BIG FOOT SPRINTS- West Pymble

Few who have run the BG Sprints will ever forget the attack of the killer Zombies ( see article about 2 years ago) at Sydney University. Bicentennial Park at West Pymble was much quieter although a pack of Samurais were spied wielding their swords near control 3 /17 depending whether you were on Course 1 or 2. Fortunately they were friendly.

The map was a ripper with roads, tracks, creeks, cliffs etc. making it for interesting navigation. The courses were set by Mark Shingler and he did a fine job. He had a few traps out there and a number of people came undone on control 11 in Course 2. It would appear that the lure of control 12 was too much and 11 missed.

the sneaky route 11-12

 On Course 1 there is a sneaky route choice but you had to look hard to see it. Dave Lotty who mapped the area saw it so too did Gayle. Look closely at the leg from 11 to 12. Head due east around the circular bit of out of bounds and there right at the end of the rock face it turns from impassable to passable. This saved heading south around the cliff line! and back through the car park. On Course 1 would you have gone around the road from 6-7 or west through the park and up? 14-15 back over the bridge or southwest on the track.

Course 2 was slightly shorter with more climb and more option to run through the white in places.

Again the leg 5-6 posed the question around the road or along the property boundary and up?. 9-10 was interesting around the fenced off section (it was a very tempting swimming centre- people could be seen frolicking in the water) or go  lower and via control 15. I wanted to go via the top of the swimming centre but missed the gap ( London- Mind the Gap). 14-15 was down the road and then across the oval, run the little track and across the oval and straight line through green and then white (avoiding the out of bounds) and then across the oval.

The leg from 15-16 brought a few undone as the natural flow was across the bridge and then along the car park- alas you ended up on the wrong side of the creek. I deliberately chose this route and cut across the top of the creek just below the track. I didn't want to go back around-lazy.
 Winners were awarded chocolates and the rest went empty handed. Mind you as last male finisher on Course 2 I did get some chockies.
As far as results went there were 8 Uringans present.
Shane Doyle was 10th overall, Dave Lotty 40th, Jakob Doyle 41st and Ron Pallas 43rd. The females all succumbed to not finishing. Maree, Serena and Gayle mp on Course 2 and Zara did not start.

Great fun although at 36 degrees when I finished it was a little warm! (That is what you get for being 2nd last out on a chasing start!
Oh well little to do now except wait for the Xmas 5 Days in Armidale. Uringa has a reasonable sized contingent attending:

Dave Lotty

Finn Mackay

Sophie Jones

Ian Jones

Shane Doyle

Serena Doyle

Lawrence Jones

Margaret Jones

Linda Sesta

Maggie Mackay

Gayle Shepherd

Jim Mackay

Following that the club has its first event of the new year on Sunday 17th January at Carss Park. It is a sprint event and Linda has set a very interesting course. Carss park is a great venue: swimming, bbqs and a good café on the map for before and after socialising.
Best wishes to all for the festive season and how could I forget- best wishes to Catherine and Ian as they are wed on 3rd January.

 



Southern Summer Series Results for Uringa

Running four events meant a lot of members turned up. Sundays meant junior members could have a go, with or without an accompanying shadow. Sundays also meant other commitments.

The resulting rankings listed below are the best four of scores. Some ran more than four events, some even ran (or set) just one event. Some occasionally ran on their own but other times shadowed a family member. What was good was to see so many Uringans on the results table.

