The fact that the weather was good was a welcome relief after last week. There were eleven competitors, come to test their skills in the forest of the Muldoon Reserve (the old Spring Gully Pony Club Reserve). Again Jimmy Cameron showed his skills as a course setter, striking a fine balance between testing the competitors’ navigational skills and still ensuring that the challenge was within their experience range.

That the winner would be a team from Camp Hill was never in doubt – just which one would be the question. So it was that the Camp Hill Stars were the Stars! Oliver Martin (back from China), Lachlan Feuerherdt and Toby McCaig consistently showed good planning and careful navigation and were the highest scorers in most of the races. Congratulations to the winners and to all the other competitors who braved varying weather conditions and other challenges put up by the various competition areas.

Next week will be the Kids Rule, a race where the competitor guides a parent (parents?) around a thirty minute course at Strathdale Park; the same scoring system will apply but there will not be any prizes for the winners, instead we will have a sausage sizzle followed by the presentations. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for good weather – it is the shortest day and it would be good if everyone could come along.

Next week we are at Strathdale Park. To get there travel out McIvor Road and turn right into Crook Street just past the All Seasons; look for a parking area on the left after a short distance.

Team:                                Was        Plus 14 June   Time         Current Score

Camp Hill Stars                 1290 points   200 points     21.51                1490

Camp Hill Comets               1220              180                29.27                 1400

Camp Hill Racers                 740                200               28.04                 940

Fighting Unicorns                660               60                 30.00                  720

Spec Hill Tornadoes            400                                                                  400

Camp Hill Speedsters          520                                                                  520

Liam Doyle & Family                                                                                    340

Spec Hill Meteors                                                                                          300

The Points system is based on each team visiting the Station and scoring ten points collectively for the visit.

Individual scores and times for 14 June, 2016, Spring Gully:

Lachlan Feuerherdt           200 in 21.54

Toby McCaig                     200 in 21.53

Oliver Martin                    190 in 21.51

Luke Feuerherdt               180 in 29.27

Harrison Carter                180 in 29’30

Will Conroy                      180 in 29.28

Joshua Feuerherdt            130 in 31.44

Angus Martin                    130 in 33.20

Wilbur Martin                   200 in 28.04

Adrian Campagnaro            60 in 30.00

Shep Jayasakera               60.00 in 30.00

Space Racing, 7 June, 2016 – the seventh race! Kennington Reservoir Gardens.

Cold and wet! For the first time in this series of Space Racing we were rained on – and it was really wet – not nice. As well as wet, with the breeze coming in over the Reservoir it was cold. So, we must congratulate the seven competitors (and parents) who braved the conditions – all competitors came back quite wet. Thanks to Jimmy Cameron for the course – it would have been challenging in good weather but the rain and cold made it more so – congratulations to all who competed. With one race to go the points tally is interesting: that final race could really be the decider and the Camp Hill Stars will need to perform very well to maintain their lead and take out the Series.

Next week we are at the Spring Gully Pony Club Reserve.  Travel out Spring Gully Road and at the SG Road/Retreat Rd. roundabout (One Tree Hill Hotel) turn  right into Wattle Drive.

Team:                                   Was         Plus 7 June  Time         Current Score

Camp Hill Stars                 1190 points    100 points    11.08            1290

Camp Hill Comets               1080            140                                       1220 (late, lost 50)

Fighting Unicorns                                                                                   660

Camp Hill Racers               630              110               22.05                740

Spec Hill Tornadoes                                                                               400

Camp Hill Speedsters         370              150              28.05               520

Liam Doyle & Family                                                                             340

Spec Hill Meteors                                                                                  300

The Points system is based on each team visiting the Station and scoring ten points collectively for the visit.

Individual scores and times for 7 June, 2016, Kennington Reservoir:

Lachlan Feuerherdt            100 in 11.07

Toby McCaig                    70 in 11.08

Luke Feuerherdt               190 in 34.07 (lost 50 points)

Harrison Carter                190 in 34.08 (lost 50 points)

Joshua Feuerherdt            110 in 22.05

Angus Martin                    150 in 28.00

Wilbur Martin                   150 in28.05

The second race was a bit different! Up to now we have enjoyed lovely warm sunny afternoons.

Wow! — assembling at the base of the lookout tower on one of Bendigo’s most exposed, windy hills was certainly different. But people still rolled up in shorts and tee shirts! Amazing! Michael Loughnan, one of Bendigo’s JSquad members (started off his orienteering career in Space Racing) set the course and provided some challenges, even to some of the experienced orienteers who picked up the Stations after the race.

We welcomed some new faces: Marcus and Aiden Robinson from Specimen Hill teamed up, got all stations and were placed second, on time on the day; we had Wilbur Martin and Archie joining Joshua Feuerherdt for an excellent run with 18 Space Stations visited.  Liam Doyle and his family came out for their first venture into Space Racing and visited 18 Stations.

