The Uringa hosted competition on Sunday 21 April was eventful and not just because there were well over 200 orienteers who turned out on a gloriously sunny morning (following a day of downpours) for round 2 of the MetrO League and round 1 of the Sydney Junior League.
If round 1 at Mitchell Park was physically challenging, then Callan Park provided an altogether different test as experienced runners made basic errors and our good hosts from 2012 club of the year Uringa were beset by technical gremlins.
Unbeknown to SportIdent guru Ron Pallas, two SI units decided to reset their clocks (visions of a recalcitrant HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) – one by 12 hours and the other by 24 hours – so some finishers were greeted with a splits printout showing a leg of over 720 minutes. UR and ONSW legend Dave Lotty even reported one leg of 1600-odd minutes! Compounding Ron’s frustrations, the ‘A’ computer crashed as the first of the ML finishers were downloading. He quickly fired up computer B and processed the sweaty hordes with his usual efficiency, but in the wash-up we regret to advise that some of our elites have indeed incurred an ‘mp’. As such, team scores had to be recalculated late on Sunday night. Our apologies for this; the results of the matches do not change but the scores do. Check out the ML page on the website for up-to-date results. A huge thank you to Ron for his hours of forensic work (C-SI perhaps?) on Sunday night to generate the official and correct results for the day.
Let’s get back to the actual racing, which is why we were there after all. Courses looked to be of suitable lengths but turned out to be on a bit on the short side due to the fast open running on offer. That only underlined the importance of speed and accuracy, and made for some highly competitive dashes.
Callan Park is a wonderful place for a walk or run, mainly off-road but with some devilishly tricky small buildings and associated gardens in the middle western section. First-timers here would have been confronted with many controls – but which one was theirs? There was no room for error on what was a big sprint map, and the 1:5000 scale allowed for controls to be placed much closer together than we are used to.
This was the undoing of three runners in Division 1, three in Division 2 and one in Division 3. It appears they went to #51 on a small boulder, instead of #50 which was on a thicket nearby. The most prominent casualty was JWOC rep Oscar McNulty, guesting for the new Unis team, who flew around in a division-best time of 20.04, but was later found to have been caught out by #51.
The Unis team had handed WHO, for whom Adrian White also ‘mp’ed, a hiding, but the adjusted scores meant a 30-24 win for the students. The fastest time then went to Andrew Barnett (Unis) in 21m45s. In the other division 1 match Big Foot downed the Garingal Goannas 33-21, Peter Annetts recording a belated mp for the luckless lizards.
In Division 2 Uringa-Central Coast had another easy win (over the GO Dragons), with Ian Jones bagging his second 10-pointer of the year and looking hard to beat for the individual medal on offer at season’s end. Bennelong also made it two from two despite Pierre Francois being ‘mp’ed in the win over WHO. Adam Halmy, just 15, scorched around in 22m51s. In the final match the GO Frill Necks knocked over Big Foot despite former president Tony Hill surrendering his 10 points to that blasted control #51.
SHOO borrowed Carol Jacobson from Garingal and went to the top of the table in Division 3 after beating the GO Skinks 33-22. The GO Molochs were likewise on the receiving end, losing 30-25 to the UR-CC Kites. Bennelong jumped to second on for-and-against by beating the IKON Magnetrons, for whom new Russian recruit Alex Karavaev clocked the fastest time of 21m36s.
Big Foot are the only unbeaten side in Division 4 after accounting for the GO Geckos 32-23. Bennelong kept WHO winless and boasted the fastest time with David McGhee’s 23m59s. The day’s closest match resulted in UR-CC Falcons pipping the IKON Lyrebirds 28-27.
In Division 5, all 6 teams are level on 2 points after two rounds. Bennelong thrashed WHO 38-17, grabbing the first four placings headed by Clare Williams’ 19m30s effort. UR-CC pipped the GO Blue Tongues 29-26. GO Legless lent Lloyd Gledhill to SHOO and went down 30-25… with Lloyd earning a handy 9 points for his ‘opponents’.
ONSW would like to acknowledge the great sportsmanship of Garingal club captain Tania Kennedy in offering surplus runners to SHOO on the day, even though it ended up costing them a victory.
The central location ensured a healthy turnout and, apart from Garingal’s donated pair to SHOO, all teams were full which was great.
For round 3 on May 26 we are back at Cattai, just a stone’s throw from Mitchell Park, where the WHO club promises: “We will rock you!”
Thanks to Ian Jessup for this report
