State League 10 & 11

For the Southern Highlands is was positively balmy on the weekend of State league 10 & 11. State League 11 was also the NSW Schools Champs which had great importance for Lawrence and Georgia Jones who were hoping for strong results and a place in the NSW Schools team for the upcoming Australian Schools Champs.

State League 10 was held in the well known Belanglo State Forest. The courses were well set, taking in the best of the eucalypt with the odd bit of pine tossed in for good luck. Uringa had 17 orienteers in the fields and with 4 firsts, 6 seconds and 3 3rd places we certainly featured in the results.

Results:
W10A Sophie Jones 2nd
W14A Georgia Jones 1st
M10A Jared McKenna 2nd
M16A Lawrence Jones 2nd
W21AS Maggie Jones 1st
W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 4th
W40A Linda Sesta 1st
W65A Angela Murray 1st
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 2nd
M35AS Dave McKenna 2nd
M40A Anthony Nolan 3rd
M45A Ian Jones 2nd
M45AS Ron Pallas 9th
M60A Ian McKenzie 5th
M65A Dave Lotty 3rd
M65A Dick Ogilvie 4th

An equally large crowd of Uringans plus a few hangers-on gathered at the Mittagong RSL for dinner. The food was fine service a little slow but who cares when your with friends.

Sunday saw a move a little further south to Penrose State Forest. Again there was plenty in the courses to test you and almost all red courses had a nice long leg of around a km to get the brain active. Again Uringans performed well with 7 first placing and 4 second places. It was a good weekend for Sophie, Maggie and Georgia Jones with 1st placings on both days. For Georgia, Sophie and Jared McKenna they won their class in the NSW Schools Champs. Linda Sesta also completed a fine double header with first placings in W40A
The highlight was no doubt the naming of Lawrence and Georgia in the NSW Schools Champs team for the Aust School Champs.

Results:
W9A Sophie Jones 1st
W13A Georgia Jones 1st
M10A Jared McKenna 1st
M15A Lawrence Jones 2nd
W21AS Maggie Jones 1st
W21AS Jane McKenna 2nd
W35AS Gayle Shepherd 5th
W40A Linda sesta 1st
W65A Angela Murray 2nd
W70A Maureen Ogilvie 1st
M35As Dave McKenna 1st
M40A Anthony Nolan 4th
M45A Ian Jones 2nd
M45As Ron Pallas 9th
M60A Ian McKenzie 4th
M65A Dave Lotty 4th
M65A Dick Ogilvie 5th

Well now it is on the the State Champs in sunny and warm Lithgow.

Australian School Championships

Congratulations to Lawrence and Georgia Jones on their selection for the NSW Schools Team to represent NSW at the upcoming Australian School Championships which are being held in the Tumburumba area in October. Good luck and all the best !!

Scottish 6 Day - Day 5 report from Ian Jones foreign correspondent

Day 5 report is somewhat late due to the correspondents hotel hosting the local weekly Music Night on a Friday. This means that there was some incredible traditional and modern music played on Scottish instruments by the locals which carried well on into the night. The haunting sounds of the pipes, whistle and fiddle accompanied by a sung gaelic melody really seemed to match the scenery, its mix of sea and islands, peat and heather in a summer evenibng where it never seemed to get properly dark. Of course, listening to the evening's music required consumption of malt whisky, so a good result for Day 6 probably more of a pipe dream (ha!) than a real possibility.

Back to the event - Day 5 was on a coastal area surrounded on three and a half sides by the sea, rather than the high moorland of earlier in the week. Did this mean that the area had less climb and was more runnable? Not a chance! All but the shortest courses started about 2km south of Assembly, winding their way back through to the finish through a mix of complex terrain separated by large areas of marsh or, in a few places, sea!

The thick heather cover over some of the marshes hid deep drainage channels. Your correspondent ran straight into one, much to the amusement of the competitor running alongside him - now you see him, now you don't! (though there was the sound of muffled cursing...)

The other big excitement of the day was the lorry carrying the Portaloos getting bogged down to the axles in Assembly (also known to Uringans as 'doing an Audi'). There was a tractor in the area to pull out the stuck vehicles but nobody to drive it. It was a refreshing request that sounded around the Assembly field 'If anyone here is a tractor driver, could they make themselves known to the captain'. A driver was found, the vehicles were moved and the sun came out to reinstate the festival atmosphere that is The Scottish 6 Days.

