ORIENTEERING DEVELOPMENT
I Peter Creely (Bendigo Orienteers, VIC)
T is a cool morning in early September, a cold wind, a hint of rain. The last race in the second Series of SpaceRacing for 2009 has just finished. The sausages are on the barbie, spreading a ‘come and eat me’ smell throughout Beischer Park, Bendigo. The presentation of the winner’s trophy and the medals and certificates for all competitors is about to begin. I watch as 30 or so kids mill around, skylarking, some comparing runs and times, some chasing each other – most casting surreptitious glances at the BBQ in the hope of scoring the first hot sausage. The last competitive SpaceRace for 2009 has been decided. Bendigo Orienteers Inc. was formed in 1977. It has a consistent membership list of around 65 units – families and couples - and since 1990 has run a calendar of 30 to 35 Bush Orienteering events each season. Our main advantage, and the reason we are able to offer such an event list, is that Bendigo, as a provincial city, is unique in its situation in the land, and its position within the sport of Orienteering. The city has a population of approximately 100,000 people. It has many primary and secondary schools, both state and private, and a large campus of Latrobe University. More importantly, it is almost completely surrounded by
forest – we have at least 12 Bush Orienteering maps within 10 minutes drive of the CBD. SpaceRacing? The name came about from a perceived need to upgrade the image of Orienteering in schools. When talking to primary school children and teachers, the impression gained was that of a sport that was performed in the school yard. The kids enjoyed doing it but they saw it as part of the school curriculum, another sort of lesson, but outside the schoolroom, in the yard! Maybe it was time to step outside the yard and develop something with a different image. The availability of SportIdent gave us the opportunity of linking Orienteering to the technology of the 21st century, and to give it a name, an image that resonated with that technology. The name wasn’t immediately accepted by all members, but it will gradually become part of accepted Orienteering vocabulary in Bendigo. SpaceRacing was born in Bendigo out of a desire to provide a suitable Orienteering format that would appeal to primary school children – away from the schoolyard. Jim Russell, a long time member of Bendigo Orienteers and a Level 3 Coach, was visiting schools
L-R Nicholas Vercoe, Lachlan Cherry, Colin Walker (President BO), Jim Russell (Coach), Brooklyn Cullen & Glenn James,
DECEMBER 2009 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER
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