An all-too-rare Sydney shower couldn't keep the kids away from our Junior League finale at Willoughby Leisure Centre on Sunday. Juniors and family groups made up more than 70 of the 124 entries for the outing through Hallstrom and Flat Rock Reserves.
While most of the winners are experienced juniors, it's great to see recent convert Jack Brown (GO, pictured far right) taking out the boys' very easy section. Jack went to all but one of the JL events and clearly has found his new sporting passion.
As many new families have discovered, orienteering can be done as seriously or as leisurely as you like, in lovely surroundings. And it builds such great resilience and confidence in kids.
Our overall Junior League winners for 2013 are:
Very Easy: Jack Brown (GO), Nea Shingler (BF).
Easy: Nicholas Tse (GO), Sophie Jones (UR).
Short Moderate: Duncan Currie (GO), Joanna Hill (GO).
Long Moderate: Lawrence Jones (UR), Georgia Jones (UR).
Champion club: Garingal.
Results have been updated on our Junior League page.
It was also terrific to see so many first-timers present, no doubt in part thanks to setter Ted Woodley's joint promotion with the Leisure Centre, who kindly donated a free day pass for each participant. Among the newbies was a young chap, resplendent in a Rabbitohs shirt - a relative of South Sydney NRL stars Nathan Merritt and Greg Inglis.
Megan from the CSIRO's Double Helix junior science program kept a dozen kids and families entertained making their own compasses before they headed out for a walk on the very easy course.
For the adults and older juniors, the longer courses sent runners down into the bush and creekline that feeds into Tunks Park, and later starters found that the 'watercourse' had filled by half a metre at least after the 20-minute downpour around 10am.
For anyone whose map disintegrated in the wet, you can print another one from the Garingal results page here. It was also wonderful to see GO's Michael Free back in action after serious illness.
And many thanks to Colin Price from Aussie O gear for donating $30 vouchers for the JL winners along with headbands (already in use going by the photo!).
For kids looking for a bit more O over summer, we have Space Racing on Tue Sep 24, Spooks in the Park on Sat Oct 26 and our new SOS schools comp starting on Sat Oct 12.
