Orienteering NSW

Coming Events

map	Sun 3 Nov 4:00 pm River and Bay Series #2 - Randwick Over the Rainbow, Randwick

map	Wed 6 Nov 4:30 pm 2024/25 Sydney Summer Series #5 - Lindfield Primula Oval, Lindfield.

map	Wed 6 Nov 5:00 pm Newcastle Summer Street Series #4 - Blackalls Park Blackalls Park

map	Thu 7 Nov 5:00 pm Summer series #1 72 Ross Street

map	Fri 8 Nov 5:30 pm Goldseekers Park #2 - Gosling Creek Gosling Creek

map	Sat 9 Nov 9:30 am SOS 4 Gore Hill Oval, 209 Pacific Highway, St Leonards. Meet by the oval car park and playground.

map	Sat 9 Nov 10:00 am Illawarra Map Running Series - Spring #4 Unanderra Lindsay Maynes Park, cnr Princes Highway & Factory Rd, Unanderra

map	Sun 10 Nov 9:00 am Central Coast Summer Series 1 - Shelly Beach Naomi Honey Reserve, Shelly Beach Rd, Shelly Beach

map	Sun 10 Nov 4:00 pm River and Bay Series #3 - Canterbury The Gallops, Tasker park, Phillips Avenue Canterbury

map	Wed 13 Nov 4:30 pm 2024/25 Sydney Summer Series #6 - Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Camperdown.

Garingal will be putting on their next Moonlight Madness event to coincide with World Orienteering Day on Wednesday May 11.

With an assembly area right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge's northern approach, the 45-minute score event will offer million-dollar views and a relaxed, informal atmosphere.

Starts are from 5.30-7pm, with a strict course closure time of 7.45pm. You'll need a headlamp or torch; the controls will have reflective tape on them for easier spotting in the dark.

A project of the world governing body, World Orienteering Day has almost 1,300 school and club events registered across the globe on May 11. Orienteers are encouraged to support this initiative on one of our favourite urban Sydney street maps.

Our new coaching director, Toby Wilson, has finished third in the junior men's elite section at the ultra long NOL event in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.

Toby, the current Garingal club champion, completed the 20.2km course (yes, it was that long) in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 28 seconds. The results bodes well with junior world championship selections imminent. Clubmate Aidan Dawson was 12th.

In the women's open elite, Michele Dawson and Nicola Blatchford (Newcastle) were 7th and 8th over the 18.3km course. And in the men's open elite, Bennelong's Eric Morris was 10th in the 28.1km course. Victorian Leon Keely averaged 5.24 minutes per km in winning the event!

In the photo, those are not Tibetan prayer flags - they are maps hanging waiting for runners to come in for the two map changes.

In Saturday's middle distance event over more familiar course lengths, Michele and Nicola were 8th and 9th; Aidan and Toby were 6th and 7th; and Big Foot's Jock Davis was 5th in the open men's.

Among the public events in conjunction,
on Saturday: Goldseekers' Anna Fitzgerald won W35A, Karen Blatchford won W45A and Debbie Byers (BF) was third in W55A
and on Sunday: Anna and Karen came second, Nicola Nygh (BF) and Barbara Dawson made it a quinella in W45AS, Julia Prudhoe (Central Coast) was third in W55A, Callum Davis (BF) won M20A, Kevin Williams (WHO) won M55AS, and Peter Meyer (SHOO) was second in M75A.

Sydney teenagers Lucy and Fergus Mackie will make their Australian debuts at the world mountain bike orienteering championships in Portugal in July.

Lucy, 18, and Fergus, 15, are the first sister and brother to represent Australia in MTBO and will ride in the junior elite class in Coimbra.

The Mackies have been competing in MTBO for four years, including some international events in NZ. For tougher competition, they competed in the elite divisions at the selection trials at Beechworth earlier this month.

There, Lucy was third in the Sprint & Middle distance races, while Fergus stunned everyone with an outstanding second placing in the Long Distance trial over 29km. He will combine with the two senior men (Victorian Angus Robinson and WA's Ricky Thackray) in the elite relay at the world championships as well as doing the three individual events in the junior championships.

We congratulate the Mackies on this wonderful news.

Meanwhile, entries are open for the annual NSW mountain bike orienteering championships near Lithgow next month. All three formats - Long, Middle and Sprint - will be conducted over the weekend of May 14-15 at Sunny Corner State Forest and Rydal.

All the information can be found here. We thank the Newcastle and Big Foot clubs for hosting this great weekend. Entries close on Monday May 2. MTBO is a terrific alternative to foot orienteering and we encourage all members and non-members to saddle up and give it a try.

To allow participants more time to get home from Coffs Harbour on the June long weekend, days 1 and 3 have been swapped at the QB III carnival.

Saturday June 11 will now be the Middle Distance event at Boambee Dunes, while Monday June 13 will be a Sprint at Coffs Harbour Education Campus (CHEC).

Entries are now open for the weekend, which also features a Long Distance event at Bom Bom State Forest near Grafton on the Sunday. All three events are State League events.

We look forward to our newest club, Bush n Beach, hosting their first major carnival. The latest flyer is here.