Our Secretary

Friday, 22 April 2016

Name: Colleen Mock.

Birthplace: A Canberra native, born and bred.

Occupation: Geologist, librarian, Geoscience Australia (retired).

How long have you lived in the ACT?  All my life, except for 4 years overseas in Canada in 1960s.  Never could get away.

Your first orienteering event: Yarramundi Reach, May 1975, when there were still pine trees there.  Encouraged to try orienteering by two champions of the day, Peter Smith and Kjell Ellingsen, both work colleagues at Bureau of Mineral Resources.  Was immediately hooked, but regretted telling everyone how much fun it was when a friend asked me to take along a mutual acquaintance, a new arrival in Canberra who was at a bit of a loss for activities on weekends.  A Chinese boy from Sydney, didn't say much, maybe didn't speak English?  City boy, probably hadn't seen a compass before, I thought - would get lost, keep me waiting... - me and my big mouth!  Anyway off we ventured Sundays to Murrays Corner, Murryong,Turallo Creek, Pierces Creek, Bungendore Hill and other fabled orienteering venues of the time.  Turned out the quiet Chinese could speak English and did know north from south, and the rest, as they say...

Career highlights: Audun Fristad encouragement award, Australian Champs, 1977, 3^rd W19B.  Yes all downhill since then.

Worst orienteering mistake: Sugarloaf Hill (Tallong), Southern Highlands, 1977. I had boldly entered W19E. Genuine elites were interspersed with elite wannabes in the starts.  I started 2 mins before the mighty Carolyn Hooper (Jackson, as she is now).  She caught up to me by no. 2 but I kept her in sight across the open to no. 4.  After that we headed into the eucalypt forest and I didn't see her again until we met at no. 11.  If she was worried that she had a new rival she needn't have been because in the time that she had unerringly visited controls 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, I had been wandering aimlessly, hopelessly, cluelessly around the dense, featureless sandstone plateau without stumbling across a single control.  After an eternity I finally spied by sheer accident a lonely control in a tiny clearing, only to stop dead as I heard pounding footsteps and Carolyn burst into the clearing, punched and disappeared without breaking stride.  So it was that we met at no. 11.

Had to suspend my promising career because offspring didn't like the thistles and prickles.  Spent weekends at soccer fields, tennis courts, swimming pools, gyms and hockey rinks, mostly hockey rinks, until the hockey player finally got his long-awaited licence (on only the 3^rd attempt).  Of course I never regained my earlier form but I like to believe there will never be another disaster on the scale of Tallong (or Warby Ranges, 1978, or Collector, 2010, or Wild Cattle Creek, repeatedly, or that relay event at Scabbing Flat when I was a first leg starter but finished after the 3^rd leg starters' mass start, ...).  Although going to the same control twice at a recent Street-O event doesn't bode well.

Most memorable orienteering event and why is it memorable:  All Xmas 5-days carnivals, my favourites because of minimal categorisation and focus on participation rather than performance.

Best orienteering tip received: RACE (Route choice, Attack point, Control, Exit).  Far superior to the tried and false HAM (hit and miss) technique.  Thanks Scotty.

Favourite orienteering area in the ACT: pre-2003 Cotter/Brindabellas, e.g. Tanners Flat Creek.  Love those pine forests, so soft underfoot, so fragrant. 

Favourite orienteering area outside the ACT: N/A – see below.

Furthest you have travelled for an orienteering event:  Whichever is furthest – Newcastle, Dubbo, Orange or Ballarat.  I have never orienteered outside ACT/NSW/Victoria, unless I can count a Trim course we stumbled across in Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

Other sports or interests: Rogaining, roller-blading, visiting interstate and overseas offspring, hiking in the European Alps, learning German in prep for next Alpine hike.