Last chance to enter 2021 NSW Champs
- Last Updated: Thursday, 04 November 2021 16:39
Here's just a small taste of the awesome rock pagodas you'll encounter at the NSW Championships near Lithgow on November 20-21.More local series starting up this week
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 02 November 2021 12:57
The River and Bay Series starts a shorter five-week season on Sunday, at Sir Joseph Banks Park in Botany.
This springtime series showcases the wonderful parks, reserves and bushland of Botany Bay and the Cooks River Valley.
There are 3 lines courses and a score course to choose from. You may start any time between 4pm-5pm. All events will suit newcomers as well as experienced orienteers.
Assembly for week one is near the oval, accessed via Tupia or Fremlin Streets. The course highlight is the animal sculptures dotted around the park (see pic left for an example).
See the series website for more details.
Our Central Coast club also kicks off its summer series on Sunday morning at lovely beachside Avoca.
Assembly is at Heazlett Park, ideally located for a swim afterwards. Starts are from 9.30-11am. It's a Sydney Summer Series-style 45-minute score course, plus a free short MINI course aimed at younger children.
Covid protocols apply at both events. See the series web page for more details.
And in Armidale, Northern Tablelands will be using the free MapRun app for their twilight series which gets underway on Wednesday (Nov 3) at the Arboretum picnic area.
Starts are from 5-6pm, with a 45-minute limit on course.
SSS season tickets on sale
- Last Updated: Monday, 01 November 2021 11:24
Season tickets are now on sale for the popular Sydney Summer Series.
You'll need to be a member to access the full season ticket (20 weeks), which offers a saving of 30%. It costs $168 for seniors and $112 for juniors. It's available until December 28 via Eventor.
This means that after 14 events you get the rest for free.
Season 31 starts at Castlecrag on Wed Nov 17.
The first two events (Nov 17 and 24) will be restricted to juniors under the age of 16 and fully vaccinated people aged 16+. You must show your vaccination certificate at the registration table.
ONSW President Robyn Pallas
- Last Updated: Friday, 29 October 2021 16:11
Meet your Board member.
This is the first in a weekly series where we introduce you to the people entrusted to run our sport in NSW.
President Robyn Pallas (Central Coast). Joined the Board 2020.
The junior squad catering tent that you see at State League events was the brainchild of current president Robyn Pallas in the 1990s as a way of raising funds to help pay some of the considerable costs of sending the NSW schools team away each year.
So, when daughter Naomi made it into the schools team, Robyn sprang into action.
It is just one of the many volunteer contributions she has made to orienteering since her first event in 1984 on the Central Coast.
Going as a family to that first event – with a 2- and a 4-year-old in tow – she decided from that day that this was the sport for her.
“Robyn and Hugh Cameron were members of Central Coast then and Robyn became an excellent mentor. I am now a life member and longest serving member of Central Coast Orienteers,” said Robyn.
She has orienteered nationally and internationally, including competing in 11 World Masters. She was part of the organising committee for the 2009 World Masters Games in NSW, organising the opening and closing ceremonies. She has also been president of Central Coast Orienteers.
Competitively, her career highlight was being selected as a member of the Australian team to compete in New Zealand in the W35 age class after winning the Australian champs that year.
Outside orienteering, Robyn has been a member of the Zonta Club of Central Coast for six years, four of these as a committee chair. (Zonta is a charity organisation supporting women and girls across the world.) She was secretary for two years and represented the club at the Zonta International conference in Brisbane 2019.
All while carving out a career in education spanning nearly 40 years. First as a primary school teacher in Crookwell and ending up on the Central Coast. Robyn soon moved on to specialist positions in school and then to executive positions across schools. This led to the final 25 years of her career in consultancy work for the Department of Education from Sydney to Newcastle. This work involved training and mentoring teachers.
Last year, Robyn felt the time was right to contribute to the running of ONSW as she had recently retired. She saw this as an opportunity to give back to the sport she loves through its management.
