Author Archives: Debbie Dodd

The new year is still, well, new, but DROC has been kept busy with the Park and Street orienteering summer series.

Our program of Winter Sunday events in 2017 includes:

• MelBushO 1, Sunday March 26, Lysterfield
• Sprint Double, Sunday May 21, venue tba
• MelbushO 5, Sunday July 23, Plenty Gorge Park South
• EndurO 2, Sunday August 12, Loughnans Link (Ringwood North)
• Victorian Sprint Championships, Sunday November 26, Monash Clayton

Head to our Coming Events page for details.

Many of our members are enjoying summer Park and Street orienteering on weeknights, and are training hard for the upcoming Park and Street Championships on Wednesday March 1.

DROC is welcoming new and returning members for 2017.  Join or renew now!  Visit our Membership page for details.

Congratulations to our club members who are now Victorian Sprint Champions!  After a fantastic weekend of Sprint racing in Bendigo, we were once again one of the most successful clubs with 5 Champions and 5 Runners Up.  The Champs were held in the heart of Bendigo city, in a unique area that included a Chinese temple and garden, a former prison, and a fern maze.  We “tuned up” at the final 2 Sprint Into Spring races the day before, on two very contrasting terrain types – first a classic college campus, then a heavily eroded area of gold mining terrain.

Sprint Champions:  Sarah Davies, Lanita Steer, Carola Ray, Denise Pike, Ian Dodd

Runners Up:  Asha Steer, Debbie Dodd, Pam King, Simon Rouse, Peter Dalwood

Congratulations also to Daniel Kaman who won a Sprint Into Spring green jersey and was second overall, and to Luca Bogdanovits, who was third overall.  Great job by our juniors!

Check out the photos on our GALLERY page.

Race 3 of Sprint Into Spring was at Ruffey Lake Park, and it proved a contrast to previous races.  The wide open spaces meant you needed to stay accurate; the hills tested fitness; and the playground required sharp wits.  A great all around challenge!

DROC was out in force to enjoy the race, in a venue familiar to most park-street orienteers.  Simon had a smashing run to finish 3rd on the tough Mo Farah course. Juniors Daniel, Arika and Luca all had top 10 finishes on the Usain Bolt course, as did Andras and Jenny on the Sally Pearson.

Race 4 was at Deakin Uni Campus in Burwood.  Simon’s courses took full advantage of the complexity of the campus map with its multiple levels, and infinite nooks and crannies.  It was a great test of technical sprint orienteering.  The DROC crew did their usual superb job of organising the event.  Pete had a sizzling run for 5th on the Mo Farah course.  Our other top 10 finishers were Jenny, Carola, Daniel, Luca and Arika.

Visit our GALLERY page to see heaps of great photos like this one.

Our juniors took to Westerfolds Park for the Eastern Zone Primary Schools Orienteering Champs.  We had four competitors, all in year 6 – Amber and Luca in Girls 6A, and Angus and James in Boys 6A.  Amber won her class and Luca came 4th in a tight finish.  James was 2nd, while Angus mispunched but was happy with his run.  Well done to all of you, and we hope to see you next year at the Secondary Schools Champs.

DROC members turned out in droves to the first race of Sprint Into Spring for 2016.  We returned to Eltham College, which is a fantastic venue for sprint orienteering. Not only is it super complicated, and a lot of fun to race on, but the school welcomes us with open arms, and we always have a great day.

Race 2 was on a new map, Keilor Downs Schools.  Two small but complex campuses, joined by a park, made for great courses with plenty to catch you out.  The wettest Sprint Into Spring race on record!  The rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of DROC members as you can see from the photos in our Gallery.

After 2 races, Prez Pete has two top 10 finishes on the Mo Farah course, which is contested by the best sprint racers in the state.  He is 5th in the overall standings.  Lanita Steer sits 2nd in the Hill Climb (polkadot) jersey competition on the same course.  Carola Ray has had two strong performances on the Sally Pearson course and is 3rd overall, while Sarah Davies’ second place in race 1 has her in 5th overall. Our junior girls, Arika and Luca, have done very well on the Usain Bolt course. Arika is the current yellow jersey holder, while Luca is second, only one point behind.

