COAL, MOSSIES & MORE GRASS SEEDS

The muti-day event in Newcastle was run in near perfect weather. Brilliant blue skies, a sun with a little warmth and no sign of rain!


Sprint area



It was a taxing time for competitors with a sprint at Newcastle Uni in the morning, off to Cessnock for a mid distance event and a long distance event on Sunday. Whilst it was taxing on competitors it was very much more so on the organisers. I can say that they did a great job.

Well lets start at the very beginning with the sprint. Newcastle Uni is a sprawling megalopolis spread over a large area. There were ups and down along with complex buildings and a fair bit of bush. Mind you about 1/2 the elite competitors who ran early should have been disqualified for crossing through an area of olive green at the spectator control of all places. Sanity prevailed.

Uringa had a large number of competitors up for the weekend. Sophie Jones climbed the victory Dias in W10A ( she was consistent winning each event over the weekend).  Jared McKenna, Lawrence Jones, Dave McKenna, Brian Cleland, Mary Jane Mahony, Maureen Ogilvie secured 2nd place along with Ian Jones, Dave Lotty, Georgia Jones who scored a 3rd.



Middle Distance



The drive to Pelaw Main was punctuated by a stop at Kurri Kurri's best bakery for a double helping of steak & kidney pie. Yummmmmmmmm! Others feated on a vast range of tasty sweet breads and pastries. The arena was a delight with a grassy hill overlooked the competition area. there was plenty to see with 4 controls in view and competitors crossing the field of vision at least once during their run. This area was fairly flat and features tended to be smaller well except for the Derrek which stood about 10 metres in the air.



Again Sophie lead the way with another first. She was joined on the podium by sister Georgia with a first in W14A. Dave McKenna also shone along with Gayle Shepherd- these two took victories in their classes. Brian Cleland competing on a hard course for the very first time slotted home second - outstanding Brian!.Jared racked up another second placing. Mary Jane had a good run registering 3rd and Maureen was also amongst the medals finishing 3rd. Penny Field, returning to the bush for the first time for some time was very pleased with her 3rd placing.

It was off to a variety of accommodation for a well earned rest.



Long Distance



Sunday saw the crowds gather at Kitchener for the long day. Felt sorry for the elites with the girls doing 11.5kms  and the boys 17kms. Winning times were greater than planned.

Once more Sophie clocked up a win and Dad Ian was smiling all the way to the podium with a fine 1st place in M45A. Brian once more came home 2nd along with Georgia and Angela was also placed 2nd in W65A. Maureen remained consistent with another 3rd place.

If I may comment on the courses I think Steven Todkill really set out to make the courses interesting. looking at the shortest of the Hard courses it was great to see a long leg . The area had many many tracks but Steven set the leg in such a way that you couldn't just pick up one track, there was a lot of thinking tossed in.



So all in all it was a fantastic weekend, great camaraderie and Margaret's brownies were to dream of! Our next big occasion is the Metro League event at Oatley Park. following the event all Uringans are asked to bring along a picnic basket for a good old aussie get together!



Metro 2 UWS Kingswood Campus - No long grass, much sunshine

Sunday, May 6

B Team - URCC Harriers: tied with GO Monitors
D Team - URCC Falcons: lost against URCC Kites
D Team - URCC Kites: won against URCC Falcons
E Team - URCC Kestrels: lost against BigFoot 3

'Space-racing' helpers at Queen Elizabeth Park

Space racing Orienteering NSW initiative to promote orienteering to children, usually 8 to 14 year olds.. School holidays is prime time for such activities. Six Uringans (and a Garingal member) jumped in to assist Ian Jessup yesterday when he discovered it was otherwise just going to be him, a vacation care coordinator, and thirty 5-8 year olds at Queen Elizabeth Park in Concord. The exercises were more basic, everyone had fun, and the adults were exhausted at the end of it all.

