Latest ONSW News
WHO rookie Niamh Cassar has capped a stellar year by being named in the 2019 Orienteering Australia High Performance Squads.
Niamh, 15, has just finished her first year competing on Hard courses and racked up some impressive wins in her age class at the NSW Middle Champs, NSW and ACT Sprint Champs and Australian Schools Sprint Champs.
She has come to orienteering from athletics and enters the HP program at the Targeted Talent level, along with fellow high schoolers Ewan Shingler (Big Foot) and Newcastle prodigy Alvin Craig.
Garingal has four representatives, Newcastle three and Big Foot two.
Nicola Blatchford and NSW junior squad coach Rob Bennett (NC) are in the second-tier National Development Squad, along with GO trio Toby Wilson and Michele and Aidan Dawson.
Big Foot's JWOC rep Alastair George is in the Junior Development Squad, along with Garingal's Duncan Currie. They have both just finished their HSC.
Congratulations to these ten orienteers on their selections.
Happy New Year everyone!
We had a very successful Xmas 5-Days event in Sydney, attracting 1438 participants, and are now looking forward to a busy 2019.
A reminder to please renew your membership through Eventor. Memberships ended on December 31 - so any events requiring pre-entry will attract a non-member surcharge if you haven't renewed.
The first news for 2019 is that SHOO have moved their Summer Sats to mornings to beat the heat. They will now offer a start window of 9.30-11am. The series started last weekend and runs until Feb 16.
Following on from that, SHOO are teaming up with our partner organisation Bold Horizons to offer a five-week SOS series once school resumes.
Also underway again are the Central Coast Summer Series and the West Sydney Orienteering Series.
Looking further ahead to major events this year: the first State League weekend is March 30-31 at Hill End, the Sydney-based MetrO League begins on April 14, and the Oceania/Australian champs are in the Riverina from September 28 to October 6.
The next working bee for 'The Hut' at Belanglo State Forest is from January 18-20.
The house is available for the use of clubs, schools and individual orienteers for training or even a holiday. The hut includes bedding for approximately 20. The grounds are also available for camping.
Although the accommodation is basic, there is a warm log fire, cooking facilities and a fridge, tank water and hot showers. Anyone who helps at a working bee receives free accommodation there for the next 12 months.
Tasks we hope to achieve include:
* collecting and cutting/splitting firewood
* erecting guttering on the Durham Room
* preparing the Durham Room exterior for painting
* general maintenance i.e. replace tap washers in the bathroom and campers sink, replace outdated smoke alarms.
If you can assist in any way, please contact Peter Howe (
If you fancy a run that weekend, on the Saturday morning SHOO have an event just up the road at Picton, with starts from 9.30-11am.
Canberra's Dent family and the locals from Big Foot emerged triumphant after five warm days at the Xmas 5-days carnival, held this year in Sydney on urban maps.
Martin Dent is an Olympic marathoner (he retired in 2014) now making big inroads (pardon the pun) in orienteering. He won four of the five days in Men A, finishing second on day four at Manly to visiting Finn Topi Syrjalainen.
Wife Kathie won Women A with three firsts and two seconds, while eldest child Elye won Men E on Moderate courses - securing victory over Bennelong's Curtis Pepper with victory on the final morning at Sydney Uni.
Competitors faced steamy conditions, with temps often already in the high 20s for the 9am starts - after a stunning scenic opener around Kirribilli as part of the Sydney Summer Series.
For many, the highlight was the new map at ICMS Manly, formerly St Patricks Seminary (see top pic). There were views to Manly Beach (lower pic) and from St Pauls Schools where we assembled across to the city.
Big Foot had four class winners; Garingal, Goldseekers and Illawarra Kareelah one each, while the Combined Easy class was won by Miles Bryant from Queensland.
Congratulations to our overall class winners:
Men A: Martin Dent (ACT), Men B: Greg Barbour (BF), Men C: Hamish Mackie (BF), Men D: Simon George (BF), Men E: Elye Dent (ACT).
Open Women: Grace Molloy (GS), Women A: Kathie Dent (ACT), Women B: Toni Bachvarova (GO), Women C: Nea Shingler (BF), Women D: Margaret Duguid (IKO).
Combined Easy: Miles Bryant (QLD).
A big thank you to all our setters, controllers, organisers, SI gurus, and the Shinglers for arranging the prizes.
All the results, splits etc are on the event web page, along with the final cumulative points table.
