OCTOBER 28 saw the end of the Southern Cross Rally Festival at Jenolan Caves.
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The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Southern Cross Rally, and was a road tour rather than a competitive rally. Organised by Dan and Rosie White, who had directed the Southern Cross Rally out of Port Macquarie between 1974 and 1978.
The event started at Healesville in Victoria and passed through Eildon, Falls Creek, Beechworth, Tumbarumba, Adelong, Yass, Jugiong, Grabben Gullen, Crookwell, Taralga and Edith before descending down Edith Road to Jenolan Caves.
Overnight stays were at Marysville, Mount Beauty, Corryong and Gundagai.
To add to the excitement there was a special guest for the week. Rauno Aaltonen from Finland had won the Southern Cross Rally in Port Macquarie in 1977 and was also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1966 Gallaher 500 at Bathurst when he led home the Minis that filled the first nine places.
Pictured here is Mini belonging to Mini enthusiast Andy Bird from South Australia, a replica of the car Rauno Aaltonen drove to victory in the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally.
It was not intended to be a competitive rally, but was for enthusiasts and anyone who just wanted to find out what rallying is all about while looking at attractive scenery.
There were aspects of competition, such as navigation stages and route charts, but nobody was expected to exceed the speed limit or to take their cars where any damage was likely.
This was a prototype and test for future events. Competitors and officials came from Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and NSW and everyone is looking forward to repeating the experience in years to come.
- PETER BOWDITCH
Women's Golf
THE women’s golfers played a stableford last week in deceptively cold conditions. The sun was shining but the wind was bitingly cold, especially down by the lake. Despite the conditions, some good scores were recorded.
In Division 1: Robyn Slattery came in with 37 points to take the winning position with second and third close behind with Marjorie Webb scoring 36 points and Joan Sullivan scoring 35 points. Robyn also won the nearest the pin.
In Division 2: Vonda Voytilla was very pleased with her performance to win with 33 points. Bev Dale was second with 28 points on a countback from Kathy Mooney. Nearest the pin was won by Bev.
Next week will see the third round of the Club Championships played on Monday and the final round played on Wednesday.
The following Monday, November 21 will be the Ray White Emms Mooney sponsored Open Day.
Rugby league
Group 10 ushered in a new era on Sunday, with the game’s clubs voting in a chairman and directors at the 2016 annual general meeting in Bathurst on Sunday.
But that new era isn’t likely to include Group 11 juggernaut Dubbo CYMS.
The Fishies have been rumored to desire a potential move to the Western Rams’ eastern competition, and recently signaled such an intention to Zamparini, the now Group 10 chairman.
“It hasn’t really gone any further than that though,” Zamparini admitted.
“I don’t think it’s likely to, either. Ignoring boundaries can open up a can of worms … and there’s likely ramifications for our Group, too, if it’s all allowed.
“Mudgee, Cowra, even Orange, you could class the clubs in those towns all on the edges of our Group, and we don’t want to lose them. Removing boundaries makes that a possibility.”
Signing on for his 10th season in charge, Oberon’s Zamparini was voted in as the new chairman of Group 10, with Peter McDonald (Cowra), Gary Goldsmith (Bathurst), Wayne Boyd (Bathurst), Adam Hornby (Blayney), Nick Lander (Bathurst), Matt King (Orange) and Kathy Lang (Mudgee) all appointed as directors in a move that mirrors the Group’s governing body with the changing Country Rugby League constitution.
Zamparini was expecting the move to ease the load on the Group, with each director appointed to facilitate designated areas of the running of the game.
“It’s a move to line everyone up with similar structure to the NRL,” Zamparini added.
Now entering a decade-long tenure in charge of Group 10, Zamparini was hopeful each of the competition’s nine premier league clubs were strong enough in 2017 to field all four grades.
Orange Hawks and Lithgow Workies both fielded three teams in 2016, with the former absent in the under 18s draw and the latter not fielding a first division outfit.
“And at this stage clubs have indicated that’s going to happen, which is great to see,” he said.
The new Group 10 board will meet early in December to initiate plans for the All Stars game, which was a success in its first running at Cowra in 2016.
Indoor bowls
On November 1, Kevin Whalan was the only player to score a rester on the night.
Two players were bowling well in the singles competition and the winning bowler at the last end of the competiton was Kathryn Maloney with 11 points and Kevin Whalan was the runner up on ten points.
Indoor bowls raffle was won by Kathryn.
Well done to all players and see you next Tuesday. Remember players names to be in between 6.50pm and 7pm on the night of bowling in the RSL Club auditorium.
Burraga bowls
EIGHT players were bowling at Burraga on October 26 and the winning team players were skip Shane Stapleton and Gary Fisher. Team runners up were skip Barbara Pearce and George Mifsvd.
Resters went to Gary Fisher, Barbara Pearce, Adam Smith and Armando Giovannetti with one each.
Armando won the Burraga raffle.
On November 2 skip Armando Giovannetti and Jenny Press were the doubles team winners and the runners up team was skip Tony Press and Barbara Pearce.
Resters on the night went to Tony Press, Armando Giovannetti, Shane Stapleton and Jenny Press with one each.
The Burraga raffle was won by Adam Smith.
There were eight players bowling.