Newcastle somehow managed to turn the heavenly taps off at just the right time to ensure a brilliant (albeit muddy) day to conclude a wonderful NSW schools championship weekend.
With a forecast for torrential rain from 1pm Saturday until 3pm Sunday, it was quite a lovely surprise to see the rain hold off until just after Saturday's presentations (around 4pm) - and to stop just before the first starters headed out on Sunday morning.
Many of the 300 competitors at our penultimate State League weekend who gave the brand new Tank Paddock map the thumbs up were even sporting a little sunburn as the clouds parted to a superb day just off the freeway at Minmi.
Our 2014 champions are:
Primary schools: Mawarra (Sydney South West)
High schools: Knox (CIS - Independent Schools)
Region: CIS
For the schools champs section we had almost 70 participants on Saturday for the sprint double at Boorgual and Glendale schools, and just under 100 on Sunday for the middle distance in the bush.
It was heartwarming to hear overwhelming praise and delight from the many students and families for whom this was their first experience of 'proper orienteering' as the diehards would call it.
Saturday's sprints involved some complicated navigation around buildings, underpasses and stairs. Minor errors can cost several places. Sunday's bush event climaxed with a potentially confusing bolt around a paddock with long grass and many thickets and MTB tracks.
There were a few kids out there on course longer than they may have expected, but the very low number of 'mispunches' showed what great determination they displayed. As many experienced orienteers will attest, just finishing your course as a rookie is an achievement in itself. In particular, there were many taking on moderate courses for the first time. Congratulations to all these competitors.
Ed McDougall (Wagga HS) deserves a mention for the special effort to participate. Ed and his mum hopped on a plane at 6am on Saturday to Sydney, then caught a train to Booragul, then walked to the school ! That's one heck of a navigational effort just to get to the event. Likewise Zakea Pongritz made the long haul from Walla Walla, a tiny town just north of Albury, and the Woolford family made the trek from Coffs Harbour. Newcastle were amazing in their organisational efforts - effectively staging three top-tier races in 26 hours at three different locations. Very smooth and very professional.
Our State League page will have links to the results and Routegadget - where you can see all the courses and even where some of the people ran. Splits are here.
Photos from Saturday are on our Facebook page. Feel free to download these for personal use. Tony Hill also took some great shots from both days.
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