Orienteering NSW

Coming Events

map	Sat 2 Nov 9:30 am SOS 3 - Middle Cove Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, 5A Glenroy Ave, Middle Cove

map	Sat 2 Nov 10:00 am Illawarra Map Running Series - Spring #3 Croome Sporting Complex John O Dwyer Oval within Croome Sporting Complex - use the northern entrance from Croome Road - most direct access to Oval.

map	Sun 3 Nov 4:00 pm River and Bay Series #2 - Randwick Over the Rainbow, Randwick

map	Wed 6 Nov 4:30 pm 2024/25 Sydney Summer Series #5 - Lindfield Primula Oval, Lindfield.

map	Wed 6 Nov 5:00 pm Newcastle Summer Street Series #4 - Blackalls Park Blackalls Park

map	Thu 7 Nov 5:00 pm Summer series #1 72 Ross Street

map	Fri 8 Nov 5:30 pm Goldseekers Park #2 - Gosling Creek Gosling Creek

map	Sat 9 Nov 9:30 am SOS 4

map	Sat 9 Nov 10:00 am Illawarra Map Running Series - Spring #4 Unanderra Lindsay Maynes Park, cnr Princes Highway & Factory Rd, Unanderra

map	Sun 10 Nov 9:00 am Central Coast Summer Series 1 - Shelly Beach Naomi Honey Reserve, Shelly Beach Rd, Shelly Beach

There has been a slight change to our opening State League weekend next month with the Sunday event now a Middle Distance instead of a Long.

Land access issues have forced our Newcastle organisers to reconfigure the event to cater for shorter course lengths than originally planned.

A revised course/class/distance matrix will be published in the next couple of days.

For those already entered, you might wish to change class after this matrix has been published. Simply go back into Eventor and select the desired class. There should be no cost involved and can be done anytime up until entries close.

Please contact the organisers if you do NOT wish to remain on the entry list due to the format change and they will arrange a refund.

Melissa Robertson and Mark Schaefer have taken out first places at the Central Coast summer series after the final event at Bateau Bay.

Melissa (600) finished comfortably in front of CC president Hilary Wood (540), while Mark (600) had Newcastle's Justin Stafford (581) close by.

The men's handicap section went to Neil Chappell (NC), and the women's was shared by Liz Bulman (Garingal) and Suzanne Bramford (NC).

A big thank you to all the course setters, organisers, mappers and participants.

The next Central Coast event is the 40th edition of the Toukley/O'Shea 2-Days on March 4-5. There are three runs in 18 hours. Cake prizes for the fastest pairs overall, but you can also enter as an individual in 1, 2 or 3 events.

Details are here. Entries close Mar 2.

NSW orienteers dominated the Maximum Adventure races at Lake Macquarie last weekend.

Bennelong Northside's Ryan Armstrong and brother Chad took out Saturday's Classic distance in 2h7m25s, a good 12 minutes clear of their nearest rivals.

The following day Newcastle veteran Jenny Enderby and junior Oskar Mella (pictured, top) won in 2h19m46s, which was second across both days by just a mere three seconds.

On Saturday, Newcastle MTBOers Ginaya Dunn and Derrick Cant were the first mixed couple in 3 hours, and second across both days.

In the Mixed Novice class, Garingal's Heather Vrachliotis and son Anthony (aged just 10) were fourth overall.

Clubmate Kirsten Horley and partner Jennifer Jones were fourth in the Female Novice.

Thanks to Maximum Adventure, Outer Image Collective and Lake Macquarie City for the photos.

You can see all the results here.

Congratulations to Central Coast member and endurance athlete Melissa Robertson who has smashed the record for the 250km Great South West Walk in Victoria.

Melissa's time of 51 hours 39 minutes obliterated the previous women's record of 94h 27m and took a whopping 7 hours off the men's best time of 58h 33m.

She travelled with her mum who was her support crew for all but a 38km beach stretch towards the end.

To add to the drama, their car was written off after hitting a kangaroo near Seymour en route to the event centre in Portland!

The first day of the run was tough, with temps hitting 37C, and she was understandably exhausted after the adrenalin-sapping sagas of the lead-up.

"As is often the case with ultra events, you have a brief mental breakdown, then pull yourself together and get to the next water source to cool down," said Melissa.

The 40-year-old grew up with a bushwalking mum, became an elite obstacle racer (Tough Mudder etc) in her 20s then picked up orienteering in her 30s. This taught her how to navigate and - crucially - become a lot less afraid of the bush.

Melissa has won the Central Coast Summer Series women's division for several years now.

Her next big challenge is the annual Six Foot Track marathon, where she has three times placed in the top 10 women.

But that's barely a warm-up for the 200-mile (360km) Unreasonable East in June.