A big CONGRATULATIONS to IKO Junior Pippa who has been selected to compete at the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships to be held in Canberra in September 2026. Pippa has been demonstrating her rising talent at all levels of orienteering this year, from local events, to Metroleague and State League events (pictured here at Baal Bone on the Kings Birthday weekend).
Congratulations to Pippa and the other selected members of the team. We wish them good luck for the competition later this year!
Senior Girls: Jessica Dunn Matilda Saunders
Senior Boys: Alton Freeman Ho Lam Marcus Cheung Matthew Slater Rory Shedden
Junior Girls: Alexandra Slater Charlotte Seeto Isobel Newton Justine de Remy de Courcelles Pippa Whitten Tiffany Palmer
Junior Boys: Baxter Peel Euan Shedden Harrison Grubits Michael (Guoxuan) Zhao Presley Scouller-Evan’s William Headley Shay Sweeney
The first of the 2026 NSW State league forest events will be conducted near Molong in western NSW on the weekend of 21st and 22nd March. The courses will be run on the spectacular granite area – Gumble Pinnacles – rated as one of the best orienteering areas in Australia and used for previous national and state level events. Gumble Pinnacles provide the prefect opportunity to try out your orienteering skills in typical Australian granite terrain. Why not join the IKO contingent and head for the hills for the weekend and combine orienteering with some wine tasting at the renowned Orange wineries or a visit to the “Dish” at nearby Parkes. Details are available on Eventor at https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/22668
The first event will be held at Nurragingy, Doonside in Western Sydney on Sunday morning 29 March. Go to Eventor for details and to enter the event. See table below for the list of venues and dates for the 2026 Metro League series.
Those members interested in competing in this year’s Metro League series should emailing IKO Metro League Team Captain James Stuart at jistuart@bigpond.com. Please indicate which rounds, if any, you could attend and advise which division you wish to compete in. At this stage we are just looking for an indication of numbers in each of the teams.
All IKO members are encouraged to compete no matter your level of proficiency. Contact James if you are unsure which Division you would be comfortable running in.
We will again be partnering with our sister club SHOO. At this stage we are intending to field combined teams in Divisions 1, 3, 4 and 5. The number of teams in each division may change depending on interest.
2026 Venues and Dates
Round
Date
Venue
Organising Club
1
Mar 29
Nurragingy
Big Foot
2
May 3
Galston
Garingal
3*
May 24(TBA)
Grays Point
Illawarra Kareelah
4
Jun 28
Pennant Hills
Bennelong
5
Jul 26
Boggabilla
Uringa
6
Sep 6
Glenbrook
WHO
* IKO looking to swap to another date.
New to the Metro League? This is a team competition with line courses requiring bush navigation around the Sydney metropolitan area. Teams of 5 from the various clubs battle it out over 5 rounds to determine the teams that will be in the finals in Round 6. There are 6 Divisions of competition, all with different courses:
Divisions 1-3 are graded Hard
Division 4-6 are graded Moderate
Division 6 courses are intended for competitors transitioning from urban to bush orienteering and juniors.
Well what a fun little series that was! Four sprint events staged across 4 consecutive weekends in February attracted over 150 competitors across the series. The first 2 events at Kiama and Wollongong University proved the most popular with 49 and 47 participants respectively. Albion Park and Croom both hosted 28-29 competitors. The novel addition of a ‘fast and furious’ mass start where competitors lined up to take on a short 1km course also proved a fun and exciting way to finish the day for those still with energy to burn.
Thank you to all our course setters – Joel, David, Stephen and Keith. The weather gods were against us for 3 of the 4 courses, but finally we cracked some sunshine for our last event at Croom where the heat became the challenge instead of the rain.
Below is a gallery of highlights from the series. Click on an image for full size.
The Illawarra Summer Series kicks off on Sunday morning 1 February and will run every weekend in February. This year the series takes the form of sprint events set on new maps. Starts will be from 10-11am. See below for dates, locations and links to Eventor for details of individual events. Pre-entries are encouraged and should be made through Eventor. Note: the event at Albion Park will be on Saturday while all other events are Sunday.
Sprint orienteering is a lot of fun – it requires quick decision making and tests your ability to navigate accurately at speed. This can be demanding, especially with constant changes in direction and route choice. Winning times are usually around 12 – 15mins. Those new to sprint orienteering should check out the Sprint Orienteering page on the Orienteering Australia website.
There will be three courses available each week. Those wishing to have a longer run can run more than one course.
Course
Approx distance
Winning time
Long
3.0 – 3.5 Km
12-15 mins
Medium
2 Km
12-15 mins
Short
1 Km
5-10mins
As with past series all competitors will receive a sausage sandwich with a sauce of their choosing at the end of their run.
All event locations are close to one of the Illawarra’s iconic beaches. So pack your towel and swimmers as well as your runners and make a day of it.
NEWCOMERS are welcome to come and try sprint orienteering. You can run or walk the course, go it alone or in a group. Club members will be on hand to help you on your way. Those newcomers who attend at least 3 of the events will be in the running for a free 12-month membership with IKO. After completion of the series, those eligible will be notified by email with an option to accept or decline this offer.
Check out our great promotional video with thanks to our talented first course setter Joel Mion.
