It was January 2012 when Uringa was swamped when running a Summer Series event at Birchgrove. Some 270+ runners descended on us and we struggled to keep up all night. As a matter of fact the final event tidy up was completed some time later.
Organiser Matt had Uringa finely tuned ready for the crowds and did they come. Not quite reaching the 270+ of 2012 but 257 is awfully close. The registration team coped brilliantly when we ran out of rego cards late in the evening.
Congratulations Matt a job well done. The course certainly was a test with only two runners scoring the maximum 600 points , followed by another 2 runners with 590 and a further 2 on 580 and then a deluge of 8 on 570. Mind you a record was set with one competitor scoring -920 points!
Well done Uringa for an amazing night on one of the most scenic maps in Sydney.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Oceania Championships 2013
Georgia Jones was part of the Australian Schools team competing against the Kiwis, which the home team won. Lawrence Jones in M18A was part of the Australian Team taking on the Kiwis. Australia was beaten in the Individual challenge, but tied in the relays - thus giving the Kiwis the overall win in the Australia - New Zealand challenge.
Sophie Jones came 2nd in the Oceania Long Distance Championships, while Maureen Ogilvie won the triple (Long, Middle, Sprint) in W80A.
The World Cup races were dominated by the Swiss and Scandinavians, but Lizzie Ingham came 3rd in the Sprint Final in Wellington cheered on by a big supportive crowd. That is quite an achievement which gave her some airtime on the local TV station.
If you are interested in seeing all the results, maps etc you can check out www.oceania2013.co.nz
Oceania Challenge # 1
Mature pine forest on flat to
rolling sand dunes
Oceania Challenge # 2
Mature pine forest on flat to
rolling sand dunes plus
coastal dunes with mixed
vegetation.
Parts of the forest were used
for filming Osgiliath Woods
scenes for "Lord of the Rings" (2030).
Oceania Middle Distance
Championships / AUS-NZ challenge / World Cup Middle Distance races
Complex sand dune terrain including open dunes both sandy and covered with grass with very intricate contour detail.
Spectator control for World Cup race was near our start and spectators were able to follow the race from across the river.
 |
| Middle Distance Spectator Control |
 |
| Spectators watching elites cross the bridge |
 |
| fast finish by the Swedish girl Helena Janssen |
 |
| Maggie interviewing Swiss Daniel Hubmann |
 |
| Prize giving Middle Distance Ladies |
 |
| Price giving Middle Distance Men |
 |
| Control at the World Cup Sprint Qualification race |
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| Control at the WC Sprint Quali |
 |
| Control at the WC Sprint Quali |
 |
| Finish chute at the Sprint Quali |
 |
| Prize giving Sprint Final Ladies |
 |
| Prize giving Sprint Final Men |
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Marrickville Event - UK review
Essex Orienteer David Lumby participated in our event at Marrickville.
The following is his report on the event.
Summer Series Down Under - David Lumby
Before setting off on a work related foray to Australia I googled "Sydney Orienteering" and discovered that there was a Summer Series of evening events running and I was in town for the events on Monday 29th and Wednesday 31 October. In fact there are 39 events in all in three separate series. I packed my shoes and Stragglers O-shirt.
Event 1, Marickville, Monday 29th October
I managed to get away from the office at 17.00, nipped back to the hotel to change and caught the train down to Tempe station near Markey Park in Marrickville which was the event base. The first navigational challenge was to find the start which I achieved by map memory from Google Maps. Out of the railway station, cross over the bridge and head toward the setting sun - that would be North-West!
I completed the registration card and was immediately lucky - they gave me the $3 discount for being a club member despite it being 11,000 miles away. Nancy, I promised them a reciprocal deal so look kindly on any reduced fees paid by visitors from Uringa Orienteers.
The event was a 45 minute score with ample time to study the map before the start. 30 controls were available with numbers 1-10 worth 10 points each, 11-20 worth 20 points each and 21-30 worth 30 points each for a maximum score of 600 points. 10 penalties for each minute or part over time. The course was either side of Cook's River with the North mostly urban and the South a mix of urban, grassland and "bush". Whilst not necessarily the most sensible route choice I decided to go South first as that meant I was sure to get a run through the bush.
