Newcastle pair, Jenny and Damian Enderby made it to the finals of the 2011 Lake Macquarie Masters Sportsperson of The Year. Although they were pipped at the post by worthy winner Libby Sowter, Jenny said 'it was still a great honour to get to the finals and rounded off a very successful year for us both.'
Damian is better known for his mountain biking activities, and he and Jenny have just returned from Adelaide where they were competing in the Australian Mountain Bike Championships. Sponsored by Thule, Jenny and Damian travel extensively to compete in both mountain biking and orienteering.
Randwick's Fitness First gym was packed with healthy looking, hard working fitness fanatics on Tuesday when ONSW presented at the Membership Appreciation Night. Introduced to Fitness First by Jai Di Tommaso, head personal trainer at the Randwick gym and Garingal regular, Maggie Jones, Lisa Grant and Darren Slattery invited members to expand their exercise repertoire with some orienteering.
Darren manned an orienteering maze complete with SI controls to provide a tantalising taste of the sport. Some of the Fitness First crew who gave it a try were so determined to get it right they completed it three or four times! The DuO Adventure Race prize draw was won by Rob McDonald so we look forward to seeing him in Belanglo Forest for his first experience of orienteering at one of ONSW's favorite venues.
The Orange Twilight orienteering event scheduled for Friday 2 March 2012 at Bloomfield - Gosling Creek has been cancelled due to predicted bad weather and flooding.
Weather permitting Goldseekers next event is Sunday 11th March at 10am at Lake Canobolas.
Women's training weekend in Belanglo Forest was no teddy bear's picnic, with nearly thirty female orienteers from around the State coming to learn from NSW Head Coach Nick Dent. The weather was unkind for most of the time, making running conditions wet and slippery and soaking the participants as they tackled the challenging exercises.
Theory sessions followed by practical sessions delivered a tight training package, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. 'You don't often get the opportunity to spend real time working on techniques, like really reading contour,' said Jane McKenna from Uringa Orienteers.
The experience level of the group ranged from urban orienteering savvy orienteers who had little or no bush experience - one described herself as 'consciously incompetent', to those who had been orienteering for some years picking up skills along the way and often coached by husbands, to a couple who have represented Australia. There was something to learn for everyone, and the final relay race, where teams were mixed up by ability produced some fierce racing. Read the full report here.