Latest ONSW News
Clear mapping of the UWS Hawkesbury campus and cool dry running conditions allowed competitors in the NSW Sprint Championships this weekend to really stretch their legs. There were some super quick times at this classic sprint, with a few of the competitors clocking speeds close to those being run at the World Orienteering Championships. Josh Blatchford won the M21A course in 12.32, a pace of 4.38/km, with Matt Hill in M18A, Aidan Dawson in M16A and Jock Davis on M40A courses running at around 5 mins/km. Bruce Meder running M60A clocked a speed of 5.22mins/km.
Western & Hills Orienteers, hosts of the competition, have produced a video of the event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4pZhuVVxy0&feature=plcp
Glorious sunshine, an updated bush map of one of Sydney orienteers' favorite areas and some challenging courses by setter Carol Jacobson - what more could you ask from event organisers Garingal Orienteering Club for State League #9?
The Mitchell Park map recently updated by Dave Lotty, was a big improvement with Dave nailing the trickier parts of the map and presenting rock features in a way that made navigation fair and consistent. With the terrain mostly runnable there were also patches of fight, and steep slopes that tested the leg strength of the field.
Best on the courses:
Hard 1/2 Josh Blatchford 64:31, Hard 3/4 Stephen Craig 45:27, Hard 5 Anna Fitzgerald 63.28, Hard 6 Daniel Hill 55.18, Hard 7 Terry Bluett 53.22, Hard 8 Cath Chalmers 45.26, Very Easy Sophie Jones 10.45, Easy Jared McKenna 19.04, Moderate Georgia Jones 32.33
Hot conditions tested the competitors at the first in the 2012-13 DuO Series at Awaba this weekend. Nearly 100 competitors arrived to try the new format of Twisted, Bitte, and Taster courses.
Times at the top of the leader boards were close with Rob Prentice holding off Nick Dent in the Bitte course by a mere 18 seconds. Steven Todkill had Greg Barbour breathing down his neck on the Men's Twisted, with only 47 seconds between their times. The winning women had more comfortable margins with Carlyn Matthews topping the Bitte course in 110.36 and Nicole Haigh taking first in the Twisted in 151.59. Robert Spry of Bennelong Northside won the Taster course ahead of Chris and Logan Radford. Read more in Greg Bacon's report here. Full results and splits here.
Western Plains has a new Twilight Series and it starts next week! Offering an easy line and an open scatter course the series will run every Friday evening for the rest of November with start times 1800-1830hrs.
More information can be found at the Western Plains website http://westernplainsorienteers.org, or by emailing Series Organisers Dale & Karen Wallace, or Sally Devenish at