QBIII- Lithgow

Well it wouldn't be Lithgow if it wasn't cold and damp and generally speaking bleak.
Fortunately the orienteering was enjoyable and the company warm and friendly.

Day 1 saw a sprint in the grounds of Lithgow High School. What an enjoyable event it was even if I mp'ed. The buildings and surrounding grounds were complex enough to make it interesting and it was rather novel to actually start inside the building.


Uringa performed pretty well Sophie, Georgia, Lawrence, Jane, Angela, Ian, Dick, Dave, Linda, Brian and Maureen all managing a Podium finish.

Results:

M16A Lawrence 2nd
M35AS Dave McKenna 5th
M45A Ian Jones 3rd
M45A Ian Mckenzie 9th
M45AS Ron Pallas mp
M65A Dick Ogilvie 1st
M65A Dave Lotty 2nd
MopB Brian Cleland 3rd
W10A Sophie Jones 1st
W14A Georgia Jones 1st
W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 6th
W40A Linda Sesta 3rd
W40A Maggie Jones 5th
W50A Lisa Lampe 4th
W60A Mary Jane Mahony 3rd
W65A Angela Murray 2nd
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 2nd


Day 2
We were off in the hills surrounding Mt Piper Power Station. It was rather inconvenient to be stuck at the rail crossing on the drive in when an extremely lengthy coal train rumbled through. The walk to the start was up, up, up, down and up. The terrain was rather friendly and very runnable and the courses were challenging enough to maintain interest although my course had a track run to control 1 with what could best be described as a green control at its end. At least 1-2 had some options. That was all I saw of my course as i stopped with Peter Meyer to assist an injured competitor.
There was a great deal of talk about the steep downhill section towards the end- something about older knees suffering.






Results:
M10A Jared McKenna 1st
M16A Lawrence Jones 2nd
M35AS Dave McKenna 2nd
M45A Ian Jones 2nd
M45A Ian McKenzie 9th
M45AS Ron Pallas dnf
M65A Dick Ogilvie 3rd
M65A Dave Lotty 4th
MopB Brian Cleland 5th
W10A Sophie Jones 1st
W14A Georgia Jones mp
W21AS Jane McKenna 4th
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 3rd
W40A Linda Sesta 3rd
W40A Maggie Jones 5th
W50A Lisa Lampe 3rd
W60A Mary Jane Mahony 4th
W65A Angela Murray 3rd
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

Day 3

We headed back to BAAL BONE JUNCTION. This was a lightning fast map that is being eaten by the coal mine ( see the out of bounds section in south western area). A load of fun and fortunately the assembly area in the bush was sheltered and there was a minute amount of warmth coming from a very milky sun. The hot soup was a treat and the junior catering really cleaned up over the weekend. By end of day 1 they had exhausted their supplies and hence the late night Coles and Woolies were targeted.
The unique start - a run through a box culvert under the rail was a novelty although you had to re-focus when you entered the outside world.



Results

M10A Jared McKenna 1st
M16A Lawrence Jones 2nd
M35A Dave Mckenna 2nd
M45A Ian Jones 2nd
M45A Ian Mckenzie 9th
M45AS Ron Pallas 10th ( troubled the scorer at last)
M65A Dick Ogilvie 3rd
M65A Dave Lotty 4th
MopB Brian Cleland 5th
W10A Sophie Jones 1st
W14A Georgia Jones 1st
W21AS Jane Mckenna 1st
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 5th
W40A Linda Sesta 4th
W40A Maggie Jones 5th
W50A Lisa Lampe 3rd
W60A Mary Jane Mahony 5th
W65A Angela Murray 4th
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

And so it was we had reached the end of three great days. Whilst the weather was a bit "iffy" we stayed relatively dry and warmish. The presentation kicked off with a huge raffle draw put on by the juniors.
The badges were presented and the winners were certainly grinners. Those who were badgeless were left to rue the runs that weren't.
I will be very interested to see the schools team when it is announced. Lawrence Jones is running well and has done enough to catch the selectors eyes. Georgia Jones, in her first year of schools eligibility had a great 3 days - (ignore the mp on day 2) She won the other two days comfortably.
Great to see Dick string together 3 solid runs to take out M65A. Consistency was surely the key to the weekend. Ian Jones - 3rd, 2nd, 2nd for a 2nd place overall. Maggie was even more consistent with 5th places across the board.

Overall results:

M16A Lawrence Jones 2nd
M35AS Dave Mckenna 2nd
M45A Ian Jones 2nd
M65A Dick Ogilvie 1st
M65A Dave Lotty 3rd
MopB Brian Cleland 4th
W10A Sophie Jones 1st
W21AS Jane Mckenna 3rd
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 5th
W40A Linda Sesta 3rd
W40A Maggie Jones 5th
W50A Lisa Lampe 3rd
W60A Mary Jane Mahony 2nd
W65A Angela Murray 2nd
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st

Well that is that and we all headed off home. I wonder how many like me did not turn left at Lithgow for "Bells" but rather went straight ahead for the long slow drag down the mountain- remind me next time!