I knew better than to pay for the privilege of using a black & white map without proper control-site features* and with dodgy contours!
*also without proper controls, currently?
At least you wouldn't have been pushing a pram up a supposedly flat hill.
Isn't that all of Melbourne's street series, black and white maps with controls conveniently located on light poles because any interesting parts of the map are unreadable? I'm going to miss drawing (and running on) nice, full colour street maps for OWA. My next (and last) one at Claisebrook Cove is going to be extra special, something for our membership to remember me by (I hope it doesn't get over 38 degrees and get cancelled though; that'd be a real shame).
I remember the ASC Galaxy Sprint at Claisebrook - think that was Easter 2003?
(apparently in Melbourne there was a huge outcry when the price of street events went up from $4 to $5)
I can imagine. I argued to make them 1 gbp rather than free in London and that met resistance. There's a tendency to think things that are free are not quality and I didn't think we should lose money on events.
Yes your memory is correct Jenny. Simmo wanted me to update the Claisebrook sprint map for MapRunF but I didn't think it was worth the effort for 2-3 people to use it so I just drew a Metro standard map instead (which is now going to be 1:7500 when 97% of our Metro maps are 1:10,000!)
Our Metro events over the years went from $5 when I started in 2007 to $10 then to $12 and now back to $10. There were a lot of people who didn't turn up when the price doubled but sadly the cost of venue hire has gone up a lot in that time and the regulars are now used to having toilets and parking (luxury). Can't go to the Melbourne format of just hosting it in a park somewhere. Even recently I had a long-time orienteer complain about the $10 fee so I abruptly told her I'd paid $80 to enter a half marathon recently and I didn't even get a map out of it (nor a finishers' medal as it turned out since I didn't finish). Wish they'd lower the cost and do away with the medal because I really don't need (or want) any more.
When you think about it, WA's park/street events with a full colour map that Ricky or I* lovingly spent many hours fieldworking and drawing are good value at only $5 more than Melbourne's black/white efforts.
* Between us we're responsible for most of them.
Our summer series maps are full colour and entry for adult is $8. But more than half of that goes to ONSW, plus now we are using maprunF we are paying small "dues" to Peter E (thank you!). We don't pay any hire fees. Probably only upped the price from $5 about 4 years ago. One thing I am noticing though in using maprunF is that the "character/quality" of control sites have deteriorated. Previously Planners took great pride in finding the most interesting feature/quirky clue/historical fact . Now, IF we read the clues I see "pole 123XU 45" or "letter box #14."
One of our club members who relocated to uni in Melbourne was keen for a run. Went to one of the "power pole" events and said.. never again. I tried to explain the ethos and support the events but he said "poor cousin to our events". I think he was more keen on the interest factor than the exercise factor. I guess it depends on your priorities.
Problem with MapRunF is that visiting an exact control site is no longer required if you've got a 20m radius (or whatever) then it's entirely plausible the system will check you as being there before you even visit the obscure feature! So there's no point looking for interesting features any more. I'm notorious for setting quirky control sites at my events and try to use power poles as little as possible if it can be avoided. Plus it takes away the 'chance' factor of GPS lag (though not the one of a stolen control!)
Simmo while that's true of most of our recent maps, a lot of our older ones can be attributed to the likes of Tooms, O-ing and Fletch though they've all now left the Perth metro area so the map drawing stopped (though in many cases map drawing stops when families start).
Eltham's actually a nice area to run (if you're up to doing hills), it's just that the map didn't show many of the hills....
Agree it was a nice place to run around. The ease of setting maprun events and not needing control placers/ picker uppers outweighs the downsides for our Thursday nights.
So if you are looking for colour maps mid week in Melbourne, the Wednesday Scout event might be an option?
I don't think these are running at the moment due to Covid.