Greg Bacon wins President's Award
- Last Updated: Monday, 11 November 2019 16:08
The ONSW 2019 President's Award goes to Greg Bacon of Newcastle.
Greg has been a stalwart - and driver - of the MTBO scene in Newcastle and NSW for many years. Greg also started the DuO concept which has returned to the calendar after a short break.
He could not be at the presentations at Sydney Uni on Sunday... because he was running a mountain bike orienteering event the same morning!
A tireless worker dedicated to getting people onto bikes for a different take on orienteering, Greg has seen the Newcastle BOSS series grow in recent years and his promotional efforts resulted in a total rookie (Tim Doman) riding for Australia this year at the world champs.
Greg will also be heavily involved in the 2020 Australian MTBO champs in Newcastle, and has lately taken to e-bikes (another avenue for growth) with great gusto.
He's always looking for new ways to get people into the sport and has started offering a free ride for kids who go with their parents as part of the BOSS.
Another dedicated servant of our sport getting some long overdue recognition. Congratulations Greg.
Our other major award winners for 2019 are:
President's Junior Award: Alvin Craig (Newcastle)
Rookie of the Year: Liz Lewis (SHOO)
Cox's Cup Encouragement Award: Ian Jessup (Garingal & ONSW)
Volunteer of the Year: Barbara & Graeme Dawson (Garingal)
Club of the Year: Waggaroos
Interclub Trophy: Garingal
The Course Setter of the Year will be announced in the next week after voting has finished.
2019 Xmas 5-days entries open
- Last Updated: Thursday, 07 November 2019 13:22
Entries are now open for the annual Xmas 5-Days carnival which this year is in Armidale.
In Eventor, the default option is to enter all 5 days. If you do not wish to do all 5 days, click on "Races: all" on the left-hand-side below Ordered Services where you can select the days you wish to enter from the dropdown menu.
The event website is a work in progress. Please note that venues may change depending on the fire risk closer to Xmas.
There are also severe water restrictions in place so consider bringing water. Your visit will help a region going through extreme climate crisis.
All set for NSW Sprint Champs
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 05 November 2019 11:56
Start lists have been published for the NSW Sprint Champs at Sydney Uni on Sunday.
The first official start is 10.30am. Anyone who did not pre-enter is welcome to do Enter-on-Day. Please register at the information desk at Cadigal Green between 10.30-11.30am.
This is our final State League event for 2019 and immediately following we will present our annual ONSW major awards. OY badges, Course Setter of the Year and the Interclub trophy will be sent out next week to the winning people and club once the calculations have been done.
Parking is in Maze Crescent and adjacent streets.
Peels give everyone a 'good paddling'
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 05 November 2019 11:38
Newcastle royalty Margaret and Geoff Peel entertained around 100 people with their innovative paddle orienteering event at Lake Macquarie on Sunday.
The novelty three-hour score course event consisted of a paddle section to be done only by kayak, a promenade section for Foot O, and five controls that could be visited in either fashion.
There were 96 participants in 76 different paddle craft. Two 'singles' and three 'doubles' cleared the well set course, most with less than 10 minutes to spare.
One pair completed the course with a staggering 34 minutes to spare (including NSW junior squad coach Rob Bennett) but were shattered to learn they had failed to properly register at #101. This saw another Newcastle orienteer, Steven Todkill, triumph with seven 7 minutes to spare in his hi-tech single kayak.
The event was made possible thanks to a grant from Lake Macquarie City which covered the event aquatic licence, the park usage fee, SES safety boats and map printing.
The weather was sunny and rain only began to fall as the last checkpoint was withdrawn from the water.
The wind grew in intensity mid-race, presenting a bit of chop and paddling resistance mostly in the larger more open bay between Toronto and Bolton Point. Paddlers had the opportunity to explore the backwaters of Stoney, Lt & Mudd Creeks which presented some lovely sheltered areas while the promenade section took in some lovely bushland and lakeside paths.
The Peels were aghast at low tide on the morning of the event - easily the lowest of the low tides witnessed during preceding visits to the area.
"Locals have always told us it's quite unpredictable in this top end of the lake," said Geoff. "We were stunned to see a mud island which we'd never sighted before now sitting in the middle of Fennell Bay. Being rogainers they are fairly adventurous types and they took all of this in their stride and didn't mind getting a bit muddy."
You can see the results here and the map here.
A big thanks to the Peels and the Newcastle club for putting this on, and to the landowners and equipment suppliers for their support.