Scottish Six Days - Day 3 etc

Each day has been more challenging. Day 3 offered courses through all possible terrains and vegetations available. Bracken still played a significant part in the open areas (of which there was much, though with so many knobs and lumps it took careful map-reading), and, yes, there was heather, but not much, and the marsh plants were very well represented.

Scottish Six Days - Days 1 and 2

The Scottish Six Days - really seven days, since there is a rest day midway. Somewhere between 3500 and 4000 participants, depending on whom you talk to.

The NGOC tent graciously loaned to Uringa and Australian associates filled up with gear and people. Only mild rain on Day 1 afternoon, but enough to make us all grateful. Look for the Aussie flags! (Day 2 Finish Shute and Assembly Area)

View from the car park, which was just off the A85, the road to Oban. Car park the same for Day 3 but a longer trek to the Assembly area.

The maps below are W60short. We've learned a lot about marsh... and bracken (sometimes as tall as me). A new one for me was the 'linear' marsh.

It was a beautiful day at Boronia Park, Garingal's Come and Try It event on 31 July. Anthony and son Will came for a trot around the rather muddy course, as did Dave Lotty, who managed despite wearing running shorts, to have pristine legs at the end of his run - did he run so fast that he skimmed over the muddy puddles? Not natural! Ian was at his last event before going off to the Scottish 6 days to join both his parents and the other hardy Uringans near Oban. Mary Jane has organised a rota to use the club tent loaned by North Gloucester Orienteering Club so it should be a jolly affair even if it pours with rain -and lets be honest, the heather doesn't grow when it is dry and the hills are covered with the stuff! The wily NGOCers are looking forward to an Orienteering Ashes so I hope they all run better than Ian did today:)

WMOC- LONG FINAL

The advertised temperature was tipped to be 35 degrees and it was pretty darn close to it although there was a cooling breese today. Where as on previous days no escape from the sun, today we were fortunate to grab - that is the ANZAC alliance- some shade which stayed with us most of the day. When it disappeared we ended up in the bush.

Uringans once again did battle in their respective finals. Readers of the previous posting will remember my moaning about the green, well today we had the sort of forest that was promised. Reasonably open fast and fun. The sink holes were huge and it was always interesting as to how you approached the area. The holes were not symmetrical and it was always easier to go in on the slightly less sloping side.

The weather played a part in performances as the heat was debilitating. Needless to say the A Final winners absolutely flew and Km rates were very very fast. Thankfully at the end of the race the local fire brigade had a hose set up which sprayed you with a drenching of cold water. This drenching certainly reduced your core temperature in a hurry.

The beer tent was doing a roaring trade and whist there was no pig on a spit, as there was the previous event, the food was varied. Mind you the gelato ice creams were melting faster than could be served

Results

M50 B Final - Nick Wilmott 64th

M55 D Final - Ron Pallas 19th

M60D Final - Ian McKenzie 22nd

M65C Final - Dick Ogilvie 41st

W50C Final - Margaret Wilmott mp

W55C Final - Gayle Shepherd 15th

The highlight of the week was the fantastic 2nd place and silver medal for South Australia's Susanne Cassanova. It was a delight to see her perform so sonsistently over the week. Sister Jenny also did well with a top ten performance, Both girls were running in W35. Somewhat coincidently it was Susanne's birthday.

After each run you were given a brand new map, not printed on tear proof paper. There were the tragics who were going through collected maps later in the day looking for their map.

Perhaps the only aspect that one could criticise organisers was in the organisation of busses. The concept of forming an organised queue seems to be totally lost on organisers and many orienteers. They seem to feel that people who were there early are meant to be swamped by late comers. It is amazing what can be done to block a bus doorway to ensure easy access for early arrivals.....

Mind you no aussie reported having their map snatched this year so maybe things are changing!

Next year will see WMOC in the Harst Mountains in Germany. Tempting but I want a guarantee of cooler temperature.

For Nick and Marg it is off home via Hong Kong, Dick is off to Oringen and Gayle and I are heading for Croatia to take in the beaches and beer halls and have a good time.