2013 Southern Sydney Summer Series Wraps Up

Uringan Dave Lotty has coordinated the 2013 Southern Summer Series for ONSW. Winners in each age class receive a certificate. 

Lawrence Jones set the course. Participants all enjoyed the run, and look forward to Lawrence's next event.

Did Ian Jones choose the quiet life of the starter, comfortably under a tree and well away from the hubbub of the assembly area?

Linda Sesta explains membership possibilities. The Southern Sydney Summer Series seem to have attracted a couple of interested newbies at each event.

Packing up after the event...

...and, finally, it's a wrap.

Awardees of the 2013 President's Cup

Jitka Kopriva crafts the annual President's Cup cups.

Brian Cleland, the Nolan boys represented by Will, Penny Field

President's Cup 2013

Answers:

Kokoda Trail Wows Everyone

 Uringa's first event in the Northern Sydney Summer Series (the Wednesday Summer Series) was superbly planned and organised by Helen Murphy and Matt Peters. They were ably assisted by a loyal band of Uringans.  The weather was perfect, no mean achievement given the pouring rain of the previous days and the forecast of more to come later in the week.

Rhodes Park offered the a sheltered assembly area, a cafe which stayed open beyond the normal call of duty, and some experience of the Kokoda Trail information sites.

The Foreshore Trail distracted with information boards about the natural environment.

Concord Hospital offered a maze of buildings along with some historic sandstone on the peninsula, and a pathway to the horse paddocks and beyond

Helen Murphy made sure a lot of first timers got the advice they needed.

Matt Peters and Catherine Murphy coped with the 201 registrations.

Thanks to Rotary for this massive picnic shelter. Tables and benches, electricity, and a car park near by.

Ron Pallas was his usual calm and collected self...just don't ask him about Control/s 105.

Catherine Murphy is encouraging a potential new Uringan.

Helen Murphy promoted the event to everyone she knew in the greater Concord area to come and try orienteering. They came,  from coffee shop and Catholic Church. 

Penny Field oversaw the very well located start from a peaceful, cool bench (but serenaded by repeated Kokoda Trail voice-activated information).

Linda Sesta was still in Switzerland. Through smart phone magic, she checked in with Aldo Sesta, Lisa Lampe and Helen Murphy to find out how the event was going.

The electronic registration and results was ably staffed by Ron Pallas, Brian Cleland and Aldo Sesta. Ron had already demonstrated his commitment to orienteering by stopping by the shelter late one night to confirm the electricity would be on if we had to work into the dark.

And so we did. A small number of runners did not download at the end of their run. When this happens the event organisers have to identify the missing people, and if appropriate organise a search. A sophisticated database not withstanding, it was still back to alphabetising the entry forms and checking off names. Thank heavens for that electricity and those tables.

Were we really in the middle of Sydney?

There was some bush.... well, a copse.

The hospital was a complex of big and small buildings.

Control 63 ('Book Depository') not only acknowledge the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination but was a Control 105.

Southern Sydney Summer Series - Marrickville

Uringa is making quite a contribution this year to the development of the Southern Sydney Summer Series. This was the club's second event in the series, organised by Brian Cleland. While the day held some (much welcome) rain in the morning, it was cool, but dry in the afternoon.  Each event in SSSS has seen some participants new to orienteering, and this event tracked a rather large multi-generational group, whom Dave Lotty ably tutored in the basics. Ron Pallas was again at the computer helm, assisted by Sophie (who was recovering from having her appendix removed recently).

An Irish Surprise at Lavender Bay

The Wednesday evening Sydney Summer Series sees quite a few Uringans running the parks and streets and reserves of Sydney. What a surprise though to see Alison Pearce and Chris Brown at this week's event at Lavender Bay! They are having a flying trip from Ireland  to Australia (only 10 days). As you can see by Chris' shirt, they've tackled orienteering in their new country, and, oh, the stories they can tell. Marsh. Forests. Very different topography. Now they know what a compass is for...

Uringa Events Calendar 2013/14

Date	Location	Event	Key People
Sun, 27 Oct 2013	Maroubra	Southern Summer Series	Michael Weiner
Sun, 10 Nov 2013	Marrickville	Southern Summer Series	Brian Cleland
Wed, 20 Nov 2013	Concord North	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Helen Murphy (Matt Peters)
Sat, 7 Dec 2013	Haberfield	Southern Summer Series	Dave Lotty
Sat, 21 Dec 2013	South Maroubra	Southern Summer Series	Jones Family
Mon, 20 Jan 2014	Blakehurst	Sprint Series	Linda Sesta
Wed, 29 Jan 2014	Birchgrove	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Brian Cleland (Ron Pallas)
Sun, 16 Feb 2014	Rozelle	Sprint Series	Matt Peters
Wed, 26 Feb 2014	Double Bay	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Dave Lotty

Picture Perfect- NSW Sprint Championships

The NSW Sprint Champs were held at Pyrmont Point and for those who have been around for a while will well remember this area as being the Sugar Refinery.

The venue was spectacular and several times out the corner of one’s eye you could catch some spectacular Harbour views.

As with all sprints a sneeze can see you drop a place and a cough well that’s 3 places. Speed and Accuracy were the bywords.

Lots of stairs a few delightful open spaces and even glimpses of the Light rail greeted the competitors.

Uringa did very well  with 10 members on the podium. Brian, Helen, Linda and Georgia were gold medal winners. Dave, Jared, Mary Jane and Lawrence had silver medals and  Maureen and Ondrej took home the Bronze. Fairly new on the orienteering scene, Jim Mackay finished 11th in the highly competitive M50A
 

Plac	Name	Class	Time	Diff
1	Georgia Jones	W-16A	15:07
1	Brian Cleland	M75A	22:38
1	Linda Sesta	W45A	17:51
1	Helen Murphy	W60A	23:56
2	Dave Lotty	M55AS	23:06	+2:46
2	Jared McKenna	M-12A	23:11	+2:25
2	Mary Jane Mahony	W65A	26:03	+3:03
2	Lawrence Jones	M-18A	19:30	+4:16
3	Maureen Ogilvie	W70A	1:13:03	+44:02
3	Ondrej Pavlu	M21A	18:02	+1:16
4	Ron Pallas	M55AS	26:17	+5:57
4	David McKenna	M45AS	21:02	+3:03
4	Jane McKenna	W45A	25:25	+7:34
5	Gayle Shepherd	W45AS	30:06	+14:08
7	Terry Murphy	M65A	33:28	+13:16
11	Jim Mackay	M50A	34:31	+17:15
	Lisa Lampe	W50A	mispunched
	Ian Jones	M45A	mispunched
	Dick Ogilvie	M65A	mispunched

The biggest winners on the day were the coffee shops adjacent to the assembly area- they did a roaring trade.

It is interesting that when you get home you see more route choice options. Look at the leg 1 -2. I went to the right and up a small set of stairs; Gordon Wilson went left and up the ramp and Tanya Kennedy went way left and around the path. I saw the ramp but not the pathway. I think that is the skill of a good sprint orienteer to see more ways and spot the best.