All in all it was a successful event – the weather eased off a little and was even quite pleasant in the latter part of the race. Congratulations to everyone who competed and thanks to all the parents and helpers.

The next race will be on Tuesday 10 May at Gateway Park in High Street on the Bendigo side of Kangaroo Flat – look for the Space Racing sandwich board at the entrance to the park on the right hand side as you travel from Bendigo towards KF. Again, different terrain with a lake in the centre of the map; at least it is a relatively flat area without the Rosalind Park Hills! Come out and give it a go!

Team:                          Was             Plus 3 May         Time          Current score

Camp Hill Stars           200 points     200 points           16.19            400 points

Camp Hill Comets       190                  190                                              380

Camp Hill Racers        150                  150                                               300

Spec Hill Tornadoes    — —                200                        24.47             200

Liam Doyle & Family —            180                                                180

Camp Hill Speedsters  — –                 180                                                180

Spec Hill Meteors        150                 — — — –                                          150

Note: The points system is based on each team visiting the Station and scoring ten points

collectively for the visit.

Individual scores for Rosalind Park, 3 May:

Lachlan Feuerherdt 200

Toby McCaig 200

Oliver Martin 200

Marcus Robinson 200

Aiden Robinson 200

Wilbur Martin 190

Luke Feuerherdt 190

Wilbur Martin 180

Joshua Feuerherdt 180

Archie 180

Liam Doyle (Family) 180

Angus Martin 150

Harrison 150

The first race was run on the Spring Gully Creek map with the course set by Jack Wigney. Jack used the whole area, from south of the oval to north of the soccer ground at Stanley Street. To their credit two teams visited all the controls (but one team overshot the time and suffered a points penalty) – the winning team getting back in with two minutes to spare. Asher and Lacie, the Specimen Hill team — two students brand new to orienteering, visited fifteen controls and got back with seconds to spare, a great effort for their first run.

Whilst the numbers competing are not spectacular it promises to be a keen competition in the weeks to come as the competitors start to pay more attention to their navigation and course planning.

The next race will be on Tuesday 3 May on the Rosalind Park map, a very different map to Spring Gully. The start will be at the base of the Lookout Tower on the hill near the Queen Elizabeth Oval – enter through the View Street gate of the QEO and continue through the parking area near the Tower.

Results Team: 

Camp Hill Stars 200 points 

Camp Hill Comets 190 

Specimen Hill Meteors 150 

Camp Hill Racers 150 

Individual:

Oliver Martin 200 points

Lachlan Feuerherdt 200

Luke Feuerhardt 190

Toby McCaig 190

Asher Andrew 150

Lacie Andrew 150

Angus Martin 150

Joshua Feuerherdt 150

Next week we will be in the Spring Gully Reserve. To get there, from the Fountain in Bendigo travel along Mitchell Street towards the railway station, continue over the railway bridge, along Carpenter Street to the Cemetery. Swing left into Spring Gully Road at the Cemetery and continue for approx 2 kms to the Spring Gully Kindergarten on the left (note NOT the tennis club as advised in an earlier notice – the kindergarten is about 200 metres further along on the left).

MAP HANDOUT 4.00PM (so arrive a bit earlier).

Space Racing is back on the sporting calendar.

The Space Racing season kicked off with the first day being a come and try it at the Kangaroo Flat Gardens. As the race was to allow the students to get the feel of being in a park and using a map to look for Space Stations, the competitors went out in informal groups – next week formal teams will be organised.

The course at Kangaroo Flat was planned and set out by Jack Wigney, himself one of our original Space Racers and it really tested those who ran it. There were nine competitors, some from Specimen Hill and Camp Hill Primary schools. Some had been involved in Space Racing before and they naturally, visited all the Stations, but for others it was their first time ever out in a rather large park with just a map to look at to find the Stations – a great effort, congratulations to all!

It’s good to get the start area as early as you can so that you can get your map and spend a bit of time planning what Stations you are going to visit – there are twenty of them worth ten points each – but if you are out for more than thirty minutes you will lose ten points for each minute over — at least one person in the team will need a watch. One of the big decisions every team will almost always have to make is when a team has just a few minutes to go and “— will we try for one more and risk being late back, or will we go back while we have a few minutes to spare?” –remember: ten points lost for each minute late! Important decisions

Results.

Lachlan Feuerherdt                   200 points   All stations

Luke Feuerherdt                       200             All stations

Oliver Martin                            200             All stations

Darren Robinson                        200             All stations

Marcus Robinson                       200             All stations

Aidan Robinson                          200             All stations

Joshua                                      200             All stations

Lacie                                        170              17 Stations

Asher                                       160              16 Stations