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Last Updated: Friday, 08 September 2023 09:51
NSW riders took out 11 races at the state MTBO titles on the mid north coast last weekend.
Former world champs rider Tim Doman (Newcastle) won M21 in the Long at Kempsey and Middle at Nambucca in new areas that showcased terrific single track and some very fast fire trails.
Clubmate Andrew Haigh (M50) had a first (Sprint at Coffs Harbour campus) and seconds in the other two races.
Other winners over the weekend were in Long:
W16 Stephanie Dun (HOG) / Ebike1 Peter Feltham (NC) / Ebike2 Graham Fowler (NC) / Rec2 Ian Jessup (GO)
Middle - M50 Greg Barbour (BF) and Rec1 Josh Roberts (NC)
Sprint - W40 Nicole Haigh (NC) and M60 Geoff Todkill (NC)
A big thank you to Bush n Beach, Hastings Orienteers and Newcastle for organising, and to the local MTB clubs for their co-operation.
Riding continues this weekend with the Australian MTBO champs in Brisbane from Friday-Sunday.
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Last Updated: Thursday, 31 August 2023 13:52
Well that was a BIG weekend and we are only just recovering now! We started out with 2 sprint races at The King's School. Being a new sprint map, there were plenty of eager orienteers, keen to see what the campus had in store. Over 200 competitors of ages 5 to 85 enjoyed the challenges set by Selwyn and Niamh.
Race 1 sent competitors weaving through the Senior School buildings and around well-manicured gardens, with a finish adjacent to the JS White Oval - a ground of SCG quality (but OOB for us!)
Race 2 was on the other side of the campus and included a little bit of climb, past the old stone church, before navigating the compact buildings of the Prep School. The early climb out of the start meant for a fast downhill finish.
It was great to see both very experienced and beginner orienteers out on the courses. The overall results were cumulative times from the two races. Results, splits and maps can be found here:
The following day we headed west to Mulgoa for a change of scenery. This section of the Blue Mountains National Park is on the East side of the Nepean River. It features quite a few contours and sandstone rock features amongst a variety of bush vegetation. The bush certainly holds a different sort of challenge from the man-made buildings of a school campus and this area with longish courses proved to be quite physical and technical. Consequently, many classes had new winners.
Results, splits and maps can be found here:
At the end of the day -
Sydney West were crowned as Champion Region. Seems fitting, as both maps were in the Sydney West Region!! Congratulations
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Last Updated: Friday, 18 August 2023 15:27
Our next NSW State League weekend after the ACT Champs on 19/20 August is the annual NSW Schools Champs on the 26th and 27th August in Sydney. Enter on the day is available.
Hosted by Western Hills Orienteers.
Venue: The King's School, North Parramatta (both races) on the Saturday and Blue Mountains National Park, North End of Fairlight Rd, Mulgoa on the Sunday.
Entries close Wednesday, August 16th at midnight for TryBooking.
You can attend Saturday, or Sunday, or both days. Details here.
Students must enter via Trybooking.
Parents and Adults enter in Eventor.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 August 2023 12:50
Ski orienteering has been on our bucket list for some time now and this year we decided to commit and got our entries in. We have alpine skied for many years and although I did some cross country skiing as a teenager, Rory and Euan have never worn the skinny ski’s before. Unfortunately school sport prevented us arriving early so instead we hired equipment and turned up on the morning of the event and spent an hour slipping and sliding around until we started to feel a bit of control about our technique!
Although the snow was a little thin in places, it was a gorgeous blue sky day with the temperature far exceeding those cold Easter carnival days and some of the competitors wearing t shirts. The 30 competitors ranged from seasoned cross country skiers with little orienteering experience to seasoned orienteers with little (to zero) cross country skiing experience to those who only had a little of one or the other! Fortunately Marina and Fedor Iskhakova who had planned and organised the event and were on hand at the start to provide some guidance and help as required.
Due to the limited snow conditions the long course had a couple of loops and I found it reminded me of MTBO in that I couldn’t read my map whilst skiing so I had to use a bit of map memory to recall my route choices. It was absolutely stunning when out at the further parts of the map when there was nobody else around and just blue sky, snow and my own huffing and puffing!
The event was incredibly social with it all based out of the welcoming Nordic Shelter with big smiles, hot chocolates, lollies and oranges for all the finishers and big bars of chocolate for the prize getters! Rory and Euan enjoyed it so much we then went and covered another 10km afterwards which included playing in snow holes and meeting many of the other competitors who were exploring the trials they either didn’t cover or checking out where they made mistakes maybe!
If you’re like us and have thought about giving ski orienteering a go then I’d thoroughly recommend it and we will definitely be returning.
Angus Shedden
