More Christmas party

 

 

URINGA XMAS PARTY

Sumptuous sausages and sizzling steaks prepared by Chef Brett certainly hit the spot after the brutal Presidents Cup run.
Thanks to Matt the map was excellent and the terrain flat. President Ron selected 30 devious controls for the long and 20 for the short ( not necessarily the same questions mind you!) The complication was that participants had to choose only 19 or 13 depending on the course they were running.
Clare managed to score 21/19 on the long course as she picked up two bonus points for working the percentage out complete with decimal points!
The results below show that local knowledge helped some of the Murphy clan but not others.

Long Course
Catherine 18/19 32.58
Matt 16/19 39.46
Clare 21/19 44.36
Maggie 18/19 49.21
Dick 18/19 53.52
Lisa 16/19 54.07
Lawrence 17/19 57.41
Dave 16/19 57.42
Nick 18/19 61.00
Terry 30/30 83.21


Short Course
Jared 12/13 24.05
Dave 13/13 24.07
Brian 13/13 30.00
Helen 12/13 32.15
Christine & Julia 13/13 32.21
Mary Jane 12/13 32.38
Linda 13/13 33.13
Margaret 12/13 33.27
Georgia 12/13 38.19
Gayle 12/13 39.03
Mike 13/13 39.55
Aldo 12/13 58.59
Maureen 12/13 67.20

Now the Presidents Cup was as usual a cut throat affair. There were those who cheated and sent their daughter ahead on foot to get the control card in a few precious seconds early. Topping that was the mother daughter pairing of Christine & Julia with Julia riding a scooter at break neck speeds (tripped the speed camera on Concord Rd) to get back just that little bit faster.
Then there were the smarties- name the reserve- Murphys Folly! Yes Nick a good try!
After a fine round of mains our attention was turned to desserts and as usual the pickings were delicious.
With Australia coping a hammering in the cricket and then Sydney FC in a similar position in the soccer- the President’s presentation alleviated all thoughts of drowning sorrows in a refreshing beverage or two.
The beautifully crafted Presidents Cup (thanks again Jitka) was awarded to Catherine. Sister Clare was awarded the Little Presidents Cup – mainly to stop the whinging especially about the number of drain grates!

A special presentation was made to Lawrie, Georie-Porgie and Soph as they are now Aussie Kids. Maggie, Jonesy and the kids became Aussies last Thursday – but after seeing the cricket score they are rethinking their decision.

It was a fantastic night and hopefully Mary Jane will add to the photo gallery.

many thanks to the Murphy's for the venue and also to Brett, Natt, Clare, Catherine and Pat who were willing slaves: Helen the consumate hostess and of course the "Madge" who esured that we all enjoyed the evening.

OANSW Presentation Evening

Only a small Uringa representation was on hand for a great night at the North Ryde RSL.
Uringa featured in a number of awards.

NSW Junior Awards
Lawrence, Georgia and Sophie Jones, along with Jared McKenna received recognition under the Waratah Awards for their performances during the year.

NSW Orienteer of the Year 2010
M10A Jared McKenna equal 2nd
M35AS Dave McKenna 2nd
M40A Ian Jones 3rd
M65A Dave Lotty 1st
W12A Georgia Jones 1st
W21AS Maggie Jones 1st
W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 2nd
W40A Linda Sesta 3rd
W65A Angela Murray 1st
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

Metro League 2010
C Division – Uringa
Linda Sesta, Dick Ogilvie, Adrian Steele, Dave Lotty, Ron Pallas
D Division – Uringa
Maggie Jones, Lawrence Jones, Jane McKenna, Margaret Wilmott, Maureen Ogilvie, Gayle Shepherd, Angela Murray, Sarah Garnett

Sydney Orienteering Series 2010
Sub-Junior Women
Georgia Jones 1st
Sophie Jones 3rd
Legends Men
Dave Lotty 1st
Legends Women
Angela Murray 1st

NSW Interclub Trophy 2010
Uringa 3rd

The night saw a fitting farewell to Dave Lotty. Dave is retiring shortly from his job as the Executive Officer of OANSW. A position he has held since funding was made available. Fittingly Dave was awarded Life membership of OANSW.

(sorry no photos as I forgot to pack the camera)

LEGS OF STEELE

Congratulations to Bronwyn Steele for running her first ever marathon.

