Level 0 coaching course Jan 22 in Sydney
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 January 2020 17:35
Our next Level 0 coaching course will be on Wed Jan 22 from 12-4pm at Sydney Olympic Park.
Level 0 is for people coaching newcomers / children, and will include a brief intro in how to use Purple Pen to set courses. For people wishing to coach in the Sporting Schools program, it will include the OK-GO kit.
Please email Jim Mackay (development @ onsw.asn.au) if you are interested. They are free for orienteering club members and some parking can be arranged.
The workshop will finish in time for people to get to the Sydney Summer Series event at Hunters Hill that afternoon.
BOSS hits record numbers
- Last Updated: Monday, 13 January 2020 13:55
A massive 125 participants took on Newcastle's monthly mountain bike orienteering course at Holmesville on Sunday, setting a new record for attendance outside a big championship.
The club has been growing its MTBO participation nicely over the past 2 years and was blown away by the turnout on a cooler summer's day.
With a particular focus on making newcomers (especially families) feel welcome, their efforts are being rewarded.
They had just enough maps but Joy Guy had to race home to pick up the street SI cards as they had run out of the club's SI hire sticks.
This venue was used for the 2019 NSW Long Distance MTBO champs - in very wet conditions - but BOSS 4 offered much more favourable riding.
Greg Bacon and Robert Prentice spread the 30 controls on an A3 map at 1:5000 for easier reading of the intricate track network, and only Tim Doman and Steven Todkill managed to clear the course in the 75 minutes allowed.
Here's some of the lovely feedback from rookies:
Carmen Allen: "Thank you so much to the organisers and volunteers. First timer today and even though I run all these trails regularly it was still a great challenge to navigate and find the controls. Looking forward to the next one already."
Michelle Caslick: "Thank you for an incredible morning. It was our first MTB orienteering event and absolutely loved it! Everyone was so welcoming and so helpful - loved that we were guided to what needed to be done when we arrived made it so much easier - thank you!"
Stacey Levin: "This was my first orienteering event and I absolutely loved it, will definitely be back".
You can see our 2020 MTBO calendar here.
Thanks again to the Newcastle club for their excellent work. The next event is on February 16 at Fairley Dams.
Membership at record levels
- Last Updated: Sunday, 05 January 2020 15:38
We are proud to announce that membership of ONSW has jumped nearly 10 per cent in 2019 to a record 1,386.
Add in some schools and partner members and we are up over 1,400 for the first time - compared with 1,288 at the end of 2018.
Five clubs enjoyed double-digit growth for the calendar year.
Please renew for 2020, if you are already a member of ONSW and familiar with the membership arrangements you may go straight to the Eventor login page to renew your membership and continue all membership benefits and fees including access to redeem your Active Kids vouchers.
And our Facebook page is the most popular of all the states, sitting on 1447 likes - a whopping increase of 40% this year!
Thanks to everyone for their support in 2019 - we look forward to a great 2020 highlighted by Easter in the rock at Gumble.
Getting a 'feel' for orienteering
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 18 December 2019 11:52
This story proves two great statements: “Never say never” and “Orienteering is truly a sport for all.” Barbara Hill and her Bold Horizons team spent time recently with a truly inspirational and adventurous group of people.
Vision-impaired adventurers from Blind Citizens Australia, with guide dogs and carers, navigated a course through the Chatswood Mall and shopping district using a map created especially for them.
Printed in 3D, the map provided a basic idea of the area with activity bases and instructions provided in braille. Touch, smell, sound, taste, games and other activities, combined with visits to T2 Tea, the Chatswood Library and Gelatissimo along the way made for an extremely entertaining day.
Barbara reports: "I worked closely with Blind Citizens Australia to develop the event. It was designed as an enjoyable team-based activity with the primary object of having some fun but also to build confidence and mobility skills in the Chatswood area.
"There were activity bases spread around the Chatswood CBD that teams of visually impaired participants could navigate to.
"We were able to have all the directions printed in braille and the map transferred to a 3D print with braille labels. Of course all the activities relied on non-visual skills: sound, taste, touch, smell and lots of laughs.
"It was a highly enjoyable, inspiring, yet humbling day that was terrific to be involved in. Overwhelmingly positive feedback has been received on the event."
Participant Graeme Innes (pictured, far left) was Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner from December 2005 to July 2014.
To view all the photos, see the Facebook article about the event. We also have a small Braille permanent course at Hughes Park in Lane Cove. See here for details.
