An Irish Surprise at Lavender Bay

The Wednesday evening Sydney Summer Series sees quite a few Uringans running the parks and streets and reserves of Sydney. What a surprise though to see Alison Pearce and Chris Brown at this week's event at Lavender Bay! They are having a flying trip from Ireland  to Australia (only 10 days). As you can see by Chris' shirt, they've tackled orienteering in their new country, and, oh, the stories they can tell. Marsh. Forests. Very different topography. Now they know what a compass is for...

Uringa Events Calendar 2013/14

Date	Location	Event	Key People
Sun, 27 Oct 2013	Maroubra	Southern Summer Series	Michael Weiner
Sun, 10 Nov 2013	Marrickville	Southern Summer Series	Brian Cleland
Wed, 20 Nov 2013	Concord North	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Helen Murphy (Matt Peters)
Sat, 7 Dec 2013	Haberfield	Southern Summer Series	Dave Lotty
Sat, 21 Dec 2013	South Maroubra	Southern Summer Series	Jones Family
Mon, 20 Jan 2014	Blakehurst	Sprint Series	Linda Sesta
Wed, 29 Jan 2014	Birchgrove	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Brian Cleland (Ron Pallas)
Sun, 16 Feb 2014	Rozelle	Sprint Series	Matt Peters
Wed, 26 Feb 2014	Double Bay	Northern (Main) Summer Series	Dave Lotty

Picture Perfect- NSW Sprint Championships

The NSW Sprint Champs were held at Pyrmont Point and for those who have been around for a while will well remember this area as being the Sugar Refinery.

The venue was spectacular and several times out the corner of one’s eye you could catch some spectacular Harbour views.

As with all sprints a sneeze can see you drop a place and a cough well that’s 3 places. Speed and Accuracy were the bywords.

Lots of stairs a few delightful open spaces and even glimpses of the Light rail greeted the competitors.

Uringa did very well  with 10 members on the podium. Brian, Helen, Linda and Georgia were gold medal winners. Dave, Jared, Mary Jane and Lawrence had silver medals and  Maureen and Ondrej took home the Bronze. Fairly new on the orienteering scene, Jim Mackay finished 11th in the highly competitive M50A
 

Plac	Name	Class	Time	Diff
1	Georgia Jones	W-16A	15:07
1	Brian Cleland	M75A	22:38
1	Linda Sesta	W45A	17:51
1	Helen Murphy	W60A	23:56
2	Dave Lotty	M55AS	23:06	+2:46
2	Jared McKenna	M-12A	23:11	+2:25
2	Mary Jane Mahony	W65A	26:03	+3:03
2	Lawrence Jones	M-18A	19:30	+4:16
3	Maureen Ogilvie	W70A	1:13:03	+44:02
3	Ondrej Pavlu	M21A	18:02	+1:16
4	Ron Pallas	M55AS	26:17	+5:57
4	David McKenna	M45AS	21:02	+3:03
4	Jane McKenna	W45A	25:25	+7:34
5	Gayle Shepherd	W45AS	30:06	+14:08
7	Terry Murphy	M65A	33:28	+13:16
11	Jim Mackay	M50A	34:31	+17:15
	Lisa Lampe	W50A	mispunched
	Ian Jones	M45A	mispunched
	Dick Ogilvie	M65A	mispunched

The biggest winners on the day were the coffee shops adjacent to the assembly area- they did a roaring trade.

It is interesting that when you get home you see more route choice options. Look at the leg 1 -2. I went to the right and up a small set of stairs; Gordon Wilson went left and up the ramp and Tanya Kennedy went way left and around the path. I saw the ramp but not the pathway. I think that is the skill of a good sprint orienteer to see more ways and spot the best.

Zombies take on Orienteers! Big Foot Sprints



The Men's first map

I am not sure whether it was the orienteers or those involved in “Zombies V Humans” who had the most fun at Sydney University on Saturday.

The sight of 200 heavily armed students would raise fear levels in some countries but the foam bullets appeared non-threatening. The blood curdling howls of zombies echoed through the hallowed grounds of the Uni- What fun they all appeared to be having as the squads of humans set out to hunt down the zombies

The Women's first map

Also hunting were the orienteers with around 150 competitors in the BigFoot Sprints. There were only two classes- men and Women and each competitor ran a qualifying race - Men on A Course and Women on B Course. After a short break round 2 was on with a chasing start on the reverse course.

I am not sure of everyone else, the chance to go orienteering in the Uni was the big attraction. The buildings and gardens are a mix of old and new, tasteful and tasteless.

The biggest winner on the days was MP and it was amazing to see just how many succumbed to MP. Just goes to show that sprints are fast and furious and not much time is given to being cautious.

Result wise Georgia was our top placed competitor finishing in 10th

Men

Plac	Name	Class	Time	Diff	Km time
18	Ian Jones	Men	31:48	+5:48	7:45
19	Lawrence Jones	Men	31:51	+5:51	7:46
54	Dave Lotty	Men	53:15	+27:15	12:59
55	Ron Pallas	Men	1:00:37	+34:37	14:47
56	Dick Ogilvie	Men	1:01:59	+35:59	15:07
57	Terry Murphy	Men	1:02:32	+36:32	15:15
	Ondrej Pavlu	Men	did not finish

Women 

Plac	Name	Class	Time	Diff	Km time
10	Georgia Jones	Women	35:00	+6:18	8:32
14	Linda Sesta	Women	36:16	+7:34	8:50
19	Margaret Jones	Women	40:03	+11:21	9:46
32	Lisa Lampe	Women	48:22	+19:40	11:47
34	Helen Murphy	Women	57:24	+28:42	14:00
36	Gayle Shepherd	Women	1:06:16	+37:34	16:09
40	Maureen Ogilvie	Women	1:25:15	+56:33	20:47
	Sophie Jones	Women	mispunched