Training Log: Bruce

The Last Dance - Kooyoora in the fog!



When you are feeling down, finish work early and have 12 hours until 6 weeks of lock-down, what do you do? Why not jump in the car and go for a run at my favourite orienteering map. There were plenty of people on the roads, and a few campers at Melville Caves, but I never got closer than 50m from anyone else, so I did my social distancing part.

A quick stop at Officeworks to print the map that Aston, Patrick, Fredo and Brodie used a couple of weeks ago.

I only had limited time, but enough to fit in a 60 minute run which made it worthwhile.

It was a sunny day in Melbourne, but as I travelled north of Bendigo there was thick fog blanketing the sky. The temperature dropped to 6 degrees and as I drove to the top of Melville Caves visibility also reduced to 20m.

A great challenge to navigate a very technical course in the fog. Something I had not experienced at Kooyoora since the 1990 Queen's Birthday weekend. I recall the fog cleared on the day, but today it was getting worse at 4pm as the temperature cooled further!

I managed to spike all the controls and had a great time. I hadn't visited the forest west of Crystal Mine since about 2007. It was super technical, but still run-able with plenty of bare rock features. This is still one of the best orienteering areas in Australia - especially using this part of the forest that avoids the medium green and steep climbs.

Hopefully that orienteering fix can stay with me for the next 6 weeks.

C • Kooyoora in the fog... 6