Great start for new Port Macquarie club
- Last Updated: Monday, 15 July 2019 17:15
Our new Port Macquarie club has had a stunning first event, attracting 103 entries and around 200 participants all up.
The HOGs (Hastings Orienteering Group) committee were flat out from the first start at 11am to the last finisher about 2pm as dozens of families enjoyed a gorgeous winter's day at Kooloonbung Creek.
The club formed following promotional weekends in November 2017 and June 2018 that drew promising attendances.
Sunday's assembly area was in the lovely arboretum on Gordon Street. This has a historical cemetery, picnic shelters and a huge stone lizard sculpture that the kids found irresistible as a climbing frame.
The first event was a 45-minute score course with 30 controls, the same format as the Sydney Summer Series. We won't mention the very experienced orienteer who managed to go to a control a second time - despite the punch card clearly showing he'd already been there!
Many great Test cricket careers were launched with a century on debut, and this incredible start by the HOGs shows there is huge potential on the mid north coast.
A free BBQ further added to the strong sense of community. We spotted former independent federal MP Rob Oakeshott and his family among the happy orienteers. "Can we do this every week?," he and his kids asked HOGs president Matt Bell.
Better let them catch their breath first!
ONSW says a huge thank you to: Dan McLachlan for course setting, the Peels from Newcastle for assisting on the day, the Woolfords from Bush N Beach for making the trip from Coffs Harbour, and the HOGs for a wonderful start.
Facebook users can follow the HOGs here. You can see the local paper's article and photos here, and Clifford Hoefft's FB album here.
And the ultimate in good karma - after everything was packed up, we went back out on course for a stroll and saw a koala high up a ghost gum near control 27.
Ferretville separates the sheep from the goats
- Last Updated: Sunday, 14 July 2019 18:34
Bennelong Northside president and all-round orienteering legend Terry Bluett has proved that you don't need a lot of bush to make a great State League event.
Terry took a segment of a summer series map and transformed it into a proper bush map (to sprint specs), thus proving that even small pockets of forest can be used for SL provided they are mapped accurately.
The result was a delightful bush sprint in the upper reaches of Bantry Bay (Frenchs Forest) on Sydney's northern beaches on Saturday afternoon.
The intricate track network and impassable cliffs made nav difficult, and most times were closer to Middle Distance anyway which made it good value.
We had visitors from Queensland and Tasmania, and it was great to see nearly 50 people do Enter on Day. Some people even went for a second run!
We noted first-time State League wins by Brian Black (BN, M35A), Linda Mandin (BN, W45AS) and John Bulman (GO, M55AS).
You can find a Facebook photo album by Brett Sewell here. Thanks to Terry who also set, controller Ron Junghans from Garingal, organiser Alitia Dougall, the BN club, and the local Guides for use of the hall.
Results and Winsplits are on our SL web page. Our next SL weekend is in Newcastle on August 3-4. Entries close on July 30.
Aston adds Long bronze to Sprint gold
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 09 July 2019 19:31
Aston Key has followed up his sensational win in the JWOC Sprint event with an equally impressive 3rd place in the Long Distance event.
Aston covered the 10km course (with 625m of climb) in 67m49s, just 5m30s behind last year’s defending champion from Norway, Kasper Fosser.
Unfortunately, Alastair George (Big Foot) mispunched while Garingal's Duncan Currie was 135th in 98m59s.
Our recent scholar Grace Molloy from Scotland made it two bronze medals in a row in the women's Long, finishing just 31 seconds behind joint winners Ida Haapala (Finland) and Veronika Kalinina (Russia) who had her time adjusted after her SI Air stick stopped working.
Results for both Men and Women can be found here, and splits here. Men’s course can be found here, and the women’s here.
Once again, well done Aston. A fantastic performance! Tuesday is a rest day.
Spring chicken Ewan takes out Turkey Trot
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 09 July 2019 08:50
Big Foot junior Ewan Shingler has upstaged 10-time winner Glenn Horrocks of Garingal to take out WHO's annual Turkey Trot multi-map long distance race at Stanhope Gardens on Sunday.
Ewan found some extra gas on the last few legs to triumph by just over a minute over the 18km, with daylight back to third-placed Ross Morrison (GO).
In the women's long course, Toni Bachvarova (GO) edged out Zoe Melling (Uringa) and Belinda Kinneally (WHO).
Big Foot made it a double in the Medium course via Ewan's mum Paula and Fergus Mackie, while in the Short course WHO junior Niamh Cassar came out ahead along with Bennelong's Joel Putnam.
The fire trails, tracks, bush and contours of last year's run were replaced by a predominantly flat area with numerous parks, cycle paths, creeks and a couple of the new NW Metro stations.
You can find a full wrap here, the results here and Facebook photos here. Thanks to WHO for another successful and unique event.
