Mountain Devils Orienteering Club

 

Night MTB-O - 22 September 2007

Wingello State Forest - Lighting up the Forest

 

The Official Report

At the urging of Marcel van Schie, Mountain Devils organised an informal night event around Forest Camp at Wingello on the Saturday evening. Riders had the opportunity to try out state of the art Lupine lights provided by Bill Kaloudis of Virtuascape – and everybody was very impressed by the way ‘Wilma’ and ‘Betty’ lit up the forest. Check out some photos on the Virtuascape website.

Out in the forest, it was very cool - but with the courses bringing everybody back past Forest Camp, there was a chance to warm up by the campfire before heading out again! The darkness rushed by with a cone of light picking out the track ahead. No problems with rocks or potholes – but the moving obstacles like wombats made things more difficult.

Ten riders went out (and all of them came back with big smiles on their faces).

Long course – 9km

Jeremy Welbourne 42 min
(David West) 45 min
Melanie Simpson 56 min*
Simon Nott 57 min
Jiri Cech 57 min

Short course – 4km

Hamish Mackie 18 min
Graeme McLeod 26 min
Sandra Thomas 34 min
Phil Harding 34 min
Bill Chalmers 36 min

The Singlespeeder Perspective

The campers were well established with Katrin and kids building a nice camp fire.
Simon and Jiri rocked up with a truckload - yes a HUGE truckload of timber for what was going to be a cold night.

Clear skies and an early dusk saw riders donning hi tech Lupine LED lights courtesty of Bill Kaloudis of Virtuascape, and taking off for the night events. Course setter David W was first out and came roaring in halfway suggesting, through panting breath, that the long(er) event was NOT recommended due to difficulty in finding check points and rogue wombats running across his path!

Sure enough, there were more takers on the long and 10 takers for both courses in total.

All riders managed to finish and seemed to enjoy the experience - especially as many had some superb lights fitted, transforming the gloom into a navigable space.

No, David W didn't win the long and Simon and Jiri came last after riding together and losing lots of time stopping to warm themselves by the campfire in between controls!

Riding was followed by some fun fire side conversation, gritty but warm gluhwein, and the obligatory chocolate.

Credits
Planning: David West
Organisation: Marcel van Schie
Lights: Bill Kaloudis – Virtuascape

For photos click here.