Add some sizzle to your Spring and Summer, at a brand new series of sprint and short distance races in parks and campuses on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings.  Race at a different venue each week during October and November.   There are 9 amazing races on the calendar.  These fun, family-friendly events are perfect for newcomers, and will also test the skills of experienced orienteers.

TARRALLA WETLANDS, Sunday 27 October, Civic Drive, Croydon. Hop To It – Enter Now!Our third SSAS race is on a brand new map, which will showcase park orienteering at its best.  It’s surprisingly tricky, with a great mix of terrain to test yourself on.  Kids will love it too – look out for the wildlife!  Information and Online Entry

As originators of the Melbourne City Race, when we heard that Sydney was paying us the ultimate compliment by copying us, we booked flights, paid entry fees, and headed north for the weekend.  Saturday afternoon featured a very tricky sprint race at Pyrmont, while the Sydney City Race took place in the central city, featuring Circular Quay, the Opera House, The Rocks, and of course the Harbour Bridge.  Sydney is not by any means flat; we did more stairs than we could count in a single weekend.  High quality maps, courses and organising (and ideal weather) made for a very enjoyable weekend, and we returned full of enthusiasm for our won Melbourne City Race next month.

Congratulations to Ian, who placed second overall in the Pyrmont Sprint, and second overall and in his age class, in the Sydney City Race, bringing home two medals.  Check out photos from the race, in our Gallery.

Congratulations to those club members who competed at the recent VICTORIAN MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCE CHAMPS, both pretty tough and technical events. at Blackwood and Nuggetty Range.  Making it onto the podium were:

Victorian Middle Distance – Pam King (2^nd), Rob Murphy 2^nd, Chris Klep (3^rd)

Victorian Long Distance – Chris Klep (1^st), Pam King (3rd), Rob Murphy (3^rd)

Celebrate the 5th fantastic edition of the Melbourne City Race, on Sunday 17 November.  Melbourne was the first place in the Southern Hemisphere to host a City Race, and for 2024, we’ll be back beside the bay, in the complex inner urban streets and parks of Port Melbourne and Albert Park.  As always, you’ll use a full colour, highly detailed map to navigate your way around your course.  Sportident controls will be in Air mode for rapid racing.

We strongly recommend using public transport.   Once again we’ll have some fantastic prizes for the winners and placegetters, and an amazing array of  random prizes for everyone who pre-enters.

MCR 2024 entries are now open!  Visit www.melbournecityrace.com.au

Questions? email enquiries@drocorienteering.com.au

Add some sizzle to your Spring and Summer, at a brand new series of sprint and short distance races in parks and campuses on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings.  Race at a different venue each week during October and November – the perfect lead-in to the Melbourne City Race, the Victorian Primary Schools Champs, and the Victorian Sprint Champs, all in late November.

Summer Shorts and Sprints Flyer

Here’s what to expect:

• a great selection of full colour maps
• three action-packed, fun courses, with something for everyone from newcomers to top sprinters
• designed for fast thinking, with lots of controls, direction changes and route choices
• choose your own start time and course
• Sportident electronic timing, in Air mode (Sportident stick loan included in entry fee)
• low entry fees; enter online to go into our random prize draw!
• Kids Run Free at selected events – applies to under 13s.  Kids aged 13-20 pay half price
• Coaching and assistance for newcomers, and a family-friendly outdoor activity; no limits on age or ability, and no previous experience or special equipment needed

Race Calendar:

• Sunday October 13 – Jump In!  A free family activity morning at “Tarantula Park” in Rowville; the perfect way to get started with some spooky fun
• Saturday October 19 – Penola College, Broadmeadows
• Sunday October 27 – Croydon Town (new map)
• Saturday November 2 – MLMC, Lilydale – Indoor/Outdoor Combo
• Sunday November 10 – Ruffey Lake, Templestowe
• Sunday November 17 – Melbourne City Race
• Saturday November 23 – Deakin Burwood (tbc)
• Saturday November 30 – Salesian Sunbury
• Sunday December 1 – Vic Sprint Champs, Tarneit College

Click here to see maps from 2023

Questions?  email enquiries@drocorienteering.com.au

Summer Series is about to get under way!  Events take place four nights a week all over Melbourne, as well as in Geelong, Surfside, and on the Mornington Peninsula. For runners, courses will be scatter format (ie. pick the fastest route to get to a designated number of controls) with courses ranging from 3.5 to 10km. Power walkers, you’ll be sticking with score format, aiming to collect as many points as you can in 65 minutes.

