It seems Coffs Harbour residents just can't get enough of orienteering, after very encouraging attendances at ONSW's two free taster weekends.
As part of the Australian Sports Commission's Participation and Membership expansion program - and similar to the promotion held a year ago in the Lismore/Ballina region which led to the establishment of ONSW's newest club NROC (Northern Rivers), ONSW now expects that this latest foray will create another new club on the mid-north coast.
The Coffs adventure attracted decent press coverage, culminating in NBN television filming some of Sunday's action and interviewing locally based NTOC member Bruce Meder who has done so much to get orienteering off the ground in Coffs Harbour. The NBN report ran on Monday night.
And last Friday evening, the nearby city of Grafton hosted its first ever event and drew almost 100 participants! Thanks to Gavin Rayward and Julie Irvine for pioneering such a successful initial outing.
The first weekend's three events - staged at Coffs Botanic Gardens on the Friday, The Jetty on Saturday and Woolgoolga Lakeside Reserve on the Sunday - attracted 80 people amounting to 88 participations.
Last Friday's event at Sportz Central was run in cool and fine conditions. There were 16 groups with around 32 people, including many children. At least some said they had heard about it at school. All said they enjoyed the course and will be back for more.
The weekend (at Coffs Education Campus and Sawtell) was even better with good support and lots of family groups. 41 competitors attended the Saturday event, while Sunday's event at Sawtell attracted 50 keen orienteers. The enthusiasm of the kids was outstanding and some top talent was unearthed; it was great to see the kids who were in family groups on Friday move to running on their own on Saturday and Sunday.
There were some good contacts created over the six events and 35% of participants competed in more than one day, while members of one family competed in all 6 events! After competing in all six events Helen O'Callaghan expressed her thanks to the organisers and said: "My children have spent their spare time mapping the back yard and setting courses for each other - as well as participating in the actual events. Great stuff!!"
Some members of the local triathlon club also competed and are keen to further the initial contacts. Participation across the six events was over 200.
Results for the 6 events can be found on Eventor,
Coffs 1 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1282
Coffs 2 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1285
Coffs 3 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1283
Coffs 4 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1284
Coffs 5 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1286
Coffs 6 - http://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/ResultList?eventId=1287
Maps of the areas used in Coffs Harbour can be found on Routegadget at http://garingal.com.au/cgi-bin/gadget3/reitti.cgi and the media coverage can be found here.
