Discussion: Event update

Hello orienteers,

After a site visit this weekend, Big Foot have reluctantly had to
postpone State League 1 & 2. Access to the area by 2WD is impractical,
and it looks as though this will remain the case for several weeks.

We apologise for the inconvenience that this will no doubt cause.

We will attempt to reschedule the event and will be in touch as soon we
have a date. This may take a while, since we have to negotiate with a
few land owners, consult the relevant orienteering calendars and
sacrifice something to the weather gods.

We hope to see you later in the year,

Jock Davis, Event Organiser
Andy Simpson, Big Foot President

Damn, couldn't have written it better myself.

So @blairtrewin, should we shoot for April (we think ground may still be too wet), July or August ?

Fully understand decision and appreciate your reasons but not sure where you will fit it. Will be hard because you will probably then clash with NSW club events (most likely one of ours since we have the largest number of bush events). If you must clash with club events can you please talk to us at Newcastle so as to only clash with one of our minors (if at all) and not one of our NOYs. Thanks GP

Some of your NOYs are to be held at "tbc" - are they definite ?

We are going to tread on someone's toes, obviously Big Foot have the biggest toes, but after that we'll do it toe-size by toe-size.

Its not all down to us either - the land owner may knock us back.

The most obvious date is Sunday 15th July - that is replace the State League at Mitchell Park with a day at Snows Hills. Unless of course Garingal have put a huge amount of effort into re-mapping Mitchell Park (which is what is needed).

Dates and most locations are now firmed - I haven't got them here ATM but will advise.

good luck with it all - major pain in the a for you guys.

We're planning to take a list of possible dates to the AGM on Thursday and will hopefully have a firm date after that.

Firm ground would be more of an issue would it not?

As Cath commented she's never known control stands go in so easily. It was just a shame we had to take them out again the following day, probably only to repeat the whole exercise later in the year in firmer ground.

What's the issue - high water over roads, saturated ground/tracks, damage to roads or some combination of the above? If it's high water that should sort itself out quite quickly, the other two will take a bit longer (especially if you need to rely on the council to fix roads which probably aren't that high on their priority list). Regardless going for a July/August date sounds safer.

I mapped Sunset Mountain in 1988, a wet year - anyone else here remember the Canberra Classic at Wild Cattle Creek? - although one without any event as extreme as the one a couple of weeks ago, and don't remember it as being particularly wet underfoot in winter.

Mainly saturated ground/tracks which would lead to damage if we took cars in and out. It's all private property so little chance of any work. The surrounding roads were surprisingly dry with no access problems, plenty of water lying in the surrounding paddocks though.

What was wrong with parking on the outside roads and walking in? In Europe you sometimes have to walk 3 to 4 km to get to assembly and or start.

It would have been a 3km walk each way both days. There would have been no toilets at the assembly and we would have had to carry all equipment in. Usually long walks do not also require manual transport of gear. This was not a decision taken lightly and not without considering the alternatives.

New date - October 13th/14th.

It's still damp. Any one keen to walk or ride your mountain bike in is encouraged to do so :), seriously.

What about the other road as a plan D ?

Might need snow chains Thursday night/Friday if some of the more extreme forecast mdoel scenarios come off.

And there is no other road; the one you are thinking of has 3 creek crossings after the really boggy bit.

powered & unpowered camping sites are available at Bungendore Showground - ($20 & $15). There is nothing else on at the Showground on Saturday, & apparently plenty of room.

Further advice on event access now available on Bigfoot's web page. Very heavy rain forecast for Thursday is likely to require walking to the assembly area.

This morning's round of heavy rain appears to largely have missed the area (8mm in Braidwood and 2 in Goulburn, compared to widespread 20-40 in a band southeast from Canberra). It looks like there is going to be another round of heavy rain this afternoon/evening but exactly where it is will be very sensitive to where a small low forms off the coast - even a 50km shift in the position of the low could make the difference between the area getting 50mm+ or next to nothing - a bit of a forecasters' nightmare!

This morning's round of heavy rain appears to largely have missed the area (8mm in Braidwood and 2 in Goulburn, compared to widespread 20-40 in a band southeast from Canberra).

Yay - Blair for president !

@O-ing - its the high road I'm thinking off, so you stay high after the boggy bit (ie turn right instead of left down the hill) then along the north side of the hill and fork left down to the E end of the long clearing.

I can bring gardening gear to clear that track a bit.

OK I know the one you mean; but its not an alternative, you still have to get through the main bogs near the entrance (one just after the main gate and unfortunately one just after entering from the paddocks). The high road does cut out a dip on the lower road, but that dip isn't wet, or wasn't last weekend when we got through it.

Plus - believe it or not the clearing alongside the creek is not one of the boggy bits. It's the higher areas where water appears trapped between the surface and something below that are our problem.

Looks like round 2 of the rain is not missing the area - nothing like Ulladulla, which is getting close to 200, but looks like 25 or so since 9am. Must also be getting within striking distance of snow on the higher ground with Braidwood down to 3.7.

There is some rain around, Burrill Lake has had 238mm so far

Put some obstacles on the road and market it as a different sort of race. You'll get thousands of people along!

Braidwood's had 44mm since 9am so it's definitely going to be a wet one! Hopefully none of the controls we put out last weekend have floated away.

News Radio traffic has reported snow falling at Braidwood!

It just got a whole lot worse: burst water main in Lindfield means the coffee shop had no coffee.

From the temperatures there would definitely have been snow for at least a couple of hours overnight, although it has probably turned to rain again now. 50-70mm at most sites in the region.

102mm at the nearest gauge according to the locals.
Its a no go - sorry folks !

Please tell anyone who you know is going - emails sent to everyone who entered online.

Oh, I am sorry for you guys! My club's previously had to cancel events because of rain ruining the access road, and because of fire bans, but not 'snow'.

And probably not the same event twice in a year...

Should we have a wake for it ? I think it would help some people (G) to reach closure.

I think 6 trips down and back would resolve that.

I think some would appreciate you organising an event in the Mallee about this time next year.

Many thanks beegfoots for your great efforts, I really appreciate what you've done! It's a shame that orienteering season ends on not a high note especially after fantastic tassie champs. Looking forward for a new bush season!