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EVENT REPORT Nillumbik Emus' MAXI, Hepburn Springs, 22nd of March, 2026![]()
Getting up before dawn and heading out to an event is a special part of Orienteering. But today I didn't need to get up quite so early, seeing as Hepburn is not far from Ballarat. But I couldn't help it and still left home before sunrise because I was so excited to get up and get out orienteering to a place I have driven past possibly hundreds of times, yet never actually orienteered there! A true classic! Steep hills, deep gullies, inky black mine shafts, horizontal tunnels, slippery leaf and bark covered slopes, erosion gullies that are tough to cross, even if they are devoid of blackberries! Yet, with all the hardship comes stunning eucalypt forest, clear ridges for free running, gullies and spurs and light bracken highlighting the sunlight that lit up the whole forest. It was a delight. Warm yes, but not too hot. It was simply perfect.![]()
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The initial route planning goes quick. But it's time to go. Within minutes all have dispersed, certain their way is best. Soon enough, it's just you, a map, a compass and your brain. Ok, let's try for 5km, or whatever you run, per hour!! After one hour, not even close!!! 😆🤔🤣 Anyway, so much to see. Mines going into the hillside, shafts going down vertical. Deep erosion gullies to avoid. Maybe, the best strategy it to stick to tracks and paths, especially in the steeper sections. 🤔 But of course, the shortcuts are always calling to draw the Orienteers back away from the tracks!!! A mental battle at every second and every step!!! ![]()
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It's amazing how one hour turns to two and then approaches 3 hours. That's what orienteering does. You don't even realise how hard you are working. Just one more checkpoint! Ok, now just another!! Will I make it back it time? Your brain is too busy to even realise how far you have covered! Incredible, you feel amazing! Until you stop!! I ran how far!!!??? ![]()
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But, it could be argued, that's where this particular event actually begins. When you finish and then enjoy the amazing food that Nillumbik put on. There is hundreds of sandwiches. Minestrone soup, cakes of all varieties, cool drinks, hot drinks! All brought to you by so many Emus and Maitre d'eed by Lauris! Such a brilliant spread to enjoy after a huge time exercising and then sitting in a most beautiful and historic part of Australia. What a wonderful afternoon! ![]()
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The photos show a number of Eureka Orienteers who scored prizes in their categories. Well done Rod and Roch. James also features in the photos. Plus Richard also did well in the Open Category. ![]()
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Humungous thankyou to Nillumbik Emus for putting on this event. It is a large undertaking just in regards to the courses and then they put on the food and really go out of their way to make this a true sporting event that people enjoy, appreciate and remember because they know they have participated in something that has had a lot of effort put into it. Thankyou so much to Rob, Ron, Derek, Christine, Helen, Caroline, Matthew, Joshua, Lauris and all those who helped with this much favoured annual event on the calendar. I for one think it is fantastic and love how much you give of your time and energy to make this a success for all orienteers, rogainers and bush navigators!![]()
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A smattering of photos can't ever show the true complete nature of orienteering because so many people choose so many different paths. But maybe you will see and think, "Oh, yeah, I went there." or, "Yes, those shots of the trees make me feel like I'm back out there." or, even if you have never been orienteering, you might think it looks so good and makes you want to try one day! For me, I just enjoy being out there in Victoria's forests. I never want to go home because they are so beautiful, peaceful, renewing and rejuvenating! I was still at the lookout until around 5:40pm! Collecting controls was tough with a long steep walk, but I even discovered graffiti on rocks!!! 😲🤔 Always discovering something new with orienteering! 😊 👏 ![]()
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What a wonderful day I had orienteering in Hepburn Springs! I declare it was absolutely perfect. How could anyone not?! Hope to see you all orienteering out in the forests again soon. What an amazing sport. It gives so much and creates such special memories. Hope you enjoy a tiny snapshot of todays event! Bye for now! 👋 😁 🌳🏃🌳
Sensational video footage from out on the course at today's magnificent Nillumbik Emus' MAXI event in Hepburn Springs! 🌳🌳🌳🌿🌳🏃🌳🌳🌳 Did anyone remember getting to this one!!! 😁 What a fantastic day! More photos soon!! This place is simply fabulous! 👏 😊 👍 Thank you Nillumbik Emus, your event was perfection!
