Latest ONSW News
Our executive officer Paul Prudhoe has stepped down after 16 years of dedication to Orienteering NSW.
Paul, a member of the Central Coast club, was first elected to the Board in 2003, then president from 2008-2014 and and took on the newly created role of Executive Officer in 2015 as we transitioned from a largely amateur oversight body to a vibrant, growing enterprise with five part-time employees.
He is a Level 3 controller, one of only three in the state, and an IOF Event Advisor, and has been in charge of major national and international events in Australia.
Paul was awarded the Presidents Award in 2015 for his tireless contribution to orienteering in NSW.
He will continue in his role as Orienteering Australia EO. We thank him for his years of service and wish him all the best.
At the ONSW AGM on Saturday at Hill End, Brian Cleland (Uringa) and Alice Martin (central Coast) stepped down from the board while Anna Fitzgerald (Goldseekers) has come on to the board. Welcome Anna; thank you Brian and Alice for your contributions.
NSW took out the junior men's elite Australian relay title in the opening round of the National League at a bitterly cold Hill End on Saturday.
It was our first time back at the gold mining maps that wowed everyone at the 2017 Australian championships. Heavy overnight rain made conditions slippery on Saturday, and a cold wind each day brought an unexpected wintry feel to both days.
"Feels like" temps were in the lower single digits as Alastair George (Big Foot, pictured top), Duncan Currie (Garingal) and Alvin Craig (Newcastle) won by nearly seven minutes in a comprehensive performance.
Alastair gave the Stingers a two-minute lead but Dante Afnan turned that around with a six-minute gap to give South Australia the lead at the final change. However, Alvin ran the fastest leg of the contest to secure victory while Ethan Penck got the dreaded mp for SA.
Likewise, Ellen Currie mispunched for the NSW junior women just when it seemed they had taken third spot thanks to a brilliant final leg by Iida Lehtonen.
Canberra Cockatoos won both the senior elite relays and the junior women to take a commanding lead in the NOL for 2019.
The unseasonal weather didn't deter the 400+ participants from enjoying this amazing terrain.
Some intricate gully systems and gold mining knolls and depressions provided very challenging navigation for all competitors. Non-elites ran a Middle Distance on Saturday, and everyone had a Long Distance event on the Sunday morning.
We should also make a special mention of all the NSW masters-aged athletes who ran in the NOL Relay: Stephen Craig, Jock Davis, Greg Barbour, James McQuillan, Andrew Smith, Jenny Enderby, Nicole Mealing, Toni Bachvarova, Anna Fitzgerald and Briohny Seaman.
A massive thank you to the Garingal organising team led by Johnny Petersen, assisted by the WHO club. Links to all the results and maps can be found here. Thank you also to the commentary team of Jim Russell, Ian Prosser, Arpad Kocsik and Ian Jessup.
All participants are asked to fill out the very brief course setter surveys. These provide valuable feedback to setter and controllers, and decide who wins the coveted Graeme Mitchell Trophy.
There were lots of photographers in action. You can find photos by Tony Hill here, NOL relay photos by John Harding on Facebook here, ONSW FB photos here, and photos by Alec Watt here. Feel free to download for personal use and please credit the photographer.
ONSW is pleased to release the 2018 annual report.
The highlights of the year were:
* Newcastle's Jenny Enderby winning the OA Silva Medal for the second time
* Big Foot's Alastair George representing Australia at the junior world championships
* Toby Wilson, Michele Dawson and Aidan Dawson (Garingal) representing Australia at the world university championships
* record schools participations
A reminder that the AGM is this Saturday in Hill End.
For a copy of the 2018 annual report - please click here. The budget papers are here.
A double-sided map was a novel way to finish another memorable season of the Sydney Summer Series, at West Pymble on Wednesday.
Bicentennial Park has long been used as a sprint venue or for birthday parties or kids' events - and it will soon be home to a permanent course in partnership with Kuring-gai Council.
This time it held 10 of the 30 controls - making for a superb off-road MINI course - while on the other side the new map of the surrounding suburb held the rest.
Afterwards there were beverages, bistro food and the presentations.
Graeme Hill (Legends Men, pictured left) took out the SSS Cup for most points across the 26 weeks with 2540.Click here for the Cup standings.
The SSS special award went to Richard Pattison from Bennelong Northside. Once the weekly results are published, Richard delivers his own full statistical analysis of each event. This has been a wonderful addition to Ross Barr's blog on proceedings.
Once again a big thank you to all our course setters, helpers, results gurus, participants and generous hosts. Thanks to setters/mappers Amanda and Hamish Mackie, the bowling club, and the Big Foot crew. Photos of the evening are on our Facebook page.
Don't forget our Moonlight Madness monthly series in winter (Apr 17 at Greenwich is the first) to maintain your score course fix. Until October 2019...
