Oceania Odyssey part 3 The Badja

Umbrellas seem to come out when presentations happened

Aussie Longs Champs

Oceania Sprints

For those who have been around they will know that Badja has been part of the orienteering circus from way back in 1987. The complex granite has been causing headaches ever since.

And so it was that we once again headed east from Cooma to the Badja for 3 more rounds of testing.

Friday was the Oceania Sprint. We ran on an area called Wombat Hill with the scale at 1:5000. Oh boy the complexity of the course sorted out a number of people and for me well i crashed and burnt. For me I met my Armageddon with a disastrous hunt for my first control. cannot believe that I actually stood beside the ant mound 1/2 way to #1 and then for some inexplicable reason marched off a little NE and then became totally lost finally relocating off the large boulders on the eastern fence!. Oh well 26 minutes wasted. Back to 1 and then around we went. Boy what fun.

Others managed a far better attack on the hill than I.

M45A Ian Jones 6th

M40A Dave McKenna 29th

M55A Ron Pallas 24th

M65A Dick Ogilvie 6th

M65A Dave Lotty 14th

W10 Sophie Jones 3rd

W14A Georgia Jones 5th

W40A Linda Sesta 1st

W40A Maggie Jones 4th

W40A Jane McKenna 7th

W55A Gayle Shepherd 16th

W75A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

With the day done we then returned to Cooma for a well earned rest in our 5 star accommodation ( well ours was 5 star if you were a termite).

Up again under slightly cloudy sky Saturday was the Australian Long Championships. Back out on a very scenic drive through Numerella we went. Marginata was the name of the map and it is dominated by granite, open paddocks and green.

The early legs on most courses were set in the greener scrubby sections of the map before heading out to areas dominated by clusters of rock, copses of trees and open paddocks. Speed ruled.

Ah at last I can say that I had a decent run with no real big losses of time well around 6 i was a little bit astray..

M10 Jared McKenna 3rd

M16A Lawrence Jones 14th

M45A Ian Jones 7th

M55A Ross Coyle 7th

M55A Rick Steele 28th

M65A Dave Lotty 7th

M65A Dick Ogilvie 9th

W10 Sophie Jones 1st

W14A Georgia Jones 2nd

W40A Linda Sesta 3rd

W50A Sarah Garnett 9th

W50A Lisa Lampe 14th

W65A Angela Murray 5th

W75A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

M45AS Dave McKenna 4th

M45AS Ron Pallas 8th

W21AS Maggie Jones 1st

W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd

W35AS Gayle Shepherd 10th.

Right on cue a large clap of thunder heralded more rain and the crowd scattered as the cloud spattered.

Sunday Morning event 9 saw the crowds line up for the Oceania relay Championships. By now walking wounded were everywhere and relay teams changed as fast as Imelda Marcos changed shoes.

We were running on the same area with more time spent to the west of the previous two maps.

Relay results- teams containing these Uringans were placed:

M16A Lawrence Jones 10th

M45A Ian Jones 6th

M55A Rick Steele 4th

M65A Dave Lotty 2nd

M65A Dick Ogilvie 3rd

W16 Georgia Jones 3rd

W40A Linda Sesta + Maggie Jones 3rd

W50A Sarah Garnett + Lisa Lampe 4th

W65A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

MW12A Sophie Jones 1st

W21AS Gayle Shepherd 4th

Mixed Length Dave McKenna 6th

Mixed length Jared McKenna 7th

And so it was that the final presentations were made in the dry. The crowds dispersed taking the well worn tracks to their various homes and the organisers were left with the mammoth job of packing up. ( Worse to come is unpacking, sorting and storing)

What a great carnival, what a week and all that was left was the drive home, the smelly socks and O gear and a lot of great memories..

Now if memory serves me correctly Oceania is happening in NZ in a year or two...