SKINNY LATTE SUMMER SERIES

Chief Finisher Aldo

Matt and Helen discussing local coffee shops

The crowd

The view (1)


The View (2)

164 competitors were on hand for the Summer series Event at Birchgrove. Matt had prepared a new map which took in some of the most outstanding scenery of the Balmian / Birchgrove peninsula.

Despite the hot weather and the Australia day Holiday there were some hot times.

45th Catherine Murphy Open Women 420 points
67th Dave Lotty Legends Men 380 points

72nd Dick Ogilvie Legends Men 360 points

77th Linda Sesta Masters Women 350 points

89th Terry Murphy Super Veteran Men 330 points
91st Angela Murray Legends Women 320 points

108th Lisa Lampe Veteran Women 310 points

123rd Brian Cleland Legends Men 290 points
131st Helen Murphy Super Veteran Women 280 points

140th Michael Tomkins Masters Men 270 points
141st Mary Jane Mahony Super Veteran Women 260 points
160th Maureen Ogilvie Legends Women 140

Still has me beat when i go to a summer series events how some people arrive at 4.30 and do not run until 6.30 and spend a lot of time hanging around. I wonder if they are listening in to gain clues.

I reckon you should get your map and then have 1 hour to complete the course. If you spend 20 minutes planning then you have 40 minutes running... Easy to implement as you go to the table and register and your time is written on your card then. You must finish within the hour or face the penalty!

Thanks to all Uringans and especially Matt for a great event

SUMMER SPRINTS

The Summer Sprint series moved to Sydney Park on Monday 24th January. Unfortunately the weather decided that it was time to heat up and the temperature was in the mid thirties when most competitors went out.
Despite the heat there was a great turnout of 75 runners and a few extra helpers.
Dave Lotty set the course and was rewarded with some glowing comments on his use of the area.
Uringans performed quite well on the 3.3km course
29 Linda Sesta 23.38
36 Dick Ogilvie 25.33
41 Clare Murphy 27.27
51 Terry Murphy 31.06
52 Michael Tomkins 31.20
53 Angela Murray 32.23
54 Lisa Lampe 32.43
61 Helen Murphy 38. 48
69 Brian Cleland 50.36

A special welcome to Michael Tomkins who has just joined our club. Michael began orienteering in ACT running in the mid-week events and has recently moved to Marrickville.

Thanks to Sarah, Matt and Aldo who lent a hand on the day. With the use of sportident this event is a very easy one indeed.

Reunion in Snowy Switzerland

As some of you may know, Aldo and I spent the Christmas/New Year period in Europe. We had a great time, although at times we Aussies found it freezing, in particularly Aldo! He found it quite exhausting having to gear up every time you left the house. It's quite a procedure; longjohns, ski pants, hat, gloves, scarf, warm jacket etc....! We spent 4 days sightseeing in Berlin, thankfully we had packed the ski pants which saved us from turning into icicles. However the pretty Christmas lights and markets, and the interesting sights made up for the cold!!

We also spent a few days in the Swiss ski resort of St Moritz where we had the most magnificent weather and enjoyed some skiing and cross country skiing.

One of the highlights of the trip was our reunion with the Swiss-based contingent of Uringa: Sibylle, Matthias, Noel and Corsin. We had a scrumptious breakfast at their place and wished we could have spent a bit more time together. They are all doing very well and the boys are involved in a sport called biathlon. It combines cross country skiing and shooting, and if you by chance have ever come across it, you will know that it is a very though sport, and it's definitely quite thrilling to watch a competition (they show it on Eurosport here in OZ if you have Foxtel!).

Anyway, here are some photos.

Popularity of orienteering in print

A little bit of fun. Go to:

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=orienteering&year_start=1800&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3

(Then you might want to play with other words of interest.)

More Christmas Five Day photos from the northern tablelands

Sophie makes it through the long grass

Half the fun is hanging comparing notes (Sophie)

Mates take turns winning their class (Jarrad)

Shadowing is a challenge when the children are fast, the grass is long, and the dad is injured - coming in behind, a fair way behind (Dave M)

I'm sure the control is around here (Brian)

Gayle finishes

Georgia takes the high ground

The control is obvious from the Finish, but not from any of the directions from which the runners are coming. (Dave L.)

Sophie runs in with the best of them

Brian on the home stretch, just before the trip rock

 Lawrence 

Debriefing (Lawrence and David)

Jarad collects his last prize from Master of Ceremonies Dick.

5 DAYS IN IMAGES

It wasn't raining however Brian and Mary Jane sort shelter from the extra strong Armidale sun.


David, Ian and Lawrence had fingers crossed during the prize draw hoping to hear their names called out

Maggie all smiles after another consistent run



Ron and Nick at work in the tent!

