Uringa News: 2023 Australian 3 days

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 3^rd -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 3^rd.

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 3^rd 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 3^rd place. Shane Doyle also slotted in 3^rd 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 2^nd along with Shane Doyle M55A and Gayle Shepherd W65A. Owen Shepherd M35AS in perhaps his first major carnival hopped up on the podium in 3^rd 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.