Newcastle Orienteering Club

Details

Created: 18 June 2018

Participants will be able to choose between three competitions run over this weekend.
          WEEKEND - your best 3 of 4 race results will be combined.
          SATURDAY – your results from Races 1 & 2 will be combined.
          SUNDAY – your results from Races 3 & 4 will be combined.
Note: those that enter “SATURDAY” and “SUNDAY” as two individual entries won’t be included in the “WEEKEND” competition.

 Entries Close Friday 6rd July, 2018 @ 11:59pm

Entries via Eventor: 
    WEEKEND (both days) -  https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/6856
    SATURDAY (only) - https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/6858
    SUNDAY (only) - https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/6859

Other Entries For those not registered in Eventor an entry form is available via...
  https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Documents/Event/4615/2/Non-Eventor-Entry-Form-PDF 

Enter on Day-EOD Very limited Enter on Day will be available.

Course/Class

## Non-competitive - easier navigation course aimed at sub-juniors or adults novices.

Entry Fees

Timing System Standard SI units will be used 

Queueing Starts “Queueing Starts” will be employed.  Competitors can start any time during the start window listed for each event below. Note: During the first 15 mins parents requiring split starts and club volunteers may be expedited ahead of any queue.

Course Closure Times are listed below for each individual event. Please allow yourselves enough time to have either completed your course OR be back at the finish by this time. This is to assist with competitor safety and timely control collection.

Catering No catering on Saturday. A local community club will be catering on Sunday. Expect the usual BBQ fare etc.Nulkaba parkrun    

Nulkaba parkrun is on the perimeter of St Philips College. Those keen enough to add this to their Saturday are able to do so as it will not be considered out of bounds.    

Event Directors Carolyn & Russell Rigby

Contact/Organiser Geoff Peel     H: 02 49680977     Mob: 0422 471 353     Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 Race Details

Read more: Newcastle Shorts Weekend: 14th and 15th July, 2018

Details

Created: 22 June 2018

Call for Volunteers for Hunter Schools Orienteering Championships.

The 42nd Hunter Region Schools Orienteering Championships will be held at Blue Gum Hills Recreation Park, Minmi on Tuesday 3rd July 2018. This event is conducted by Newcastle Orienteering Club for Hunter School Sports Association.

If you could help out on the day it would be very much appreciated.

I am hoping to get assistance to; run the finish, put out and collect controls and give assistance in the field to students who need it.

All volunteers must have completed the Working With Children Check and provide details so that the appropriate people verify that this number is current.

If you can help please contact:

Mr Colin Bailey
Merewether High School
Phone: 4969 3855
Mobile: 0414 406 652
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Created: 05 June 2018

Details

Created: 06 May 2018

Directions: From main road, head north onto Frederick Street. Parking at the northern end of Frederick Street.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Directions: 

At the traffic lights on Toronto Road, Fennell Bay head west into Macquarie Road, then in 200m turn right into Harrington Street. Then 300m turn right into Lake Macquarie Close.

The Assembly area is on the north side of Lake Macquarie Close. Note as there is limited parking on Lake Macquarie Close, additional parking will be along both sides of Harrington streets. Please take care not to block residential driveways.

Map: Fassifern Ridge 1:10,000 4 metre contours. Revised Ian Dempsey August 2017 with minor revisons by Steven Roberts June 2018.

Black crosses show car wrecks. Black circles indicate wreckage.

Terrain: Undulating to very steep and mostly open forest that has been burnt in the last 24 months. There’s an extensive track network, many parallel watercourses, and rock detail on the higher slopes. The lower gullies have some patches of slow run and walk.

Planner: Steven Roberts

Vetter: Callum Roberts

Courses:

Entry Fees

Safety: Safety bearing is east to the service road then south towards the assembly area.

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Notes:

1) The start is an easy 300m walk from the assembly area. Allow 5 minutes.

2) There will be some climbing to the main ridge in the early stages for all courses, afterwhich runners should enjoy the vast open runnable forest (or track options) available on this map. The Hard Short course does have legs that involve contouring across steep slopes.

3) The steeper slopes are gravelly – take care.

4) Although trail bikes are not common in the area, move to the side of the track if you encounter them.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Directions: 

From Killingworth Turn right off The Broadway onto The Boulevarde which turns into Killingworth Road. After 1km park on the right in front of the large substation.

