No escaping the mud at Glengarry MTBO
- Last Updated: Friday, 06 July 2012 15:44
Mountain Devils kicked off their winter season with a double header on the south coast on the weekend of 16th and 17th June. First up was the sprint course held on the Saturday at Glengarry the rural annex of Scots College.
The weather lived up to winter time expectations in the southern highlands with fog, mist and drizzle which whilst not a downpour was with us for the entire afternoon. The going was difficult in parts due to water on the course with slippery conditions making most of the riders cautious. No one escaped the mud with bikes covered with the stuff and drive trains seizing up. The course itself is a mountain biking delight with a surfeit of single track from smooth going in the forests to rocky switch backs on the climbs and descents. The attendance was slightly down on normal due to a clash with two other events on the weekend namely the 49th Paddy Palin Rogaine held at Clandulla and the Metro League event held at Centennial Park. The hard core MTBO crowd was in attendance with an especially strong contingent from Newcastle who took out four of the eight classes.
The rain cleared on Saturday night and Sunday dawned clear and bright. High wind was forecast but did not reach the 90kms predicted. It was just enough to dry out some of the tracks at Currambene forest where Sunday's long course was staged. And an excellent days racing was had. Currambene forest is perfect mountain biking terrain, fairly flat and with some nice single track. The mud was in attendance of course. It's not Currambene unless there is mud. But the weather was perfect. Once again Newcastle dominated on the podium winning 4 of the 9 classes.
The next events in the MTBO Super Series are SS3 & 4 to be held in the ACT on the 30th of June and 1st of July, followed by SS5 & 6 held at Penrose and Belanglo on 28th and 29th July. Check out the Mountain Devils web site for details and entry.
Thanks to Michael Roylance for this report and photograph.
Coaches have their hands full at the Sydney South West Regional
- Last Updated: Friday, 06 July 2012 15:44
With 438 students from 10 schools around the Camden area, the coaches supporting the Sydney West Regional Championships certainly had their hands full. Some of the students were back for their second year and were full of enthusiasm for the races. Coaches walked their allocation of students around a practice course before the individual races started. Some of the children were initially dismayed by the mud but after a while their excitement at being out and orienteering took over, and they developed a healthy disregard for white socks. 
Warragamba PS took the top three spots in the Under 10 boys event with Thirlmere PS girls doing the same in their class. Mawarra PS had some good results in M10 (1st) and W10 (2nd and 3rd) with Cobbity PS picking up the other placings in those classes. Narellan Vale PS had their success in the M11 with 1st and 3rd places. Camden South PS took 2nd place in M12 to prevent a strong Warragamba PS from collecting another clean sweep. For the secondary schools Chevalier College took 1st and 3rd in both M14/15 and W14/15 with Thomas Hassell in 2nd for those classes. Elizabeth Macarthur shone in the M16+ taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in this senior class.
After the individual races there was time for a quick lunch and then it was onto the relays. A mass start got pulses racing and 2nd and 3rd leg runners waited impatiently for their turn at the tagging area. Relay results:
Primary Schools
1st Camden South PS
2nd Thirlmere PS
3rd Camden South PS
Secondary
1st Chevalier College
2nd Thomas Hassell College
3rd Chevalier College
Why did the Turkey cross the road?
- Last Updated: Friday, 06 July 2012 15:44
Presumably he was trying to catch up with Glen Horrocks at the annual Turkey Trot! Cool weather meant the Turkeys in the annual Western Hills race were rugged up for their races, but the competition was piping hot. The Turkey Trot is a set of orienteering races which have a mass start for each course 
length. The orienteering standard is moderate so it favours the runners with fitness and leg strength. Ian Miller's courses this year used multiple maps around Baulkham Hills which provided street running interspersed with thoroughly enjoyable runs through park and semi-bushland. That said, there was enough orienteering to make sure that competitors had to concentrate. Minor errors and hesitations were often the difference between staying ahead of the next 
competitor or having them draw close enough to challenge for placings.
In the Men's Long race, three stalwarts of the Sydney Summer Series put in some fine running to take the top places. Glen Horrocks held off James McQuillian (2nd) and Steve Ryan (3rd) over some 20km with only the narrowest of margins- 98:18 to 98:27 and 98:59. In the Men's Medium race Newcastle's Josh Blatchford romped around the 12km course in 66:51 ahead 
ofDaniel Hill and Andrew Povah. The Womens Long was won by Barbara Hill in a time of 119:32, which would have put her in the top six in the men's race. Margaret Jones stole the lead from Brook Martin in the Women's Medium course, when Brook's concentration on the finish caused her to run right past the last 
control. A sprint back to rectify the error was not enough to keep the lead and she took 2nd place with Gayle Quantock (Newcastle) in 3rd. In the Men's Short course Timothy Petterson took 1st place with Darius Cartright of Mountain Devils showing what strong mountain biking legs can do on a foot course, taking 2nd place ahead of wunderkind Duncan Currie in 3rd. Susan Petterson ensured it would be a sweet Sunday in the Petterson household by winning 1st prize and a box of chocolates for the Women's Shortcourse. Karin Heffner and Bryony Cox took 2nd and 3rd places making a clean sweep for the Garingal club in the Women's Short course.
