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Spring sunshine drew regular orienteers and those looking for a family day out to the southern end of Marginata. Several large family groups enjoyed the E level course that took spectacular advantage of water was actually flowing in the main creek. On the harder courses mainly open running combined with pockets of complex rock made for some interesting loop courses.

While event day went smoothly, there were several challenges and false starts during the setting process. The original area was

It was a Wundaful spring day with even the lakes on the Pony Road access track having shrunk to passable levels.  Fewer full members than expected attended but numbers were made up by more than twenty Casuals, one of whom was lucky enough to have her mobile phone retrieved by Ian Clayton from half way round her course.

There was some confusion when control description slips for a couple of courses did not always match the versions on the maps but courses were well planned to allow use of the

We were lucky with the weather - it rained heavily on the way to the event and then cleared. The courses, set by Jack and Paul, were complex. Competitors had to take care to tag the correct controls as there were nearly 50 controls in a compact area with many being on rock features. The Paterson's Curse was prolific - this made running harder and also concealed the many small rocks that tripped up a few orienteers. Despite these challenges, almost all competitors completed their courses. BO

Fred Jacoby Park, Mundaring

Fortunately for all, the rain forecast for Wednesday 18th August had finished by the time the Primary Schools Champs at Fred Jacoby Park were held. Over 350 students participated and judging from comments and written feedback from their teachers they thoroughly enjoyed the day and their courses set by Ian Fletcher. Participants could choose to run as individuals in the boys or girls 10 or 11-12 year old age groups or as pairs in either age group. Competition for the

ECU provided a great venue for the sixth NavDash in the series. The setters made good use of the multiple buildings, gardens and small alleys to give participants challenging courses. 

Sten Claessens prevailed on the long course, with Hadrien and Craig close behind. On the Short hard course Amy Dufty sprinted well to be first, 2 minutes ahead of senior Ken Brownlie.  Newcomers Marcus and Aria Simpson can be pleased with their win on the Easy course.

At last, a sunny and warm orienteering event! Around 90 people enjoyed the courses set by Sten Claessens and Russell Candy on Saturday afternoon. We were promised intricate pathways and we certainly received them. The map, which encompasses Willetton SHS, Burrendah Primary School and Castlereagh School, was originally produced by Paul Dowling in 2018 but was updated by Sten Claessens this year.

A beautiful warm and sunny day welcomed orienteers to the Middle Distance Championships.

There had been a lot of rain recently and many of the watercourses were flowing. On the Thursday before the event, the southern road was a flowing stream and a dry ditch had become a 3 m wide torrent, so some last minute changes had to be made to the Easy and Very Easy courses. The terrain was varied with some fast open forest, slower patches of mature grass trees and complex rock detail on the steeper

Apart from a few very short and light showers conditions were ideal, cool with minimal wind, good surfaces with just a few puddles. To prevent Dieback disease spread participants bike wheels were scrubbed and sprayed at the pre-start.

The original 1982 foot orienteering map of Lake Leschenaultia had just been extended and converted for MTBO by Duncan Sullivan to an unusually large scale so as to accommodate the more recent network of dedicated one-way mountain bike trails in the north.
Courses were

Frazzle was a BO Club event, set by Lois and Rob West, with Helen Bailey as controller. Held on farmland near Brookton, it was the SOL Long event. The area was mostly open farmland, interspersed with complex granite sections. There were plenty of sheep with the lambs just a few months old. The heavy rains produced some very high, wet capeweed in large parts of some paddocks and made running extremely difficult. The creeks and flat areas were waterlogged after the rainfall for the month of

The mapped area of John Forrest National Park covers a steep and bushy valley. As the park is also close to Perth an event at here is an ideal opportunity to introduce orienteering to newcomers. The Setters aimed to have beginner-friendly courses on the VE, E, M and H4 that avoided as much of the bush and climb as possible. The event was promoted via Facebook and Eventor as a beginner-friendly event and this extra promotion resulted in a big turn out of beginners.

Thirty four people

Tour de Narrogin: A Four Stage Event

Stage 1 of the Tour: Foxes Lair MTBO

We were lucky with the weather for this, the fourth MTBO event for 2021 - there were only a few showers to deal with. Twenty six MTBO-ers came to Narrogin, most of them from Perth and a few from Dunsborough. The irrepressible trails enthusiast Michael Chin (the driving force behind Wheatbelt Cycling Collective) turned up and immediately entered his first MTBO course. We had several other newbies too.

Jack Dowling set

Gunapin is traditionally a lovely area to set or compete on and it did not disappoint. There were lots of favourable comments from competitors about the courses, which is always good for a setter and controller to hear, after putting lots of time, thought and effort into designing them. It was especially pleasing to note that only 5 people DNF’d or mispunched out of over 100 entries, and also that winning times on all but the E course were within the technical guidelines. Many people did a

A wet, windy and cold Sunday was promised by the Weather Bureau but Paul and Erica Smale and Jenny and John Major were up early to set up the Jorgensen Park event, hoping there would be some intrepid and dedicated orienteers turn up. We were not disappointed as several hearty souls defied the weather and turned out to take part. Most were lucky and only got wet from the bush as the rain eased.

A big thank you goes to Ceri for towing the caravan, Melinda for computer duties and Erica for gate

The Secondary Schools champs were held in pleasant weather at Fred Jacoby Park on Wednesday 16^th. Participants and their teachers seemed to enjoy the day and the courses, appropriate for the age and experience of the competitors, set by Ian Fletcher. Pleasingly, 13 of the 15 schools attending the event had participants on the podium. The winning school was All Saints, edging out the previous (2019) winner, La Salle, by 4 points, with Shenton College’s small, but experienced team coming in

It was a fine but cool day for the MTBO at Langford Park near Jarrahdale for about 30 bike riders. Rain threatened from time to time, but the sun came out and the bush looked lovely.

The standard 3-level event attracted some very experienced MTBOers as well as newcomers but was not an easy ride for some! The multiple tracks winding through the bush and Alcoa revegetation areas were reportedly tricky but generally enjoyable due to pleasant terrain.