In this issue

Results for Event 1 - Blacks Walk
Announcing Event 2 - Wattle Park
Our New Website
Other News

Event #2 - Wattle Park - Open Now!

This is a map that has challenged inexperienced navigators for years. The feedback from a number of folks was that they missed the fine navigation that one needed to find our RFID controls (the red and white ones we used last year).

So....our first event was set very gently - if you got within 15 metres of the control, the phone would register it. To make things a little more interesting, we'll now reduce the size of the control circle so that you have to get within 3-4 metres of the control site before it registers.

Wattle Park is reasonably easy to get to. The start location is just next to the Chalet Carpark. There are BBQs, tables, shelter and toilets at this site - all mod cons. There is also a terrific coffee/cake shop directly North of the start - on the North side of Riversdale Road.

Event Details

Event Opens : Sunday 7 Jan
Event Closes : Sunday 14 Feb

For more information
Click the Event Date/Name in Coming Events

Please email any pictures or anecdotes you make while running this event
We'll use them in the newsletter for the following week.

Covid-Safe Adventure Racing

Welcome to our 2021 series of Covid-Safe events. These events are "self-service" and will run as follows:

Each Sunday evening, we publish a PDF version of a map with courses to suit all levels of fitness and navigation skills. The courses provided will be score courses - with courses for Juniors, Adult Walkers, Adult Runners and Cyclists.
You print one or more the map(s) - on A4 paper.
At the same time, we'll publish the courses available on the MapRun Website - MapRun is a smartphone application that tracks you as you move around a course. The scores and track recordings provided by MapRun are very impressive (see the isogaine site for details).
Officially, the course will stay open for one week - you (or your mob/pack/patrol/troop or family) can take part on the day/night that suits you best. We'll publish a report and official scores on the following Sunday evening. It is our intention to leave them open to provide a permanent resource for local Scout Groups. Courses can be used by anyone at any time.
There are permanent maps/courses that you can use - to check that your MapRun App is working correctly and you know how to use it. As events are run, they will become part of the library of Permanent Courses. See below.

Sadly, we are unable to provide the coaching that was a feature of previous years. Instead, we will provide leaders/parents with a series of pages that explain the key skills for each age group - and games/activities that can be used to learn and practise these skills. These are under construction at the moment.

Results - Event 1: Blacks Walk

More than 70 people took part in this first of our Covid-Safe Adventure Races. It was possible to get all controls in 7 km or thereabouts. We did turn up around 6:00 pm to see if anybody needed assistance with MapRun, but everybody seems to have handled it superbly!

Particular thanks to the folks that provided feedback on the event:

Harrison and Kirralee ran on Saturday and sent - Our First Adventure race for the season is done and dusted. The weather was meant to be wet and stormy on Friday night but we went anyway as we were super keen to give it a go. We had so much fun looking for checkpoints and holding Mum and Dad's mobile phones. We liked how they beeped when we got close to the checkpoints. We managed to get 21 out of 25 controls and made it back in around 45 minutes. We should have tried for a few extra checkpoints but we had a great time. Looking forward to next weeks course. PS we missed all the bad weather.
Cameron went out with Dad - reaching 23 of the 25 controls and getting back just in time. The main message in Cameron's email stressed the importance of the sausage sizzle...like others, he is looking forward to a time when we can all get back together and have a snag afterwards.

Click on the map above to see a larger copy

--- Results ---

Bike

Place	Surname	FirstName	Dist (km)	Mins	Ctls	2	3	4	5	6	Score
1	Wallis	Graham	8.44	41:7	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
2	Wright	Elton	4.87	58:30	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
3	Wright	Corey	8.09	58:50	25	5	5	5	5	5	100

Junior

Place	Surname	FirstName	Dist (km)	Mins	Ctls	2	3	4	5	6	Score
1	Logunov	Alexander	4.17	57:37	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
2	Greenhan	Aeon	7.34	57:31	24	5	5	4	5	5	96
3	White	Cameron	6.18	58:26	23	3	5	5	5	5	96
4	Coates	Harrison	5.19	46:40	21	4	3	4	5	5	88
5	Coates	Kirralee	5.17	46:42	21	4	3	4	5	5	88
6	Bigelow	Charlie	6.15	55:17	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
7	Bigelow	Lily	5.86	55:20	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
8	Greenhan	Opus	5.02	55:56	18	3	3	4	4	4	75
9	Greenhan	Eofy	5.02	55:56	18	3	3	4	4	4	75
10	Brown	Thomas & Amelie	4.37	57:31	17	4	3	3	3	4	68
11	Rowlands	Alexander	3.9	39:1	14	1	3	4	3	3	60

