Orienteering Debuts on Mornington Peninsula

A mix of Melburnians and locals (and even a couple from Bendigo!) headed to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula for the first ever Park Street event.  The start of the new series was delayed by travel restrictions, but we finally kicked off this weekend, with a fun course set by Mike Hubbert.  First time organiser Mel, assisted by Liz, did a great job of handling newcomers who needed to get familiar with MapRun and QR codes.  The happy faces and positive feedback suggests they’ll be back for the next event on December 13 at Rosebud.

Starting from the primary school in the northwest corner of the map, the 60 minute Score course mostly took in the flat residential streets between the highway and the sand dunes, with a few controls requiring a bit of climbing.  In a compact area, there always seemed to be “one more control” just around the corner, causing some last minute dashes into the finish.

No surprise that the top scorers were regular orienteers Steven and Blair with 70 points apiece, followed by Andrew on 64. Of the newcomers, Brady showed a turn of speed and a clear head to score 57.  In the power walker category, it was a very tight contest with John just pipping Maria and Dennis; scores were 42, 41 and 40 respectively.

You can check out the map here, and download and use it any time, as MapRun remains in place.  You’ll also find the map for the Sorrento event that was scheduled in October but not held, so if you’re looking for an excuse to head to the Peninsula (and who isn’t …), there’s a great double header of orienteering for a day or weekend trip.