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MATCH REPORT Vic Series #4 - Chewton Diggings brought to you by Melbourne Forest Racers.![]()
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Aaahh, MFR, you've done it again!! A magnificent event was put on today by the MFR team, of which there are many. An awesome to remind us also that it is World Orienteering Week! The rain that appeared overnight, and was much discussed by competitors, didn't really appear for the orienteering and it seemed, well, to me anyway, that I only got soaked when I decided to leave the track and cut through the pine 🌲🌲 tree regrowth near the finish!! 😆🤔![]()
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This area, Chewton Diggings, is a well loved classic. The sheer volume of diggings cutting across rock running in parallel ridges along with notable historical sites such as the Garfield Water Wheel and The Welsh Village make it clear how thousands of people would have been toiling these hills and creeks back in the gold rush days.![]()
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There was also evidence of the modern day gold rush with a gold panning and detecting outing occuring on the map today also. They were seemingly surprised when, an orienteer and their car, drove right past (a couple of metres) their shelter and under the related guy ropes. Well, they had set all the ropes up across a track, with the shelter bit partly covering the chosen car route choice! 🚗😆 Anyway, as Orienteers, it is pretty normal to see surprised people when we suddenly pop up out of the bush, seemingly from nowhere!!! 😆🌲🌳🏃🌳🌳🌲![]()
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The erosion gullies, pits, mine shafts, scars, mullock heaps, parallel spur/gully terrain, broken ground diggings and even the pine forest regrowth areas, all combined to challenge many orienteers with navigation and route choice problems to solve. Compasses were definitely essential and helped line up the features so that direction was correctly chosen. It is so easy to leave controls in ever so slightly the wrong direction. These tiny direction errors will obviously compound across the length of a leg! Use a compass!!! 🧭 All that, plus the significant long courses, which was so great to see, made it a real satisfying day out. Plus it always feels like you've been hard at work when you return covered in mud, and even some black mud, from a recent planned burn and the significant overnight rain! How many slipped and slided today? I know I went down at least once!! 🤣😆 So much fun getting outside and enjoying the outdoors up close by getting into close contact with the ground!! 🤔🤨😊![]()
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So many of these orienteering areas around Castlemaine were chosen and mapped to showcase the best of the best Orienteering in Victoria and Australia in the lead up to the 1985 World Championships hosted in Bendigo and Castlemaine. They knew how good it was back and it is still outstanding and fantastic fun! ❤️ This area is still an absolute joy and privilege to orienteer there to this very day, today!! Even that Legends' Legend of an orienteer and mapper, Alex Tarr, who made the first map of Chewton Diggings, was there again today. Actually, even Alex admitted he made some mistakes!!! 😲 Can you believe it!! 🤔 But guess what, he still won his course, even with mistakes!! 😆😉👏 Champions just know how to win right!!!![]()
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Eight Eureka Orienteers in Judy, Roch, Dale, Blake, Warwick, Margaret, Chris and Gary, attended and represented EU in every single course! Judy once again won a block of chocolate 🍫 for her win! 🏆 👏 👏 Seems to me Judy has won a lot of chocolate over the last year!! Well done Judy!!! 🏅 ![]()
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There was a great atmosphere and location at the Chewton Gun Club facilities for which we are very grateful. There was a big event feel with the facilities and food provided by the Vic Juniors and their amazing parents. The choc chip cookies were amazing the moment I saw them. I put one in my pocket and said I would probably forget about it. Well, guess what! I did forget for a while but remembered a couple of hours later whilst driving home!!! Soooo good!! Thankyou Vic Juniors and their supporting biscuit and slice chefs! All this adds up to make a great day even better! Thankyou! 👏 👏 👏 ![]()
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Eureka Orienteers thanks the entire MFR team event lead by Carl! There is always an army of of MFR orienteers running your events with such a great depth of Orienteering knowledge and skills! It was a fantastic day and it was really enjoyed so much by many. After two VIC Series events in a short period of time, maybe you can take a short rest!! Thank you so much! ❤️ 😊 👏
Discover Orienteering is ON tomorrow Saturday, 9th of May at Brown Hill Reserve, from 10:00am until 1:00pm! Look for the Rotunda!![]()
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If you never tried orienteering or maybe you only did it at school, but not since, and thought you would like to try again, well come along and Discover Orienteering.![]()
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This program has been created to not overwhelm or bamboozle with too much technical information, but to just give you 5 tips to enable you to complete a short course. If you like you can then do another and another and maybe do all four!!!!![]()
