Christmas and the President's Cup

Uringa Orienteers tradition is to end the year with a Christmas celebration and social, including The President's Cup, more wonderful food than anyone can eat, and a visit from Santa Claus.

The President's Cup

Set by the Club President or his representative, the Cup offers some physical exertion in preparation for a wonderful meal and some mental exertion which is usually more than just navigation. This year's course set by Matt Peters was a challenge with a little extra.

Named 'Remembering Dick O' in memory of  Dick Ogilvie,, it was a black-and-white map...that's what the maps were like when Dick (and Matt) started orienteering.  (Dick and Maureen's presence was missed.)

Then, the course. Score format with a question to answer. for each control..you had to be there.

How the results are determined is up to the course setter and never straightforward. Traditionally,a large, a medium and a small mug are presented; due to technical difficulties the Uringa mugs were not available.

Winner of the large cup: Sherry Zhou. (No photo as Sherry had to leave before the presentations.)

Winner of the medium cup: Karen Shaw (No photo because she was so excited the photos were blurry.)

Winner of the small cup: Linda Sesta

Thanks to Helen and Matt Peters

Over the past 20 years or so most of Uringa's end of year/Christmas festivities have been held at the Peters' home. They  offer a home complete with marqee, barbecue and other necessities, including a warm welcome. Helen's cheerful greetings and quiet organisation calm the noisy chaos of multiple generations of orienteers, partners, children and granchildren. Access to the grounds of St. Joseph's College for swimming is also appreciated.

Santa Claus Always Comes

And There's Plenty More to Enjoy

NSW Middle and Long Championships

Quite a large contingent of Uringans headed over the mountains to participate in the champs.

Held on a brand-new map in the Rylstone area everyone was looking forward to what was instore.

The area around Rylstone is well known for its pagoda rock formation with well-known local maps feature this unique rock formation- Gardens of Stone, Dunns Swamp, Long Swamp to name a few.

Saturday – Middle Distance.

The start and finish were remote to the assembly area and involved a 2.3km round trip fortunately on a flat road.

The courses were well set and in areas of intense rock it was easy to make mistakes. There were many tales of disaster and the fallen timber certainly made headway slow at times.

Unfortunately for those on Hard 5 the course had to be cancelled as there were several control codes in the descriptions that did not match those in the field.

Interestingly the only logical theory that I have heard was that the incident happened when creating a 1:7500 version of the map that was used by Hard 5 only.

Maggie Mackay continued her good form finishing 2^nd in W16A. Linda Sesta and Ant Nolan were 3^rd in W55A and M50A respectively.

Saturday night at the Kandos pub a large group of Uringans, former Uringans and friends of Uringans gathered had a long dinner. (I felt sorry for the cook and his off sider as we had a big mob and then there were the locals however) the food was excellent.

Erica negotiating fallen timber

Dave approach his control

Gayle didn't need to duck

M55a course

W16A course

Jane getting her head around the map.

Sarah is always serious when orienteering!

Ant leaving the start Middle Distance

Fallen timber made for slow times

Sunday- Long Distance

Having scraped the ice of the windshield it was back out to Breakfast Creek for round 2.

Credit cards serve dual purposes

This time the start and finish were close at hand although the walk to the start was a bit of a climb over boulders, trees and fallen timber. Once there we faced the starter and off into the bush we went. The courses featured many pagodas and some vague areas which again made you work hard.

It was an excellent set of Uringan results with Maggie 1^st in W16A, Jonathan 2^nd M16A. Dave also 2^nd in Open Easy, and Mary Jane was 2^nd in W75A ( may just be her best result in a championship event. There was a brace of 3rds with Gayle in W55A, Shane M50A and Ron M65A.

Very frosty arena

Ant's M55A course

Mary Jane's W75A course

Ron with Ken 

Gayle with Paula

Linda with great rival, Jenny

After the presentation it was time to reflect on a great weekend. The weather was cool but we had sunshine in the arena which made socialising very pleasant. Garingal did an excellent job on what was their 50^th Birthday.

Everyone scored a biscuit to celebrate Garingal's 50th Birthday

Naturally any trip over the mountains has a “dread” component- the trip down the mountain back to the Sydney basin. Well not sure about anyone else but apart from a slight hold up in the Medlow bath roadworks it was plain sailing. Mind you we travelled down the Heathcote Road and were met with big smoke, lots of flashing lights and flames as the RFS back burning operation, which was to carpet Sydney with smoke for days on end, was in full flight.

Well that almost winds up the bush season with a Metro to go. Further afield a small tribe of Uringans are heading to WA for the National Champs.

Maggie Mackay and Jonathan Nolan have the added honour of representing NSW in the Australian School Championships as well as competing in the Australian Sprint, Middle, Long and relay Champs.

Also heading west is Ian McKenzie, Gayle Shepherd and Ron Pallas.

We wish them all a good time in the bush.

