METRO LEAGUE starts next Sunday 23 April

The Metro League is the annual inter-club orienteering competition for greater Sydney metropolitan clubs. The series is run from March through until August/September with events conducted on one Sunday morning per month. Teams of five compete against each other. Courses are of a Moderate (Division 4-6) or Hard (Division 1-3) standard and a variety of distances. Most people finish within an hour.

Illawarra Kareelah Orienteers (IKO) combine forces with Southern Highlands Occasional Orienteers to form teams that run in 5 Divisions.We are looking for runners to enter divisions 6,5,4,3 and 1 for the first race of the 2023 competition at Mitchell Park, Cattai, this coming Sunday. For event details and entries go to https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/18674

Note: Pre-entries close at 12noon Saturday 22 April.

New members are especially welcome to come along and find out what it’s all about. If you would like to run in a team contact our Club Captain James Stuart at ikorienteers@gmail.com. Otherwise turn up and compete in one of enter on the day courses that will be available.

2023 Illawarra Map Running Series final event

The final event in the 2023 Illawarra Map Running (IMR) Series was held on the Figtree map on Sunday morning 19 February. There was plenty of route choice and those cunning runners who chose to avoid the hills and conserve their energy in the morning heat by keeping to the flat ground were the winners. Check out our Facebook page for the maps and courses. See results in Eventor. Congratulations to those competitors who competed in all three events and have received an offer to free membership of Illawarra Kareelah Orienteers for 2023.

Thanks to Ken and Helen Mills for organising an enjoyable event.

Volunteer of the Year 2022

Steve Holloway receiving his award from Ken

Congratulations to our very own Stephen Holloway who was awarded the honour of Volunteer of the Year for 2022 by Orienteering NSW.

The award was passed on to club President Ken Mills who presented it to Steve at our recent AGM in Wollongong. The Volunteer of the Year Award is presented to a member/s who are recognised for meritorious service to the sport of orienteering in NSW.

Making orienteering visible in the general community in the Illawarra region, Steve has been paramount in initiating and implementing hands-on workshops at Wollongong and Thirroul libraries to attract newcomers.  These successful 2-hr workshops offer the public a chance to experience orienteering instruction via a video then a hands-on demo course, followed by a course in the nearby local area.  More library workshops are being considered for this year. 

Steve also provides coaching in local schools to support their orienteering programs and is an invaluable and pro-active member of our club.  Well done Steve, we appreciate everything you do for our club and our sport!

Illawarra Map Running #2 Fairy Meadow

It was all smiles at our 2nd event of the Illawarra Map Running Series today at Fairy Meadow. Course setter Vicki made the most of Guest Park and Cabbage Tree Creek with a few slightly hilly forays into the surrounding streets for the medium and long courses.

We had 30 starters including 7 newcomers and a couple of visiting Austrian orienteers who came first and second on the medium course! David and Helen provided great instruction at the start for those new to the sport.

The short series concludes next week at Figtree where Ken and Helen have warned us that our feet may get wet!

Below are just a few of the happy faces snapped at today’s event. See Facebook for more photos.