Latest ONSW News
Congratulations to Alvin Craig (Newcastle) who blitzed the Australian Junior Boys Schools Sprint championships in Wagga on Tuesday.
Alvin (pictured middle with his gold medal in the top pic) sped around the 1.8km course at Kildare Catholic College in just 9m38s. And he won by a massive 44 seconds. Digest that for a moment!
And congratulations also to Nea Shingler (Big Foot) who was fastest Australian in the Junior Girls Sprint, beaten only by two very quick New Zealanders. Nea covered the 1.7km course in 11m17s.
Iida Lehtonen (Garingal) was third Australian in the same event. Iida and Nea are on the right of the lower pic.
Ewan Shingler (BF) was the best of the Senior Boys - 7th Australian and 9th overall, while Niamh Cassar (WHO) was our quickest in the Senior Girls - 8th Australian and equal 14th overall.
ACT swept the Senior Girls Sprint, while the Senior Boys placings were was shared around the states and NZ. A big thank you to NSW Stinger and Waggaroos star Briohny Seaman who set the courses.
Our other schools team members performed as follows (counting only Australians):
Junior Boys: Sam Woolford (Bush n Beach) 7th, Oskar Mella (NC) 8th, Cooper Horley (GO) 10th, Jamie Woolford (BB) 27th.
Junior Girls: Mikayla Enderby (NC) 10th, Erika Enderby (NC) 12th, Julia Barbour (BF) 23rd, Martine Valais (WHO) 29th.
Senior Boys: Selwyn Sweeney (WHO) 20th, Oscar Woolford (BB) 22nd, Cameron Will (IKO), 31st.
Senior Girls: Tshinta Hopper (Bennelong) 11th, Ellen Currie (GO) 12th, Serena Doyle (Uringa) 13th, Andra Leung (GO) 17th.
Wednesday is the Long Distance event for the students, and Thursday the Relays.
Alastair George showed his class for the second day in a row with another runner-up place at Oceania 2019, this time in the Australian Long champs on an awesome granite map near Bethungra.
The Big Foot JWOC rep (on the right in the top picture) finished just 13 seconds behind ACT's Patrick Miller over the 10km trek across some very intimidating terrain - the map getting its first use in about 20 years.
Newcastle prodigy Alvin Craig, still only 15, was third in a breakthrough performance at NOL level.
Ellen Currie (GO) was the best placed ONSW representative in the junior women in 13th and local Briohny Seaman (Waggaroos) was 16th in the senior women. Rob Bennett (NC) and Toby Wilson (GO) finished 9-10 in the senior men.
The map, formerly known as Gardiner's Lookout, is now called Split Rock after the giant boulder on top of the hill that had a huge crack in it.
The long steep walk to the start went past it. It made the rolling stone ball from Raiders of the Lost Ark look like a pebble. Naturally, there had to be a control at the base of it!
Meanwhile, congratulations to our 2019 Australian Long champs:
Alton Freeman (Big Foot, M10), Nicola Blatchford (Newcastle W21); Stephen Craig (NC, M35); Barbara Hill (Garingal, W50); Greg Barbour (BF, M55); Michael Halmy (Bennelong, M55AS); Jenny Hawkins (Northern Tablelands, W70); Maureen Ogilvie (Uringa, W85).
Results are here and Winsplits here. Monday's Relays were slated to have twice as much climb as the Long Champs.
We'll be back on this map in two years time for a State League weekend. Can't wait!
Orienteering and the Newcastle club have lost one of the true unsung heroes of our sport with the passing of Russell Rigby.
Russell, 68, did a mountain of work for many years preparing what we call base maps - all the downloading of satellite images, contour data and much more - that allow the mapper to go into the field already well armed.
He passed away early on Saturday morning after a long, courageous and very determined fight against his illness. He was a long-term member who contributed willingly and enthusiastically toward the betterment of the Newcastle club, especially with the technicalities of all things mapping.
On Sunday, a thousand orienteers ran the Australian Long distance champs near Cootamundra on an area that Russell supplied the base map for. Our thoughts were with Russell as we ran amongst the granite and bare rock.
"Our thoughts are with Carolyn and family. Russell will be sorely missed by ONSW and throughout the Australian orienteering community," said ONSW president Greg Barbour.
"He is that classic behind-the-scenes no-fuss contributor. He has tirelessly assisted us preparing maps and data bases for years.
"Just recently he really got behind our Sydney map initiative, where we hope to upgrade the quality of bush maps in the greater Sydney area. Russell would be pleased with the progress we are making, as his passion was always providing technical excellence in this area."
NSW orienteers took out ten age classes at the Oceania Sprint champs to kick off the carnival in Wagga on Saturday.
Courses 1-7 at Charles Sturt Uni included a section on the steep rocky hill just west of the main campus, adding some serious climb and a taste of bush to the Sprint.
Congratulations to our winners:
Nea Shingler (Big Foot, W14); Nicola Blatchford (Newcastle W21); Martina Craig (NC, W45); Barbara Hill (Garingal, W50); Greg Barbour (BF, M55); Paula Shingler (BF, W55); Carol Jacobson (GO, W70); Jean Baldwin (Goldseekers, W75); Maureen Ogilvie (Uringa, W85); Wendy McConaghy (GO, WOpenB).
In the elite divisions, Alastair George (BF) was second in the junior men's (M20E). NSW runners also placed 5-6-7 for a good showing all round. Tshinta Hopper (Bennelong) was the best placed in the junior women in 15th, Rob Bennett (NC) and Toby Wilson (GO) finished 6-7 in senior men, and local Briohny Seaman (Waggaroos) was 7th in the senior women.
Nea won by one second over Kiwi Ruby Nathan, and Greg by three seconds, while Jean deadheated with Ann Ingwersen from the ACT.
The arena had a giant TV screen showing all the action to get the carnival off to a very entertaining start.
In addition to the winners, NSW had 5 runners up and seven third placings.