As well as registering this great milestone Bronwyn through the Cantoo organisation raised a considerable sum of money for Cancer research.

Well done Bronwyn

BAROSSA MAPS

The following maps were used for the Baroossa Aussie carnival
Australian Middle Distance Champs

South Australian Champs

Australian Sprint Champs

Australian Long Champs

Australian Relays M55 course

Baroossa and Back 2010

Gayle- "I finished- at last!"

Georgia heading for the finish

Spot the error on the clockface

Maggie, Simon and Gayle

Ian checking out relay progress

It was wet in South Australia

Lawrence heading to the spectator control



Goodness it was perhaps the smallest contingent of Uringans at a national Champs for some time with just 10 members making the trip. For those who were unable to make it was without a doubt the greenest that I have seen SA in my lifetime. Full dams and water in creeks were evident on each map (except the relays)

The carnival kicked off with the Australian Middle champs on “Lady Alice Goldfield”. As the name implied there was a evidence of the gold rush with ruins and mine shafts in abundance. The early part of the course featured some outstanding gold mining detail and the latter 1/3 was open fast running – good for some!
Results
Ian Jones M40 3rd
Maggie Jones W40A 10th
Sophie Jones W10 8th
Georgia Jones W12 3rd
Lawrence Jones M14A 13th
Dave Lotty M65A 9th
Dick Ogilvie M65A 6th
Maureen Ogilvie W75A 1st
Gayle Shepherd W55A 9th
Ron Pallas M55A 29th

The South Australian Long Champs was held the following day on “Mack Creek”. The area was predominantly spur gully with some rock. It was a beautiful area and the gullies were alive with grass and flowers.

Results
Ian Jones M40 3rd
Maggie Jones W21AS 1st
Sophie Jones W10 7th
Georgia Jones W12 2nd
Lawrence Jones M14A 13th
Dave Lotty M65A 10th
Dick Ogilvie M65A 3rd
Maureen Ogilvie W75A 1st
Gayle Shepherd W35AS 6th
Ron Pallas M35AS 12th

Mid week was dedicated to the Schools Champs. One had to feel rather sorry for all the schools teams as they were sleeping in tents and the area had its coldest week for some many years.
Lawrence Jones was our only “squadie’ and he was a reserve in the very strong Junior boys team. Lawrence ran well in the individual to finish 23rd and his relay team was 10th in the junior boys. This is Lawrence’s first year in the squad so next year at Wagga he will be hoping to step into the main team.
Sister Georgia is busting her boiler to get into the Schools Team next year!

The “Beat the Brats” event was quite popular with the same courses offered as for the Schools Individual
Results
Ian Jones H1 7th
Maggie Jones H2 23rd
Dave Lotty H2 33rd
Dick Ogilvie H2 40th
Maureen Ogilvie M2 11th

Following the Schools relay there were two events. The first, a teams event and the second a night event. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate results for these.

Friday saw everyone back to school- Trinity College in fact. This was the venue for the Australian Sprint Championships. (Should be called Short not sprint!)
The map was of the school campus and was great fun. The courses whilst well set could not match the complexities of say Macquarie university for the number and size of buildings
Results
Ian Jones M40 10th
Maggie Jones W40A 3rd
Sophie Jones W10 – 12 7th
Georgia Jones W10 - 12 3rd
Lawrence Jones M14A 17th
Dave Lotty M65A 2nd
Dick Ogilvie M65A 5th
Maureen Ogilvie W75A 2nd
Gayle Shepherd W55A 13th
Ron Pallas M55A 19th

And so it was off to “Tanunda Creek” we headed for the Australian Champs. The map was predominantly yellow with a lot of granite strewn across it. The courses made use of the granite outcrops but is was only when there were two or three controls set in the more complex areas that you had to work hard. Yes plenty of people made mistakes getting to the areas too. By now the weather had cleared and the sun had come out!

Results
Ian Jones M40 4th
Maggie Jones W21AS 1st
Sophie Jones W10 7th
Georgia Jones W12 3rd
Lawrence Jones M14A 20th
Dave Lotty M65A 3rd
Dick Ogilvie M65A 22nd
Maureen Ogilvie W75A 2nd
Gayle Shepherd W35AS 8th
Ron Pallas M35AS 7th

Our final event Aussie Relays was out east of the Barossa- on an area called “Rock Oyster” It was littered with shells and steep. If you were'nt going up on this map you were going down. It was indeed a very complex spur gully area and it was easy to make small errors which became larger ones if you lost contact.