By the way you may notice Gayle and Garry wearing matching shirts. The shirts are the volunteers shirts for the 2024 Australian Champs which will be staged in Armidale. The web site is now up https://aoc2024.com.au/ and I would suggest you get in early to book accommodation.

We could be twins. Well volunteering twins that is!

Why the rainbow- 7 events in the carnival 7 colours in the rainbow!

2023 KBlll

 

The KBlll proved to be a marvelous weekend with reasonably warm winter temperatures, lots of sunshine, little wind and no rain! So, there is the weather report!

Saturday – Olney State Forest

The forest located near Dooralong (NW of Wyong) is a real mixed bag. On the flat there is a a creek happily winding its way across the map. The vegetation here has a distinct greenish tinge and lots of detailed contours- slow going, you need to be accurate. The hills surrounding are traditional spur gully, with a rock feature or two. The vegetation was open and fast.

The courses all headed across the hilly section before plunging into the creek flats and then back into the hills.

Three Uringans were placed 1^st after Day 1. Maggie Mackay, W16A, Linda Sesta W55A and Gayle Shepherd W55AS. We also had three thirds- Jane Boland W Open B, Jonathan Nolan, M16A and Jim Mackay M60A. Not a bad days work.

A special mention here of the exploits of kelvin Meng. Kelvin is at uni based in Canberra. Being a self-sufficient soul, he came up to Wyong by train and then hopped on his trusty bike to ride out to the event. All went well until he was close to the event site when he had a spill. Grazed hands and a damaged knee resulting. Undaunted he camped the night in the forest and treated himself the next morning. His hands looked like the taping used by boxers when he finished. Needless to say, Kelvin competed all 3 days with a very sore knee. The Miller family from ACT chauffeured him around the rest of the weekend.

Damien, Angus and Ant comparing their runs

Dave at the start traingle

Gayle on her way to 1st place

Dave at the finish. A lot stopped here before tackling a steep hill to the arena

Jane's course

Jane with her bodyguard

Jonathan in flight

Junior catering- raising funds for the Aust Schools Champs WA

Kelvin complete with bandaged hands

Linda on the way to 1st place

Michael's course

Result Slats made a comeback!

A foot injury kept Ron out of the bush - 

Sunday- Honeyeater Hideout

Sunday dawned bright and chilly and it was off to Richmond Vale (near Kurri Kurri). What a delight was in store with the arena on an exposed ridge, remember no wind and lost of sun and there we sat with a brilliant view on what could best be described as a manicured paddock. Many orienteers camped the night. Perhaps the most appealing feature for a couple of Nolan boys was the fire pit. Will, who had accompanied Jane on the course on Saturday headed to the fire whilst Jane headed to the start.

The map was mainly spur gully and typically around water there was green. A lovely plant that grows here is called by orienteers the “Lawyer Plant” – once it gets hold of you it doesn’t let you go!

The courses were fantastic and challenged you at every turn. Gayle was the best placed Uringan in 2^nd with Linda and Jonathan in 3^rd. Ant finished 4^th after a rather “Barry Crocker” 10^th on Saturday. Jane was also 4^th.

Ant at the start

The assembly area

Will's work!

Gayle's course

Jane heading from the start

Jim, toiling up the hill to the finish

Kelvin's M20 course

Monday – The University of Newcastle

Once again sunshine although the arena was in dappled shade but still warm. The Newcastle Uni is huge and lots (read lots and lots) of buildings. Courses were fantastic as you weaved in and out and under and over through passageways up and down stairs. Courses had lots of controls and a map flip. Had to say this causes confusion – I picked up my map, arrived at the start triangle, located the start on the map and nothing fitted… A few highly technical non orienteering words later I realised I was looking at the second side of the map. Once looking at the right side – it all made sense.

Jonathan in M16A after two thirds stepped up one more to finish in 2^nd. Jane, Linda, Dave and Maggie all came in 3^rd in their respective classes. It was great to see our youngsters Ella Gudes and Elodie Warlters out on the Enter on Day Very Easy courses. They did rather well coming in 4^th and 5^th respectively.

Final Results 

After 3 days of competition, it was now time to see who were the overall winners. Unfortunately for Gayle who after days 1 and 2 was right amongst the leaders, she had a missed punch. So easy to do on a complex sprint map.

Linda, “Miss Consistency” finished 2^nd overall. Jane and Jonathan were 3^rd not a bad effort for our competitors Jim and Maggie were both close to the podium in 4^th. Ant and Michael were 6^th overall.

Well that is it a fantastic weekend and our congratulations to the organisers. Great courses, great maps and great organisation.

Well all that was left was to head south on the freeway – mmm slow but safe.

Cheryl Bluett's 75th Birthday

Kelvin 1

Kelvin 2

Kelvin 3

Maggie's course

Ori heading through the run through

Ron's tracking

Ron's course

Some of the many stairs