Sydney Summer Series Overview

Summer orienteering is social, scenic and a great way to keep fit while exploring different areas of your hometown.

Events are conducted in urban locations and a compass is not needed. Course setters try to maximise the amount of parks, reserves and foreshores visited so that your outing is scenically pleasing as well as physically rewarding.

Daylight saving gives us the chance to run/walk midweek after work, and not just on weekends as we do over winter.

The navigation standard is usually Easy (control markers should be visible from the approach side by any reasonable route). Some clubs or series offer separate walking categories.

All our clubs use SportIdent electronic timing sticks. These may be hired at the event.

Recent video, made by Richard Pattison.

It's from Sydney Summer Series race at Belrose on February 15th, 2023, and was a mass start line course as part of the celebration of 32 years of the SSS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTBsM9dyzpk&ab_channel=RichardPattison

There are three formats used in summer orienteering:

Score course: you have a time limit in which to get to as many controls you can in any order. The controls may be worth different amounts, so carefully planning is needed to maximise your score. Time penalties apply for lateness.

Scatter course: you have to visit a set amount of controls in any order. The winner is the person with the quickest time.

Line course: you must visit all the controls on your course in order. The winner is the person with the quickest time.

The most popular series is the Sydney Summer Series, held on Wednesdays from October to March. It is now in its 31st season and regularly attracts around 200 participants each week. You may be in Parramatta one week, Lane Cove the next and Manly the week after that.

You may start any time between 4.30pm and 6.45pm. You have 45 minutes to visit as many of the 30 controls as you can. Controls numbered 1-10 are worth 10 points, controls 11-20 are worth 20 points and controls 21-30 are worth 30 points. You may take as long as you like to plan your route. The aim is to maximise your score by careful route planning. For each portion of a minute late you lose 10 points, so finishing in 45.01 is the same as 45.59.

The highest possible score is 600. The weekly winner in each age category is then awarded 100. Other finishers are awarded a percentage of the winner. Let's say the winner in the women's 35-44 age group accrues 400 points. She is awarded a 'score' of 100. A fellow competitor scoring 300 then gets 75 (300/400 = 75%).  

As an example, a map from a previous event is here. The maps usually cover an area of 2km x 1km. The fastest runners will often cover 9-10km in the 45 minutes, while the more social participants may do as little as 2km. It's up to you how competitive or social you are. 

Series organisers: Ian Jessup (0416 040 135) and Tristan White (0432 529 806).

Sydney also offers these summer series:

* River and Bay Series (Botany Bay and Cooks River areas): Sun pm Nov-Dec, choice of score or 3 line courses
* West (Hills District): Sun am Dec-Jan, choice of score or 3 line courses
* Sydney Sprints (all over): Sun pm Feb-Mar, choice of 3 shortish line courses 
* SOS (northern Sydney): Sat am for 6 weeks in each school term, choice of score or 2 line courses

Here is what our regional clubs offer over summer (score course point values vary by club):

Note: MapRun is a free app that lets you compete via smartphone!