One of the great things about our sport is the variety in terrain, setting and weather on any given day, and Sunday offered a smorgasbord.
While the mercury hit 19 on another glorious weekend in Sydney (is this really winter?) and 17 in Newcastle, it barely got above 8 in Orange and 12 in Wagga.
Sydney Junior League 7 at Centennial Park provided some fast courses in largely flat areas with some pockets of tricky bush to the north and sand dunes to the south of all the lakes. Those with long legs and large lungs were bound to do well and so it was.
Uringa's recent Czech recruit Ondrej Pavlu flew around the 7km long moderate course in 34m2s, just ahead of GO's NSW junior Aidan Dawson. Bennelong's Mel Cox took out the medium moderate by almost six minutes from Big Foot's Callum Davis, another talented youngster. And NSW schools rookie Duncan Currie, in a slow 'recovery' run a day after his school cross-country, won the short moderate (3.2km) by five minutes from Garingal clubmate Nick Wyche.
Amongst the real young-uns, Nea Shingler (BF) was first in the Very Easy and Angela Brown (GO) quickest on the Easy course.
It was also great to see very young children having a go on the string course, as IKO's new Russian member Alex Karavaev and his kids demonstrate.
In Newcastle it was also mild for their NOY8 event on The Chimney at Abernethy. Angus Roberts threw in a couple of overlapping loops on the Long Hard course around the watercourses to the southwest of the Guest House.
Newcastle are fortunate to have so many great bush maps so close to town and we all look forward to the NSW champs there in late September. Sydneysiders Greg Barbour (BF) and Jim Forbes (GO) made the trek north.
Fog and mist did not deter a hardy bunch of Goldseekers at Oakey Creek. It was an opportunity to run on a map in a part of Mullion Ranges State Forest with similar terrain to State League 10 in a fortnight. The navigation was tricky due to poor light and generally undulating terrain. Some areas were tough going due to wet logs on the forest floor.
In the picture left, young orienteers Aiah MacKenzie (L) and Olivia L’Estrange show organiser Phillip Schwebel and planner Reddall Leslie how they tackled the course. The girls are enthusiastic runners but are still learning navigation.
Meanwhile, the Waggaroos enjoyed a fun outing around Wollundry Lagoon in the middle of the CBD.
Catherine Holland managed to set a 4.2km course that zigzagged so much around the park and the adjacent Civic Theatre precinct that sometimes the greatest challenge was finding the next control location on a map crowded with pink circles and lines.
John Oliver zipped around in 26m27s, a minute ahead of Tegan Lee who won handicap honours for the day. The Farquhar family group appreciated the pram-friendly course, while first-timer Damion Fraser took his family on an equally pleasurable wander around a 1500m short course.
On Saturday, WHO's third annual Cunning Running series wound up at Turkey Nest Park in Beaumont Hills. These events offer a 45-minute score course and a line course of around 3km for beginners and families with young children. WHO gun James McQuillan took out the series with 393 points, Ian Miller was second with 307 points and recent GO recruit Rochelle Cox was third with 271 points.
Thanks to John Oliver and Richard Carter for their contributions to this report.
