Australian National Orienteering Carnival, Victoria 24/9/22 – 2/10/22

Well, the carnival is over and we have survived! Trevor and I went into this carnival unsure whether we should even be turning up. At the last nationals we ran in all the events but the relays and Trevor ran a lot of that with an injured Achilles tendon. This meant that it was very very bad by the time the carnival was over, and he suffered for over a year before it started to come good. Since then we’ve been through all sorts of injuries and sicknesses, including an ankle operation for Erica last December and a sprained ankle (the other one) less than a month ago. On top of that we both had COVID in July and have lived with the resulting lack of fitness since then. Trevor was feeling unwell even on the drive over here.

This time we left it pretty late to decide to come and made it a bit easier on ourselves. We decided not to compete in three of the nine events. Erica entered a shorter version of the course for her age group when she could and Trev entered the short version of the long champs. Trevor used his new SI Air timing stick, and loved the smoother and quicker punching process. Results were not displayed at events, but were, instead, uploaded so that people could use their mobile phones to see the live results (updated every 2 minutes). We have had a really good taste of the local maps and some great fun in the last week. What’s more, our bodies are still feeling relatively good.

We even came out with some OK looking results.

We arrived at Campbells Creek Cottage on Friday 23rd after two days of travel and an overnight stop in Bordertown with Paul and Sue. Perfect spot for us with two comfy bedrooms, good heating , a well equipped kitchen and a washing machine.

Saturday 24th Sept am – Victorian Middle Distance Champs, Daylesford

A long walk to the start for Trevor. A different start for Erica. Very little time spent in the assembly area because of this. Trevor 23rd (M60A) of 25, and suffering with visual disturbances in the finish. Erica Mispunched (totally missing one control out of her course). Not a great start to the week.

Saturday 24th Sept pm – Orienteering Grand Prix, Daylesford

This was a novelty event involving lots of hills (including a big one to the finish) , and a school sprint section after mass start waves. We both ran our age, which meant we were both running on course G. Trev was 10th of 11, Erica was 3rd of 4. Trevor broke his compass, Erica broke her magnifier.

Sunday 25th Sept am – Australian Middle Distance, Blackwood

A killer uphill walk to the start after a bit of quick equipment shopping. Thank heavens it wasn’t raining or it would have been slippery as well as steep and long. An optional river crossing back across to the last control. A long wait for presentations that partially happened. Trevor 19th of 30 (M60A), Erica 1st of 12 (W 55AS) making her the Australian Middle Distance Champion in that class.

Monday 26th Sept – School Sprint Championships and Goldfields 3 day- day 1, Kyneton.

We went along to watch the kids sprint. They started in the Botanic Gardens and ran up to the school, where they completed varying numbers of loops. The others then followed on the same courses. Most had a map flip and a spectator control in the finish chute before peeling off up the hill again. Those who didn’t understand the somewhat confusing map suffered the consequences. We were a bit sad not to be running, but I think our bodies were thankful. We visited friends who were housesharing in Kyneton after the event finished.

27 SA orienteers met up at the Railway Hotel in Castlemaine for a really delicious dinner.

Tuesday 27th Sept- Schools Long Distance Champs and Goldfields 3 day- day 2, Mount Alexander.

There had been a lot of rain in this area over the last few weeks. Because of this, the paddock planned as a parking area was unusable. There was a last minute scramble by organisers to request car pooling and set up shuttle buses from nearby Heathcote. We did our bit by staying away competely, and watched our phones for results while taking a day off. Sadly, a number of our school team had tested positive for COVID and were isolated and unable to compete.

We entertained fellow Tintookies James and Julia to a pulled together tea. I think they supplied more cheese and nibbles than we did stir fry meat and veg, but the company was great.

Wednesday 28th Sept – Schools Relays and Goldfields 3 day- day 3, Chewton.

After two days off, we were raring to go, but first the excitement of the relays. From a spectator point of view the event was disappointing. We could hardly see the orienteers from the start until the finish chute and the change over was also narrow and hard to see.

