Bendigo Orienteers has produced world class senior and junior competitors and coaches and has introduced the sport to thousands of people over the last 30 years.
Sometimes described as ‘running while playing chess’ or ‘doing a cryptic crossword while running to catch the bus’, orienteering is a sport that appeals to a wide range of people, with some competing well into their 90s!
Originating in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, orienteering was designed for military training but became a competitive sport in Sweden in 1919. The basic aim of orienteering is to find your way through bushland, forest or urban streets, by using a map and compass to tick off one control (checkpoint) after another in the shortest possible time.
Thousands of people nationally participate in the sport which can be a leisurely stroll or a vigorous competitive pursuit. It is a sport that can be enjoyed as a family and for a lifetime as people can choose the courses that best suit their abilities and fitness levels.
Orienteering’s appeal also lies in the fact that it requires “cunning running” and that the cunning aspect becomes more important as people get older. The fastest runner does not always win; navigational mistakes can be costly and a slow but accurate navigator will often beat faster, less accurate people. Peter Searle, founding member of Victorian regional club, Bendigo Orienteers, says orienteering is a great social leveller.
“With orienteering you don’t compete against other people, it’s more against yourself. At the end of the day you can talk to someone else about how you approached a particular leg for example. I have done this with my son when we competed on the same course. You can chat to someone half your age and you both learn from the exchange,” Peter says.
Bendigo Orienteers has been running events in its local area for over 30 years and has held a very successful Saturday Series for a number of years.
“We originally devised the Saturday Series as an event that one person could run out of the boot of a car. Bendigo is lucky to be surrounded by lots of different forests and terrain types. The idea was to attract locals and young people with a simple event. The series became really popular as a lot of people started coming from Melbourne. It is a really pleasant and casual way to do orienteering; there are always people on hand to help newcomers,” Peter adds.
The club has the highest level of junior membership of any club in Victoria and sees junior participation as an important part of the club’s ethos. In recent years the club has run Primary School Championships for local schools. This year, the one-day event attracted 900 students from 17 primary schools in the Bendigo and Castlemaine area.
“Our membership is one of the highest in Victoria – we have a lot of family groups and young people. Because we run so many local events it does give people the opportunity to become involved on different levels. People can organise an event or learn course setting if they want to. Orienteering is a sport for life. In our club there are often three generations of the one family competing at the same event, which is great for both the future of the club and the family,” Peter says.
Julie Flynn has been involved with Bendigo Orienteers for 14 years and is currently in her first year as club president.
“I moved to Bendigo with my family from Melbourne 14 years ago and if we hadn’t moved there is no way we would have picked up the sport. We were attracted to the club because it offered us a sport we could take our children to and it was outdoors in the bush”.
Julie’s love of the sport has taken her to international events this year. Her exposure to these events has made her appreciate the camaraderie of a small club even more.
“My husband and I have just come back from an orienteering event in Sweden. It was run over five days and attracted 14,000 people. The oldest age group was 95 and one man competed in that group. They devised a special map and course for him. I think a really important part of a healthy club is the social aspect, when members are getting more out of the club than the sporting aspect. I love participating in the sport but I think the friendships developed along the way are very important. It’s great after an event to be able laugh and talk about the mistakes you made along the course. When I competed overseas with people I didn’t know, I found it so much less fulfilling as there wasn’t that sense of belonging,” Julie says.
As the sport is run on a voluntary basis – there are no paid workers for any of the events open to the public – attracting and retaining volunteers is a challenge. Burnout is a major issue.
“In our area in the last five years we have been involved in a number of international and national events and because of this, there is definitely a sense that people are getting very tired,” Peter says.
Julie adds that the increase in technology relating to the sport has had a negative impact on attracting volunteers. “New technology demands that the volunteers are computer literate which means that some may be intimated by that. Local events don’t use the technology but the bigger state, national and international events do. Some people are reticent to go to the next level of event organisation because of this”, Julie says.
Local events are much easier for one person to organise and belonging to a local club is a more gentle way for a person to develop these skills. The club presents end of year awards that largely recognise participation among its members. The main award – the Vera Shelton Award is presented to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the club. Vera Shelton was a much-loved member who died of natural causes while orienteering.
Unlike other sports that value clubrooms and equipment as their main infrastructure, orienteering clubs’ most precious assets are their maps. “Maps are our infrastructure. We spend a lot of money updating them. We have some very active and skilled members that make maps. We recently spent $6000 to create a map made in an area near Bendigo,” Julie explains.
Orienteers tend to become informal ‘eco-warriors’ due to their love, knowledge and respect of the bush. Members keep an eye on the forests and have reported rubbish dumps and damage.
“We’ve been recognised by Parks Victoria as a useful group to contact in regard to management plans. They recognise us as responsible users of the forests,” Peter says.
Bendigo Orienteers is a proud strong club that has produced world class senior and junior competitors and coaches and has introduced the sport to thousands of people over the last 30 years.
“Why have I been involved for 30 years? Every five years I get a new lease of life as I go up to a new age group. You can keep competing with your peers for years. I am always surprised when people who don’t orienteer ask me if I am still involved in the sport after so many years. It’s strange; it’s as if you are expected to stop at some stage in your life!” Peter exclaims.
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Cunning Running Puts Bendigo on the Map – Bendigo Orienteers
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To contact the bendigo Orienteers go to www.bendigo-orienteers.com.au