High on the Hills?
All ways lead to to Woolcara
Race Directors: Henry Delves and Andrew Nilon
Course Setter: Charlie Henshall
2019’s IB course was sprawling with drops to the north, west, east, and south of its Endpoint at Woolcara. It featured numerous navigational challenges for each division, ranging from difficulties with private property, bush bashes, deep river crossings, and many many hills. It marked the first appearance of Wright and Wamburun in the event (as both had just been constructed).
Relive the Race
Try to pick some drops or perhaps merely ask to yourself why did [Insert Team Here] do that?
Division 1
A Tinderry Tussle
To mix things up it didn’t really matter which way left drop with a ~2-3km difference between the 2 route options. Only 3 teams (Griffin, Ursula & Wright on debut) selected the slightly quicker and somewhat counterintuitive south direction to head from the drop (as the general direction from Drop to EP was NW). Burgmann Div 1 burst out well ahead of the pack only to have to be picked up after they decided to take a scenic run along the top of the Clear Range. This left B&G and Griffin relatively close together after the teams crossed the Murrumbidgee with Griffin holding about a 15-minute lead after seemingly most of Div 1 navigated accurately enough through the white-listed private property and crossing the Mighty Murrumbidgee. After having their feet treated to another soak just before the highway crossing at Michelago the teams were left 20 minutes to contemplate which way to cross the Tinderry’s (see right/below). B&G took longer and easier to navigate the southern route traveling mostly across fire trails/roads whereas Griffin had to navigate an array of walking paths or not well-defined roads. This led to the teams meeting up along Urila Rd with approximately 10kms to go. Rumour has it that the chat between the teams must have been so cordial as to distract them as to the correct way to go. Ultimately B&G ended up stopping and turning around before them leaving Griffin never to be seen again and pipping Div 1 by around 20 minutes.
Division 2
A Private Property Pickle
Picking the drop for Div 2 was vital if you wanted to avoid a trip to the top of Mt Clear. Fortunately, this avoided by all the teams except David Baldwin’s Div X (however one suspects this was done deliberately on the grounds the course was not hard enough). Div 2 and Div 1 crossed paths as soon as they reached the Nass Valley Trail and headed up the Clear Range (see above/left street view). However, unlike Div 1 navigating the area prior to Murrumbidgee proved malicious with Johns, Ursula, B&G & Wambam teams assumedly following the better-defined trails into bounds areas costing them significant time penalties. This left it to be a foot race between Griffin, Bruce & Wright with both of the teams opting to take the shorter route through the Tinderry’s, with Griffin getting ahead of both Bruce and Wright and never looking back to the finish line. Bruce Div 2 despite sitting comfortably in 2nd right up until the final bush bash to the endpoint seeming got catastrophically disoriented taking over an hour to navigate the last 2km to Endpoint and dropping all the way to 4th.
Division 3
A Tallaganda Meander
Picking drop was vital here as heading south either left you having to turn around or take a circuitous and hillier route over Bald Mountain in the south of Tallaganda State Forest. Sadly, this meant most teams bypassed an opportunity to check out the centre of Canberra’s weather maps and take in the Captain’s Flat BOM radar station, with Burgmann getting off the strongest start. While most teams navigated through the maze of fire trails and roads littering Tallaganda before checking into Captain’s Flat and heading up the surely glamourous Beverly Hills Firetrail towards Endpoint. Meanwhile, Johns, Wright, and Lodge exited the state forest earlier and headed up Jerangle Rd until it merged with Tinderry Rd then taking a route analogous to Divs 1,2 & 6. It only emerged right before the routes merged at bush bash into endpoint that Burgmann had held off Wright and Johns to claim victory in Div 3.
Division 4
Taking the Long Road
Dropped up the far reaches of Lowden Road, teams were treated to a maze of old forestry roads at the drop site to challenge their bearings, which it clearly did with every team heading in the incorrect direction. Annoyingly once all the teams got their bearings they shortly discovered that the courteous course setters had added an exclusion zone along Captains Flat Road. Burgmann by swallowing their pride and turning back the quickest, built up a lead that they would not surrender all the way to the endpoint. B&G despite taking the scenic route around the Lowden area of Tallaganda State Forest managed to reel in Bruce and Lodge despite them also pulling a Burgmann and heading the correct way.
Division 5
A makeshift maze
Whilst it technically seems that there is no incorrect way out of drop here, teams were quickly presented with a bunch of pivotal turns to make to head towards wild cattle flat rd in the most efficient fashion. Only Griffin seemed to manage this cruising to a comfortable victory with Johns and Ursula heading too far north hitting the exclusion zone (after getting to see the sights of a BOM radar (see left)) whereas other teams ventured too far south, perhaps avoiding a whitelisted property for fear it was out of bounds. B&G despite taking a circuitous route managed to power past all the other teams despite racking up ~20km more than optimal. The bush bash just before Endpoint assisted them in this endeavour serving up another late-race shake-up with them pipping Johns to the line for second.
Division 6
Taking the Long Road
Dropped near Michelago the teams should have quickly picked up where there reaching the junction of Tinderry and Burra Rd most likely during scout time This left teams with the same choice facing Divs 1 & 2 regarding how to cross the Tindery’s, the teams seemed to evenly head in either north up Burra Rd or east along Tinderry Road. The teams remained closely bundled together, with Bruce in the lead after the routes had merged back together at Urila Rd. However, they would be overtaken by Burgmann just prior to the final Corner Hill bush bash, who managed to navigate it cleanly and pip victory. The bush bash however would be vital to determining 2nd – 4th with Johns, Bruce & B&G to all arrive there at around the same time leaving them to finish in the order listed.
Division 7
No stopping at the pub
Being dropped in farmland land near Boolboolma Crossing, Division 7 teams had to head west to avoid a special exclusion zone and a scenic hilly trip through the Tinderry’s. Most teams bar Griffin (taking the scenic route) and Johns (opting to try trespassing and getting DQ’d) successfully picked drop (or perhaps weren’t misled by John’s Division 3 passing through Drop). This left them with a similar quandary to div 3, run through Tallaganda and past Captains Flat (and maybe contemplate a beverage at Australia’s once longest bar), or turn off Jerangle Road earlier and head through, or head into the hillier Tinderry’s. With B&G and Burgmann opting to head in the direction of the pub a footrace was on! Neither got distracted by the prospect of parma, with B&G steadily opening up a gap and heading into Endpoint as Division 7 victors.
2019 Results
Congratulations to all the teams, coaches and colleges. We are so impressed by the incredible navigation and high finish rates on such a tough course. Congratulations to everyone who competed!
In addition, congratulations to B&G on taking out the Bill Packard Trophy for winning Division 1 and to B&G for taking home the Inward Bound Trophy for the fourth year in a row.
Below are the final results for each division:
Below are the overall results for the event:
In 2019 there were a number of cases dealt with by the Race Referee. The decisions are as follows:
Due to entering Out of Bounds areas, disqualification of:
- Johns Division 7 team
Due to entering Out of Bounds areas, time penalties were given to:
- Johns Division 2 team
- B&G Division 2 team
- Ursula Division 2 team
- Wamburun Division 2 team