Early results for some runners looked to be mispunches, but were later checked and fixed in the computing system to show clean runs. With a number of our runners out with COVID we were very happy to see our SA boys come in first Australians and our Senior Girls 3rd Aussies. By the time the results were known were were already out on our own courses and missed the presentations!!

We both chose to run the shortest hard course, and enjoyed it, with Erica particularly enjoying noticing the many native orchids on her route. Trevor was 11th out of 48 starters, and Erica was 15th out of 55 starters.

We were invited to join the local Castlemaine Naturalists on a wildflower walk near Maldon and spent a couple of delightful hours looking for flowers and discussing flowers with some fellow enthusiasts (including our friends and fellow orienteers, the Radfords)

Thursday- Rest Day and Moving Day

We moved across from our very comfortable cottage in Campbells Creek (Castlemaine) to a timeshare unit in Kyneton. We met up with Beri (old family friend of Erica’s family) before we left town, and shared memories and news, while eating more than our fair share of crunchy and delicious Anzac biscuits.

Our new home is not as luxurious as the other, but certainly adequate for our needs and has the added benefits of superb blue wrens outside our lounge room window in the bush and excellent showers.

Friday 30th Sept- Australian Sprint Championship, Salesian College, Sunbury.

Today saw us in the car and heading towards Melbourne on the Calder Freeway. The parking was poorly managed and we had yet another long walk to the assembly area (but not a long walk to the start).

The start was on the oval which was the home of “The Ashes”. This was the place that The Ashes were first presented in their little urn. The final control was decorated with a set of giant stumps and bails as runners entered the finish chute and the courses were tricky among the multi-level buildings and occasional fences and walls which could not be crossed. Club member Rob Kriesl was there for the first time this carnival, as was past member (and friend) Maurice Patten (now an ACT orienteer).

We had been promised that the long awaited presentations from last weekend would be done today, so waited around and eventually were rewarded with the certificates we had earned, but not before yet another long winded and protracted wait. By the time it happened most had gone home…. and we still had to walk all the way back to the car, patiently waiting all alone back by the entrance gate. We were exhausted by the time we reached home. Erica and fellow club member (and place getter from last weekend) Clive made the most of the opportunity by taking a photo together on the podium despite the fact that we didn’t run in the same course.

Trevor 20th of 31 (M60A), Erica 14th of 23 (W55A).

A second dinner for SA orienteers was held in Kyneton. The number of those falling with COVID had continued to rise and we ended up with 22 for dinner instead of the expected 35. The Albion in Kyneton were very understanding and once again we enjoyed a good chance to chat about the orienteering and enjoy each others company.

Saturday 1st October – Australian Long Distance Championships, Maldon

After a couple of sunnier days, the organisers encouraged car-pooling, but allowed parking in a paddock adjoining the assembly area. We had another long walk to the start after a wait for the toilets. We were both doing short versions of our courses today. For the first time this carnival our start times were quite a long way apart.

The mixture of tricky rocky hills (for Trevor), spur/gully and complex Gold mining terrain made the courses challenging and those who didn’t get it right suffered for their mistakes with time losses. Trevor got it right, and came out a winner by one second (M55AS) in a field of 11 making him the Australian Long Distance champion in this age class.

Erica missed the podium by one place, with one costly error and two smaller ones. She was 4th of 16 in W55AS.

As we went to leave, the Tasmanian School team bus came past us in the paddock and sank down in the soft ground. Diments to the rescue with shovel and Max Trax. Sadly the old shovel came out second best with them using the handle-less blade to do most of the digging, and in the end a snatch was required to get them out. This made us just late enough to pick up fellow club member Vanessa and give her a lift into Castlemaine on our way back to Kyneton.

And that’s it for another year. One win each and our bodies still able to walk. Lots of fun and lots of good company with like minded people. It leaves us feeling keen to do more of it soon.