Hepburn Mineral Springs Maxi Event, Nillumbik Emus OC - Sunday, 22nd of March's, 2026![]()
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Just letting you all know that this Sunday we have another orienteering event in our region. Daylesford and Hepburn Springs are so close to Ballarat and there are so many brilliant orienteering areas there, that, well I do anyway, consider it local orienteering. Our backyard! The event will assemble in the magnificent Hepburn Springs Mineral Springs Picnic Area! Some may even choose to book in for a Day Spa after the event!!! 🛁 😀 Although you probably needed to book that months ago!! 🤣 The first time I ever came orienteering in Victoria (I grew up in Tas!), we came to Daylesford in 1981. I have loved this place and it's connection to orienteering ever since! Still I am learning and discovering it's forests and secrets to this day so I am so excited about this week's Maxi event! ![]()
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The Nillumbik Emus' Maxi event has become one of the highlights of the Victorian orienteering calendar. A 3 hour or 1.5 hour opportunity to choose your own route to as many controls with varying points with the aim to score the most points you can in the time allowed. The forest area is from the mineral springs, east up to the Midland Highway, and North and South in this corridor. If you have never been here or only driven the roads then once again, you will be amazed at how much first there is to explore or walk or just picnic in! This area also has that poppet head lookout that has amazing sunset views over the forests and across to Wombat Hill in Daylesford.![]()
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We also have an opportunity to do some learning and knowledge sharing. We can, if people want to, go in teams and I am willing to take anyone who wants to learn so that we can share some of that orienteering knowledge that really takes a long time to gather through experience. We can learn some compass skills, follow bearings accurately, learns to estimate distances, some safety information and practice what we learn to find the controls over the time period. Generally, because it is a bit longer, people don't always run the whole way and we can walk and talk and learn more orienteering!!! 🧭 ![]()
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Take note that the Nillumbik Emus' go even further than above and beyond with these events and provide incredible amounts of hot soup, drinks, sandwiches and cakes and more! Incredible! 😋 It is usually a great turnout with both Orienteers and rogainers turning up. If you don't know Rogaining is very similar to orienteering but they go out for a lot longer, like 6, 12, and even 24 hours! Why would they do that you may ask? Because it is so much fun! 😲 😁So this event is excellent preparation for Rogaining!![]()
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As mentioned, this is truly an excellent opportunity to share our orienteering knowledge before and during the event so if you are interested then please let me know by sending a DM or commenting below.![]()
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For more information on the event and to enter (Pre-entry is required), follow the link below. It will be a magnificent time and I am certain you will spend more time after in the gardens and drinking mineral water! Who wouldn't want to drink from the Sulphur Springs!!! 🤣😋 Don't worry, the are other springs have nicer sounding names!!! 🤭![]()
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eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/23479
Our friends over at the Melbourne Forest Racers Orienteering Club are holding a 3 week Learn To Orienteer (LTO) program over at Castlemaine. This 3 week program begins on April the 11th. Then continues on the 18th of April and the 2nd of May, with a week off for the National Orienteering League events here in Ballarat on the ANZAC Day weekend.![]()
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Along with Ballarat, Bendigo and Daylesford, Castlemaine is also an amazing place for orienteering as they have so many forests and areas containing eroded gullies making it a challenge and adventure for all. Castlemaine has hosted World Championship events!!! This LTO course takes place in Castlemaine Botanical Gardens for the first two sessions then heads out further into the bush to Kalimna park on the other side of Castlemaine.![]()
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There is so much detail in orienteering and it takes quite a while to gain wide and vast experience. This course will be very comprehensive so even if you have been orienteering a couple of times, I am certain you can still gain a lot out of the 3 week course. ![]()
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The cost is $30 for the three sessions, which includes maps you will use. If you are interested we can start planning now and maybe get a car pool going if there is a few of us interested. Just get in touch and can discuss! 😁![]()
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Now, for any parkrun enthusiasts, check this out!!! 😁 The first two sessions of this Learn To Orienteer course take place in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens at 9:30am. That's directly after Castlemaine parkrun which also occurs in these gardens from 7:50am! What a great day! In addition, the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens are so beautiful all the year round, but in Autumn, 🍂 🍁, well, gosh, I was truly stunned at how beautiful they are at this time of the year with all the leaves falling in their golden colours! Magical! 😁 ![]()
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Ok, keep in touch and let us know if you are interested. Let's start a discussion down below. Maybe we can also discuss how to bring a Learn To Orienteer course to Ballarat some time later this year!![]()
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Ok, happy navigating everybody!![]()
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EVENT REPORT - Chapel Flat, Sunday, 15th of March, 2006![]()
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Well, Eureka Orienteers truly hope you enjoyed the pine forests. An uncommon scenario these days. What was once reasonably common, especially in SA and the ACT, was experienced again in the Creswick Forest by many more Orienteers than were expected! We thankyou all so much for coming out today and supporting the Ballarat Classics events.![]()
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Many we're caught out in the pines by how hard it can be when you just cannot see very far, lose perspective on which way the sun could be and cannot see multiple contours enough to make sense of them. Yet, most didn't quit, completed their course and returned, very tired (I am still exhausted!!! 🥵🥴) yet very appreciative of what they experienced today. There were comments of "How hard was that!!!" and "This was like the old days back in the 80s!!!". Yes, that is what the Ballarat Classics try to do. Maybe we all need to brush up on our pinpoint accurate compass bearings and distance estimations! 😆🤔![]()
