Women lead NSW charge at Aus champs
- Last Updated: Sunday, 30 September 2018 21:54
Our women are leading the way at the Australian champs in South Australia, winning seven Middle Distance titles and two Relays.
The opening weekend was held in erosion gullies by the Murray River at Renmark, offering fast terrain but also the chance to make big errors.
Garingal junior Iida Lehtonen (W14A) and Northern Tablelands veteran Jenny Hawkins (W70A) enjoyed double success, while the only victory for NSW men came in Sunday's M65 Relay where Gordon Wilson (Bennelong), Nick Dent (Central Coast) and Ross Barr (GO) won each leg for a comfortable triumph.
Alastair George (Big Foot) registered an impressive second place in the junior men's elite on Saturday, finishing 42 seconds adrift of Queenslander Simeon Burrill in the Middle.
But all our winners were women: Iida Lehtonen (GO, W14A), Samantha Howe (NC, W35A), Cath Chalmers (BF, W45A), Salme Fuller (IK, W45AS), Jenny Enderby (NC, W50A, pictured), Jenny Hawkins (NT, W70A), Maureen Ogilvie (UR, W85A).
NSW also had 14 second placings and three thirds.
Sunday's Relay winners were: W14 (Iida Lehtonen, Nea Shingler, Mikayla Enderby); W65 (Jenny Hawkins, Val Hodsdon, Lynn Dabbs); and M65 (Gordon Wilson, Nick Dent, Ross Barr).
NSW also had seven second placings and six thirds.
Our junior men's elite led after two legs but Aston Key ran a scintillating last leg for Victoria to win it.
Monday sees the Aus Sprint champs at a local high school.
Results, splits and Routegadget can all be found here.
Newcastle closes the curtain on 2018 State League
- Last Updated: Monday, 24 September 2018 22:23
Newcastle are blessed with dozens of great bush maps and we enjoyed two of them at the weekend as our State League season wound up in glorious spring sunshine.
Stephen Craig set short but physically demanding courses at Mt Sugarloaf on Saturday, where you needed one leg shorter than the other on the steep hillsides.
On Sunday at Southams Road, Ian Dempsey set some cracking long legs that offered a direct route in fast runnable forest or longer running on the many tracks and firetrails.
Emily Sorensen from South Australia took out W20A on both days, while Damien Welbourne (Newcastle, M50A) and Ian Jessup (Garingal, M45AS) had their first wins of the year.
Please fill out the very brief Course Setter surveys. Our State League page and the OY point scores will be updated over the course of the next fortnight, as our regular human abacus Col Bailey is on a well-earned overseas holiday.
Thank you to all our organisers, course setters, controllers, results people and participants for a great year.
Our 2019 SL season starts with a NOL round in conjunction back on the awesome mining maps of Hill End on the last weekend in March.
Entries open for Easter 2019 in WA
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 19 September 2018 14:30
Early bird entries are now open for the 2019 Easter carnival in Western Australia.
Organisers are promising seven quality events in nine days across a variety of terrains.
Because the Oceania champs are on later next year, WA will host the Australian Sprint and Middle championships the weekend after Easter (April 26-27).
And for those people going to this year's Australian champs in South Australia, the final bulletin has been released.
ACT regain Bennelong Trophy from NSW
- Last Updated: Monday, 17 September 2018 10:21
Two dozen NSW orienteers competed in the ACT Long Champs on Sunday and found the map very challenging.
Our winners were Dave Lotty (Uringa, M65AS), Maureen Ogilvie (UR, W85A), Cheryl Bluett (Bennelong, W65AS), Terry Bluett (BN, M70A) and Nicola Nygh (Big Foot, W45AS).
Controls were often placed on small termite mounds hidden in long grass or bracken (see top pic), making it very difficult to spot; while the rocky hills in the southwest of the map had complex spurs and gullies with many small rocky knolls.
Overall it was a true test, as all long champs should be. And there was plenty of wildlife (deer, foxes, kangaroos, wallabies) for those of us who took longer than they would have liked!
Following the NSW Long Champs in Armidale in April, and these results, ACT has regained the Bennelong Trophy 39.5 to 35.5.
Thanks to OACT and Red Roos. Maps and photos can be viewed in the Facebook album here.
