World Cup star hails Cockatoo Island

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Last Updated: Monday, 29 December 2014 20:57

Has there been a more anticipated map in recent memory than Cockatoo Island?

Judging by the 413 entries, it's hard to argue against such a bold statement. Thanks to the vision and persistence of innovative club Big Foot, orienteering finally made its debut on Sydney Harbour's largest island for Day 2 of the Xmas 5-Days carnival.

This one had the lot: convict history, maritime relics, tunnels and train tracks, industrial statues, a huge shed/workshop near the start to really test the fine navigation skills - and a 1:3,000 map on two levels. All this in an area 500m x 300m. Part Star Wars, part Easter Island, part Maze Runner. Wow - we're out of breath just summing it up.

Many good judges present rated the fields the strongest ever at an event in Sydney - the first four men and eight women were European elites stopping over before the first round of the 2015 World Cup in Tasmania next week. See Big Foot's report for more detail.

"It was fantastic. It would be great fun to do a World Championship Sprint in this area," said Women's A winner for the second straight day, Swede Tove Alexandersson. Her time of 11m26s (despite a 10s error on the first control) was still 67 seconds quicker than team-mate Karolin Ohlsson.

"I haven't been running in the forest lately, and I only got off the plane yesterday morning, so doing sprint courses is great fun for me right now."

Men's A winner was Tove's team-mate Gustav Bergman, who flew around the 2.1km circuit in 12m14s, almost a minute ahead of Austrian Gernot Kerschbaumer.

Starting from an open shed on the SE tip of the island, the courses quickly bewildered many by going "indoors" for a bit, then up onto the second level of the island. For longer legs the route choice was often "tunnel then steps" or "ramp then weave through buildings" - or vice versa.

It was tight, it was tough and it was terrific new territory. With public transport capped at $2.50 per person on Sundays, it made for a memorable and ridiculously cheap outing as everyone came and went by ferry.

With "glamping" available on the island, we even had a group of campers (not orienteers) rock up and do the moderate course, and they had great fun. It's a pretty good sport where they can do that at the same event as multiple world champs get a hit-out. 

The A courses were set by Andy Simpson, and all other courses by 12-year-old Ewan Shingler (pic, right) to much acclaim. Ewan swears it was pure coincidence that younger sister Nea took out the Women's D division! 

Click on the blue links for Day 2 results, splits, carnival standings, and photos on the ONSW Facebook page with some captions and commentary. Tony Hill has also posted some great photos on his web page.

Orienteering NSW would like to thank the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust for granting us permission to access such beautiful locations for the first two days of this carnival.