Latest ONSW News
Meet your Board member.
This is the fourth in a weekly series where we introduce you to the people entrusted to run our sport in NSW.
Coaching Director Jamie Kennedy (Garingal). Joined the Board 2020.
Is it comforting to know that our current coaching director got lost on an Easy course the first time he went orienteering?
Yes – because it got him hooked on our sport!
It was 2007 and Jamie Kennedy’s wife was looking online for fun runs. She came across a Garingal club event near them at Hunters Hill.
Along with sons Alex (then 9) and Tom (then 6), they found themselves instantly hooked.
“The Garingal members helping at the event really welcomed us and contributed to the experience. A few years later I found the map and wondered how I could get lost on such an easy course,” recalls Jamie.
There followed the standard procession: summer series, MetrO League, State League and national events as their skill levels and passion grew.
Jamie has been president of Garingal and is in his second stint as club captain (organising 8 teams for each round from about 80 interested GO members).
He and Tania ran the registration tent for the 2017 Australian Championships at Bathurst/Hill End. He has set, organised and controlled events and is a Level 1 controller.
A step up to Board level seemed a logical next move, representing NSW’s largest club where he can contribute to our sport in a different way.
Jamie has coached junior rugby and soccer and helped organise a tour to NZ for Alex’s rugby team in 2012.
While Jamie narrowly missed out on being picked for NSW in CHS Rugby in Year 12, he lists his career highlight as winning a NSW Sprint championship.
“It was a bit of a ‘Bradbury’,” he said sheepishly of his win in M50A in 2016.
“Thanks to injuries, DNFs etc I didn’t exactly beat the who’s who of that year’s class, but I won both legs of the double-header and got myself a cloth patch. Before we had to leave for lockdowns, that patch was stuck on my wall at work.”
The SOS is back on Saturday for double-vaxxed people in the Greater Sydney area, on the iconic Hyde Park map.
Pre-entry is strongly preferred and covid restrictions apply: proof of vaccination and QR code check-in.
Starts are from 9.30-11am. Assembly is by Cathedral Road in Cook and Philip Park.
Enter until 12pm Thursday via Eventor, and after that through the Bold Horizons website.
With community sport permitted now that we have hit 80% fully vaccinated in NSW, it's going to be so good to be back on a course after four months of lockdown!
Further north, our Port Macquarie club resumes on Sunday with line courses on the Tacking Point Lighthouse map.
Also on Sunday in Orange, Goldseekers wrap up their winter bush season at Ophir South.
Meet your Board member.
This is the third in a weekly series where we introduce you to the people entrusted to run our sport in NSW.
Finance Director Melanie Christie (Uringa). Joined the Board 2020.
Melanie started orienteering in the most innocuous way, at Sydney Olympic Park in October 2016.
Her husband saw an advertisement for the event and said to her: “You like maps, you might like this”. He was correct.
And like most people who come into our sport via a summer series, it was akin to planting a seed.
Just two years later Melanie was stunned at the ONSW presentation day when she picked up the Rookie of the Year award. That’s some progression!
And equally speedy ‘off the map’, Melanie quickly became a Board member of Uringa, a first aider, general volunteer and sometimes coach for members of the public.
When a seat became available at the 2020 AGM, she decided to take another step up – administratively, this time – and give back even more to the sport she really loves. This commitment evolved into accepting the position of Finance Director.
Importantly, Melanie’s experience of working with people from many different cultural backgrounds in several countries has made her value the input of others.
It also made her appreciate the hard work of other volunteers and the importance of communicating with people at all levels of an organisation.
We didn’t ask Melanie what her favourite terrain is but we reckon it would be rock. After all, she has a Diploma of Gemmology.
Warm and windy weather plus vegetation in the form of long grass and prickly bushes resulted in longer times than usual for the small contingent of lucky Northern Tablelands members who were able to get out on course on Sunday.
The club's final bush event for 2021 at Kooringle, west of Armidale, featured a mix of farmland and scattered rock.
Former JWOC rep Kasimir Gregory (pictured) was fastest on the 5.4km Hard 1 course in just under an hour, while president Felix Burkhard was quickest on the 3.6km Hard 2 course in just over an hour.
Julia Preston took out Moderate in a similar time, while Abi and Nathan Jeffery were best on the Easy course.
You can view the courses on Livelox here.
