Latest ONSW News
ONSW Executive Officer Paul Prudhoe has won the 2015 President's Award for outstanding contribution to orienteering in NSW.
Paul, a member of the Central Coast club, was president of ONSW from 2008-2014 and helped transition the organisation from a largely amateur oversight body to a vibrant, growing enterprise with five part-time employees.
He is a Level 3 controller, one of only three in the state, and an IOF Event Advisor, and was fundamental to our newest clubs starting up.
Paul (pictured left) has also made great headway in dealing with the many statutory authorities that orienteering must contend with in order to conduct our sport.
The other major awards for 2015 went to:
Club of the Year: Bush n Beach
Encouragement Award: Paula Shingler (Big Foot, pictured)
Rookie of the Year: Jim Mackay (Uringa)
Course Setter of the Year: Ross Barr (Garingal)
Interclub Trophy: Garingal
President's Junior Award: Duncan Currie (Garingal)
A full list of award winners can be found here.
The presentation day coincided with a run around Bicentennial Park at Sydney Olympic Park as part of our Saturday morning series that attracted 71 entries.
The SOS for Term 4 concludes on Saturday at Cherrybrook Technology HS.
We were also able to spruik orienteering to the many Rhodes Parkrunners who were in the same spot from 8-9am, and hope to see some of them come along to a summer series event in the near future.
Newcastle pair Carolyn Matthews and Alec Power swept their age classes to win all three distance titles at the Australian MTBO championships in Victoria at the weekend.
Alec took out M12A and Carolyn W50A on a cool weekend at Anglesea.
NSW orienteers to win the sprint and middle champs held on the Saturday were Eoin Rothery (Big Foot, M50) and Robert Prentice (Mountain Devils, M60).
Our other title winners were Rhiannon Prentice (MD, W12) in Sunday's Long Distance race, Lucy Mackie (MD, W17-20A) in the Middle Distance and Jenny Enderby (NC, W40A) in the Sprint.
A huge thank you must also go to Big Foot's Patrik Gunnarson who was the IOF event controller.
Congratulations to all those winners, and to the others who travelled to Victoria to take part.
On the local scene, the Newcastle club's next BOSS (Bike Orienteering Summer Series) event is on Sunday at Wallaroo State Forest. Full details are on the series flyer.
Talented young teenager Lachlan Billett took out the main 2.1km sprint in the city CBD as Waggaroos wound up their winter calendar on Sunday.
Lachlan was fast and chose his route well to outpace his more experienced rivals. The year 8 student won by almost a minute from Alex Davey. Debbie Davey was not far behind in third place.
The event was nicely staged between the rain storms and had participants zig-zagging across the Victory Memorial Gardens and adjacent parklands.
The McDougall family did an excellent job organising their first event. Dale Clegg had a good run to finish 5th and win handicap honours for the day.
Catherine Holland with daughters Hannah and Rachel won the 1.2km course ahead of Kath Oliver.
WaggaRoos' Summer Series starts at 6pm on Thu Nov 26 at Apex Park in Lake Albert. Participants can choose a 30-minute or 45-minute score course.
This Saturday we have another long-awaited ultra sprint, at Wahroonga Park as part of the SOS.
Ultra is a bit like cricket's Twenty20 - short, fast, furious and loads of fun. Participants have a two-hour window to complete 3 line courses, each of approximately 800m and including a maze. (Check out the two-minute video of the maze in action at the 2014 Xmas 5-Days).
There will be controls everywhere, so don't get distracted by other people on a different course!
Wahroonga Park is just 2 minutes from Wahroonga train station, with all of the village coffee shops just a stone’s throw away. It's a fabulous location to add in breakfast before or lunch afterwards. There’s also an excellent children’s playground within the park to keep our youngest adventurers entertained.
The event is suitable for all levels of orienteers – beginners through to our most experienced orienteers are all welcome.
Start any time between 9.30-11am but please be sure to allow plenty of time to get in all three courses (remembering that you may need to wait a sort time for a start slot).
Cost is $10 for members with their own SI stick, $15 for non-members hiring a stick.
