdown Hair (queues at hairdressers were still insanely long those first couple of weeks). We were scared to touch anything that wasn’t ours, or to spend time talking to anyone for more than a few minutes. But we had maps in our hands, it was a glorious summer evening, and it was wonderful. We’re now well into our Summer program (as I write this). We have 8 different series up and running successfully; despite all the limits and constraints, our participation numbers are approaching normal. Everyone is expert at QR code check-in now. Things are gradually getting back to normal. It’s not the same as it was ….. but when you look at the rest of the world, we are so incredibly lucky. As you read this, the first vaccinations should be happening, we should be looking forward to Easter and beyond, perhaps we’ll be starting to think about overseas travel next year, and the memory of 2020 should be starting to fade. But if things go backwards, it’s reassuring to know that there’s a bunch of MapLink courses that I didn’t get around to doing last time ………