Indoor Sprinting and Melbourne City Racing Bring Two Firsts to Australia WORD S & P HOTO S DE B BI E D O D D
Two Australian Firsts were held successfully in 2019, both in Melbourne, and both receiving rave reviews – meaning they won’t be Lasts!
depicting each floor, the large voids created by the atrium, several upper level suspended spaces external to the main building structure, and “scattered” (ie movable) furniture, which warranted a completely new Ocad symbol! He then set the courses, taking every advantage of the complexity. Stuart McWilliam (DRV) took on the job of creating outdoor courses, for the two stage event; these were just as much fun, and only slightly less tricky.
Monash Indoor Outdoor Sprint, June 2019
Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club has developed a great partnership with Monash University, through holding recent high profile Sprint events at the Clayton Campus. But the request to run Australia’s very first Indoor Sprint took the relationship to a whole new level – four new levels in fact!
The race attracted 140 participants, including interstaters from the ACT, NSW and even WA. Spectating was fantastic – I’ve never seen so many bemused, befuddled competitors running into the building then stopping dead, scratching their heads, turning their maps and themselves in circles as they desperately tried to orientate themselves; and that was just on the ground floor!
Australia’s very first Indoor Sprint took the relationship to a whole new level – four new levels in fact!
The post-race comments were overwhelmingly in favour – “When can we do that again!” was heard more than once. Requests for a repeat event were so prolific that we returned to Monash in January 2020 for a combined Mega Sprint – a single race that began with a mind bending Indoor section, followed by an equally challenging Outdoor component, planned by coach in residence and world class sprint orienteer Frederic Tranchand. We thank Monash Clayton for their ongoing support and enthusiasm, and look forward to a return some time soon.
It began with a tentative enquiry and an immediately positive response, then a lot of meetings and paperwork, that got the Monash Indoor-Outdoor Sprint happening. The Learning and Teaching Building is an architectural showpiece featuring a spectacular atrium, and an unusual staircase and podium (which after multiple visits I still don’t quite understand). Various irregularly shaped classrooms, lecture theatres and other learning spaces add to the complexity. Peter Dalwood (DRV) took on the extraordinary challenge of mapping the building, and with feedback from renowned international mappers, he designed a method of clearly page 21
