Wilkinson Homestead Museum, Gosnells

Sunday 25th March 2020

The weekend's mountain bike orienteering event attracted around 30 riders, including a handful of first timers, to explore the streets and paths abounding the Canning and Southern Rivers.  The 2 hr score course, which thankfully remained rain free, saw riders utilising all route choice options (through creative course setting), winding their way along both sides of the rivers utilising paved paths, narrow dirt tracks and open areas.  There were four riders who collected maximum points within the 2 hrs.

The map covered parts of seven different suburbs, including Langford, Thornlie, Beckenham, Kenwick, Maddington, Huntingdale and Gosnells so there were numerous boundary crossings involved!

Saturday 15th February 2020   

Set by Hadrien Devillepoix and Ellie Sansom, this challenging course was a combination of Canning River Reserve and suburban streets with only two bridge crossings. The weather was cool and humid and was well attended by 75 participants.

For those with a competitive streak: Nick Dale, having sealed a win in the series on the medium course, decided to take on the long course this week. Craig Dufty however took the line honours on the long, 4 mins ahead of Nick, with Rachel West 1 min further back. Juniors Liam Dufty and Riley McFarlane battled it out for the win over the last part of the course on the medium, with Liam eventually pulling clear to win. Tom Brownlie finished not far behind in 3rd having picked up an extra control. The line honours for the short course was also a tight contest with just 1 min 4 sec separating 1st to 3rd place. Noel Schoknecht took 1st, Robert Boekelaar 2nd and Ken Brownlie 3rd.

Saturday 8th February 2020

The Swanbourne MetrO event had good weather conditions and seemed to provide a rich variety of route choices in all the course lengths. Some orienteers opted for the flatter and more scenic but slightly longer route choice around Lake Claremont, with others choosing the more urban central Swanbourne. Many medium and long course participants tackled Allen Park and Melon Hill where there was a cluster of controls to be had but at the cost of some reasonably steep hills. It was wonderful seeing several newcomers, both children and adults, successfully complete the short and medium courses.