BUNS Reports

  • BUNS Series 3 Progress Report

    BUNS Series 3 – Event 1 – Canadian Lakes 6 August 2016

    The depth of winter in Ballarat – but a good turn up 12 runners/walkers in cool but sometimes sunny conditions. This is the first time we’ve used this start/finish site at the Canadian Lakes playground. Roch’s placement of controls was challenging to get the 20 controls in 45 minutes, but two teams did it and most improved on their total score. Several new groups – Andrew and Alina (+ dog), Liz, Tim (+ Sophie in a pusher) – really enjoyed seeing part of Ballarat they had not seen before. That is the main reason we’ve staged these events – to give you a different picture of our diverse town, parklands and bushland. Even President Mark had two pouches in tow – or where they towing him!

    Today’s event was the first to use the western edge of the newly declared (5th August) Canadian Regional Park – less than 24 hours after the inspirational ceremonies at the Earth Science Centre, Mt Clear Sec College, Olympic Avenue. Rod and James almost made it to the start – but a freak accident at the end of Springs Road saw them assisting a young driver who crashed his car just outside Geoff and Jenny’s driveway. The award for persistence today has to go to Andrew and Alina who found 10 controls in 41 minutes – then took a break and did the other 10 in the early afternoon!

    BUNS Series 3 – Event 2 – Yuille Homestead 20 August 2016

    John Erwin set the courses today – and at 9 am it was fine. When we started at 11.15 it had deteriorated and wind had picked up – this event was for the keen ones! We only had problems with one control on the east side of the map that was placed in a location that needs a bit of fieldchecking. Otherwise the great variety of locations spread from the north to south edge of the map really tested everyone – walkers and runners. Wet under foot in the paddocks, muddy patches on the tracks, only one creek crossing (unless you got your feet wet) and tapes on new features from Series 2 final event made for good navigation. It is a great area right on the Yarrowee Creek in Sebastopol and promises to be a popular one for our next series.

    No one managed the 20 controls in 45 minutes – even our World Super Veterans Rogaining Champ Rod could not drag son James around in time. Roch got a chance to run on the map he made several years ago, but was stymied by the high water in the creek. The teams with dogs did well in the slippery conditions, but the last stair climb proved challenging for Mark – he carried the dogs up the metal stairs just east of the finish!

    Next Event at Lake Wendouree – Saturday, 3 Sept – Ian Chennell will set the course on a brand new map from Roch. Invite your friends – we’d like to get more than 30 to the event on what should be a very flat but complex terrain in the gardens and wetlands on the west side of the lake. Start at picnic area corner of Nursery Drive and Wendouree Parade at 11am for 11.15 start.

    Blake (in Jenny’s absence)

  • BUNS Series 1 Event 2
    We hope you enjoyed the last event. The area seemed to be a new one for most people. For some it was a bit more “adventurous” than they would have liked!
    The results are on the BUNS Results page.
    The timing issues that some had at the previous event appear to have been sorted out, with almost everybody back on time. And everybody safely managed the road crossings. Well Done!
    Roch again set people thinking- what was the best way to get the controls, especially those outliers nos. 14 and 8? Did you go the most “efficient” way to the controls you visited? It is worth spending some time at the start considering the best way to go to get maximum points in minimum time.
    The next event is this week at Prince of Wales Park, just West of the Botanic Gardens. Meet in the Hockey Centre carpark off Gillies St North ready to start at 5.30pm.
    This week’s TIP concerns “uncrossable fences”. Being an area of playing fields, there may be many uncrossable fences. These are marked on the map by a black line with pairs of sloping tags (see the legend on the map). As these are uncrossable, they will perhaps create a barrier to where you want to go. So careful planning of your route may be required to take this into account. For some of us “older folk”, even normal fences create an obstacle so we may have to be looking carefully at our maps this week.
    So after this week, we may be able to add careful route planning to our other skills of timing and road crossing!
    Hope you to see you  this week. As always, bring a friend, bring your dog, have fun.
  • BUNS Series 1 Event 1

    Hello all

    We hope you all enjoyed the first event of the Ballarat Urban Navigation Series. The series has a number of aims, including encouraging physical exercise, providing mental challenges and exploring different parts of Ballarat. Hopefully the first event achieved some of these for you.

    The results are on the BUNS Results page.

    There were a number of tales of woe. One person had the all important pencil break at the second site visited, so had to carefully hold and use the 1cm piece of lead that had broken off. Another was so disturbed by some dogs that they fled. They eventually relocated some distance away, but no longer on the mapped area! Another went off the mapped area, managed to return but then didn’t know where on the map they were! However, the most common woe related to timing, which leads to the TIP of the WEEK……

    Unless you have super natural powers in gauging the passing of time, you will need to bring a watch or some timing device so that you can measure the 45 mins. And, of course, you need to remember to start your stopwatch or note the time when you start.

    We hope to see you at the next event which will be on Thursday 18 Feb at Pioneer Park, Wendouree. Meet in the Park Car Park on the corner of McKenzie Dr and Gillies St Nth. The format will be the same as last time- 45 mins to find as many sites as possible.

    So come along, bring your watch, bring your friends. Exercise your body and your brain!