HIGH-O
The Return of the High-O TRACY MARSH
Andrew Brown running into the last control on Event 1.
T
he High-O had been a regular summer event in the NSW Snowy Mountains and Victorian Alps in the nineties and the Albury-Wodonga Orienteering Club (AWOC) brought the event back this summer as a three-day Orienteering event in the ski village of Dinner Plain in the Victorian Alps. The format changed from the traditional 2-day long-distance alpine Orienteering event. This year it was a smorgasbord of five events, for a bargain total entry fee of $50 and over 70 orienteers took part. I treated myself to the three events on the smorgasbord that didn’t require wheels, whereas my Finnish-Aussie race partner, Virpi Komulainen, treated herself to four races. The first event on 22 January was a Sprint race through Dinner Plain, won by Mace Neve and Ewan Shingler. It took us through the various ski chalets of
Choosing routes at the start. 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER MARCH 2022
Dinner Plain, across playgrounds, amongst snowgums and over skiruns. A MTBO race followed, that Virpi took part in on roller-skis, setting off like a true Flying Finn along the Great Alpine Road towards the first control before the terrain slowed her down a bit. The maps marked the location for our BBQ later that evening.
Sunday’s third event was in the style of the traditional epic High-O race. Competitors needed to pair up, and the 16- and 19-year-old siblings Ewan and Nea Shingler showed endurance beyond their years to win the long-distance course. Unique control locations included the “stationary kangaroo” (a kangaroo skeleton). Event 4 was another MTBO race, that took racers out past the tent sites where we freecamped at JB Plain. Again we gathered for dinner after the day’s races, this time at the Dinner Plain Hotel.
Tracy Marsh & Virpi Komulainen.
Nea & Ewan Shingler.
