Latest ONSW News
The ACT Middle Champs offered a rarity in Australian orienteering - karst terrain - at the weekend.
Karst is noted for its complexity of rock and difficulty in navigating, which was a challenge for many competitors on Saturday. It is more common in eastern Europe where the erosion of limestone creates large depressions.
This was the debut of the Carey's Caves map near Wee Jasper and it was warmly received. You were either in the rock, or running across paddocks eaten down by sheep to a fine carpet.
Sunday's Long Champs at Jerangle near Cooma featured a frosty start then superb orienteering in rocky outcrops and more farmland.
When all the results were tallied, NSW reclaimed the Bennelong Trophy, contested over the NSW and ACT Long Champs, 46-32.5.
A bumper turnout of more than 250 on each day made for a great weekend.
We noted two good wins by Andrew McDonald (Big Foot) in M55AS, and a strong win by Robyn Pallas (Central Coast) in W65A on Sunday.
Our next State League weekend is this weekend in Mittagong, in conjunction with the NSW schools champs.
And a reminder that our final SL event for 2019 will be the NSW Sprint Champs at Sydney Uni on Sunday November 10, hosted by Big Foot.
Newcastle trio Andrew Power, Carolyn Matthews and Rhiannon Prentice swept all three events in their age classes at the Qld MTBO championships at the weekend.
Sunday's Long champs at Legume had very long winning times, fully testing every rider.
Saturday's Sprint was through the streets of Killarney with a mid-course section in the local high school (with a map flip and change of scale!), while the afternoon Middle was physically demanding with sandy tracks and tough paddocks.
Garingal's Michael Ridley-Smith (M40) won the Sprint and was second in the Middle, while Robert Lewin (NC, M70) won the Middle and was second in the Sprint and Long.
Other NSW place-getters were:
2nd: Malcolm Roberts (M60, Middle and Long)
3rd: Ori Gudes (Uringa, M40, Sprint), Michael Halmy (Bennelong, M50, Sprint) and Robert Prentice (NC, M60, Sprint-Middle-Long).
Thanks to OQ for a great weekend.
The next MTBO events are Newcastle's first BOSS of the summer, at Killingworth on October 13, then the ACT Champs from October 18-20 and the Australian titles in Victoria from October 25-27.
Our regional schools championships have wrapped up for the year, with more than 1,700 students enjoying a day out across the 9 outings.
The last two events were the Centennial Park gala day where we had 255 students from Rose Bay Secondary College attend, and the Hunter champs at Minmi where a dedicated bunch of 34 students were immersed in the bush.
Individual champions were Mikayla Enderby (Warners Bay High) and Nicholas Rolfe (Lambton High), while the champion school was Irrawang High.
A huge thank you to Denis Lyons and Geoff Todkill who organised and set all the courses on the Tank Paddock map, and to all the Newcastle members who helped with all the other tasks essential for a successful day.
A reminder that entries to the NSW schools champs close on Wednesday August 28. Students must enter via Trybooking.
We also look forward to reporting on the Orange and Armidale gala days which are held in Term 4.
Due to the wet weather forecast, we have postponed the free Sydney CBD lunchtime finale at The Rocks to Tue Sep 3.
Members are asked to pre-enter via Eventor, and newcomers to email Ian (
The start window is 12.30-1.30pm.
This will be the first orienteering event held in The Rocks and we are very excited to show off the first stage of what we hope will be a map covering the whole CBD.
The assembly location is on George St, next to First Fleet Park. There might even be a control where this photo was taken.
