Uringa News

Sunday, July 7, 2019

2019 Winter Dinner - it's Italian!

When it's dark and drizzly outside, what's nicer than to gather with friends to eat (very) well, tell stories of orienteering and other matters, laugh a lot, and count up the spiral pasta.

Gayle Shepherd and Helen Murphy, social organisers supreme, ensured a wonderful evening...along, of course, with the chefs who brought along an array of scrumptious Italian main dishes and desserts.

Gayle's 'count the rotini' contest proved that spatial skills on the ground don't always transfer to determining what's inside the bottle.

There were appropriate prizes

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

QBIII 2019

There was sunshine. There was cold. There was forest (eucalypt and pine), farm land, and a university campus. There was rock. Over the three days every experience was possible.

Day 1 Assembly at The Hut, Belanglo forest

Day 2 Assembly in the paddock at the edge of the forest, Arthursleigh

Day 3, Assembly in the atrium of the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University

The Queen’s Birthday long weekend offered three days of varied orienteering.

To be in the QBIII competition for a badge required finishing the run on all there days, in the same class.

This was no mean feat for Uringans, given that QBIII was a joint Uringa-Central Coast cooperation. Course setters, course controllers and event controllers often had other things to do, not to mention the Start Team, the Finish Team and the Registration Team.

Organiser extraordinaire Ron Pallas was the overseeing centre of the complex of teams running each part of the event. Others on the event teams sometimes chose not to run.

Awarded an honorary badge for meritorious action

Then, there was Jane Boland, who abandoned her course on Day 1 to assist an injured competitor…in spite of him telling her to finish her course. (The SES and an ambulance were needed to retrieve the injured person, who is now recovering in hospital. Organiser Ron Pallas reports that this is only the second serious injury in his many years of event organisation.)

Finally, there were those who chose not to run all three days, or, chose to run a shorter course on Day 2 (the Long) for many and varied reasons.

Consequently, while 41 Uringans were listed to run on at least one of the three days, only 14 finished, in the same class, on each of the three days, becoming eligible for a badge presented to the first three place-getters in each class.

W12A
1 Maggie Mackay

W14A
5 Rose Haasdyk

M JuniorB
2 William Nolan

M35AS

5 Serje Robidoux

M40A
4 Joel Haasdyk

M45A
3 Ant Nolan

W45A
4 Melanie Christie
6 Zoe Melling

M45AS
1 Jim Mackay

W50A
2 Linda Sesta

W55AS
4 Gayle Shepherd

W70A
4 Mary Jane Mahony

M80A
3 Brian Cleland

Each day was also a separate NSW State League Event. Runners who finished on the day are eligible for points towards 2019 NSW State League Orienteer of the Year.

Putting on any orienteering event, but especially bush events, requires a committed team. Uringa and Central Coast have always worked well together, and the weekend was proof.

Packing up the tent requires a village, with Linda Sesta the expert in tent folding directing.

Photos thanks to Ian Jessup, Clare Jessup, Linda Sesta, Mary Jane Mahony and possibly others.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

State League 3 and 4 – sunshine on the Central West slopes and tablelands

Uringans were out in force. There are city orienteers and there are bush orienteers. Yes, there is some overlap in the two categories…but some are only seen in the bush and at social events (and bush orienteering is very social).

The weekend event were NSW State, ACT State League and also National Orienteering League events. The National Orienteering League and Junior National Orienteering League (under 21) are open to elite orienteers only. The NSW team is called the Stingers.

Wyangala Waters (SL3)

This was the day of views. Keep focussed – don’t look at the lake. A middle distance course.

W12A
4 Maggie Mackay

M12A
3 Jonathan Nolan

M Junior B
1 William Nolan

W Open B
7 Jane Boland

M45A
3 Ant Nolan

M45AS
2 Jim Mackay

W50A
3 Linda Sesta

M50A
2 Shane Doyle
4 Michael Warlters

M55AS
5 Ron Pallas

W60A
8 Margaret Wilmott

M65A
2 Nick Wilmott

M65AS
1 Dave Lotty

W70A
6 Mary Jane Mahony

M75A
2 Dick Ogilvie

M80A
5 Brian Cleland

W85A
1 Maureen Ogilvie

EOD Moderate
1 Serje Robidoux

Roseberg State Forest (SL4)

These were the long championships, and for the elite the ultralong championships. It was not surprising that there were more DNFs, and even DNSs, in the results list. The long legs demanded close attention to navigation – this get more challenging as (the less fit anyway) orienteers tire.

The ultralong competition was well beyond the ordinary orienteerer's imagination. M21E was a 24km course. The winner took 2hr30min. The last runner to finish took 5hr12min. W21E was 14.6km.

W12A
4 Maggie Mackay

M12A
4 Jonathan Nolan

M Junior B
1 William Nolan

W Open B
2 Jane Boland

M45A
7 Ant Nolan

M45AS
3 Jim Mackay

W50A
4 Linda Sesta

M50A
1 Michael Warlters
2 Shane Doyle

W55AS
1 Jan Sargood

M55AS
8 Ron Pallas

W60A
8 Margaret Wilmott

M65A
1 Nick Wilmott
8 Rick Steele

M65AS
1 Dave Lotty

W70A
5 Mary Jane Mahony

M75A
2 Dick Ogilvie

M80A
5 Brian Cleland

EOD Hard Short
1 Serje Robidoux

Go West, You Orienteers

The two big national orienteering events each year are the Australian Three Days (part of a larger Easter Carnival) and the Australian Championships (held roughly over the September-October school holidays and also part of a larger orienteering event series). The states/territories where these events are held rotate. More info here for future planning!

This year the Easter Orienteering Carnival was held in Western Australia. The Australian Sprint Champs and the Australian Middle Distance Champs were held on the following weekend. (There were some schools and public races on the weekdays between.)

The first day, the sprint, was in the middle of Perth. The other two events in the Three Days were in the York-Beverly region east of Perth, full of history, farm land and forest.

While ten days of orienteering was on offer, it was a very long way to go, with just five Uringans participating in some or all of the events on offer. (Next year it will be held in the NSW Orange region.)