From West Wallsend navigate to Boundary Road then travel south for 3 km (the road turns into Killingworth Road). Parking is on the left in front of the large substation.

Map::The Range (1 : 10 000)The Range (1 : 10 000)

Terrain: 

Planner: Stuart Kurtz

Vetter:

Courses:

Entry Fees

Safety: Safety bearing is east to Killingworth road then south to assembly.Safety bearing is east to Killingworth road then south to assembly.

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Notes:
(a) The area is frequented by trail bikes and 4WD vehicles. IF YOU HEAR OR SEE THEM COMING, GET OFF THE TRACK AND OUT OF THEIR WAY.
(b) The tracks created by these trail bikes and 4WD’s are often badly eroded. Think SAFETY rather than speed when using these trails.
(c) The area includes spikey vegetation. Full body cover is advised.
(d) Help with collection of controls will be needed, and very much appreciated.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Directions:

Map::TBA

Terrain: 

Planner:

Vetter:

Courses:

Entry Fees

Safety:

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Hunter Region Schools 42nd Orienteering Championships

Date: Tuesday 3rd July, 2018

Results: Results

Entries are now being taken for this years Hunter Schools Orienteering Championships to be held at Minmi. The students complete 2 courses on the day. The first is a line course based on the age they turn this year.

Note: Closing date for entries is Sunday 24th June, 2018.

VENUE:   From Newcastle Link Road At the traffic lights, turn towards Minmi on Woodford Street. At the next set of lights turn right into Minmi Rd, then after approximately 500m turn right into Blue Gum Hills Regional Park. Please park where directed. OR From Newcastle, proceed to Wallsend, then take Minmi Road through Fletcher, turning left into Blue Gum Hills Regional Park. (The park entrance is approx 500m before the start of the houses at Minmi.

Map: Blue Gum Hills (2018) 1 : 7 500

Entries will be accepted from Primary age students who have successfully completed Orienteering in Schools programs, or who regularly compete at Newcastle Orienteering Club events but they will compete in the 12 year age grouping.

The second course is entered in divisions based on experience rather than age – this will be a score course where you find as many controls as you can within a time limit (45 minutes).

A: Hard B: Moderate C: Easy / Moderate D: Easy

Entries will be accepted from teams of two, but they must start, do the whole course and finish together.

Start times for the Age Division courses will be arranged after a safety briefing for all competitors. This briefing is expected to commence at approximately 9am and is mandatory for all competitors.

SEND ENTRIES AND ENQUIRIES TO:

Mr Colin Bailey

Merewether High School
Phone: 4969 3855
Fax: 4961 2246
Mobile: 0414 406 652
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cost: $12 per student.

Closing date for entries is Sunday 24th June, 2018.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Results

Directions: 

From Newcastle/Sydney: Take the A1 north from Hexham, proceeding straight ahead at the large roundabout at Heatherbrae. Approx. 13.8 km from this roundabout, turn left into Italia Road. Proceed a further 3.5 km, turning right onto the quarry access track. Follow this track approx. 600 m to the quarry itself.

From the west, via Seaham: Use either Seaham Road or Clarence Town Road to get to Seaham. From Seaham, take East Seaham Road over the river, proceeding 3.1 km, before turning right into Italia Road. Travel another 4.9 km and turn left onto the quarry access track. Follow this track approx. 600 m to the quarry itself.The access track is largely unsealed and may be slippery in wet conditions. It has suffered some water damage from recent rains, however, most 2WD vehicles do not have difficulty when driven with care and attention.

Map: Balickera Quarry (1:10 000)

Planner: Oskar Mella

Vetter: Bjorn Mella

Courses:

Entry Fees

Safety:

The safety bearing is south to Italia Road then northwest to the entrance track and assembly area. Trail bikes and 4WD vehicles are active in the area. Listen for their approach and give way by moving off tracks. It is safest to assume that they have not seen you. There are quite a few piles of rusty barbed wire around the map some of the piles in the southeast corner of the map have been marked with red and white streamers. There are some steep tracks around the quarry, most of these have small stones that are quite slippery. Most of the courses cross the entry track. TAKE CARE WHEN DRIVING ALONG THIS TRACK.

