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Division 1 have arrived at Dropsite!

Fri 20:15. 1x 📷. Posted by Chloe Woodburn - IB Marketing Officer.

Division 1

Division 1 - Doctors Flat Road  (-35.1025278, 148.7558056) 

Drop time: 8:15pm

Scout time: 45 mins

Division 1 have been dropped on Doctors Flat Road, northwest of Canberra and in the very top-left corner of the north course map. 

Doctors Flat Road is a relatively well-maintained dirt road that permits vehicle access. Generally, roads with these features are depicted on the IB maps as thin, solid, orange lines (as opposed to black dotted lines for walking tracks, orange dotted lines for 4WD tracks, or thick/red solid lines for main roads - if you’re interested, I’ll attach the key used by the Inward Bound maps to the next post). Teams should hopefully realise that they’re likely located on a solid-line road, which narrows down the areas that they have to parse. 

Scouts should have a pretty easy time at this Dropsite, which is surrounded by plenty of distinctive features. In particular, you can see that scouts who run west out of Dropsite will initially run along a straight, flat stretch of road, before quickly encountering a very significant 90 degree bend and a 80-100 metre decline in elevation (what a fun way to start the race!). The scouts who head east will also encounter some funky bends and sharp turns, and will come across a cluster of buildings, another key clue.

From Dropsite, although it can be difficult to accurately read the terrain at night, the navigators should note that they have been dropped in an area with fairly dense vegetation and peaks rising on both sides of the road. They may be able to see the “Canberra glow” (an area where the sky appears brighter due to Canberra’s light pollution) which would be a huge help in orientating themselves.

Division 1 have a comfortable 45 minutes to complete their scout. I would anticipate that many teams will return to Dropsite with plenty of time to spare. This is a key tactical consideration - scouting for longer may allow teams to pick their location with greater accuracy or certainty, but at a time cost.

Division 1’s Dropsite is always going to be one of the most difficult to pick; given that the distance of the course is approximately 100km, Division 1 could potentially be dropped anywhere on the map (which covers almost 5,000 square kilometres). Trying to match their surroundings with the information on the map can be like searching for a needle in a haystack - especially when emotions are running high at the start of the race.

The race is on - Inward Bound 2024 has officially begun!

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