Double Header Weekend of Bush Orienteering in Ballarat, April 5-6 Eureka is running the April 5th (Saturday) event on the Petticoat Gully – the best goldmining terrain in Ballarat – which has featured in many national and international events since the 1990s. This classic area where 1850s miners searched for gold can be your first step towards mastering the Easter 3-Days mining terrain. There will be the usual 7 classics courses from hard to easy. Course setter Celsey Adams has planned challenging courses – but the contours and diggings have changed little over the years. Low key, relaxed organisation. Just roll up, check in, pick up your map, punch start, and finish full of confidence! On Sunday the second Vic Series event will be held at Mt Beckworth, one of the best and most challenging granite maps in Victoria. The views from the top of the ridges, over the boulders and rock faces of granite to the patchwork of paddocks and old volcanic hills is inspiring – if you take a moment to look! The rocks haven’t moved, but the dry conditions have flattened the grass cover and made the bracken patches quite crossable. Warwick has chosen a superb variety of control sites – not just behind boulders! Even the pine forest has been mapped as white (with vegetation boundaries) as it offers a quite runnable route choice on several legs. Organisation is a bit more like what you will see at Easter. The finish/results area (arena) should give you a taste for bigger events to come at Easter and the Victorian Championships later in April. Do you need any more reasons to come to Ballarat? The begonias ae still blooming, the circus is in town, the lake is full of water and the “foody options” have increased up and down Sturt Street. So come, participate, learn, prepare, practice and enjoy the autumn country weather and enter here: Petticoat Gully – https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/22146 Mt Beckworth – https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/21735 Share this