Author Archives: Debbie Dodd

The Victorian Club Relays were held at Mt Lofty, near Eppalock – an area of spur gully terrain with some small rocky areas, and some thicker vegetation.  Due to the dry summer, the tracks were dusty and sometimes hard to pick.  The first half of each course was on open, fast ground, but many teams came unstuck on the second half which was much slower, and harder to read.

DROC fielded five teams across four courses, and came away with very pleasing results – including a fantastic win for our Course 3 combination of Peter Yeates, Pam King and Carl Stemp.  Pete laid the groundwork with a fast run, just a handful of seconds behind the quickest runner.  Pam kept her cool as other teams fell by the wayside, her steady pace bringing the team into first. Carl just had to complete the course safely, and they were home with a couple of minutes’ margin over the next team, taking a well earned victory!

Our other teams all acquitted themselves very well on what proved to be challenging courses, against tough competition.  Well done all!  Results are here

Congratulations to DROC’s Graham Wallis  who has been awarded the highly coveted Park Street Course Setter of the Year award for 2018-19.  Graham won for his course at Kingsclere, in the Monday Summer Series.  He receives a Park Street Season Ticket to the series of his choice.

Runners up were Fiona Fell (NEV), for her course at Skeleton Creek in the Tuesday Summer Series, and Tim Hatley (BKV) for his course on a new map of Mentone Racecourse, in the Monday Summer Series.  According to adjudicator Peter Hobbs, it was a very close contest.  Peter used the following factors to decide the winner:

• Degree of route choice and control choice evident on each course
• Distances of the courses
• Choice of different controls available from the start
• Lack of “one way only / dead running” sections of the course
• Map details such as title, scale, contour interval etc

Kingsclere scored highly in all areas – including control choice from the start and the relative lack of “one way / dead areas” of the course. Graham did an excellent job of providing maximum route choice and control choice for all courses. Even the shortest course could conceivably visit the majority of controls on the map. I still could not work out some of the shortest courses despite spending significant time studying the map. Also included a tricky control 15 near the start where competitors had to make an instant decision at the start to get it first, or drop it all together. An excellent overall map and worthy winner. Well done Graham!

Two other DROC maps were shortlisted – Cathies Creek by Peter Yeates, and Blind Creek by Merv Trease.

View Graham’s winning map here

The DROC Shop sells orienteering equipment, including compasses, Sportident sticks, gaiters, fingerbands, and Silva headbands. You can find the DROC Shop at most VicBush, Melbush, park street and sprint events. You can also place an order by contacting us at droc@iinet.net.au

What we sell:

• Sportident electronic timing devices (SI sticks), including Version 8, Version 10, and SI Air.  Prices range from $50-$105.  NEW STOCK OF SI AIR STICKS JUST IN!
• Compasses – low cost base plate and thumb compasses, ideal for new orienteers.  Bargain prices $15-$50.
• Fingerbands for SI sticks and thumb compasses, just $4
• Gaiters – Protech, a bargain at just $22, which is half the retail price. Limited sizes.
• Silva headbands – special price just $2!

The DROC Shop is proud to provide the prizes for the 2019 Vic Autumn Series Fastest Finisher competition!

Congratulations to DROC’s Park Street Championship medallists for 2019!  The Champs were held on a VERY hot night, and on a VERY hilly course where stamina certainly played a part. However, the excellent course required a lot of thinking as well, proving a great test of all-around skills. Huge thanks once again to Champs Coordinator Ray Howe, who handled proceedings with his usual aplomb.

The results are in, and our winners and placegetters are:

Champions and Gold Medallists – Ian Dodd (Mens Supervet); Denise Pike (Womens Supervet); James Love (Junior Boys); Ian Greenwood (Mens Veteran PW) and Ros King (Womens Open PW).

Silver Medallists – Ian Davies (Mens Supervet); Peter Dalwood (Mens Ultravet); Helen Walpole (Womens Open); Muriel Neilson (Womens Veteran PW); Ilze Yeates (Womens Ultravet PW)

Bronze Medallists – Peter Hobbs (Mens Open); Alicia Dymowski (Womens Open)

Visit our Gallery for some fantastic photos from the event!

Visit the Champs website for a full event wrap, all the results, and lots more photos.

DROC will field 21 Finalists in this week’s Park Street Championship at St Helena on Thursday.  We wish every success to Andrew Hester, Peter Hobbs, Michael Dardis, Damian Spencer, Ian Dodd, Stuart McWilliam, Ian Davies, Peter Dalwood, Peter Yeates, Helen Walpole, Sarah Love, Alicia Dymowski, Debbie Dodd, Denise Pike, James Love, Ian Greenwood, Mark Besley, Ros King, Christine Palmer, Muriel Neilson and Ilze Yeates.

Click here to see who qualified

The Bush orienteering season is imminent, with the traditional season opener, the Bendigo To-Day, on this weekend.  Next weekend the Victorian Schools team, including our own highly talented juniors, is organising the first of the new Vic Autumn Series events, at Bunjil, south of Ballan.  This is a major fundraiser for the team, so give them your support by going along to the event.  Online entries close next Friday – read all about this great event here: https://www.vicorienteering.asn.au/support-the-vic-schools-team/

This is also the first event in the new Vic Autumn Series, comprising 6 events between February and June.  The series is a revamp of the former State Series/Vic Bush Series, but with some big changes.  Most notably, there are five courses to choose from, of varying length and difficulty, at each event – exactly the same as Bendigo Bush and MelbushO events.  Choose your own start time between 10am and 12 noon.  All events will be $20 to enter for adults, and $12 for juniors, so no unwelcome surprises.  Online entries for each event will remain open up until Friday at 8pm, giving you more time to get your entry in. You can also enter on the day.  And I hear there are some other new features to come, all in response to feedback by participants received over summer.

