Vale Richard Ogilvie

RON PALLAS

Richard or Dick (or at times Tricky Dicky) as he was better known in orienteering circles began orienteering in the early 70s, and was a foundation member of Uringa when it was formed in 1974. Dick took to orienteering, loving the physical and mental challenge that the sport offered, a far cry from his earlier sporting endeavour, playing 1stGrade Rugby for University of NSW, as a prop forward.

Dick was not content to just compete. He served as Uringa President on two occasions, and during the 80s served on the Board of ONSW as the Technical Officer.In this role he was very focused on fairness in course setting.

Dick also set up a unique event called the “Uringa Pairs”, which ran for a number of years, mainly in Belanglo Forest. Dick set and controlled many events, favouring the mental challenge of course setting, always looking for that “perfect leg” on the courses he set. In 2007 Dick was the controller for the Junior World Orienteering Championships staged in Dubbo, a unique feather in his cap of achievements.

Never one to miss an event, Dick and Maureen’s trusty white VW Camper, superseded by the Yellow Camper, was always first in the carpark.This was a comforting beacon for those who arrived unsure that they were in the right place.

Along with Maureen, they travelled across Australia to events, and visited New Zealand a number of times. Perhaps the highlight of their trip to Hong Kong was the 2006 APOC event with Maureen winning Gold, and Dick - Silver, in their respective classes. It was in Europe that the pair found their adopted home, there they travelled and competed extensively over a number of years right up until the last decade.

When Dick was unable to compete, he was still very involved in the sport as could be seen by his many Facebook comments. He would pour over maps and was recently heard to comment after viewing his course from the Australian Championships in Victoria - “Yep, I would have won that”.

Dick was devoted to Maureen and equally proud of his family, including daughters Norny, Sassy and Jenny plus the grandchildren.

LETTER – Xmas 5 Days

Trevor Sauer, Sunshine Orienteers, Queensland

I n his AO article about the Xmas 5 Days, Mike Hubbert mentions that daily prizes can only be won once.How this rule came about is interesting.

In the first five years of the event, this rule did not apply. Sometimes a person won two daily prizes. Then one year an elite competitor entered Men C (one could enter any class one wished), and not surprisingly, won all the daily prizes plus the overall prize.

Some people thought this was beyond the pale, so I approached Dick Ogilvie (the organiser of most of the early 5 day events), with the suggestion that daily prizes be limited to one per person (so that if the same person won on day 2, the prize went to the second placegetter, etc).Dick immediately saw the logic, and every year thereafter he applied the new rule.

(I should mention in passing that the elite runner mentioned above was not slumming in Men C in order to win all the prizes, but simply he wanted a shorter casual run.In so doing, he innocently precipitated the new rule.)