North to the home of Captain Thunderbolt.

Captain Thunderbolt was a well known bushranger in the Uralla area back in the days and you will find his grave in Uralla. His notoriety spread far and wide and he was perhaps one of the few who escaped  imprisonment from Cockatoo Island.

And so it was that a neat dozen Uringans took on the 1200 km round trip. Like Captain Thunderbolt the dozen returned to home with  quite a share of awards from the NSW Middle and Long Distance Championships run on the map “Glenburnie” just south of Uralla.

Glen Burnie was first used in 1998 for a rogaine and was then used in 2024 for the Australian Championships Carnival. We are extremely fortunate to have access to this terrain as it is mind-blowingly spectacular and difficult- a real, test of navigation and stamina.

After running 5 major events on the map not every corner of the 20+ square km map has been used!

Whilst rainfall in the last month of so meant for a very wet Sydney, it was not the rain that had a devastating impact on "Glenburnie" and surrounds. It was the 45 cms of snow that blanketed the map  Whilst beautiful, it had a devastating impact of Aussie trees which are not used to snow. The sound of cracking limbs was to be heard throughout.

Look closely at the ground beneath the trees. All you can see  was once attached above.

NSW Middle Distance Championships.

The arena was approx. 2/3rds of the way up the map and most courses spent much of their time on the eastern ridge west of the open paddocks. The weather was fine with sunshine which was warming, although it was somewhere near 15-16 degrees.

The upshot of the snow was that there was a great deal more timber on the ground than ever before. Combined with the complex rock it made for very physical and difficult navigation. Fortunately, the course setters reduced course lengths- much appreciated by all.

 Medal Count:

 1^st- Jane W Open B, Gayle W55AS, Michael M60 A.

 2^nd - Ori M45AS, Ant M50A, Linda W55A.

 3^rd – Ron M55AS

Ant, M50A was just 43 seconds adrift from the podium in his class.

W55A course

W21A Course

M14A Course

Jane 1st

Ron 3rd

Gayle 1st

Linda 1st 

Ant  2nd

Ori 2nd 

NSW Long Distance Championships

The start for today was north of the arena and like Saturday courses were “hard”.  Many, when looking at the courses wonder what differentiates between Middle and Long Distance. Generally speaking, the long courses have fewer controls, longer legs with route choice. Middle courses have more controls with direction changes and route choice.

Once again, the combination of fallen timber and very complex rock made for a real challenge in the bush.

Medal Count:

1^st – Serena W21AS.

2^nd – Jane W Open B, Ori M45AS.

3^rd - Gayle W55AS, Shane M55A

W Open B

M55A

Gayle - 3rd

Shane 3rd 

Ori 2nd

Serena 1st

There were some consistencies in the results. Alon, M14A was 5^th both days. This is excellent as Alon has just stepped up to M14A in recent times. Perhaps all that MTBO navigation is helping. Jonathan Nolan M20A was 4^th both days, Jono is running up an age class. Worthwhile noting that all Uringans finished in the top 10 in both days.

Got a moment:

The following is the M21A course on Sunday. With just over 9.3kms and 440 metres of climb the winner, Julian Dent won in 67minutes. It is really worthwhile to have a look at the tracking of Julian and other M21A competitors on Livelox: 

Compare the route choices- this is what the sport of Orienteering is all about.