Hill End - GO's BIG DAYS OUT

March 30th/31st saw 59 Garingal members amongst the 400+ participating in the State League 1 and 2 or the National Orienteering League competitions being conducted that weekend.  For Garingal it was a mammoth exercise in logistics.  Jim Forbes was course setter on the Saturday and Aniko and Peter Fozo setters on the Sunday (guided by Controllers Ron Junghans from GO and Andrew Lumsden from BF).  After a year of planning, all went beautifully! We are so indebted to them and to Johnny Petersen and Warwick Selby who were the Organisers, and to the Start team led by Graeme Dawson and the Finish team led by Colin Burnett. A foggy start on the Saturday came after much rain overnight.  But things only got better.  Thirty-five for dinner at the Lodge Motel on Saturday night for a bit more conviviality.  Orienteering runs so well because of the amazing goodwill of the volunteers.  We thank them all - and there were many!

Intro to 2019 President and Secretary

At the Garingal AGM on 8^th February, two new faces appeared on the GO Committee.  Barbara Junghans was elected President and YC Lee assumed the role of Secretary.

First, the Garingal Committee extends big thanks go to both Ross Duker and to Rod Eckels for their tireless work over the last few years!  Amongst the many background duties as Secretary for the last five years, Rod kept members in touch with his regular emails and had a major role at the Australia Champs in 2017.  Ross’s three year role as President was supplemented by his role at the SI download desk at many events and the compilation of the regular GO Newsletter. 

Now some background on our two new leaders: GO Secretary: YC Lee.  YC (as he is known) has been a member of GO for 3 years.  He runs in the SSS Super Veteran category, and otherwise as an M55.  In Hong Kong, YC did a little bit of orienteering before coming to Australia in 1990.  He owns an international IT company doing custom computer system administration support for an airline.  One thing that YC would like this year is for GO to have coaching sessions. 

GO President: Barbara Junghans.  Barbara has been a member of GO since 1975 and is easily recognised by the crutches she uses when out on her SSS Walking Women and 65AS courses.  Over the years she has filled various roles including Newsletter Editor and Secretary back in the early 80s, with her latest contribution being Director of the Australian Orienteering Carnival in 2017 covering seven events over nine days.  Barbara graduated as an optometrist but moved into academia.  She is currently Associate Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at UNSW, but is in semi-retirement working just two days per week.  Barbara would like to see greater consultation and involvement of the juniors in Garingal.

Congratulations to Jim Merchant

Garingal’s New Life Member – Jim Merchant Congratulations to Jim Merchant on being awarded life membership of Garingal for his many years of outstanding service to the club. Since he joined in 1984, his service has included many activities, but a major contribution is the many maps he has made. Jim has been involved in field work and cartography for over 18 maps! Including: the 1992 version of Curl Curl Lagoon, the 2005 version of Mitchell Park, Amazing Wahroonga Park, The Clay Pan, and The Chase. As part of the 3 Amigos team he has also had a major role in finding new locations that are suitable for making orienteering maps at State League level. Another important contribution has been to act as Events Coordinator – TWICE. Jim has also spent many hours setting orienteering courses at the highest levels. Some of his most memorable courses were: NSW State Champs 1993, and the Qualifier for the JWOC Middle distance champs at Dubbo in 2007. Jim has also been involved with nearly 50 club events, and has a wealth of course setting experience which he is happy to share with newer setters. Finally, Jim is Garingal’s club statistician. He keeps detailed records to calculate who is the club champion each year, and also has a historical database and facts and figures.