Hi Everyone
Just a few bits of EU news to keep you in the picture as the days get shorter – before they get longer after the Winter Solstice on about the 23 June (a full moon).
1 Ian Lawford leaves for JWOC Ian is off to Czech Republic tomorrow night to get ready for JWOC (29 June to July 6). He will be joined by Coach Roch on the 20th June. The club granted Ian some $$ toward his return airfares (and he thanked me at Captain’s Gully event). We hope to follow his journey at his 3rd (and final) JWOC on the team website (on the OA front page) and by blogs, emails and twitter. He seems to be in good condition – so much so that he has been selected (by JiM Russell) to run the first leg (11pm start with 1000’s of teams light the forest with headlamps) of Jukola (the biggest relay in the world). JWOC’13 is Ian’s best chance for placing in the top 20 in the world – so we wish him well and hope “Eureka” rings thru the forests at the finish of his individual and relay races. Aislinn is also not far away from departing Australia for Finland’s WOC. We can count on Aislinn to keep us up to date!
2 Captain’s Gully – a resounding success for Eureka Seventeen of our Eureka faithfuls tackled a new map only 30 minutes from Ballarat on Sunday – and came up with a near-record performance of ~115 points. As usual there were highs and lows but winners are grinners so Aislinn, Judy, Jenny, Dale Ann, Seth and Chris wearing the big grins. And a blast from the past – Terry Haebich (now in the 60’s) walked his way to a 6th place (if only he hadn’t stuffed up one control!). Great to see you and Helen back. We look forward to seeing more of you at the local and state foot-o events as the winter progresses. Aislinn again organised the junior and senior elite in a training exercise after they had run their courses – putting back her valuable experience into their preparation for state, national and international events in 2013. Well done Aislinn – we wish you well in the grey areas (flat rock faces) and Finnish swamps from 7-14 July.
3 Eureka Meeting #4 at ELC on Monday 17th June Put this one in your calendar while we discuss the mapping plans for the club over the next 3-5 years and set some time-lines for map production leading up to the 2015 Australian Championships in Ballarat. So join us at the ELC at 7.30pm (or on Skype), bring your ideas and prepare to set the wheels rolling for what promises to be a great showcase event for Ballarat and Eureka.
4 Little Bendigo School – Venue for next Eureka Local event Jenny and Geoff are setting 2 Hard, 1 Medium and 1 Easy course – starting and finishing at the Little Bendigo PS in Nerrina on Sunday 23rd June from 10.00 to 11.30am. Blake will be bringing out the club’s new running shirts for sale at the reduced price of $40 (a real $30 discount from the list price). They look terrific – so bring your cheques or $$ and give yourself a new lift to your orienteering! Then the local series continues in July with Warwick setting the courses, followed by Chris doing the planning for August. We’ll sort out the dates and venues at Nerrina. Still looking for planners for September and October at one of our in-town forests – contact Jenny (the Lawfords leave for Czech Rep on 27th June – so be quick)
5 Bi-Cyclic Navigator a Winner Thanks to a great day in Daylesford, an accurate map and a challenging pattern of controls set by Ken and Anitra, over 40 keen cyclists – with a half dozen of Monica’s Ballarat’s Dirt Girls doing their first mtbo – enjoyed one of Eureka’s icon events again receiving rave reviews. Declan Dickson (M-16) had a particularly good ride (less than 200 points behind winner Carolyn Jackson) while the Keeble family and the Dirt Girls enthusiastic about their experience. We hope to have them all at the next mtbo Vic Series event (planned by Tony K and Michael M) on the Sunday 30th June at Maryborough. One of few problems on the day saw Joyce Rowlands lose her car keys while out on the course – but in a miraculous highlight Peter C and Carolyn J went out and FOUND JOYCE’S KEYS. But then EU temporarily ‘misplaced’ one key during the pick-up of controls – extending that task. Seems like low technology foiled us temporarily this time.
6 TV’s a Hit at the Ballarat Basketball Mark hired the club TV’s to post instant results for the big junior basketball tournament at the Minerdome on the long weekend. So now we have just about ½ paid off one of the screens since February AGM’s decision to buy them – not a bad start on paying off the new technology.
Cheers
Blake