Previous news and announcements

tRicky had been preparing for the Claisebrook event for quite some time, being a new and very complex map (for a Metro event) there were a lot of decisions to make about CP locations, probable pedestrian traffic and a number of busy roads through the map causing OOB headaches.  As it turned out there were more important issues to deal with such as a possible cricket final on the same night (avoided), then the lockdown (ended the day prior) and finally the remnants of a tropical cyclone passing...

Saturday 23rd January

The MetrO event at Mullaloo was the last of 4 in the Joondalup area.  Weather was certainly different being on the coast in the afternoon - at best described as "a pleasant cool change with a sea breeze" - when sitting/standing around for a while, it was decidedly chilly.  The cricket match that had been set up next to the assembly area caused fewer problems than first anticipated.

Controls had been set out along the beach, and also throughout the parks and housing.  There...

Saturday 30th January

At first sight Bibra Lake is an unlikely prospect for a MetrO event, with the land being strung out around the extensive swampland. However, it provides a variety of terrain and consequently some substantial route choice options. The Short course could be completed entirely in parkland but a well-chosen loop through the bush track network was about 500 m shorter. The shortest option for the Medium course required choosing an efficient route to visit all the controls in the...

Saturday 16th January

A fun but challenging time was had by all in the heat of North Freo on Saturday. The course setter (Noel Schoknecht) sat out this event at home – in isolation, after returning from Christmas and New Year with his Mum in Melbourne, so it was left to Simmo and others to do the hard yards!

Saturday 9th January

After a scorching week the weather cooled down somewhat to allow the Shelley event to go ahead with 72 competitors / groups participating.  The course was set by junior Kate Braid with good feedback from the short course competitors who noted that all first four finishes took different routes for their 7 controls. Duncan Sullivan was first finisher on the short course with Ken Brownlie second who was closely followed by his grandson Archie Brownlie in 3rd. First female...

Saturday 12th December

A fine afternoon with a cooling sea breeze saw 81 starters, including about 15 novices and a pleasing number of recent first-timers, gathered to explore the remnant bush of Shepherds Bush and the surrounding back-streets of Kingsley.

The map is the central east-west portion of the Kingsley map, centred on the major bicycle/pedestrian path known as Cattle Trail. Several roads that run across the map were made out-of-bounds for safety reasons and to constrain route choices for...

Saturday 5th December

Cottesloe proved to be a superb setting for this week’s Metro event with controls within the main suburb and in various nooks and crannies as well as along the beach front. One control on the groyne ended up being wave drenched due to the brisk wind giving runners a complimentary shower to avoid overheating!

The event commenced at the Civic Centre where an additional mini-sprint map added to the complexity of route planning.

The two controls at the end of sand paths onto...

Saturday 28th November

Intrepid orienteers enjoyed a beautiful, if not brisk, day out in the inviting Warwick Bushland last Saturday. Very fast runners managed to win the three courses with less than perfect routes. Isaac Madden took out the Short course by 3 minutes from Ruben Claessens, who is improving every week. Amy Dufty just pipped Jessica Madden by 4 seconds to be the fastest woman.

Liam Dufty had an even bigger margin on the Medium course, leading in Cedric Gros by over 5 minutes....

Saturday 21st November

The third MetrO series event for this season was held in excellent weather conditions in Samson. It was great to see a large number of newcomers trying out orienteering for the first time!

The bush tracks in Sir Frederick Samson Memorial Reserve and the intricate street pattern in the surrounding suburb made for interesting route choice decisions that kept many participants second guessing themselves until the end. On the short course, Duncan Sullivan came through for his...

Saturday 14th November

The unseasonal weather forecast for the second MetrO event didn’t stop 69 people, including about a dozen novices, arriving at Joondalup to take part. There was an ominous, short heavy shower just before the event briefings but then almost no rain until after controls were collected.

Advertising for the event promised something a bit different, and it was. The event was entirely within the strip of Yellagonga Regional Park between suburban Joondalup and Lake Joondalup,...

Saturday 7th November

The first event of the MetrO season in Thornlie provided participants with a good mix of urban and semi-urban areas with the river to cross via one of the two bridges or the log crossing for an adventurous challenge (as far as this setter's aware no-one fell in).  Controls were nicely situated on features to maximise route choice and included a gully, an earth wall and a rocky ford to add a bit of interest!  Sadly the grass seeds I promised wouldn't be there grew in the...

Saturday 22nd August 2020

Sunday 13th September 2020

What a fantastic weekend we had down at Frazzle.

Several took the opportunity to camp and enjoyed several hours around a camp fire after watching a beautiful glowing sunset.  The clear sky gave the opportunity to gaze at the incredibly bright stars overhead.

While the sun had been hiding the previous weekend, it was not the case for the Frazzle event and it was a perfect, warm, sunny spring morning. 

Thanks to setter Chas Lane and controller Mike Howe, the courses were...

Sunday 9th August 2020

What a difference a day made
Not much more than 12 hours
From sunshine and flowers
Then there was rain...and rain...
...and mud...and a bit more rain.

Tracy Burns and family spent a lovely afternoon and evening on Saturday at Spice Brook, putting out controls and then camping in the paddock.  Unfortuntely the weather changed overnight and there were forecasts of 100km/hr winds and rain of 20mm+.   

So raindrops started falling on everyone's heads, but still around 50 orienteers...

Sunday 2nd August 2020

It was a chilly start to the day on Sunday but at least not far to go for most for the first NavDash event on the restarted Sprint Series at Scotch College in Swanbourne. 

Our COVID protocols seem to be working well with a fine example of social distancing at the start.

More than 80 people were challenged by the twists and turns of the school campus, a two-sided map and then ending with an open run across the Scotch playing field to reach the finish. 

Hard courses were...