230 very hardy school kids and orienteers braved cyclonic winds on the weekend (Sep 7-8) to participate in the 2019 NSW Schools Championships in the Southern Highlands. Steady winds of 60-70 km/hr and gusts of up to 100 km/hr challenged organisers, competitors and spectators at Saturday’s events at Oxley College and Tudor House. Flags in danger of being ripped out of the ground had to be packed away, control flags blew off their stands, and result slats had to be laid out on the ground because they kept blowing away! And while the top temperature at Moss Vale was just 9 degrees, the windchill kept the temperatures almost Arctic!

By all accounts Sunday’s event at Welby was not much easier with continued high winds and cool temperatures.

Congratulations to Mowbray Public School and Knox Grammar School for taking out the overall championship over two days of competition.

A huge round of applause needs to go to the brave and determined crew from IKO and SHOO who put on a successful event under extremely challenging circumstances. The months of preparation (and endless emails that clogged our inbox) all paid off and I don’t think there were any complaints or incidents over the weekend.

Well done to the organisers and planners – Lyn, Ruth, Peter, Stephen and Robert (SHOO) and David, Vicki, Kevin and Keith (IKO). Many thanks also to the IKO and SHOO start crews who had no respite from the wind, to Ron Pallas for his computer skills, and everybody else that pitched in to help out over the weekend.

Some photos of the sprint at Tudor House are below.

Congratulations to our club members who were successful in taking home a lovely wooden medallion / coaster from the NSW Championships. Sue came first in W55AS in the Middle Distance Championships at Wyangala on Day 1, while on Day 2 Vicki came second in W55AS and Helen 3rd in W45AS in the Long Distance Championships.

Both days had their challenges. On Day 1 the challenge was not to get too distracted from your map while taking in the stupendous views over Wyangala Dam, as well as mustering the stamina for several ascents and descents of the steep hills on the course. On Day 2 the intricate map detail combined with some long legs caused grief for some (OK, mostly me!) but was clearly not a challenge for others.

The weather was fantastic and the events well organised – thanks to Western and Hills Orienteers for hosting a great weekend. A club dinner at the Royal Hotel at Carcoar rounded out the social activities for 11 club members.

See the club Facebook page for a full gallery of photos.

The SummerGong Series has concluded for 2019. Three excellent locations were enjoyed by club members and a handful of newcomers and visiting orienteers.

The series commenced with a brilliant sunny (and hot!) afternoon of orienteering around the Wollongong foreshore and streets. Despite Keith plugging the event on ABC radio that morning, we were not over-run with people, managing just 17 (although five of these were newcomers).

Ken and Helen take the award for attracting the most entrants to the Figtree event (24) and also the most participants who were not members of an orienteering club (10). While the short course kept to the flats the medium and long courses gave competitors the chance to climb a few hills (or avoid some of them depending on your route choice).

The series concluded at Shellharbour with 20 people/teams enjoying the mix of coastal views and streetscapes around Shellharbour Village. A couple of orienteers from Western Australia turned up – we think this is probably the furthest distance for any domestic visitors at a SummerGong event. We also had a group of friends turn up, two of whom had done a bit of orienteering in their home countries of Switzerland and the UK.

A few photographs from the series are in the gallery below.