State Series Event #3 (22 April 2012) at Macedon

Monday, 16 April 2012

On-line entries for State Series Event #3 (22 April 2012) at Macedon Middle Gully close on Tuesday 17 April

Entry on the day is available.  Click here to download the final bulletin 
Enquiries to Mark Hennessy – markhennessy@bigpond.com

Enter now to experience the Macedon bush famously portrayed by Fred McCubbin in his huge triptych painting The Pioneers (on display at the NGV Federation Square). You will also marvel at the exquisite stone masonry of the 150 year old tunnels under the Bendigo railway, through which all the longer courses pass. The picturesque assembly area has plenty of space for club tents, parking and socialising close to the action. The Vic Juniors – the Rebels – will provide drinks, cakes and other goodies. Pre-entry is preferred but entry on day will be available (may have to mark own map). The assembly area is only 1.6 km north of Macedon train station, but you may need to book if travelling by train, and bike space may be limited.

The shortest courses (8 and 9) are on tracks and offer an ideal entrée to bush orienteering for street orienteers and power walkers contemplating a new challenge. It is also an ideal warm up for the Victorian Secondary Schools Championships, which will be held nearby on Friday 18 May.

The event is middle distance format. The longer courses pass through four distinct orienteering terrains, with tracks never too far away:

·         younger pines - runnable but with limited visibility

·         mature pines - more open with mapped and crossable windrows left over after the Ash Wednesday bush fires (1983)

·         southern slopes of the Macedon caldera – native forest thinned out by the drought but starting to regrow

·         flatter drier native forest below the slopes.

Courses have been set by Ian Phillips guided by controller Rex Niven, to maximize route choice and variety of navigation challenges.

Organiser: Mark Hennessy    markhennessy@bigpond.com    0419 559 129