 

Boulders & Grass Seeds

Well what fun was had by the 9 Uringans who attended the Australian 3 Days at Stanthorpe over the Easter break.

Stanthopre is well known as home of some of the best granite terrain in Australia and many will remember the brilliant "Cascades" map that continues to be the great leveller.

The weather for the entire carnival was warm and if you were a late starter you were rather hot and bothered when you finished and that wasn't due to any error. Spare a thought for the elites on the Shanty Gully map- the 21Es covered 15 kilometres with no water until control 12 ( yes there was water earlier in the course but that ran out very early in the piece. The crowning glory of course setting was one leg that ran virtually the full length of the top of the map. The are doesn't look real good but the white was awful and the green far worse.

As far as results went Jared McKenna, M12A, finished in 2nd place and Maureen Ogilvie, despite not having her best run on the last day stayed ahead of the field in W75A.

Amongst the others Dave Lotty, M65A, was a mere 8 seconds behind Bob Allison in 3rd place and so Dave somewhere that moments hesitation cost you a badge! Gayle Shepherd, W55A, was leading after Day 1 and then 2nd after Day 2 but alas a 13 minute leg time heading to control 3 (see the control on the Rosenthal Creek day 3 map) saw her fall to 4th.

The Shanty Gully map should have been renamed "It needs Napalm now!" Whilst after each day a great deal of time was spent de-seeding your o-gear after Shanty Gully you needed cast iron gloves to remove the grass seeds and other pricklies ( see Karen Blatchford photo above.)

I threw away 3 pairs of socks and wisely ran in shorts on the last day. Socks in the bin and only the shoes to de-seed.

Mind you Rosenthal Creek was a great area with lots of tricky granite. Have a close look at the Over the Border Map as yes indeed there is the NSW Border right there on the map!

It was a well run carnival although their event arenas needed a lot of work as they were terribly dis-jointed.

It was still early 20s when we hopped on our flight back to Sydney alas we were not prepared for the 15 degrees that greeted us at Mascot upon arrival.

Well lots of ideas for the 2014 Easter event which is being run by OANSW and plenty of volunteers are needed!

It's all a little greener ... Metro 1 at Cecil Hills

When they mapped it, the grass was shorter. Then it rained and the land management practices changed. At the briefing it was apologies but the grass is long and there are blackberries. And so it was.

Bright sunshine, long grass, and a lot of getting used to being back on, or on for the first time, bush courses with point to point orienteering.  A good time was had by all (don't ask Maggie about the spider), if it was all more tiring and hotter than expected.

B Team - URCC Harriers: Won against GO Molochs
D Team - URCC Falcons: Lost against WHO All Women
D Team - URCC Kites: Lost against SHOO2
E Team - URCC Kestreals: Won against WHO4.

(Photo courtesy Bennelong)

A little orienteering practice...

Snow Hills postponed. Disappointment. Accommodation and other activities already committed. What to do? Enter Maggie from Uringa and Toni from the ACT to coordinate some training exercises on a property down the southern highlands. Sunshine and blue sky - yes! Dry land, no mud or flood (on the property) challenges - yes! Good practice at contouring, relocating, and generally orienteering in the bush after not much bush orienteering since last winter season.

Highlight: curious donkeys. (Close that gate quick, or they'll make a break for it!)

Many thanks to the people who planned the actual exercises, too.

2011 National Rankings

The rankings for 2011 have been released and several Uringans are featured in the rankings:

1. Maureen Ogilvie W75

3. Sophie Jones W10

4. Georgia Jones W14

Linda Sesta W40

5. Dick Ogilvie M65

6. Dave Lotty M65

For your information, these rankings are based on the Australian 3-Days (Easter, Western Australia), Australian Sprint, Middle, Long Distance Championships as well as the Oceania Sprint, Middle, Long Championships which were all held in the Beechworth, Wagga, Cooma areas in October.

Congratulations to everyone, well done and keep up the good work !!