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Further south, in the eucalypt areas, the sun lit up the trees and the bracken and the other vegetation. It was superb running along spurs, across gullies and over ridges as the green bracken leaves sparkled. In places it looked thick as though you may not be able to get through, but the truth was that on almost all the slopes except the very deepest gullies, if you took a bearing and went straight you could get through anywhere very easily and very straight. It was simply magnificent out there today. What a combination. What a day. What a contrast to the cold 🥶 of last June! 😬![]()
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As for pictorial representations of todays event, there are not many. Two are of the same man! To me it summed up, not just this person, but many faces of those who crossed the finish line today. That long finish chute through the very flat beautiful Chapel Flat allowed finishers to be seen by those in the arena and the results tent, so we saw many tired faces! ![]()
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Later, as the usual cry of "Who's still out there?" rang loud, the numbers dropped, 4, 3, 2, and then just 1. It was our club Legend Blake!! Now, he has been out there a long time! But not so different to some others, but now the time difference is growing. Blake will know to come back at course closure. Course closure came and went. No Blake!! Hmm? No, wait, there he is!!! Oh boy!! Was he hurt? Is he Ok? Blake was ok but he didn't look it!! He almost had come back early, but no, he never gave up! Blake finished yet again! Blake, today's Last (but never ever least!!!) Finisher! 👏 ![]()
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Why am I am making a big fuss of this for an event report? Because Blake was the Event Director!!! He has been instrumental in putting this event together. He was up before dawn and was putting out signs before through the forest before anyone else got out there. He was setting up the arena before 9:00am. He was helping run the Registration tent with many other Eureka Orienteers, both long term and also some of our new members. Eventually Blake headed out for a run a bit later when it was warming up. Then..... he never gave up! Sure he had a fair bit of trouble. Didn't we all!! 🤔😆🤣 After finishing he did take a short break. But then guess what? Blake started helping pack up and took almost all of the gear and tent back to Ballarat!![]()
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But why am I really carrying on about this? Because Blake's face was the same as many who crossed the line today! It was hard. It was a challenge. It was an outstanding memory that we can all relive for a long time. Well, it was for me. I loved it! There are even more sections of pine that were not visited but I have feeling that we should visit in the upcoming years! I think there were enough positive comments and thank-yous from tired but happy orienteers to back up this idea! It just made me feel these pictures could have been almost all of us today! So that's why they are posted! ![]()
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As for the action, well there was some excellent highlights across the board. But perhaps the pick of these was in Course 1. After 9.1km course with 21 controls it came down to a mere 17 seconds!!! 😲 Well done Ben Goonan who just edged out our current favourite UK International Joe Hudd! But take a look at results, splits and livelox which show that there were several in contention on Course 1, not just the two above! Livelox is also interesting. Check out all the runners on all the courses. Apparently one runner took five attempts to find a control. The infuriating thing was that they had already been to this location in the past!!!! 😲🤐 Hmm, maybe that was the problem! Or possibly it was the brain failing to operate at the end of a long course!!! What an opportunity to practice and remind ourselves of all the techniques and things we needs to do right to do well at orienteering!![]()
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A huge thanks to so many Eureka Orienteers who turned up. I am pretty certain this was surely the most Eureka Orienteers at one spot for a very long time!!! It was inspiring!![]()
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Thankyou immensely to Warwick "Wozzaw" Williams for setting the courses and taping the controls and double checking them. Creating and printing the maps and doing the permits. Thanks to Blake of course! Plus thankyou to Mark, Liz, Kris and Ian for manning the registration and results tent! It was a great practice for the NOL event in 6 weeks. Take note that Liz, Kris and Mark all came out to help without going out on a course. That is really amazing dedication to the club!!! 👏 😁 👍 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Plus huge thanks to control collectors Hamish, Rod and Warwick! 👏 👏 👏 ![]()
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Thanks also to those who go out of their way to give positive feedback to volunteers. We understand and appreciate that these events really appeal to those who love getting out in those classic Victorian orienteering forests. It can be difficult putting in so much time and effort with little feedback, but even just one positive remark can be enough to make us go, "You know what, let's do this all again sometime!!!". ![]()
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For me, I have again discovered even more of this great forest between Ballarat and Creswick and it just makes me want to keep coming back again and again. Please, we hope you will too! Take note that it is coming under more and more pressure and blatant destruction of tree felling and stealing, rubbish dumping and vehicles driving where ever they want. There is some idea that it is their forest and they can do what they want. But is everyone's forest so remember that we can be eyes and ears as well and work with Parks VIC and DEECA to help manage these areas we love to go orienteering in. We have been given such an amazing privilege! 🤗![]()
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There was also some Lost Property. See the photo of the orange top. Let us know if it's yours.![]()
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So the photos of Blake are not the greatest quality but maybe you can see something in them that reminded you of your time out at Chapel Flat today!!! Orienteering is so varied! It is hard! It is a challenge! It is exhilarating! And we love it! Why else would we keep coming back for more?![]()
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Ok, see you next week in Hepburn Springs!!!![]()
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Kind regards,![]()
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Eureka Orienteers
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