Hi all

September was another busy month for Eureka – with great events and terrific results to end the foot-o season. With the return of the Lawfords and Prendergasts FROM overseas and the departure of the Bices and Jones TO overseas destinations – it was a case of Eureka comings and goings!

Victorian Championships in Beechworth – A small but strong team made the trip to the site of the two big events on the 2012 Vic calendar and the results were great!
Middle Champs at Rowdy Flat: 1st Geoff Lawford (M55A), 2nd Jenny Bourne (W50A), Blake Gordon (M65A), Tom Norwood (M80A); 3rd Dale Ann Gordon (W70A)
Long Champs at Kangaroo Crossing: 1st Jenny Bourne (W50A), Belinda Lawford (W21A), Geoff Lawford (M55A), Judy Prendergast (W55+AS); 2nd Aislinn Prendergast (W21E), Dale Ann Gordon (W70A)

Australian Championships in Tasmania – The same small group of Eureka made the flight ‘overseas’ to Tasmania’s NE tin mining country around St Helens. We came away with more than our share of AUS champions!
Middle Champs at St Helens: 1st Geoff Lawford (M55A), Dale Ann Gordon (W70A), Jenny Bourne (W50A); 4th Aislinn Prendergast (W21E)
Sprint Champs at Bicheno: 1st Geoff Lawford (M55A), Dale Ann Gordon (W70A); 3rd Aislinn Prendergast (W21E), Jenny Bourne W50A)
Long Champs at St Helen: 1st Geoff Lawford (M55A), Dale Ann Gordon (W70), Jenny Bourne (W50A); 2nd Judy Prendergast (W55+AS)
Relay Champs at Littlechild Creek: 1st W21 Team Aislinn Prendergast (2nd leg), 1st W35 Team Jenny Bourne (3rd leg), 1st W65 Team Dale Ann Gordon (1st leg); 2nd M45 Team Geoff Lawford (3rd leg)
….so that was an outstanding set of results from our EU contingent of 7 runners at the National Championships. Well done team – and did the new EU tops look great!

New EU Running Tops Arrive – Just in time for the national events we were able to strut our stuff in the new EU tops. You can get yours at the next events – Woodlands for the mtbo crowd or directly from Mark at the Basketball stadium. The EU executive decided to subsidize the cost of the tops, so you will only pay $40 per top – easily the best deal in town and the eye-catching design (thanks again Aislinn) will be seen at the MTBO Nationals at Taree, aMAZEing and Xmas 5-Days.

Victorian Teachers Games a Resounding Success – Check the photos on the EU website for more evidence of another EU top-notch event. Tuesday at Pax Hill and Canadian Forest more than 40 teachers braved the bush for a hour or so – and then a record 135 teachers took on the Ballarat streets in a special Valentine aMAZEing extravaganza. Thanks to club members and St Patrick’s College students that helped Mark stage such a well-received event. It gave a good financial boost to our late season bank balance too!

Upcoming Events This Sunday at Woodlands (right east of the Tullamarine Airport) is the last mtbo event in the 2012 Victorian Series. The awards for ‘Orienteer of the Year’ will be presented – and we have 2 winners this year: Monica Dickson (W40-) and Dale Ann Gordon (W70-). So make it a day in the city and go along to enjoy a ride in the bush – on the cities edge just south of Sunbury.

Then it’s the 5th Cyclic Navigator (just west of Daylesford – up Basalt and Werona Road) on Sunday 21st October. Ken and Anitra have put a lot of effort into the re-mapping and extension of the beautiful area – so volunteer your time at the finish and have a ride of either 4 or 6 hours. The entry form is on the Eureka website – volunteers please let Blake know and he’ll arrange work for you to do before/after the event.

…and then to cap off the mtbo season the 2012 AUS MTBO titles are set for Taree (NSW). Entries close early (SUNDAY, 14th October) – so do not miss out. We hope to have a good contingent of Victorian riders to win the State Shield and pick up a few National Individual titles in the bargain.

…and finally Winners are Grinners – sneaked a look at the final results of the Victorian Orienteer of the Year (Foot-O) and calculated that EU will improve on last year with Aislinn (W21E), Judy (W55+AS), Dale Ann (W70) and Tom (M80) scoring top points over the year in their classes. Well done – but wait til we are back at full-strength in 2013!

Cheers
Blake

Have a look at what these juniors did in mtbo and foot-o after “having a go’ at orienteering while in school: Click Here

Also some blog entries from Ballarat athlete Aislinn Prendergast about her experiences representing Australia at the World Orienteering Championships: