A warm welcome to the newest member of our club, Melinda Wiecek from Warilla. Melinda took up the offer of a complimentary membership to IKO after being the highest scoring non-club member in the recent Summergong series.
This year also see the return of the Scobie family from Helensburgh – Kim, Jeff, Daniel and Eva – who were previous members of the club.
Hope to see our new members at an event soon.
Jeff explains his winning strategy to Ian and Keith
With the end of the Summergong series, orienteering has moved back into the bush.
Congratulations to Salme for 1st place in W45AS at the tough State League 1 event held at Wattle Ridge, Hill Top on 19 March. Peter and Julie both achieved 2nd places.
A number of club members backed up for Metroleague 1 at Mt Annan Botanic Gardens on Sunday 20 March. It was fast and hilly. The combined IKO-SHOO teams had success in Division 2 and 3, but lost the double headers in Division 4 and 5. The combination with SHOO allowed a spread of club members through the 4 Divisions.
15 members competed in the Easter 3-day carnival at Canberra. Congratulations to Jeff for 1st place in M65AS and Simon 2nd place in M21A. The rest of us lacked consistency and had good and bad days. The terrain was hilly and the navigating sometimes tricky amongst the boulders (Day 1) and the erosion gullies (Day 2). It was good to watch elite competition, and marvel at how fast they are. On Day 3 the distant views across the paddock kept spectators entertained watching competitors make their way out of the forest and up to the final control.
Good luck to the members heading to Snow Hills this weekend for State League 2 & 3. Send us your report.
Following are some photos from the Easter Carnival. Were you spotted by the IKO photographer?
David
Series winner Angus Sheddon with sons Rory and Ewan
SummerGong 4 was run in perfect weather yesterday morning. The first challenge was finding a parking spot at Flagstaff Hill, Wollongong, with space in demand from Nippers, surfers and the breakfast crowd. Angus Shedden (SHOO) had his third win of the series, collecting all 30 controls but was 12 seconds late back, so finished with 590 points. Second was Darren Harrow (IKO) on 520 points and Rohan Taylor on 500 points.
Congratulations to Angus Shedden (SHOO) who won the overall series with an almost perfect score of 397 points (three wins and a second place). Second place went to Alexander Karavaev (IKO) with 265 points and third place to Linda Sesta (Uringa) with 244 points.
IKO members filled seven of the top ten spots. The highest placed non-member was Melinda Wiecek who competed at three events and scored 176 points. Melinda will be offered a 1 year membership reimbursement if she joins IKO.
On the short course Cooper Anderson made it around the 10 controls in a winning time of 19:00 minutes (no doubt due to the expert coaching of “Poppy Keith”). Both of Keith’s grandchildren Cooper and Flynn completed all four of the short courses during the series with Cooper being the series winner. Well done Cooper.
Rory Sheddon came second over the short course series after competing in three of the four events, while IKO junior Ruby Harrow narrowly beat her brother Bailey to third place for the series. Congratulations to all of the children who participated in the short course events, hopefully we have helped to inspire a few more junior O-champs.
The day’s results can be accessed here and the cumulative results can be found here Summergong 2016 Final Scores
The series point scores for the short course is here Summergong 2016 Short course.
Finally, a big thanks to all the IKO members who helped out course setting, organising, coaching and helping at the assembly areas. As usual, great team work was displayed by all.
A good crowd of old and new orienteers turned up at MacCabe Park for SummerGong 3
The weather was cooler than last week but the competition was hotter at MacCabe Park today. Simon, the winner of last year’s SummerGong Series, set a challenging course through the light industrial and residential streets of South Wollongong. Angus Sheddon of SHOO had another win and took the points. Canberra Junior Oliver Mill used the course as a training run and visited all 30 controls to collect 600 points but was 18 minutes late back.
It was the biggest field of the series so far with 31 individuals/groups in the score event and 8 kids tackling the short course (some more than once). Congratulations to Wiley for running the course in 6.36 minutes on his second lap.
The cumulative series point score can be found here: Summergong 2016 point score.
So far we have had 44 entrants in the score event. With one week to go Angus is looking the favourite although Alex, Linda, Natalya, might just pass him depending on who starts and finishes next week.
The final SummerGong event is at Flagstaff Hill Wollongong near the lighthouse. We suggest you come early to bag a good parking spot.
David Green
The scenic finish control at SummerGong 2 at Sandon Point south of Thirroul
There were only three words to describe today’s second event in the SummerGong Series – hot, hot and hot (and I’m not just referring to the competition). The 34 degree temperatures made getting around the course hard work, but this was offset by the fantastic views from the start and finish point (great choice Salme!) and the opportunity for a cooling dip in the ocean for those who came prepared.
Nineteen competitors entered the score event with IKO’s Alex Karavaev and Simon Louis coming in equal first with 380 points. Thirteen juniors (individuals and groups) entered the 1km kids course with Rory Sheddon of SHOO finishing in the quickest time of 22:31.
The series point score after two events sees Angus Sheddon from SHOO at the top of the table with IKO’s David Green a close second. See the cumulative Summergong 2016 point score here.