Uringa News: 2026 King's Birthday 3 Days- Lithgow

The three days- three events in Lithgow were the attraction and so a large contingent of Uringans retraced Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson exploration of the Blue Mountains. Like the trio there was no Victoria Pass available to descend to the western slopes and plains. (more on that later)

Day 1- Baal Bone Junction

Appropriately named after the rail line that traverses the northern end of the map, the southern part of a map that features one rather tall hill with a rock line (cliffs) circumnavigating it. The course setter used the hill to challenge the navigation but to a bigger degree the ability to climb contours.

It was a welcome back to long time Uringans Jan, Keth, Rick and Sarah. Sarah obviously had lost none of her orienteering know how with a fine win in W65A. Jen, Michell and Harrison Grubits had a good day out in the office.

Results:

First

Sarah Garnett W65A

Jen Grubits W Open B

Mitchell Grubits M Junior B

Ron Pallas M65AS

Linda Sesta W55A

Second

Laurence Bruggermann W Open B

Jonathan Nolan M20A

Jan Sargood W70A

Third

Harrison Grubits M14A

Elodie Warlters W12A

Michael Warlters M60A

The weather was extremely kind and the Uringan circle the wagons with members sitting around discussing their efforts. This is one of the great things about our sport. The sunshine was greatly appreciated.

Later in the afternoon a large hoard of hungry orienteers descended on the Hotel Alexander in Rydal. The room was warm and the food like the conversation flowed easily. Our host for the evening was very appreciative of our choosing his pub – there were 18 of us! (The meals arrived a lot faster than the previous club dinner in Cootamundra)

Men 60A

Moderate Course - W Open B, M Junior B, M 14A

W12A

W55A

Day 2 Lidsdale State Forest

Everyone woke to a cracking frost as various methods of de-icing the windscreens had to be employed before setting off. Reminded me of my days in Crookwell when you strategically placed newspaper on the windscreen- otherwise you had to drive with your head out the window!

Lidsdale State Forest really needs an extension to the title “and Blackberry Farm” and a new definition of dark green was aptly named “Blackberry Green”.

The 1500metre walk to the start had you well and truly warmed up for your course. Fortunately, the course setter picked the eyes out of the map giving you route choice to avoid the Blackberry Green. Alon Gudes, M14A had a blinder to join in the celebrations. Sarah, Jen and Mitchell repeated their winning runs from Day 1. Michael, M60A joined them on the top step of the podium. Laurence and Jonathan were second for the second day in a row. Great to see Jane, Gayle and Benjamin all made it home in 3rd place.

Results

First

Second

Third

W55AS

M14A

W65A

Now here is a "would have, could have, should have moment. Ron going from 3-4-5 totally concentrated on getting control 5 missed 4. If only.! The Livelox trace show just how close he was to the control – saw it but didn’t register that it was his control.

The little green arrow in the bottom image tells the tale!

Day 3- Rydal Showground

Many orienteers will remember camping on the showground and one memorable evening where dinner was prepared by the local CWA Way back in the late “80s”

The event was rated as a “Longish sprint” with a mix of parkland, toss in some buildings and add a modicum of bush.

It was certainly fast and furious. Everyone had their first 4 controls in an open area just west of the start. Then it was off on some unusually long legs north. Many people took advantage of the start opening earlier than advertised to finish and hit the road. ( smart move!).

Results

First

Second

Jen	Grubits	W Open B
Ant	Nolan	M50A
Ron	Pallas	M65AS
Michael	Warlters	M60A

Third

Jane	Boland	W Open B
Linda	Sesta	W55A

Laurence turned the tables on Jen in W Open B. Note that it was a trifecta for Uringa in W Open B. Great to see Jonathan showing exceptional speed in M20A to head the field home. Istvan made it into 1^st place which meant all the Grubits were on the podium. Benjamin was consistent to score his second 3^rd place of the weekend.

Once again, the weather was brilliant and lots of time was spent analysing one’s route choices. Always good fun. Meanwhile the KB3 organisers were busy working out overall winners based on combined times from the 3 races.

M20A

M50A

M60A

Overall results

First

Second

Third

Jane	Boland	W Open B
Linda	Sesta	W55A

Fourth

Istvan	Grubits	M45AS
Ant	Nolan	M50A
Elodie	Warlters	W12A

Fifth

Gayle	Shepherd	W55AS
Jan	Sargood	W70A
Rick	Steele	M70A

Unfortunately the following either had a “mp” or only ran 2 days

Harrison

Jen and Laurence

Michael

Mitchell

Many left early as the dreaded detour through Lithgow was filling cars with great apprehension. Yes they was right as many reported 1.5 hrs to crawl through Lithgow. There were some who stayed until Tuesday morning and had to deal with only just a few red lights and a couple of slow trucks with no bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Some photos from the weekend courtesy of Sandi and Tony