After so much rain grass was growing wildly. Never seen so much grass that even the cows are sick of it. For orienteers it was a case of pick off the grass seeds! It could be worse as the seeds will change later in the season into those spiky things that penetrate even armour plated o gear

Sophie powers into the finish on Day 4. On her course Sophie was dwarfed by the grass in places.

Brian was extremely happy with surviving Day 4 the most complex navigation days

Jane, put on a brave face whilst she was being patched up!

XMAS 5 DAYS - ARMIDALE

The first day of the 5 days was a sprint at the university. Pretty fast and furious and a good way to shake off the excesses of Christmas.
Ian Jones MB 3rd
Maggie Jones WB 11th
Lawrence Jones MC 27th
Jane McKenna WC 22nd
Dave Lotty MD 6th
Dick Ogilvie MD 15th
Maureen Ogilvie WD 16th
Gayle Shepherd WD 15th
Georgia Jones WE 3rd
David Jones ME 5th
Brian Cleland MF 4th
Jared McKenna M/WN 1st
Sophie Jones M/WN 4th



The trip to Banalasta was well and truly worth it although there were some mighty long times in the complex rock. We have run a number of times on this map and still it makes life hard for all.
Ian Jones MB 4th
Maggie Jones WB 15th
Lawrence Jones MC 21st
Jane McKenna WC 14th
Dave Lotty MD 2nd
Dick Ogilvie MD 21st
Maureen Ogilvie WD 17th
Gayle Shepherd WD 18th
Georgia Jones WE 6th
David Jones ME 4th
Brian Cleland MF 7th
Jared McKenna M/WN 1st
Sophie Jones M/WN 6th

Jane sustained a nasty injury courtesy of a stick entering her leg just above the knee. Some field surgery by Dr Jane and a few stitches and she was on her feet but unfortunately out of the running for the rest of the competition.


This was a very relaxing day after the trials and tribulations on the rock of day 2. However the gullies were enough to throw a spanner in the works of many an unsuspecting orienteer.

Ian Jones MB 3rd
Maggie Jones WB 15th
Lawrence Jones MC 36th
Dave Lotty MD 6th
Dick Ogilvie MD mp
Maureen Ogilvie WD 23rd
Gayle Shepherd WD 26th
Georgia Jones WE 3rd
David Jones ME 4th
Brian Cleland MF 5th
Jared McKenna M/WN 1st
Sophie Jones M/WN 4th
If ever there was a map where it would be okay to go without your glasses this was the one for Gayle but at times the arms were not quite long enough.


Day 4 dawned quite warm and the cool conditions of the past 3 days were replaced by mid 20s.This was the first use of this map and there was certainly some spectacular rock high on the ridges.
Ian Jones MB 8th
Maggie Jones WB 18th
Lawrence Jones MC 29th
Dave Lotty MD 2nd
Dick Ogilvie MD 10th
Maureen Ogilvie WD 15th
Gayle Shepherd WD 16th
Georgia Jones WE 2nd
David Jones ME 8th
Brian Cleland MF 8th
Jared McKenna M/WN 2nd
Sophie Jones M/WN 5th

Following the event Uringa and others adjourned to the Jones's residence at the Tinsel Cow. This homestead on the banks of the Macleay River was in a superb setting. A number took advantage of the soothing waters of the river where each evening a number of those very shy creatures, the platypus could be seen.




This was our earliest start and the mist was just starting to lift off the dam when the first starters went out. This map has been used a number of times and the vagueness and smaller rock features challenge all.
Ian Jones MB mp
Maggie Jones WB 11th
Lawrence Jones MC 36th
Dave Lotty MD 10th
Dick Ogilvie MD 28th
Maureen Ogilvie WD 16th
Gayle Shepherd WD 12th
Georgia Jones WE 2nd
David Jones ME mp
Brian Cleland MF 5th
Jared McKenna M/WN 1st
Sophie Jones M/WN 6th

The final pointscores ( you were able to drop your worst performance) were as follows
Ian Jones MB 4th
Maggie Jones WB 14th
Lawrence Jones MC 32nd
Jane McKenna WC 28th
Dave Lotty MD 3rd
Dick Ogilvie MD 20th
Maureen Ogilvie WD 17th
Gayle Shepherd WD 13th
Georgia Jones WE 3rd
David Jones ME 7th
Brian Cleland MF 5th
Jared McKenna M/WN 1st
Sophie Jones M/WN 4th

A few thoughts: great to see Lawrence on Red Courses. the 5km red courses were sure a challenge but what a great way to gain experience. well done. Also Miss Sophie out on her own each day did a fine job.
Brian was amongst the most consistent of the team along with Ian who challenged strongly on the first 3 days.
Dave Lotty as always was very competitive as was Georgia Jones.

Unfortunately Mary Jane was reduced to a spectator role for the carnival as i am sure she would have enjoyed the forests.

There are some photos to be posted at a later date.
The 2011 5 days will be held in Newcastle.