Orienteers in Melbourne were tested over the weekend in a first-of-a-kind event combining a maze-o with a sprint-o course around Westgate Park, in the shadow of the Westgate Bridge on the eastern banks of the Yarra River.

Event organisers Melbourne Forest Racers teamed up with Dandenong Ranges Orienteering club who created the 40 x 20m maze which was marked out in a flat area of grass with stakes and tapes forming 2m wide lanes. Competitors had to find their first control in the maze before running the 5.5km sprint-o course around the small but detailed terrain of Westgate Park. They then had to go back into the maze to find their last control. With no margin for error – crossing the tapes was forbidden – route planning in advance was critical. Some competitors had to wait for the maze to be dismantled before they found their way out!

Bruce Arthur of MFR posted the fastest time of the day for Course A in just over 22 minutes, closely followed by Adrian Jackson who is more familiar than most with the park having trained there on the many windy mountain bike tracks.

On the special maze course over 9 controls, Jackson turned the tables winning in 3min 44secs, 1 second ahead of Arthur with Andrew Baker in third place.

Dion Keech

Melbourne Forest Racers