Junior Men

3 William Nolan

4 Jakob Doyle

5 Finn Mackay

6 Jonathan Nolan

14 Martin Bilot

Junior Women

1 Maree Doyle

2 Georgia Jones

3 Serena Doyle

4 Maggie Mackay

7 Sophie Jones

Open Women

2 Catherine Murphy

5 Alice Westwood

Masters Men

2 Serje Robidoux

7 Tim Sleath

10 Anthony Nolan

11 Phil Coote

13 Owen Shepherd

14 Ian Bilmon

Masters Women

9 Jane Boland

Veteran Men

2 Ian Jones

3 Shane Doyle

5 Michael Warlters

10 Titus Murray

13 Jim Mackay

Veteran Women

1 Linda Sesta

2 Margaret Jones

Super Veteran Men

6 Matt Peters

Super Veteran Women

2 Lisa Lampe

3 Gayle Shepherd

5 Margaret Wilmott

Legends Men

3 Terry Murphy

Legends Women

1 Helen Murphy

2 Mary Jane Mahony

Walking Men

5 Ron Pallas

Immortal Men

1 Brian Cleland

3 Dave Lotty

4 Dick Ogilvie

Immortal Women

3 Maureen Ogilvie

2015 Southern Summer Series Finishes with Uringa's 'Cup & Saucer'

The Southern Summer Series offered a pleasant Sunday afternoon outing October to December. Uringa Orienteers were responsible for four of the eight events. Club members are always supportive of club events, even when they may not be too fond of city orienteering, so there was much relaxed socialising at these more low key events.

The Cup & Saucer map was a new (in 'modern' times) slice of the lovely Cooks River area. Anthony Nolan set the course with diversions inland on both sides of the river. One of the club's younger members had his first orienteering outing in the company of his father.

41st Nosh

I have a feeling that Uringa has been manning the water stop at Roseville Bridge ( Davidson Park) for about 15 years. So the well oiled Uringa machine swang into action today.

300 cups of water prepared by the eager work force and we were ready. The first runner came though in just under 19 minutes which is not bad for 6kms. Zuzu was quick to add that apart from the scramble up to the road bridge it was all down hill. and the next 9kms were all up hill.

The runners began appearing with greater frequency. Regina, Will, Jonathon and Jane dished out the cups with great speed and they remained remarkably dry in so doing. Gayle and Penny were hard at work keeping up the supply of cups to "hander outerers" Zuzu was juggling used cups with great aplomb will I played keep the ranger happy.


There was a passing stream of runners which included Ant, Lawrence, Georgia and Maggie all travelling pretty comfortably. One look at Lawrence's photo you will see he was a blur of speed.
Many orienteers were recognisable as they passed our watering station and just over 80 minutes after the first runner came through Steve "The Sweep" appeared which was the signal for pack up and head home.
Now forgot to mention that the day started with a cuppa and tea bun supplemented by some very tasty muffins..
Today started out rather ominous but the rain stayed away but the lack of sun made conditions a little on the chilly side.
Organiser Joel rang in later to thank us again for a job well done.

Northern Summer Series- Longueville

In weather conditions that saw a blast from the Antarctic continent the NSS event at Longueville featured 195 competitors.

The quandary, set by Michael Burton,  was definitely what can I get and survive. There were those who tried for all 600 but alas no one achieved Nirvana. There were those who took on the valley and then headed west and those who stayed east avoiding the valley altogether and then those who headed to the valley and picked up a few on return. Whatever the tactics  it was a tough day in the joggers. Many an overtime runner greeted the download table with gasps of "goodness gracious me- I am late" common.

Having used this map for a fabulous President's Cup (Uringa Christmas Party) last year, the valley had a lot of interest for me and a lot of bang for your buck. Brian "once bitten twice shy" stayed east of the valley for a pretty good harvest. Gayle was cursing as she chose to miss 9 and 26 whilst in the valley...
Linda took on the valley and managed to collect the controls on the "Butcher's Block" as well.
Pity Rick and Sarah weren't home as via there house for a pit stop was a definite possibility.


Catherine continues her fine form in Open Women with 2nd place (450 points) and Helen was similarly placed in Legends scoring 290. Mary Jane scored 3rd in Legends with 190 points. Lisa  (330) and Adrienne  (300 points)  were 3rd and fourth respectively in Super Vets. Brian was best of the men with a 7th in Immortals with 270 points
Have a look at the following link for an interesting dissertation on control visitation at this event.
http://www.sydneysummerseries.com.au/201516/Routes%20-%20Week%209%20-%20Longueville.pdf

Updated point scores for the Northern Summer Series can be found at: http://www.sydneysummerseries.com.au/results.htm

Updated point scores for the Southern Summer series can be found at: http://onsw.asn.au/images/stories/results/SouthernSSS2015Score.pdf

Hopefully we will see a big turnout at Cup and Saucer Creek, Hurlstone Park on Sunday:
http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/2919