ACT Championships- The Sandhills

The Sandhills an area about 13kms east of Bungendore was named after the sand extraction industry that once thrived in the area. What was left behind after mining moved on makes for complex orienteering.
The Sandhills lived up to expectations- tough physical and challenging.

Saturday ACT Middle Distance Championships- NOL race
After resisting the lure of the many shops in the Bungendore CBD, orienteers found themselves in a beautifully sunny assembly area. The air was crisp to say the least but the leisurely late morning starts meant that the chill was well and truly off the area and sun cream was being applied ( Mind you it only made it to 14 degrees but the sun trap assembly area had you looking for shorts and t-shirts.)

Maureen - deep in concentration. You can see the finish on her left

Dick in the race to control 1

Dave - "jobbling" up the start chute

Today the start was right next to the finish and everyone had a sprint of around 100m to their first control which was also a pivot control which most visited 3 times during their course. Looking at the map you can see that the loops at the end of courses made for testing navigation but it was the vague

The Pivot

areas on the initial stages of the courses that brought many undone.
Three first places was a great effort and Dick's run was a real blinder. Our Swiss Miss Linda beat home her Swiss counterpart Anita (former Uringa Member) comfortably

Day 1 map- note the pivot control 1/8/14

Plac	Name	Class	Time
1	Maureen Ogilvie	W80A	1:30:35
1	Dick Ogilvie	M70A	39:50
1	Linda Sesta	W45A	31:57
7	Dave Lotty	M70A	1:19:17
	Gayle Shepherd	W60A	did not finish

Sunday ACT Long Distance Champs- NOL Race
Now Sunday was chilly- -6 degrees over night and the sight that greeted the organisers was white, white, white. However the sun trap assembly area soon warmed up. The finish tents all had to be moved into the sun as they defrosted. The best thing about getting a good frost is that you know you will have a corker of a day and so it was.

Yes it was chilly at the assembly area. Ok not quite this cold.( well Nick and Marg in Turkey!)

This was the scene at 9am

Men Elite - check out the first leg!

Today the start was kilometre away but it was just as entertaining as there was a video feed from the start. The elites had courses ranging from 15km to 10km- man hard work. The video feed saw many of these fast of feet stand at the start for some time as they pondered their first leg. Each course had a very long leg to kick start their course.
A feature of the area was the fallen timber on the ground. Gayle remarked that it seemed impossible that all the timber had fallen at 90 degrees to the direction of travel ensuring you would trip at every step.

The vague hillsides made for tricky navigation. On my course I wandered off line but was saved by control 5 as I headed to my first control. However the brief taste of the mounds around control 9 was great. I detoured to check out the elite pivot control.
Result wise Maureen completed another double header with a resounding win in W80A. I snuck in to a 1st place- the first first for a long time! Gayle puts her disasters down to over dosing on grandchildren over the weekend. Linda had a "Barry Crocker" which let Anita sneak in for a first place. Dick climbed the podium for a third in the highly competitive M70

Plac	Name	Class	Time
1	Maureen Ogilvie	W80A	2:06:21
1	Ron Pallas	M55AS	59:06
2	Linda Sesta	W45A	1:02:56
3	Dick Ogilvie	M70A	1:09:07
4	Dave Lotty	M70A	1:20:25
	Gayle Shepherd	W55AS	mispunched

Well it was a pity to leave the sundrenched assembly area but the Bungendore CBD coffee shops were calling many before heading down the Hume to home.
Next trip into the cold will be the QB111 in Lithgow and entries close tonight Monday 25th.