NOY3 - Masses come to the Mountain
Event: NOY3 - Mount Sugarloaf
Weather: Foggy early on then perfect.
Setter: Greg Bacon
Setup: The Bacons, Carolyn Chalmers, Mick Kavur, Geoff & Margaret Peel
Rego: Matt and Sarah Bacon
Finish: Greg & Kerry Bacon, Andrea Hackney, Peter Orr
Collection: Maria Orr, Dennis Lyons, Mick Kavour, Arthur Kingsland and Matt Bacon
From Greg Bacon (course setter)
This weekends event was held in conjunction with National Orienteering Day. There was a lot of work behind the scenes by the club to promote orienteering and it was hoped that there would be a good turn out of first time orienteer’s at the event. As it turned out we were swamped on the day and with nearly 150 entries and all involved were kept busy most of the day.
The weather was a mixed bag with fog and damp bush to greet the early starters with sunshine and dry conditions later in the day. Many of the first timers took on an additional course after they finished the Blue course. Carolyn Rigby also had extra games/activities for the large number of children that turned up.
With such a big turnout it was great that many of our club members offered to help out with the first timers and the admin in running the event.
This was my first time at setting a bush event and I received valuable help from Geoff Peel in making sure the courses were suitable, especially the Blue and Green and in planning for the event.
It was a Bacon family affair in setting the course with our first time in the area ending up with a trip to the hospital for my wife Kerry. A sharp stick gave her a nasty leg injury which tore some muscle off her right leg. Kerry spent two days in Maitland Hospital but all is well now.
The Sugarloaf Map has a large amount of detail, especially the rocks and boulders. Setting the course was a challenge for me as I had to make sure that I could at least place controls in locations where I could find them and make sure they were located correctly. The course map scale of 1:10000 was a little hard to read and this became more evident as a number of competitors marked their maps incorrectly. The Blue, Green and Easy Orange were 1:7500 scale, which was a lot easier to read.
The feedback was generally positive for the event and many of the first timers seemed keen to take on another event with the club. Thanks for all the help from the Bacon’s, Kerry. Matt and Sarah. Thanks to Geoff and Margaret Peel in helping to make the day a success. A big thanks to all the other helpers.