How to find out more:
Click here to see the tables of coming events and results, to find more information about each series, and to access useful links.
Click here to see all coming events until the end of March.
Click here to find:

• A pdf version of the printed colour brochure
• The latest guidelines for participants
• A file to upload to your device’s calendar
• A master map of where the events are
• Course setting instructions and map note templates

Club members can buy Season Passes, on sale from September 30. These are great value – the savings are more than the cost of a club membership. Click here for all the details, prices, and savings.

DROC has acquired a new mountain bike map, at Tallarook in central Victoria (north of Mt Hickey). Graham Wallis once again volunteered to set courses, for the 4^th Vic MTBO Series event.  The area has a reputation for being steep, but part of the map is on a plateau with gentle contours and good, wide forest roads.  There is a steep drop off the escarpment to the east, but courses did not venture down there.  Unusually for a DROC mountain bike event, we had fine, clear weather!  The tall timber was a picture.  Graham’s courses were well received as always – a good challenge, with plenty of route choices.  We look forward to future uses of the map.  Thanks to all the riders who came along and christened the new map.

Click here for Results, Splits, and Livelox

Click here for photos

Candlebark Park is a real gem – nestled into the eastern side of Fitzsimons Lane and joined to Westerfolds Park by the Main Yarra Trail, it also connects to Lower Eltham Park, providing plenty of varied terrain.  The southern slopes have mainly open forest, interspersed with a network of narrow tracks, some of them crazily complicated as mountain bikers continually reshape them.  Out on the river flats in the centre of the map, there are some interesting erosion features.  Longer courses usually venture over the footbridge and across the Yarra, where they’ll find an equestrian cross country course, a miniature railway, and sports fields, with more forested slopes to the west.  It’s an ideal location for MelbushO, as the course planner can cater for all levels.

Helen Walpole did just that, with a Long Hard course (right) providing plenty of navigational challenge as it criss crossed the entire park.  The long legs were particularly fun!  Courses 2 and 3 provided shorter versions but with just as much to test orienteering skills; many returning participants commented on how tricky it was, and how they really enjoyed having to think the whole way.  Less experienced orienteers could tackle the moderate course 4 (below), while younger ones and newcomers enjoyed their first experience on course 5, which gave them a chance to explore either side of the river.

The weather proved testing, with showers interspersed with sunshine, on and off all day.  Enthusiasm wasn’t dampened, with courses universally enjoyed by all.  The DROC crew once again put on a smoothly run event, with results posted online within just a few minutes of the last finishers collecting their lollies and returning their hired SI sticks.

A big shoutout to both Helen and Damian, who both arose in the cold, dark and wet to put out 30 controls.  We also had heaps of help to bring them in quickly afterwards, which is very much appreciated!

FUN WITH MAPS!  Sunday April 28, 10am-1.30pm, Abbey Walk, Vermont

Eighty new orienteers came along to Abbey Walk last Sunday, to have some Fun With Maps, and learn some navigation basics. After an introduction, everyone chose from four different activities. The kids loved using their maps to hunt down ‘Pirate Pete’s Treasure,’ before moving on to a ‘Follow The Line’ course, a ‘Map Memory’ course, and the ‘SI Challenge’ – set up just like a MelbushO event, with a short line course, a chance to experience the start procedure just as they would at an event, and to practice the skills they’d learned, as they completed the course and received a splits printout. It was also an opportunity to ask lots of questions! Takeaways were souvenir maps and splits prints, stickers, and plenty of info about upcoming events. It was a perfect day for families to get outdoors with a map – which is what it’s all about! With smiling faces all round, we look forward to seeing how they go at their next orienteering adventure.

View more photos here

Wow, what a fantastic new map!  The first Mt Lilydale Sprint was held at the MLMC campus, which slopes down either side of a steep hill.  There are stairs everywhere, with multiple levels, and lots of nooks and crannies – as well as a market garden, small farm, and vineyard!  Congratulations to the mapping and course planning team of Damian Spencer, Peter Dalwood, and Wayne Love, who created a highly readable, detailed and accurate map, and memorable two-part courses with great route choices all the way through.  We had so many positive comments, that we’returning later this year, to use an enormous indoor space to create an Indoor-Outdoor event with a difference.  Look out for this in November 2024!

Click here to see the maps

Click here for results and splits

Click here for photos

Click here for route analysis on Livelox