There are generous series prizes, random prizes for those who pre-enter online, and a prize for the fastest finish chute split on each course (donated by DROC) which is sure to provide excitement for spectators! There is also an inter-club competition, so we need to get DROC members out there!  Read more about the Vic Autumn Series here: https://www.vicorienteering.asn.au/orienteering-carn/vic-autumn-series-2019/

If you would like to car pool, borrow a compass or SI stick, get some coaching, or just meet up with other club members, contact me beforehand and we’ll help out.  Look out for the DROC tent and flag close to Registration; an ideal place to leave your gear while you are on your course, then compare notes, celebrate or commiserate over lunch afterwards!

Record has is that DROC held its first orienteering event on Thursday 25 January 1979 at Carinya Cutting, which Mark Phillips advises was named after a railway line cutting near Mount Evelyn, associated with the old Warburton line. Apparently a steep cutting; similar to the one many of us ran through at Deepdene a few weeks ago. To everyone’s surprise, Barry Giles kept a copy of the results from all those years ago. There were 31 starters, including three Keys and several other familiar names (see results list). Results from a follow-up DROC event at Carinya Cutting on 28 February 1979 are also attached.

Fast forward 20 years, and Prez Pete was tasked with setting a scatter-o course at Blind Creek for DROC’s 20^th anniversary. Unfortunately the map could not be located, but the event had a twist in that control 20 was not marked on the map. The only way to locate it was to solve a riddle that went something like this: “The control you seek tonight may make you dizzy because of its height. Look at the map, the half that is west, run up the hill and you’ve passed the test.”  The control was located on a relatively obvious high point and I recall that many competitors successfully located it.   

Fast-forward another 20 years; and record will have it that on Monday 28 January 2019 no fewer than 44 DROC members and 108 starters assembled at the base of the Dandenongs to take part in street-o on the Koolunga map. During the briefing, Debbie Dodd MC’d a quick fashion parade of retro orienteering tops that everyone had been encouraged to wear. Some colourful DROC cotton tee-shirt tops from the early and mid 1980s were on display, followed by some of the DROC cotton tops from the 1990s including one which featured a back-to-front DROC logo. All DROC tops from the modern era were paraded including the “dentist’s collar” version and its sequel without the collar, plus the two current designs that many of us now wear.

Carl Stemp set a challenging course with clusters of controls separated by big gaps and a railway line, just like in 1979 at Carinya Cutting. Some may recall that the Koolunga map used to be called Swagman’s Gully in honour of the once famous Swagman restaurant, which mysteriously burnt down in 1991. The site on Burwood Highway now accommodates an Aldi supermarket. Perhaps Carl’s placement of control 13 – directly beside the old Swagman site – was a subtle nod to the map’s history.

Despite not being a Saturday, a large 40^th birthday cake was devoured by everyone after the event with many people staying on chatting, reminiscing and taking advantage of the public holiday evening. An old photo of Phil Torode and Ian Greenwood surfaced from somewhere; Mark Phillips recalled the old days when a number of DROC members’ houses backed onto the old railway line in the Mount Evelyn area; stories of how the Keys started the club were re-told; predictions that James Love will become next DROC president were made; a group photo was taken; newer DROC members mixed with older ones and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.

Results from Carinya Cutting 1979 and photos from Koolunga 2019

Results from Koolunga 2019

Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Club was formed in December 1978, and held its first event in January 1979. This will be a year of celebration for the club, kicking off with a party and a Really Big Birthday Cake on Monday January 28, at our park-street orienteering event in Koolunga, Ferntree Gully.  We invite all members, old and new, to come along and mark the occasion.  Please wear your oldest DROC outfit, or something from the era, to make a fashion statement!

2019 will be not just a year to look back on, but a year to look forward to.  It will be a year of firsts – the club’s first Middle Distance Championship, to be held on the Queens Birthday weekend at Creswick; Australia’s first Indoor Sprint at Monash University on June 30, and Australia’s first City Race, in Melbourne on October 13, are just part of our plans for the year.

We will continue to focus on Park Street orienteering, and we’re looking forward to seeing DROC on the Park Street Champs podium once again, after the Final on February 28.  We’ll also continue to support our juniors, as they train and race hard, and vie for selection to State teams.  We’ll be out there at bush events and sprint events, flying the DROC flag.  We’ll be cheering each other on at the Relays.  So why not get yourself out there – life’s more fun with a map!

The Ballarat Sprint Weekend saw the final Sprint Into Spring races run and won, with the Jerseys presented to each category winner. DROC was the dominant club, taking out no less than 6 jerseys!  Congratulations to Helen Walpole (Mo Women Polkadot Jersey); Wayne Love (Sally Men Green Jersey); James Love (Sally Men Polkadot Jersey); Amber Louw (Sally Women Green Jersey); Sarah Love (Sally Women Polkadot Jersey); and Samantha Love (Usain Women Green Jersey).

The Victorian Sprint Championships were held on the new, world class map of the School of Mines, which certainly lived up to the hype! Map and courses were universally hailed as a true reflection of Sprint orienteering at its best.  Most DROC members present were again on the podium:

1st place: Amber Louw, Sarah Davies, Sarah Love

2nd place: Helen Walpole, Pam King

3rd place: Sammy Love, James Love, Debbie Dodd, Peter Dalwood, Ilze Yeates, Ian Davies, Damian Spencer

Visit our Gallery for some top action photos!