Uringa - Central Coast Triumphs in Metro League Round 4

 It is not often that all 3 Metro Teams defeat their rivals in a round of the Metro League but this week's efforts was an exception for sure with all 3 teams posting  wins.

How does Metro League work:

There are 6 divisions and clubs field teams in a number of divisions. For example Ur-CC filed teams in Division 2, 4 and 5. Each week within each division there are matches where clubs play against each other.

Each team is made up of 5 runners and after everyone has run the times of the two teams are compared and points are allocated 10 points for the fastest of the two teams right down to 1 point for the slowest of the two teams 

Results

Division 2 defeated SHOO-IK 30 - 24. When you looked at the results you could see the dominance. Ant Nolan was fastest home on the course scoring  a big 10 points for the team. Shane was not far behind notching a 7 pointer. Michael Warlters scored a 6  with Wayne and Kelvin chipping in with 4 and 3 points respectively. Serena also ran the Div 2 course and was 9th fastest home and Zoe 29th home. 

Division 4 was just a tad closes with  UR-CC defeating Bennelong 29-26. The BN team looked quite formidable and when Dave Dorling roared home with a 10 pointer things were looking grim. No need to worry as Nick Dent racked up 9 points, Ori Gudes was a point behind scoring 8 and Maggie, Jim and Hilary 5,4,3 respectively. A most satisfying win.

Division 5  had a big win 35 - 17 against their Big Foot Rivals. A feature of the teams victory were the Nolan boys, Johnny and Will. The boys scored 9 and 8 points respectively; mum , Jane, 5 points and Ron 7 points and Gayle 6 points. A great victory.....

Division 1 - UR-CC doesn't have  a team in this division so when not needed in Div 2, Ian McKenzie loves the challenge of the  Div 1 courses. Ian was the 16th fastest on the course. Fantastic effort Ian!

Easy Course, youngster Alon Gudes had a good run to finish 4th. Well done Alon!

 The map was printed at 1:4000 which meant you had to wrestle with an A3 piece of paper . As is usual in Sydney sandstone bushland it is difficult for the mapper equate what is on the ground to what the map shows. Do I map that small boulder or just the big ones.         

The next Metro League Event is on Sunday 1st August at St Ives                                                                                                                                                                     

Cockatoo Island Sprint - June 19th

 What a history! 

Cockatoo Island was first inhabited  by the Eora people who would have travelled to the island and used it for fishing, hunting, and women’s ceremonial purposes.

From 1839 to 1869, it operated as a penal establishment, where convicts endured harsh living conditions and backbreaking work. Today, the island’s remnant convict structures provide visitors with a window into an era when people were exiled to Australia and put to work on the colony’s ambitious building projects. These structures include Fitzroy Dock – both the earliest graving dock commenced in Australia and the only surviving example, nationally, of a dry dock constructed by convicts. 

From 1871 to 1880, Cockatoo island was the site of an industrial school and reformatory for girls. These institutions were set up to deal with orphans and juvenile delinquents but were badly mismanaged.

Cockatoo Island’s pivotal role in Australia’s industrial and maritime history began with a large dry dock that was completed in 1857. Many years of onsite shipbuilding followed, and in 1913, the island was the official dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy. During WWII, the island was the main ship repairing facility in the southwest Pacific, with around 250 ships converted or repaired.

With so much history and a walking trail featuring great information signs it is well worth a visit. Must mention the ferry trip is rather magical. There are whispers in the wind that sometime in the near future the island will be re-developed. Do not let the mention of stairs put you off as there are roadways you can use to avoid the stairs.

The sprint today featured  long  and short line courses as well as a score course. With lots of stairs, a tunnel and multi levels it is a tricky area in which to navigate.

Results:

Long Line 3.8kms

9th Sarah Ringhetti, 16th Wayne Eliot, 19th Linda Sesta, 29th Ian Mckenzie, 35th Clare Murphy, 48th Helen Murphy, 54th Zoe Melling, 56th Dick Ogilvie, 59th Ron Pallas, 63rd Carol Anne El Chaar, 64th Dave Lotty. Unfortunately Ant Nolan missed a control.

Short Line 2.7kms

9th Ian McKenzie, 13th Gayle Shepherd. 19th Maureen Ogilvie

Long Line High School

Jono Nolan 5th.

My route for the Long Line. 

Queens Birthday 3 Days - Newcastle

 When the program for winter events was released it was so good to see the QBlll being held an hour or so north of Sydney ( well 2 hours depending on where one lives.). 

The western side of Lake Macquarie has long been home to orienteering events and offered plenty of accommodation, the wineries and some great terrain.

Day 1 - Saturday - Redgum Ridges.

Today's courses took in spur gully terrain that encouraged speed. Making fine navigation harder was vegetation around the creek lines where at times you struggled to see the finer contour details. It was a good start for Uringa with Maureen Ogilvie, W85A and Linda Sesta, W50A coming home 1st. Rose Haasdyk, W Junior B, Gayle Shepherd W55AS, Serena Doyle, W20A placing second and Ian McKenzie, M35A , Melanie Christie, W45A coming home 3rd. 

And yes there were plenty of magnificent Redgums.

Day 2 - Sunday - Barraba Lane

Very similar terrain to Redgum Ridges except much steeper and so you found yourself oft times going down into the creek and coming up the other side The advertised 100m climb on my course felt like wishful  thinking. After fires the regrowth of the ground cover seemed to have been on steroids as the grasses were knee high and thick- slowing progress.

