Kangaroos' Tales - March 2015

Thursday, 5 March 2015

2015 Melbourne StreetO Champs at Springthorpe saw BK members doing very well

Runners

Power Walkers

Well done to all who took part. It was great to see BK so well represented in all classes.

Australian Rankings

Based on performances in last years Championship events, Bush and Mountain Bike Orienteers are ranked in age classes.

Mountain Biking 2014 Ranking
Angus Robinson is ranked No. 2 in M20 Elite.
Carolyn Cusworth is ranked No3 in W60
Heather Leslie is ranked No.2 in W50
Prue Dobbin is ranked 7th In W50
Bruce Paterson is ranked 5th in M50
Peter Cusworth is ranked 1st in M60
John Sheahan is ranked 4th in M70

Bush Orienteering
Judi Herkes is ranked 3rd in W70
Helen Alexander is ranked 2nd in W75
Rob Lewis is ranked 7th in M45
Tim Hatley is ranked 3rd in M50

Presidential Ponderings

There are a couple of unstated conventions that BK members exhibit at StreetO events:

When we conduct an event (Street or Bush) the collection of controls is our responsibility. Members are usually very generous helping with this chore, often volunteering  without being asked. Some members also volunteer from time to time to help out other clubs with control collection.

When BK is conducting an event many members use this as an opportunity to wear the club colours. This is a way of allowing other orienteers to see which club  is responsible for helping with the current event, and that the organisers have your support.

Club Gear

If you need to update or buy one of the new Bush “O” tops see Jenny at an event or give her a ring on 9397 3493.

Lysterfield MTBO

On Sat 21st Feb BK members under the leadership of the Cusworths, presented the 75mins score event at Lysterfield. The day was just what the doctor ordered-calm and cool.
BK members filled the first three places. Carolyn Jackson came 1st Angus Robinson came 2nd and Bruce Paterson came 3rd.

The challenge on this course was to get the return right. The first three place getters all visited 16 controls.

Mark Pearson and Christine Raviart rode strongly visiting 15 controls within the time allowed.

Tim Hatley and Bill Vanendool were caught out going for the extra distance, but they incurred time penalties which were reflected in the results.

Liliia Gluschenko is steadily improving her MTBO results, and in this event she finished in the top 30%.

Among the Juniors Ewen and Magnus Fossum did particularly well visiting 9 controls.

Many thanks to Carolyn Cusworth for organising the barbecue/drinks and cheese toasties. Having the after event snack is really appreciated. Great to see members readily volunteering to collect controls.

Dandy Duo

On Sunday 1st March the DROC club presented a Du-O event. BK members turned out in force to support this event.

Angus Robinson rode very strongly finishing the long Course in a very fast 1:32:27.

Tom Lothian and Scott Gavens finished in the top half of the Long Solo Senior division. In the Long Solo Senior Tim Hatley placed 2nd ahead of a classy field including Thorlene Egerton, Carolyn Jackson, Bill Vanendool and Jonathan Sutcliffe.

In the Short Solo Veteran Bruce Paterson came in 1st with Martin Kozma filling 2nd place.

All up this was a good event for the club.

Discounts

If you are not already a member of Orienteering Victoria, it only costs $25 to join, now is the time to consider joining as the Bush O and Winter O Street programs have discounts available to those who are members.

This Sunday we have the first event of the Bush O Calendar at Canadian Forest, Ballarat, and in 3 more weeks we start the Winter StreetO program.

OV Members will receive discounts of $5-$10 for each bush event they enter, as well as being able to purchase a Season Ticket for the Night O and Saturday Series.

These discounts can be quite considerable. If you enter 5 Bush O events you will save $25+, and if you take out a StreetO Season ticket you could save $16 or more. Measure this against the cost of joining Orienteering Victoria.

As you can see it becomes worthwhile considering joining Orienteering Victoria, if you intend being active in Bush O and Street O.

If you wish to take up this option contact Gwynneth Baker on 98984316 or log into Eventor. Any queries contact John Sheahan on 9397 3493.
 
Hope to see you on Saturday at the MTBO at Panton Hill, or on Sunday in Canadian Forest Ballarat, for the first event of the Bush O season.
 
John Sheahan
Club President

Good Morning Vietnam!

by Ian Baker

Vietnam was a new cycling destination for me; I’ve done many trips in Thailand and Laos as well as several in Europe. This time I wanted to go somewhere fresh; Europe is a long flight, the fare is over $2000 return and daily costs are relatively high. Research on the internet led me to a group tour of the Mekong Delta starting and finishing in Ho Chi Minh City which everyone still calls Saigon, even though the name was officially changed one day after the end of the “American war”.
 
The tour operator was ActiveAsia, a Vietnamese company; I booked through World Expeditions in Melbourne, the agent for Australia. Details and prices are on
http://www.activeasiavietnam.com/cycling-tours/south-vietnam/mekong-delta-cycle-tour-9-days-inn-trip.html

My criteria included reasonable daily distances, not too many hills, interesting surroundings and good quality hotels. Most tour companies carry your suitcase from hotel to hotel so it is waiting for you at the end of the day’s ride. My bike was a Trek hybrid with sprung front forks, good on dirt roads and the tracks along the canal banks. The tour was nine days/eight nights with up to 51km riding a day.
 
There are many ways to get to Saigon from Melbourne. The most direct is with Vietnam Air but the fare is relatively high. An economical route is via Singapore. I flew via Bangkok in Thailand both ways, spending a week in the Land of Smiles on the way out and then two weeks after the bike tour; I met up with my sister and her husband, refugees from the cold English winter and also had my regular visit to the dentist in Bangkok; the service is excellent and the charges are about one third of Australia; for example I had three X-rays at only 50 bahts each, less than two dollars.
 
My return ticket to Bangkok on Thai Airways cost $865 on Skyscanner and a return from Bangkok to Saigon on Jetstar Asia was $134. You do not need a visa for Thailand for up to thirty days but I did have to buy one for Vietnam, a hefty $95.
 
The Vietnamese currency is the dong; there are no fewer than twenty thousand dong to one US dollar. If a Vietnamese says the price of your purchase is “Forty”, that means forty thousand dong, two dollars. I did enquire if there was any proposal to clean up the currency (as has been done in other countries including Germany, France and Turkey) but the answer seemed to be that it was not necessary. In tourist areas American dollars were widely accepted – you get your small change in dong – but not in small local convenience stores. I’d taken $US500 cash with me and still had some money in hand at the end of the trip so splurged it on a large bottle of Bombay Blue gin at the airport; dong are worthless outside Vietnam. So I averaged $50 a day in spends on bits of shopping, ice creams, beer and a few meals; the bike tour price did include most meals.

Click here to read more stories, including pictures

Members News

A warm welcome to new members Kathryn Knight, Aidan Mayall and the Biggar family, Darryl, Susan, Oliver and Ellis.

Welcome back to Dean Beard. Two years ago he took up another activity on Monday evenings but has now returned to StreetO.

Congratulations to Adnan Lovic and Figen Tzelil on the birth of their daughter Leila in December.

A welcome to David and Debbie Cassar who have joined the Tuesday Western StreetO series.

Video of the month

If you take cross country running, add a full nature experience and combine it with thrill and adventure, what do you get?