Australian 3 Days in Wagga Wagga

Lots of colour in Murraguldrie State Forest on Day 2 of the carnival

A great time was had by all at the Australian 3 Days orienteering carnival at Wagga Wagga. A strong contingent of IKO club members were in attendance, both competing and helping the Waggaroos to run the event. Wagga turned on its best winter weather with sunny 18 degree days making running in the forest quite enjoyable (even for those of us who don’t run!).

Day 1 was on the picturesque property of Connorton where an uphill finish chute provided great spectator views for the arena on the adjacent hillside. At Murraguldrie State Forest on Day 2 there were plenty of boulders and some very long legs to be navigated. A very convivial dinner at the Riverina Hotel brought us all together on Sunday night before one last sprint around the University campus in the morning.

15 club members competed at the event in which scores are accumulated over the three days. Congratulations to Salme for being overall winner in the W45AS. Special mention also to Chris Wilmott for collecting the Silva award for Services to Australian Orienteering for his significant contribution to mapping.

Thanks to everyone that helped out over the weekend with packing, unpacking, and helping out in the administration and finish tents.

There are plenty of photo albums on ONSW Facebook. See the gallery below for some photos of our club members in action (thanks to Ian and Clare Jessop) and some other photos taken by Dayle.

Australian 3 Days 2017

South Coast Schools Gala 2017

Our fifth annual South Coast primary schools gala day was another successful promotion. The day was held on Wednesday 17 May at the Croom Sports Complex at Albion Park.

Four primary schools from the South Coast attended the day with 75 students from years 5 and 6 and their teachers. It was good to see Nowra Public make a return appearance this year while Flinders Public, St Georges Basin Public and Aurora Steiner School attended for the first time.

For most of the students reading a map was a new experience. The students practiced their navigation with individual courses through the bushland and open fields surrounding the stadium. The day finished with the students competing in a relay with 25 teams of three. Excitement levels were high, from the mass start until the last runner finished.

The Croom Sports Complex offers excellent conditions for beginners with a natural, lightly wooded bush area with a track network and plenty of open area that is used for training and competition for a variety of sports.

Placegetters received a personal invitation to the NSW Schools Championships to be held on August 19-20 in the Illawarra.

Special thanks to Kevin Curby for once again organising the day and being our contact point with the schools. Lyn Malgrom offered her expert guidance and coaching to the students throughout the day and Keith Jay set the courses. Ron Pallas provided his usual invaluable assistance in the IT department and Salme Fuller, Rob Spry and Garry Stewart are thanked for their invaluable assistance on the day.

Mike Driscoll from the Illawarra Mercury has once again shown his support for the sport by publishing a story online which you can find HERE.

Come and explore Blackbutt Forest

Blackbutt Forest Reserve in Shellharbour is the venue for our next orienteering event on Saturday 6 May. The reserve consists of 100 hectares of remnant coastal forest including Illawarra lowland grassy woodland and Blackbutt forest. The forest was the traditional home of the Wodi Wodi people who lived off the many plants and animals in the forest. Although there was a small amount of timber cutting from the forest, it was saved from widespread clearing for agriculture as it was isolated from the harbour and Shellharbour village by swampland. The Reserve was given to the Shellharbour community by the NSW Government in 1979.

You can read more about the history and ecology of the reserve in a great little booklet by Shellharbour Council. Go to the Parks and Reserves page and download the PDF from the right hand column.

For those coming to the event, be aware that it is also ‘Wings over the Illawarra’ at the Illawarra Regional Airport not far from the forest. If you’d like to combine your orienteering with a visit to the air show you can find more information HERE.

Venue – Blackbutt Forest Reserve, Shellharbour – enter via Blackbutt Way.
Directions – from Shellharbour Road, turn into Woodlands Drive, then at the T intersection, turn left into Blackbutt Way and follow into reserve, up the hill to the car park.
Starts from 2-3pm.
Courses: Medium and Long line courses ($10) and a free short kids course (under 12 to be accompanied by an adult)
Runners, joggers & walkers are all welcome. Beginners are always welcome at our events, and there are always club members on hand to provide some basic coaching. You can go by yourself or as part of a group.

Summergong 4 concludes

The final round of Summergong 4 featured two international runners, who must have heard of Keith’s course setting abilities. Welcome to Kirsti from Finland and Eshell from Israel. The weather was surprisingly fine, despite the gloomy forecast.

Today’s event saw a dead heat for 1^st place, with both Simon and Philip finishing on 570 points, after penalties. Aidan from GO came in third having collected the maximum 600 points, but lost 50 points in late penalties. Cooper sprinted around the 1km short course in just over 9 minutes, after competing in the 45 minute score course with dad. Results have been posted onto Eventor and can be found HERE.

Congratulations to the series winner Linda (UR) with 309 points. Linda competed in all 4 events. Second and third were Simon (IKO) and Philip (IKO) who both missed an event when they were course setters. The series point score can be viewed here – Summergong point score – after 4 events

In the short course, well done to Beatrix for having the highest score. Special mention to the Ryan family who competed in all four events.

Thanks to all the IKO members who helped out during the series. The next IKO event will be held at Sutherland on Saturday afternoon 11 March 2017 – details on Eventor.

Summergong Results Week 3

Thankfully it was cooler conditions for Week 3 of the Summergong series, although there were still some weather hazards in the form of rain showers. Around 20 people turned up to explore Guest Park, Cabbage Tree Creek and the surrounding streets of Fairy Meadow and Balgownie.

Taking the lead after three weeks is Linda from Uringa who has attended all three events. In second place is Simon from IKO. See the following score sheet for all the details.

The series concludes next week at JJ Kelly Park in Wollongong. Who will be the series winner?

Summergong point score – after 3 events