Illawarra Kareelah Orienteers2006 Results and Event Reports
14th
October 2006 - Grevillea Park, Bulli
The Picnic Point Chinese Restaurant, within spitting distance of the start/finish area, must certainly have turned a profit recently thanks to the Come & Try It on Sunday 1 October 2006. We ate there twice while planning the event, and again after it with a dozen or more hungry and sweaty orienteerers. Having organized a previous CATI at Picnic Point we felt excited that our courses were even more cleverly designed than before. In fact, if Barry Field had turned up and attempted the red course without his compass, as he threatened to do after the last event, we're confident he'd have suffered the same fate as Miranda in that other famous Picnic adventure .... Forty-one headed out into the bush that day. Many in groups. Such were the surrounds that a few become disoriented and were lucky to make it back before the search-party was dispatched. Little did they realise that blood had already been spilt the previous day ..... While setting the course, Peter had his finger cut to the bone by a rusty old pipe. Ironically and selflessly he was clearing the way to make it safe for the event. An emergency visit to Bankstown Medical Centre made it a late night. But most importantly ... he still has his pointer. Back
at the event the very young, as well as the very old (who shall remain nameless
and ageless), were having a great day. The youngest competitor award must certainly go to 11-month-old Steven Horrocks who completed the green course by whispering directions in his Mum's ear. And safety in numbers was the motto of the Adair ‘family’ who stayed together around the green course to also complete their first orienteering event. Controversy surrounded the orange course with the unofficial winner being found to have missed a control - his status being subsequently reduced to DNF. Brian Johnson got to belatedly bath in the glory of being elevated to winner. And Elizabeth Hopper (remember her) graciously accepted her elevation to second place by declaring, "I'm back!". We're very thankful to Ian Hassal for arriving early to help us set-up. Especially since it was his last event as Aussie Orienteer of the Year. And to Margaret Duguid who once again helped us pack-up, single-handedly collecting more than half the controls. Blue
(1050 m)
Lots
of excuses and absences meant that one club member, Sue Froude, competed in the
August Club event. Sue however
didn’t win because there were another 24 competitors on the same course.
Yes
you heard correctly 29 non-members turned up and 27 of them had never
orienteered before. This group was
comprised mostly of a large contingent of trainee PE teachers from Wollongong
Louise
Wilmott as it turns out was one of the trainee teachers and, with all her
previous experience, was a great help in guiding her group around the course.
They were one of only two groups who tackled the 60min score and managed
a whopping score of 525 points. They would have also won the 45min score on a
pro rata basis with that score. It would have given them 393 points, edging out
the winning 45min score group who managed 375 points, a great effort. This
large group of 5 men and 23 ladies were an absolutely great bunch of switched on
young people. They picked up the concepts really well.
Having set the event up as a score event instead of the traditional
prescribed course to follow, I thought they might find it confusing. However,
they all caught on in a flash with little instruction.
I mistakenly thought they would need some time to absorb the
instructions, and would want some time to consult with each other on strategy
etc, wrong again. They were all more than anxious to get started.
I was amazed at how quickly they all caught on, especially with a genuine
orienteering colour map, that they had never seen before, even though it was
premarked with the controls, as per a normal orienteering event. They
went out in groups instead of the normal individual competing. The larger groups
generally went better than the smaller groups, which could be a disadvantage in
a lot of circumstances if the group is not cohesive or able to reach a consensus
on decisions or are unable to produce a natural leader. I
would love to get at least some of them interested enough to pursue the sport in
earnest. They
were all quite competitive especially the winning 45min group who would have
tied for first place except for their insistence that they had not come back a
minute late and had therefore not attracted a late penalty.
They all said they enjoyed the experience especially because it was not
going to be as complicated as they first were led to believe. Some
of the group likened me to Charlie from Charlie’s Angels, who sends young
ladies out on missions while he remains in the rear directing from afar.
Seemed an appropriate analogy to me. Apart
from the teachers, there was another genuine orienteer, Jennifer from a west It
was also great to see the Mills family attend as well as the Froude’s.
Ken decided to give me a hand and forgo the run, a beer seemed a better
option anyway. It was also great to
see the Sebar’s turn up again for a run as well as Sean Hatfield.
They attempted the 60min score event as a group. BBQ
with the Froude’s, Jennifer and the Mills family was a good way to end a
successful local event, even though the Mills had to leave early as they were
going to the snow the next day. The
results are as per below- 45 minute score event
22 July 2006 - Centennial Park With the general
consensus being for a Saturday afternoon event followed by dinner at an
Indonesian restaurant instructions were sent around for a 3-4pm start.
Directions to the start were quite explicit – no wrong turns this time.
Direction signs were placed at key points – they were somewhat discreet, to
keep under the radar of the Park’s rangers (no one owned up to noticing them).
