The June
long weekend is always a great time for orienteering. 3 days 3 events taking in Middle Distance, Long Distance and Sprint Distance. Each event is a stand-alone
State League event however, the icing on the cake is the KB3 Badge for the cumulative
time of the three races.
The first
two events were on a well-known map- Kahli’s Rocks just west of Bathurst. The
map features vast quantities of granite boulders and naturally green areas. The
contour features, gullies and spurs were hard to read due to the granite. All
in all, a tough area and when you look at the finish times across all classes
it was certainly 2 “tough days in the office.”
As the 400+
competitors travelled from all points of the compass. The most accessed web
site was BOM checking the weather forecast for the weekend. Bathurst is 650m above
sea level and BOM was predicting a very cold, a very wet weekend. Snow, hail,
sleet, frosts were featured in the predictions.
The
organisers sent out emails requiring all competitors to carry a whistle, wear
thermals and carry a rain jacket with hood. This was the first time that such a
request has been made however seeing the forecast for the weekend it was a good
call.
Saturday
dawned with a mix of grey and blue sky with the NW wind making it a wee bit on
the chilly uncomfortable side. “There is no such thing as bad weather just bad
clothing” (the saying goes something like that)
All up
there were 28 Uringans entered for Race 1 included in this contingent were a
number of Uringans who had little or no experience in such complex terrain. One
heck of a bush baptism!
When the
day ended Uringa had notched up 2 firsts; Paul in M Open B and Catherine in
W21AS. 3 seconds; Maggie W20A, Linda W55A and Jane W Open B. 5 Third places; Michael M60A, Elodie W12A,
Benjamin M Junior B, Ian M Open B and Ori M45AS.
Sunday’s
race was totally dependent on the land owner giving the green light. The road
into the assembly whilst on Saturday was firm may have not been the same on
Sunday due to overnight rain. As it turned out it was pretty good with a few
slippery spots. Luckily Sunday morning saw sunshine and the road in was deemed
fit for purpose. The presence of sun and scattered cloud cover brought out
smiles for the organisers, competitors and the very welcomed coffee cart! Still very chilly 6 degrees feels like 1
degree!
For our 25 competitors
it was more of the same but listening to post mortems it would appear that the Long-Distance
Courses were far kinder to the orienteers.
Onto the
podium strode 10 Uringans. Michael, M60A and Ian, M open B were top of the
podium. In second place was Laurence, W Open B, Benjamin, M Junior B, Jonathan
M20A (great result in a very competitive class), Jana W50A. Taking 3rd
we had Linda W55A, Paul, M Open B, Elodie W12A and Gayle W55AS.
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| Moderate Course day 1 |
 |
| Hard 4 Course Day 1 |
BOM and
especially the weather radar copped a real hammering as a rain front was
barreling towards Bathurst overnight. Snow, sleet hail and rain again were in the mix. Fortunately,
it dropped away south with just a few scattered clouds and possibly showers the
expected outlook for the day.
Day 3 was a
sprint at Scots All Saint College, Junior Campus. 2017 was the last big event
on this map; Australian Schools Sprint Championship. It is a small campus and the
setter Anna, utilised some barriers to make navigation just that much harder.
Cars coming from Blayney and Orange had been subjected to some overnight snow
and there were tales of snowmen being built on Mt Panorama.
Sprints are
a case of- have a hiccup and you drop places. One hesitation and it costs you.
Speed is the operative word, but speed is the very thing that can bring you
undone as you miss a control or the better route choice.
Once more
10 Uringans earned a spot on the podium. Catherine, W40A, Laurence, W Open B,
Ian, M Open B. They were joined by second place getters Michael, M60A, Benjamin, M Junior B, Sherry,
EOD Hard, Istvan M45AS, and Ron (his first orienteering event since he had a
knee replaced in February) in M65AS. Gayle in W55AS and Paul M Open B were our
3rd place getters.
Now with
the 3 individual Days run it was time to get out the abacus to work out the
placings in the KB3.
Congratulations
to Michael, M60A and Ian, M Open B who came out in the lead to claim the #1
position. Elodie, W12A, Benjamin, M junior B and Jane, W Open B finished 2nd
overall. In third overall were Gayle, W55AS, Laurence, W Open B and Pau,l M
Open B
Maggie,
W20A and Ori M45AS were 4th. I am sure that these two have been
fourth in a number of major carnivals. They are knocking on the door of a
podium finish!
Maggie,
W20A and Ori M45AS were 4th. I am sure that these two have been
fourth in a number of major carnivals. They are knocking on the door of a
podium finish!
Perhaps the
highlight of the 3 days was seeing so many Uringans at the events It was great
to see the Charlotte, Sophie and Grace out running around the assembly area
making friends with other ankle biters. It was so reminiscence of watch their
mum; Catherine do likewise a whole lot of years ago.
Then there
were some juniors who were entering either their first or near to first bush
events- Kahli’s was one heck of a baptism! Alon, Elodie, Harrison and Mitchell.
Then we had
a number of first-time bush orienteers (not counting Metro Events) Paul and
Hayley, Istvan and Jen. A huge welcome back to the bush for Helen who for the
past decade has run weekend and mid-week events in Sydney.
A fantastic
3 days which will live in folklore similar to QB3 1993 in Armidale which
featured almost identical weather conditions with Day 3 being on heavily
frosted ground more suitable to ice skates than runners.
Whoops failed to mention the dinner on Saturday Night
The only
downside to events over the mountains is getting back to Sydney. Lithgow to
Katoomba is usually 45-50 mins alas coming home it a was a delightful 3 hours.
Novacastrians avoided this heading north through Mudgee and Gulgong. Southern
Highlanders headed south east through Crookwell and Taralga thus avoiding the
Great Western Highway. (Ori went this way and had a first-time experience of
driving in snow)
What is up next:
Well do not
miss the NSW Champs,13-14 September, to be run on the Australian Champs Map – “Glenburnie” near
Armidale / Uralla. I have walked extensively on this map preparing for the 2024
Australian Champs and am so looking forward to competing.
Far from the cold of Bathurst you can head further north to the Australian Champs Carnival, 27/09 - 5/10. The two weekends are National Champs events Sprint Long Distance, Middle Distance and Relays. Midweek will be the Australian Schools Championships plus events for the older orienteers.
Many thanks to Sandy from SHOO for the many photos used in this post.
