ONSW Secretary Mary Jane Mahony
- Last Updated: Friday, 08 October 2021 15:14
Meet your Board member.
This is the second in a weekly series where we introduce you to the people entrusted to run our sport in NSW.
Secretary Mary Jane Mahony (Uringa). Joined the Board 2020.
Among the responsibilities that fall under the Secretary’s role are preparing Board meeting documents, compiling the annual report, and ensuring the ONSW Manual is up to date.
As a member of the executive team she works closely with the President and Finance Director, and with staff.
Mary Jane has a strong history in service positions, having been Treasurer and later secretary of Uringa, along with 30 years with Zonta International with numerous elected roles on club and district (NSW & ACT) boards. Zonta advocates for women’s rights: for equality, education and an end to child marriage and gender-based violence.
She got into orienteering in Orange, where Goldseekers founders Basil and Jean Baldwin introduced her to the sport in the mid-1990s, and… “I was hooked.”
“What’s not to like about exploring the bush with a map and the friendships that go with being part of the all-ages orienteering community?”
She lists a sporting highlight as competing with Uringa friends in the Swiss 5-Days in the Alps in Zermatt in 2006… “with the Matterhorn overlooking us every day in a cloudless sky.”
Mary Jane brings to the ONSW Board skills in project management, grant and other proposal writing, teaching and learning, as well as the use of communications technologies.
Despite her strong American accent, Mary Jane has been in Australia for more than 40 years.
ONSW joins Outdoors NSW
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 September 2021 21:16
ONSW has joined Outdoors NSW/ACT, an organisation with similar goals and a strong record in advocacy.
We hope that through our affiliation with this group Orienteering NSW can continue to develop our sport and what it offers others.
Outdoors NSW represents the Outdoors sector in NSW and the ACT, and supports people/organisations that facilitate outdoor experiences.
By doing this it hopes to
* raise the profile of outdoor recreation & education
* increase participation
* promote & develop the outdoor community
* provide positive experiences
* improve the standards involved in conducting such activities
Ways this can be done are to:
* hold forums, workshops, seminars, annual conferences
* promote via social media
* provide industry updates
* provide social networking events
* have separate committees in areas of climate change, incident reporting, risk management, trail & mountain biking.
We hope that through our affiliation with this group Orienteering NSW can continue to develop our sport and what it offers others.
If clubs or members have any further questions or comments please contact Admin Officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Port off to 2022, NSW champs on hold
- Last Updated: Sunday, 26 September 2021 13:44
Due to Covid-19, we have had to postpone our inaugural Port Macquarie State League weekend to July 2022.
We're very excited for our newest club to put on such an important weekend and thank Newcastle for all their mentoring so far. The planned format is two Sprints on the Saturday and a Middle on the Sunday.
Although we are still quietly optimistic about running the NSW champs near Lithgow on Nov 20-21, we have decided to pause the online Eventor entries at this stage until the situation is clearer.
Once the health directions are known we will reopen them. We are preparing to run the event in accordance with the Health Orders and Guidelines at the time. Thanks for your continued patience.
The final MetrO League round for 2021, at St Ives Showground, has also been postponed to 2022.
Resumption of MTBO
- Last Updated: Thursday, 23 September 2021 10:47
Our Newcastle club are a powerhouse in mountain bike orienteering and are working behind the scenes to get events happening once community sport is allowed again.
The Hunter Valley Champs are set down for November 7 and will form part of the annual BOSS series. A decision on this event will be made in late October as the organisers would like to attract entries from across the state.
The BOSS calendar will be out in early October, with the first event proper in December.
In the meantime, Newcastle will soon launch two MTBO courses that can be done using the free MapRun app - at Jesmond Park (Newcastle LGA) and Myall Road (Lake Macquarie LGA). Both maps have riding areas with a mix of bushland, parks and urban cycleways.
Greg Bacon has just finished a test ride of Jesmond and says all the controls registered quickly (just slow near the control).
"We plan on opening up the maps on October 4 with the details, maps and instructions on Eventor. This is such a great system as the logistics are heaps easier for running an event." Check out the Relive Ride of the area for the event.