The next Sprint Into Spring race is at Ruffey Lake in Doncaster, on Saturday November 5.  Be there!

In what has been a fantastic week, Lanita Steer has claimed both the Australian Long Distance and Middle Distance Junior Womens titles, on the complex granite of southern Queensland, to go with her Sprint win earlier in the carnival.  Her winning margin in the Long was a comfortable 5 minutes, but in the Middle, she finished only 16 seconds ahead of second. It was a great way to wrap up her final major carnival as a Junior.

The maps featured plenty of green, grey and black, and required constant contact to avoid coming unstuck.  Lanita’s wins confirm her as the 2016 Junior NOL title holder.  Asha Steer also ran well to finish 6th in Junior Women in both races.  Sarah Davies also had a strong performance, finishing in the top 10 in the highly competitive W16 class in the Long, while Martin Steer had a top 10 finish in the Middle distance, and Merv Bendle was second in Open B.

The 2016 Australian Champs got under way with the Australian Sprint Championship on the Gold Coast.  In exciting results for DROC, Lanita Steer claimed victory in W2oE, continuing her dominant form over the short distance.  Ian Davies had a fantastic run on a very technical map to take third, in his best national result to date.  Click here for a video interview with Lanita

Next up were the Relays, in typical Queensland vegetation (ie lantana).  We had some great individual results – Asha Steer was the second fastest runner on W20E; Simon Rouse was fastest Victorian on M21E and helped his team onto the podium in third, while Ian Davies had another good run to move his team up several places into third and another podium place.

The action now shifts to the three Schools Championship races, before the final weekend in the granite of Stanthorpe.

DROC members coped admirably with tough conditions at Chapel Flat for the 2016 Long Distance Champs.  Heavy rain saw creeks flowing and tracks turned into skating rinks.  The gold mining terrain added plenty of technicality.

Our Victorian Champions are Lanita Steer (W20E), Martin Steer (M50A), Sarah Davies (W16A) and Cassandra Dutton (W21A).  Runners up were Asha Steer and Janine Steer, with Peter Dalwood and Debbie Dodd in third place.  Simon Rouse narrowly missed a place by less than 2 minutes, over a distance of 13 km.

We are now looking forward to a great performance at the Relays at Brimbank Park on Sunday October 9.

The 2016 State Series wrapped up at Eppalock in September.  Simon Rouse claimed third place on course 1.  The points he gained were enough to send him to the top of the State Series rankings, a fantastic achievement, and well deserved after all the work he has put into his orienteering. Our other series winners were Lanita Steer, who won Course 2 by one point, and Luca Bogdanovits, winning on course 8. Runners up were Janine Steer, Sarah Davies and Arika Bogdanovits.

Simon also had a huge overall win in the recent Maxi 3 hour, cleaning up the entire course and scoring 1200 points in just under 3 hours – the only person able to achieve that feat.   Simon wasn’t the only DROC winner at the Maxi – Leo Theoharis was second in Mens Open, Alicia Dymowski won Open Women, and Vic Sedunary won Mens Ultravet.

It’s DROC’s turn again to organise the annual Club Relays, and we’ve selected a venue that will offer fast running and great spectating, without having to drive too far. The arena has parking, toilets, picnic areas and playgrounds. There’s no excuse for not being part of the action! Ian Dodd is planning exciting courses which will be a lot of fun for everyone.

There are 5 courses to choose from. Course 1 is the longest, and will be approx 7 kms. Course 2 will be about 5 kms long, and Course 3 will be around 3 kms, with Moderate standard navigation. Course 4 is Easy standard. Course 5 is a combination, with 1 Hard, 1 Moderate and 1 Easy leg. Each team requires three competitors.

The Relays are a fantastic day out as we all get together and barrack loudly for our clubmates! To enter, just let Debbie know which course you would like to compete on.