Run

Place	Surname	FirstName	Dist (km)	Mins	Ctls	2	3	4	5	6	Score
1	Coates	Richard	7.22	33:53	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
2	Trone	Steve	7.41	40:10	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
3	Ashburner	Dave	7.25	40:44	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
4	Johnston	Andrew	7.08	42:52	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
5	Evans	John	6.97	43:1	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
6	Miller	Steve	7.53	47:59	26	5	5	5	5	5	100
7	Davidson	Eric	6.47	52:7	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
8	Sutherland	Deb	7.49	54:1	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
9	Bayley	Coral	7.71	55:16	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
10	Janine	Coates	7.66	55:19	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
11	Brooks	Lachlan	7.74	57:13	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
12	Brooks	Guy	7.07	57:22	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
13	Le Get	Susan	8.15	60:15	25	5	5	5	5	5	97
14	Ashburner	Dave	7.26	43:3	24	5	5	5	5	4	94
15	P	Darian	5.16	46:18	20	3	3	4	5	5	86
16	Barnes	Aiden	5.75	54:22	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
17	Alder	Mel	5.97	55:44	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
18	Parry	Ian	7.99	65:42	24	5	5	5	5	4	76
19	Vanda	Luke	6.3	59:50	19	4	4	4	3	4	75
20	Alder	Michael	4.78	47:35	17	2	3	3	5	4	74
21	Bushby	M	7.59	69:15	25	5	5	5	5	5	70
22	Rowlands	David	3.89	24:59	14	1	4	3	4	2	58

Walk

Place	Surname	FirstName	Dist (km)	Mins	Ctls	2	3	4	5	6	Score
1	Stillwell	Dave	6.99	55:33	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
2	MacKay	Bill	4.44	57:46	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
3	Brooks	Geoffrey	4.5	59:1	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
4	Howard	Amanda	4.51	59:8	25	5	5	5	5	5	100
5	Hudson	ROBERT	6.08	57:15	23	3	5	5	5	5	96
6	White	Duncan	6.18	58:26	23	3	5	5	5	5	96
7	Bayley	Buzx	6.81	59:22	21	2	4	5	5	5	91
8	Dymowski	Alicia	5.41	55:56	21	3	4	4	5	5	89
9	Stirling	Lauris	5.63	55:29	20	2	3	5	5	5	88
10	Barrot	Martine	6.14	58:28	21	4	3	4	5	5	88
11	Brokner	Pierre	5	46:34	20	3	3	4	5	5	86
12	Wilson-Argenti	Anna	5.84	56:5	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
13	Thompson	Chris	5.24	58:15	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
14	Thompson	Daniel	5.5	58:15	19	2	3	4	5	5	84
15	Dejong	Henk	4.43	54:14	17	2	2	3	5	5	77
16	Bayley	Coral	5.37	58:58	18	3	3	3	4	5	77
17	Podolak	Damon	6.52	60:12	20	4	4	4	4	4	77
18	Lo Presti	Monica	4.82	50:58	18	3	3	4	4	4	75
19	Trease	Merv	4.5	55:9	17	2	3	4	4	4	73
20	Trease	Bev	4.5	55:15	17	2	3	4	4	4	73
21	Lee	Marguerite	4.93	56:27	17	2	3	4	4	4	73
22	Sedunary	Vic	5.58	58:27	19	4	4	4	5	2	73
23	Griffiths	Daniel	5.6	60:27	19	4	5	3	3	4	71
24	Smith	Tina	3.9	48:7	16	3	2	3	5	3	67
25	Stirling	Ian	4.72	59:30	14	3	3	2	2	4	57
26	Mathieson	Amy	10.62	76:55	25	5	5	5	5	5	49
27	Clements	Sam	10.53	76:58	25	5	5	5	5	5	49
28	Wu	Mark	4.77	59:25	11	1	2	3	3	2	47
29	Hâ€†e	Anna	4.75	59:25	11	1	2	3	3	2	47
30	Ramm	Eleanor	2.63	33:25	9	1	3	1	1	3	38
31	Hâ€†e	Jay	3.48	58:53	10	3	2	2	0	3	38

But Wait there's More - MapRun Results!

The table above provides a summary of results. For a more detailed view - click the course that interests you.

Things to try:

On the results display, click on the TRACK link to see the route chosen by you or others that you competed against. Can you spot the error that this runner made?
In the track display, you can look at an animated version of you against others. In the side panel, select one or more runners in the pulldown list. Press Load Animation, then press START. You can change the speed of the display by pressing SPEED + or SPEED -.

An example of the TRACK display; note the minor error - the missed laneway - between controls 22 and 1. Looking at other people's route choice is a great way of improving your own.

