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.
Our next local event will be next Saturday 6 August at North Cronulla. Its always a nice map to run on with something for everyone – sand dunes, beach, coastal reserves and nice new real-estate to admire. Don Lucas Reserve is a fantastic place to start – plenty of space, great amenities and a big playground and bike paths to keep the younger members of the family entertained.
Lets cross all our collective fingers for some sunshine!
IKO is pleased to be partnering with Wollongong Library for an introductory workshop on orienteering. The workshop on Saturday 30 July at 1pm will include an introductory presentation on orienteering and a fun demonstration event around the streets and parks of Wollongong.
Anyone who wants to learn more about orienteering and how to get started is welcome to join and the event is FREE!
Follow the link below to register with the library:
REMINDER: This weekend we also have our club training day at Belanglo Forest on Saturday and the SHOO Highland Forest event on Sunday, also at Belanglo. See previous posts for more details.
Congratulations to Sue Froude, long time member and secretary for IKO, for winning “course of the year” at Rushcutters Bay in this year’s Sydney Summer Series (SSS). Sue tied with Richard Patterson of Bennelong Northside Orienteers for his St Ives Bungaroo event.
Not only did Sue set an interesting and challenging course amongst the parks, streets and laneways of Woolloomooloo, Kings Cross and Rushcutters Bay but she also mapped the area. Her win was no surprise to those helping out on the day as many of the finishers commented on the quality of the map and the course. The Rushcutters Bay event on 5 January 2022 was the first foray by IKO in the SSS. The club has already been asked to run an event in the series next summer.
Thanks to everyone for coming out to support this year’s Illawarra Map Running series. We attracted a great range of competitors from experienced orienteers to keen runners and family groups.
The weather was a mixed bag – we battled the heat at Gwyneville, just about got blown away at Lake Illawarra but finished with some lovely sunny days at Shellharbour and Minnamurra.
Attendance levels rose as the series gained momentum with 25-30 competitors for the first two events and 39-40 for the last two events. Steve takes the prize for the most competitors with his event at Shellharbour, with this event also attracting the most non-club members (13 individuals or groups).
Special mention to our neighbors at Southern Highlands Orienteers who made the effort to come down, seemingly to dominate the long course. Angus from SHOO won the long course in all 3 events he attended, with Doug also taking a win and ranking 2nd or 3rd for the rest of the events. The Shedden boys are doing well to get around the medium and long courses on their own now. Euan won the Medium course at Lake Illawarra and placed 2nd at Minnamurra. Meanwhile brother Rory is taking on the big boys in the long course placing 8th of 19 competitors at Lake Illawarra.
It was great to see lots of new faces at the events, especially family groups. All up we had 18 non-club members compete in the series, with most coming to multiple events. We even had a few lapsed club members signing up again during the course of the series! Shout out to newcomer Austin who won the medium course at Shellharbour in a blistering time of 24 minutes, while enthusiastic newcomer Maggie won the medium course at Minnamurra in 34 minutes.
Newcomers who competed in three events will be offered a complementary membership for 2022. Sue will be in touch with eligible people soon.
