The SummerGong Series has concluded for 2019. Three excellent locations were enjoyed by club members and a handful of newcomers and visiting orienteers.

The series commenced with a brilliant sunny (and hot!) afternoon of orienteering around the Wollongong foreshore and streets. Despite Keith plugging the event on ABC radio that morning, we were not over-run with people, managing just 17 (although five of these were newcomers).

Ken and Helen take the award for attracting the most entrants to the Figtree event (24) and also the most participants who were not members of an orienteering club (10). While the short course kept to the flats the medium and long courses gave competitors the chance to climb a few hills (or avoid some of them depending on your route choice).

The series concluded at Shellharbour with 20 people/teams enjoying the mix of coastal views and streetscapes around Shellharbour Village. A couple of orienteers from Western Australia turned up – we think this is probably the furthest distance for any domestic visitors at a SummerGong event. We also had a group of friends turn up, two of whom had done a bit of orienteering in their home countries of Switzerland and the UK.

A few photographs from the series are in the gallery below.

The finish line at SL11

Ron Pallas christened this the Dust Tour of Belanglo, but as we are one day into the Tour de France I thought I might give it a slightly more french flavour.  Either way it was a weekend of challenging conditions that the weather gods threw at State League 10 and 11.  The sun shone but it was bitterly cold and at times windy, which turned our bare denuded firebreak into a scene from Desert Storm. Our resident meteorologist informed us that on both days the wind-chill factor sent the apparent temperature plummeting below zero in the early mornings.

Aside from that the day seems to have been a success with no injuries (apart from John the first aide guy who injured himself!) and no complaints about misplaced controls.  173 contenders turned up to take on the forest, where conditions were apparently less windy than the finish arena.

Results are now available here on Eventor.

We are  greatly indebted to Ron Pallas and our friends at SHOO for helping us run this event.  Thanks to Natalya, Chris and David for the many days spent in the forest leading up to the event, and to Simon, Ken, Helen, James and Dayle for assisting over the weekend.  Thanks also to Sandra, Garry,  Lyn and Nev from SHOO for their assistance in the finish tent and EOD table.

Simon, Garry and Ron manning the finish tent. The material on the table is protecting the computers from the dust!

Thanks also to Sandra for the photos included here.
Visit SHOO’s Facebook gallery to see a lot more.

Competitors had to battle the wind and dust as they made their way from the final control to the finish.

And lastly, thank you to Simon for the following action shots taken in the forest.