News flash: Moose well suited to snow
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 13 August 2019 08:50
Like Christmas, ski orienteering in Australia comes but once a year.
And our event has real snow! Photos from the day are available here, as proof.
At Perisher on Sunday, 33 fearless ski orienteers took part in the 2019 ACT & NSW Ski-Orienteering Championships.
Thankfully, the fierce snowfall over Friday and Saturday abated and gave way to beautiful sunshine and plenty of fantastic fresh snow.
We should note that the "feels like" temps were still around -8 all morning! Control collectors... moan no more!
Former Garingal member Tom Landon-Smith won the long course, the interestingly-named former Sydney Summer Series regular Albert the Moose took out the middle, and Nicole Strachan was fastest on the short.
Complete results are available here and winsplits are here.
Thank you to to OACT, ONSW, Big Foot and Red Roos for their terrific support, and to the Nordic Shelter at Perisher for preparing the excellent ski-tracks after a snowstorm!
Special thanks to Marina Ishkakova and Fedor Ishkakov for organising such a high quality event.
Mona Vale win Sydney North schools day
- Last Updated: Monday, 12 August 2019 17:19
It was another top day out for the Sydney North schools champs at St Ives Showground on Monday.
Around 200 students enjoyed a map walk with a coach, then an age race, then a three-person relay. They had so much fun exploring the bush and track network on a cool but fine winter's day.
Champion primary school was Mona Vale for the first time, while Galston defended their crown as champion high school.
Galston have been wonderful supporters of this day since its inception in 2012 and bring a busload of eager students.
A huge thanks to co-ordinating teacher Peter Annetts, and event organiser Barbara Hill and her team of volunteer helpers.
Our NSW schools champs are on the weekend of Sep 7-8 in the Southern Highlands. Entries close August 28 - click here for details.
Sydney CBD lunchtime series starts with a blast
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 07 August 2019 11:45
Around 80 participants enjoyed a gloriously sunny day at Pyrmont Bay Park as our Sydney CBD lunchtime series welcomed loads of newcomers to urban orienteering.
We had runners from 14 companies and five ONSW clubs take in superb views of the city and harbour. These events are aimed at beginners and we had some rookies clear the 20-control score course in less than the 30 minutes allowed.
Best of these was Richard Banks, who perhaps appropriately works for the RBA, who finished in just over 20 minutes.
The fastest person was young Scotsman Finlay Todd who sped around in 15 minutes. Finlay is out here on a year's uni exchange and ran for Great Britain at JWOC in Denmark last month - with our recent scholar Grace Molloy who starred with a gold medal and two bronze.
Thanks to our helpers: Liz Bulman (pictured), Andrew Wisniewski, Johnny Petersen on SI, Saacha Donaldson and Paula Shingler.
Next week: same spot, different course. Tell your friends who work in the city to come along. See the flyer for details. Barangaroo is full, but weeks 2 and 4 we have plenty of spots free. Pre-entry is preferred (members via Eventor, non-members via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Newcastle debuts State League maps
- Last Updated: Monday, 05 August 2019 15:15
Our Newcastle club has a treasure trove of great bush maps and at the weekend added two more as the State League came to the Hunter.
Redgum Ridges (at Freemans Waterhole) on Saturday for the Middle distance had the usual myriad of tiny watercourses that are so prevalent on Newcastle maps, while Stockrington West (also near the M1) on Sunday for the Long featured a lot more green - often big clumps of Gymea lilies.
Colin Bailey ran the Hunter schools champs for many years and gave his rivals a lesson in M55AS with two impressive victories in his first SL outings for 2019.
Clubmate Katherine Dynnon took out W35AS on both days, while Joy Guy won W55AS on Sunday, and we noted rookie Ginaya Dunn - who has come across from MTBO - winning W Open B on both days on her SL debut.
All participants are asked to fill in the very brief Course Setter of the Year surveys for each day.
All results are linked on our SL web page. A big thank you to Newcastle for another lovely weekend.
And a reminder that entries are also open for our next two State League weekends - the ACT champs on August 31-September 1, and the NSW schools champs in the Southern Highlands on September 7-8.
