World Orienteering Day 2023 events around Australia

VICTORIA, WESTERFOLDS PARK, MELBOURNE, May 19

David Jaffe (President of OV)

Over 300 students took part in Victorian Secondary Schools Championships, [WOD 2023 event], in Westerfolds Park. It was the first time we’d used Westerfolds in recent memory but it worked well as experienced orienteers came out on top, but the many novices still got a taste of orienteering and got around. The weather gave us all four Melbourne seasons in a morning with a couple of showers sending everyone scurrying for shelter but we saw some blue sky so we can’t complain.

There were easy ‘non-competition’ courses and moderate ‘competitive’ courses for each year level. We estimate that about 50–60% of attendees were orienteering for the first time but we still got everyone back. To add interest for all competitors, we offered a last control sprint prize for all and there was a maze for those who hadn’t done enough running.

It was fantastic to have some of our current and former JWOC and WOC team members helping at the event as it shows the students what they might achieve. It was people like Asha Steer, Aislinn Prendergast, Callum White and Brodie Nankervis who helped sign up students keen to stay involved with the sport. All the competitors also got details of upcoming events on the back of their maps. It was clear that the teachers and students really appreciated the efforts that went into this event.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, ADELAIDE SUBURBS, May 17–23

Erica Diment

World

Orienteering

Day fell at an excellent time for SA. We were in a lead up to our individual school championships on 29 May, and were offering four-week afterschool orienteering programs in a number of different areas of Adelaide. In total, 99 kids attended after-school programs across six different sites doing orienteering activities in school grounds or local parks. In addition, Sporting Schools Programs were run in two schools, with 318 kids attending orienteering sessions as part of WOD. We also had one weekend event on 21 May, held in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, attended by 64 people in rainy weather. Alongside the Beaumont event was KID-O. KID-O is a program for young kids, which gets them involved in practising early orienteering skills, spatial thinking and being in the outdoors. Eight kids attended KID-O with ten parents on the day – enjoying a string course and doing block puzzles and colouring on the colourful KID-O blanket. In total we had 499 WOD participants.

NSW, McMAHONS POINT, SYDNEY, May 17

Warwick Selby (Garingal Orienteers)

The opening of the Moonlight Madness mid-week event series for 2023 was timed to coincide with World Orienteering Day. Moonlight Madness events have 45-min-score courses and are held approximately monthly over winter, designed to coincide with the full moon where possible. Starts are from 17:30 to 19:00 so that runners get to experience street orienteering in the dark using head-torches.

This first event in the 2023 series was held at McMahons Point on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. Fabulous views across the harbour were on offer from many of the control locations, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and Luna Park. It also included the historic BP oil storage terminal that has been rejuvenated into a waterside park with tracks, stairs, cliffs and views. The course covered some famous Sydney gardens, including that of Wendy Whiteley. Eighty-nine entrants had a great time running around the course and celebrating orienteering in Sydney.

ACT, PATRICK WHITE LAWNS, CANBERRA, May 21

QUEENSLAND, May 17–23 Felicity Facrosato

Toni Brown

In 2016 OACT held the world’s first ever World Orienteering Day event, which began in the dark at 6:20 am in Canberra’s Remembrance Park. IOF’s World Maze Race first started in 2021. This year OACT had a bit of fun with a free, fun and fast (if you feel like it), come-and-try event. After a four-year break OACT jumped on board with the IOF-sponsored WOD activities. Held on the delightful Patrick White Lawns in the nation’s Parliamentary Triangle the maze proved to be both challenging (especially the set up in what felt like galeforce winds) and loads of fun.

The parliamentary lawns were chosen as a high-profile location that would catch the eye of outdoor Sunday morning strollers, runners, dog handlers and the like. Well, it did just that! An organised Fun Run passing our ‘front door’ meant that our sport was seen by thousands, plus the regulars who love their Lake Burley Griffin circuit, and tourists passing by.

The morning started early with people turning up from 9 am. But the biggest crowds came around 10–11 am, and many stayed on for a good hour running all the courses and more. There were a number of families who discovered the duel course and there was absolutely no stopping them! More than 70 people stopped and participated in the maze event for fun! For a short period from around 11 am we cleared the maze and invited all present to take part in the ‘formal’ part of the race. Full SI, blind start, all welcome. World Maze Race competitors included regular orienteers as well as some people who had never orienteered before. The end result was 2021 Champion Kas Gregory now holds the ACT World Maze Race title for 2023.

Queensland celebrated WOD at five different venues across our vast state. While the capital hosted an Orienteer of the Year event with 122 participants, there were also opportunities 1350 km to the north, and 400 km to the west. Up north, Townsville hosted an event with 39 people, 32 of whom were newcomers. Townsville has a thriving adventure racing community and with thanks to the volunteer efforts from Linda and her team, over very many years, they are being shown the joys of orienteering. The Gold Coast hosted a MapRun event for 20 participants, of whom six were new, while up the mountain in Toowoomba, five new families joined a small group of regulars for a sprint around Queens Park. Out to the west, near a tiny town called Drillham, eight new families were among the 23 people who enjoyed the runnability of the Sandalwood Park map. They were so enthusiastic many of them went out on two and even three different courses. They also discovered the other compulsory side of bush orienteering –the building of the teepee. This one even had a window!

WESTERN AUSTRALIA, SPICE BROOK, BINDOON, May 21

Carol Brownlie and Janet Fletcher

The event at Spice Brook, registered as a WOD event, was the first in our ‘winter bush’ season and attracted just over 70 regular orienteers. The location was over 1-h drive from metropolitan Perth, so it may have contributed to the relatively low number of newcomers. One dad and his young son camped nearby and were there to greet us as we arrived with the registration caravan. This six year old and his mum were our only entrants on the very easy course.They did have fun. Among the newcomers to the Spice Brook event there was a journalistand her friend who thoroughly enjoyed their first foray into orienteering. Conor has since written an article for Landscope, a magazine published by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, on her experience. She hopes it will be published in their winter edition. If so, it will be a very nice promotionof the sport.

TASMANIA, WINDSOR PARK, LAUNCESTON, May 20

Francesca Taufer (Coach in Residence)

We organised a ‘come and try orienteering’ event at Windsor Park on Saturday.The event was free and open for everyone,with the goalto have more people joining orienteering in Launceston. It had two easy courses that you could try, one 1.5 km and the other one 3 km. Since the date coincided with the World Orienteering Day we had decided to also add a small maze activity. We built a maze close to the finish where the participants had to find their way through it on three different courses, all with different controls and sicard units. We had 22 participants with a total of 46 runs on different maze courses, ranging in age from 3 years old to 80. The challenge among family or club members was on and we're sure people had a lot of fun.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first article in the series introducing orienteering clubs from jurisdictions charged with organising major orienteering events in a given year.