Local event on Ironstone Hill. The leadup was interesting. On Wednesday received email from Ross (course setter) asking if I had updated the map. I hadn't so Thursday morning was spent on a partial track update for novice and moderate courses. Walked the perimeter and also updated all the changes due to land development and subsequent new track and loss of fences etc. Not just an unstable track network, but an unstable road network! Back at the desk I made those corrections, then a crt conversion to ISOM17. The last remapping I did was in 2016, but the intervening 7 years (time flies) had seen a drastic change in vegetation. Back in 2016 it was a white map post a very hot prescribed burn. Large areas of green had emerged. Downloaded 2020 lidar from ELVIS and updated the veg from the OCAD produced lidar veg map.
Out running my assessment is that the lidar veg was reasonable but could do with a few tweaks. Missed a few new tracks and missed the fact that in the week before the event the large dam had gone from empty to almost full. Thankfully the control on the mound in the middle of the dam was left with one viable approach which fortuitously was the approach used on the courses. Also discovered that the symbol set conversion had rendered a few spots in the map illegible. Or perhaps they always were illegible.
When time permits I think another remap is due. This event revealed how important small close to town areas such as this are for the future of orienteering in Bendigo. Few long standing members attended, due to a combination of NOL events in Qld, covid and I suspect disdain for this small area. This was countered by almost 30 competitors on the easy and novice course, many new to the sport this year. Compare this to the preceding "local" event I ran an hour away beyond Serpentine. It might have been judged "one of the most enjoyable orienteering terrains in Australia" but it attracted zero entrants for the novice course.
As to my run... flat terrain is exhausting as you feel guilty not running. Three minor errors, possibly due to focusing too much on mapping and not enough on navigating. Collected 7 controls after the event in the area only visited by course 1.