Latest ONSW News
The DuO Adventure Series comes to Western Sydney Regional Park on the 11th February with race #2. An exciting combination of Foot O and MTBO there are two courses on offer, a long course of approx 90 minutes duration and a short course of approx 60 min duration. The courses cater for all levels of competitors and you can take your time or go as fast as you like.
The course area includes sections of the Olympic equestrian course with run legs enjoying open parkland and smaller bush areas while the mountain bike stages will tackle single track, roads, cycleways and open grass tracks. There are plenty of hills to climb and some tricky navigation around the park.
The DuO Adventure race series are a great introduction to both Adventure racing and Orienteering with high quality maps and coaching on the day. Entries must be in by 6pm on the 8th February.
The Western Plains Orienteers Course Setting Workshop on the 4th February was a great success. Upskilling club members in both planning and coaching was the key goal of the workshop. Club members listened closely as Sean Hagan tried to summarise his expertise into two hours (it took a little longer than planned), learning all about course setting techniques and being introduced to Purple Pen and OCAD. Each family left with a resource CD containing software, local maps and course setting documentation.
Karen Hagan also disseminated coaching resources and explained how the exciting new Western Plains Space Racing Series would be run. As well as being a great addition to the Western Plains programme this new series will provide a valuable opportunity for club members attending the workshop to try out their new planning and coaching skills.
Many thanks to Karen Hagan for this report.
Participants were yet again treated to a great family friendly event at Camden this weekend. With a start set in a riverside park with a children's playground, BBQs and plenty of space to run around there was a lot to enjoy.
The score course took in multiple parks and reserves up and down the river, with some short forays into the quiet surrounding streets. The Easy course took the juniors right past the playground so it was a wonder any completed the run, but competition leader Jai Cooper ran down the controls in a resolute fashion to win this event in 12.25.
The last event in this series is on 11th February at Camden Town Farm.
Planner Ross Duker was worried about vandalism and expensive SI units disappearing overnight at the latest Sydney West Series at UWS Kingswood. His discreet positioning of the controls meant that runners really had to work for their points and there was a lot of discussion over control positioning and route choices at the finish. This didn't prevent Glenn Horrocks from turning in a magnificent result, with a perfect 600 points only being denied him by a time penalty of a fraction of a minute.