Latest ONSW News
Three NSW Juniors were named on the National Junior Squads announced yesterday. Michele Dawson (Garingal) and Nicola Blatchford (Newcastle) are on the National Junior Squad and Daniel Hill (Garingal) has made it onto the Junior Development Squad. Well done!
A new map, a MetrOLeague Final, Junior League Race #7 and a full set of Enter on the Day courses are all on offer this Sunday 29th July at Mt Annan. Registration is from 9.15 with starts from 9.30 to 11.30 - enough time that if you enjoy your course you can always go out and do another one! See SHOO's flyer for more details
Consider staying on afterwards and enjoy the beautiful Botanic Gardens. There is so much to see when you are not racing around with your eyes glued to a map. As the parklands website describes, you can:
'Discover Bunyah Pines, banksias, bottle trees and coolabah trees, Wollemi Pines, waratahs and Kangaroo Paws. Enjoy the placid lakes rippled by black swans; and grassland and forest, home to shy wallaroos, swamp wallabies and spiny echidnas. Settle in at the bird hide to spot some of the 180 different bird species: Kookaburras, Clamorous Reed Warblers, Sacred Kingfi shers, Silvereyes and Superb Fairy-Wrens, Yellow-Faced Honeyeaters, Yellow-Rumped Thornbills and melodious Magpies and Currawongs.
Bring your bikes to explore along quiet roads and cycling routes. Meandering tracks will take you to places reminiscent of pre-European settlement, interrupted only by the chatter of teeming birdlife.'
Clear mapping of the UWS Hawkesbury campus and cool dry running conditions allowed competitors in the NSW Sprint Championships this weekend to really stretch their legs. There were some super quick times at this classic sprint, with a few of the competitors clocking speeds close to those being run at the World Orienteering Championships. Josh Blatchford won the M21A course in 12.32, a pace of 4.38/km, with Matt Hill in M18A, Aidan Dawson in M16A and Jock Davis on M40A courses running at around 5 mins/km. Bruce Meder running M60A clocked a speed of 5.22mins/km.
Western & Hills Orienteers, hosts of the competition, have produced a video of the event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4pZhuVVxy0&feature=plcp
Glorious sunshine, an updated bush map of one of Sydney orienteers' favorite areas and some challenging courses by setter Carol Jacobson - what more could you ask from event organisers Garingal Orienteering Club for State League #9?
The Mitchell Park map recently updated by Dave Lotty, was a big improvement with Dave nailing the trickier parts of the map and presenting rock features in a way that made navigation fair and consistent. With the terrain mostly runnable there were also patches of fight, and steep slopes that tested the leg strength of the field.
Best on the courses:
Hard 1/2 Josh Blatchford 64:31, Hard 3/4 Stephen Craig 45:27, Hard 5 Anna Fitzgerald 63.28, Hard 6 Daniel Hill 55.18, Hard 7 Terry Bluett 53.22, Hard 8 Cath Chalmers 45.26, Very Easy Sophie Jones 10.45, Easy Jared McKenna 19.04, Moderate Georgia Jones 32.33