Suburban Adventure Racing - new Website

As a temporary measure, we've put up a website that is designed to support the current series. As a result of this, we have lost (temporarily) a number of resources that were available to Scout Groups. While we do plan to migrate this material back into the website, it may take some time. Please get in touch if you need assistance.

Our new website provides all the information you need!

Things you can find on the website

How does the new series work?
What events are planned?
Novice Notes - for new chums
Practise Courses - for use any time
Introduction to Smartphone Orienteering

Permanent Courses

In addition to the weekly series, we have prepared 4 additional courses that you can use to train on or to check out/learn about MapRun.

The courses currently available include:

Bellbird Dell, Vermont
Box Hill North
Macleay Park, Balwyn North
Valley reserve, Mount Waverley

You can find details of these in the Practise Courses page on our website. These courses are complete events that can be used by local families and youth groups for navigation training. In general, we use obvious features as checkpoints/control locations. While a Smartphone is more fun and provides an official result, you can run the course without a phone if you choose.

Urban Rogaines

During lockdown, we joined and extended many of our maps; as a result, we can now offer longer courses for those wanting more than a one hour walk/run. We called these isoGaines.

Each isogaine provides an A3 map and 80-90 controls. While it might take around 50 km to do all controls, you don't have to do this much.

Walkers/runners - get a maximum of 6 hours
Bike riders - get 5 hours (many riders will easily do 50 km in this time)

The isogaines and supporting material can be found at http://street.orienteering.com.au/isogaine/. This site tells you about MapRun, the type of maps that we use and the courses available.

To get a copy of the map, download the PDF onto a USB stick and take it to Officeworks. They will print it on A3 heavier paper (say 200-220 gsm) for less than $2. Where else can you get 5-6 hours of entertainment for less than $2?

Our Event Fixture - Feb/March 2021

Week Beginning	Proposed Location	Suburb
31 Jan	Blacks Walk	COMPLETED
7-Feb	Wattle Park	Box Hill South
14-Feb	Mahoneys Reserve	Forest Hill
21-Feb	Westerfolds Park	Templestowe
28 Feb	Jells Park	Glen Waverley
7-Mar	Somers Reserve	Heatherdale
14-Mar	Ferndale Park	Glen Iris
21-Mar	Ruffey Lake	Doncaster
28-Mar	Napier Reserve	Glen Waverley

Other Navigational Activities

For those that need more than one navigation/running fix per week,
we offer the following suggestions.

---------------------------

CBD Gaine

The CBD-Gaine (the best event of the year according to many) is scheduled for the end of February. This 4 hour event starts near the city and takes you to a series of interesting/historical locations in and around the CBD.

Entries will open soon - get in quick - numbers will be limited this year.

Watch the CBD-Gaine Home Page for more details

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Virtual Rogaine - Dandenong Ranges

A permanent rogaine course that uses the map from the Dandenongs Rogaine. Ideal as a weekend activity, this challenging rogaine provides a great navigational planning exercise followed by a challenging physical activity. This event has the added advantage that you can compare your performance to the results achieved by others.

See the VRA's Virtual Rogaine Page for more information

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Street Orienteering

Orienteering Victoria provide a series of one hour walks/runs right through the daylight saving period. Currently, there are events held from 6:30 - 8:00 pm on Mondays (Southern suburbs), Tuesday (Western Suburbs), Wednesday (Eastern Suburbs) and Thursday (Northern Suburbs).

For more information see StreetO Central or the OV Park and Street Page.

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Scout Leaders

We provide a series of events and activities that allows you to train youth members at all levels in the skills appropriate for their age-group. As time progresses, we hope to build a website that provides a comprehensive series of navigational training exercises for young children....such as:

Spatial awareness games and activities for Joeys

Map reading and simple treasure hunts for Cubs

Navigational/fitness exercises for Scouts/Venturers

There is a possibility that we could run 1-2 training days for Leaders/Parents - to review training methods and show them how to use MapRun. If interested, please get in touch and we'll see what's possible.

Your feedback on our site/activities is much appreciated. If you can send a few pictures, a few lines about your participation and/or suggested additions/improvements, we would be very grateful.

We need your help

Please forward this email to others that you
think might be interested in this activity.

Let them know they can see previous issues or subscribe to this newsletter

Our series continues - right through to the end of daylight saving; it provides a great way to enjoy Melbourne's parks and gardens - whether you walk, run, push a pram or walk the dog.

Check out our Coming Events Page to see if there's an event near you.

Suggestions Welcome

If you have any suggestions, spot issues with a map or course,
please let us know by email.

Together, we'll provide a great service for local families and youth groups.

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