Another good day for Uringa. Rose moved up a place to 1st in W Junior B to join Maureen W85A and Linda, W50A. Ian, M35A and Serena, W20A were placed 2nd again. Gayle, W55AS was joined by Shane Doyle, M50A securing 3rd place.

For long term Uringans it was great to catch up with Lisa Lampe at the event and later in the day Gayle, Linda and I had afternoon tea with Lisa and Michael. Theye are both well and thriving in their new home.

Day 3 Monday - Avondale University College - Cooranbong.

A little background on Cooranbong.

Cooranbong is a strange town. It lies to the west of Lake Macquarie on the Dora Creek. It is a town which, although it is close to major tourist areas on the Central Coast, has largely side stepped commercial development and remained the home of the Seventh Day Adventists in Australia. Avondale College, the South Seas Islands Museum and Sunnyside (an historic home occupied between 1896-1900 by Ellen Gould White, one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist movement) are all located in the township. Sanitarium breakfast foods will ring a bell in most pantries and it was here in Cooranbong that they were first produced.  The large buildings on the southern end of the map was the factory that produced billions of Weetbix. Control 7 was on an aerial walkway between the grain silos.

Todays map was quite tricky with a number of controls set under canopies, some up stairs, some downstairs. My favourite control would have to be Control 10. If you approached it  around the north of the building you were stymied as access to the walkway was only from the east side so you had to go the long way around the fence or retrace your step and use the south approach.

Rose and Maureen once again claimed 1st. Melanie Christie, W45A and Serena were 2nd home in their respective classes. Linda placed 3rd in W50A.

The wash up!

The QBlll is a 3 day competition that recognises consistency of performance over the three days, in 3 orienteering styles. Middle Distance, Long Distance and Sprints.

5 First Placings: yes 5 Uringans  stood on the top step. They were joined by  2 more Uringans on the second step and 1 additional Uringan on the 3 step of the podium.

Rose Haasdyk W Junior B,  Maureen Ogilvie, W85A ,  Ian McKenzie, M35A, Linda Sesta , W50A and Gayle Shepherd, W55AS were all worthy winners in their classes.

Melanie Christie, W45A and Serena Doyle W20A were rewarded for their efforts with a second place and Shane Doyle, M50A was 3rd.

For most the most daunting prospect was the traffic on the M1 heading back to Sydney. Compared to the Easter traffic from Lithgow to Blackheath it was a piece of cake- probably took 15-20 miNutes longer than normal but it did flow.

The next big Bush event will take place in Port Macquarie on the 17th and 18th July. You can read the information here. It promises to be an excellent weekend with Port Macquarie a great location- The Koala Hospital is always a great place to visit. And then there are the beaches for the brave hearted swimmers.

Dick Ogilvie

Jim Mackay

Kelvin Meng

Mary Jane - concentrating at the start

Maureen- at the finish.

Shane in full flight

 Former Uringans -Lisa Lampe

Kelvin again

Traffic jam on the bridge between the silos

Great Nosh Run

Uringa has for eons manned the water stop under the Roseville Bridge. And for eons it has not changed - today the temperature hovered around the usual 8-10 degrees which is about normal for this location.  Our 3 workers Jane Boland, Gayle Shepherd and  I were well rugged up for the task ahead

Zoe in full flight

With covid in mind we did not have to fill 400 cups and hand them out, which often meant getting wet... This year we had a supply of 250ml water bottles.  Runners were told that they had to be responsible for their own hydration. Our stop is around 5 and a bit kms from the start and really no one should have exhausted their supply by then.

Will 

The 22km runners were first off and it was not long before they were streaming past. Notably the first female in the race was right up there with the leaders- and apparently remained that way to the finish- tough! The first Uringan to come into view was Kelvin Meng and he went on to finish 14th in M under 40 and was 29th male over the line. A casual observation was that very few of these runners carried water.

Kelvin going way too fast for the camera

The attention then switched to the 16km runners who left Lindfield 30 minutes after the 22ers. Soon there was a steady stream of runners passing through our stop. Way up there was Will Nolan who finished 3rd in M 18 and was 19th male across the line.  Another Uringan to appear was Zoe Melling. Now Zoe whilst smiling as she went past certainly had a big reason to smile later as she was first home in Womens 50-59 and was 6th female finisher. A greater percentage of the 16km runners carried water.

Jono, Ant, Will and ?

Jono Nolan appeared with Ant on his heals. He paused long enough mid stride to tell Jane that he would need a day off school to recover... Fat Chance. Jono finished in 4th place in M18. Around the corner came our final Uringan Frances Richards. who motored home in 4th place in W50-59 and was 31st female home.

Frances 

Now the Nosh every year falls around Gayle's birthday and a birthday cake or two is always on the cards. The laugh of it all was that a couple of gentlemen  runners  seeing the cakes decided that they were hungry and helped themselves to a slice.  It was worth noting that the cakes did not appear until after Will and Jono went through otherwise the cakes would have been finished and the boys may not have finished... Very crafty Jane.

Whilst this was happening a few thousand kilometres away in Cairns Bronwyn Steele, daughter of Uringan members Sarah and Rick was competing in the Cairns 70.3 Ironman. Bronwyn completed the course in 5hrs 17 minutes and 35 seconds  to finish, I believe in 5th place in the W30-34 age group.

Proud mum Sarah with Bron

Thanks to master photograper Tony Hill for a number of the photos posted here