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Notes: The bikers have been busy since we last used this map ad have added four new trails, all these trails are quite long and windy. Since we were not able to get the GPS through these trails have been drawn in without the GPS. Most of the green on the map is wrong, so some areas that appear thick on the map are quite easy to run through. This is my first time setting and any feedback would be welcome.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

RESULTS

Directions: 

From Newcastle / Speers Point take the B53 south through Toronto. Take the exit to Eraring power station 10 km south of Toronto and turn left to go 800 m km east on Rocky Point road. Park on the left side of Rocky Point road.

From Sydney take the Morisset exit from the M1. Proceed through Morisset traveling north on the B53. 2.8 km after Dora Creek take the exit for Eraring power station, turn right (east) on Rocky Point road for 1.3 km.  Park on the left side of Rocky Point road.

Map: Whiteheads Lagoon

Terrain: 

Planner: Jim Lee

Vetter: Peter & Diana Charlton

Courses:

Very Easy, Easy, Short Moderate, Moderate, Short Hard, Medium Hard. A Longer extension to the Medium Hard may be offered.

Entry Fees

Facilities: Toilets 500 m from assembly (in competition area)

Safety: 

• Safety bearing: South to Rocky Point road.
• Rocky Point road is not permitted to be used except in emergency.
• There is dangerous fast flowing water in Eraring outlet channel (mostly fenced off).
• Courses are in places near the edge of the Lagoon and Lake Macquarie. Tracks near the lagoon are inundated at times.
• The Very Easy (and most other courses as well) crosses an inlet from the Lagoon on a fallen tree. There is a rope hand rail, and this crossing is on a main walking track.
• There are a number of small piles of rubbish including broken glass in the competition area. Other debris (e.g. wire mesh) may also be encountered.

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Notes:

• Rocky Point road is not permitted as a route choice (for your safety).
• On one part of the map the Scouts have made new plantings which are marked with red/white tape and/or logs. Please avoid damaging the plants when running in this area.
• Fire and regeneration activities have made some of the area easier running.
• Tracks near the lake edge may be inundated in places. The adjacent forest is usually open and runnable. I don’t expect there will be any problem with inundation, but I could be wrong.
• Tree root mounds have been used for control sites and these should be reliably mapped, but some older ones are no longer obvious and not all of the numerous new ones are mapped.

• Full body cover is recommended for Moderate and Hard courses as there are patches of remnant lantana.

•  

  Hard Medium and Hard Long Courses: The Hard Medium course is the same as the Hard Long course with two controls (12 and 13) omitted. The same map and controls descriptions will be used for both, and you can decide which course you will complete before or after starting. There are comments in the control descriptions to remind you which controls to skip. At the point of divergence the map shows the route for the Hard Medium course with a dashed line (this is not a marked route) and a standard continuous line for the Hard Long. These courses have a map change after nine controls. Turn the map over to continue your course. This is indicated by a comment in the control descriptions.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Results

Directions: 

From the north.  Navigate to Kitchener via Cessnock or Abernethy. From the junction of Abernethy Rd. and Cessnock Rd. (which becomes Quorrobolong Rd.) Head south for approx. 840m and look for suitable parking on the western side of the road.

From the south. Look for Sandy Creek Rd. (Just south of Mulbring) and follow this road (to the west) for approx. 12KM., then turn right onto Quorrobolong Rd.. After approx. 3.5km  look for suitable parking on the western side of the road.

Parking: Parking can mostly be right angled to the road, but may have to be parallel behind the roadside barrier.

Assembly Area: The assembly area will be adjacent to the southern end of a roadside barrier on the western side of the road. Toilets should be open at the Poppet head park. (1km north of the assembly.)

Map: the Decapitated Poppethead        (1:10 000)

Terrain: 

Planner: Denis Lyons

Vetter: Graeme Taplin

Courses:

Entry Fees

Safety:

Start times: 9:30 to 11:30am with course closure at 1pm. Please ensure you start your course with enough time to complete it prior to course closure

Notes: 

(a) The area is frequented by trail bikes and 4WD vehicles. IF YOU HEAR OR SEE THEM COMING, GET OFF THE TRACK AND OUT OF THEIR WAY.

(b) The tracks created by these trail bikes and 4WD’s are often badly eroded. Think SAFETY rather than speed when using these trails.

(c) Native cherry trees and tree-root mounds will NOT be shown on this edition of the map. Termite mounds (brown X) and meat-ant nests (see symbol in legend) have not all been checked, but appear reasonably accurate. ONLY TERMITE MOUNDS (not meat-ant nests) HAVE BEEN USED AS SOME CONTROL SITES.

(d) Take care on any steep gravel slopes.

