The 2016 Macquarie University Amazing Race is on again, and all staff are invited to get involved. So dust off that fancy dress costume, bring out your competitive spirit and get ready for an afternoon of fun and team building.

Teams of four can register now through the Macquarie website, or individuals can sign up and be allocated a team. On race day, teams will leave the start point with a map and their first clue which they must crack to determine their next check point. At each destination, teams must work together quickly to complete a fun, physical or mental challenge in order to gain points and to receive the clue to continue the race.

“The race only took a couple of hours but our team talked about it for months afterwards; it was a real hoot!” said Campus Engagement Development Officer Lauren Hargreaves, who was one quarter of the ‘Welcome 1’ team from Campus Engagement in 2015.

The event is focused on fun, participation and community spirit. For Macquarie staff, it is the perfect opportunity for an afternoon team-building activity or some friendly office rivalry; the crew from Campus Engagement entered two teams in 2015!

For any staff new to Macquarie, it’s also a nice occasion to get out of the office and find areas of the campus they might have not yet discovered.

“We were probably the slowest team but it really didn’t matter; it was good fun and a great way to get everyone out of the office and around the campus,” said Robert Ephraums, Team Leader, Campus Engagement and part of the 2015 ‘Welcome 1’ team.

Giveaways and prizes will be awarded for the fastest team, the team with the most points and the most creative team costume. A free barbecue will conclude the event for participants.

For more details and to register, visit the Amazing Race website.

If racing isn’t your thing, but you’re still keen to get involved, you can volunteer to help out at one of the checkpoints during the event. Contact Manager – Sport Development, Kate Butler (kate.butler@mq.edu.au) to register your interest.

Date: Thursday 31 March
Time: 1pm, with a barbecue presentation from 4pm
Where: All around campus, starting from the Central Courtyard

Student sporting excellence celebrated
Olympic diver Melissa Wu was named Macquarie’s female athlete of the year at the recent Blues Awards ceremony. Melissa also won the Chancellor’s Award on the night, and is pictured above with Elizabeth Crouch, Deputy Chancellor, at the awards.

In total, 11 elite athletes were recognised at the event for their outstanding sporting achievements representing Macquarie University, their state, or the nation in 2015. A full list of winners can be viewed online.

Black holes make gravitational waves across the science community
Macquarie physicists, astronomers and others from the campus science community gathered last Friday to celebrate and discuss the announcement of the first direct detection of gravitational waves through the Advanced LIGO project. The detected waves were a result of two massive black holes merging around 1.3 billion years ago. They are a long-awaited vindication of the predictions made by Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

“The discovery represents the beginning of a completely new form of astronomy,” explains Associate Professor Michael Steel, Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Photo caption (clockwise from top):  Associate Professor Michael Steel speaks to the gathering; (Left to right) Professor Mark Wardle, Associate Professor Michael Steel, Associate Professor Daniel Zucker and Professor Orsola De Marco of the Department of Physics and Astronomy; Associate Professor David Coutts demonstrating how an interferometer works; Associate Professor Daniel Terno explains the use of squeezed light in LIGO to some students.

Build a bot – students scramble to complete their robot as Australia’s largest robotics competition approaches
If you walk past F9C this week, you might hear the sounds of drills, electric saws and general tinkering. No, it’s not just coming from the construction work in the area – groups of school students, Macquarie students and engineering mentors are now meeting daily to complete the design, construction and programming of their robots in time for day one of the Australia Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on 17 March. Learn more about FIRST and this exciting competition.

Bondi classroom: The Biggest English lesson
Last Friday, 12 February, around 3000 English language students met at Bondi Beach to take part in a four-hour event to break a Guinness World Record: the biggest English lesson ever undertaken. More than 100 Macquarie students participated and Trish Behan, a senior teacher at the English Language Centre, conducted part of the lesson on stage. The lesson also featured in SBS coverage.

Have you registered for the Warrior Walk tomorrow? If not, there’s still time! All staff are invited to take part in this free event, run in partnership with the team at Warawara, featuring an indigenous theme.

Starting in the Central Courtyard on Wednesday 14 October at 12.30pm, the group will take a two kilometre stroll around campus, past the bush tucker garden and the Learning Circle. The walk will conclude with a free bush tucker-themed lunch, served in a re-usable salad shaker.

The walk aims to demonstrate how easy it is to include healthy exercise and food into a working day, and is also a great opportunity to catch up with friends around campus.

Date: Wednesday 14 October
Time: 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Location: Central Courtyard (start)

Registrations are open online now.

The free classes began in 2012 as part of the Warriors@Work program and are now offered three times a week in the Courtyard Studio at the Sport and Aquatic Centre. All staff members are invited to attend and do not need to be current members of the Sport and Aquatic Cenre.

“Quite a number of staff have benefited from our Tai Chi classes over the past three years, and we would like to share the joy with even more of the Macquarie community,” says Theresa Han, Finance Manager, Property Office.

In addition to classes, attendees come together for performances – 15 performed with fans in the Central Courtyard for Uni Club Day recently. Others in the class travelled to Melbourne for championships organised by Wushu Tai Chi and Qigong Australia where they won medals.

Class attendees love to share the numerous benefits they receive from the classes.

