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The penultimate event in the Interclub Orienteering Series between the Waggaroos and Albury-Wodonga Orienteering Club was conducted at Mt Terrible just on the northern outskirts of Albury. The terrain on the mountain is open but makes for slow running due to its steep and slippery slopes. The gullies looked to be easier to run along on Sunday but most were ankle deep in water which caused other problems for runners.
The longer courses zigzagged across the slopes gradually working downhill for the majority of the distance but then faced a brutal 120m vertical climb over a 600m horizontal distance which burned the lungs and turned tired legs into heavy weights. The shorter courses mainly traversed the flatter farmland but the flatness hid pools of water and marshes.
The WaggaRoos handled the conditions better than their Albury counterparts getting off to a good start in the 5.5km Red Course where Alex Davey had a great run to win easily. His time was almost 20 minutes faster than the next group of participants and earned him handicap honours for the day. John Oliver (W) made a navigational mistake to the first control and dropped about 5 minutes on Albury’s Rob Simmons. Although he then had faster times than Rob to all succeeding controls he could not quite make up the deficit and had to settle for third place. Wayne Bajenoff (A) finished fourth. This gave WaggaRoos a small 6:4 points lead.
The lead was consolidated in the 4.5km Red Course contested by 5 members of each club. Waggaroos Briohny Seaman, Debbie Davey were well ahead of the main field and grasped the first two places. Wes Campbell (W) and Pauline Moore (W) finished 5th and 7th respectively to break up the five Albury participants. When Bob Moore finished WaggaRoos had collected 30 points to Albury’s 25.
Albury collected 2 points to 1 on the 3.5km Orange Course when Angela Farrell (W) darted along the wrong track and lost time to Mark McKenzie (A).
WaggaRoos won the match 38:30 and now have a strong 60:44 point lead in the competition. The final event will be held in early September near Wagga.
Thanks to John Oliver for this report
If you've never orienteered in the Northern Territories then maybe it is time! The NT Championships are also the next round of the National Orienteering League races so will be top quality in an amazing area. TEO Committee member and event organiser Lachlan Hallett tells us there are....
10 great reasons to come to the Top End in August
1. Great Orienteering – warm up to the tropics at the Casuarina Campus late afternoon sprint event on 10 August
2. Great Sunsets – help the sun disappear over the horizon with a cool drink or two at our post event BBQ on August 10.
3. Great Weather – warm and sunny one day, warm and sunny the next.
4. More Great Orienteering – Choose the afternoon Score or the evening Night event at Lok Cabay near Batchelor on August 11, or maybe both!
5. Great Terrain – Lok Cabay has unique, fascinating and very large stromatolite formations, plus an ample serve of mining and World War 2 history.
6. Great Hosts – meet land custodian Mr Speedy McGuiness, the traditional custodian of the Lok Cabay area. Hear his stories and share his knowledge.
7. Even more Great Orienteering – NT Champs at Lok Cabay August 12. Who will take home the prize?
8. Great Sightseeing and National Parks – check out the NT Tourist Commission’s award-winning website http://www.travelnt.com/
9. Great Wildlife – get up close and personal with the local critters.
10. Great Rogaining – cap off a Great Trip at a 9 + 9 hour Rogaine, Adelaide River. August 18-19. More details and entry form at http://www.topend.nt.orienteering.asn.au/
Accommodation update: Twin share accommodation available for $20/bed in Batchelor and nice camping sites available for $10/person – see website for more details.
Remember, entries close this Friday, 27th July
Space Racing has blasted off on a new frontier after a successful foray into Castle Hill Showground during the July school holidays.
With poor weather forecast, and this being the farthest venture west with Space Racing, the team were unsure how many participants would come along. so it was rather pleasing to report that 31 hardy souls turned up to take on the new sprint map of WHO, our club of the year for 2011.
The course, set by NSW junior Daniel Hill, had to be substantially curtailed due to council closing the underpass beneath Showground Road in the NW corner of the map that leads into Fred Caterson Reserve. With that in mind, the time limit was cut from the usual 45 minutes to 30. That was no barrier to the seasoned crop of talented juniors who flew around the (in parts boggy) course at warp speed.
Garingal's Aidan Dawson pushed the G forces to the limit with a time of 10m12s for the 20 controls. Lawrence Jones (Uringa) WOULD/COULD/SHOULD have been second in a time of 11m48s but somehow forgot to visit one control - the perils of score courses and SI!
The Currie family (GO) snared three of the top 5 places.
Lawrence and Georgia Jones, along with mum Maggie (ONSW Communications Officer) and Duncan Currie then went out again to run the course in control order from 1-20. Less than five minutes separated the four of them, but none could match Aidan who ran the course again in reverse order (20-1) in 27m39s.
Most pleasing though, was the appearance of two families who took part at Sydney Olympic Park the week before and were so captured by our sport that they simply had to get another O fix ! And another two families saw our notice in the Hills News and dragged the kids away from the electronic gadgets for some real life adventure.
As always, our Space Racing missions would not function as smoothly without the many volunteers who help out - thanks to everyone who gave of their time at both events.
We are back at Sydney Olympic Park on Friday October 5. Dates and venues for the Xmas school holidays have not yet been set.
Thanks to Ian Jessup for this report
Chris Brown and Alison Pearce are fresh to the game of organising events, but they are bringing some interesting new ideas with them. They were the organisers at the Uringa club event at Callan Park this weekend. In the weeks before the race they were out planning when they came up with a new way of telling people about it. All along the parkways and pavements of the park messages to the general dog walking, bay running, children minding public began to appear in chalk. 'Can you think and run? Come on Sunday 22 July at 10am for some orienteering?' Ron Garner, who was running the SI at the event for the first time, threw his weight behind it and laminated signs with more details for posting around the park for people whose interest had been piqued.
So did it work? Certainly despite the poor weather the turnout was good, on a par with the previous year's event which was bathed in sunshine. Alison had a call the night before from someone who had seen the signs and googled 'orienteering', and a local runner tried out the courses, having seen the chalk messages. One local club member even heard people talking about the event in the local coffee shop the week before. Whether it can be proved it worked or not it is rumoured that Dave Lotty, Sydney Southern Series Co-ordinator has now got a 'chalk box budget' in his plans.
