SA or Dust Chapter 3

Well who would have believed that a few hours after fighting bulldust we would end up with rain and a howling south westerly wind that would freeze  you rather than look at you. That is just what day 3 brought. Fortunately the rain was not constant more like shows that "turboed" through the area with occasional sunshine to re-warm the competitors.
The competition area featured a large quarry and a large creek. Now when we think creek we might think  5 or 6 metres wide. Well these were many metres wide  and todays featured sandy bottoms with quartz strata breaking through making running interesting. The banks of the creek were in places up to 10 metres high and runners were warned to avoid the actual edges as nature has a wonderful way of eroding 9 read undercutting) the creek banks. These heights made getting into and out of the beds interesting and you had to plan your attack carefully.

Navigationally as soon as you came to terms with lots of counting life became a little easier. the biggest issue I believe that the are was so open speed became your worst enemy. Relocating was a real chore as there were so many fingers of creeks to throw you.
Perhaps the hardest run was that up the finish chute- straight into the teeth of the wind for the first 70 energy sapping metres.

Today being the last day meant that all eyes were on the total of the tape rather than on the days performances.

 

Results:

Plac	Name	Class	Time
4	Ron Pallas	M55-64AS	1:00:15
5	Ian Jones	M45A	1:03:15
6	Gayle Shepherd	W45-54AS	59:23
6	Sophie Jones	W14A	40:18
6	Finn Mackay	M14A	52:05
7	Jim Mackay	M45-54AS	1:03:08
9	Georgia Jones	W17-20E	48:33
21	Lawrence Jones	M17-20E	1:13:24
21	Dave Lotty	M70A	1:12:09
24	Dick Ogilvie	M70A	1:16:30

 When the total of the tape was finalised no Uringan made the triumphant walk to the podium but in saying that we were not disgraced either.

Plac	Name	Class	Time	Diff
5	Sophie Jones	W14A	2:03:35	+7:54
5	Ian Jones	M45A	3:07:26	+43:17
6	Georgia Jones	W17-20E	2:48:20	+18:17
6	Ron Pallas	M55-64AS	2:48:14	+53:59
8	Jim Mackay	M45-54AS	3:34:24	+1:15:56
10	Gayle Shepherd	W45-54AS	3:29:17	+1:13:08
16	Dick Ogilvie	M70A	2:55:50	+1:02:01
20	Dave Lotty	M70A	3:30:43	+1:36:54
	Finn Mackay	M14A	dnf
	Lawrence Jones	M17-20E	dnf

Sophie, Ian and Georgia were so consistent over the three days. Unfortunately Lawrence missed a control on Sunday. The Jones family minus Maggie ( at home sipping G&T with her mum completed the most amazing trip to get to the events leaving Sydney Thursday evening and arriving to be only s
lightly late for the Elite prologue events on Friday ( yes they drove- herculean effort)


Photo courtesy of John Harding



Photo courtesy of John Harding



Photo courtesy of John Harding



Photo courtesy of John Harding

 

Photo courtesy of John Harding



Photo courtesy of John Harding



Photo courtesy of Sandra Stewart



Photo courtesy of John Harding

And so concludes the SA or Dust tour. The next national events will be at Ballarat for the 2015 Australian Champs and then ACT for Easter 2016.
These multi day carnivals are great fun. Botch a run and then there is always tomorrow. They are great socially as you can catch up with friends and enemies from across Australia.
Would I tackle the dust again- yes the terrain was worth it- no thick green to crash through just good open well mapped areas. And then there is the dust.
Whoops something I should have said- The event was really well organised by Orienteering SA. the courses were great and the areas although very similar were varied and really tested your navigation.

I am not sure the car rental companies will welcome us back too soon judging by the state of the cars being returned!