'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)