Get ready for South Sydney Summer Series

The expanded South Sydney Summer Series will kick off on Sunday 27 October at Maroubra. Now into its third year, the series draws on the popularity of the original Sydney Summer Series (now the North Sydney Summer Series) to encourage orienteers to discover some of the parks and streets south of the harbour. The nine event series is being jointly organised by Uringa, Garingal, Bigfoot and Illawarra Kareelah with IKO hosting two events at Scarborough Park and Sandringham.

Events are being organised on a weekend (rather than the traditional after work timezone) as this better suited the organising clubs, and will hopefully attract greater numbers of participants. Starts will be available between 4 – 6 pm.

All events will use the short 45 minute score format where competitors race against the clock to collect as many points as possible within the time frame. Penalty points are deducted for every minute late back so planning and time management is just as important as good navigation!  A short line course of 2-2.5km will also be available to introduce families with young children to orienteering.

The Sydney Summer Series are ideal events for newcomers to orienteering as they are all held within streets and parks. Generally no compass is required and experienced orienteers are always available to help with map reading and navigation. So why not come along and join the fun.

For a full list of events see:

http://onsw.asn.au/events/summer-series/summer-series-south

Metroleague Final at Cataract

Sunday 1st September 2013

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On a beautiful first day of spring, the orienteering fraternity descended on Cataract Scout Camp for the MetroLeague Finals and a less formal enter-on-the-day event. Unfortunately, a few days before the event, our course setter, Chris Wilmott, was hospitalised, but is thankfully recovering quite well. However, it meant that Kevin had a rather hectic Saturday, checking and setting out last minute controls. But on Sunday the weather was magnificent, a team of helpers arrived bright and early and the event ran pretty smoothly. The terrain at the scout camp is fairly open with lots of paths which allows for fast running but it also has some steep rocky areas which require skilful map-reading.

MetroLeague results

Div 1: Big Foot  (a fifth straight win)
Div 2:  Bennelong Northside (over a previously unbeaten Uringa-Central Coast)
Div 3: SHOO
Div 4:  Big Foot (the largest winning margin)
Div 5:  Garingal Legless (a very young team, obviously headed for better things)

IKON had very creditable 3rd places in both Div 3 and Div 4, and congratulations to Salme Fuller for her individual medal in Div 4. We also congratulate Doug Jay for his individual medal in Div 3 (though running for SHOO, he has obvious connections to IKON).

Enter-on-the-day results

Very Easy:                            Holly Roberts   11.48
Easy:                                     Tom Kennedy   19.32
Moderate (Div 5):              Cohen Wisniewski       54.29
Moderate/Hard (Div 4):     Val Hodsdon       51.34
Hard (Div 2) :                        Tony Hill           41.56

Details of all competitors’ results can be found on eventor  in the ONSW website  eventor.orienteering.asn.au/events/show/339  

Thanks again to all those who gave up their father’s day morning to help out  – Kevin and Dave who were everywhere, particularly on the crucial finish computer; Richard and James the parking perfectionists; Helen, Jim, Jeff and Vicki who were never overwhelmed by rushes to register; Greg who singlehandedly controlled the start; Salme and Peter doing a wonderful job writing results; and a particular thanks to Helen and Julie doing the lone job of gate-keeper. Lastly to the ones who were still around at the end and helped to bring in controls  and leave the site as we found it  – thanks Alexander and Natasha, and maybe Dasha will get a new ring for Christmas to replace the one that now lives at Cataract.

Eunice Wilson

South Coast Schools Gala Day

The Inaugural South Coast Schools Gala Day was held at Croome Reserve on 22 May 2013.  Seventy two children from Kiama and Barrack Heights Public Schools got a taste of orienteering with experienced orienteers from IKO, Southern Highlands and other clubs on hand to introduce the children to the sport, and keep them on track during the day.

Some great media was generated by the Illawarra Mercury and the Mercury’s photographer has successfully captured the enthusiasm of the kids as they raced around the bush tracks and learnt about map reading and navigation.

Illawarra kids on the right track

QB111 at Belanglo – a perfect day in the forest

Well, it was not quite perfect, with a couple of minor controlling issues to deal with, but the weather couldn’t have been better.  With lots of club members on hand to help out, Day 2 of QB111 at Belanglo was another great club effort.

Full results can be found here courtesy of SHOO.

Here’s a few pictures from the day taken by IKO photographer Dayle Green.

A great day at Appin

The weather couldn’t have been better for our joint event with Southern Highlands Occasional Orienteers. A pleasing number of competitors turned up to tackle the Georges River and the rock.

Unfortunately, a missing control meant those who entered the Hard and Moderate courses spent frustrated minutes searching. Lyn has recalculated times by eliminating that leg to try and minimise those wasted minutes, and give a truer picture of how everyone went.

Those who tried the harder courses had the special pleasure of the chance to cool their feet in the creek (twice). The Appin rocks provided their own special something, but times were quite respectable.

Many thanks to those regulars from both clubs, and from other clubs, as well as a number of newcomers who had a good time. Thank you Chippy and Eunice and Jim from IKO for collecting most of the controls.

A list of the results can be found HERE.

Neville Fathers,  Southern Highlands Occasional Orienteers