The largest mountain bike orienteering event Australia has ever seen is rolling into Canberra - and you're invited

“Canberra is considered an absolute treasure on a national scale because of all the wonderful parks we have, like Stromlo Forest Park, Majura Pines, Sparrow Hill and Kowen Forest.”

The ideal place to start hosting more national mountain biking events, Marina Iskhakova reckons.

From 17 to 20 October (Thursday to Sunday), more than 200 people will take part in the Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Carnival in Canberra, more than half of which are coming from elsewhere – from as far as New Zealand and even the UK.

Marina, event director and coordinator of ACT Mountain Bike Orienteering (ACT MTBO), describes it as the “largest mountain bike carnival Australia has ever seen”.

It forms part of the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC), which was last held in the ACT in 2013.

Mountain bike orienteering takes the adventure sport of riding a bike as fast as possible through rugged terrain like dense forests and dusty trails and adds a map-reading component.

“You have a map and a course, anything from 10 km with 20 controls or checkpoints, and the main challenge is to cover the course in the shortest period of time. The person who chooses the best routes to find all of the controls wins,” Marina explains.

“It sounds easy, but it’s not because you’re always going over new terrain every time.”

Marina estimates around 50 per cent of the sport’s players began as ‘foot orienteers’ and then took up mountain bikes, while the remaining half are avid mountain bikers and adventure racers who, while not so adept at navigation skills, make up for it with sheer speed.

Marina and her husband moved from Russia to Australia 15 years ago, first to Sydney where she discovered a “pretty big” mountain bike orienteering community. Her husband’s infectious love for it soon spread to her.

“After maybe two years of watching him enjoy it so much, I decided to give it a try,” she says.

“They’ve got fantastic parks, especially around north Sydney where there’s a pretty big community, and my husband and I did a lot of foot orienteering for many years.”

The couple moved to Canberra eight years ago for work at the Australian National University (ANU). They’re also members of the local orienteering club, Red Roos, which has sent members all over Australia and the world for various cup and challenge events.

It also runs 10 events a year between March and October here in Canberra, mainly where individuals compete with others, although there are options for pairs and teams.

For next week’s carnival, they’re inviting members of the public – regardless of prior experience – to take part.

“The main idea was to make the sport much more open for everyone, so we have championship-level classes for those who have been at the world championships, but we also have carnival classes for complete beginners, who may have never done mountain biking before,” Marina says.

“We’ve got special coaches who explain what to do and help you start, as well as super easy courses.”

It costs $10 per event for those aged under 21 or over 75 and $50 for those in between. The only requirement is to bring a bike and helmet – all other equipment is provided.

Marina says the event has built up such good momentum already, so we won’t have to wait another 11 years for the next carnival. The organising committee has already approved plans to bring the annual event back to Canberra in 2029.

Visit Orienteering ACT for more information or to register.