Every year
the orienteering from across Australia gather for the Australian 3 Days over
Easter. This year it was just a few hours south of Sydney centred on
Nimmitabel.
The
carnival kicked off in Canberra with the Friday sprint. This was to be run at
Jindabyne Sport and Recreation Centre however, a rather large renovation
project put paid to that. The venue was quickly swapped to the oft used but
very complex ANU.
Once upon a
time the Friday event was the Family Relays but alas this has been dying a
slow death with the decision to run an Elite Sprint on the same day
decimating family teams. There are many a “long time” orienteer who bemoans the
death of the family relays with great memories of running with their children
and slowly being moved down from the long course to the medium course to the
short course and finally kicked out of the team – “Too Slow”. There were many
side bets as families pitted their team against other friendly rivalries- ah
but that is progress. Catherine Bilmon, Open Medium was 3rd -there
were 144 entries in this class so quite a good result.
The next
two days were just south east of Nimmitabel. For the drivers it was very much a
case of dodge the potholes as the bitumen in places was badly eroded. The best
part of the drive was a long dirt section which was smooth as!
The arrival
at Highlands meant stepping out of the car and with the temperature around 4
degrees it was not exactly conducive to socializing. At around 1000metres above
sea level the scuds of rain certainly made it chilly. Most competitors had a
1600m walk to the start and so the clothing return was a huge pile of warmth. The
terrain whilst not particularly steep was a real challenge. Fallen timber made
going slow in places and the soggy conditions made for a slip or two. As can be
seen on the map there was lots of rocks. The smaller stuff was not mapped which
made it harder as you looked and pulled out a tape measure - greater than or
less than 1 metre! All things considered it was great challenge and whilst in
the forest that cold conditions ( read freezing) were quickly forgotten.
Uringa had
a number of runners on the podium. John Fuller on Open Moderate had a big win
on the Open Moderate course. Shane Doyle M55A, Jitka Kopriva W75A and Owen
Shepherd M35AS came in 2nd. Gayle
Shepherd W65AS and Ron Pallas M65As were 3rd.
For those
who were staying in Jindabyne a club dinner was held at the banjo Patterson
Inn. Good food, a wine or two and many tails of what might have been made it a
great night!
Unfortunately,
the weather did not improve over night. When we left Jindabyne the sun was
shining and it was 6 degrees. By the time we arrived at Highlands it was 3
degrees, sleeting, raining and very windy. Not conducive to socializing again.
Once again, the forest had protection for the orienteers and the courses took
in a different area of the forest. Again, slippery in places and the long
linear marsh was cold and muddy for those who chose to cross it and not use the
bridge 50metres south.
Strong
results for Uringa with Maggie Mackay W16A and Gayle Shepherd W65AS standing
tall on the podium with dominant wins in their respective classes. Also
climbing onto the podium was Jonathan Nolan M16A and Ron Pallas M65AS in
second. It was welcome back to orienteering for Anne Baskerville ( nee Wilmott)
in Open Moderate in 3rd along with Owen Shepherd M35AS and Linda
Sesta W55A. Worth noting that Anne beat home hubby Mick by 2 seconds.
Well, what
do you know Monday dawned and the sun was shining in Jindabyne. The venue for
the final race was just west of Berridale and we arrived in sunshine, a bit
windy, but we were able to sit out and enjoy the comradery of the arena.
The
Australian 3 days titles are based on the total time for all 3 days so there
was much depending on your result.
The Teapot Creek
map was very open, very fast and very tricky as much of the contour detail was
small making navigation a tad more difficult. As it was so devoid of tree cover
it was easy to “press the pedal to the metal” and run faster than the brain
could navigate. There were a few notable orienteers who were very wayward.
It was a
double on top of the podium for Uringa, with Owen Shepherd M35AS and Gayle
Shepherd W65AS taking out the final races Both had very strong runs and left
their competitors struggling in their wake. Great to see Alice Brockmyre, Open
Very Easy picking up an excellent 3rd place. Shane Doyle also
slotted in 3rd in M55A along with Maggie Mackay W16A, Jonathan Nolan
M16A, Jade Baskerville Open Easy and Ron Pallas M65AS.
As the
runners returned all eyes were on the calculators as times were tallied for the
3 days. Maggie, Owen and Gayle were in with a show.
It was
Maggie Mackay who came out on top in W16A. This was a well-deserved win as
Maggie has been a leading runner in her class all year. Jonathan Nolan after a
strong Day 3 performance claimed 2nd along with Shane Doyle M55A and
Gayle Shepherd W65A. Owen Shepherd M35AS in perhaps his first major carnival
hopped up on the podium in 3rd along with Ron Pallas M65AS.
It was
great to see some new Uringa faces at the carnival: The Shepherd/Brockmyre
family- Owen Alice and Monica. Also new
to the travelling Uringans were Paul and Hayley Coleman and the Baskerville’s –
Mick, Anne, Jade and Emma. There were some older familiar faces at the
carnival- John Fuller and Sue Bolton, Rick Steele and Sarah Garnett and Jan
Sargood. Catherine and Ian Bilmon along with their mini tribe were making the
first foray into bush orienteering for some time.
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| Day 3 hardly a tree to be seen |
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| The aerial view of days 1 & 2 Forest |
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| Wayne Eliot- Day 3 he's finished! |
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| Shane Doyle in full flight |
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| The toilet queue Day 3 |
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| Paul Coleman heading past one of the holiday shacks day 2 |
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| Owen Shepherd- an outstanding carnival |
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| Nick Wilmott wearing the "Old fart" boxers as part of the Sledge Class |
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| Margaret Wilmott finishing in fine style |
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| Linda Sesta flying towards the finish day 3 |
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| Jono Nolan- heading to the finish day 2 |
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| Jim Mackay's beanie was seldom off the head in the very chilly climate |
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| Bjorn Mella (NCN) was Mr Average in the Sledge |
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| Jade Baskerville |
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| Emma Baskerville |
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| Tash Thackray Sledge competitor - |
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| Two little tackers heading to the finish |
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| Maggie Mackay- 5th Place W16A - Sprint |
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| Janet Morris (WHN)- do you get the idea of just how cold it was |
Aldo, Will, Ant and Jane - warming up post O with Schnapps
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| The bush days 1 & 2 |
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| Blue skies day 3 |
