December 29, 2009

Canberra's population at 351,182


Canberra cracks the 350,000 mark
BY NATASHA RUDRA
18 Dec, 2009 08:17 AM
The ACT's population has crossed 350,000 for the first time, statistics show.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures issued earlier this month put Canberra's population at 351,182.
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said there had been a natural increase in the population with births and deaths giving Canberra a net total of 717 extra people.
An extra 627 overseas migrants also added to the total.
Canberra's population is predicted to reach 500,000 by the middle of the next century and the ACT Government believes it will hit 400,000 by 2022.
In March, the ACT's population was sitting at 349,000.
The Government has put together an online guide which tracks population changes and its projections. The guide is at www.cmd.act.gov.au

December 26, 2009

Walshe Welcome

In The Birth Notices of The Canberra Times
To Linda and Nick
Welcome to Noah Jasmine 17 December 2009
See previous post on Nick Walshe re The Runners Shop
The Runners Shop January sale soon to be advertised to the public.
Who will feature in the Runners Shop Ads?
Hop into the Runners shop and congratulate Nick and speak to the staff.

December 23, 2009

THE RUNNERS SHOP/BROOKSBLACK MOUNTAIN CHALLENGESUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER, 2009
It was another beautiful morning in Canberra for the running of the 21st annual Runners Shop Brooks Black Mountain Challenge. Once again the start was delayed by some minutes to allow some extra time for competitors who had been inconvenienced by the road closures due to the Canberra Half Ironman Triathlon. The organisers had been watching the road closure notifications carefully but with signs indicating closures on 6 December and 20 December, it was thought the roads were clear, but no such luck! At the starting line it appeared to be a race in three for overall honours with New Zealand triathlete, Nick Horspool, 2005 winner (and 1991 junior winner), Dave Osmond, and 2006 winner, Stuart Doyle, while in the female section, it looked like a race between last year’s winner, Jessamy Hosking and last year’s runner up, Vanessa Haverd. By the time they got to the top of the hill, Nick was 32 seconds ahead in a time of 18.29 with Dave second in 19.01 and Stuart another 14 seconds back in 19.15. Stuart was first veteran, not far in front of Bruce Graham (19.21) to reverse last year’s veteran result, and the third veteran, Ian McConville was the next runner across the line (20.17). Their times were well outside Gerard Ryan’s untouchable veteran record time of 18.15. In the female event, the result was the same as last year with Jessamy in 9th place overall in 20.43, a PB 14 seconds faster than last year. Vanessa was 12th overall in 21.07 and another PB, 32 seconds faster than last year while former dual Australian mountain running champion, Judith May was third in 22.52. Louise Sharp was fourth with Elizabeth Humphries fifth.Despite a troublesome knee, Fiona Jorgensen was the first female veteran (24.49) for the eight consecutive year but well outside her own veteran record (21.17) set in 1999. In the junior section, 15 year old Ryan Gibson (23.00), was the first male but did not challenge Paul Crake’s 1994 junior record (18.34) which appears unbeatable. Fourteen year old Naomi Stewart (26.05) was the first junior female but she was also well outside the junior female record set by Emily Brichacek last year (21.10) which also appears untouchable. In the superveteran (60 years and older) category, Paul Archer (25.35) was ahead of Robbie Costmeyer (26.01) and Bob Harlow (26.52) but did not threaten Kent Williams 2006 supervet record (22.52). To complete a family trifecta, Sue Archer (26.23) was the first female supervet and lowered her own supervet record set last year by 30 seconds.There were no changes to the male race rankings but in the female rankings, Jessamy has moved from 4th to 3rd while Vanessa has moved from 7th to 5th.After the completion of the run, finishers and their families enjoyed a breakfast of fruit salad and bread subsidised by that long time supporter of ACT Athletics, Baker’s Delight. The race prizes and barrel draws were sponsored by The Runners Shop and Brooks.This was the 19th running of the event on the current course. Tom van Gerwen and Nigel Coldrick have both run 18 of the 19. Fiona Jorgensen, Hugh Jorgensen, and Jim White have each run 17 while Brian Wenn has run 16. Ex-Canberran Rick Hatcher has run 15 while Maria White has run 14. Nick Blackaby, Maree Coldrick, Hugh Moore, Carol Harding and and race statistician, Mick Corlis have all run 13. Rounding out the stayers with 12 runs are Roger Abbott, Ray Bramwell and Doug Fry. Many thanks to Mick for processing the results.
Report circulated by Ian Boyd to those who requesred it.

December 16, 2009

BBQ Stakes latest news

On a day when the temp reached 34 degrees. 34 or was it 36 ran the BBQ Stakes.
The winner of The Honest John award for 2009 was announced as Helen Larmour.

Kerrie Tanner was announced as the new handicapper for the BBQ Stakes, and took up duties today, by announcing the placegetters.

She is known as the organiser of the Women's and Girls' Jogalong for several years, after taking over from Maria white's nine year reign in that task. She gave up that role, which was taken over by a team of 3 lovely ladies.
Welcome to the helm of the BBQ Stakes, Kerrie.

December 10, 2009

Firewall Conflict

After installing an update to my security program, following advice that my Internet Security file was not the latest available, I started having trouble connecting to, and staying connected to the internet.
This caused considerable concern and anguish to me, and I eventually had contact with the technical support people at the company concerned.
It was difficult to explain my concerns over the phone , which they took the time to listen to, and attempt to resolve my problems.
The second contact came up with the suggestion that there was a conflict between the program's firewall, and the Windows firewall.
After much toing and froing, the program's firewall was disabled.
Now, I can connect to, and stay connected to the internet, without dropping out of a connection, which had been happening during the conflict.
I thanked them for their help, and I have fingers crossed against having any more dramas.

BBQ Stakes 9th December 2009

Christmas Relays
9th December 2009
Over 30 teams competed in the 2 person relay to try and finish as near to 40 minutes for the usual course of 6 kms.
A BBQ afterwards, presided over by "Cook" Brian Crowe, was enjoyed by all finishers, with awards and presentations presided over by organisers, Steve Smith, Adrian Plunkett and Terry Levings. Long time sponsor, Brian Wenn also competed.
The relay winners were the team of Rad Leovic and Roger Pilkington, who have had 12 or so relays as a team.
Ian Hore won the pointscore for the year, with Dan Buckley beibg second in the pointscore.
Steve Smith came up with a list of notable achievements for the year, one being that there were 59 P.B s for the year.

December 07, 2009

Urban Polaris 2009

Bob Harlow and Steve Hough 15th Male team 6:44
Bronwyn Calver and Jodie Davis 14th Female team. 6:49
Hope I've correctly read the results
Until next time.
I think Bob went in the 2008 event.

December 02, 2009

BBQ Stakes 2 December 2009

Some mean spirited person, knocked off "stole" the bike belonging to Roger Pilkington during today's event.

It was parked near the underpass, but when moving from the start to the finish area, the starters did not notice any bike in the underpass.

45 runners again today, with only 44 booking in before the event , and Ian Hore winning by a clear margin, and winning the point score competition for the year.

Ian Hore was first today, after a long absence from winning, Adrian Plunkett came in second with Nathan Smith, placing third.

A reminder that the Christmas relays will be held next Wednesday from 5:30 pm. End of year awards and presentations will also be made.