High praise for NSW Long Champs map
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 April 2018 10:00
The 2018 NSW Long Championships earned glowing reviews as two of our more remote clubs - Northern Tablelands and Bush n Beach - combined in perfect harmony near Armidale.
"I think these new maps make it to my top 10 in Australia. Really awesome areas!" said Krystal Neumann, JWOC manager and current NOL senior women's leader - and winner of W21A.
And this from Bennelong legend Terry Bluett: "The best orienteering weekend I've had in ages."
Pretty much everyone raved about the accuracy of the yellow, grey and green areas that allowed you to navigate carefully but with confidence - making for a fantastic experience in testing terrain.
Setter Tony Woolford (Bush n Beach) sapped every ounce of our physical and mental energy with courses that criss-crossed open areas of fast running, steep rocky sections, and the promised "football fields of bare rock".
We noted these excellent performances: the Barbour twins (Big Foot) coming second and third in W14A, Nerise McQuillan (WHO) winning W35AS, Carolyn Davies (Garingal) taking out W55AS, Barbara Junghans (GO) winning W65AS on crutches!, and ACT junior Patrick Miller claiming M21A.
See our State League web page for links to results, Winsplits and Routegadget.
We ask all competitors to please fill out the very brief Course Setter survey for each day. This information provides valuable feedback and helps determine who wins Course Setter of the Year.
Our next SL weekend is May 12-13 when we go back to Canberra for the ACT Sprint and Middle Champs. Entries close on Monday May 7.
On behalf of the nearly 300 orienteers from ACT, QLD, VIC, NSW, SA (thanks, Emily) and TAS (onya, Will) who ran on these brand new maps - a massive thank you to Northern Tablelands, the Coffs crew and controller Rob Vincent for an awesome weekend. Showcased everything we love about orienteering.
Click on the blue links for photos by Alec Watt from Saturday and Sunday, Terry Cooke from the Middle, Long and presentations, and Tony Hill. Thanks for these great images.
Brian Cleland new ONSW director
- Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 April 2018 18:06
Niamh nails NSW Middle Champs
- Last Updated: Saturday, 21 April 2018 23:12
Rookie Western Hills teenager Niamh Cassar has produced a stunning win in W16A in complex rock at the NSW Middle Champs just outside Armidale.
Niamh, a talented runner, only started doing hard courses this year and Saturday was just her sixth such outing. She just pipped Mikaela Gray (Queensland) and Ellen Currie (Garingal) to claim her first major title.
Other noteworthy wins by juniors went to Tim McConaghy (Garingal) in M12A, Oscar Woolford (Bush n Beach) in M16A and Duncan Currie (Garingal) in M20 where he beat 2018 JWOC selections Alastair George and Patrick Miller.
The new Pinetree map was covered in boulders and setter Don Barker (Northern Tablelands) made sure we went around or past most of them.
A lovely final loop back past the assembly area - where several controls were obvious to the spectators but not the competitors approaching from above (see pic) - added a little more pressure at the pointy end of the run.
Stephen Craig (Newcastle, M45A) and Chippy le Carpentier (Southern Highlands, M75A) suffered rare defeats and will be out to bounce back in Sunday's Long Champs at the same location.
John Harding's OA Facebook photos are here, the results are here, and our ONSW Facebook photos are here.
Thanks NTOC for a fantastic afternoon.
Program released for NSW champs
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 18 April 2018 22:19
We're all very excited about this weekend's NSW Middle and Long Championships near Armidale.
Start lists are on Eventor, and the final program contains all the essential information.
Organisers promise us two awesome new granite maps right next door to the much-loved Mt Brown map. There are football fields of bare rock!
The map area is adjacent to Thunderbolts Way, on the main road from Uralla to Bundarra, and is about 7km north of the junction with the road from Armidale. The same parking area and arena will be used for both days.
A reminder that these champs will carry double OY points.