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It seems that learning to navigate and using real maps and compasses to find your way in the bush is having a resurgence. Well take that first step in learning to navigate in a comfortable bush setting at Brown Hill Reserve Rotunda, right next to the oval!![]()
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Remember, it's totally free! You will learn, have fun, complete at least one short orienteering course and, we have Learn to Orienteer keyring whistles as well, for all those who attend! 😁🏅![]()
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What is orienteering? Well, the answer to that may be slightly different to everyone. I will tell you what it means to me. Then after tomorrow you will start to have an idea also, because you have started to Discover Orienteering for yourself! I can't wait! See you in the morning!![]()
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When it comes to Eureka Orienteers there is one name and man that just keeps on going and going and going!!! If Duracell didn't get a rabbit to do their battery commercials they should have gotten him!!!🔋In his 51st year as an official Eurekan, he has been the gear store manager for a large part of those years and this is a role that he is fastidiously dedicated to. This man knows how much there is of everything. I have disputed his counts in the past but time after time I have stood corrected! 🤔 👍 ![]()
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Before events he will prepare what is needed. After events he will note down what's missing. He won't go searching for who didn't return such and such, it will just be recorded on a whiteboard to act as a prompt for others to see, then think, "Oh, I better look for those items under all the other stuff/junk in my car!". Or the next time you go to the store, after dumping all the gear on a Sunday evening, you return later in the week, to find it all organised and packed away neatly in uniform bundles of the same number! It's amazing how much time and energy this man has spent organising orienteering gear over decades and decades.![]()
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This year he coordinated a special project to find a new gear store for Eureka Orienteers, in Brown Hill, and then coordinate and complete the move of all gear. This was necessary as the long term store at Eastwood Leisure Centre is being demolished to make way for a new improved sports and leisure centre! Maybe the return move will come, but for now we are comfortable again at a new home in the Eastern part of Ballarat. Just a little bit closer to Creswick Forest!!![]()
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Thankyou so much Blake, for keeping us organised, both with gear and, well, actually pretty much everything else too! 😁👏🧭🌳🌲🌳🏃🌳🌳🌳![]()
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Obviously a lover of sheds, storage spaces, community clubs and people, Blake Gordon is not only an essential part of Eureka Orienteers! Blake is also a Friend of the Canadian Corridor (FOCC) which works to preserve Woowookarung (Canadian Forest) from so many pressures it faces from an increasingly fast growing city and population. For Orienteers, I believe this may have been the very first colour map in Australia. But please correct me if that isn't true cause I am prone to slight embellishments from time to time, especially when it adds to any good old yarn, or story!! 😆 The FOCCs have been involved in a mighty battle against destructive forest users that were seriously degrading and in some areas, seriously destroying this area in the name of recreation. So to see FOCCs efforts and their literal war to protect the forest making tremendous progress has been so great and is a testament to this group of people that includes Blake too!![]()
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In the last few years, Blake also contributed to a shed project for U3A, amongst all the other activities he does with them and for them, and has done for years. In fact, they clearly recognise this man's contributions so much that the new shed they now use for so many activities even has a name!!! The Blake Gordon Manual Arts Workshop (BGMAW). 👏 👏 👏 👏 ![]()
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Well, the current Eureka Orienteers gear store is only temporary but I can't help thinking we should name the new one in a couple of years after Blake too!!! It's the least we could do to recognise how much you have given to Eureka Orienteers and orienteering all across Australia!!! ![]()
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Well, what's the point of any post on social media? Not sure sometimes. But anyway, you know what, I just thought it is so cool to have a public shed named after someone you know. To know that someone was a member of Eureka Orienteers, well, surely we just had to post this to let the world know about your shed!!! Ok, now you're officially famous Blake cause you're on social media!!! Then again, you were already famous to us and so many in Ballarat already! See you down the store again soon! 👋 😁![]()
PS. See picture of sign with shed name in comments!
Orienteering Victoria
Eureka Orienteers is proudly affiliated with Orienteering Victoria.
Eastwood Leisure Complex
Eureka Orienteers thanks the Eastwood Leisure Complex for their support with the club's equipment store, and the use of their facilities for meetings and social events.
Goodsports
Eureka Orienteers has reached Level 3 accreditation as part of the Good Sports program. Good Sports works with clubs to help them provide safe and healthy environments for families to play sport.