Results ( team placing )
Ian Jones M35 - 3rd
Maggie Jones W21AS - 6th
Georgia Jones M/W12 – 2nd
Lawrence Jones M16 – 13th
Dave Lotty and Dick Ogilvie M65A – 2nd
Maureen Ogilvie W65A - 1st
Gayle Shepherd W45A - mp (not Gayle)
Ron Pallas M55A – 12th


What a week. The attraction of the Barossa saw orienteers sampling products of the grape in any number of wineries. Others dropped in on Maggie Beer (cook and the Chef fame). The bakeries, eateries and coffee emporiums were flat out dealing with the trade.
This areas fantastic and the maps were great, the competition fierce and camaraderie as always second to none.
For those who did not make the trip – pity cos’ it was a blast!
Now are you thinking of heading to Perth for Easter (22nd April - 1st May) have a look at the following website for information.

http://www.aus3days2011.orienteering.asn.au/

or

heading to the Oceania carnival (October 1st -9th - starts in Victoria and ends in ACT) check out the latest information at:

http://www.oceania2011.asn.au/

( this site is not online at time of posting but keep checking )

NSW CHAMPS

Off into the misty hills around Lithgow we did go. Baal Bone Junction is the name of the new map and it is rather a limited map due with some reasonable spur gully surrounding a large rock mesa. The mesa area pictured above appears to have few avenues to get either up or down and so will limit courses in future uses.

As a none runner it was interesting to listen to comments about the map and courses. Whilst Mark Darvo loves these areas it would seem that many others found moments on the map quite frightening and some of the course setting rather poor. Having looked closely at the green course that Georgia ran it contained little challenge for the runners.

results:

EOD Orange Aldo Sesta 4th
M50A Mark Darvodelsky 1st
W40A Linda Sesta 4th
M65A Dave Lotty 2nd

W50A Jan Sargood 5th

W50A Sarah Garnett 8th
W50A Margaret Wilmott 9th

W50A Lisa Lampe - chose not to finish

M35AS Dave McKenna 2nd

W60A Jitka Kopriva 4th

W60A Mary Jane Mahony 6th
M45AS Zuzu Burford 10th

W21AS Maggie Jones 2nd
W21AS Jane McKenna 3rd

W70A Maureen Ogilvie 2nd

W35AS Anne Darvodelsky - chose not to finish

W35AS Gayle Shepherd 3rd

M14A Lawrence Jones 6th
MOB Brian Cleland 2nd

W12A Georgia Jones 2nd
W10A Sophie Jones 3rd

M/W10N Jared Mckenna 1st

With such a large contingent or Uringans present it was quite a challenge to knock over the variety of cakes that were produced from various bags. Chief Judge Dick was licking his lips. Mary Jane's superb Banana Bread from Saturday had been demolished but was brilliant. Jane had a particularly delicious sponge whilst Margaret produced one of her special cakes and Gayle had her "non accidental" fruit cake. What a feast.

It took some time for all to pack up and leave. there were still 1/2 dozen Uringans chatting when the organisers had all but completed their pack up. Mind you there was a slight delay in the car park to assist in the Audi retrieval.

There were some who needed a toilet and refuelling stop on the Bells Line which quelled the afternoon food cravings.

ah hat a great weekend in perfect weather!

NSW MIDDLE DISTANCE CHAMPS

The NSW Middle Distance Champs were held at were held in the hills surrounding Mt Piper Power Station Lithgow.

Courses made the most of the spur gully terrain and whilst some may suggest that they were on the easy side there were many who made small mistakes because of the open terrain.

