Latest ONSW News
Twenty three teams competed for the traditional O'Shea pinetree cakes this weekend. There were new faces, some drawn in from the recent successful Central Coast Summer Series, well known faces who make this an annual family event, and some faces from as far away as Queensland.
The format this year 'deepened our experience with SI' said organiser Colin Price. The pairs relay on Saturday had both members of the team running two legs each, a running time of about 60 minutes in total for each competitor. This was followed by the night event where the fastest time of the team scored, meaning that both members of the teams had an incentive to run. Planners have helped to expand the appeal of this night event by making it shorter, simpler and predominantly on street maps. Sunday's score event tested the planning skill of the competitors; a single score course had to be divided between the two team members who then had to come in through the finish together.
Overall champions were Alex Massey and Damien Welbourne (Long Pair) and Gordon Wilson and Jai Di Tommaso (Short Pair). Full results can be found here.
Newcastle pair, Jenny and Damian Enderby made it to the finals of the 2011 Lake Macquarie Masters Sportsperson of The Year. Although they were pipped at the post by worthy winner Libby Sowter, Jenny said 'it was still a great honour to get to the finals and rounded off a very successful year for us both.'
Damian is better known for his mountain biking activities, and he and Jenny have just returned from Adelaide where they were competing in the Australian Mountain Bike Championships. Sponsored by Thule, Jenny and Damian travel extensively to compete in both mountain biking and orienteering.
Randwick's Fitness First gym was packed with healthy looking, hard working fitness fanatics on Tuesday when ONSW presented at the Membership Appreciation Night. Introduced to Fitness First by Jai Di Tommaso, head personal trainer at the Randwick gym and Garingal regular, Maggie Jones, Lisa Grant and Darren Slattery invited members to expand their exercise repertoire with some orienteering.
Darren manned an orienteering maze complete with SI controls to provide a tantalising taste of the sport. Some of the Fitness First crew who gave it a try were so determined to get it right they completed it three or four times! The DuO Adventure Race prize draw was won by Rob McDonald so we look forward to seeing him in Belanglo Forest for his first experience of orienteering at one of ONSW's favorite venues.
The Orange Twilight orienteering event scheduled for Friday 2 March 2012 at Bloomfield - Gosling Creek has been cancelled due to predicted bad weather and flooding.
Weather permitting Goldseekers next event is Sunday 11th March at 10am at Lake Canobolas.