Latest ONSW News
Students from as far afield as Henty, Wagga, Dubbo, Nowra and Queanbeyan showed their talents at the NSW schools championships at the weekend.
Held in conjunction with State Leagues 9 and 10, almost 300 orienteers were treated to three new Dave Lotty maps near Bankstown airport.
Saturday consisted of two sprints - at Garrison Point where the easy open parkland gave the schoolkids a confident start to proceedings, and UWS Bankstown where the intricacies of sprint mapping were far more apparent where nooks and crannies around the campus waited to catch the unaware.
Congratulations on breakthrough wins to Finn Mackay (M14A), Lachlan Billett (M15A), Clare Jessup (W16A) and Jamie Kennedy (M50A).
Sunday was a middle distance bush event at Mirrambeena Regional Park which has been remapped after more than a decade of no access. A cycling road and lots of bush tracks criss-crossed the area, aiding navigation to a degree but also presenting other challenges. First-time SL planner Jim Mackay set some terrific legs among the varied vegetation that offered great route choice.
Our 2016 school champions are: Mawarra PS (primary), KNOX Grammar (Secondary) and CIS (region).
Please fill out the very brief Course Setter of the Year surveys for each event in which you participated.
A massive thank you to: Ron Pallas and his team on SportIdent, the Uringa club for a hectic 36 hours, ONSW Development Officer Lyn Malmgron and her team of helpers to ensure the kids were calm and confident when setting out on their courses, and the coaches who talk parents on a map walk (see pic).
Our gratitude also goes to Bankstown Council for venue access, and Mustangs Baseball Club for opening their canteen on Sunday.
Photo albums from Saturday are on our Facebook page. Results, splits and Routegadget links are all on our State League page.
A reminder that our final State League weekend for 2016 is in the Southern Highlands in a fortnight. Saturday is a Middle distance event at Mittagong and Sunday is a Long distance event in Belanglo State Forest. Entries close on Friday.
Newcastle's Orienteer of the Year series has concluded with a tough final round at Congewai.
Hills were the order of the day on pretty much every course (see pic) and refreshments were well earned post-run.
After eight rounds, Alex Massey took out the Hard Long category from Rob Bennett (496-494), and it was just as close in the Hard Medium class with club president Andrew Power prevailing over Glenn Burgess (492-489).
Year 6 whizz kid Alvin Craig showed the benefit of six years in Sweden by winning Hard Short (499) by a comfortable margin.
On the Moderate courses, Graeme Taplin had a perfect score of 500 to win the Long category while Mikayla Enderby, another promising junior, easily took out the Short class.
At the entry level, sister Erika Enderby won the Easy class and Tommy Mella the Very Easy section.
Congratulations to all winners, setters, organisers and everyone who supported the NOY - Newcastle are delighted to report that 327 people attended at least one event.
A reminder the annual Hunter Valley Championships are on Sunday September 18. We also look forward to Newcastle hosting the Xmas 5-days carnival in the Hunter from Dec 27-31.
More than 200 rookies tried our free course at Barangaroo on Sunday to celebrate the first birthday of Sydney’s newest harbour foreshore park.
Many of the curious newcomers went around in small groups as the score course gave them a tour of the dozen sculptures brought in especially for the two-week celebration. Every entry also received a free pot plant upon returning to the finish.
ONSW once again thanks the Barangaroo Delivery Authority for the chance to showcase our sport on such a prestigious occasion. We look forward to hosting sprint events on this map and perhaps even incorporating it in a wider Rocks summer series map.
A huge thank you to all the helpers on the day, especially SportIdent guru Ron Pallas. Results are here.
Congratulations to Sydney Summer Series founder Ross Barr who has won a major Sport NSW award.
Ross was up against six similarly worthy contenders to win the Community Sport Administrator category at Parliament House on Friday night.
The Sydney Summer Series, run each Wednesday evening during daylight saving (and now with spin-offs in the eastern suburbs, Hills district and many regional towns) is an important entry point for many people into orienteering.
In March we celebrated 25 years since Ross founded the SSS.
Garingal president Ross Duker was on hand to accept the award as his namesake is overseas enjoying a European summer of O.
On behalf of all orienteers we congratulate Ross on this prestigious occasion.
