2011 was a busy year for Bennelong Northside. We organised a major event at Wattle Ridge, a Metro League at Pennant Hills, a Junior League and CATI at Lake Parramatta, the Great NOSH Footrace, 6 Summer Series events during the calendar year, 3 in the second half of the 2010-11 season and 3 in the first half of the 2011-12 season, a Southern Series event at Clovelly and 2 sprint Series events. Read more…
As well we won Division D in the Metro League, several club members were selected in their age groups for the Australian Team that contested the ANZ challenge.
Our website was extensively upgraded in 2011.
We also now have some bright new banners to display at our events.
We even won the Golden table award at the OANSW presentation night.
Organisation
Our major event of the year was the State League at Wattle Ridge on 3rd April set by Gordon Wilson, organised by Rob Spry with Peter Meyer of SHOO the controller. This is an excellent map not too far from Sydney which should do us for many years to come. We have now used this map for 4 consecutive years, but it will be rested in 2012 while our major event goes west to the excellent Gumble maps.
The Metro League at Pennant Hills on 24th July was set by Joel Putnam, organised by Wayne Pepper and controlled by Graham Galbraith. At this event our new banners were rolled out. They have been extensively used ever since.
It looked like the 2010 NOSH might be the last one run until Darren Slattery and Joel Putnam put up their hand and organised the 2011 event. I know from experience it is a major undertaking to organise this event, so many thanks to Darren and Joel for the hard work they put in to make this event a success.
We hadn’t used Lake Parramatta for several years, but the event on 18th Sept organised by Marina and Fedor showed what an excellent area in the middle of suburbia it is. The Junior League final and a CATI were held on the day.
We held 6 Summer Series events in 2011. 3 in the first half of the year and 3 in the current 2011-12 season. These events have large turnouts, so the club relies on helpers to staff the registration, start finish and control collection. In every case we’ve had willing bands of helpers to ease the load on the organisers. Last season’s organisers were Gordon Wilson and Judi Hay at Fiddens Wharf on 2nd Feb, Rob Spry at Clontarf on 2nd March and Steve Flick at Five Dock Bay on 30th March. In the current season but in 2011, the organisers were Terry Bluett at Burnt Bridge Creek on 19th October, Marina Iskhakova on 14th December at Chinamans Beach and Phil Harding at Clifton Gardens on 21st December. We have 2 more events to go this season and one already completed in one of the wettest events I’ve ever been to at Pottery Green recently.
A Southern Summer Series was started in 2011, Bennelong organised one event in this series at Clovelly on 15th November set by Joel Putnam.
Bennelong organised 2 events in the 2011 Sprint Series. The first at Manly Dam on 2nd Jan organised by Terry Bluett and at Pennant Hills Park on 21st February organised by Wayne Pepper. I can recommend these events for any inexperienced members of the club, as a way of improving their orienteering and progressing to bush orienteering where the navigation challenges are more difficult than experienced in the Summer Series.
Competition
We entered 3 teams in Metro League in 2011, in Divisions 1, 3 and 4. Our Div 1 team struggled this year after being promoted after being premiers in Division 2 in 2010 and will be relegated to Division 2 in 2012. Our Division 3 team finished in the middle of the pack while our Division 4 team was victorious taking out the competition and being promoted to Division 3 in 2012. Congratulations to Rod Parkin,Adam Halmy, Bethany Halmy, Bruce Dawkins, Frank Assenza, Judi Hay and Peter Thomason our division 4 premiers.
Three of our club members were selected in the Australian Team to represent Australia in the Australia-New Zealand Challenge. Eric Morris, Judi Hay and Steve Flick all represented their age groups in the successful Australian Challenge team.
As well as the Australia-NZ challenge, Australian and Oceania Championships were held.
