Shannan Forrest, Author at Orienteering ACT

How do I keep up with the kids?

Shannan Forrest — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:44:20 +0000

Many beginner adult orienteers, as well as parents who accompany their children to events each week, are in awe of what our numerous junior orienteers achieve both in local events as well as representing the ACT and Australia! The achievements and the high participation rate of juniors in the ACT comes as no surprise to those in the know and can be attributed to the numerous junior programs including SC-ORE, FOG, Map Mates, Blue Sparks and Blue Lightning, just to name a few!

When I reflect on my own introduction to orienteering or speak to parents of junior orienteers and others who came to the sport as adults, it is apparent that there are less adult programs. In particular there is no beginner/introductory program for adults. So with many adults left wondering, ‘how do I keep up with the kids?’ in August, Orienteering ACT will run its new beginner adult program, aptly named ‘Keep Up with the Kids’.

The Keep Up program will run for five consecutive weeks in conjunction with the ACT Metro Series, beginning on Saturday 4 August. The program will go through core orienteering skills and introduce more advanced techniques to enable adults to advance from easy to moderate courses. Hence the program is suited to those who have never orienteered before, to those who wish to become more confident and learn more skills. Registration for the Keep Up program is open now on Eventor. For those that are new to Eventor a ‘how to register guide‘ is attached to the registration page. More information on the program can be found on the Keep Up with the Kids page on Orienteering ACT’s website.

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Map Mates Presentation

Shannan Forrest — Sat, 30 Jun 2018 08:26:46 +0000

The Map Mates winter competition, which ran for four weeks in conjunction with the Saturday ACT Metro Series, concluded today with a presentation BBQ. The Map Mates competition was hotly contested this season with only four points separating the top four teams. The brother and sister team “Which Way?” received the highest team points by showing consistent improvement, completing all their Fun Fact sheets and getting into the Map Mates spirit by wearing an orienteering inspired team top and beanie each week! A special mention also goes to team “Doughnuts” for their fun team tops featuring D1 and D2. All the Map Mates teams showed great improvement over the four competition weeks, with many of the teams stepping up to try Green bush courses and a couple having a go at the Orange sprint course at CIT. The Map Mates coaching team had great fun presenting the course to the enthusiastic teams each week and would like to wish the participants all the best for the rest of the season.

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Free event this Saturday – Map Mates Welcome

Shannan Forrest — Tue, 15 May 2018 13:54:34 +0000

On Saturday 19 May at Campbell Park, as a precursor to the Winter Map Mates, there will be a free event to welcome prospective Map Mates. All juniors aged 7-13 are welcome to come and join in on the fun of orienteering! For regular orienteers this is your chance to bring your junior friends and families along and introduce them to your sport for free!

The welcome event will start with registration at the Blue Sparks flag from 1000am. At 1030am Map Mates coaches will present an introduction to orienteering to prepare participants to head out and try an orienteering course. There is no pre-registration required for the Map Mates welcome event.

For those already registered for Map Mates the welcome event provides participants an opportunity to pick up their welcome packs and practise their orienteering skills and teamwork, ahead of the first competition event on 26 May at Farrer Ridge.

Map Mates at is a four week, team competition designed for beginner orienteers aged 7-13 years. More details on the program are available on the Map Mates webpage. Registration for Map Mates is via Eventor and closes midnight 23 May 18!

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Winter Map Mates Registration Open

Shannan Forrest — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 11:47:21 +0000

Winter Map Mates registrations is now open on Eventor. After the success of the Summer series this fantastic team based competition, for children 7-13 years old, is on again! A free Map Mates Welcome event will be held on 19 May and is open to any child interested in orienteering. Map Mates is perfect for beginners with our Map Mates coaches teaching new orienteering skills each week. Map Mates is a team competition designed to teach map reading, build teamwork, enhance fitness, showcase Canberra’s beautiful parks and reserves, all while focusing on having fun! The Map Mates competition starts on 26 May and runs for four weeks, in conjunction with the ACT Saturday Series, and concludes with a presentation BBQ on 30 Jun. For more information and to register go to the Map Mates page.

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Blue Sparks Training Camp

Shannan Forrest — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 21:00:56 +0000

The Annual Blue Sparks Training Camp for 7-13 year olds (and their families) is on again on 25-26 Nov 17 – this time with a difference! After ten years in the same fantastic bush location north of Braidwood, we are brining the Camp closer to town. We know this will make it easier for those Blue Sparks and their families who cannot camp the whole weekend and only want to join in for a morning, an afternoon, or a particular activity. But don’t worry, there is still camping and activities available for the whole weekend if that’s what you want to do, including the ever-popular afternoon swim!

The venue for this year’s camp is Cotter Campground, where Blue Sparks (and anyone under 15) camp free and adults are just $15 per night. We are confident this change will make the Blue Sparks Camp opportunity more accessible to our many new members from Map Mates and SC-ORE and it also gives us ready access to a number of excellent OACT maps nearby for training.

Our coaches have activities planned from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon when we will finish up so that everyone can get to the OACT Presentation Dinner at Canberra Yacht Club.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP to s4shannan@live.com.au to ensure you receive further updates of the fun development program we have planned.

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