Uringa had a huge contingent at the event. Our club clocked up some great results:

M40A Ian Jones 5th

M50A Mark Darvodelsky 1st

W40A Linda Sesta 4th

M65A Dave Lotty 1st

W50A Lisa Lampe 6th

W50A Sarah Garnett 7th

W50A Margaret Wilmott 10th

M35AS Dave McKenna 3rd
W60A Jitka Kopriva 3rd

W60A Mary Jane Mahony 8th

M45AS Ron Pallas 6th

M45AS Zuzu Burford 8th

W21AS Maggie Jones 1st

W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd

W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

W35AS Anne Darvodelsky 2nd

W35AS Gayle Shepherd 4th

M14A Lawrence Jones 5th

MOB Brian Cleland mp

W12A Georgia Jones 2nd

W10A Sophie Jones 4th

M/W10N Jared Mckenna 3rd.

After the event the crowds scattered to all points around Lithgow to prepare themselves for the NSW Champs the next day. There is a remarkable difference in the way people prepare. Some close themselves off in a room and impersonate a swedish sauna, others consume red wine or white wine, beer and cheese. Some are known to consume some bubbly to wash down a fine fruit salad.

Socialising in the bush (Ben Bullen Forest, September 2010)

AUDIacious Bogging

At the NSW Champs it was a case of "just who holds Uringa's bog championships" Older heads will remember Jared ( Dave) McKenna's fantastic effort at JWOC not once but twice.

However Maggie is definitely challenging for the prize as she managed to maroon the Audi in seemingly a very un-boggable place

Fortunately there was a good Samaritan - Thanks Peter and Lewis who were able to extract the vehicle. There were several on the sideline who seemed to want to give verbal assistance and it was fortunate that Maggie missed most of it as it was far from offering assistance but a little bit of verballing!!

Now what makes Maggie's effort outstanding is that she let slip that this was not the first time the Audi had sunk but had had a prior performance at Stockton.

Well played everyone!

A Fine 2nd for Lawrence

The NSW School Champs were held on Sunday 29th August in Belanglo State Forest. Lawrence scored a very fine 2nd place in Boys 14A

There were a few solid performances in the accompanying State League Event.
With Rick Stele , Dave Lotty, Jane McKenna and Maureen Ogilvie 1st in their age classes. Dave Mckenna, Anne Darvodelsky and Ian Jones 2nd and Lisa picked up a hard fought 4th place.
well done to all.
With The NSW Championships a couple of weeks away the Uringa contingent should be at near full strength.

The rain in Spain fell in Latvia

Hello all - as Gayle and I prepare for the long haul home I thought I would fill in time by some thoughts on Latvia.

For both of us it was a bit of a shock brought on by ignorance that Latvia was still under the control of USSR until 1990s after their takeover in the 1940's. With over 800,000 soviets being resettled in latvia one can understand all the Russian looking writing and machinery. Having travelled in Estonia and Lithuania it was a similar story here. I have not yet looked but I would say that Latvia is a poor country. There were so many buildings in a very poor state of repairs and the roads were interesting.

That said the people were delightful and many readily responded to a smiling hello.

Like all of Europe there are buildings centuries old and cobblestone roads everywhere. the old town of Riga is very much living in history.

Food once was Latvian stodge but we ate heartily and well. Prices are quite cheap, especially after 10 days in Norway, and the quality very good.

We caught a bus into Riga from the airport, about 12kms, and it cost $1.40 each. We enjoyed Old Riga and the narrow winding streets full of history. The beer was great too!

We ventured both to the east and the west.

Driving along what they claim are major highways was a bouncy affair. In the middle of seemingly nowhere you came across a small town with a multi story apartments blocks, as well as factory buildings. Most of these were empty again signs of the demise of communisim.

Forget Bernard's Bakery in Bathurst we discovered Shirleys Bakery in Sigulda. Patries were 18c each and coffee, I am led to believe of excellent quality, was around $1. We ate well.

It rained often whilst we were in latvia which could account for water laying in fields. Fortunately it rained mainly at night.

We saw many areas of good orienteering country and some great areas for sprints but that was about as far as any thoughts of orienteering went.

We managed a trip to a Baltic Sea beach. Talk about bleak. the wind howling off the Baltic Sea remained cold and strong all day. There were 4 people who swam and the other three people on the beach were Gayle and I plus a guy sweeping up seaweed.

In Leipaja there were many two and three storey timber buildings which we have found to be unusual. Leipaja was a big naval town in the soviet years but now is much quieter. Lots and lots of empty buildings in vary state of degradation.

We have enjoyed our time in Latvia and are now planning where to go next time!