final day of competition - 6/10/19

Today was the middle distance Oceania championship, held on land adjoining he prison here at Beechworth.

The map included what the commentary team called a "blackberry maze" and 'mountain bike track puzzle"

We were not allowed to cross fences except at marked crossing points for fear of crossing accidentally into prison land.

As you would expect for a middle distance event, there were some quick decisions to be made, and some tricky controls amongst the rocks too.  Apologies for the quality of the map photo.  I went terribly wrong from control 6 and you can see the unnecessary loop on the right hand side of my track showing all the extra effort that I went to in the wrong direction when I crossed the wrong creek junction.  Apart from this I did well on the course, but I had wasted too much time and came in 22nd of 28 starters (my worst result)

Trevor also managed to miss his 3rd to last control , needing to come back again to locate it, and then messed up the 2nd to last control, but still managed to claim another 3rd placing despite about ten minutes of errors.  What a champion!!

A detour was required past the Beechworth Bakery to have one of their stunning vanilla slices (still so good...) for the first time this trip. 

On the way back from the event we took the time to drive around the grounds of Mayday Hills and saw the derelict state of some of the old classic buildings, the remains of the haha wall, and the lovely trees and rhododendrons that populate the grounds.

Dinner tonight was at the Commercial Hotel with the remaining South Aussies - Bob, Karen, David George (now recovered from the lurgy that kept him away from the SA get together in Wagga Wagga), Al, Zita, Kiana, Clive, Marion, Trevor and Erica.