“It is very relaxing and rejuvenating for the whole body and mind. It also strengthens the muscles and helps me to keep fit. The most important thing though is that I have made lots of good friends,” says Suchitra Patki, OPS-Financial Accounting.

Gianluca Alimeni from the Department of International Studies adds, “It is a stress release and generally lowers the heart rate and improves breathing. Overall it provides great mental elasticity.”

Class Schedule

• Tai Chi and Qigong:  Mondays 12pm – 1pm
• Tai Chi Fan: Tuesdays 1pm – 2pm
• Tai Chi, Qigong and Tai Chi Fan: Thursdays 1pm – 2pm

Interested in joining a class or have questions? Visit the Warriors@Work website or contact Lanna Leung (lanna.leung@mq.edu.au).

2015 marks the second year the North Harbour Rays has partnered with Macquarie as their principal sponsor for the National Rugby Championship, Australian Rugby’s exciting third tier competition.

Cindy Hoad, General Manager Sport & Recreation, says the continued partnership strengthens the University’s role within the community.

The club, which draws from the talent of the local area including Manly, Warringah, Gordon and Northern Suburbs, represents Sydney’s North Shore in a national level competition.

“More than 30 per cent of our domestic students come from north of the Harbour and this is a great way to engage with schools in the region, particularly with those that have strong rugby programs,” says Cindy.

The new season may have kicked off last week but there is a whole season ahead for staff and the wider Macquarie community to get behind the team. Although the Rays were not victorious at their first match, they did an outstanding job to keep the score tight and make up the half-time deficit signalling many more exciting games ahead.

Show your support of the Macquarie University North Harbour Rays and see them in action. Book your game day passes online or visit the Macquarie University Sport and Aquatic Centre.

The program can help enhance the physical education of your children by giving them access to our venues and an array of different sports and activities during the school holidays.

Whether your children are looking to learn a new sport or pursue a new activity in a fun, friendly and safe environment, then we have something in store for them.

Age Group: This program is offered to primary school children (ages 5 to 12).
When: 7 – 10 April and 13 – 17 April

Each sport or activity is offered under the guidance of qualified coaches and instructors, and sessions are designed specifically for the age group and abilities of your child.

Activities include swimming, gymnastics, cricket, parkour, basketball, African drumming and more.

Visit the program website for more information, pricing and to register.

Macquarie elite athletes came together for the recent launch of the 2015 Sport Scholarship Program.

The annual event welcomed our 2015 Sport Scholars with an evening of recognition, praise and celebration, congratulating Category 1 and 2 Sport Scholars on their successes in front of their peers.

“The Sport Scholarship accolade is a proactive program demonstrating Macquarie University’s support for its elite student athletes in achieving both their sporting and academic goals,” said Cindy Hoad, General Manager – Sport and Recreation.

In 2014 Macquarie supported 86 National and State level athletes including Olympians and National Champions along with over 20 emerging athletes.

“Our Scholars are a very diverse group of athletes and cover a wide range of sports,” said Cindy.

As well as being well-represented in the more mainstream areas of athletics, swimming and all forms of football, our students are also high achievers in dragon boat racing, surf ski ocean racing, ultimate frisbee, sport aerobics, modern pentathlon, surf life saving and football refereeing.

Find out more about our 2015 Sports Scholars and the program.

With the exception of Christmas Day the Sport and Aquatic Centre and Crunch Café will remain open (reduced hours) throughout this period. Security Services will remain in operation throughout the holiday period.

Find out more about upcoming campus construction work.

AFC Asian Cup contender Korea Republic have chosen our campus as their base to prepare for their AFC Asian Cup tilt in January.

“Sport has been at the heart of our University since it was founded 50 years ago,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Registrar) Deidre Anderson. “Recently we have hosted the All Blacks and Socceroos, and Sydney FC have had their home training grounds here for several years now.

“We are delighted to welcome the Korean Football Association to our sporting community!”

The team will arrive on 27 December and train on our grounds until 6 January, when they will head to Canberra for their first two Asian Cup games against Oman on 10 January and Kuwait on 13 January.

Read more in the newsroom.

After two wins and two draws, the Rays notched up a 34-34 draw yesterday with a last-gasp penalty goal against the UWS Greater Sydney Rams.

Macquarie’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr Paul Schreier – who serves alongside CFO John Gorman and Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Crouch on the Rays’ Board as part of the University’s commitment to the success of the venture – says while competition points have been extremely hard to come by, the sponsorship has been very worthwhile from the University’s perspective.

“For a relatively modest investment, and in a small but symbolic way, Macquarie University has been able to demonstrate its commitment to its local region,” he says. “Many of our students come from the North Shore, so it’s a way we can reach out to them, their high schools, families and communities around a shared goal of nurturing young talent.”

One highlight of the season so far was the selection of Rays player and Macquarie University student Michael Wells in the National Sevens Squad, while a lowlight was a lost bet with Charles Sturt University when the Rays lost 33-21 to the CSU NSW Country Eagles in Round 3.

Staff wishing to attend the Rays last home game of the year, against Brisbane City at Brookvale Oval on Thursday October 9 can purchase tickets for $10 and catch a free bus from the Macquarie University Sport & Aquatic Centre at 6pm (reserve a seat by emailing sportbookings@mq.edu.au) and returning to the University.