Development > Public Courses

 

Public Course Kits:

What is a Public Course?
A public course is a public area, usually suburban parkland, on which permanent controls have been placed in strategic locations. These controls usually take the form of wooden posts with orange or white tops and numbers - or steel posts with steel plates at the top painted white and orange also with numbers.

Each public course kit contains the following:
1. a coloured orienteering map of the site showing the location and number of each control on that map.
2. five black and white copies
3. a cluesheet for the map describing each control location and listing some suggested courses.
4. an information sheet explaining what to do

How do I use a public course kit?
Take the original map - or, so you can use it again, use one of the black and white copies, and create a course by joining a combination of permanent controls.   Alternatively use one of the courses suggested. Now go to the start point and time yourself around the circuit. Better still, get a family member or one of a group of friends to set a course for a group and time yourselves out at 2 minute intervals. It is customary to have to TOUCH each control in turn in order to be deemed to have reached that control.

Going for a run on a public course is not only a great way to get fit but helps enormously in fine tuning your navigation skills. You can design your course to test certain abilities and if you have trouble with a leg one week then set that same leg as part of a course the next week and try and do better! Public courses are particularly good for beginners and very good value as you can use the one kit for many runs.

How do I get a public course kit?
At present there are four public course kits available. These are Hobart based and consist of the following:
1. Queens Domain
2. Risdon Brook Dam
3. Ridgeway Waterworks.
4. Coningham

The kits are available for $8 each (postage included) or $25 for the four. Each kit contains one coloured master map and five black and white copies. Additional coloured originals are available for $3 each (minimum 3). They can be obtained by posting the appropriate amount to:

PUBLIC COURSE KITS ORIENTEERING TASMANIA C/ 7 KELLY STREET BATTERY POINT TASMANIA 7004

Public Courses Martin Bicevskis Ph: 6224 4623 (h) Mob: 0418 110 046

Note for Visitors to Tasmania:
If you are planning a visit to Tasmania outside the normal orienteering season yet want to try some typical Tasmanian orienteering terrain then order a public course kit and have a run when visiting Hobart.

Details of the courses are as follows:

1. Queens Domain: Situated in the middle of Hobart and within walking distance of the CBD the Domain is a 4 km x 3 km expanse of largely undisturbed parkland, so undisturbed that it contains many native plant species which are rare elsewhere. It is alive with birdlife, particularly parrots, yet has many excellent orienteering features such as overgrown pits and quarries, rockfaces, ruined buildings, shallow gullies and tricky route choices around sports grounds and areas of suburban housing.

2. Risdon brook Dam: Risdon Brook Dam is located 15 km from Hobart just off the East Derwent Highway. It is within a reserve which has limited opening hours - approx 8.00 am until 4.00 pm. So always ensure your run is timed so that your vehicle is not locked in the reserve for the night! Risdon Brook has great sandstone features on the eastern side and hilly spur and gully on the western side. Long courses going right around the dam and totalling over 7 km can easily be put together with this map. A feature of the area is that wildlife is abundant particularly wallabies and wombats with kookaburras in the trees.

3. Waterworks: The Hobart Waterworks Reserve is only 5 km from the city centre, nestled under Mt Wellington accessed up Waterworks Road from Dynnyrne. It also has restricted hours of access so make sure you have left before the gates are closed. The Waterworks offers some very steep terrain with enormous sandstone cliffs and boulders in places and some very steep and thick gullies. Courses can be set around the lower waterworks or continue up the road to Ridgeway and set a course around the upper dam which can include features ranging from boulders, quarries, shallow gullies, earth mounds and rocky ground. Wallabies abound on the hilltops and the views everywhere are superb.

4.  Coningham.  The Coningham State Recreation Area is just past Snug on the Channel Highway 20 km south of Hobart.  This location can be accessed any time and the map offers a number of alternative starting points.  It consists of a range of steeply sided hills dissected by a number of gullies.  Most of these gullies exhibit rock features including some sandstone cliffs up to 3 m high.  Forest is generally open with some grassy areas but gullies can be very scrubby.