2024 Australian 3 Days – South Australia.

Unbeknown to competitors when entering the 2024 3 days, it proved to be hot! Yes, the competition was hot but so to the weather. Fortunately, the Murray River was close by and many an orienteer cooled down in the waters of Australia’s longest river.

The prologue sprint was run in the grounds of a nearby high school.

You can check out the run by winner Nea Shingler https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Australian-3-Days-2024-NOL-Prologue-Public-Sprint/W20E?classId=717028&tab=player

It looks extremely complicated but remember it has a map flip part the way through the course which allows setters to send runners back into the complex building area.

Uringa had 2 runners competing in the NOL (National Orienteering Series) for elites. Serena Doyle in W21E and Maggie Mackay stepping up into W20E for the first time. Serena unfortunately had a missed punch in her race whilst Maggie finished 23^rd in W20E.

Also running in the public races was Jim Mackay on Course 2- 32^nd and Michael Warlters 51^st on Course 1.

The carnival then moved east to be based around Murray Bridge- the riverland area. Whilst there is irrigation cropping going on all over the place the competition aras had one thing in common dry and dusty.

Day 1 Pymton

When you look at the map it is dominated by orange and yes the courses spent a lot of time in the green and white areas. The green was mainly some super spiky plant that’s only purpose in life was to scratch the exposed surfaces of orienteers resulting in bloodied arms, legs and maps! And yes it was hot, way over 30 for those who started after midday.

That said it was an enjoyable course

Result wise

Jan Sargood W70A 4^th

Sarah Garnet W65A 6^th

Michael Warlters M55A 11^th

Jim Mackay M60A 12^th

Shane Doyle M55A 13^th

Rick Steele M70A mp

Ron Pallas M65AS mp ( punch first at drinks control then punch)

Serena Doyle W21E 21^st

Maggie Mackay W20E 14^th

Former Uringans

Thea Richardson W21S 5^th

Charlie Richardson M35A 3^rd

Margaret Wilmott W65A 10^th

Nick Wilmott M70A 9^th

Day 2 Ngaralta Country.

Another map dominated by orange open. The courses today was not much more than moderate- it was difficult to make them hard due to the nature of the map. On my course as I left 2 I looked towards 3 and could see the rock I was running to and could see competitors ducking in behind it to punch. But it is what it is. Today was extremely hot heading into the high 30s and the temperature was compounded by the setting style for the day which was LONG..

Jan Sargood W70A 10^th

Sarah Garnet W65A dnf

Michael Warlters M55A 9^th

Jim Mackay M60A 18^th

Shane Doyle M55A 7^th

Rick Steele M70A 16^th

Ron Pallas M65AS dq

Serena Doyle W21E 19th

Maggie Mackay W20E 15^th

Former Uringans

Thea Richardson W21S 3rd

Charlie Richardson M35A mp

Margaret Wilmott W65A 11th

Nick Wilmott M70A 14^th

A word on my dq- I went through the panel that had this strange green colour not used on bush maps which apparently was supposed to be Olive Green which is used on sprint maps for out of bounds. I realised half way across that it was meant to be OOB. On a bush map the nearest green 410.00 is “difficult to run” on a sprint map 411.000 is uncrossable. Oh well my mistake and I dq myself – a number of people who did the same but didn’t dq..

Day 3 Narrinyeri Hills

Fortunately, the sun was dialed down by almost 10 degrees but the dustbowl remained. Today’s map had lots more green on it along with spotty yellow. However the area around 5,6,7, on my course was ultra green with vegetation touching making visibility and progress difficult.

This was the bush that populated the area around 5,6,7 - note there is little space between bushes

Jan Sargood W70A 9th

Sarah Garnet W65A mp

Michael Warlters M55A 6^th best run of the carnival

Jim Mackay M60A 8^th best run of the carnival

Shane Doyle M55A dns

Rick Steele M70A 21st

Ron Pallas M65AS mp

Serena Doyle W21E dnf – blistered feet after her marathon effort on Day 2

Maggie Mackay W20E 13^th best run of the carnival

Former Uringans

Thea Richardson W21S 4^th

Charlie Richardson M35A 3^rd

Margaret Wilmott W65A 12^th

Nick Wilmott M70A 25^th

Maggie in a race to the finish

Nick

Serena

Shane

The Wash Up

At the presentation awards were presented for overall position after 3 days. A number of Uringans unfortunately didn’t feature due to mp etc. However,

Jan Sargood W70A was 4^th

Michael Warlters M55A 7^th

Jim Mackay M60A 9^th

Maggie Mackay W20E 13^th

Margaret Wilmott W65A 11^th

Nick Wilmott M70A 14^th

Thea Richardson W21 Sport 3^rd

I must congratulate Maggie on her efforts in W20E- this is a huge step up in distance and competition than her courses from the previous year. She did very well in this her first competition in W20E.

Questions were asked of the organisers as to why the first start times were 10am and it was so $^%^&&*&% hot.

There is a simple explanation. The sun was rising at around 7.30 so all the set including turning on units and setting up computers etc. had to be done in a very narrow time band. This is what happens when Easter is early and daylight saving is still in play.

I know what it is like to organise and run a carnival- little sleep and long hours in the bush. OSA did a fantastic job.

Easter 2025 is in Victoria and the Aussie Champs in Queensland