Latest ONSW News
An awesome new map for the NSW Long Champs closed the curtain on a wonderful 9-day Easter carnival hosted by ONSW.
Barbara Hill made great use of the flatter areas in the Gardens of Stone National Park on Saturday to lead more than 440 competitors on an initial roller coaster ride that finished with a middle distance flourish through rock and a quarry that resembled an amphitheatre with its spectator/radio control.
The best performance on the day was Nicola Blatchford (Newcastle) winning the women's junior elite race in a strong field despite rolling an ankle en route to the first control.
Nicola and Michele Dawson are NSW's two representatives at the Junior World Champs in Bulgaria in July; Michele took out the overall junior women's elite title at Easter with four great runs. We wish them all the best in Borovets.
Some kind soul found an abandoned joey on course and returned it for Joanna Hill to mind (pic, right) until WIRES arrived.
On Anzac Day Dick Ogilvie presented a new start and finish location for the NSW Sprint champs at Lithgow HS/TAFE - in the middle of the school oval. This afforded everyone extensive views of participants as they entered and emerged from the buildings - and glimpses of the bush section to the south of the school.
A massive thank you to the organising committee for the Australian 3-Days at Rylstone and Clandulla SF, and to Sydney clubs Uringa and Garingal for last weekend's State League double header. Everyone who contributed - setters, vettors, controllers, organisers, helpers, participants - deserves a week off!
The weather was beautiful and the countryside verdant after much autumn rain - showing off the best aspects of our sport.
Michele Dawson was the star of the big Easter carnival hosted by ONSW, taking out the junior women's elite section by a minute and three seconds.
Michele (Garingal) recorded two firsts and two seconds to pip Victorian Lanita Steer for the gold medal. Newcastle's Nicola Blatchford was third overall, just five minutes behind Michele, thanks to four consistent runs.
Nicola and Michele were later named in the Australian team for the junior world champs in Bulgaria in July. It will be Nicola's second JWOC and Michele's third.
Michele was 2m32s in front entering the Long Distance event on Sunday but dropped six minutes to seemingly surrender the title. But a brilliant run in very steep terrain on Monday - and two sizeable errors by Lanita - saw her emerge in first place as she tore across the final stretches of the cherry farm (pic, left).
In the open women'e elite our best performer was Bennelong's Marina Iskhakova in 13th place, just ahead of Big Foot's Tracy Marsh. Former world champ Hanny Allston won by 18 minutes to signal she is back to peak condition.
Newcastle's Rob Preston was sixth in the men's elite class, a fantastic second placing on the final day a reward for his efforts. Dave Meyer (SHOO), Alex Massey (NC) and Ian Meyer (SHOO) finished in the top dozen overall.
Angus Roberts (NC) was our best in the junior men's elite in seventh placing, closely followed by Aidan Dawson (GO, 9th) and Toby Wilson (GO, 12th). Daniel Hill (GO) may have ended up the highest placed NSW runner had he not recorded a DNF on the Long course on Sunday after taking ill.
The Dawsons (pictured) also took out the family relays on day 1.
Each of the 4 days was also a National League (NOL) event. As a result the NSW Stingers continue to lead the junior women's section, with Michele atop the individual standings and Nicola third.
More than 800 competitors were blessed with beautiful autumn weather at Rylstone Common and Clandulla State Forest. A huge thank you to the dozens of people who helped put the carnival together.
The board of Orienteering NSW has decided to restructure the roles of its paid officers, following the recent resignation of admin officer Anthony Darr.
As such, the board is seeking applications for the following three part-time positions:
* Executive Officer
* Administrative Officer
* Financial Officer
You may apply for one or more of these positions. Likewise, successful candidates may be employed in more than one role. Applications must reach new ONSW president
Many of the board will be at Easter so please feel free to speak to them if you have any queries.
As has been flagged since last year's Presidents Forum in November, there were a number of changes to the ONSW Board at the recent AGM held in Armidale during the opening State League weekend.
A sufficient quorum of club delegates was in attendance as four members of the previous board stood down. After 6 years as President, and a similar number of years in other Board roles before that, Paul Prudhoe joined Barbara Hill, Peter Meyer and Kevin Curby in retiring.
Following last Wednesday's board meeting we are happy to announce our new President Greg Barbour and Finance Director Mark Shingler (pictured).
The Big Foot pair have decades of experience in orienteering and we wish them well as the new board builds on the tremendous growth and development of the past few years.
ONSW still has the director positions of Promotion & Development, and Special Projects to fill.
The 2014 ONSW Board currently comprises:
Greg Barbour - President
Robert Spry - Secretary (and Public Officer)
Mark Shingler - Finance
Andrew Lumsden - Technical
Carolyn Rigby - Coaching
Ian Miller - Planning
Maurice Anker - Communications (IT)
Paul Prudhoe continues to support ONSW as the acting Admin Officer at Sports House.
A copy of the 2013 Annual Report issued at the AGM can be found here.