The club flag was boldly flying at the start - courtesy of Dave who had brought
it especially all the way from Kiama. But
still a couple of competitors arrived late – feigning difficulty in finding
the start due to poor directions. The secret to
Takashi’s win in the medium course could
have been the pasta loading at lunch – i.e. the noodles he had at Genki Ramen
at Artarmon!!! For those who tried
the wonderful ramen after the Metro at St Ives - perhaps next time we need to
have the noodles before the event – not after!!!! After a quick shower
at Paddington we all headed off to Jimbaran – an Indonesian restaurant in Avoca St,
Randwick, where we were joined by Chris, Richard and Dominic. The restaurant had had a
good write up in the paper, confirmed by the Field’s, who had been there
recently and were keen to re-indulge. We were not disappointed. The food was
excellent – we can highly recommend it. We sat out the back in the “Balinese
Long
course Dave
Green 68.00
Torsten
& Robert 112:08 Medium
|
Place |
Name |
Score |
1 |
Philip Whitten |
590 |
2 |
Ken Mills |
560 |
3 |
Ian Froude |
550 |
4 |
Keith Jay |
490 |
5 |
Shaun |
460 |
5 |
Colin & Joyce |
460 |
7 |
Belinda Bright |
430 |
7 |
Takashi Itakura |
430 |
9 |
Barry Field |
390 |
9 |
Miki Itakura |
390 |
11 |
Kevin Curby |
360 |
12 |
Dayle Green |
350 |
13 |
Sue Froude |
340 |
14 |
Helen, Kenny & Stevie Mills |
330 |
Place |
Name |
Pts |
Time |
Penalty |
Total Score |
1 |
Ian Froude |
640 |
64 mins |
-40 |
600 |
2 |
Geff Harper |
590 |
57 mins |
|
590 |
3 |
Caireen Urquhart |
580 |
57 mins |
|
580 |
4 |
Adam Carter |
560 |
54 mins |
|
560 |
5 |
Peter Hopper |
550 |
60 mins |
|
550 |
6 |
Sharon Lambert |
520 |
58 mins |
|
520 |
7 |
Ken Mills |
500 |
57 mins |
|
500 |
8 |
Anna Chamberlain |
470 |
50 mins |
|
470 |
9 |
Keith Jay |
470 |
60 mins |
|
470 |
9 |
Jason Wright |
470 |
60 mins |
|
470 |
10 |
Sue Froude |
440 |
60 mins |
|
440 |
11 |
Barry Pearce |
420 |
56 mins |
|
420 |
12 |
Kathy Low |
410 |
58 mins |
|
410 |
13 |
Margaret Duguid |
390 |
56 mins |
|
390 |
14 |
Mick Low |
420 |
64 mins |
-40 |
380 |
15 |
Barry Field |
340 |
50 mins |
|
340 |
16 |
Colin, Joyce, Shaun & Jacqueline |
350 |
65 mins |
-50 |
300 |
17 |
Margaret Jay (unoff) |
300 |
10 mins |
|
300 |
18 |
Marianne Froude |
240 |
35 mins |
|
240 |
19 |
Tshinta & Nana |
60 |
|
|
60 |
A new area, a warm, if somewhat blustery, day and meeting up with lots of old friends makes for a great event. So it was on Saturday afternoon at Sandon Point with a BBQ and AGM to follow.
We decided it might be good to try a different approach this year compared to the last couple of years, with the focus on regular local events held on easily produced maps in new areas. The idea is to reduce the effort required to produce the map and set the event, and to get everyone out into new areas where we don’t have existing maps.
The process I followed was to take a stroll with Helen and Stevie one afternoon in an area where we don’t have a map and haven’t, to my knowledge run before, but which looked like it might have a few good parks and beaches to run on. We checked out the connectivity of things and some courses started to emerge. It was interesting and enjoyable to explore just beyond our local area in an area we normally just drive through.
Producing the map involved taking a 1:25,000 series topo map down to Snap Printing and getting them to enlarge the area 200% using a colour photocopier onto an A3 sheet for $2:50 each while I waited. By doing 3, I figured I had some spares if anything went horribly wrong, but I only really needed the one in the end. Next step, white out all the names and symbols with liquid paper, make some corrections, including little tracks and green areas with coloured pencils. It would have been helpful to visit Snap again and photocopy the liquid papered map to facilitate colouring in the whited out areas so the liquid paper didn’t come off when colouring in, but I didn’t have the luxury of time. It would have been good to put on the north arrows, scale and other information of interest at this stage (but I didn’t and we had to do each one separately later).
Back to Snap next day to enlarge the area of the course 125% more (to give a final map scale of 1:10,000) which is comfortable for ease of reading and for the level of detail. I did 30 copies @ $1 each. With 12 runners and a copy of master maps, this gave me a bit of spare. Final corrections were made to each map, with a big help from Helen, master maps produced and ready to go on the map front.
The boys and I did a ride around on Friday night to check final control sites and gather descriptions for the clue sheets. These were then produced as multi-choice to simplify the requirement for pencils and limit the choices so people knew “sort of” when they had the right spot.
Too easy! All done in a little under 2 hours, not counting a pleasant walk in the park one night and a lovely bike ride on another!
Setting up for the event itself involved hoisting the club banner and then trying to stop it blowing away in the strong north-easterly wind that was blowing. Getting the water bottle set up, taping the master maps onto the table and sitting back with 2 minutes to spare.
A new bloke Adrian was first away on the short course with Barry Pearce opting to start the field in the long course. They were followed by a regular trickle of people, with several people who we haven’t seen for a while including Dave Griffith and Mark Ziebell. Miki and Takashi came just after 5:00pm and both did the short course finishing themselves while most others headed for a swim and a beach-side shower before coming up to the Mills’s for a BBQ followed by the Club AGM and a regular meeting to get organised for the rest of the year.
It seemed from the feedback after the event that this format worked well and it is hoped that others who don’t usually set courses might feel more comfortable having a go, possibly in their own local areas where they feel familiar with the terrain and opportunities it offers.
Thanks to all those who came and congratulations to everyone for their active and enthusiastic participation in the AGM and meeting that followed. This year is shaping up to be a good one.
Long Course – 5km
David Green 39:50 mins
Keith Jay 45:00
Dave Griffith 46:14
Barry Pearce 56:00
Short Course – 3.4km
Adrian Panozzo 36:40 mins
Takahashi Itakura 37:00
Mark Ziebell 41:34
Helen Mills 47:48
Miki Itakura 48:00
Ian Froude 51:10
Margaret Duguid 51:18
Sue Froude 53:18