Latest ONSW News
Orienteering NSW is calling for nominations for the 2017 NSW Schools Team.
Up to 20 high school students - junior boys and girls (15 and under), and senior boys and girls - are selected to compete in the Australian All Schools Championships in individual and relay races.
In 2017, the squad (known as the Carbines) will travel with a manager and coach to Bathurst/Hill End for a week of competition during the September/October school holidays.
Nominations close on April 30. The squad will be announced in July, after the State League weekend in Newcastle.
Competing in ALL selection events is expected. These are State Leagues 1-9. Please submit your nomination to NSW selector Hilary Wood. You can view the selection criteria here. Written notification to the Chair of Selectors (Rob Bennett) is required if illness, injury or exceptional circumstances prevent attendance at any race.
The coach for 2017 is Rob Bennett (Newcastle) and the manager is Sally Devenish (Western Plains). Rob, Hilary and Jock Davis are the selectors. We thank them for their dedication to this important task.
Entries close on Thursday for the first big orienteering weekend of 2017.
Central Coast is hosting its annual O'Shea 2-Days carnival in the southern part of "the coast" on February 18-19. This is mainly for pairs, but single entries are welcome, too.
While it has a great social atmosphere (and some participants dress up in wacky matching outfits), the prizes - fruit cakes decorated with spearmint leaf lollies (see pic, left) - are keenly sought after.
The three events are:
* a Saturday afternoon relay at Kariong
* a Saturday evening event at Ourimbah Uni campus. Only one member of each pair needs to run the night sector, but both may.
* a Sunday morning Pairs Score event at Bateau Bay West. Each pair splits the controls up between them, aiming to finish together.
Entries close on Feb 16 via Eventor. Enter on Day is limited.
It might be hard to fathom with NSW sweltering under a record hot summer, but ONSW's State League season is just around the corner.
As such, Orienteering NSW would like to announce two important changes to SL this year. These have been driven by the fact that (a) ONSW is hosting the two major annual national carnivals in 2017, and (b) many of our sport's pioneers are ageing.
(1) Not all classes will score points at each State League event. Eight of the 15 State League events will also be NOL (National Orienteering League) events, which split the M20-W20-M21-W21 age classes into elites and non-elites. As a result people competing in the M or W20A or M or W21A classes at the Australian 3-Days, Australian Championships or ACT Championships will not accrue points in the NSW OY competition. To accrue points in these classes, you will need to run Elite. Also, the opening SL weekend in the ACT will NOT have any short hard (AS) courses. AS class competitors will therefore have 13 eligible SL events in which to score points.
Click here for a summary and explanation of the Orienteer of the Year points structure for 2017.
(2) A new course will now be offered annually for men and women to reflect the longevity and good health of many of our older veterans. The classes affected are M65AS, M75, M80, M85, M90, W65AS, W75, W80, W85 and W90. The new course will be:
- For Sprint and Middle Distance formats - 25% of Hard 1 course length;
- For Long Distance format - 15% of Hard 1 course length.
Click here for a summary of age classes on offer at the Australian 3-Days carnival in Wagga in June and the Australian championships around Bathurst in late September (yellow means new classes just for those events).
Any queries about these changes should be directed to Andrew Lumsden, ONSW Technical Director.
And a reminder that entries are already open for SL1-2 on March 25-26 and for the Australian 3-Days.
Seven NSW orienteers have been named so far in the 2017 Orienteering Australia High Performance Squads.
Newcastle and Garingal have three representatives each, while Uringa has had Georgia Jones chosen in the Australian Junior Development Squad along with Toby Wilson (GO).
Michele Dawson (GO) and Nicola Blatchford (NC) have made the High Performance Squad, the top tier for orienteers living in Australia.
Alex Massey and NSW junior squad coach Rob Bennett (NC) are in the second-tier National Development Squad along with Michele's younger brother Aidan Dawson (GO).
The entry-level Targeted Talented Athlete Squad will be named later this year.
Meanwhile, a further four juniors have been named in the Australian schools teams to race in New Zealand in April.
Alastair George (Big Foot, pictured) is in the senior boys team, with Duncan Currie (GO) a reserve. Ewan Shingler (BF) is in the juniors boys team, while Sophie Jones - younger sister of Georgia - is a reserve for the junior girls.
Congratulations to all athletes named in these squads and teams.
