Christmas party 2019

The annual Uringa Christmas party offer something for everyone!

The President's Cup Race was set this year by Matt  on behalf of the president. There was first a map component, followed by a trivia quiz* on return. Time taken for both contributed to final scores. No clues were given to runners about the trivia quiz; however, Matt did advise everyone to carefully observe their surroundings during their runs.

Then they were off...those running/riding/walking on the course. 

And when they returned...

they tackled the Trivia Quiz* and reviewed their maps.

There was much socialising and relaxation with old friends and new.

There was a feast...

Santa Claus arrived as always.

The President's Cup/s were awarded.

State League orienteering badges were distributed.

And Gayle thanked Helen and Matt  for again offering their home for the club's party.

Thanks to official photographer Aldo.

*

Q	Uringa Orienteers President’s Cup 2019 Trivia Questions
1	Gladesville Bridge was built in which decade A.      1940’s B.      1950’s C.      1960’s D.     1970’s
2	Gladesville Bridge was opened by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. Which of the following is not true: A.      She was born as a Princess of Greece and Denmark B.      Her husband the Duke of Kent was her second cousin C.      She was married in Westminster Abbey and later in an Orthodox ceremony in Buckingham Palace D.     Her Royal Wedding was the first to be broadcast on TV E.      The Duke of Kent died serving for the RAF. She was the only WW2 war widow in Britain to pay death duties
3	You ran past de Milhau street. Count Gabriel de Milhau was exiled from France in 1848 when which republic was established? A.      First B.      Second C.      Third
4	Name one of the coffee or food shops that you have run past
5	Many of the prominent early settlers of Hunters Hill were French Catholics. You have run on or past seven streets named after Saints. For each saint indicate Y/N whether you ran past that street!	Max 7 answers
	Helen
	Mark
	Peter
	Augustine
	Luke
	Damien
	Matthew
	David
	Mary
	Terence
	Richard
	John
	Paul
	Anthony

Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) a growing activity among Uringans

Uringan Ori Gudes is a keen MTBO rider, and has been for a while. Ant Nolan and some of his his family members have been active MTBO in 2019.

Ori was one of three rookies are among the six ONSW riders named in the national team to race against New Zealand at the Australian MTBO champs in Victoria in October.

Ori Gudes (Uringa, M40), Michael Ridley-Smith (Garingal, M40) and Rob Vincent (Newcastle, M60) wore the green and gold for the first time in Maryborough October 25-27.

Ori is a keen track cyclist as well as doing mountain bike orienteering and foot orienteering.

Well, it was not the best day in the saddle for Or Gu at the Long Distance MTBO champs as technical difficulties- one misbehaving map board - made life a little difficult. However, whilst placed 6th he was still very happy with his navigation which he described as a clean ride. 30kms was the course distance - Interesting to see just how many kms were covered!

Unfortunately for another Uringan, the new kid,Zuzu Burford it was a mp on the M70 course.

To finish the weekend on a positive note: Or Gu finished 4th in the MTBO National Rankings, 2nd Australian. A couple of pesky kiwis were just in front!

Australia won the MTBO challenge over New Zealand, 18-14 in the trophy challenge conducted across 4 events.

[Compiled from various postings on the Internet.]

NSW State League Orienteering 2019 WrapUp

The NSW State League series comprises mostly bush orienteering (medium and long) events at different locations around NSW as the winter season premier orienteering. There are also a couple of sprint events which are mostly held at urban locations such as university campuses. SL events include courses to suit all levels of experience and ages (demonstrated in Uringa's SL 2019 honor roll below).

Placings  are based on the best seven results (out of 15 events in 2019).

Uringa State League Results 2019

W Open Easy	2 Sue Healy
W 12A	1 Maggie Mackay
W Open B	3 Jane Boland
W 45A	2 Melanie Christie
W 50A	1 Linda Sesta
W 45AS	2 Gayle Shepherd
W 65A	3 Helen Murphy
W 85A	1 Maureen Ogilvie
M 12A	3 Jonathan Nolan
M Junior B	2 Will Nolan
M 35A	3 Ian MacKenzie
M 45A	3 Ant Nolan
M 50A	2 Michael Warlters 3 Shane Doyle
M 65AS	1 Dave Lotty
M 75A	3 Dick Ogilvie
M 80A	3 Brian Cleland

Thirty-nine Uringans ran in one or more SL events this year. It's not necessary to run  the same course across the series. Several chose different courses at different events (including one or two in the list above). One reason given was a preference to avoid a long long course in the bush.

Bush events are normally held on a weekend Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  The events are stand alone but offer the opportunity for a nice weekend away. Often participating club members arrange to meet for a meal on the Saturday evening. These events offer an opportunity to socialise with other orienteers as well as debrief the good, the bad, and the ugly of a run.

MetrOLeague 2019 - fun but no league podium results

The finals are still to come (Sep 22 is the last round) but this year Uringans are settling for just having a good time... and there will be an opportunity to do that at the last round at Mulgoa.

The venues have provided a range of orienteering environments from nature parks to a little more serious bush, all providing very good 'transition to bush' opportunities.

There was the odd challenge along the way, with Wianamatta offering a couple. Some GPS systems believed there were roads in place in the area which haven't yet been built. Late arrival as a result led to some orienteers not receiving the briefing about tiger pear cactus. The result on Uringan Ant Nolan's legs (no full body covering on the day) was not a pretty sight.

Expect more enjoyable orienteering next winter on Sunday mornings around the Sydney basin. (If you want to watch some recorded runs go here and click on Livelox.)

Uringa buddies with Central Coast each year for mutual benefit. In particular this helps (a little anyway) in ensuring a big enough pool of runners to cope with the impact of overseas (orienteering and other) travel during the Australian winter months.

Our three teams this year were:

• Division 2 UR-CC Harriers
• Division 3 UR-CC Kites
• Division 5 UR-CC Kestrels

and were managed by Metro Captain Shane Doyle.

(Thanks to Ian Jessup and other photographers who shared their photos on the ONSW FaceBook page.)

2019 Winter Dinner - it's Italian!

When it's dark and drizzly outside, what's nicer than to gather with friends to eat (very) well, tell stories of orienteering and other matters, laugh a lot, and count up the spiral pasta.

Gayle Shepherd and Helen Murphy, social organisers supreme, ensured a wonderful evening...along, of course, with the chefs who brought along an array of scrumptious Italian main dishes and desserts.

Gayle's 'count the rotini' contest proved that spatial skills on the ground don't always transfer to determining what's inside the bottle.

There were appropriate prizes