I checked my watch and was off. The first control was easy - the bench near the park entrance that I had spotted on my way in. Unfortunately this gave a sense of over confidence and I ran off the edge of the map into the station car park, only realising my mistake when I spotted a fellow competitor the other side of the stream punching a control (SI boxes cable locked to immovable objects were in use). I was soon back on track and collected the next three controls with no difficulty before heading along a footpath into the bush - I suppose we would call it fight forest - where I promptly lost my way and wasted 3 minutes. I was now getting confused by not being able to find the major path which was indicated by the black line. Once I realised this was a linear rock face I was back on track but breathing heavily as it is surprisingly hilly in the Sydney suburbs.
After a few poor route choices I had to modify my plan a bit but still covered the majority of the controls I was aiming for. As I approached the finish I had two minutes to spare so detoured to pick up the extra 10 points from a control I had identified as an option on the way to the finish and punched in with 43m 56s on the clock and 380 points. Not bad I thought though running off the map, my issues in the bush and a couple of other slip ups should have allowed me to get over 400. At the post run discussion I saw another few controls I could have collected and reckoned 450 would have been on. Looking at the results board I was sure no-one would have got all 600. Correct - the leading score was 580. By the time the final results hit the website I saw the winning score was 600 in 44m 36s and I was 22nd out of 40 competitors. A clever bit of software calculates the shortest possible route connecting all points and gives this as 9894m plus 140m of ascent - pretty impressive in less than 45m.
All in all a fine evening out and I knew I would be less jet lagged by the second event on Wednesday night.
David's roundup of his down under visit can be read at:
http://stragglers.info/newsletter/vol21no13.php#sydney
The following is his report on the event.
Summer Series Down Under - David Lumby
Before setting off on a work related foray to Australia I googled "Sydney Orienteering" and discovered that there was a Summer Series of evening events running and I was in town for the events on Monday 29th and Wednesday 31 October. In fact there are 39 events in all in three separate series. I packed my shoes and Stragglers O-shirt.
Event 1, Marickville, Monday 29th October
I managed to get away from the office at 17.00, nipped back to the hotel to change and caught the train down to Tempe station near Markey Park in Marrickville which was the event base. The first navigational challenge was to find the start which I achieved by map memory from Google Maps. Out of the railway station, cross over the bridge and head toward the setting sun - that would be North-West!
I completed the registration card and was immediately lucky - they gave me the $3 discount for being a club member despite it being 11,000 miles away. Nancy, I promised them a reciprocal deal so look kindly on any reduced fees paid by visitors from Uringa Orienteers.
The event was a 45 minute score with ample time to study the map before the start. 30 controls were available with numbers 1-10 worth 10 points each, 11-20 worth 20 points each and 21-30 worth 30 points each for a maximum score of 600 points. 10 penalties for each minute or part over time. The course was either side of Cook's River with the North mostly urban and the South a mix of urban, grassland and "bush". Whilst not necessarily the most sensible route choice I decided to go South first as that meant I was sure to get a run through the bush.
I checked my watch and was off. The first control was easy - the bench near the park entrance that I had spotted on my way in. Unfortunately this gave a sense of over confidence and I ran off the edge of the map into the station car park, only realising my mistake when I spotted a fellow competitor the other side of the stream punching a control (SI boxes cable locked to immovable objects were in use). I was soon back on track and collected the next three controls with no difficulty before heading along a footpath into the bush - I suppose we would call it fight forest - where I promptly lost my way and wasted 3 minutes. I was now getting confused by not being able to find the major path which was indicated by the black line. Once I realised this was a linear rock face I was back on track but breathing heavily as it is surprisingly hilly in the Sydney suburbs.
After a few poor route choices I had to modify my plan a bit but still covered the majority of the controls I was aiming for. As I approached the finish I had two minutes to spare so detoured to pick up the extra 10 points from a control I had identified as an option on the way to the finish and punched in with 43m 56s on the clock and 380 points. Not bad I thought though running off the map, my issues in the bush and a couple of other slip ups should have allowed me to get over 400. At the post run discussion I saw another few controls I could have collected and reckoned 450 would have been on. Looking at the results board I was sure no-one would have got all 600. Correct - the leading score was 580. By the time the final results hit the website I saw the winning score was 600 in 44m 36s and I was 22nd out of 40 competitors. A clever bit of software calculates the shortest possible route connecting all points and gives this as 9894m plus 140m of ascent - pretty impressive in less than 45m.
All in all a fine evening out and I knew I would be less jet lagged by the second event on Wednesday night.