(e) Very Easy and Easy courses will have marked trails which use black /yellow streamers.

(f) The area includes spikey vegetation. Full body cover is advised.

(g) Help with collection of controls will be needed, and very much appreciated.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Results

As part of World Orienteering Day, our club will be holding an event this Wednesday afternoon. It will be a Park style event starting near the rotunda at King Edward Park.

Starts are from 2:00 pm with courses closing at 6:00 pm.

Three courses will be on offer:
Very Easy 1.3 km;
Easy 1.4 km;
Moderate 1.7 km.

Novices and first timers especially welcome. Bring along a friend and introduce them to our fabulous sport.

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

Unfortunately there will be no Wednesday training this week. Training will resume next week as usual.

@Rob I have just unpublished this so I can leave a no

Details

Created: 22 March 2018

NOY2: POST-EVENT REPORT

You would be hard pressed to find a better day to have seen the Butterwick Crown Reserve than Sunday 6th May, 2018. Beautiful mild, sunny conditions – perfect orienteering weather.  Over 90 entrants enjoyed the conditions to experience an area not previously used for orienteering.

Rob Bennett’s blistering 50:58 time on the 7.0 km Hard Long (edging out Justin Stafford by the smallest of margins) suggested fast, open running conditions.  Which is true – in part. The trick was not getting tangled in any green along the way, of which there was plenty. Although a few entrants returned bearing the scars of battle, most seemed to have enjoyed the experience. And many felt better upon administration of a chilled beverage and an egg & bacon roll or a sausage sandwich. Apparently, Peter Newton ended up feeling REALLY good – and he didn’t even run a course!

Thank you to those who took time to provide constructive feedback about the map. While updating an existing map is not too threatening an activity, starting one from scratch offers somewhat different and more complex challenges. Will everyone else see what I’m seeing – and the way I’m seeing it? And just how should that be put onto paper? The verdict amongst those I spoke with was that the “Rough Open with Scattered Trees” areas did not really benefit competitors, as the distinction between that and “Open Forest” was not sufficiently clear in the forest itself. Future versions of the map are unlikely to have a lot of yellow on them (sorry, Justin). Maybe if OCAD had a way that you could gradually fade in the colour at the edges of an area...  But I enjoyed the experience, learnt a lot from it and am glad that people thought the area was worth mapping.

As always, there were others who pitched in to make it all happen. Peter Newton took on the (often thankless) task of vetting, offered helpful suggestions, set up, packed up and drove the gear van. And it is worth remembering that had it not been for a chat between Peter and Russell Rigby (the master of the base map), this area might still be “undiscovered”.  Joy Guy was stalwart, as ever, on the desk, then took time to help collect controls. Jeff Guy coped with an error in the course files that were on the computer, as well as 2 malfunctioning SI units, while manning the finish. Geoff Todkill deserves thanks for the printing, Geoff Peel & Margaret Peel for the string course. Rudi Landsiedel, Denis Lyons and Rob Vincent also went back out to gather in controls, signs and streamers. I was otherwise occupied during the setting up, so apart from Carolyn Chalmers, I’m not sure who helped, but thank you nonetheless. If I have missed you or forgotten a job, please accept my apologies. Of course, thanks are also due to the members of the Hinton Wallalong Pony Club for use of their facilities. Emma and her team provided some wonderful catering - and the very sociable atmosphere that goes with the food & drink. They look forward to seeing us next year. I trust we look forward to seeing them!

Finally, a request. Please take time to post your route on RouteGadget (just follow the link). It doesn’t have to be pinpoint precise and I promise no-one will laugh if you took what I might call “an unconventional route choice”. (Trust me – we have all been there at some stage!) It is easy to do it manually – just tick the “Draw Your Route” box (top right of the screen), select your course and name, then click on the start triangle. Every time you click, it adds another point and joins it up to previous points to show where you ran. Those with GPS units will probably have a rough idea how to load a .gpx track using the “GPS upload” link instead.

“But, why?” I don’t hear you ask. (I’ve got the speakers off.)  I find it helps, as a course planner, seeing how people approach some legs. In my head, I have an “ideal” solution, but other orienteers sometimes see good ways of doing things that have never occurred to me. Understanding how people think while on a course helps to design better courses. And you might just get something from seeing how others compete. Give it a go!

David.

RESULTS

Read more: Sun 6th May: NOY2 - Butterwick