Kangaroos' Tales - August 2014

Saturday, 9 August 2014

Rogaining Reflexions

Thumbing through the recent Rogaining Mag. I was struck by the number of BK members involved, so I thought I would do a quick overview. Here is an off the cuff summary.

Committee Members

On the committee we have Tom Lothian (Pres), Kate Gavens (Sec), Vic Sedunary (Treas), Andrew Baker (Comm), Brett Sparkes (Comp Man), Grant Jeffrey (Comp Man) and Rebecca Shaw (Development Officer).

Current News

Vic Sedunary and Merv Trease are just back from South Dakota (USA), where they were advising on the course planning for the upcoming World Champs Rogaine. Andrew Baker is setting this years Aust. Champs Rogaine.

Recent Results

In the recent Saturday 6 Hour Andrew Baker finished first overall, while Rob Mason, Peter Brooks, John Gavens, Alan Cooke, Helen Alexander and Judi Herkes, all were very competitive.

In the Sunday 6 Hour Tim Plozza came first overall, while Merv Trease, Vic Sedunary,  Len Budge, Eric Davidson, Tim and Liz Hatley were again prominent in the results.

Volunteers - Current state of play

BK Volunteers for future Rogaines include: Len Budge, Peter Brooks, Christine Raviart, Andrew Hunter, Tom Lothian, Kate Gavens, Tina Smith, Bev Trease, Eric Davidson, Brett Sparkes and Grant Jeffrey.

World Scene

The Australian Rogaining Association President is David Rowlands who has held this position for a number of years.

A Short Histroy of BK and Rogaining

Jim Russell, Mike Walters and Dave Rowlands as members of BK were all World Champions in the early days of the World Championships competition.

Nigel Aylott was the next BK world Champion winning the title twice!

Current results

At present Andrew Baker has been winning State and National titles over a period of time with various partners.

Merv Trease and Vic Sedunary have been consistent winners of the MV class while Helen Alexander and Judi Herkes have been outstanding performers in the womens Senior Classes

This is not meant to be a thorough record of BK members input, but it certainly gives a clear picture of how members of BK contribute heavily to the continued growth of this aspect of bush navigation.

MTBO at Bostock Reservoir (Near Ballan)

This event is being set by BK, so it’s an ideal chance to come and try a Mountain Bike event. The area has good rideable tracks, and is good for those who want to come and try the sport. The event will be held on 24 August. With courses set by Tom Lothian and Kate Gavens.

Tour de Paris!

Brian Ackerly recently competed in the Paris Marathon, having received a guest invitation to take part.

Bryan noted the great atmosphere that the event had, as well as the huge number of spectators lining the route.

Ski “O”

Paul Bell on Saturday 26 July organised a ski “O”, at Lake Mountain. The keen participants were all enthused about holding another event, when conditions permit. Thanks to Paul for his efficient coordinating of what is a very “tempremental” event weatherwise.

MTBO

The Cusworths, Jacksons and Robertsons are all heading off to compete in the World MTBO Champs in Poland. We wish them well.

John Sheahan

Greg Tamblyn completes bike ride from Perth to Melbourne!

At the end of May he flew to Perth, turned east and started to ride home. From Perth to Busselton, Albany, Esperance, Norseman, across the Nullarbor, Ceduna, Port Lincoln, Adelaide, Mt Gambier, Warnambool and on to Melbourne.

Finally I have ridden home (no I did not make it up the final hill into my place). Total distance Perth to Melbourne was 4502 km with an average of just on 100km per day
 
To me cycle touring is not boring. You tend to see the road and the environment in a completely different way than you would driving the same way. The whole trip had a number of small memorable incidents that I will never forget.
 
In WA I was riding through a long section of rolling hills. No cars on the road for at least half an hour. Then a car came over the hill and slowed. As it came up beside me, the window came down and they offered me a cold drink.
 
I was camped on the Nullarbor and having tea. A grey nomad caravan owner pulled up for the night, saw me and out came the red wine, biscuits and cheese. We talked for ages, drank red and watched a fantastic sunset.