David's roundup of his down under visit can be read at:
http://stragglers.info/newsletter/vol21no13.php#sydney
Friday, December 14, 2012
Orienteering on an international level
Have you ever wondered what the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) does, what the long term goals of IOF are and what's involved at that level?? If you are interested on what's happening on the international level of orienteering, here are some websites:
www.orienteering.org
(website of the IOF; includes structure, resources, athletes interviews etc)
www.facebook.com/iofarena
(facebook page)
http://orienteering.org/resources/publications/inside-orienteering/
(subscribe to the IOF online journal "Inside Orienteering")
The latest issue includes an article on Christine Brown who is from Tasmania and is a senior IOF event adviser and many articles from the international stage......Very interesting to read how the IOF is very committed to have orienteering included in the Olympics hence there are a lot of spectator-friendly events on the World Cup agenda; ie middle distance and sprints - not always to the athlete's satisfaction !!
WorldofO.com
Headlines from orienteering sites all over the world, athlete's blog, events, maps etc
www.orienteering.org
(website of the IOF; includes structure, resources, athletes interviews etc)
www.facebook.com/iofarena
(facebook page)
http://orienteering.org/resources/publications/inside-orienteering/
(subscribe to the IOF online journal "Inside Orienteering")
The latest issue includes an article on Christine Brown who is from Tasmania and is a senior IOF event adviser and many articles from the international stage......Very interesting to read how the IOF is very committed to have orienteering included in the Olympics hence there are a lot of spectator-friendly events on the World Cup agenda; ie middle distance and sprints - not always to the athlete's satisfaction !!
WorldofO.com
Headlines from orienteering sites all over the world, athlete's blog, events, maps etc
Sunday, November 18, 2012
President's Cup and Xmas Party Wrap Up
Once again Uringa put on a great Christmas Party!! Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the Pres Cup at Callan Park despite time consuming Orienteering questions at some of the control sites!
It was back to Penny's place (great venue, lovely location) for the traditional BBQ with a salad buffet. Perhaps Uringa should put in tenders for catering at events - the salads were amazing and the BBQ staff did a fantastic job with the sausages, steaks and vegetarian skewers.
This was followed by an appearance of Santa and kids were very excited about his arrival...then it was on to some official business with handing out some trophies, certificates and badges, and of course naming this years President's Cup winners: Ian Jones won the large mug while Jared took home the little mug. Congratulations to both of you !! Jared couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he was handed out the Waratah Certificate, Waratah trophy, a control description holder, the M12A NSW Orienteer of the Year badge (1st) and the little mug!! To top it off he also took home the "Club of the Year" trophy which Uringa won this year and which was on display for everyone to see.
The dessert buffet was another cracker with so many yummy and nice desserts. My favourites were Hannah's ice cream sandwich, Celine's carrot cake and Margaret's profiteroles. That's all I got to try and after that I was too full!!
Special thanks goes to:
Penny and Susi for providing the venue
Jitka for the beautiful mugs
Gayle for co-ordinating all the food
...and everyone who brought a dish !!
PS: more photos will be posted on the Blog within the next couple of weeks..
PS: more photos will be posted on the Blog within the next couple of weeks..
NSW Orienteer of the Year Badge Winners
This follows on from my previous post regarding the ONSW Annual Presentation Dinner. Here are now the results for the NSW Orienteers of the Years (due to the cancellation of SL1/2, there were only 11 State League events held this year, therefore the 5 best scores counted towards badges):
1st
M12A Jared McKenna
M45A Ian Jones
W10A Sophie Jones
W14A Georgia Jones
2nd
M35AS David McKenna
M75A Brian Cleland
W40A Jane McKenna
3rd
M65A Dave Lotty
W45A Maggie Jones
W50A Lisa Lampe
W65A Angela Murray
Congratulations everyone, well done!!
1st
M12A Jared McKenna
M45A Ian Jones
W10A Sophie Jones
W14A Georgia Jones
2nd
M35AS David McKenna
M75A Brian Cleland
W40A Jane McKenna
3rd
M65A Dave Lotty
W45A Maggie Jones
W50A Lisa Lampe
W65A Angela Murray
Congratulations everyone, well done!!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
South Sydney Summer Series #3 The Warren
Thanks to the ONSW publicity machine, we got some good publicity...
http://www.valleytimes.com.au/Read/Valley_Times_1_November_2012/index.php Click on page 19.
http://www.valleytimes.com.au/Read/Valley_Times_1_November_2012/index.php Click on page 19.
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