Latest ONSW News
Rookie Western Hills teenager Niamh Cassar has produced a stunning win in W16A in complex rock at the NSW Middle Champs just outside Armidale.
Niamh, a talented runner, only started doing hard courses this year and Saturday was just her sixth such outing. She just pipped Mikaela Gray (Queensland) and Ellen Currie (Garingal) to claim her first major title.
Other noteworthy wins by juniors went to Tim McConaghy (Garingal) in M12A, Oscar Woolford (Bush n Beach) in M16A and Duncan Currie (Garingal) in M20 where he beat 2018 JWOC selections Alastair George and Patrick Miller.
The new Pinetree map was covered in boulders and setter Don Barker (Northern Tablelands) made sure we went around or past most of them.
A lovely final loop back past the assembly area - where several controls were obvious to the spectators but not the competitors approaching from above (see pic) - added a little more pressure at the pointy end of the run.
Stephen Craig (Newcastle, M45A) and Chippy le Carpentier (Southern Highlands, M75A) suffered rare defeats and will be out to bounce back in Sunday's Long Champs at the same location.
John Harding's OA Facebook photos are here, the results are here, and our ONSW Facebook photos are here.
Thanks NTOC for a fantastic afternoon.
We're all very excited about this weekend's NSW Middle and Long Championships near Armidale.
Start lists are on Eventor, and the final program contains all the essential information.
Organisers promise us two awesome new granite maps right next door to the much-loved Mt Brown map. There are football fields of bare rock!
The map area is adjacent to Thunderbolts Way, on the main road from Uralla to Bundarra, and is about 7km north of the junction with the road from Armidale. The same parking area and arena will be used for both days.
A reminder that these champs will carry double OY points.
Mitchell Park signalled a return to traditional bush O for Round 2 of our MetrO League on Sunday.
Occasional rock clusters and steep gullies tested competitors but setter Airdrie Long got the distances spot on.
There were some clear winning margins: Garingal junior Angus Leung won Division 3 by six minutes, and Knox's Alex Koch-Lowndes took out Division 5 by five and half minutes.
Newly minted JWOC rep Alastair George (Big Foot) and Uringa club captain Shane Doyle repeated their round one performances of the fastest times in Divisions 1-2 respectively.
Big Foot and Garingal have cleared ahead in Division 1. Uringa and the Feet now lead Division 2 after twin victories, while SHOO-IKO remain unbeaten in Division 3.
GO Monitors are the only unbeaten side in a tight Division 4, while UR-CC and WHO recorded their second straight wins in Division 5.
It was great to see so many newcomers across all the divisions. All the scores and splits have been posted on our ML web page.
Siblings Michele and Aidan Dawson, along with Toby Wilson, have been chosen in the Australian team for the World University Orienteering Championships in Finland in July.
The Garingal trio are all previous JWOC representatives.
Michele, fresh from a 12-month stint in Denmark, will run in the Sprint, Sprint Relay, Long and Relay. She competed at the previous WUOC in Hungary in 2016.
Aidan will compete in the Sprint, Sprint Relay and Relay.
Toby will run in the Middle, Long and Relay.
The event website is here and the Orienteering Australia story here.
We wish them all the best in this prestigious competition which has become an important link between the world junior and senior championships.
