The Hills are Alive with........

They say Double Bay – Double Pay. What goes up (it hurts 1) goes down (it hurts 2)

Well it certainly was for the 144 orienteers who took part in Sydney Summer series #22 on Wednesday evening. The “Cooper Park” map takes in the shores of Sydney Harbour to the lofty heights of Edgecliff, albeit with a lot of contours and flights of stairs in between.

the map- the puzzle- the pain

For the competitors the first battle was trying to find a flow around the map to maximise points. The controls around and in Cooper Park itself were easy pickings (yes there were stairs involved). 240 points by my reckoning could be harvested here  but there was pain.

Anyway looking at the results usual podium placer Andrew Hill picked up 570 points but lost 40 in time penalties.  Ian (I’m getting the lot) McKenzie indeed picked up all 30 controls but was just a little overtime.

Scott and Dianna Bennett who have recently joined Uringa were there for their second attempt at Summer Series Orienteering. They did rather well but then their fitness levels have been honed on the Adventure racing circuit and no doubt their fine point navigation will improve with more racing under their collective belts.

A word here for the course planner Dave Lotty. Working on a brand new map he certainly set a course which had everyone scratching their heads. Mind you if you hang around the finish area long enough you would have gleaned many a clue as to how best to solve the Cooper park puzzle.

O-touch entry system was used for the first time at a summer series event. Each competitor inserts their Estick into a unit and up pops their name- choose your class and click on entry and away you go. This was very much a trial and in the next season the club will invest in two tablets to run this as a true touch screen experience which will make it faster. (no white cards to play with!!!)

Name	Class	Gross Score	Time	Penalties	Nett Score	Place in class
Brian Cleland	IM	330	42:57		330	3
Mary Jane Mahony	LW	280	43:07		280	2
Ian McKenzie	WaM	600	109:04	-650	0	3
Finn Mackay	JM	250	31:45		250	4
Jim Mackay	VM	370	44:27		370	16
Margaret Jones	VW	390	46:48	-20	370	1
Penny Field	SVW	240	39:21		240	6
Scott& Dianna Bennett	Groups	350	45:48	-10	340	1
Lisa Lampe	VW	350	45:48	-10	340	5
Linda Sesta	VW	360	37:52		360	2
Sophie Jones	SJW	130	25:29		130	3
Helen Murphy	SVW	240	37:04		240	5
Adrienne Kirby	SVW	290	44:22		290	4
Catherine Murphy	OW	460	43:59		460	2
Matt Peters	VM	430	44:51		430	5
Ian Jones	VM	440	49:18	-50	390	12
Georgia Jones	JW	360	39:06		360	1
Ondrej Pavlu	OM	520	45:47	-10	510	3

 That brings the Sydney Summer Series events to a close – well as far as Uringa’s commitment goes. There are still a number of events through March run by other Sydney clubs.

Oh I forgot to mention the storm. Yes it was a hot and steamy day and the black clouds had gathered in an ominous formation to the south. The event set up was completed under a hot sun and the rain that had been threatening all day was still doing that, threatening. Early runners had a dry run, well sweat excluded. Whereas those who ran around 6pm copped a drenching. Mangled maps was the order of the day. It is surprising how many people do not bring a map bag. A few smirks were seen on faces as those who arrive at 4.30 and run at 6.15 having spent a long time studying the map returned to the finish looking rather wet! (revenge is sweet.)

Uringa AGM

The 2013-14 AGM was held at the McKenna residence last week. There was little change in the office bearers with Ian stepping into the Club Captains role.

President	Linda Sesta
Vice President	Lisa Lampe
Secretary	Ron Pallas
Treasurer	Dave Lotty
Webmaster	Dave McKenna
Blogmaster	Rick Steele
Social Activities Officer	Gayle Shepherd
Mapping & Events Officer	Dave Lotty
Equipment Officer/s	Ron Pallas, Nick Wilmot, Matt Peters , Dave McKenna
Club Captain	Ian Jones
Training Officer	Maggie Jones
Medical Officer	Lisa Lampe
Delegates to OANSW	Linda Sesta, Jane McKenna, Brian Cleland

It was agreed that we Uringa would run the following summer events in the 2014-15 summer season

4 - Southern Summer series Events

2 - Northern Summer series events

2 - Sprint Events

Events Officer Dave will be chasing setters and Roster Guru Helen will be chasing helpers for these events.

Uringa's final Summer series Event happens today at Double Bay- I hope the predicted afternoon storms  are delayed until after 8.30pm

Callan Park Event in Pictures

It might have been a wet and overcast day, but the park was still beautiful.

Rain meant no cricket. No cricket meant a comfortable sheltered assembly area for the socialising as well as the sprint registration and finish.

...and more socialising.

If you ran hard to the finish and couldn't stop you might have ended up in the bay. Nice to have a very visible finish though,.

Callan Park Sprint Event, Sunday 16th February, 2014

 

The rain had stopped, the ground was soft, the grass was green and the birds were singing for the late afternoon start for this event.  As usual, many Uringans attended to assist with over 80 keen orienteers who entered the event. Many compliments for Matt who was the Course Setter and many were bemused, but very accepting of, the new computer-based self-directed method of registration, devised by Ron, which was 100% accurate! Maureen provided a cake at just the right time and the Jones family helped with collection of controls at the end of the event, so it was a wrap by 8.15 pm. Competition was keen with some excellent times recorded.

Up and coming junior Aidan Dawson showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the field winning by almost a minute when he finished in 16.52.  The first Uringan home was Lawrence Jones in 20.01 (6th) and right behind with only a gap of 3 seconds was Ian Jones in 8th place. Catherin Murphy chipped with a fine top ten finish.

(Thanks Penny for your report!)

 

Full result List

6	Lawrence Jones	Sprint	20:01	+3:09	6:59
8	Ian Jones	Sprint	20:04	+3:12	7:00
10	Catherine Murphy	Sprint	20:22	+3:30	7:07
12	Matt Westwood	Sprint	20:46	+3:54	7:15
14	Alice Westwood	Sprint	21:13	+4:21	7:25
19	Georgia Jones	Sprint	21:46	+4:54	7:36
21	Shane Doyle	Sprint	22:00	+5:08	7:41
24	Linda Sesta	Sprint	22:19	+5:27	7:48
30	Ian McKenzie	Sprint	24:26	+7:34	8:32
36	Margaret Jones	Sprint	25:20	+8:28	8:51
37	Jim Mackay	Sprint	25:39	+8:47	8:58
48	Serje Robidoux	Sprint	27:45	+10:53	9:42
49	Dick Ogilvie	Sprint	27:54	+11:02	9:45
57	Dave Lotty	Sprint	29:34	+12:42	10:20
59	Finn Mackay	Sprint	29:47	+12:55	10:24
64	Lisa Lampe	Sprint	31:28	+14:36	11:00
69	Mary Jane Mahony	Sprint	39:39	+22:47	13:51
	Brian Cleland	Sprint	mispunched
	Maureen Ogilvie	Sprint	mispunched