In WA there tend to be long periods (up to an hour) with no vehicles on the road then you get three or four together and then nothing again. There are lots of birds and animals living in the bushes beside the road. They hear a car and disappear, but riding they do not hear me so I often had flocks of small birds around me. Even at one stage an eagle took off just ahead of me and cruised along the road parallel with me for almost a kilometre.
 
Also enjoyable was the way the sounds and smells changed along the road. The eucalyptus, the wheat, the ocean near the Great Australian Bight, the dead kangaroo, the small patches of pines, the sheep in the paddock, the dead kangaroo. Yes there were lots of dead kangaroos. I did get bored sometimes and counting dead kangaroos per 10 km was a short term distraction.
 
Met some interesting people too. A lady walking right around Australia, she tows a cart with her gear. She estimates about two years to finish. When I met her she had just pulled a hammy and was heading to Esperance to have it looked at. The couple who had cycled from London through Asia, flown to Perth and were aiming to finish in Sydney. The New Zealander who flew to Melbourne and was cycling the other way to Perth and then onto London.
 
The hardest part of the trip was trying to get out of Adelaide past Mount Lofty so I could get onto the old Princes Highway. Easy if you have a car, not so easy by bike.
The last few stages into Victoria were very cold and wet but the good part getting close to home was there were more coffee shops and bakeries in the towns which tended to give me a kick along.
 
Will I do something like this again? Don’t know yet. Ask me in a few months.

Greg Tamblyn

MelBushO #5 at Pound Bend

Pound Bend Park lies on a bend of the Yarra River, notable for the 145 metre-long tunnel which was dug out by 19th Century miners to divert the flow of the river, making the whole of the river bend more accessible for gold panning. Like so many schemes of the time, the pickings barely paid back the expenditure.
 
The park is quite small and has limited technical challenge, but is made extremely attractive by its location only ten minutes from our house. I hadn't been there before, but I will certainly return. Planner Ruth took the view that it would not sustain a viable orienteering event every year, but since this series is aimed at newcomers (of which there were many) I'm not so sure.
 
I decided on the Big Boys course again and Pat registered for the C course. I legged it along the path to the first control, overtaking Pat on the way, and pushed it along to the second one. Later splits examination showed I was barely in the top 30 at this stage! Maybe I will catch up later. Or maybe not.

I lose a small amount of time at control 6 when I run past the flag, but find a good route down the steep slope to 8, only to then stagger back up the hill to the next control. This was as good as it got, with another small miss at control 14 before chasing a kangaroo (who clearly had not followed instructions) round the hill.

I finished just inside the hour, well down the order, but ahead of some of my contemporaries. Scanning the results, I could see no-one ahead of me of similar vintage, which is my usual rule-of-thumb.

I enjoyed an event which had changes of vegetation, although the climbing was challenging. I calculated 145 metres of climb (most of it late on), with the course – nominally 5.6km – taking me 6.9km. Adjusting for the climb, that's 7.2 minutes/km. At my time of life, I'll settle for that.

Dennis Mews

Mark Geary

Mark Geary, an MTBO member, who comes from Ireland, sent this photo.

When he met his relatives they had trouble understanding him with his broad Aussie accent!
 
He raced in the European Marathon MTB Championships, held recently near his home town in Ireland, and wore his Bayside Kangaroos jersey with pride. 

Erin van der Peet

We've been representing the Kangaroos over here in Christchurch.  The orienteering is a lot tougher though!  Hi from Matt and I!

We actually have a very funny story to tell too - we met a Matthew van der Peet due to some confusion with there being two registered for an event and have now inadvertently met Matt's 5th cousin who is a Kiwi and also an orienteer!

BKV high up in The Andes

Brett Jacobi is doing a 10 day mtb tour on the Inca Trails, the photo is from day 6. He is heading to Nepal after Peru to start a 12 day mtb tour.

New Club Members - Welcome!

Egil, Mariann, Even and Magnus Fossum have joined us from Norway.
Please all make them feel welcome.