Judging by the number of entries for this week’s Twilight-O from Northern Tablelands, orienteering is alive and well in Armidale!
Numbers were up which resulted in a shortage of maps and some last minute printing by the organiser. There was practically a mass start for the Moderate course, with an atmosphere like a Sprint-O event.
Although the cunning old foxes Don Barker and David Symons were quickest on the Moderate course, some of the Juniors, such as Lindsay & James Symons, Torsten von Strokirch, Sam Watson and the Lesurf boys produced very impressive times (James was quickest on the Easy course). Just as impressive were some of the scratches from the blackberries!
Only 3 people took on the “Wiggly Line” course, with Eric Baker's experience easily meeting the challenge. For those who don't know, a Wiggly Line course is where a competitor gets a normal map, but with no controls shown (control descriptions may be supplied, at discretion of planner). Instead of control circles, the competitor sees a meandering line overprinted on his/her map. If this line is followed closely, controls will be found, as the line runs over or beside various features. Ideally other controls, not right on the line, should be visible, so competitor has to judge whether each control he sees (or more correctly the feature that the control is next to) is on the line or not. As Garry Slocombe commented, it was a good exercise, and made him concentrate much harder on his navigation than he usually does.
Winners:
Moderate: Don Barker 14:36
Wiggly Line: Eric Baker 24:47
Easy: James Symons 16:48
Thanks to Alec Watt for this report
