Flat out at Maitland Park
Event: Newcastle Park Tour2 - Event1
Location: Maitland Park
Entries: 71
Weather: Just right
Yesterday evening saw a very successful kick-off to Newcastle’s second “Park Tour” on a new map of Maitland Park. This area had not previously been utilised for orienteering and the new Denis Lyons produced map is another treasure to add to our assets. Two courses were on offer, a 2.3km course that stayed within the park and a longer 4.8km version that ventured beyond the park boundaries into some quiet surrounding streets, even crossing over the highway via pedestrian overpasses. Course setter Malcolm Roberts ensured that this was never going to be an easy walk/jog/run in the park as the courses were quite challenging due to some tight, but fair control placements that rewarded accurate navigation and harshly penalised lazy orienteering. I also admired his use of piles of bricks and flowerpots as stand holders, which was very ingenious and resourceful.
It’s obvious that Steven Todkill and Josh Blatchford are looking to continue their fight for dominance at club events with Steven drawing first blood, taking a narrow 21 second victory over his younger opponent on the long course. Veteran Robert Vincent was third but only 1 second shy of being a full 2 minutes behind Josh.
Young Eleanor Ross took out what is probably her first but unlikely to be her last women’s category win. While probable favourite Karen Blatchford was carrying an injury and not at top speed, Eleanor still held the likes of Alice Moore (2nd), Nicole Haigh (3rd), and Kim van Netten (4th) at bay over the 4.8 km long course.
Younger women also shone on the short course with Nicola keeping the Blatchford surname in the winner’s circle. Second woman home was Robyn Charlton in second place overall, with Rhiana Roberts 3rd woman to finish. First man home on the short course was young Scott Charlton (3rd overall) closely followed by Andrew Power, then Peter Burkholz.
Next week promises another exciting instalment of this series with a remap of Blackbutt Reserve. It’s been a long while since we orienteered here so I’m looking forward to it, but not the hills after this weeks almost entirely flat offering.