5 minute read
Indoor Sprinting and Melbourne City Racing Bring Two Firsts to Australia
WORDS & PHOTOS DEBBIE DODD
Two Australian Firsts were held successfully in 2019, both in Melbourne, and both receiving rave reviews – meaning they won’t be Lasts!
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!
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 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. 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! 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.
Melbourne City Race, Docklands, October 2019
City Races have become a phenomenon in the UK and Europe over the past decade. The London City Race draws up to 1000 competitors from all over the world, and many other European cities have jumped on board. City Races are fantastic “orienteering tourism” events, and usually have one or two accompanying races to entice participants for a weekend in a landmark destination. Many travelling orienteers plan their overseas itineraries around the City Race calendar. After a “fact finding” mission to London in 2018, we thought “why not?” Melbourne was the perfect place to host the first City Race in the Southern Hemisphere. Planning began in November that year, permission was obtained to use Docklands, and mapping began. The date was set as the weekend immediately after Oceania, hoping to draw some interstate and overseas competitors. Docklands was chosen for its mix of streets, parks, open spaces, dual levels, and the river frontage. It provided the perfect blend of old and new – Melbourne’s maritime history vs contemporary architecture and public art. The City of Melbourne came on board, keen to see Docklands showcased. We packaged up a twilight Sprint at Edgewater, and a streetbased Sprint at Kensington (two more Firsts), and the Melbourne City Race Weekend was born Peter Dalwood spent many hours producing a beautiful and accurate map, coming to grips with the many quirks of the area. Jayne Sales (MFV) brought her previous experience as a London City Race course planner; urban races are not the same as sprints, and require different planning techniques. Jayne designed five courses which took in everything from the Observation Wheel, Marvel Stadium, and both sides of the Yarra River. The strategy and promotion paid off, with 150 competitors for the Twilight Sprint - way more than we expected on a busy Friday evening; 190 for Kensington – an area that many had been itching to sprint on; and 200 for the main City Race. We targeted both local and travelling orienteers, though our plans to attract weekend runners were stymied somewhat by a clash with the Melbourne Marathon, which will not be the case in 2021. The field included 30 internationals and interstaters from the UK, New Zealand and Switzerland, and most Australian states, with a sizeable NSW contingent. Excitingly, we also had 35 newcomers, so with better timing and the right
Daniel and Lydia Stott indoors at Monash
promotion, including a fantastic video already launched and ready, we expect these numbers to swell. The weather was perfect for the whole weekend (unlike the following weekends for the rest of Spring!) The only snag we hit was a last minute closure of a pedestrian bridge which was the prime route choice for the second last leg. Some quick scrambling to correct maps delayed the starts by a few minutes, but before long 200 people were eagerly lining up, then off and racing the Docklands on a sunny Sunday morning. As a participant, the highlights were seeing parts of Melbourne I never knew existed; and the excitement of dodging the crowds along Southbank as they watched us duck and weave, some even cheering us on! Our thanks to the City of Melbourne, and to Orienteering Australia who provided funding support. The enthusiastic responses from the finishers told us that the Melbourne City Race needs to become a regular part of the Victorian fixture; November 29 at Port Melbourne is the planned date and venue for 2020. www.melbournecityrace.com.au
1IPFSYVRI 'MX] 6EGI 1; 0SRK ,EVH 'SYVWI OQ
' RFNODQGV
' $1'(121* 5$1*(6 2 5,(17((5,1* & /8%
GURFRULHQWHHULQJFRPDX
Sunday 1 3th October 201 9 (YHQWGLUHFWRU 'HEELH 'RGG &RXUVHV VHWE\-D\QH 6DOHV Melbourne City Race
(PHUJHQF\QXPEHU
)LHOGZRUN 3HWHU'DOZRRG DQG 3DP .LQJ &DUWRJUDSK\ 3HWHU'DOZRRG 'DQGHQRQJ 5DQJHV 2ULHQWHHULQJ &OXE
$UHD XVHG ZLWK SHUPLVVLRQ RIWKH &LW\RI0HOERXUQH P P P FRQWRXUV P