The following Bennelong members were placegetters in this Carnival:-
Oceania Long
Gordon Wilson 2nd M60A
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
Oceania Middle
Judi Hay 2nd W60A
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
Cheryl Bluett 2nd W45+B
Australian Relays
Gordon Wilson 3rd M55A
Terry Bluett 1st M65A
Judi Hay 1st W55A
Cheryl Bluett 1st Mixed
Oceania Sprint
Terry Bluett 3rd M65A
Australian Long
Gordon Wilson 2nd M60A
Fedor Iskhakov 2nd M21A
Wayne Pepper 1st M35AS
Oceania Relays
Eric Morris 1st M40
Steve Flick 1st M60
Judy Hay 1st W60A
Terry Bluett 2nd M65A
Cheryl Bluett 1st WopenB
The following Championships were held in Western Australia in April/May. The Bennelong placegetters were:-
Australian 3 Days
Judi Hay 2nd W60A
Steve Flick 3rd M60A
Terry Bluett 3rd M65A
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
Cheryl Bluett 1st W45+B
Australian Sprints
Gordon Wilson 3rd M60A
Terry Bluett 2nd M65A
Australian Middle
Cheryl Bluett 3rd WopenB
The NSW Middle and Long Championships were held in the Lithgow area on 10th and 11th September in cold, windy conditions. Bennelong placegetters were
NSW Middle
Terry Bluett 2nd M65A
Darren Slattery 2nd M21AS
Samuel Tsang 3rdM21AS
Wayne Pepper 1st M35AS
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
Cheryl Bluett 2nd WopenB
Janet Dawkins 2nd M/WopenC
NSW Long
Gordon Wilson 1st M60A
Darren Slattery 3rd M21AS
Wayne Pepper 1st M35AS
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
Graham Galbraith 2nd M55AS
Janet Dawkins 2nd M/WopenC
The NSW Sprint Championships were held at Ourimbah on 16th July. The Bennelong placegetters were:-
Gordon Wilson 1st M60A
Steve Flick 2nd M60A
Judi Hay 1st W60A
Fedor Iskhakov 3rdM21A
Melvyn Cox 3rd M55A
Terry Bluett 2nd M65A
Bruce Dawkins 3rd M70A
Samuel Tsang 2nd M21AS
Rob Spry 1st M55AS
There were plenty of other excellent performances by our members at events throughout the year but space does not allow me to acknowledge them. Well done all club members who competed in any events.
Equipment
We are still using 16-18 Cambridge St, Epping as storage for our equipment. We are paying full commercial rates.The club can afford the storage costs but we are would be very happy to take advantage of a cheaper option if a suitable storage place became available.
The club purchased 4 new banners during the year, one for the start, one for the finish and 2 general club banners. They have been used extensively since their purchase and are a great asset for the club. Also purchased is an inverter/battery. This has enabled us to run a computer and splits printer at our events without needing to call on the association’s generator, again a worthwhile addition for the club. We are in the process of purchasing a download unit to go with the club computer, once we have this we will not need to rely on the association’s computers for our events.
This year we also started a new website, many thanks for Darren Slattery for arranging the site and keeping the news updated. The site is http://www.bennelongnorthside.com.au/
We’ve also had a new newsletter editor this year, Many thanks to Marina Iskhakova for the much improved newsletter.
Mapping
During the year there has been an extensive upgrade of the Pennant Hills map as well as a 1:5000 extract of the most suitable area for sprint events.
There is a new map which extends along the coast from Bondi to Coogee, this map was used for the southern Sydney Summer Series.
A new map taking in the northern parts of the Balmoral map and extending up to the Spit Bridge was used for a Summer Series event in December
Membership
We have had a rise in membership numbers in 2011 since last AGM. Welcome to Stephanie Allen, the McGhee family, the Povah family, Chris Cunningham and Pierre Francois.
President’s Award
Last year I acknowledged one of our oldest members in the President’s Award. This year I’d like to acknowledge one of our newest members. This year my award goes to Darren Slattery. Darren has only been a member for 1 year but already has made a tremendous positive impact on the club. Darren took on the job of webmaster in 2011. Darren arranged to tranfer our account to http://www.bennelongnorthside.com.au/ and has also put us on Facebook and Twitter. He updates the site regularly and has arranged things like Routegadget. If you need anything to go on the website Darren updates promptly.
Darren along with Joel Putnam saved the Great NOSH Footrace. It looked like the race might end in 2010 but Darren and Joel agreed to take it on. They did a good job with what is a tough organisational effort.
Darren also organised the recent Pottery Green Summer Series event. This was one of the wettest events I’ve ever experienced, again Darren was an innovator with his map border and control descriptions.
Darren was also instrumental in obtaining our new banners. These have been a great asset for the club. The cost of these banners was very economical. Darren also arranged the purchase of our inverter/battery.
In competition Darren has been a big improver. Darren has been to a few State League events and managed to come 2nd in M21AS in the NSW Middle Distance Championships and 3rd in the NSW Long Championships. Darren has also been improving his scores in the SummerSeries recently.
Well done Darren, your work within the club has been an inspiration to all of us.
Terry Bluett
President
Bennelong Northside Orienteers
7th Feb 2012