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...and the sun came out to show us north. There were over 100 enthusiastic faces waiting to orienteer at the Sydney West Orienteering Championships. Ted Mulherin (WH) had set up dozens of variations of courses so that each competitor could experience all sorts of features, including termite mounds. The fantastic volunteers from ONSW warmed the children up with a model map walk which was followed by individual age races.
Glenmore Park HS's 16+Boys were there to win - again. After winning their age races and the Senior Boys Relays, they declared themselves ready for the NSW Schools Champs in August. Kingswood HS was on their heels, taking out all the other secondary honours. Their training at Glenbrook with Lyn Malmgron certainly paid off. Kurrajong PS and Kellyville Ridge PS excitedly took back to school orienteering sample bags as well as place certificates.
Thanks to Lyn Malmgron for this report
At Cattai National Park on Sunday, competitors in Metro League 3 were often reduced to a walk in the light green as they confronted vegetation that had grown substantially since our last visit there. The good hosts at WHO had warned us about this and, while winning times were pretty much spot on, most runners spent longer on the course than they would have anticipated.
After the ‘sprint’ nature of Round 2 at Callan Park, we were well and truly back in bush territory. Overgrown tracks and thicker pockets of bush demanded concentration, but such was the nature of the map and the wonderful courses set by Adrian White that if you navigated carefully then you were never really more than 100-200m from the target at any time. Read more here
Thanks to Ian Jessup for this report
State League 4 was set on classic kangaroo country and the forest was hopping with them. Although Planner Andrew Lumsden had left parts of the forest unvisited by orienteers to give the roos somewhere to retreat, it seemed that they were quite happy mixing it up with the best of NSW bush orienteers at Falnash. One animal flushed from the forest came through the assembly area and into the string course, causing an orienteer to duck as she sat on her camping chair. He didn't stop for his string course lollies, though, disappearing into the distance at high speed.
High speed was the order of the day, with many of the young guns enjoying the fast terrain and bringing in plenty of sub 7 minute/km speeds. Lachlan Dow running in M21A took first place in 36.17mins, clocking an overall speed of 5.51mins/km and disappointing Greg Barbour and Jock Davis into 2nd and 3rd place who with their sub 7 minute/km times must have felt like they had a real chance of winning before they saw the results sheets. Good to see Michele Dawson back on form, who has been having a quiet season until now, trying to overcome injury to get race fit for the JWOC in June. Scott Charlton, NSW Carbine, was back too proving that a successful season of sailing doesn't stop you from keeping orienteering fit over the summer.
Graeme Dawson, Planner and Ron Junghans, Controller for Garingal set some near perfect classic courses at Baal Bone Junction for State League 5. Technical rock control sites matched with long legs through the runnable forest showed the best of the map to most of the runners. One of the ways he achieved this was by starting the courses at the top of the main ridge, making everyone nice and warm when they started after 110m climb in 550m distance!
Near perfect weather conditions for running continued from the Saturday State League 4, with the day clear and cool with bright blue skies.
Good visibility was key in this complex rock terrain but clear mapping by Alex Tarr meant that careful navigation was rewarded. There were spectacular views to be had for all courses; one view for the longer courses was the encroaching open cut coal mine to the west which is gradually diminishing the map area.
Next State League races are in the Southern Highlands, with the three day Queen's Birthday weekend bringing State League 6,7 and 8. Entries are open now
