Despite the continuing threat of showers and the early crisp air it turned out to be a near perfect day for orienteering. Especially for those faced with climbing to the top of the Park on the longer courses. There were 102 participants who registered for the foot-O and a further 25 for the MTBO, a most pleasing turnout. Many of the people were young or new to orienteering or both.
Even though it didn’t rain the Wallaringa organisers were glad of the use of the large pavilion which kept out the occasional fine misty drizzle. It was certainly the scene of much hectic activity at times, especially when the MTBO group arrived before their 10:30 mass start.
The foot-O people had access to excellent courses planned by Jenny Casanova. These had legs ranging from pleasant easy going alongside crroks on the flats to rather more difficult negotiation of rocks and scrub in steeper sections of the park. The MTBO riders also rode tracks to the top of the park as well as in nearby suburban streets to find as many of the controls as possible in their 3 hour time limit. The locations of their controls were planned by Kaye Haarsma and Peter Mayer.
The event organisers, Mark Overton and Meredith Rasch did an excellent job to pull the event together and thanks are due to all the other Wallaringa helpers who worked under some degree of pressure at times.
