Well it seems that nobody else is going to put pen to paper - or even finger to keyboard - so here is quick rundown on club members activities at the recent Christmas five days down south of the border.
A large group of 20 Novocastrians made their way to the Victorian goldfields region of Ballarat/Daylesford/Creswick, with the first event due to kick in the afternoon of the 27th of December. All stayed in various accommodations at “The Welcome Stranger” caravan park at Ballarat, which offered the delights of a pool, spa, tennis, mini-golf (which PB reckons is one of the best courses around and apparently he knows) and a jumping pillow. Unfortunately the weather was often a bit cold.
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Nathan Berkholz – ran well every day to be second placed male overall.
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Peter Berkholz – had fun trying out his new FRWD brand GPS tracker while trying to beat both Cathy and Lewis. He really wanted to test this thing so he added at least one kilometre on one of the days just to make sure it was working properly.
Had a fall in the sprint and had to retire hurt with some nasty grazes to both hands. Hey Peter….two words…”bike gloves”.
Cathy Jones – kept both her “boys” honest with some good results but the highlight of her trip was a visit to the gardens of St. Erth.
Lewis Berkholz – had a bad start on day one but was right up near the top on the other 4 days leaving mum and dad in his wake.
Nicola Blatchford – a great result, top woman on this course and often, top competitor as well.
Rhiana Roberts – MP’d on Day 1 but fought back to be 3rd woman overall. Great effort.
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Carolyn Rigby – some handy results kept Carolyn in the top ten but she seemed to tire over the carnival, each day progressively slightly slower than the previous. Found some canned bargains at the SPC factory outlet so looks like Russell will need to keep up the training so as not to suffer a weight increase.
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Elly Ross – Overall top placed woman on course, a terrific carnival for Elly considering her lack of experience in these types of terrain.
Russell Rigby – uncharacteristically lost ground on days 3 & 4 in the gold mining areas at Creswick.
Margaret Peel – had troubles on days 1 and 4 but had a shock win in the mini golf challenge.
Carolyn Matthews – hot and cold but to be expected due to a relative lack of experience away from home terrain. Should be happy with her overall placing and her trivia winning form.
Course2 (in order of placing in the Newcastle challenge)
Alex Massey – Overall 3rd placed on this course. Had a great week followed by the National Junior development squad training camp. Had some great MTBO rides as well.
Josh Roberts – Just a tad behind Alex overall but also had some consistently fast runs. Excellent MTBO rides as well.
Russell Blatchford – dug deep to overcome a disastrous day 1, but failed to impress in mini-golf where he was the outright favourite.
Damian Welbourne – (equal points with Russell) had to overcome a day 3 ankle injury. Ran fast but had a few “little” mistakes along the way. Never in the hunt to beat Alex though. Doubled up with some impressive MTBO rides.
Malcolm Roberts – Fast out of the blocks on the first day with a blistering run. Was “spiked” by a large prickly pear bush he ran into on day2 and had to remove many needless after his run. Also had exceptional MTBO rides.
Geoff Todkill – still looking for control 10 on day 2 but got better as the days progressed to post a respectable total. Played a superior round of mini-golf with some inventive strokes.
Geoff Peel – (equal points with Geoff Todkill) was having no problems and placing well above expectations until a disastrous day4 and a slow “sprint” at the uni on day5 bought him back to earth.
Karen Blatchford – 5th placed woman on course just a tad behind the boys with a slow start to the carnival on days 1 and 2 costing her dearly.
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Josh Blatchford – had some pretty impressive results running with the big boys but a sore knee and an upcoming training squad and national representative honours saw him drop out of days 3 & 4 as a precaution against further damage.
Overall a great few days away with a good social atmosphere (especailly for the younger ones) and some challenging orienteering. What more could you want.