Latest ONSW News
When orienteers talk turkey, one name dominates: Glenn Horrocks.
The Garingal man of steel on Sunday claimed his ninth straight Sydney Turkey Trot, winning the men's 20km long race by almost 14 minutes.
The Turkey Trot, run by the Western & Hills club, is a multi-map, mass start event. There are 3-5 maps used, depending on which course you are on.
All three courses started from Masonic Schools Oval, Baulkham Hills, with the Long course encountering parks and pockets of bush in Crestwood, Bella Vista, Glenwood, Kings Langley, Winston Hills and finishing at Northmead.
Garingal's Oztag star Rochelle Cox broke through for her first big win by taking out the women's medium course (11km). Rochelle started out via the Southern Sydney Summer Series and just can't seem to shake the O bug.
Carolyn Matthews (Newcastle) went back to back in the women's short event (7km) while Claire Williams (ex Bennelong, now NC) took out the women's long race.
Big Foot junior Alastair George also claimed his maiden title by 14 minutes in the men's medium, while Alex Kennedy pipped Garingal clubmate Nic Stanley in a sprint finish in the men's short race.
It was great to see some non-orienteers competing among the 100+ entries. A big thanks to WHO for a great day out.
New faces from Wagga, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and Sydney are in the 2016 NSW Schools team (the Carbines) for the Australian championships in Queensland in late September.Lachlan Billett (Waggaroos), Alvin Craig (Newcastle), Oscar Woolford (Bush n Beach) and Angus Leung (Garingal) have all been selected in the juniors boys' team, while Serena Doyle (Uringa) has made the junior girls' team.
Congratulations to the following students for their selection:
Senior Girls: Mel Annetts (GO), Claire Burgess (NC), Georgia Jones (UR)
Senior Boys: Alastair George (Big Foot), Hugh Gingell (GO), Duncan Currie (GO)
Junior Girls: Sophie Jones (UR), Serena Doyle (UR), Ellen Currie (GO), Jo Hill (GO)
Junior Boys: Lachlan Billett (WR), Angus Leung (GO), Alvin Craig (NC), Oscar Woolford (BB), Ewan Shingler (BF), Finn Mackay (UR)
All selected will travel with the team to Queensland and run in the three schools championship events from September 26-29 (Sprint, Individual and Relay), while also competing in the other major events on both weekends of the carnival.
Manager Sally Devenish will be in contact with team members to co-ordinate travelling arrangements.
ONSW thanks selectors Jock Davis, Hilary Wood and Andrew Hill for their time and energy spent in this important role, and to the Carbine Club for their generous financial support.
Our Newcastle club celebrated 40 years of the Hunter region schools orienteering championships with a glorious day at Kitchener on Tuesday.
Around 65 students made the trek to the Cessnock area for a line course and then a score course in cool, crisp, sunny conditions with little sign of the overnight rain.
A huge thank you to Colin Bailey who organised and set all the courses on the Poppethead map, and to the dozen or so Newcastle members who helped with all the other tasks essential for a successful outing.
This area is great for all abilities, with the intricate track network and flattish terrain allowing competitors to go at whatever pace they liked.
Our 2016 champions are: Claire Burgess (Hunter School of Performing Arts), Oskar Mella (Seaham Public School) and Merewether High School. Click for the results.
These days show our sport in a tremendous light and we hope to see some of these students at the NSW champs on August 27-28 at Bankstown.
We've put some photos on Facebook, as has Jenny Enderby.
Our Sydney interclub competition was back to familiar terrain for Round 4 with Big Foot hosting us on their track-laden Darks Common map at Lapstone.
After some easy running at Mt Annan and Botany, this was more like bush O. But the plethora of tracks can mislead - what sounds like simple trail running actually requires a sharp eye to ensure the correct track is taken; sometimes the cross-country bearing was more productive and less distracting.
Only two competitors (Dave Shepherd in Divn 1 and Riley Grainger in Divn 5) went under 35 minutes. Setter Miles Ellis tested the fine navigation with well thought out twisting, turning courses and again used a novel road-crossing control for safety.
The morning began with a minute's silence for Bennelong legend Frank Assenza, who we farewelled on Tuesday. Frank started the MetrO League in 1994 and was at events right up until his passing earlier this month.
With matches underway in bitingly cold but sunny weather, times were surprisingly long given that recent back-burning aided visibility in the southern half of the map.
We also thank Big Foot for allowing an undermanned Uringa-Central Coast to field two ACT elites as fill-ins; it cost the Feet the match - but with Garingal tripping up in a draw with WHO the Pink People still lead Division 1.
SHOO-IKO thrashed the GO Dragons in Division 2 in a battle of the heavyweights that was a likely preview of the final.
Division 3 is a three-horse race, with unbeaten Bennelong and Knox to meet in the last round. SHOO-IKO lie in wait hoping to sneak into the final. It's a similar tale in Division 4, where the unbeaten GO Legless face the strong Bennelong and WHO teams needing just a point to make the final. The GO Monitors are third.
In Division 5, Bennelong and WHO would both have lose badly to allow SHOO to leapfrog into the competition decider.
Thanks to Big Foot for a great day out - they had all the results up on their website before we were home! Most of these are linked on our ML web page. The individual points tallies are also up.
A reminder that our next round is on July 31 when WHO unveil their new map of Mulgoa.
