Latest ONSW News
Northern Tablelands' Jenny Hawkins has narrowly missed out on winning Orienteering Australia's prestigous Silva Medal.
The Medal is based on placings in the Australian 3-Days (each day considered as a separate event) and the Australian Championships (Sprint, Middle and Long). Points are awarded: 4 for first; 3 for second; 2 for third.
Jenny, who competes in W70, tied with Victoria's Jenny Bourne (W60) on the maximum 24 points. A countback system based on winning margins was used to separate the pair. In effect, Jenny Bourne performed relatively further ahead of the field in her class than 'our' Jenny.
Nevertheless this is a terrific achievement and we congratulate Jenny on her 2016 results.
Stephen Craig (Newcastle, M45) was the next best NSW orienteer with 20 points. If Stephen had run at the Australian Sprint champs on the Gold Coast he may well have ended up with the medal as he streeted his age class.
For the full story on OA's website, click here.
Often we hear of students looking for coaches or tutors - after our Level 1 coaching course last weekend we now have coaches seeking students to 'practise' their newfound knowledge on.
Rebecca George (Big Foot), Rod Parkin (Bennelong Northside), Rob Bennett (Newcastle), Duncan Currie, Toby Wilson, Peter Annetts (Garingal) and Gary Farebrother (Western & Hills) attended the course at Sydney Olympic Park run by Barbara Hill.
These newly minted mentors are now available for orienteers of all abilities to consult: whether it's improving your score at a summer series event, handling the transition to bush or brushing up on your fine compass navigation.
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Nine NSW orienteers have finished the year ranked No.1 in their age groups in Australia, and a further 24 achieved a top 3 status.
Mikayla Enderby (W12, Newcastle), Jenny Enderby (W45, NC), Jenny Hawkins (W70, Northern Tablelands), Christa Schafer (W75, Garingal), Maureen Ogilvie (W80, Uringa), Stephen Craig (M45, NC), Tony Woolford (M50, Bush n Beach), Gordon Wilson (M65, Bennelong Northside, pictured) and Ross Barr (M70, GO) each finished on top of their classes nationally.
The standings are based on results from the annual Easter carnival in the ACT in March and the Australian championships in Queensland in September-October.
Twelve orienteers were ranked second, and another 12 ranked third. These are excellent results given neither major carnival was conducted in NSW. It's great to note that 10 clubs had at least one orienteer ranked in the top 3.
A summary of NSW athletes and clubs to achieve a top 3 ranking is here. For a full list of OA non-elite rankings from 2016, click here.
Congratulations to all who travelled far and wide to compete. In 2017 the Easter carnival will be held over the June long weekend in Wagga and the Australian championships are in Bathurst/Hill End. With both major carnivals in NSW we look forward to a bumper crop of top-3 rankings.
The Women's Orienteering Weekend (WOW) is an annual initiative to build confidence in women wishing to make the jump from street and park events to bush O.
Entries for the 2017 weekend, to be held near Lithgow on March 18-19, are now open.
It's for women of all ages who are keen to learn or improve their off-track navigation and orienteering skills. You are very welcome if you have never navigated in a bush environment before. You are also very welcome if you are experienced but just want to brush up on some skills or get in some practice (and spend time with an awesome bunch of women!).
Information is available here. We recommend booking early as we have been generating a lot of interest from women outside orienteering, as demonstrated at last weekend's She Went Wild expo.
Great networking, great camaraderie and a lot of fun. Thanks to our partner Bold Horizons for putting this on again.
