Latest ONSW News
Our two biggest clubs have taken out most of the annual major awards at the presentation night in Lane Cove on Saturday.
Tireless Newcastle couple Carolyn and Russell Rigby won the most prestigious trophy - the President's Award - for their fantastic work on many fronts.
Russell does much of his work behind the scenes - arranging the photo downloads for new maps across the state, mapping many schools and new areas, uploading courses onto Routegadget and much more.
Carolyn (pictured, left) is a more public face: expanding our AASC network into new regions and upskilling new coaches, arranging demonstrations and gala days in the Hunter region and north coast, co-ordinating the recent NSW schools championship weekend. She recently stepped down after serving as ONSW coaching director.
The President's Junior Award went to Garingal's Toby Wilson for his huge volume of volunteer service. Toby, 17, set the midweek "Dungaree Challenge" courses at the Easter carnival, is a regular fixture at our new Saturday morning schools series, is always on hand at Space Racing, and much much more.
Club of the Year went to Newcastle.
Course Setter of the Year was shared by Stingers Josh Blatchford (NC) and Matt Parton (Goldseekers) for their courses on the Sappa Bulga map at the QB III carnival.
Rookie of the Year was Johnny Petersen of Garingal. A very competitive fifth in M55AS in his first year of State League (and on hard courses), Johnny broke ribs and punctured a lung in a fall at Easter but was back walking in the bush just a month later to begin his OY career!
The Cox's Cup Encouragement Award was won by Janet Morris of WHO for her efforts in co-ordinating promoting the Western Sydney Summer Series, and mapping new areas for our enjoyment.
Click here for the full list of award winners.
We are pleased to be able to release the 2015 State League calendar, featuring old favourites, new maps and lots of great Australian bush.
The season starts with the Sydney Sprint Weekend in early March when we host the opening round of the National Orienteering League. Our first two SL events are on eagerly awaited new maps the Botany foreshore and UNSW.
The QB III carnival over the June long weekend is back in the Lithgow area, while our annual NSW schools championships are to be held in western Sydney.
The State League season finishes in the Southern Highlands a week before the Australian championships in Ballarat.
2. 8 March GO Kensington NOL Sprint Finals, NSW Sprint Distance Championships (Badge event)
3. 18 April NC Pelaw Main Middle distance
4. 19 April NC Gretley + Blue Gum Long distance
5. 16 May GS Rocky Falls Middle distance
6. 17 May BN Gumble NSW Long Distance Championships (Badge event)
7. 6 June QBIII GO Baal Bone Bush Sprint
8. 7 June QBIII BF Falnash Long distance
9. 8 June QBIII GO Gardens of Stone Classic 3 day style courses
10a. 15 August WH Hawkesbury Sprint distance, NSW Schools Championships 10b. 15 August ST Kingswood Sprint distance, NSW Schools Championships
11. 16 August WH Cattai Middle distance, NSW Schools Championships
12. 19 Sept SH Appin NSW Middle Distance Championships (Badge event)
13. 20 Sept IK Belanglo Long distance
Notes.
(1) Some classes have 12 events as the NOL classes vary from ONSW classes.
(2) ST = NSW Stingers.
(3) No State League events in July 2015.
The board thanks all the clubs for their co-operation in finalising these weekends at such an early date.
Orienteering NSW is very keen to increase the number of coaches in its ranks and invites interested parties to attend a national conference in Canberra from January 24-25.
The conference is for everyone - from new coaches seeking a Level 1 accreditation to experienced mentors looking to renew their status or move up a level.
As orienteering continues to grow in NSW - and with schools participation at an all-time high - having more coaches will help clubs produce better performances at all levels.
ONSW strongly encourages each NSW club to have at least one accredited coach in their membership.
To encourage members to attend the Canberra conference, ONSW will make funding available to assist them. The level of funding (covering accommodation and transport costs) will depend on final numbers attending from NSW and the transport arrangements.
Read here for more information.
Meanwhile, ONSW is also seeking someone to take on the role of Routegadget co-ordinator. Some basic knowledge of OCAD mapping and course setting would be a help.
Routegadget displays courses from events and - more importantly - allows people to download their routes and view those taken by others. As such it makes an excellent learning tool.
Please email executive officer Paul Prudhoe (
Even fresher than a South Sydney premiership, ultra sprint orienteering made its Australian debut at Callan Park today to great fanfare and much animated discussion.
Ultra is a bit like cricket's Twenty20 - short, fast, furious and loads of fun. Participants had a two-hour window to complete 3 line courses, each of approximately 1km.
With the temperature already nudging 30C by 9am, the punters were soon choosing to run early and take little rest time between courses.
Newcastle's Josh Blatchford flew around in 17m49s, a good 1m22s faster than anyone else. Catherine Murphy, from the host club Uringa, was the fastest woman in 21m46s.
While the format sounds simple enough, the complexity lay in the fact that there were more than 70 controls in an area roughly 250m x 250m, mapped at 1:1500, and included a maze (see top pic). Each tree was mapped and its shade cover shown. Controls could be either side of a tree, or three in a tight bunch - in that respect it was a bit like Trail O at times.
Further twists were:
* the maze held 11 controls - you visited the maze twice on each course, often for 2 controls each time
* there were no control descriptions and no numbers on the SI units
* the exact control location was shown by a dot inside the circle
* a mispunch meant a 30-second time penalty rather than disqualification
* you could do the 3 courses in any order (1-2-3 or 2-3-1 etc)
As well as being something new and exciting, today's event was an important test run for New Year's Eve when our annual Xmas 5-Days carnival - this year taking on a distinctly urban feel in Sydney - concludes at Centennial Parklands. (Speaking of which - enter now!)
It required a mountain of work from mapper Dave Lotty, setter Matt Peters and SI guru Ron Pallas, who were on site from 6am.
We offer these gentlemen - and pretty much the entire Uringa club who assisted in some way - a massive thank you for their efforts in putting on such a fantastic event.
Check out our Facebook page for some pics and the maps. And stay tuned for more ultra sprint activity in 2015 !
